"Pozneki state repression ramps up! As riots grew in the Pozneki capital of Braslau, where the 'Commission of Public Health' organized 'discriminative and overzealous' lockdown practices, the Braslau Police Department brutally murdered more than a hundred women attempting to break these lockdowns, which are allegedly designed to spread the Red Flu virus amongst former noble communities and districts. This has been denied by the Pozneki Government, but evidence, pictures, and footage have already been released by the Orlish Royal Investigations Unit."

- Geopol Press

+++

Near Halia

May 24, 2026

There had been weeks of heavy fighting already in the southern part of the Halian Corridor.

Casualties…if it could even be counted, had been extremely high, and the troops assigned in the area barely even managed to hold on to their positions. Dame Aria von Astrea, a member of the Royal Guard knights, a certified 1st Class Mage by the Global Magic Association, finally found herself deployed and attached to one of the army brigades operating here.

Of course, previously, her role in the Royal Guard as a member of the Global Magic Association was limited. She was supposed to be nothing more than a neutral observer, someone who regulated the use of magic in the Royal Guard.

But still…

Aria von Astrea hailed from a long line of nobles who fought and led in the revolutionary war against the old mad king, back when magic first appeared in this world. She was a prodigy mage, and she could easily climb the ranks of any organization she joined.

With her mana reserves, alongside Aria's light magic, she could choose to both heal a thousand men or kill a thousand men should she want it. Of course, she wouldn't do such a thing for no reason, but it was a good metric for the strength she possessed.

At the age of 24, she was someone that could, in theory, turn the tide of battle for any side she joined in. She was at the upper crust of even the few 1st-class mages out there, and so, with her high profile, the Global Magic Association always held her back, out of fear of breaking their oath of eternal neutrality in the affairs of those below them.

That wasn't the case anymore. A taboo had just been apparently broken, and the Global Magic Association by this point had no choice but to begin the process to pick up the pieces. The goddess's most important commandments—to avoid the creation of new life, using magic, or technology, had just been broken.

Not by women, but by men.

Well, allegedly at least. It was said that they now possessed 'AI', machines that were alive and sapient. Aria had great doubts about it. She'd heard a lot of technologies marked as 'AI' for ages already. Quite frankly, none of them were any closer to life than a golem created by magic.

They were just complex lines of code, that was all. But now, the Elder Council of the Association had given them a memo of their imminent entrance to the war should the developments in front of them be confirmed, that technology, now, truly gave birth to life.

That kind of threat was something wholly unacceptable not just to the Arcanist Church, but to the Association. They didn't even care if it was made by men or women, that was below their concerns. The war between the two was of great interest, sure, as the endless debate of magic and rights had been something that made great rifts in the Association.

But ultimately, that paled in comparison to the problem posed by a potentially self-replicating creature that was inhuman, and worst of all, capable of improving its intellect in levels beyond human comprehension. It was an affront to magic because magic was tied to all life.

So are you all really controlled by something alive?

She gripped her golden staff closely as she stood at the edge of a rooftop in one of the ruined towns near the Royal Capital. Behind her was an officer from the Army, observing the distant, brutal battle with his binoculars.

"So when should I deploy myself?" Aria gently asked, trying her best to work well with these people.

They were quite wary of her, after all, and they kept a lot of their secrets guarded. It made sense, to them, she was practically a different creature entirely. Of course, Aria found that notion quite ridiculous. A lot of women do believe themselves to be above these people because of magic, but she scoffed at it.

Once you reached the top, anyone would realize how futile any 'distinctions' were. They were the same creatures driven by instinct, desire, and primal humanity and 'inhumanity'. To Aria, all she had over these people was powerful magic. It was but an extra tool she could use.

Essentially, she believed that she was no different from some dipshit in an underground bunker with authorization to launch nukes. They just wielded extra power. It didn't make them any more or less human regardless.

But those in front of her were different. That was why Aria worked as best as she could with these people. It might not be long before they would be forced to forget their differences in the face of this threat.

"I'm not sure," the young officer beside him neutrally replied, lowering his binoculars. "Your goal is to check on those 'drones', right?"

"Indeed."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Well, there's none of them yet at the moment."

"How unfortunate."

"Right now, the enemy's sending in their infantry to occupy key positions ahead of us, that, and hold it. Those drones only appear during a determined push."

"So have I badly misjudged my timing?"

"We'll know soon."

The officer talked a bit to his radio, before raising his binoculars again. This was quite a drag to Aria, as she truly wanted to see just what these new 'autonomous weapons' had in store. In the end, though, she supposed this was war.

She wouldn't always get what she wanted.

Right as she was about to turn her back, as she wasn't here to fight their battle, she was here to learn about this 'AI' thing, the officer pulled her back, his face contorting into that of brief fear.

"Lady Aria," the officer said. "We're going to need your help now."

+++

Aria found herself flying above the ruins of an apartment complex. This area had been held by a platoon of soldiers earlier, but they have since retreated.

The enemy's autonomous forces were advancing straight to this section of the town. She'd been assigned a simple role—to destroy them before they breached this area.

The power of magic was immense, Aria knew. Even now that technology has advanced so much, even a 2nd Class Mage is expected to be capable of dispatching the most heavily armored tanks.

She therefore believed that even if there were twelve 'Enforcer' drones and forty-two 'Courier' drones advancing, she shouldn't have a problem. That kind of force would usually require two companies of infantry or tanks to counter, but Aria believed in her strength. She should be able to finish this off easily.

She watched them advance through the horizon, her powerful scrying spell able to detect them better than drones could. She remained still in the air before she landed on the rooftop of one of the ruined buildings.

The enemy was moving strangely well. Each drone rapidly sneaked through every opening point that wasn't covered by the firing arcs of her allies. Even with heavy artillery barrages hitting their lines, it seemed that each drone managed to avoid them in time.

And they just pushed onwards. Fast, sneaky, and agile. Every time a friendly tank opened fire on them, they would be on the cover a second in advance, and then three shots from concealed Enforcer drones would respond. That tempo repeated itself, over and over, until Aria found herself alone.

She tried speaking briefly to the radio, but no one replied to her. The tank company supporting her simply disappeared—and the enemy lost nothing at the moment. She tried contacting the infantry platoon leaders, but around her, the enemy drones, couriers, were firing precise shots into the areas occupied by friendlies.

Within just a minute, the only platoon leader she managed to contact said that he was dying, before her radio transmissions were cut. All of these actions were accompanied by precise artillery strikes from the enemy, each of them somehow wiping out her allies as if the enemy was omnipotent.

Of course, that was unlikely. They couldn't even spot Aria. Any equipment that even managed to gaze on her would be overwhelmed by a specialized light magic spell that she used to essentially 'fry' their sensors. But still, when it wasn't her being targeted, her allies melted.

The coordination, the precision, the deadliness, it was fully robotic, inhuman, and terrifyingly hard to understand. Whatever strategy this enemy formation was employing was out of Aria's reach. She did try to understand some of their movements, but their complexity was so astounding that it was as if…

Her eyes bulged, as a realization came to her mind.

It's as if they're employing every tactic known to man…in the most optimal manner.

Aria knew that not even the most powerful members of the Elder Council could be so ingenious. No, even if a person read every tactical and strategic manual out there, and combined it with practical experience from years of fighting, they wouldn't be this capable.

Unless, of course, something could combine every knowledge humanity had in warfighting into a single entity, and make that entity capable of applying it all correctly in every scenario. Not just that, but also if it had the ability to make decisions somehow in advance of its opponents, just by observing them.

Of course…

Aria's fist curled. She remembered that lecture back then from those 'Tech Expos', back before this war began, all about how mankind's corporation could harvest data from people so well that they would know an individual's shopping and search behaviors down to a T.

This must be the culmination of that, applied to warfare.

I can't let them advance any further.

Aria's halo grew, the golden light around her intensifying, and nearly four dozen flying drones surveying the battlefield turned to her—before their sensors were fried. They all fell from the skies like flies, as she aimed her staff at a peculiar drone, nearly two miles away.

It was well-concealed, and it was moving all the time with such great precision, that even stray artillery shots close to it barely managed to place a scratch on its paint job. Now however, with its eyes gone, it struggled to move.

Instead, it moved erratically, its gun-less turret turning around frantically, like it was trying to use whatever sensors it had built into its hardware. Every drone around it too, as if sensing danger they didn't know, was in full retreat, each of them scurrying straight into cover, or into the most clear routes to get out of the way.

Even the peculiar drone she was aiming at started to zigzag its way out of the battlefield. It must be the work of the algorithms of whatever abomination that controlled this swarm. Without anything to work with, it simply acted to ensure maximum self-preservation.

And she hadn't even fired a shot yet!

If these were normal soldiers, they'd probably stay and hold on to their position just to figure out what had happened, because that was the normal human way.

Why would any commander accept stopping and retreating like this after sacrificing lives?

No, Of course, that logic wouldn't work here, because this thing sacrificed nothing.

"Judgement of Light," she gracefully chanted those words after twelve golden magic circles appeared in front of her staff. Right then, the night sky was pierced by a golden glow, and in a split second, the command drone of the enemy swarm exploded.

Aria frowned.

Even after that, the enemy managed to scurry out of her grasp. She supposed she could chase them now that their effectiveness at coordination was badly hit, and wipe them out.

But her task was done. She already noted everything she observed.

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