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1â—Š â—Š â—Š
2Local Time: July 6, 16:00
3A military truck belonging to division from the Kansai region arrived at Zama base.
4The truck passed through the checkpoint without any problems and swiftly entered the
5base.
6“We arrived so easily.”
7In a slightly disappointed tone, Raymond jumped out of the body to Minoru, who
8followed him.
9“Everyone in the truck was real. There is no reason to suspect anything.”
10The truck on which they arrived had been given to the Kudou family by the self-
11defense forces. Strictly speaking, this practice was illegal, but most families from the
12Ten Main Clans had a relationship with the SDF similar to the Kudou. When the unit
13commander who had originally issued the truck received a request to go through from
14the Kudou, he did not show any suspicion.
15Using Parade, Minoru disguised both Raymond and Regulus in addition to himself as
16young European men dressed in the USNA uniform. Though it was slightly unnatural
17for soldiers of the USNA army to be in the self-defense force’s truck, the workers at
18the checkpoint did not look inside to notice this disparity.
19“I do not feel that we were given a concession because of the Kudou; rather, it seemed
20that they simply did not have the ability to do more than necessary.”
21Regulus had had this impression for much of the ride. Even though their truck had
22passed through the entire Tokyo-Nagoya highway and they were stopped several
23times, none of the stops looked into the body. They were not even stopped when they
24passed the training grounds on East-Fuji where Naotsugu and Mari were stationed in
25order to capture Minoru.
26“Their attention and resources seem to be directed mainly to the north.”
27Minoru made this observation at Regulus’ comment.
28“Everything went exactly as you expected,” Raymond said.
29Minoru smiled slightly at Raymond’s words, but his smile held no pride.
30All foreign units stationed in Japan returned to their home countries during
31World War III and American army bases located in Japan were closed. To replace
32them, bases were created on both sides for joint use, allowing the other side to use
33their base as their own. Zama Base was one of these joint use bases that housed both
34the Japanese and American armies. Because of this, no questions were raised to
35USNA soldiers walking around the base. If they wore their military uniforms, no one
36would even check their identification badge, so all three of Raymond, Regulus, and
37Minoru were able to reach the transport plane Arcturus was on.
38This transport aircraft was unable to take off because of the hole Tatsuya had made to
39escape combined with the holes in the wall made by the Arcturus’ Tomahawk. In a
40few more days, a replacement aircraft was expected to arrive, so there were only a few
41people on duty inside the plane. The rest of the team was in a dormitory designated
42for American soldiers.
43Tatsuya’s attack was not carried out in the interests of either Japan nor the
44USNA, so the damage to the body of the aircraft had been attributed to an accident
45during landing. The Japanese army did not allow saboteurs to enter the base, and there
46were no victims of terrorists in the American army - Arcturus and the three other
47Parasites were not supposed to have been aboard the transport plane. Usually, a
48sabotage-like situation such as the current one would not have been buried, but the
49Great Asian Alliance’s invasion into the New Soviet Union’s territory shifted the
50army’s attention to the north. Nobody in the base wished to pick a fight with the
51USNA, so to speak, the situation ended up being ignored by both sides.
52Arcturus’ “corpse”, pierced with a mascot knife by which Mikihiko used his
53sealing spell, would be sent back to USNA by the transport plane expected to arrive in
54the next few days. It was currently stored in a coffin-shaped container equipped with a
55cooling function. Zama base provided this container after request from the crew, but
56the base personnel was a bit confused as to why this container was necessary.
57“Lieutenant, here.”
58The soldier on duty knew Regulus by sight, so he led the three Parasites to the
59"corpse" of Arcturus without questioning who the strangers were.
60“Private, could you leave for a while?” Regulus ordered.
61“Yes, sir.”
62The soldier on duty obediently returned from the cargo hold to the cab without any
63suspicion. Once he was gone, Regulus opened the lid of the container where Arcturus
64lay in a funeral pose. The talisman used to seal Arcturus had long been pulled out, but
65the seal remained just as strong. Regulus looked at Arcturus without commenting,
66sorrow in his eyes.
67“This is powerful seal,” Minoru stated while looking into the container.
68“It would have to be,” Raymond responded.
69“Do you understand this!?” Regulus asked Minoru, somewhat wide-eyed.
70“Yes, I know a little about some of the general stuff,” Minoru answered.
71“Can you take it off?” Raymond asked as Minoru finished, already knowing the
72answer to Regulus’ question.
73“I won’t know until I try. As I said, the seal is fairly strong. The Parasite body is
74being used as a talisman. I would say that this could only be undone by destroying the
75body to reveal the Parasite, but I assume you don’t want that?”
76Minoru’s question was intended for Regulus.
77“I would like to find a method that preserves the commander’s life.” Regulus came to
78Arcturus’ body because he valued Arcturus; not the Parasite contained.
79If Minoru’s answer to this question was “I cannot,” the discussion would have gone
80down a different path in which the Parasites may have refused to help kidnap Minami.
81“…I understand.” After thinking for a bit, Minoru nodded to Regulus.
82â—Šâ—Š â—Š
83Tatsuya went to first high for the entire day on the last day of exams. He had
84free time as he was no longer needed in the development of the new Strategic Class
85magic designed in preparation for an attack from the New Soviet Union. It was
86slightly reckless to leave Lina alone, but she was not a small child and would not do
87anything stupid, so Tatsuya convinced himself that it was pointless for him to travel to
88Miyaki Island every day.
89While the exams were going on, Tatsuya stayed alone in the library, but as soon
90as the exams finished he began practicing the Sealing Sphere with Mikihiko. By the
91time he left school with Miyuki, it was past 6 in the evening. Despite the time,
92however, the two did not go home and instead traveled to the city of Machida.
93Together with Mitsuya Shiina and Yaguruma Saburou, they were visiting the home of
94the Mitsuya family of the Ten Main Clans in order to get information about the
95activities of the US Army. Tatsuya had wanted to find out more about the USNA’s
96military stations on Midway Island and the north-western parts of the Hawaii
97archipelago, so he had asked Shiina to organize a meeting with the Mitsuya family or
98his eldest son. Shiina had given Tatsuya her father’s answer of “If you have time,
99come on the evening of the day when the last exam is held,” which was another
100reason that Tatsuya had gone to school today.
101Tatsuya was traveling with Shiina despite knowing the location of the Mitsuya house
102because he was not personally acquainted with Mitsuya Gen, having never even
103spoken to him. By allowing Shiina to lead him, they would avoid any unnecessary
104trouble.
105Tatsuya had only asked to meet either Shiina’s father or her eldest brother, but they
106were both waiting, expecting Tatsuya.
107Shiina led Tatsuya and Miyuki to the living room and left to get drinks. By the time
108she returned, the four had introduced themselves to each other.
109“Thank you, Shiina. You may go.”
110Shiina was slightly disappointed with being asked to leave as she was curious about
111the conversation. Nonetheless, she obeyed her father, and Motoharu closed the living
112room door from the control panel as she left.
113Once this was done, Gen turned back to Tatsuya.
114“May I call you Tatsuya-dono?” he asked.
115“Yes, please do. Likewise, may I call you Mitsuya-dono and Motoharu-dono?”
116Tatsuya asked this for the same reason as Gen: in order to distinguish between
117members of the same family sharing a last name.
118“I do not mind” was Gen’s answer to Tatsuya. With all the preparation out of the way,
119Gen finally brought up the main topic.
120“I heard from Shiina that you need information about the activities of the American
121army.”
122“Yes. In particular, I would like to learn about the military installations and troops
123deployed around Midway Island and the north-western parts of the Hawaiian
124archipelago.”
125Both Gen and Motoharu appeared surprised to hear this. They had expected Tatsuya
126to ask about a different area, thinking he was looking for information pertaining to the
127situation with the New Soviet Union.
128“… I would like to understand how this relates to the current situation?” Gen asked.
129“This is not directly related to the conflict between the New Soviet Union and the
130Great Asian Alliance,” Tatsuya answered.
131“…Then why do you need this information?” Gen continued his questioning with a
132confused look.
133“I need to judge whether it will be possible to free a certain prisoner from Midway
134Island,” Tatsuya answered frankly.
135“You are looking to rescue a prisoner from Midway Island? Does Yotsuba-dono know
136about this?”
137“Consent of the head of the family was already obtained.”
138This was not a lie, as on the same day that Lina requested Tatsuya’s help, Tatsuya
139reported the content of the conversation to Maya. Maya's only request was "just don't
140overdo it,” so Tatsuya decided to follow the policy "continue if possible, but quit if
141it’s hopeless."
142“…can we hear the reason?”
143Motoharu asked the question this time.
144“It was a request from a refugee protected by our family,” Tatsuya answered.
145“A refugee? …Our government received a request from America for the extradition of
146Major Angie Sirius... then, she is under the protection of the Yotsuba family!?” Gen
147exclaimed.
148“This request was not from Sirius.”
149Tatsuya outright denied Gen’s speculation. He did not wish to lie, but he had no
150qualms with telling half-truths. He was hiding a girl named “Angelina Kudou
151Shields.” “Angie Sirius” was a pseudonym and mask given to her by the USNA army
152and government, and Tatsuya did not feel obliged to participate in these machinations.
153In any case, Motoharu did not suspect anything in Tatsuya’s statement so the
154conversation moved on.
155“Whoever your client is, I can only say that trying to get into Midway Prison is
156recklessness.”
157Gen’s tone indicated that he was still in amazement at the reasons behind this
158meeting.
159“Then, you know what present Midway is like?”
160Tatsuya understood Gen’s hints of "you must stop,” but he ignored Gen’s opinion for
161the moment.
162“I do not know much about the inside of the prison, but the general situation is clear.”
163Both Tatsuya and Miyuki continued looking at Gen, waiting for more. Gen had hoped
164that Miyuki would stop Tatsuya, but sighed as he realized it wasn’t going to happen.
165“I will share what we know, but we will not be able to provide support.”
166“I understand.”
167Tatsuya didn't need this extra warning from Gen. Neither he, nor Maya, nor
168anyone else in the Yotsuba family had planned on asking the Mitsuya family or any of
169the other families in the Ten Master Clans and 18 Assistant Houses for help.
170However, Tatsuya kept his answer at that.
171“Only defensive ground forces are located on Midway Island. Other than transport
172ships, no naval military ships are located there.”
173Gen seemed to finally understand that the Yotsuba were set on this business, and he
174did not voice his warning again. After a short pause, he began to talk about the
175information Tatsuya wanted.
176“There are no air forces either. Perhaps their is the fear that prisoners could use them
177to escape,” Gen continued.
178“Are sea and air bases on another island?” Tatsuya asked.
179“On an artificial one. There is a giant floating artificial island created in the Pearl and
180Hermes atoll. Troops were relocated there about six months ago, but…”
181Gen paused for a moment before continuing.
182“Pearl and Hermes is an atoll approximately 250 kilometers east-southeast of Midway
183Island. It belongs to the northwestern part of the Hawaiian archipelago, and it is
184littered with many sandy islands. A larger artificial island with a USNA military base
185is built around the outside of the coral reef.
186“One aircraft carrier, two escort ships, two destroyers, and one submarine were
187assigned to the naval base. There is no runway on the artificial island itself, but there
188are more than 70 fighter jets on the aircraft carrier.”
189Gen laid out this information as a brief report.
190“This is a combat force that one person cannot hope to cope with unless he possesses
191Strategic class magic.”
192Tatsuya had not yet been announced as the source of the “Great Bomb,” but from the
193meaningful tone and gaze of Gen, one could assume that he knew about it.
194However, this was nothing to be surprised about. Based on Lina’s stories, it was clear
195that Stars knew quite a bit about the explosion of matter. It was also likely that
196Bezobrazov had told others in the New Soviet Union about this. Finally, when
197Bezobrazov had first learned about the user of “the great bomb”, William MacLeod
198from Britain was also present.
199Information could have spread even more in Japan by word of mouth. The Mitsuya
200family had a widespread information network both inside and outside the country. It
201would be odd if the head of such a large information network was unaware of
202Tatsuya’s possession of Strategic class magic.
203“What is the approximate size of the ground forces on Midway Island?” Tatsuya
204asked.
205The fleet assigned to the Pearl and Hermes base was a significant military power, but
206it was intended for a battle between armies. Tatsuya did not intend to openly oppose
207USNA so it was unlikely that the fleet would attack him, but the garrison troops on
208the Midway Island would still be an obstacle.
209“You’re still going to do it...?” Gen muttered, sighing. But he was not surprised. He
210did not think the Yotsuba would retreat from such a minor obstacle of a naval fleet.
211Gen looked at his son, but Motoharu had already brought the data up on his
212information terminal before he was given the signal.
213“Other than the prison staff, there should be between 200 and 250 soldiers on the
214island. One of the squads consists of magicians, but they are not Stars.”
215“What is the level of their weapons?”
216“In addition to the personal weapons of the soldiers, there are two Fleming Launchers
217on the roof of the prison.”
218Motoharu continued answering Tatsuya's questions. The Mitsuya family possesses
219quite a lot of detailed information, so it took some time to finish, but Tatsuya felt that
220the visit to the Mitsuya family had ended with a satisfactory result.
221This was helped by the fact that the Mitsuya family did not demand any form of
222compensation or payment for this assistance.
223â—Šâ—Š â—Š
224Miyuki asked Tatsuya about Midway after they returned home. Even though
225private transport cabins guaranteed privacy, she chose to wait until they returned
226home to discuss secure matters.
227“Onii-sama, are you really going to go there?”
228Miyuki had known about the operation to rescue Canopus from Midway Island even
229before Tatsuya reported it to Maya, but until now she was only in a position of passive
230denial. However, after hearing about the military power present, her anxiety grew.
231“Yes. I have not decided on an exact time yet, but I will try soon.”
232Tatsuya more worried about Miyuki worrying about him than about himself, but he
233could not ignore her question either.
234“…Is it because this is Lina's request?”
235Miyuki’s mood darkened further as she asked her next question. Even she realized
236that some of her behavior stemmed from jealously, but it was also more than that.
237Miyuki's voice was too serious.
238“It is just an excuse,” Tatsuya answered.
239Tatsuya gave a vague answer because he wasn’t sure what Miyuki was currently
240thinking about Lina other than that it was complex. All Tatsuya could do was express
241his feelings and thoughts fully and truthfully.
242“Canopus is a serious opponent, possibly more dangerous than Bezobrazov and Sirius
243as an adversary.”
244Tatsuya specified “Sirius” in this situation. Ignoring her weak will to fight, Lina was
245similar to Tatsuya and Miyuki in magical power. When comparing her with Canopus
246Tatsuya’s impression was that he was an even stronger opponent than Sirius.
247“If Canopus became a Parasite, he would be our unconditional enemy. We should try
248to avoid this situation if at all possible. Liberating him will remove the possibility of
249him being infected,” Tatsuya finished.
250“But…”
251Miyuki was still unsure. Midway Island was still the territory of the USNA.
252While she could understand using a distant attack to eliminate Canopus, she felt it
253was too risky to break a prisoner out. However, Miyuki had already talked to
254Tatsuya about that idea when the plan was first brought up. The results are evident.
255“I will not act recklessly. If the breakout proves to be impossible, I will blow the
256prison up.”
257This was not the first time Tatsuya had stated this, and it was not just an excuse to
258appease Miyuki. Tatsuya had not abandoned the idea of blowing up Midway Prison
259with Material Burst. As always, his priority was eliminating the threat to him and
260Miyuki before appeasing Lina. It was what he was best at, anyway, so this was not
261surprising.
262“Besides, the plan is not yet decided yet as the current situation is too unstable. I may
263still revise my opinion with further information.”
264“I guess...”
265Tatsuya had only given general reasoning and had not quite convinced Miyuki, but
266the future was too fluid to accurately predict.
267Neither of them quite believed that the current prevailing view would become the
268reality.
269â—Šâ—Š â—Š
270Once Tatsuya and Miyuki left the Mitsuya house, the current and next heads of
271the Mitsuya family continued the conversation together.
272“Father, should we inform the self-defense forces that the Yotsuba plan to attack the
273prison on Midway Island?”
274Motoharu was the first to speak.
275“But we should also consider the possibility of information leaking to America...”
276Gen said. “No, this goes against the loyalty of magicians. I can’t betray one of the Ten
277Master Clans to the army or America.”
278Gen rejected his son's offer, but not without hesitation. His uncertain tone betrayed his
279true thoughts.
280“But if you keep silent now, the Mitsuya family could be seen as an accomplice of the
281Yotsuba.”
282“We did not ask for compensation solely to avoid such thoughts.”
283“I don't think that would be convincing,” Motoharu responded.
284Gen fell silent at his son’s statement. Gen understood that not asking for
285compensation for the release of information was too weak of a defense.
286“…Leaking this to America is unacceptable. We won't be able to explain ourselves at
287the Ten Master Clans conference. “
288After a bit of silence, Gen said this while shaking his head.
289“Still, we should at least notify the self-defense forces about Shiba-dono’s plan.
290“...Alright.”
291Gen couldn’t disagree this time.
292“But we must choose the recipient of the information carefully. If the anti-magic
293movement finds out about this, we will have repeated the mistake of the Saegusa and
294Kudou families.”
295Motoharu nodded in response to Gen’s words.
296“We should talk to Lieutenant General Saeki from the 101 st brigade, as she is
297associated with Shiba Tatsuya-dono,” Gen said now that they were in agreement.
298“Yea, Lieutenant General Saeki should be able settle this without conflict.”
299“Then I will take care of it immediately,” Gen responded and Motoharu stood up.
300The conversation done, they prepared to leave, but neither Gen nor Motoharu paid
301attention to the hurriedly receding footsteps outside the door.
302"I heard something terrible..."
303Shiina ran into her room and sat on the carpet on the floor, still holding the tray she
304had used to bring the cups earlier.
305Shiina’s ears were exceedingly sensitive. She could hear tiny vibrations
306ordinary people could not, but this also made the everyday sounds feel like an attack
307of intolerable noise to Shiina. Her body was completely normal, so doctors
308hypothesized that she subconsciously activates magic to increase hearing. This is
309supported by the fact that her hypersensitive ears become normal as she sleeps.
310However, despite knowing the cause, nothing can be done to affect the magic as it
311can’t be observed from outside information bodies. Since the magic exists entirely
312inside Shiina, no outside measures can be taken to detect the magic. The only
313treatment was the usage of soundproof headphones with a microphone on the outside
314and speakers inside to control the volume of noise. The sounds coming into the
315microphone are played at a volume harmless to Shiina through the speaker inside the
316cup.
317Shiina usually only took off her headphones while swimming or sleeping, so
318she had them on when she went to pick up the empty tray she had brought cups on.
319Her headphones were only designed to lower the volume of loud sounds to a volume
320Shiina could withstand, so while they did not amplify weak sounds, they also did not
321block sounds that were originally harmless. Shiina’s headphones were able to detect
322and recreate sounds to incredibly low volumes. This allowed Shiina’s oversensitive
323hearing to hear her brother and father’s conversation even though she did not intend to
324eavesdrop.
325“When they said Shiba-dono, did they mean Shiba-senpai? Will they tell the army
326about Shiba-senpai?”
327Shiina had heard the conversation from when Motoharu and Gen were still discussing
328"leaks to America," so while she didn’t know Tatsuya’s plan, from phrases like
329"antimagic movement", "mistake of the Saegusa and Kudou families", and "settle this
330without conflict", she understood that this was a rather suspicious conversation.
331"What to do..."
332Shiina had heard enough of the conversation to realize that her father and brother were
333plotting treachery against Tatsuya. Though she was much more loyal to her family
334than to Tatsuya, Shiina felt that treachery was evil. In her system of values, she felt
335that bullying like this was Tatsuya - she felt it would be wrong if she allowed the
336current atrocity to go on just because it was her family.
337"Should I tell Shiba-senpai about this...?"
338But if she did that, she herself would have committed treachery.
339So at that, Shiina was trapped in her reasoning.
340Volume 27, Chapter 5
341Sunday July 7th. For students attending one of the 9 National High Schools of Magic,
342this was the weekend after the first semester’s exams in addition to Tanabata.
343Usually the student council was busy around this time as they selected players and
344actively prepared for the upcoming Nine Schools Tournament, but the tournament had
345been canceled this year, so the Student Council was able to rest today. This was the
346first day in a while that Miyuki had not had a timetable.
347“Onii-sama, would you take me with you today?”
348In a shy voice, Miyuki asked Tatsuya if she could accompany him during breakfast.
349“To Miyaki Island?”
350“Yes. I assumed you were going to visit Lina today?”
351Tatsuya had not truly visited Lina since 3 days ago. He had gone to Miyaki Island the
352day before, but didn’t stay long enough for it to be called a visit. He did not doubt
353Lina, but both Tatsuya and Miyuki felt it was safest to not leave a Strategic Class
354magician unattended.
355“I planned to go there immediately after visiting Minami.” Tatsuya answered,
356immediately continuing to say, “Sorry. I should have planned that you would go too. I
357blithely forgot that today is Sunday.”
358Miyuki giggled slightly from Tatsuya’s comment that imitated that of a recluse who
359had forgotten about a national holiday.
360“Then…”
361“Yes. After visiting the hospital, we will go to Miyaki Island together,” Tatsuya
362responded.
363“In that case…”
364Miyuki folded her arms in front of her chest and looked Tatsuya in the eyes. She was
365much better than Mari at using female “tactics” to bargain selfishly.
366“Can we go by car?”
367“Of course. Wait a little, and enjoy your first trip on the surface of the sea.”
368Hearing Tatsuya's answer, Miyuki smiled happily, her eyes glowing.
369â—Š â—Š â—Š
370July 7, 2097, 8:00. A helicopter of the USNA army flew to the base of Zama.
371It flew in from the Independence Aircraft Carrier - currently stationed at
372Yokosuka base’s port. Information about this flight had been sent from the Aircraft
373Carrier yesterday, and the flight’s purpose was the transport of passengers from the
374damaged transport aircraft. The commander of the Zama base was informed about the
375transfer of half of the crew to Independence. Base Zama had no reason to refuse
376except that the notification of the flight came too late, barely before the event. All
377procedures had been followed, however, so on request from the aircraft, the
378dispatched issued a landing permit.
379“Minoru, I leave the commander to you.”
380Inside the transport plane, Regulus bowed to Minoru He had been ordered to move to
381Independence aircraft carrier to join the attack on Miyaki Island tomorrow. The
382container with the frozen body of Arcturus, however, needed to stay on the transport
383plane so as not to arouse suspicion.
384“I will do everything in my power,” Minoru said.
385Minoru was going to stay on the transport plane to try to remove the seal on Arcturus.
386He planned to kidnap Minami during the attack on Miyaki Island, so he was going to
387act separately from Regulus and the others anyway.
388“Bye, Minoru. Even though our time together was short, it was fun.”
389Raymond said goodbye to Minoru in a way that made it unclear whether he was
390serious or joking. Raymond was not a part of Stars and could do what he wanted, but
391he had no reason to stay with Minoru so he decided to stay with Regulus as he didn’t
392know how else he would safely withdraw from Japan.
393“Yes, but here we say goodbye. Contact me if you require assistance,” Minoru
394responded.
395“You too, Minoru. I am not in a position to continue contact with you in the future,
396but I will do everything I can. After all, we are both parasites.”
397“Yes. Agreed.”
398Raymond’s words seem to hide some other meaning, but Regulus plainly without any
399other intent as he extended his right hand to Minoru. Minoru responded by sticking
400his own hand out to accept that handshake.
401With an expression seeming to say “nothing can be done about this”, he also shook
402Raymond’s outstretched hand.
403“I wish the success of your mission.”
404With these words, Regulus and Raymond had to leave.
405After watching Regulus and Raymond take off in the helicopter from the
406cockpit of the transport plane, Minoru headed back to the cargo hold. There was
407surprisingly little cargo considering it was a transport plane, but the main “cargo” the
408plane transported was people, as was fairly common for military transport aircraft.
409There was practically no other cargo in the hold other than the container holding
410Arcturus, so it immediately caught the eye when walking into the room.
411"Seems to be a mixture of Yin-Yang techniques based on Shugendo and Western
412ancient magic - Enoch's black magic,” Minoru muttered to himself.
413Touching the seal that had put Arcturus to sleep, Minoru knitted his brows.
414"If it was based on Taoism, there would be no problem...”
415Minoru had inherited a lot of knowledge about Taoist magic from Zhou Gongjin, but
416Zhou Gongjin only had slight knowledge on Western magic – mainly about the spells
417he needed to use. Zhou Gongjin was not a magician but a practitioner, so his
418knowledge of spells was based around his specialization.
419"First you need to confirm his state of consciousness," Minoru thought to himself.
420His consciousness may still be functioning – just blocked out from the outside world,
421not allowing him to react to anything.
422Minoru started by releasing psionic waves into Arcturus’s body. These waves were
423used in external systematic magic meant for interacting with the mind. When psions
424are organized into an information body, they can influence the mind in addition to the
425physical body.
426Psions meant for interacting with the mind are organized in a completely
427different manner than psions with meant for interacting with the physical body. In
428order to interact with the mind, psions must be organized into far more complex
429structures in order to be recognized as an information body. This is partly what
430determines someone’s fitness for mental-interference magic – their ability to organize
431psions into more complex structures.
432When Minoru was still human, he was not particularly good at making complex
433information bodies, but now that he was a parasite, he could clearly recognize
434pushionic information bodies. However, Minoru still could not detect the mind of the
435sealed Arcturus despite his increased abilities. He had no idea where he was hidden.
436Minoru knew Arcturus's physical body had to be connected to his mind through the
437psionic information body sealing it, so Minoru sent a neutral psionic body – one that
438does not affect emotions or impulses – into Arcturus’ body.
439"It’s weak, but..."
440Minoru was sure that he had felt a response from the psionic information body
441connected to Arcturus’ body, but as was clear from its name, mental interference
442magic, the magic can influence the mind but not the information body corresponding
443to the physical body. The change in Arcturus’ psionic information body had not taken
444place anywhere except for the mind.
445"Still, this approach was useful."
446The fact that there was a response meant that Arcturus could be unsealed. By
447following the information body’s reaction, the place where the mind was hidden could
448be found, and from there a method could be found to awaken it.
449Minoru continued his magic trying to free Arcturus carefully – he was very careful to
450not be discovered by the base sensors.
451â—Š â—Š â—Š
452Local time: 09:00, July 7
453A high school student and a junior high school student were visiting the Komatsu base
454of the self-defense forces. The names of the two were Ichijou Masaki and Ichijou
455Akane - siblings from the Ichijou family of the Ten Master Clans.
456Their father and head of the Ichijou family, Ichijou Goki, did not accompany
457them, but Masaki behaved with dignity – he did not show any concern at the lack of a
458guardian. He was still a high school student, but he could be considered a veteran in
459combat experience. He was not nervous at all while passing through the gates of the
460base. However, the same could not be said for his younger sister - Akane showed a
461few weak signs of anxiety.
462Shortly after they showed their identification cards causing the dispatcher to call a car,
463the car arrived at the gate to pick them up. Their visit today was at the request of the
464army, so naturally the army was prepared for them.
465“What do you think about her? Can we talk?”
466Akane whispered to Masaki, unable to tolerate the silence. Though she usually teased
467Masaki while talking to him, she did not dislike him and she did not ignore him. She
468did not have any “special” feelings beyond being family, but her brother was the next
469head and hope of the Ichijou family.
470“Lieutenant Liu is fluent in Japanese.”
471The soldier driving the car answered Akane’s question. He wanted to lighten the
472atmosphere to make Akane relax, and the soldier was young enough that he could
473behave somewhat naturally with a junior high school student.
474“Having everyday conversations with her will not be a problem. If she did not possess
475Strategic Class magic, she would be a somewhat normal Junior High school student.”
476“Therefore, we must be vigilant, so as to be careless not to say too much,” Masaki
477said after the soldier. “But we should be careful, as excessive caution could have the
478opposite effect we want.”
479Despite the soldier’s intent, the conversation had only increased the siblings’
480vigilance, and they drove up to the building Liu was in in that state. The soldier led
481the two inside, and they were surprised at how much a “hotel” vibe was given off by
482the military residential building.
483Masaki and Akane met Liu Li Lei in the first floor lobby. At first glance, she
484seemed to be alone, but of course this was a faked atmosphere: with his perception,
485Masaki found more than 10 magicians.
486“Nice to meet you, my name is Liu Li Lei.”
487After the driver brought Akane and Masaki to the location with Liu and Lin, Liu
488introduced herself. As the driver had said, her Japanese was completely natural.
489“Nice to meet you too. My name is Ichijou Masaki.”
490Masaki responded to Liu Li Lei in the same polite manner.
491“Uwaa, what a cutie…” Akane let herself slip.
492“Hey!”
493Masaki hastily reproached her in a whisper.
494“...My name is Ichijou Akane, and I am the younger sister of Masaki. Nice to meet
495you.”
496Akane pulled herself together and hurried to introduce herself. She bowed sharply,
497and her cheeks were flushed.
498Akane’s embarrassed introduction caused Liu to relax her overstrained face as a hint
499of a smile showed on her face.
500â—Š â—Š â—Š
501Today, Kichijouji Shinkuro woke up at 9:20. He had slept for exactly 3 hours
502and 30 minutes. This was not nearly enough, but as soon as he got up he swallowed a
503caffeine pill, washed his face, and put the TV on an interactive channel that broadcasts
504military information requested by the user. Upon learning that the fleet of the New
505Soviet Union had not yet advanced, Kichijouji sighed with relief.
506“So I still have some time.”
507He said this out loud to cheer himself up, then immediately grasped a CAD the size of
508a large suitcase, loaded with the activation sequence with the new Strategic Class
509magic, by its handle. He had finished creating the magic this morning.
510The CAD was integrated into a medium-sized computer which shifted the
511target area of the activation sequence based on data from radar, optical sensors, and
512aerial photography, as well as the information for many thousand sequences of magic.
513All of this needed to be planned in 0.01 second intervals to cover the target area, so
514most of the suitcase’s volume was occupied by the computer and its power source.
515Fortunately for Kichijouji, this system of CAD-computer integration had
516already been developed in other labs for uses unrelated to this new magic. This
517allowed Kichijouji to focus entirely on developing the activation sequence of the
518CAD.
519As of now, the software part of the CAD, the activation sequence was ready and the
520hardware was assembled, but the development was not complete without testing.
521Magic is done by the magician – even if one creates a flawless activation sequence, it
522can’t be considered magic until a magician uses it.
523“Masaki will be able to use this.” He steeled himself from his doubts.
524Kichijouji was confident that Masaki could use this new Strategic Class magic. At
525least, he wanted to believe in him – he wished he had blind confidence. But in the far
526corner of his consciousness, he still had the fear, "what if...". This fear turned into
527anxiety and prompted Kichijouji to take action quickly.
528“In any case, we will test it soon, before the attack of the New Soviet Union.”
529Kichijouji had deep psychological trauma regarding the attack of the New Soviet
530Union.
531Sado Island, his home until his first year of high school, had been attacked by a small,
532disguised fleet sent from the New Soviet Union. His parents had been killed by this
533attack, and though the New Soviet Union had denied involvement in the invasion five
534years ago, Kichijouji believed it was them. In his heart, he was convinced that it was
535the New Soviet Union that destroyed his home and killed his parents. The attack had
536scarred him, and now the wound seemed to be re-opening: once again, the New
537Soviet Union was posed to attack.
538"This time… I will not let you."
539Kichijouji knew that he did not have the power to repel the New Soviet Union alone,
540but his heart warmed by the thought that his best friend would beat them using the
541magic he created. The warmth from that thought might be able to heal his injury.
542He wanted to know as soon as possible whether his friend would be able to use the
543magic.
544Kichijouji hurried to Ichijou's house without even bothering to find out Masaki's
545plans.
546When he saw himself in the mirror installed at the entrance to the hotel, he finally
547noticed he was still wearing his pajamas. Embarrassed, he hurried back to his room.
548â—Š â—Š â—Š
549Tatsuya and Miyuki arrived at Miyaki Island at about 10:00. Miyuki was
550exhilarated during the journey across the sea at a speed of 300 km / h (reaching a
551maximum speed of 400 km / h). Despite its speed being extremely high for a car, the
552aircar was designed for flying – a maximum speed of 400 km / h is quite low when
553compared to commercial aircrafts.
554When “driving on water,” the aircar actually flies slightly above the surface of
555the water and does not actually touch the water. This partly contributed to the
556excitement of riding in the car when compared to a plane ride, as the speed feels much
557higher when closer to the ground – with a lower field of view, objects move out of
558vision much quicker, giving the illusion of speed. Miyuki was not the type to seek
559speed, but she was still able to feel excited as the surface sea seemed to fly past them
560on both sides.
561Shortly after arriving on the Island, Tatsuya and Miyuki found Lina.
562“Lina, how are you?”
563“Miyuki... You look like you’ve had quite the time.”
564...Even Lina noticed the difference in Miyuki.
565“Really? I did not notice at all.”
566Miyuki was still in an excited state, so she responded differently than she usually
567would.
568“So, what about you, Lina? Are there any inconvenience?”
569“... Thank you, I'm fine.”
570Realizing how different Miyuki’s atmosphere was from usual, Lina refrained from
571asking further questions.
572“I don’t feel any discomfort thanks to you and your family. And the guys from the
573management staff are also very kind.”
574“I see. That’s good,” Miyuki responded.
575“What are we talking about? Let’s go sit down,” Lina said.
576Lina’s impression of this building was that it “looks like a comdominum.” The
577building had a small separate side living room where Lina led Tatsuya and Miyuki
578from the entrance, inviting them to sit on the sofa.
579“Would you like some iced coffee?” asked Lina, heading to the adjoining kitchen.
580“Yes, thank you.”
581“Then me too.”
582Tatsuya and Miyuki answered without hesitation.
583Soon, Lina returned with three glasses on a tray.
584Tatsuya had his coffee black, with no milk or syrup, and Miyuki added some
585milk, but no syrup. Lina initially started to reach toward the syrup, but stopped
586herself, not wanting to be seen as a child. She eventually took the milk and added it in
587large quantities to her coffee.
588Once the three finished drinking, all three returned their glasses to the table.
589“Let’s get straight to the point. I have bad news.”
590Tatsuya’s words were obviously not about the impression of the drink, so Lina was
591able to look Tatsuya in the eye and ask him to continue with her stare.
592“No later than tomorrow, the Far Eastern fleet of the New Soviet Union will go south
593on the Sea of Japan. This time, our country is fully ready for interception: our fleet is
594ready to be sent at any time.”
595“Is Japan going to directly clash with the New Soviet Union?” Lina asked doubtfully.
596“It’s unlikely to reach total war, but a clash cannot be avoided.”
597“The requirement of the New Soviet Union was the extradition of Liu Li Lei, right?”
598Japan had not declared their giving of asylum to Liu, but the New Soviet Union had
599declared to the world that it "demands the extradition of war criminal Liu Lily from
600Japan."
601“Yes, but we understand that this runaway fourteen-year-old girl will be executed, so
602we cannot just give her away,” Tatsuya answered.
603“Yes, they said on TV that the NSU is trying to create a pretext for war by putting
604together impracticable conditions.”
605The TV Station Lina was talking about showed more than Japanese channels, and her
606residential building (built for administrative staff) was connected to various cable
607networks. The news channel she heard that from was an American cable network.
608“I doubt the New Soviet Union will seriously try to assimilate Japanese territory. They
609have another, hidden purpose, but I can not say exactly what it is,” Tatsuya said.
610“Isn't it is the factory being built here? Tatsuya seems to be a real nuisance to their
611country.”
612Miyuki slightly rounded her eyes, surprised at the unexpectedly harsh words of Lina.
613“...What?”
614Lina unintentionally frowned at Miyuki’s reaction.
615“No, I just think so too,” Miyuki explained as she regained her calm face.
616Lina stared at Miyuki, looking for the catch.
617“That is one possible option.”
618After Tatsuya’s statement, Lina returned her attention to him.
619“If that’s the case, we need to consider the safety of Lina,” Tatsuya stated.
620“I can fight too,” Lina said, protesting slightly.
621“I have no doubt about you, but if their goal different, then Lina will have problems
622that cannot be ignored.”
623Tatsuya deliberately hinted in his words that their problems would be limited by Lina.
624“I do?”
625Lina’s question was obvious.
626“Even if we repel the Far Eastern fleet this time, their will still be tension between
627Japan and the New Soviet Union. Japan will not be able to involve itself in the
628problems in the USNA.”
629Never battle on two fronts. This is an absolute principle in more than war, and
630Tatsuya felt that those who choose a battle strategy on two fronts are infinite optimists
631who do not distinguish speculation from desires.
632“As long as there is tension between Japan and the New Soviet Union, Japanese
633authorities will try to prevent our attack on the Midway prison. It will be difficult to
634prepare ships, even if they are private. It will be the same with aviation,” Tatsuya
635explained.
636“…I understand.”
637Lina did not blame Tatsuya. She understood that it would be unfair to blame and shift
638her anger to him.
639“I am trying to come up with a plan to save Major Canopus, but I need some more
640time for this.”
641“…I did not say that it needed to be done right away. I understand that preparation for
642something like this takes time. But please remember I’m relying on you, Tatsuya,”
643Lina said.
644“It’s good that you understand that.”
645Tatsuya comforted Lina, who was hanging her head in despondency. On the surface,
646they seemed to be speaking to each other with dry and cold phrases, but on a deeper
647level, their words held sympathy and respect… at least, that was how Miyuki saw
648their interaction.
649This was also how Miyuki saw Tatsuya and Lina sitting across from each other on
650opposite sides of the table.
651A weak fire of jealousy caught in her chest.
652â—Š â—Š â—Š
653The meeting between the Great Asian Alliance refugees and Ichijou family siblings
654was supposed to have a peaceful atmosphere, but this proved to be an overly-
655optimistic situation, and them meeting developed by exchanging requirements with
656strained faces on both sides. Though initially the conversation seemed to be heading
657in a more familiar direction with Akane’s comment, that feeling quickly wore off and
658the strain of the situation became dominant once more.
659“I’m telling you: considering that Lieutenant Liu is only 14 years old, she should be
660placed in the civilian sector, and not a military facility! We have no intention of
661brainwashing or something like that!” Masaki exclaimed.
662“It is precisely because she is only 14 years old that her compatriots must stay with
663her! If you are trying to take her to a civilian object, we can only think that you want
664to separate us!” Lin responded.
665“Our home is not a ‘civilian object’! The Ichijou family takes its safety seriously!”
666Masaki responded. “Sorry for being rude, but mansions of the Ten Master Clans are
667not just civilian buildings: they are fortresses of civilian combat magicians. And as for
668your comment saying we were aligned with the military - it was really rude! The Ten
669Master Clans would never do what you’re thinking! We are an organization providing
670mutual aid for magicians, therefore we want to protect Lieutenant Liu! Our goal is not
671just to separate you!” Masaki angrily added.
672“Your assistance is not necessary! We have enough protection from the Japanese
673army!”
674This dispute broke out between Masaki and Commander Lin. Masaki had already
675caught Commander Lin’s intentions, but he still did not retreat from his position.
676“Sorry for being rude, but Lieutenant Liu is still a child. A child must see the world
677outside the army!”
678Masaki’s words were based on a weak sense of justice - it could even be called
679idealism – and not on personal experience. Masaki had not experienced anything like
680what he was fighting against. He interpreted the independence provided to the Ten
681Master Clans as an opportunity to use magic for their own benefit, and not as a
682weapon for the army.
683In battle, Masaki felt that they decided everything themselves. Soldiers made their
684own decisions. He did not deny that magicians often became weapons, but he felt they
685must make this choice themselves - his youth forced him to cling to such ideals.
686“Commander Lin, I wouldn’t mind if the Ichijou family took care of me.”
687The subject of the argument, Liu Li Lei, intervened in the Masaki and Lin’s dispute.
688“Special Lieutenant Liu, what do you mean!?”
689Commander Lin was both surprised and nervous at Liu’s words supporting Masaki.
690Her surprise even caused her to unwittingly switch languages: Liu had spoken in
691Japanese, but Commander Lin had objected in Chinese.
692“We may be in a position where we need protection, but as a School Officer, you do
693not need to make such concessions!”
694Commander Lin hurriedly tried to convince Liu to change her mind, and her words
695were translated by the interpreter present at the meeting.
696“Nii-san, we don’t need to rush this decision, do we? I don't mind staying here for one
697night.”
698Akane was tired of the strained atmosphere, so she suggested Masaki postpone the
699decision.
700Apparently, the soldiers of the base present at the meeting also agreed that it was
701necessary to cool down, so everyone supported Akane’s proposal.
702â—Š â—Š â—Š
703Liu and Lin returned to their assigned rooms, and the soldiers and base officers
704returned to their duties, leaving Akane and Masaki alone.
705“Nii-san, you are too hasty.”
706“You think so?”
707“Yes. What are you going to do now that you’ve pissed them off?”
708“…I do not think they got angry.”
709“It’s naive to think that they would openly show their anger, considering their
710position, but they got angry for sure.”
711Now, with only the two of them in the lobby where the meeting took place, the Akane
712and Masaki discussed the conversation.
713“But Lieutenant Liu seemed to agree, didn’t she?” Masaki argued.
714“It's not like that! When someone becomes a hostage, they feel compelled to agree
715just to settle the situation. Surely you understand this, Nii-san!”
716“...Sorry.”
717“In fact, Nii-san, you don’t understand how to deal with girls. To say such a horrible
718thing as ‘Lei-chan is only 14 years old’ is unacceptably rude,” Akane said without a
719hint of irony.
720“Come on, now. ‘Lei-chan’ – just to be sure, you’re referring to Lieutenant Liu,
721right?”
722“Mm? Well, yes. She is Li Lie-chan, so Lei-chan. She's such a cutie, it is a pity to call
723her something like ‘Lieutenant Liu’.”
724“…?! It doesn’t matter if it’s a pity! She is one of the "Thirteen Apostles" and belongs
725to the Great Asian Alliance! Is it really alright to call her by an affectionate Japanese
726honorific?!” Masaki exclaimed.
727“Mm, you think so?”
728At that moment, with the conversation going towards a rather strange direction, one of
729the base’s soldier approached them, apologizing.
730“Ichijou-san...”
731The soldier paused for a moment, realizing his statement was unspecific.
732“Ichijou Masaki-san, a visitor has come to see you.”
733“In here?” Masaki exclaimed.
734Masaki did not ask “to me?” but rather “here?” because he had not expected any
735visitors while at the military base. If the visitor was looking for him during his trip, it
736had to be quite an important matter.
737“Excuse me. Could you take me to him?”
738As soon as Masaki noticed that his question was meaningless, he got up and asked the
739soldier to show the way.
740“Follow me.”
741The soldier turned to the right and went, followed by Masaki who was followed by
742Akane.
743“... You don't have to go,” Masaki told Akane.
744“You want to leave me alone?”
745Masaki did not answer Akane's question, but he also did not question her further.
746Masaki thought that the visitor had come to the residential building, but the
747soldiers who had informed them about the visitor took them to a car and drove them to
748a building that looked like a laboratory. Upon arriving, the soldiers explained to them
749that this was a workshop in which war magicians serviced their equipment – primarily
750their CADs. They were led inside the building and escorted to a room on the second
751floor.
752“Masaki!”
753Masaki didn’t even have time to step into the room before he heard his name called by
754a familiar voice.
755“George? What are you doing here?”
756He instantly recognized the voice of his best friend, Kichijouji Shinkuro.
757“And why did he call me here on Komatsu base?” Masaki thought.
758“Hi, Shinkuro-kun. Is your business so urgent that you even visited Nii-san here?”
759Akane asked.
760Akane didn’t wait for Kichijouji to answer Masaki’s question, instead asking her own
761in a dissatisfied tone. She felt unhappy because Kichijouji had not even notice her,
762looking only at her brother.
763“Ah ... Akane-chan is also here.”
764Kichijouji’s response was completely inadequate considering Akane’s psychological
765state.
766“Sorry. No time to explain the details, every second counts.”
767After Kichijouji asserted this earnestly, Akane stopped sulking. She understood
768clearly that Kichijouji was not the type of person who dropped in simply to visit very
769often, and he had to have come with an important purpose. For Masaki, this was even
770more obvious – the last time he had seen Kichijouji in this state, it was the day before
771he had published the Cardinal System Weight Magic Code.
772The discovery of the Cardinal code – considered a breakthrough in magical science
773for even 10 – 20 years later. It was an extremely important discovery, partially
774proving the “Cardinal code” hypothesis.
775Kichijouji’s face was the same as that time.
776“George, what's your business with me? What do I need to do?”
777Unable to suppress his excitement, Kichijouji grabbed Masaki’s shoulders to answer
778his question.
779Masaki leaned back from Kichijouji’s approaching face.
780"Shinkuro-kun, pull yourself together!"
781Akane's cry was not entirely inappropriate – it was not just her imagination that
782Kichijouji seemed to be approaching Masaki to kiss him – but Akane’s voice did not
783reach Kichijouji. He had to have physically heard, but he was too excited for his mind
784to react.
785“I need you to test new Strategic Class magic! Masaki, it’s magic for you!”
786As soon as Masaki processed what Kichijouji said, he, like Kichijouji, grabbed
787Kichijouji’s shoulders.
788“New Strategic Class Magic!? George, you... created Strategic class magic!?”
789“Ah, no, not from scratch…”
790At Masaki’s question, Kichijouji’s excitement disappeared. He had not forgotten that
791he received the basic blueprint from Tatsuya, but his mind had been fully occupied
792with the desire to test the magic as quickly as possible to make sure Masaki could use
793it.
794“So, you didn't create it for me, George?” Masaki asked the stumbled Kichijouji with
795doubt in his voice.
796“No, I finished it alone!”
797When Masaki said the phrase “for me,” it pierced Kichijouji’s heart and he
798unwittingly asserted his achievement. Still, it wasn’t a lie, and Kichijouji should have
799said it from the beginning, but he had been focused on his rivalry with Tatsuya.
800“I see.”
801Masaki, not knowing the details, assumed Kichijouji had created it himself, but had
802used the results of the work of many other laboratory staff.
803“It is necessary to immediately test? I assume you came here for this,” Masaki asked.
804Their situations had shifted, and now Masaki was leaning towards Kichijouji.
805"Yeah, you're right."
806Kichijouji answered truthfully.
807There was once a “subcritical experiment” to test the process of causing an
808explosion of nuclear fission by stopping it immediately before the critical point to
809collect data for the simulation. The experiment Masaki and Kichijouji were about to
810perform to test the Strategic Class magic was by nature similar to this “subcritical
811experiment”.
812As the name “Strategic Class Magic” suggests, it is comparable in power to strategic
813class weapons, so it is difficult to test near civilian areas. Therefore, testing the new
814magic was done by canceling the magic sequences just prior to activation. Even
815though the result is canceled, it can be determined with a certainty of 80-90% whether
816the magic will function according to expectations. This method does not just prevent
817civilian casualties, but also prevents the information of the test from being leaked to
818other countries through military spy satellites.
819Though a probability of error of 10-20% may seem large, the success rate of large-
820scale magic is usually low until the caster gets used to the magic. It entirely possible
821for magic successful during testing to fail to activate during critical moments of
822battles. Because of this, unlike conventional magic tests, there was no need to cling to
823the ideal of “100% completion rate of all processes”.
824To conduct the experiment, Masaki, Kichijouji and Akane moved from
825Komatsu airbase to Kanazawa naval base. It was relatively new, built on the site of a
826coastal golf course destroyed during the last war.
827The base was small, but it was built for the use of magical tactics and the former First
828Laboratory took part in its design, so it was a suitable place for testing magic intended
829for sea battles.
830“Masaki. I think you understand this, but you cannot mess up your control of the
831interference strength of this phenomenon,” Kichijouji warned.
832“Of course I understand.”
833Magic projects an activation sequence onto the Eidos of its target and activates
834by infusing the caster’s psions to give the sequence its interference strength. Usually,
835the projection of an activation sequence and the infusion of magic power into the
836phenomenon were performed simultaneously, but in the pre-activation experiment, the
837interference strength of the phenomenon is kept at a level just enough to confirm the
838activation of the magic.
839Since the infusion of psions could not be controlled by hardware, it relied on the
840individual’s skill at performing magic. Because of this, experiments testing powerful
841magic are always accompanied by a risk.
842“...Akane. Maybe you'd better hide behind cover.”
843Both Masaki and Kichijouji had not wanted to bring Akane here with them and had
844initially tried to send her home.
845“Why?”
846“Eh?! What do you mean, ‘why’?! It’s dangerous!” Masaki exclaimed.
847“You won’t mess up,” Akane replied, showing no intent to back off.
848“I won’t, but…”
849“Then there is no danger.”
850Masaki could not refute Akane’s logic and was forced to allow her to go with them.
851Though he had still tried to stop her caustic phrases on Komatsu base like "nii-san,
852you are such an awkward child," he could no longer hold her back.
853“…Just don’t bother George.”
854After saying this, Masaki forgot his worries about Akane to focus all his attention on
855the experiment. Realizing that Masaki had shifted to a serious mood, Akane did not
856respond sarcastically as she usually might, but stood silently next to Kichijouji.
857Masaki took the sighting device which took his perspective outside the window
858and led him toward the sea. The length of the device was about 50 centimeters, and it
859resembled a short machine gun. It had uniform thickness and the handle was precisely
860in the middle, making the device well balanced and easy to hold with one hand.
861However, Masaki was holding it with two hands. He was grasping the device a little
862closer to the barrel with his left hand, as if he was using a real weapon. One part of the
863handle was not actually attached to the aiming device, and rather ran through body
864and rear part of the entire device – the parts performing the device’s main function.
865The handle contained the induction stone, which converted electronic data from the
866computer into psionic signals, so it was easier to connect it to the computer more
867directly.
868The special glasses Masaki was wearing projected a visual of the target area –
869they were a tool for visualizing the area to aim at. He was aiming at a rectangular
870plane on the surface of the sea, and the length and width of the target area could be
871configured with four buttons on the sides of the device. The top button stretched the
872width, both left and right, while the bottom did the inverse. Similarly, the front button
873increased the length, and the back button reduced the length. Changing the area also
874changed the field of view presented by the special glasses.
875The glasses currently projected an image of the sea 20 kilometers from the coastline,
876superimposed over the Masaki’s actual field of view. Using the buttons on the side of
877the aiming device, Masaki set a target area 1 kilometer wide and 500 meters long in
878the middle of the image.
879“I am starting the test.”
880After this statement, Masaki, Kichijouji, Akane, and all the base engineers who were
881helping with the experiment held their breath.
882Masaki removed his left hand from the buttons controlling the target area and brought
883it back under the barrel of the aiming device.
884Gripping the handle with his right index finger, he pulled the trigger of the aiming
885device.
886The computer converted the target effect on the target area into a format
887allowing the creation of activation sequences. The computer added coordinate data
888and timings to copy the magic sequences to each of the activation sequences stored,
889before sending all this data to the handle of the aiming device. The induction stone
890embedded in the handle converted all this electronic data into a psionic information
891body, and the resulting activation sequence was output as a psionic signal that merged
892with Masaki's right hand.
893The activation sequence had successfully been read.
894The activation sequence was sent to the magic calculation zone existing in Masaki’s
895subconscious.
896The activation sequence had successfully been built.
897From this point, Masaki was usually able to build the magic sequence in no less
898than .5 seconds, but this time it took Masaki a full second after reading the activation
899sequence to even begin outputting the magic sequence. Despite the increase in time,
900however, Masaki was able to use the magic, and the magic sequence was projected
901into the center of the target area.
902...After that, the magic was interrupted.
903But a moment before that, an essentially infinite number of magic sequences had
904filled the 1000-by-500-meter area of the sea surface.
905“The test is successful!”
906This statement from the smiling Kichijouji was drowned out by the joyful shouts of
907the base engineers.
908â—Š â—Š â—Š
909Local time: July 7, 6:00 p.m.
910Before sunset, Independence aircraft carrier emerged from the port of
911Yokosuka. It had arrived here 2 weeks ago and belonged to the USNA naval fleet.
912According to the official schedule, Independence practiced the takeoff and landing of
913its fighter planes at night in the southeast of Boso Peninsula before returning to the
914base in Hawaii.
915Independence was a rather old and slow ship. After it left the port and went
916onto the open ocean, a high-speed catamaran boat with a breakwater hull approached
917it.
918A small helicopter took off from Independence to board the speed boat – named
919Midway. Once the helicopter had landed stably, four soldiers and one civilian left the
920helicopter and boarded Midway. The people leaving were: three women officers;
921Captain Charlotte Vega, First Lieutenant Zoe Spick, and Second Lieutenant Leila
922Deneb; First Lieutenant Jacob Regulus; and Raymond Clark.
923When the five of them stepped onto the deck, a junior officer on board the speedboat
924greeted them.
925“Star dust, Soldier C13, Sergeant Charles Cooper at your service!”
926Even the still-spinning rotor of the helicopter did not drown out his voice.
927“The commander of the fourth squad of Stars, Captain Vega.”
928Vega answered the sergeant. Among the four soldiers in the company, Vega had the
929highest rank, so it was decided without words that she would be in command.
930“Twenty members of Stardust including myself are now under your command,
931Captain.”
932“Including the Sergeant, I accept command of the twenty members of Stardust,” Vega
933answered.
934“Ay!”
935All the members of Stardust answered her words. The mental wave from
936twenty people (except the Sergeant, who answered aloud), merged into one thought
937and flowed into Vega's mind like a powerful stream. The wave reached the other four
938Parasites who had come off the helicopter, including Raymond. Every member of the
939Stardust detachment present on the transport ship was a Parasite.
940The five arrivals led by Vega were first taken to a small briefing room inside the ship
941rather than the bridge. Vega had expected this, thinking there would be a discussion
942for the plan before they took control of the ship.
943“We need to determine the arrangement for tomorrow.”
944Vega skipped the intro and immediately brought up the main business.
945“Right. The operation is tomorrow, so we have to hurry.”
946Spica, accustomed to Vega’s behavior, added her remark to smooth Vega’s
947impression of excessive impatience.
948“Commander, do you have any ideas?”
949Deneb opened a map of Miyaki Island obtained by aerial photography on the table-
950shaped monitor and asked Vega about her plan. The fourth unit often left most of the
951decisions to Vega.
952Vega pointed to the northeast coast of the island and answered her subordinate:
953“Yes. Second lieutenant Deneb and I will take 10 Star Dust soldiers each and suppress
954any resistance. First Lieutenant Regulus will cover from the rear. Finally, First
955Lieutenant Spica and Raymond will stay on the ship to provide a path of retreat.”
956“I do not mind, captain, but what about the destruction of the plant?”
957Raymond was the first to agree, but his tone lacked sincerity.
958Vega slightly frowned at the tone of Raymond’s question. On the surface, Raymond
959was simply reminding the Vega of the main purpose of the plan, but the implications
960that held made the comment seem condescending.
961From Raymond’s perspective, he and Vega just didn’t get along - he felt that Vega
962was displeased with him because she had treated him like leftovers in her plan.
963Still, the Parasites had a united consciousness, so Vega’s decision was also
964Raymond’s. Thus, Raymond’s discontent was the conflict of his feelings and his
965reason, so he didn’t complain about it openly. Vega also shared Raymond's feeling
966that "this is not very interesting,” and they couldn’t pretend they didn’t notice it. This
967was not a conflict for another person for them, but a dispute with oneself.
968“I will call you when we complete the neutralization of the enemy, so prepare a bomb
969on the ship.”
970“Okay. Understood, captain.”
971The feeling of discomfort in relation to each other was equivalent to aversion to
972oneself, so they were able to quickly move on.
973“First Lieutenant Regulus, will that suit you?”
974“Yes captain.”
975“Then it’s settled. Everyone is free.”
976Vega finished the tactics meeting before the dislike of her began to intensify.
977Volume 27, Chapter 6
978July 8, 2097, 0:00 AM Japanese time.
979The Far Eastern fleet of the New Soviet Union left the port of Vladivostok.
980"The fleet of the New Soviet Union is approaching."
981After this news, many enterprises and educational institutions located in the
982regions on the coast of the Sea of Japan took steps to suspend work and study.
983People living along the coast in Sanin, Hokuriku, and Tohoku were ordered to advised
984to prepare for evacuation to shelters. The areas surrounding the cities were also
985encouraged to remain vigilant.
986The Yokohama incident that took place the year before last was a sudden event –
987there was no time to prepare, and people were not afraid of the approaching army until
988after the fact. By the time most people knew about it, it was already over – and Japan
989had won. In contrast, this time the New Soviet Union advanced openly, putting heavy
990pressure on the people and damaging their psyche.
991At noon Japanese time, the New Soviet Union’s fleet stopped 30 nautical miles
992north-west of the Noto Peninsula. It was a convenient spot, located on the border of
993two adjacent waters.
994The Soviet fleet was as follows:
995Two ships with Fleming launchers as their main armament, designed to attack
996ground targets.
997Four ships with anti-aircraft and anti-ship rocket launchers.
998Four ships with weapons to combat submarines and anti-ship rocket launchers.
999Twelve small ships in battle formation.
1000An aircraft carrier with two destroyers as escorts following 10 nautical miles
1001behind the rest of the fleet.
1002Against this fleet, the Japanese army sent four ships with anti-aircraft and anti-
1003ship rocket launchers as well as six ships anti-ship rocket launchers and with weapons
1004to combat submarines. In addition, each of the nearby cities (Maizuru, Kanazawa, and
1005Niigata) had 8 small ships ready for combat.
1006Both sides had submarines that might have detected each other somewhere under the
1007water.
1008The New Soviet Union’s requirement had not changed since the day before –
1009they demanded the extradition of Liu Li Lei, a war criminal who killed many civilians
1010with large-scale magic.
1011In response to this demand, the Japanese government had offered to hold a meeting in
1012the International Criminal Court. They had responded from the perspective of human
1013rights, stating that a unilateral New Soviet Union court was unacceptable to the rights
1014of the refugee. However, the International Criminal Court had not functioned for more
1015than half a century – it was currently a nominal organization, which, while technically
1016existing, had no power.
1017Still, despite the government’s stance on protecting human rights, the
1018government received criticism for defending Liu – “Is it reasonable to endanger the
1019lives of citizens for the sake of a foreigner?” they argued. However, when the news
1020showed photos of Liu, the voices scorning the government lose their support as people
1021felt sympathy seeing that Liu was just a 14-year-old girl. This might have been helped
1022by the fact that Liu was beautiful.
1023Liu Li Lei was still at Komatsu base.
1024And today, Ichijou Akane visited Liu with her father, Ichijou Goki - head of the
1025Ichijou family.
1026â—Š â—Š â—Š
1027Local time: July 8, afternoon. Masaki and Kichijouji were on Sado Island.
1028They had arrived there early in the morning, but not because they weren’t
1029aware of the movements of the New Soviet Union’s fleet. The reports claimed the
1030enemy was aiming west of Noto Peninsula, but Masaki trusted Kichijouji’s opinion
1031and instead headed to Sado Island while leaving the duty of guarding his sister while
1032looking after Liu Li Lei to his father.
1033Masaki and Kichijouji stood on the upper observation platform of the lighthouse,
1034located on the northern coast of the island. From there, it was possible to see the
1035approach of enemy ships without letting themselves be detected easily.
1036“George... Will they really come here?”
1037Masaki asked Kichijouji this while looking at the horizon. Doubt had inevitable crept
1038into his voice – the New Soviet Union’s fleet was located north-west of the Noto
1039Peninsula in a location similar to what the reports had predicted. Masaki was ready to
1040repel this fleet with great enthusiasm by using the new magic he had received
1041yesterday, but Kichijouji had strongly insisted that the New Soviet Union would not
1042invade Kanazawa or Komatsu, but rather Sado Island. Masaki could not ignore the
1043words of his best friend, so he left the neighborhood of Kanazawa and Komatsu to his
1044father and headed to Sado. However, the Ichijou family’s news and information
1045network reported that the enemy fleet continued to be northwest of the Noto Peninsula
1046– they would have to turn sharply east to head for Sado Island at this point.
1047"…At this rate, the new magic will be for naught” – this was the thought Masaki’s
1048impatience associated with.
1049“They will come. I'm certain.”
1050In response to Masaki’s doubt, Kichijouji was somehow still unnaturally filled with
1051confidence.
1052Kichijouji had wondered why Sado Island was attacked from the day he lost his
1053life – his hometown and his parents. His conclusion was that the Island of Sado held
1054significant military value.
1055The distance from Sado Island to Honshu was 30 kilometers, and though the island
1056was not in Japan’s face, so to speak, it was still an island, and its proximity to the
1057mainland made it a slightly unexpected target. Soldiers have to be sent by land – and
1058there was enough space to invading troops, as well as a port ready for use by
1059warships. It could be called a springboard for the New Soviet Union to invade Japan.
1060Rather than capture Hokkaido and move south, Sado Island provided a more effective
1061base for conquering the central part of Japan.
1062When setting up a beachhead, the main challenge would be to ensure air supremacy,
1063but that would be a problem everywhere. This possibility of an attack was a serious
1064problem for Japan, as despite the attack from five years ago, there was only a single
1065small defense unit deployed there.
1066In any case, Sado Island should have had a base for intercepting hostile naval
1067forces because of its special situation. The main reason it didn’t was likely because of
1068overconfidence of the self-defense forces with the Niigata base nearby. Though this
1069gave some safety to the island, the forces still had to travel to the island, which took
1070time. This made it an especially appealing target for the New Soviet Union.
1071But Kichijouji also had another rationale for his actions.
1072“The Japanese fleet is not weak. The New Soviet Union does not want to face it. Even
1073though the Great Asian Alliance has already surrendered, its troops are not completely
1074disabled.”
1075“Is that why they are planning a surprise attack?” Masaki asked.
1076“Exactly, Masaki.”
1077â—Š â—Š â—Š
1078The National University of Magic and its nine subordinate schools all
1079responded to the approach of Soviet fleet by closing school indefinitely, regardless of
1080location.
1081This was not for the same reason as conventional educational institutions, in which the
1082evacuation of students, teachers, and other staff was given the highest priority. It was
1083a measure organized to allow their presence in the defense force as volunteer
1084magicians.
1085Tatsuya should have appeared at the 101 st brigade because of this, but instead he
1086stayed home with Miyuki after visiting Minami at the Aoba clinic.
1087“Onii-sama, thanks for waiting.”
1088After Miyuki finished cleaning the dishes from their lunch and dressed up, she came
1089to the living room to get Tatsuya.
1090“Got it.”
1091Tatsuya, who was following the current situation through military data
1092transmissions and communications, turned off the wall display and stood up.
1093Together, they walked down to the underground garage and drove to the Aoba clinic
1094in Chofu in Tatsuya’s new favorite car. The road they drove on was empty due to the
1095Soviet invasion, so the drive only took 5 minutes.
1096“Minami-chan, may I come in?”
1097“Please do!” Minami answered energetically. She was wide awake after hearing
1098Miyuki from outside the hospital room. She seemed like a different person compared
1099to the time she first went to the hospital, but this was natural as she was to be
1100discharged the next day. Physically, she was nearly recovered.
1101“Tatsuya-san, Miyuki-san, thank you for coming. There are currently no anomalies.”
1102When they entered the room, Yuuka - the eldest daughter of the Tsukuba family, one
1103of the side branches of the Yotsuba clan - spoke to them. The Yotsuba clan did not
1104discriminate against either sex when choosing the heir, and she was the heir of the
1105Tsukuba branch.
1106“Yuuka-san, thanks. Your help was appreciated.”
1107Tatsuya and Miyuki had asked Yuuka to guard Minami for them while they ate their
1108lunch. Miyuki thanked Yuuka in past tense to indicate that they were once again
1109taking the role of guarding Minami.
1110“It's my pleasure.”
1111Yuuka got up from the couch, currently pushed against the wall. Yuuka had
1112brought it in order to have more comfortable seating, and the hospital room was
1113spacious enough to hold it, but the couch did not belong to Yuuka – it was paid for by
1114the main house.
1115The couch had been in the room for 1 week, the amount of time Yuuka had
1116participated in Minami’s defense.
1117“I will be in the guard room on this floor, then.”
1118“Later, I will also go there.”
1119With a slight wave of her hand at Tatsuya, Yuuka left the room. Miyuki exchanged
1120glances with Tatsuya, and after a bit of hesitation, she sat down on the sofa Yuuka had
1121gotten up from. Tatsuya did not follow her – the sofa was single – and instead sat on
1122the stool.
1123“Looks like you're prepared to be discharged,” Tatsuya said.
1124“What kind of preparation even is there... there isn’t enough baggage to make it
1125tough...”
1126As Minami said, the suitcase at the entrance was very small, and considering she
1127usually acted as a maid, it was unsurprising she would be ready.
1128“Tomorrow at 11 o'clock, right? If school’s closure was only today, then it will only
1129be me here to pick you up,” Tatsuya said.
1130“Why waste so much time!” Minami exclaimed.
1131“It doesn’t take much time.”
1132Minami opened her mouth several times before closing it, trying to come up with a
1133way to deny the help. In the end, she only sighed a little and closed her mouth,
1134realizing she would not be able to convince Tatsuya.
1135“Um, Tatsuya-sama...”
1136Still, she couldn’t suppress her desire to ask a question.
1137“Speak.”
1138Hearing that, Minami asked her question.
1139“…Is it really okay for you to not go to the base?”
1140What she really meant to ask was, “why are you here?”
1141“It’s all good. They sent someone as a replacement for me.”
1142... He cannot leave this location to others.
1143... He will personally protect Minami.
1144So, Minami understood Tatsuya’s answer.
1145â—Š â—Š â—Š
1146The high-speed transport catamaran Midway went along the aircraft carrier
1147Independence’s course for some time, but they eventually split up as Midway turned
1148south and west. The ship headed for an area about 90 km south of Boso Peninsula.
1149On that ship, Regulus, Raymond, Vega, Deneb, Spica, and the twenty Parasites of Star
1150Dust all headed towards Miyaki Island.
1151â—Š â—Š â—Š
1152"Are they already starting?"
1153Minoru, though still at Zama Base, was able to “feel” the course of the Midway
1154transport vessel change, signaling that the attack on the Star Reactor Plant was
1155underway.
1156Minoru was still inside the USNA transport aircraft. The plane was damaged and
1157could not fly, and the cargo compartment hid the body of the sealed commander of the
1158third detachment of Stars: Captain Arcturus, as a Parasite.
1159Minoru had been relentlessly trying to remove the seal on Arcturus. He was currently
1160at the final stage.
1161“After this, his consciousness has to awaken!”
1162After preparing the spell, Minoru sent it into Arcturus’s mind. The sequence of the
1163mental intervention magic he had prepared for the last several hours entered into
1164Arcturus’ pushion information body through the psionic information body connecting
1165the physical body to the mind.
1166Once the spell activated, Minoru felt Arcturus’s mind awaken. Though his body was
1167still asleep, Minoru finally felt Arcturus’s spiritual body react.
1168"Well... Now it’s just a matter of time before the seal falls apart on the inside."
1169Based on his “inherited” knowledge, Minoru thought that the cracked seal would
1170collapse from outside pressure if the shell was not repaired.
1171"That's just..."
1172Something bothered him. He had aroused the mind of the man named Alexander
1173Arcturus - the seal on the parasite was extremely strong, and its system was different
1174from the spells of Zhou Gongjin and the Kudou Family, so he had used a spell to
1175awaken the human mind.
1176In Parasites, the original human mind merged with the body of the parasite, so there
1177was a non-zero chance of the human mind rejecting the parasite if only the human
1178mind is awoken.
1179"...Even if this happens, they should simply merge again."
1180Arcturus’s brain had already adapted to the parasite, so Minoru convinced himself the
1181reaction rejecting the parasite would not kill him.
1182Using Parade and Ghost Walker, Minoru hid himself and walked out of the plane.
1183Ghost Walker covered the weakness Parade – the unnatural refraction of light – by
1184deflecting people’s attention.
1185Remaining invisible, Minoru walked through the base’s gate and crossed a nearby
1186park on foot before getting into a van parked on the opposite side of the road. The car,
1187brought from Nara on the orders of Kudou Makoto, was designed to transport
1188valuable materials or drugs requiring temperature control. Now, however, it had been
1189filled with parasite dolls disguised as dummies.
1190â—Š â—Š â—Š
1191Masaki and Kichijouji did not have chairs or anything else to sit on while they
1192waited on the observation deck of the lighthouse. There was the large CAD shaped
1193like a suitcase, but it wasn’t big enough for a high school student to sit on.
1194They were young enough that they didn’t tire much from standing, but their youth did
1195not affect their minds and they began to become bored and more relaxed. Still, they
1196did their best to stay vigilant and overall were carefully watching for the New Soviet
1197Union’s invasion fleet.
1198“They’re moving!” Kichijouji exclaimed while watching the movement of the Soviet
1199fleet through a tablet terminal.
1200“Where!?” Masaki exclaimed.
1201“Small high-speed ships accompanied by ships with weapons designed to attack
1202ground targets simultaneously began to move to the east. They have… monstrous
1203acceleration. They will reach our location in less than an hour.”
1204Hearing the answer, Kichijouji, Masaki sighed and said:
1205“Estimated maximum speed of about 140 knots...? Approximately the same speed as
1206our fastest ships, I guess. What about the interception forces?”
1207Kichijouji began digging for information from the tablet to answer Masaki’s question.
1208“It looks like our missile destroyers are restraining the enemy destroyers and are not
1209letting them do anything. Komatsu base aviation is being used to deter enemy aircraft
1210carrier fighters. Eight small ships departed from Niigata base, but… the unfavorable
1211outcome is undeniable.”
1212“So we use it?”
1213“Yeah.”
1214Kichijouji nodded to Masaki.
1215“We’ll interfere with the enemy operation. Before Bezobrazov attacks with Tuman
1216Bomba, you’ll hit them with Ocean Blast, Masaki.”
1217“Yes, I'll do it!”
1218Masaki nodded back in response to Kichijouji.
1219â—Šâ—Š â—Š
1220Tatsuya and Miyuki were still visiting Minami at Aoba Clinic. Though Miyuki
1221was with them, Tatsuya was an eighteen-year-old boy and Minami was a girl turning
1222seventeen later in the year, so Tatsuya’s long stay in the small hospital room (when
1223compared to the side of the Yotsuba houses; the hospital room was relatively large for
1224a hospital room) created an awkward atmosphere. Tatsuya left and went to the
1225security room to get rid of the feeling.
1226The hospital was mostly under the Yotsuba family’s control, and the floor
1227Minami’s room was on was reserved for individuals associated with the Yotsuba.
1228Because of this control, this floor had an additional security system installed in
1229addition to the security equipment set up by the hospital. Among other purposes, this
1230system was designed to track information from all over the hospital and display it in
1231the floor’s guard room.
1232“Ara, Tatsuya-san. Good job.”
1233As Yuuka said she would be earlier, she was waiting for Tatsuya in the guard room.
1234“Yuuka-san, thank you for your help. Are you replaced soon?”
1235“According to the schedule, I am, but I want to stay here for a while today.”
1236Though at times it made her seem impermanent, Yuuka was punctual. She was not the
1237type of person to work overtime without a reason.
1238“Okay. To be honest, it will help me quite a bit.”
1239Tatsuya was thankful for the help, but he understood Yuuka’s reason for staying.
1240“In the current situation, that Ministry of Defense Bureaucrat cannot prioritize
1241personal conflicts.”
1242Yuuka was referring to Shibata Katsushige when she said “Ministry of Defense
1243Bureaucrat” - the next head of the Shibata branch of the Yotsuba family. Katsushige’s
1244direct combat ability was probably the best among the side branches of the Yotsuba,
1245and his inability to participate in the current battle against Minoru due to the situation
1246with the New Soviet Union was definitely a hit to the force protecting Minami.
1247“…Listen, you think he’ll attack today, right?” Yuuka confirmed.
1248“I just do not know exactly when.”
1249Tatsuya answered with an indirect confirmation.
1250“I wonder if it was Kudou Minoru who created this situation.”
1251“Hardly. Still, there is a chance that he knew about it in advance, so he is probably
1252prepared.”
1253“Maybe.”
1254They both expected that Minoru would attack today, and they both thought that this
1255time, he would come with help.
1256“He’ll come with more than the Parasite dolls, right?” Yuuka asked.
1257Tatsuya had learned from Fumia and Yuuka from his report to Maya, but regardless of
1258where they learned it, they both knew that Minoru had stolen Parasite dolls from the
1259Kudou family.
1260“Minoru is no longer underestimating us,” Tatsuya answered vaguely.
1261“And yet, I wonder if there won’t be any trick to split our forces up. Do you think
1262there’ll be an attack on Miyaki Island?”
1263“We know that at least 1 member of Stars is a Parasite, so there’s not a small chance
1264for it to happen,” Tatsuya answered.
1265Lina had drawn Tatsuya’s attention to the possibility that the plant on Miyaki Island
1266would be attacked, and Tatsuya was not the only one from the Yotsuba aware of the
1267possibility of an attack on Miyaki Island. In addition to this, Lina had also confirmed
1268that the soldier who had entered the country through Kansai International Airport was
1269First Lieutenant Jacob Regulus of Stars.
1270“However, the other Parasites expelled were sealed in Zama, and since then, no
1271military aircraft have flown in from USNA. Local staff should be able to cope with
1272defending Miyaki Island on their own,” Tatsuya continued.
1273Tatsuya had no way to know that new Parasites had penetrated the country
1274from Yokosuka’s base. He also had no way to know that the soldiers infected by the
1275Parasites had been transferred from the transport plane to a high=speed transport
1276vessel via a submarine. None of the Yotsuba were aware of these facts – even Maya
1277herself.
1278“In an extreme case, it will be possible to count on the help of Shields-san,” Tatsuya
1279concluded.
1280Neither Tatsuya nor the Yotsuba were omnipotent – they were far from even reaching
1281omniscience, and did not know the whole situation.
1282â—Š â—Š â—Š
1283The catamaran Midway rested low on the surface of the water and had a long
1284form, and being fast, it also was somewhat stealthy. Still, even if it were possible to
1285hide from radar detection, the high-performance cameras located on the stratospheric
1286platform would still detect them, so they should not have been able to come close to
1287Japanese territory without being detected – even if their target was a small island.
1288“Lieutenant Regulus. Have you ever had such an effective optical camouflage
1289before?” Vega asked.
1290In fact, Regulus had neutralized the observation systems around Japan by
1291modifying both visible light and all other electromagnetic waves around the ship,
1292providing a powerful optical camouflage.
1293“This spell was given to us by Kudou Minoru to ensure the success of this operation,”
1294Regulus answered honestly.
1295By nature, the Parasites could not keep secrets from their comrades, but even if it was
1296possible, even Regulus was too surprised with his new magic to even think about
1297deception.
1298“Your magical skill improved dramatically after being given a single sequence of
1299magic?”
1300Spica’s question was one Regulus had asked himself.
1301“Isn’t it because we are Parasites? Our minds are connected, so perhaps when we
1302share sequences of magic with each other, we also share the skills in using them.”
1303“Isn't it weird?” Raymond butted in.
1304“What’s strange about it?” Regulus asked.
1305“When a magician becomes a Parasite, they tend to specialize in the same magic as
1306they did before.”
1307Raymond had more knowledge on this than the others because of his use of
1308Hliðskjálf.
1309“Isn’t that because we keep the personality?”
1310Raymond shook his head at Deneb’s question.
1311“I don’t doubt Parasite individuality, but we, the Parasites, are parts of a whole. In
1312other words, I’m talking about a division of labor.”
1313“Are you saying that’s why sharing skills is weird?”
1314This time he nodded at Regulus’s question.
1315“Giving another Parasite the ability to use one’s skill is like using one’s skill through
1316the Parasite, so its weird – then again, Minoru is weird for a Parasite. He’s different.”
1317“I don't like this...” Vega mumbled after she heard Raymond's reasoning.
1318"It’s like Kudou Minoru is using Regulus as a familiar," she thought.
1319“…At the moment, focus on successful implementation of the mission. Regardless of
1320the nature of the optical camouflage magic, it’s proven useful by allowing us to get
1321close to Miyaki Island.”
1322The five Parasites present understood what Vega meant without saying it.
1323They were all there, and Minoru wasn’t.
1324â—Š â—Š â—Š
1325Minoru smiled wryly while being driven from Zama to Chofu in the van he had
1326received from the Kudou family. Though the beautiful and bewitching smile belonged
1327to Minrou, the image of Zhou Gongjin peeked through.
1328Vega’s suspicion on the transport vessel had been correct. To ensure the success of
1329Stars’ sabotage mission, Minoru used optical camouflage magic through Regulus.
1330Regulus believed he was using the magic himself, but in fact that Minoru was
1331controlling the magic.
1332No matter the knowledge Zhou Gongjin had possessed, Minoru would not have
1333been able to do this if he tried it on a person. He could have made a puppet like Gu
1334Jie, but it would have been difficult to make the puppet act as if it had free will.
1335However, unlike people, Parasites had a common mind that blurred their ego, so
1336Minoru was able to use Regulus as a medium from which to activate the magic.
1337Minoru saw no reason to be discrete. He didn’t consider Regulus and Raymond to be
1338close – he only saw them as prisoners of Parasites, and himself the Parasite’s master.
1339He did not help Regulus and the others because they were Parasites. He helped them
1340because their actions would give him a chance to abduct Minami. Still, the help went
1341both ways – despite the lack of feeling, it was a mutually beneficial relationship, and
1342this has not changed.
1343They helped each other to help themselves reach each of their own goals. He didn’t
1344care what they thought of him, because once they would alienate themselves from
1345each other once they reached their goals.
1346Minoru felt a breeze as the car entered Chofu. The van he was in, loaded with
1347Parasite dolls, was not alone. Five cars of the same make and model were making
1348their way to the same destination on different routes. Minoru knew this through traffic
1349control information, and not some psychic line of communication with the Parasite
1350dolls – despite his powers, modern technology was still convenient.
1351"Minami-san, wait for me ...!"
1352All that was left was to wait for a convenient moment. Minoru hoped that the sabotage
1353of the Star reactor plant would at least be partially successful, for he needed a good
1354distraction.
1355â—Š â—Š â—Š
1356When Minoru arrived in Chofu, Minami had changed her hospital clothes for
1357casual everyday clothes and left her room with Miyuki.
1358They sat on opposite sides of the table in the visiting room looking at a tablet about
1359the size of an A4 sheet of paper (210x297 mm, ~8½x11in). When fully dep
1360They sat across from each other across the table in the visiting room. On the table lay
1361a folding tablet the size of an A4 sheet of paper. When unfolded, it became closer to
1362the size of an A3 sheet (420x297mm). This terminal held all the second-year
1363textbooks for First High.
1364The above makes it clear what they were doing: Miyuki was helping Minami with her
1365studies.
1366Last week held the final exams for the first semester. Minami, unable to take
1367them due to her special circumstances, received the right to take the exams separately
1368when she returned. However, she still needed to understand the content she had
1369missed.
1370She did not had time to study during the first half of her month of hospitalization, so
1371now she had to make up for lost time. Modern school education was not taught by a
1372teacher and was instead student driven – the amount of knowledge learned depended
1373on the student’s drive for studying at the terminal. Unfortunately, Minami was not one
1374to easily grasp magic theory.
1375Unable to listen to Minami’s agonizing sighs, Miyuki decided to take on the role of a
1376teacher and help Minami. In contrast to when she was learning from the textbook,
1377Minami sat with a straight face listening intently to Miyuki explaining the topics
1378gracefully with a smile. This was in no small part due to her feelings of guilt at having
1379made her mistress take on the responsibility of a tutor. She was worried about
1380wasting Miyuki’s time, so she focused too intently on Miyuki’s every word as she
1381read the texts and studied the graphics. Ironically, focusing too much on the action of
1382listening distracted her and her learning productivity slowed down.
1383Suddenly, she heard her name whispered in her ear. Her eyes clouded over, and her
1384face showed surprise.
1385“…Minami-chan, what happened?” Miyuki asked, concerned. Minami hastily focused
1386on Miyuki.
1387“I apologize!”
1388“Don’t overstrain yourself... is something bothering you?”
1389“No, nothing like that! I was just a distracted. I sincerely apologize for...” Minami
1390started.
1391“You don't need to apologize.”
1392Miyuki interrupted the second attempt to apologize with a smile.
1393“Let's take a break. Want some tea?”
1394“Oh, let me!” Minami said, jumping up to go to the vending machine.
1395With a slightly bitter smile, Miyuki allowed Minami to do what she wanted.
1396â—Š â—Š â—Š
1397At the lighthouse on Sado Island, Masaki pointed the aiming device for Ocean
1398Blast’s CAD at the sea.
1399“Ah! Communication should now be established.”
1400Hearing Kichijouji, Masaki turned the aiming device towards the left.
1401“I see them! It’s just… there are only six outlines of ships. Weren’t there twelve?”
1402“I need to correct the scaling. I’ll do that now.”
1403Kichijouji used a tablet terminal connected by cable to the monitor and console to
1404adjust the image projected by Masaki’s glasses.
1405“...it’s fine now!”
1406“Keep the sight in this position,” Kichijouji said as he got out another information
1407terminal.
1408Using this, he sent a prewritten encrypted message to the Kanazawa base, reading:
1409“Requesting permission to conduct an attack."
1410Kichijouji saw the figures of ships heading north out of his peripheral vision - the
1411high-speed warships from Niigata base. They were still accelerating, and their current
1412speed was over 50 knots.
1413“George!?” Masaki shouted in urgency.
1414“Not yet!”
1415Kichijouji told Masaki to wait, as they had not yet received permission to attack.
1416“But it’s time!”
1417“Not!”
1418Kichijouji tried to restrain the impatient Masaki from attacking without permission.
1419Masaki raised his glasses on his forehead and turned to Kichijouji, but
1420Kichijouji opened his mouth to ask Masaki to return to aiming. However, at that
1421moment their faces froze at the same time.
1422Beyond the horizon – directly above the friendly ships – signs of widespread magic
1423appeared. Both Kichijouji and Masaki remembered the psion waves from the magic
1424three months ago that caused the explosion over the sea. At the time, Ichijou Goki had
1425overheated his magic calculation area trying to block the magic.
1426The sound of an explosion roared, and water burst up above the horizon.
1427“Tuman Bomba?!”
1428Kichijouji silently nodded at Masaki's question before trying to clarify the
1429status of the allied ships through an information terminal connected to Masaki’s CAD.
1430However, in the short period of time since he had last checked, data from all eight
1431ships sent by the Niigata base had stopped being transmitted.
1432“George! Please help with aiming again!”
1433Masaki put the glasses back on and aimed in the same direction. At the same time, a
1434message arrived at Kichijouji’s terminal: “the attack is allowed.”
1435His thoughts cursing the indecisiveness of the self-defense forces, Kichijouji once
1436again brought the convoy of enemy ships to the monitor.
1437“Masaki, don’t forget the time delay! Focus on the predicted frame!”
1438Kichijouji shouted to remind Masaki of the time lag before activation, before noticing
1439some other ships on the monitor.
1440“It looks like there are fishing boats 20 kilometers to the north! Move the sight further
1441south or you’ll sink it!”
1442“Correcting it so the northernmost warship is on the border of the target area!” Masaki
1443responded.
1444Masaki pulled the trigger after adjusting the scope. The activation sequence stored in
1445the computer was recalculated based on the target dimensions and coordinates.
1446The resulting data was converted to an activation sequence before being sent to the
1447induction stone. The induction stone transformed the data into a psionic signal and
1448released it.
1449Masaki’s magic calculation area took the activation sequence and built a magic
1450sequence. The time delay was about 1 second.
1451The convoy of enemy ships was speeding across the sea at about 120 knots, or
1452roughly 60 meters per second. Their current position perfectly matched the predicted
1453frame.
1454“Done!”
1455Masaki shouted at the same time the magic was projected. The wedge shaped area
1456containing all the enemy ships was filled with magic sequences. As soon as the
1457copying was complete, all the sequences simultaneously overwrote the surrounding
1458phenomenon.
1459The surface of the sea in the target area evaporated for a depth of 3 meters. This was
1460the result of using Rupture with chain casting.
1461This was the Strategic Class magic Ocean Blast.
1462The water turned into steam expanded rapidly, causing an explosion as the water
1463molecules accelerated. This high-power steam explosion blew up all 12 ships of the
1464New Soviet Union.
1465Thus, the New Soviet Union’s attack on Sado Island ended in failure. The
1466Japanese army sacrificed eight ships, but due to Masaki’s Ocean Blast, the entire
1467“special” group of ships sent by the New Soviet Union fleet were destroyed.
1468July 8, 2097, 14:07.
1469Ichijou Masaki became the newest Strategic-Class Magician.
1470â—Š â—Š â—Š
1471Miyaki Island, northeast coast.
1472Lina was in the CAD development center which had been opened last month.
1473Testing magic with a magician was necessary when developing CADs, and the higher
1474the specification of CAD being developed, the higher the skill requirements for the
1475magician.
1476It was not even worth mentioning that Lina was a world-class magician, and this made
1477her an extremely valuable tester for developers. Combined with the face that she had
1478more than enough free time, she frequently visited the CAD development even when
1479the researchers had not made a request – and both sides felt the exchange was for the
1480others sake. Still, building a friendly relationship with those around her wasn’t out of
1481the ordinary, given her situation.
1482When Lina had first escaped, her CAD had been taken. When she asked
1483Tatsuya to return it, Tatsuya responded by giving her a new CAD of the latest model,
1484and Lina was satisfied with this result. She didn’t have any reason to complain as her
1485new CAD provided by Tatsuya was more efficient that the one she originally had, but
1486she was still slightly dissatisfied – while fleeing from the USNA, she left her weapon
1487armament “Brionac” in the weapons warehouse of Stars. She could not take the device
1488on missions without permission from the general staff, so she naturally could not take
1489it to Japan, but when one is separated from something they like, their heart starts to
1490hurt. Just spending 1 tranquil week on the island was enough for Lina to miss her
1491beloved Brionac.
1492Brionac operated based on FAE theory, but Tatsuya had confirmed to Lina that
1493he understood the theory. Lina believed that the team of scientists on the island would
1494be able to create a copy of Brionac under the guidance of Tatsuya, so she had gotten
1495close to the CAD developers based on the small change that would fulfill her selfish
1496desire and create a substitute for Brionac for her. She was at the development center
1497with this intention, so today, too, she enthusiastically responded to the requests of the
1498developers in the hope that the opportunity would come that she could get them to
1499create the armament. But in the midst of her work…
1500“Waa!?” Lina screamed, stunned at an unexpected surging psionic wave. “What was
1501that!?”
1502The wave did not hold significant power, but she felt an unpleasant feeling around her
1503resembling a stab in the back because of her surprise. Lina was not the only one to
1504feel the wave – the other magicians in the engineering room frowned.
1505“Are these excessive psions from attempting to activate large scale magic? But to
1506have this much power, the source would have to be Strategic Class magic…”
1507Given the current international situation, it would most likely be Tuman Bomba or
1508Thunderclap Tower, but neither of the magicians responsible for operating that magic
1509would have wasted their strength like a newbie.
1510"How new?"
1511Suddenly, Lina remembered something.
1512“When someone uses magic for the first time, the dispersion of wasted psions makes
1513the magician’s inexperience clear… it this the new Strategic Class Tatsuya was
1514developing?”
1515Lina had come to the correct conclusion, but she had no way to check her reasoning
1516before an alarm sounded.
1517“A suspicious ship is approaching us!?”
1518“They managed to approach the inner boundary of the adjacent waters without
1519detection by using stealth magic!?”
1520"This stealth magic!?"
1521Hearing the numerous shouts of technician, Lina shifted her attention to the sea.
1522â—Š â—Š â—Š
1523"What caused that wave just now!?"
1524Minoru’s concentration was disturbed by the sudden surge of psionic waves
1525originating from Masaki’s Ocean Blast. He had been sitting in a van parked 1
1526kilometer from Minami’s hospital in Chofu, waiting for an opportunity while
1527maintaining the catamaran Midway’s stealth magic through Regulus.
1528“Damn…”
1529His concentration lapse had caused him to lose control over the stealth magic. He
1530immediately started to reactivate the magic, but decided it was meaningless. The
1531transport vessel should have already been detected by both radar and stratospheric
1532surveillance systems, so it would be impossible to hide again. Once tracking systems
1533focus on the object, it becomes impossible to hide again in a way to deceive the
1534observers.
1535“…The distraction should be more effective when they are detected just before the
1536attack than with a completely sudden attack.”
1537Minoru convinced himself with this argument and now focused completely on the
1538hospital.
1539â—Š â—Š â—Š
1540The sudden psion waves startled the Parasites on Midway.
1541“Lieutenant Regulus!?” Vega yelled.
1542Vega was not the only one surprised at the suddenly disabled stealth magic.
1543“I apologize! I lost concentration because of the surge of psions!”
1544Regulus believed that it had been he who had lost concentration, not realizing that he
1545was not the one controlling the spell.
1546“I’ll restore it!”
1547Regulus hastily tried to re-activate the stealth magic.
1548“Don’t bother, Lieutenant. That’s enough,” Vega said, stopping Regulus. “We’re near
1549the goal, so there’s no need for the disguise anymore. Let’s just start the invasion.”
1550Following the orders of Vega, Deneb left the cabin. They were not using any
1551flying combat suits for this operation because the Parasite-turned Star Dust soldiers
1552had poor compatibility with flight magic. They planned to use traditional landing craft
1553to reach the island, and Deneb had left to lead preparation of their landing craft.
1554“Lieutenant Spica and Lieutenant Regulus prepare to support the landing.”
1555“Yes, ma'am!”
1556Though Midway’s main purpose was for transport, it was equipped with a
1557small number of anti-aircraft, anti-ship, and anti-submarine weapons. Being a
1558transport craft, it had no use for weapons against ground targets, so they would not be
1559able to attack the island from the boat. However, the ship had an abundance of small
1560bombs which Spica and Regulus could use to attack with the help of transport magic.
1561They would support the landing by doing this.
1562“Raymond Clark. I ask you to protect the ship in the unlikely event of an attack,”
1563Vega finished before leaving to prepare for the landing with Deneb.
1564â—Š â—Š â—Š
1565Miyaki Island was divided into an area that was previously used as a prison for
1566criminal magicians and an area for construction of several new research facilities. The
1567first area was located on the west coast, and the second – including the Star Reactor
1568plant – was on the northeast coast.
1569A suspicious ship was approaching Miyaki Island from the northeast, and the research
1570facility staff quickly realized that the target was the Star Reactor plant.
1571By the time the catamaran of unestablished affiliation began to decelerate, it was
1572already in Japan’s territorial waters, but had not yet attacked any of the objects on the
1573island. Miyaki Island was defended by a small detachment of maritime police
1574reinforced by the Yotsuba family, but they could not take any measures besides
1575inspecting the vessel before hostile intent was established.
1576However, the police boat was not even dispatched for this because it was clear
1577the suspicious vessel was pursuing military objectives. They would not be allowed to
1578inspect the vessel, and the approach of a police boat would only result in the
1579destruction of the boat and death of operators.
1580The defense squad magicians took positions to be able to activate shield magic at any
1581time, but as if reacting to it, the suspicious ship fired bombs as it approached the coast
1582from 4 kilometers away. These shots were not given velocity physically from
1583something like a grenade launcher or Fleming launcher, but rather were produced by
1584movement magic. The bombs were small but numerous, and under this hail of
1585explosive shells, the members of the defense squadron created magic barriers.
1586One by one, light flowers bloomed in the air. The fragments hitting the magic
1587barriers did not have much impulse, but the flashes from the explosions lowered the
1588visibility of the defenders.
1589“Light grenades?” one of the magicians supporting the barriers shouted.
1590Though they were against light munitions, the defenders maintained the magic
1591barriers on the chance that there could be a real bomb among the light shells.
1592Meanwhile, the suspicious vessel continued to approach, and two amphibious vehicles
1593separated from it. The administrative building immediately sent a command to
1594intercept the vehicles, but there were not enough magicians to form a serious fighting
1595force. Many of them were still needed to protect from catamaran’s bombs.
1596First, the interception team attempted to prevent the vehicles from making it to
1597land by knocking them over, but both amphibious boats were protected by counter-
1598magic and the interception team was unable to directly influence the phenomenon
1599around the ship. The magicians on the island quickly discarded the plan of directly
1600attacking the boats with magic and instead used magic on the water.
1601They reproduced tidal currents to create streams of water from the coast.
1602They caused explosions on the surface of the water to create waves.
1603They made ice harpoons underwater and launched them towards the bottom of
1604the boats.
1605However, movement-slowing magic was used to neutralize all of the physical attacks
1606on the vehicles.
1607The interception unit’s failure was not due to a lack of magic power. They were
1608subordinates of the Mashiba family, one of the side branches of the Yotsuba, and had
1609been responsible for defense and security when the island was a prison. Though they
1610were not blood relatives of the Mashiba, they had experience violently suppressing
1611dangerous criminals, and held reasonable strength as magicians. They were strong, but
1612the Parasites were stronger.
1613The magicians of the interception unit already knew their opponents were Parasites –
1614Miyaki Island had been equipped with experimental radars for detecting Parasite
1615activity.
1616The landing craft began to bombard the interception team with bullets and grenades as
1617they got closer, putting the team in a position where they couldn’t even look out from
1618cover to see where the fire was coming from.
1619The defense team could not send reinforcements to assist the interception team.
1620The bombardment from the catamaran continued periodically, so all of the defenders
1621were necessary. Meanwhile, the staff of the administrative building notified the main
1622house of the Yotsuba and asked for instructions.
1623â—Šâ—Š â—Š
1624The administrative building was not the only area observing the attack on the
1625island. Lina was also watching the transmission from a camera behind the defense
1626squad through a large display in the CAD building. Suddenly, she took off her helmet
1627used to measure CADs and went to the engineer in charge of the testing.
1628“Hey.”
1629“W-What?” he asked, slightly startled.
1630Lina’s beauty was comparable to Miyuki. The thirty-year-old scientist swallowed his
1631tongue as the unmatched beauty stood in front of him and spoke.
1632“Other than this measuring helmet, is there anything that’s blast proof?”
1633Lina was accustomed to this place and spoke at ease, but her question seemed out of
1634place in the CAD building. The researcher rounded his eyes at the request, surprised
1635and suddenly feeling worried.
1636Ignoring the researcher’s surprise, Lina continued.
1637“Also, is there any armored-clothing that allows movement?”
1638Lina wore a protective suit while testing CADs in case her magic got out of control.
1639The suit would at least work to soften the external shock, reducing Lina’s injuries.
1640However, it wasn’t made taking into account the need to move, so it was unsuitable
1641for battle.
1642“T-there is, but…”
1643“What’s the size?” Lina asked.
1644“I think it will fit,” the researcher responded.
1645“How fast can you prepare it?”
1646“But why?”
1647The last question did not come from the researcher Lina was talking to until now, but
1648from a different employee who looked to be 25 years old.
1649“That ship is a US Navy transport ship.”
1650Lina said this while looking at the catamaran from the satellite view shown on the
1651display.
1652“The attackers are Parasites, so I should be the one to deal with them.”
1653“……” The researchers didn’t have a response for Lina.
1654“I am not Sirius here,” Lina said as her tone changed, “but I am not going to silently
1655observe the mistakes of my comrades.”
1656Even though she had been exiled, she still considered herself to be a USNA
1657citizen and member of the USNA military.
1658Lina wanted to protect her army’s dignity, not as “Sirius”, but as an ordinary combat
1659magician.
1660â—Šâ—Š â—Š
1661Tatsuya received an emergency call from the main house while he was in the
1662security room on Minami’s floor. It was a special emergency line and not the usual
1663telephone line, and while Tatsuya knew of the system’s existence, he did not expect it
1664would be used to communicate with him.
1665“Tatsuya-sama, I apologize, but this will only be a voice call.”
1666“Hanabishi-san, get straight to the point.”
1667Hanabishi Tajima spoke to Tatsuya through the dedicated wireline. He had the
1668second highest rank among the butlers of the Yotsuba, and he was the father of
1669Hanabishi Hyogo. One of his duties included the management of cases involving
1670weapon usage – he worked to provide everything necessary for conducting combat.
1671The fact that Hanabishi had established contact combined with the current situation to
1672give Tatsuya a rough idea of what happened.
1673“Miyaki Island was attacked, wasn’t it?” Tatsuya asked.
1674“It was. Amphibious boats were sent from the Midway, a high-speed transport vessel
1675belonging to the US Navy.”
1676Unlike the Miyaki Island staff, the main Yotsuba staff had been able to determine the
1677affiliation of the ship by its form.
1678“That is to say, an army warship was used?”
1679Tatsuya was a bit astonished at the openness of the USNA in this attack. Was the
1680USNA going to stop hiding its hostility towards Japan, or would they perhaps insist
1681on an obvious lie such as “it was a rebellion”?
1682“The landing party consists of 22 parasites. There are also responses from 3 Parasites
1683on the main vessel. There are also responses from ordinary people, but they can be
1684ignored as a fighting force,” Hanabishi continued.
1685The ordinary people remaining on the transport ship were almost certainly the
1686crew. Were they volunteers in taking part of the attack on Japan, or were they blindly
1687following orders? Tatsuya thought there was a chance they were being manipulated,
1688but that was not the main problem.
1689“The defense squad will fail, right?”
1690“Unfortunately. Two people in the boats and two people on the transport vessel
1691exhibit power comparable to the ‘First-magnitude class’ of the Stars. Shields-san has
1692presumably already identified the Parasites from Stars,” Hanabishi continued.
1693“…They will not be able to fight back against such a force.”
1694Tatsuya immediately came to this conclusion. He had been mistaken in thinking that
1695he prevented the entrance of Stars reinforcements into Japan.
1696“Looks like they fooled us…” Tatsuya said, but he easily suppressed this regret as if it
1697were someone else’s failure. “I’ll hurry to Miyaki Island.”
1698“Thank you. I will organize additional staff to protect the hospital.”
1699“Clear.”
1700“All the best,” Hanabishi finished.
1701The emergency voice call was ended here.
1702The conversation between Tatsuya and Hanabishi had taken place through a
1703device with the same microphone and speaker as a regular videophone rather than a
1704personal communication device, so everyone in the room had heard the conversation
1705without even having to strain their ears.
1706“Will that be okay?”
1707Yuuka, sitting next to Tatsuya, was asking whether the protection detail for Minami
1708would be alright without Tatsuya. They both believed Minoru would attack that day,
1709so the question was founded.
1710“Nothing good comes from talking about what is good and what is bad,” Tatsuya
1711vaguely replied as he slightly knitted his eyebrows. “I don’t have a choice about
1712going: I cannot allow them to destroy the Star Reactor plant.”
1713“I don’t think I need to say this, but this is clearly a ploy to divert attention,” Yuuka
1714responded.
1715“I understand that.”
1716Without waiting for Yuuka’s argument and without giving her the chance to
1717stop him, Tatsuya headed to the dressing room. Once he changed, he headed to where
1718Miyuki was helping Minami with her studies. They could not hide their surprise as
1719Tatsuya’s look.
1720“…Onii-sama, are you leaving?” Miyuki asked.
1721Tatsuya was wearing a “Liberated Suit”, the flying combat armor developed by the
1722Yotsuba as a replacement for the 101 st Brigade’s mobile suit.
1723“Miyaki Island was attacked by Parasites from the USNA military. There are a total of
172425 enemies, and among them are four at the level of First-magnitude Star class
1725according to Stars’s classification of magicians. The defense there cannot cope, even
1726if Lina joins.”
1727Tatsuya’s answer provided enough justification for Miyuki.
1728“I understand. Onii-sama, good luck in battle,” Miyuki answered without any hidden
1729feelings.
1730“You two should return to your room,” Tatsuya instructed them.
1731“Okay.”
1732“I will try to return as soon as possible… Miyuki, Minami, do not do anything
1733reckless.”
1734Both Miyuki and Minami understood why Tatsuya was saying that. While Tatsuya
1735was absent, Minoru would certainly attack. His departure was a planned measure to
1736take him away from Minami’s defense.
1737“Of course,” Miyuki responded with a smile, even while knowing that Minoru would
1738attack. “Don’t worry, Onii-sama. Leave this place to me.”
1739There was no sign of anxiety in Miyuki’s eyes.
1740â—Š â—Š â—Š
1741The resistance of Miyaki Island’s defense squad ended up being much more
1742intense than Deneb expected. It was not that it was fierce - neither Deneb's boat nor
1743Vega's boat had been damaged. However, they still had not managed to get close to
1744the shore. Though the boats were not stopped or thrown back, they were slowed down
1745greatly, delaying their arrival.
1746It was not easy to defend against attacks against boats. If it had been only the
1747Star Dust soldiers, the boats definitely have received damage – possible even sunk.
1748The boats were of standard design and not especially sturdy.
1749“These are the untouchables, yes? So they weren’t just rumors.”
1750Deneb muttered this with a ferocious grin on her face. She wasn’t aware she had
1751expressed her thoughts verbally. While she had always been a war-like character,
1752Deneb had become especially so after her transformation into a Parasite. Despite her
1753change, Deneb had failed to notice it, and her squad mates had not mentioned it, so
1754she was still in the dark about her change in personality.
1755It took longer than planned, but they continued to move forward and eventually
1756approached their goal. The moment they would land was near, and the faces of their
1757enemies standing on the shore were became visible to the naked eye.
1758“
1759Although it took longer than planned, but continuing to move forward, after a while
1760they approached the goal.
1761The moment of the landing was near. The faces of the enemies standing on the shore
1762were already visible to the naked eye.
1763“Her...?”
1764Deneb frowned in doubt when she saw one of the people waiting on the shore. Gender
1765did not affect magical ability, so it was not unusual for a female magician to stand on
1766the front lines of a battle, but the enemy dressed in an armored suit and holding what
1767looked like a grenade launcher attracted Deneb’s attention. It was not because she was
1768a woman, but because the weapon triggered some of Deneb’s memories – she was
1769sure she recognized it.
1770“That's her!” Deneb exclaimed.
1771The answer to Deneb’s question arose in her subconscious and reached her conscious
1772thought – it was the traitor disgracing the name of Sirius!
1773Deneb snatched her knife from her weapon belt and threw it towards the shore.
1774The knife flew straight towards the female magician, but just before it struck, she lost
1775control over it and the knife fell to the cobblestone quay on which the magician stood.
1776Deneb specialized in melee combat because she was not very good at remote
1777attacking magic. She really wanted to quit her duty leading the squadron and jump to
1778the magician she had recognized as Sirius, but she restrained that desire with all her
1779might.
1780"A little more... Just a little...!"
1781The magician she was looking at pulled the trigger of what looked like a grenade
1782launcher. The barrel erupted fire and Deneb immediately felt it pierce the boat’s
1783multilayered shield.
1784Deneb was not the only one to recognize her enemy. With the help of the built-
1785in long range view function of her helmet, Lina saw that the boats were commanded
1786by Vega and Deneb.
1787“Charlotte, Leila, you too!?”
1788She knew every Parasite on the boats. Her feeling upon seeing Vega and Deneb
1789among them was not anger or distorted joy from thinking, “serves you right,” but
1790compassion – Lina was truly good-natured.
1791“If they became Parasites, they should know the truth…”
1792But this logic was not enough to convince Lina, and her finger on the trigger was
1793frozen by indecision. Psychologically, Lina lacked what it took to be a soldier.
1794Though she had more than enough power, she was too soft, and she was not suitable
1795for the occupation. The only mental quality making her a suitable soldier until now
1796was that she would not sympathize with the enemy to the point of endangering allies,
1797but even this trait was not all that suitable for soldiers.
1798The firearm Lina was holding had a thick barrel, like a grenade launcher, but
1799the muzzle was more like a large-caliber rifle – this gave the weapon a weird look,
1800with an unusually thick barrel for what seemed to be more of a rifle. The weapon was
1801made weirder by the lack of cutting inside the barrel, giving the weapon some
1802resemblance to a shotgun.
1803However, the weapon was not a firearm, but a magic device. It was a prototype
1804weapon with an integrated CAD developed at Miyaki Island. Lina pulled the trigger of
1805the device entrusted to her by its developers.
1806The electrical conductor at the base of the thick trunk began to create plasma.
1807As it expanded, the pressure in the trunk increased, and the plasma tried to exit the
1808trunk. However, the positive electric field generated by the barrel pulled electrons out
1809of the plasma and repulsed the remaining cations, preventing them from exiting.
1810Once the electrons were separated from the cations, another electromagnetic field was
1811created inside the trunk, accelerating the cations towards the barrel – the exit. At the
1812same time, the original electric field created in the barrel was removed. The barrel was
1813essentially turned into a miniature particle accelerator.
1814The cations ejected from the muzzle absorbed the released electrons, turning back into
1815a cloud of neutral particles directed in a beam towards a target.
1816This weapon was a charged particle rifle. The principle was completely different than
1817Lina’s Brionac, and it was worse in power than the Brionac. But…
1818“It’s quite powerful!"
1819The particle rifle was effective enough to excite Lina and make her forget about the
1820depressing situation for a moment.
1821A beam of neutral plasma particles flew into the magic shield of Deneb’s
1822vehicle. The barrier magic in place was effective against particles moving at up to 10
1823times the speed of sound. It was not nearly enough to stop the plasma, with a mass
1824comparable to a rifle bullet, flying at a speed exceeding 100 times the speed of sound.
1825The ray of neutral particles pierced through the magic shield and the boat, causing an
1826explosion of steam on the opposite side. The Parasites on Deneb’s boat all jumped
1827into the sea. Now Lina turned the barrel towards Vega’s vehicle.
1828Vega used gravity magic to lift the water from the ocean and make a shield of sorts,
1829seeming to have grasped the principle of Lina’s weapon. Lina reacted by activating
1830gravity-neutralization magic with the thought-controlled CAD Tatsuya had given her.
1831Lina’s magic did not interfere with the gravitational field – it overwrote it, returning
1832the area to normal. Using gravity control magic, once can change the direction of the
1833attraction force without changing its properties, and if Vega’s magic only changed the
1834vector of the gravity, then Lina’s counter magic would not have had any effect.
1835Instead, Vega changed the gravitational field in that area, allowing Lina’s magic to
1836work.
1837Lina pulled the trigger of the particle rifle, and a bundle of neutral particles
1838flew into Vega’s magic shield. However, her rank as commander of the 4 th
1839detachment was not just for show: her strength exceeded Deneb’s, and Vega’s barrier
1840withstood the particle beam.
1841“That’s not all!” Lina shouted.
1842A moment later, the plasma that had seemingly scattered across the surface shone
1843bright as its temperature shot up from Lina’s special magic Muspelheim.
1844Usually, this magic only transformed ambient air into high-energy plasma, but
1845this time the plasma particles emitted by the particle rifle were still scattered in the
1846area. Lina focused her magic on the area around Vega’s ship, increasing power as the
1847affected volume decreased. Vega’s magic barrier collapsed as the area affected by
1848Lina’s magic contacted it. At the same time, Vega and the Star Dust soldiers jumped
1849out of the boat.
1850A second later, plasma swallowed the vehicle.
1851The heat from Lina’s magic ignited the hydrogen fuel and the boat went down. Lina
1852sighed with relief as she lowered her weapon, but she still kept her guard up, and her
1853Mirror Shield magic reflected an infrared beam of light – Regulus’s fast-firing, high-
1854energy infrared laser bullet, Laser Sniping. Though the magic had “fast firing” in its
1855title, the nature of the magic caused it to have about a 1 second gap between each
1856shot.
1857As soon as Lina sensed the laser bullet’s impact, she removed the shield and
1858located Regulus. He was approximately 1 kilometer from the coast on the bow of the
1859catamaran Midway. Once she found him, she restored her shield.
1860Lina’s Mirror Shield blocked outside electromagnetic waves from getting in – it did
1861not block particles going out and was like a one-way mirror.
1862Lina shot a beam of neutral particles through the mirror towards the ship.
1863“Huh?” Lina mumbled a moment after the shot. She had not felt the defeat of Midway
1864after the shot.
1865Due to its nature, Mirror Shield block visible light coming from the outside, so Lina
1866could not physically see what was going on, but Lina would hear an explosion if it
1867reached the ship or feel psionic vibrations if the beam was stopped by a barrier. Lina
1868quickly moved to a new position with movement magic in order to shoot straight
1869down the laser snipers sights. She removed the mirror shield and looked at the
1870transport ship.
1871“Zoe?!”
1872Zoe Spica stood next to Regulus on the prow of the ship. Her right arm was forward,
1873pointing directly at Lina – she was in the process of activating Molecular Divider.
1874However, this magic was only medium range, and would not reach Lina from 1
1875kilometer away.
1876“…clear!”
1877Lina once again pulled the particle rifle’s trigger, sending a beam of particles forward,
1878but about halfway to the ship, the beam dispersed. The particles ended up scattering
1879without reaching the ship.
1880“I thought so!” Lina shouted.
1881Molecular Divider inverts the polarity of electrons, cutting molecular bonds.
1882The electric field created in a straight line towards the particle beam inverted the
1883polarity of the electrons present in the beam. This turned the neutral particles into
1884positive particles that repelled each other, dispersing the beam.
1885Regulus jumped away from Spica as Lina aimed the particle rifle towards him.
1886He moved forward in zigzags, using the water as a surface to prevent Lina from
1887aiming. If Lina had been able to use Brionac, his attempts at evasion would have been
1888useless – Lina could control Brionac’s plasma even after firing, so it was impossible
1889to evade unless one was moving at a speed faster than Lina could follow. But the
1890particle rifle only sent a beam in a straight line, so advanced rifle shooting skills were
1891necessary – skills Lina did not have.
1892Lina threw the particle rifle to the side and pulled out a pistol – a gun with an
1893integrated CAD. Weapons with magically increased penetration power had been
1894produced in Japan for a long time, so Lina had asked the CAD development center
1895staff to give her some equipment more similar to the weapons she was used to.
1896The transport ship began to turn away from the island, but Lina didn’t have the
1897luxury to follow.
1898â—Šâ—Š â—Š
1899A light blue car left the parking lot of Aoba clinic in Chofu with Tatsuya
1900behind the wheel. He ignored the rules of the road and opted for flight, lifting off of
1901the road. Minoru watched this occur through a camera in a combat quinoid that had
1902not yet been turned into a Parasite doll.
1903“And so the mission begins,” Minoru muttered, seemingly talking to himself.
1904In reality, however, it was not a monologue – Minoru was giving the order to start to
1905the driver of the van, who dropped him off at the curb. The driver was a member of
1906the Kudou family assigned to Minoru.
1907Minoru transmitted the order to start the other six vans by radio. In total, there were
1908six, including the van Minoru was in. All six had parasite dolls and fighting guinoids
1909in their cargo compartments, and though the vans were currently separated to avoid
1910detection, they were heading towards the same destination – the hospital in which
1911Minami lay.
1912â—Šâ—Š â—Š
1913Tatsuya, ignoring the rules of the road and air traffic, flew off the public road
1914directly, but the police did not bother to stop him and no chase was sent. The car,
1915registered as an ordinary car – not an aircraft, had no need to keep the radio channel
1916for aircraft open. Combined with the fact that police helicopters could not keep up
1917with the air car and the Air Force wasn’t about to send fighters to chase a car that had
1918started flying from the main road, even if a chase had been attempted, it wouldn’t
1919have been successful. In other words, law enforcement agencies had neither the means
1920to deliver the order or stop the pursuit whether they wanted to or not.
1921The car’s license plate had probably been captured by the street cameras, so
1922there was a chance that trouble would come later, but that was not important at the
1923moment. Besides, Tatsuya still had the claim that the self-defenses forces hadn’t done
1924anything to stop Miyaki Island – Japanese Territory – from being invaded by a foreign
1925military force. Still, Tatsuya didn’t want to use this as justification for legal exemption
1926but as a means for bargaining.
1927Reaching the coastline, Tatsuya put the car on course to cross Tokyo Bay and
1928the Urag channel in order to avoid flying over land again.
1929Tatsuya raised the aircar’s speed to 900 kilometers per hours, Tatsuya headed for
1930Miyaki Island.
1931â—Šâ—Š â—Š
1932Holding a gun in her right hand and a knife in her left, Lina stood ready,
1933preparing to meet the oncoming Regulus. However, it was not Regulus, but Deneb
1934who attacked first.
1935“Lina!”
1936Deneb called out to Lina, shortening her name not because they were close, but
1937because the Parasite’s conversation previously had used Lina’s shortened name to
1938reference her.
1939“Leila!”
1940Lina did not freeze from the change in enemy and changed her aim to Deneb who was
1941jumping out of the water, rushing her in a top-down attack. Lina attacked Deneb with
1942the weight magic Hammer, which tracks an enemy and applies pressure to a detected
1943surface. The magic struck at Deneb from her left side, but Deneb softened the blow by
1944using movement magic towards the right.
1945As this played out, Regulus began to activate Laser Sniping, but instead of
1946activating her Mirror Shield, Lina sent a knife attached to her belt at Regulus. She was
1947using her magic “Dancing Blades” through her thought-controlled CAD, so she didn’t
1948even need to touch the knife with her hand – it flew out of the holster and rushed to
1949Regulus on its own.
1950Regulus’s concentration was broken as he was forced to dodge, and the laser bullet
1951flew towards the sky. However, Lina’s attack was still not finished and she controlled
1952the knife behind Regulus to strike the weapon device for Laser Sniping. Regulus
1953threw the broken device with a knife now stuck through its hardware to the side, and
1954as it fell into the water, the device blew up. Regulus quickly grasped the handle on his
1955belt with his right hand and pulled – quickly turning what had been his thin belt into a
1956rapier. The sword was not just sharp - Regulus had also added an electric shock over
1957the entire blade.
1958Lina didn’t have time to continue her attack on Regulus, as now the weight magic
1959Hammer was being used on her – and it was more powerful than magic she had used.
1960“Vega!?” Lina shouted.
1961Weight magic attacks flew at Lina one after another.
1962“…You are still being familiar?”
1963Vega still had a grudge against Lina for “betrayal.”
1964Lina quickly took a step backwards, but Vega followed her movement and went
1965ashore. Holding her pistol and knife, Lina looked towards her left and right.
1966In front of her was Vega.
1967To the right, Regulus.
1968On the left, Deneb.
1969And behind them, the Star Dust soldiers-turned-Parasites began to come out onto the
1970beach.
1971Despite Lina’s attempted intervention, the sabotage unit of Stars had successfully
1972made it onto Miyaki Island.
1973Lina had struggled to fight the three opponents of First-magnitude Star class.
1974With the addition of twenty Star Dust soldiers, she could not possibly cope alone.
1975“So, you’re also Parasites now?” Lina spoke.
1976Lina tried to change the situation by speaking to Vega and Deneb in her native
1977language. Neither bothered to answer Lina, but Deneb raised her eyebrows slightly.
1978“Now that you are Parasites, surely you know the truth. It wasn’t me who caused the
1979Parasites, and the idea that I have secret connections to Japan is also a false
1980accusation!”
1981“If you have no connections with Japan, then why did you run here!?”
1982Deneb didn’t hide her passion as she spoke with anger in response to Lina.
1983“To escape. From you, the rioters,” Lina answered calmly. Though her heart raged
1984towards Deneb, she suppressed her emotion and gathered her will into a fist.
1985“Right. Then it was a false accusation,” Vega responded.
1986Vega’s voice could not be called calm, but it also couldn’t be considered excited – it
1987was more apathetic, and Vega grinned in her response, continuing.
1988“But now you are helping a Japanese private military organization. As an American
1989soldier, you came out against the States.”
1990“Japan is a federal state. Planning an act as dishonorable as sabotage to take
1991advantage of the New Soviet Union’s attack is unacceptable,” Lina answered.
1992“This was the decision made by the Pentagon – not we, simple soldiers fighting on the
1993front line.”
1994“Wow-wha…”
1995Lina was surprised momentarily, but quickly accepted it as fact – if the government
1996was willing to use Parasites, they should also have been willing to risk sabotage.
1997While Vega and Lina had their verbal struggle, the Star Dust soldiers attacked
1998the rest of the defensive squad and slowly continued to move inland. Lina saw this,
1999but could not offer any assistance – if she ignored the three around her, she would
2000instantly die. Lina was trapped.
2001“Traitor Sirius. It’s good that you were here, because now, caught red-handed in a
2002hostile act towards the States, we can shamelessly get rid of you!” Vega finished.
2003As soon as Vega finished her statement, Vega, Deneb, and Regulus – three members
2004of Stars with the rank of First-magnitude class now merged with Parasites –
2005simultaneously attacked Lina.
2006Deneb breached the peace first as she waved a large knife at Lina and used
2007movement magic to close the distance. Lina reacted with the same magic in the same
2008direction, keeping her distance. Realizing that she couldn’t catch up, Deneb fired her
2009pistol and Lina once again responded the same way, turning the battle into a shootout
2010over shields.
2011Regulus followed Deneb, and using self-acceleration magic, he appeared in front of
2012Lina. With his electrified blade, he struck her shield.
2013Stuck in place, Lina attacked Vega with gravitational magic, but Vega destroyed her
2014gravitational field with Molecular Divider.
2015…more precisely, Lina’s magic was interrupted because of the inconsistencies
2016between the modification of phenomenon caused by Molecular Divider and Lina’s
2017gravitational magic encountered in the air, and the magics canceled each other out,
2018destroying both Vega and Lina’s magic.
2019As this was going on, Regulus continued to attack Lina’s shield, and it began to
2020tremble. The electrical surges emitted by Regulus’ blade finally finished off Lina’s
2021barrier, breaking it. Deneb took her opportunity and shot Lina’s left shoulder. While
2022Lina’s armored suit was able to stop the bullet from penetrating, the momentum of the
2023bullet was transferred to her shoulder and the impact caused Lina to involuntarily drop
2024her knife. She instantly activated Muspelheim in defense.
2025Vega, Deneb, and Regulus all leaped to the side to evade the generated plasma. When
2026it dissipated, in the center of the area previously filled with high-energy plasma, Lina
2027stood breathing heavily.
2028The three Parasites exchanged looks.
2029Lina pulled her pistol’s trigger, but penetration magic was not applied to the bullet so
2030Regulus stopped it with a magical barrier, and a Dancing Blade Lina had released
2031earlier in the fight was knocked down by Deneb. Her two attacks stopped, Vega
2032created a repulsive field which threw Lina back.
2033Lina was thrown down the road running along the cobbled promenade, and she
2034fell onto the rocky surface of cooled lava. Vega, Deneb, and Regulus cautiously
2035approached her, looking down at Lina.
2036Lina was unable to stand, barely finding the strength to climb onto one knee. Vega
2037punched Lina back down, but despite her weakness, Lina’s fighting strength had not
2038faded. She grinned faintly.
2039Deneb pointed her pistol at Lina.
2040Regulus pointed the tip of his sword.
2041Lina bit her lip with regret.
2042But at that moment, a light blue car cut threw the air and landed as if it was aimed at
2043the three Parasites.
2044Vega attacked the car with her repulsive force field, but the magic dispersed
2045before it was completed. Vega rounded her eyes, Regulus and Deneb could hardly
2046believe in their eyes as the aero car landed about 10 meters in front of Deneb. The
2047three had dodged the air car by jumping back to the embankment.
2048The driver’s door opened, and Tatsuya stepped onto the Miyaki Island battlefield
2049dressed in the Freed Suit.
2050â—Šâ—Š â—Š
2051Tatsuya had flown from Chofu to Miyaki Island in 20 minutes. If he had flown
2052at subsonic speed the entire distance, he could have made it in 10, but the flight from
2053Chofu to the sea and over Tokyo Bay required him to go at a slower speed.
2054Tatsuya knew about the situation on Miyaki Island even before he arrived. He was
2055receiving the data from the island in real time, in addition to monitoring the psion
2056wave oscillations from Lina’s fight. However, there was no magic for teleportation, so
2057Tatsuya could not instantly move from Chofu to Miyaki Island.
2058Restraining his growing impatience, Tatsuya focused on controlling the aircar.
2059A camera mounted on its nose caught sight of Miyaki Island, and without slowing
2060down, Tatsuya headed towards the northeast coast that was now a battlefield. He
2061didn’t bother to use the runway at the airport and landed directly on the road running
2062along the embankment where the battle was being fought. As he was landing, he
2063dispersed the magic of an anti-gravity spell that was trying to prevent him from
2064landing.
2065There were fighters from the defense squad still on the road, so Tatsuya slammed the
2066on the breaks to not hit them. There were also enemies on the road, but Tatsuya
2067didn’t really care – his thought process amounted to “if I hit them with the car, I can
2068save time.” Tatsuya had no doubts about his ability.
2069Three Parasites fled from the path of the air car by enhancing their jump with
2070movement magic. Tatsuya could tell that they were the Parasites of First-magnitude
2071Star class with only one glance using elemental sight.
2072Like the rest of Japan, driving was done on the left side of the road on Miyaki
2073Island, but Tatsuya ignored the law and stopped on the right side of the road for his
2074convenience. Lina was barely standing on one knee on the hardened lava next to the
2075road.
2076“Lina, can you continue?” Tatsuya asked.
2077He had already checked Lina’s state by looking, but still asked the insensitive
2078question.
2079“I can,” Lina responded, not wanting to hold Tatsuya back.
2080With the last of her strength, Lina rose to her feet. She looked as if she was trying to
2081stand during an earthquake, but she somehow managed to stay up.
2082“I will figure this out. Cover me.”
2083Without waiting for Lina’s answer, Tatsuya turned towards the three Parasites who
2084were now on the embankment. This was probably for the best, as Tatsuya’s cold voice
2085made her shiver all over her body as goosebumps formed on her back. She wouldn’t
2086have been able to answer even if Tatsuya had waited.
2087Vega used magic to push Tatsuya back with his car, but the magic was demolished
2088before the sequence had even been fixed on the Eidos of the target. Tatsuya had
2089released a dense flow of psions from his whole body to vanquish the spell.
2090“Gram Demolition?!” Vega and Deneb cried out simultaneously.
2091Tatsuya raised his right hand. There was no gun-shaped CAD in his hand – he just
2092pointed his finger and activated Mist Dispersion with the fully thought-controlled
2093CAD built into his suit. The activation time was almost zero.
2094He erased the magic suppression zone almost instantly.
2095He tore down the Data Fortification magic around the Parasites so quickly that it
2096could not be perceived.
2097He cut the intermolecular bonds of Regulus’ tissues in essentially no time.
2098The man named Regulus had been completely erased, and all that remained of the
2099Parasite was its true body. Now Tatsuya reached out with his other hand and shot
2100Armor Piercing Psion Bullet. He wasn’t aiming at the Parasite that had recently been
2101in Regulus and instead shot at Vega.
2102Vega, struck in her chest by a dense shell of psions, fell backwards and violently
2103convulsed. Rolling down the embankment in that state, she fell back into the sea.
2104In the blink of an eye, Regulus had been deleted and Vega thrown from the
2105battlefield. Deneb was frozen in shock as Tatsuya sent another Armor Piercing Psion
2106Bullet at Deneb. She fell back.
2107Deneb was not the only one frozen in place – Lina lifted her helmet flap and stared,
2108dazed, at Deneb writhing on the road. She could hardly believe her eyes – Tatsuya had
2109instantly neutralized these three whom she had been at her limit fighting against.
2110“Lina, look after this woman,” Tatsuya told Lina.
2111He realized she was in shock and that she would now overestimate his combat power
2112because of a misunderstanding. Tatsuya had only been able to neutralize the Parasites
2113so quickly because of surprise, but he didn’t have time to explain himself. The true
2114body of the Parasite in Regulus had appeared, and it began its activity as an intangible
2115life form as it searched for a new host. The real battle was now beginning.
2116Tatsuya concentrated psions inside his body before releasing them into the
2117Parasite. He attacked from all six sides – front, back, left, right, top, and bottom.
2118The Parasite attempted to push back against the psionic currents, but realized it was
2119impossible and tried to escape by moving away. However, pressure was being applied
2120from the front, back, left, and right, and the top and bottom sides were closed tightly.
2121Surrounded by walls, the Parasite created a shell in an attempt to protect is pushionic
2122information body, but the walls quickly ate into the shell, penetrating it. Trapped, the
2123Parasite shrunk and hardened, mixing with the walls.
2124Tatsuya’s psionic currents continued to converge, concentrating a progressively
2125smaller area. Finally, all the Psions were compressed into a sphere with a 3-centimeter
2126diameter. The sphere hung intangibly about 10 centimeters above the concrete
2127embankment.
2128Tatsuya had sealed the Parasite that was recently Regulus in his Sealing Sphere.
2129â—Šâ—Š â—Š
2130Miyuki and Minami followed the instructions Tatsuya gave right before he left
2131and returned to Minami’s ward. Miyuki read while sitting on the single couch while
2132Minami continued preparing for her exams, sitting on the bed which had been raised
2133to support a sitting position.
2134Miyuki, turning the electronic pages of her book, suddenly looked up.
2135“…he was pretty quick. Have our guards already discovered them?” Miyuki said.
2136“…Miyuki-sama?” Minami asked, confused.
2137Minami turned to Miyuki and asked for her to clarify, but Miyuki’s words had mostly
2138been her muttering to herself.
2139“Minami-chan, he is here.”
2140Still, Miyuki didn’t ignore Minami’s question.
2141“Who… really?!”
2142Minami closed her textbook program and turned off her terminal as she got out of bed.
2143She was not in pajamas, however, so she wasn’t panicking about having to change her
2144clothes.
2145“Yes,” Miyuki said while nodding.
2146Miyuki didn’t answer with the name of who had arrived because Minami had of
2147course figured it out: it could only be Minoru.
2148Miyuki called the security intercom, and Yuuka appeared on the small screen
2149of the terminal.
2150“Miyuki-san, the company has arrived.”
2151Before Miyuki could speak, Yuuka explained the situation that she had already
2152figured out.
2153“I feel signs of Parasites from six directions,” Miyuki responded.
2154“…So you already knew. The sensors are saying the same thing.”
2155Miyuki was so ahead of ordinary magicians in her magical perception that she seemed
2156to be at a different stage of evolution. Yuuka’s surprise was based on this prejudiced
2157notion, but Miyuki smiled broadly after hearing Yuuka’s astonished voice.
2158“Shouldn’t you expect this from the next head-sama?” Miyuki said, teasing Yuuka.
2159“In that case, perhaps you also know where Kudou Minoru is now?” Yuuka asked,
2160moving on.
2161“The response from Minoru is quite blurry. It seems he is disguising himself by both
2162Parade and Ghost Walker.”
2163Miyuki’s words made it seem like trying to detect him was pointless, but her tone
2164contrasted this and Miyuki continued trying to find Minoru.
2165“I don’t feel Minrou-kun’s signs from other groups, so he’s probably inside a car or
2166other vehicle approaching from the northeast,” Miyuki explained.
2167“A car from the northeast? Alright, I’ll pass this information to the Juumonji family
2168then.”
2169“Thank you.”
2170“Miyuki-san, please do not leave the ward. Even if he gets into the hospital, we’ll
2171figure this out,” Yuuka warned.
2172“I understand.”
2173“…Then I’ve said everything. Until next time.”
2174Yuuka was slightly suspicious of Miyuki’s quick agreement with the situation, but she
2175didn’t ask Miyuki about it.
2176When the intercom went down, Miyuki sighed a little.
2177“…Onii-sama will not have time to return,” Miyuki assessed.
2178Miyuki was dissatisfied with the situation but held no grudge against Tatsuya for
2179having left the defense against Minoru’s attack.
2180â—Š â—Š â—Š
2181Minoru got out of the van about 200 meters from the hospital. There were tall
2182building all around, so he could only see the highest floor of Aoba Clinic.
2183At the same time as Minoru, 6 Parasite dolls left the back of the van. The other cars
2184held the same load. In total, Minoru had prepared a fighting force of 36 parasite dolls
2185– 15 already made in the former Ninth Laboratory, and 21 made by Minoru using the
2186dummies in the factory in Ikoma.
2187The base bodies (dummies) for the Parasite dolls were gynoids originally made for
2188military use, but these dolls were dressed in casual clothes. They each was ankle-
2189length pants combined with various blouses, T-shirts, and summer sweaters.
2190Since it was daytime, pedestrians were walking around. There weren’t as many
2191out as usual because of the New Soviet Union’s invasion, but some people still went
2192out for urgent errands. By giving the Parasite dolls casual clothes, the dolls could
2193blend in with passers-by without giving off the feeling that something was wrong.
2194Contrary to the goal of blending in, however, Minoru didn’t bother to hide his
2195appearance at all with magic so his beauty stood out like a sore thumb. Pedestrians
2196passing by even stopped to stare at him as if he had descended from heaven. Minoru
2197couldn’t even walk to a hospital without attracting attention.
2198Suddenly, Minoru stopped.
2199The crowd also stopped.
2200Minoru spoke, looking at the big young man who blocked his way.
2201“Juumonji-san, could you let me pass?” Minoru asked.
2202“I didn’t think you’d appear at this time,” Juumonji responded, ignoring Minoru’s
2203request.
2204“I’m not a vampire, so I don’t have to wait until night,” Minoru answered jokingly.
2205“You are not an ordinary vampire, but I wouldn’t say that the description doesn’t fit.
2206Vampires suck the blood of people and turn good into bad – at least, that’s how it is in
2207fantastic stories, but you are real,” Katsuto said with a serious face.
2208“It’s a shame you think that. I’m not attacking people who accidentally stopped me on
2209my way,” Minoru said.
2210“But now you are trying to turn one girl into something inhuman.”
2211Minoru and Katsuto’s conversation took place in front of pedestrians walking by on
2212the street, but none of them really understood what was going on through the
2213metaphor the conversation was using. Some of the passerby were whispering phrases
2214like “what is this, a movie shoot?”, but these were the minority. Most felt that the
2215conversation was real and not just a figment of some story.
2216“Juumonji-san. Let me pass.” Minoru made his request again, this time more
2217forcefully.
2218“Kudou Minoru. You are under arrest.”
2219This time Katsuto answered, but his answer more than just denied it.
2220“What charges?”
2221“Unauthorized transportation of military weapons on public vehicles.”
2222While Katsuto was speaking, a detective behind him hidden in civilian clothes and
2223working under the Juumonji family appeared with a police warrant.
2224After Katsuto’s words about weapons and the appearance of the police, unrest
2225appeared in the crowd of passerby.
2226“Are you talking about the Parasite dolls? Well, you caught me, but can you fight in a
2227place with civilians?”
2228Minoru provoked Katsuto.
2229“So you plan to involve the civilians in this?!”
2230Katsuto created a barrier to lock Minoru in front of him as he was talking. However,
2231Minoru switched places with one of the Parasite dolls behind him at the same time – it
2232wasn’t teleportation but Parade he had kept active through the conversation with
2233Katsuto.
2234Minoru used stun magic on the detective, but the Katsuto defended his
2235subordinate with barrier magic. To do this, however, he had to release the barrier
2236around the Parasite doll that Minoru had swapped places with, and this doll attacked
2237Katsuto.
2238Katsuto’s barrier collided with the doll’s barrier, giving off sparks of psionic light.
2239This Parasite doll specialized in anti-object barrier magic.
2240Like Parasites, Parasite dolls tended to specialize in specific magic. Though they had
2241a lack of diversity, they were able to demonstrate powerful abilities in their field to
2242such an extent that the doll specializing in barrier magic could resist against Katsuto.
2243Still, this was not enough to make it a fight on equal footing. Katsuto was forced to
2244take his focus away from Minoru, but as soon as he became serious, he destroyed the
2245barrier around the Parasite doll and crushed her mechanical body, being careful to not
2246completely destroy the doll – he knew that death of the physical body of the Parasite
2247releases the true body, and it was safe to assume that it worked the same for Parasites
2248in machines as for Parasites in humans. Still, Katsuto couldn’t leave the doll in
2249serviceable condition, so he destroyed the head and limbs, leaving only the electronic
2250brain and fuel cell of the gynoid.
2251Until this point, everything had been within Katsuto’s expectations, but what
2252happened next went beyond. The Parasite doll exploded.
2253The explosion itself was blocked by Katsuto’s shield, but the destruction of the body
2254meant that the Parasite had been released.
2255This was not the only exploding doll – other parasite dolls attacked other magicians of
2256the Juumonji family standing in Minoru’s way, and the Juumonji family could not
2257ignore them. To stop Minoru, the Juumonji magicians hurried to neutralize the dolls.
2258And each of the neutralized dolls exploded.
2259Many Parasites were released, searching for new bodies. The non-material life forms
2260attacked the Juumonji family as well as nearby civilians and people hiding in
2261buildings.
2262Katsuto and his subordinates were forced to protect the civilians from the
2263Parasites.
2264They didn’t have time to chase Minoru.
2265â—Šâ—Š â—Š
2266After erasing Regulus’ physical body and locking the released Parasite into a
2267Sealing Sphere, Tatsuya did the same with Deneb. Two completed Sealing Spheres
2268hovered about 10 centimeters above the ground, and they would remain for about 12
2269more hours in their current state without outside interference. Further processing of
2270the seal should be performed by specialists, so Tatsuya left the spheres to be dealt
2271with later. During his flight to Miyaki Island, Tatsuya had asked Hanabishi Hyogo to
2272send a magician with sealing skills, and Tatsuya had no doubt that Hyogo would find
2273someone who could finish the job.
2274“Lina, I am leaving this place to you. Don’t let anyone get close to the Sealing
2275Spheres.”
2276Lina was fascinated by Tatsuya’s actions in dealing with the Parasites so efficiently,
2277but she came to herself when he assigned her a task.
2278“Sealing Spheres? Are you talking about these things?” Lina asked.
2279“Yes.”
2280Tatsuya replied to Lina without even looking before jumping onto the jetty. Lina
2281only saw the back of his helmet and couldn’t see his expression, but she somehow
2282got the feeling that he had smacked his tongue.
2283Tatsuya ran east of the embankment chasing Vega who had fallen into the
2284water. After being hit by Tatsuya’s Armor Piercing Psion Bullet, Vega revealed the
2285true nature of the Parasites.
2286Without bothering to breathe, Vega tried to swim underwater in an arc towards the
2287east coast of the island. Still standing on the embankment, Tatsuya targeted Vega
2288with Mist Dispersion. As if it were a survival instinct, Vega suddenly surfaced.
2289Tatsuya detected an increased number of psions as this happened – meaning Vega
2290was beginning a counterattack.
2291When Vega had became a Parasite, her rate of activation drastically increased. Now,
2292with her true nature fully manifested, the speed increased even further, but.
2293Vega’s magic was not yet completed.
2294The magic she was in the process of building was dispelled.
2295The magic that protected her body was destroyed.
2296And then her physical body was erased.
2297The substances that made of the body of Charlotte Vega were divided into individual
2298molecules. Once the body was deleted, the molecules dispersed – some remained in in
2299their form, other were used in chemical reactions or dissolved in seawater.
2300Until this point, everything had gone according to Tatsuya’s expectations, but
2301at this point he miscalculated.
2302The true body of the Parasite was not exposed. The body appeared after erasing the
2303physical body it had merged with, so Tatsuya could “see” the psionic envelope
2304covering the Parasite, but he couldn’t analyze the information body – its core. He
2305could only feel its existence, and the Parasite drifted underwater.
2306This contracted the current hypothesis about the true form of the Parasites – the
2307current belief was that the Parasite would relentlessly seek out a human body to
2308stabilize its existence. Initially not belonging in the physical world, the Parasite was
2309believed to be drawn to strong thoughts and emotions from people. This theory
2310assumed that after the disappearance of the host, the Parasite would give the highest
2311priority to search of a source of psions to stabilize itself in this world, which allowed
2312the creation of Parasite dolls. Therefore, Tatsuya didn’t expect the Parasite to move
2313away from potential sources of stability.
2314“Is it… afraid?”
2315Parasite’s were also a life form, so their behavior could be an instinct for self-
2316preservation. The Parasite might just be frightened and trying to escape, but it was
2317fairly difficult to be certain of that.
2318“…no, it doesn’t matter right now,” Tatsuya convinced himself.
2319The invasion of Miyaki Island was not over. The strongest 3 parasites had been
2320defeated, but more than 10 were still fighting the defense squad. Tatsuya was also
2321concerned about hurrying back to the hospital to take care of Minoru – he was
2322convinced that the invasion of Miyaki Island was a diversion to get him away. Though
2323he knew Miyuki was not the subject of the approaching danger, he didn’t want to take
2324any risks and wanted to get back to Chofu as quickly as he could.
2325“…do I make it right there?”
2326The psions were intangible particles and could only interfere or be interfered with by
2327structurally organized nerve cells – non-systematic magic is just as effective
2328underwater as in the air.
2329While Tatsuya was thinking, the Parasite that had recently been Vega began to
2330move towards the sea, trying to escape from Tatsuya. Tatsuya instantly released a
2331mass of psions in the sea.
2332The mass released towards the Parasite overtook it and flew in front, destroying
2333almost half of its psionic sheath and core. Tatsuya sensed that its thickness had
2334halved.
2335Tatsuya applied Sealing Sphere to the Parasite that had been Vega.
2336â—Šâ—Š â—Š
2337Still in Minami’s ward, Miyuki felt the true bodies of the Parasites appear near
2338the hospital. She quickly turned on the intercom and called Yuuka again.
2339“Yuuka-san.”
2340“What?” Yuuka answered.
2341Yuuka’s voice was somewhat agitated.
2342“The true bodies of the Parasites have been released,” Miyuki said.
2343“…understood.”
2344“At this rate, civilians will suffer. Yuuka-san, please take your subordinates and seal
2345the Parasites outside,” Miyuki ordered.
2346“But there will be no protection inside the hospital,” Yuuka protested.
2347“If ordinary people become victims, the anti-magic movement will rise again – and
2348we have finally calmed it down with peaceful magic projects.”
2349“But…”
2350“If the enemy gets inside, I’ll think of something,” Miyuki reassured Yuuka.
2351“…fine. I understand,” Yuuka responded.
2352On the small display, Yuuka nodded reluctantly.
2353“You're right, Miyuki-san. I will seal the Parasites first so the city dwellers do not
2354suffer. I will leave the hospital to you for now.”
2355“I will try to hold out until you return, Yuuka-san,” Miyuki said modestly.
2356But despite Miyuki’s modest words, Yuuka understood that she did not see Minoru as
2357a threat.
2358â—Š â—Š â—Š
2359Focusing his magic on remaining hidden, Minoru made his way toward the
2360main entrance of the hospital without being detected. He was joined there by four
2361Parasite dolls who had made it past the Juumonji guards. Suddenly, about 10
2362magicians ran out of the hospital.
2363Minoru intuitively understood that the Yotsuba would be the hospital’s last line of
2364defense, so he carefully directed his magical perception inside the hospital. He only
2365used passive detection, not wanting to risk detection by using psions to actively
2366search.
2367“Only Miyuki-san is left…?”
2368Miyuki was not hiding her presence, so he was able to detect her with passive
2369detection. Minoru had expected only Tatsuya to leave the hospital, and Miyuki staying
2370with Minami was within his expectations. He had seen some of her abilities in Nara,
2371but he was not naïve enough to think that that had been Miyuki’s full strength.
2372“Still, compared to Tatsuya-san…”
2373…she should not be such a strong opponent. Based on the current situation, Minoru
2374assessed his chances of a successful invasion.
2375The hospital doors remained open as if inviting Minoru in, and there were no
2376more signs that someone would come out of them. The Yotsuba magicians were
2377directing all their attention toward the released Parasites.
2378Minoru had not wanted to take the civilians hostage. He wished the Yotsuba luck in
2379sealing the Parasites while he penetrated the hospital, concealing both himself and the
2380Parasite dolls with his magic.
2381â—Š â—Š â—Š
2382The Tsukuba branch of the Yotsuba family specialized in mental interference
2383magic, and among the people led by Yuuka, eight people had mastered methods of
2384mental defense. These eight surrounded Yuuka, forming a circle (or more accurately,
2385and octagon) with Yuuka in the center.
2386These eight people separated themselves by a regular distance and turned to face away
2387from Yuuka.
2388The magician Northwest of Yuuka said “Ken.”
2389The magician in the West continued: “Da.”
2390The magicians to the Southwest, South, and Southeast of Yuuka followed in their
2391order:
2392“Kon.”
2393“Ri.”
2394“Son.”
2395To the East and Northeast:
2396“Sin.”
2397“Gon.”
2398And finally, the magician in the North finished with:
2399“Kan.”
2400A barrier from mental interference magic appeared from using the ancient magic of
2401the “Eight Trigrams”: Sky, Water, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Mountain, and Water.
2402Yuuka was spot on the center of the barrier.
2403The barrier was not just a barrier to defend against mental interference magic: it
2404was an altar that both protected the spellcasters inside and increased the effectiveness
2405of the magic from these spellcasters.
2406Yuuka took out a small piece of paper from her purse. It was cut to have a square
2407center, square protrusions on the left and right, and a triangular protrusion on its top.
2408The bottom was cut into two rectangles connected by the top. It was an amulet
2409formed to be a paper doll, abstractly symbolizing a person. Yuuka placed the amulet
2410between the index and middle fingers of her left hand, holding it to her face.
2411Yuuka managed the bracelet-CAD on her left wrist with her right hand to cast
2412her magic. A sequence of magic was projected from Yuuka to the amulet doll, and the
2413amulet jumped out from Yuuka’s hand after the sequence of magic to fly towards a
2414Parasite. It quickly sucked in the information body core of the Parasite, sealing it
2415inside.
2416The amulet trembled, dancing in the wind before falling back down into the octagonal
2417barrier formed from Mental Interference magic.
2418Yuuka quickly pulled out another amulet, but the Parasites were able to sense danger
2419and attacked Yuuka with lighting magic.
2420But the physical magic was stopped by Katsuto.
2421“Ara, thank you,” Yuuka said.
2422“The Juumonji family will protect you. Tsukuba-san, focus on sealing,” Katsuto
2423responded.
2424Katsuto and Yuuka had met a few days ago, so without wasting time on additional
2425greetings, they each continued to perform their jobs in order to deal with the released
2426Parasites.
2427â—Š â—Š â—Š
2428Tatsuya took the Sealing Sphere hovering over the surface of the sea and
2429returned to Lina. The battle between the defense detachment and the Parasites from
2430Star Dust was ongoing, but the situation was fairly stable and Tatsuya didn’t need to
2431hurry to help. If Tatsuya and Lina joined the fighting, it would end in less than 5
2432minutes.
2433“…or would it be better to finish it all at once?”
2434While Tatsuya pondered this, a small armored car drove up the road leading from the
2435airfield. The door opened and Hanabishi Hyogo stepped out of the driver’s seat.
2436“Tatsuya-sama, sorry for making you wait.”
2437“No… Hyogo-san, you are just in time,” Tatsuya replied while raising the helmet flap
2438of his Freed Suit.
2439After greeting Hyogo, Tatsuya looked at the back of the armored car – Hyogo should
2440have come with the spellcaster requested by him to seal the Parasites.
2441The rear right door of the armored car opened, and the person who stepped out turned
2442out to be a girl younger than Tatsuya dressed in a bright dress unsuitable for the
2443battlefield.
2444“Ayako?”
2445Tatsuya’s voice expressed his surprise.
2446There were 2 types of Yotsuba magicians: magicians with high aptitude for
2447mental interference, and magicians with powerful and unique magic. Tatsuya and
2448Ayako were both of the second type, unsuitable for using mental interference magic,
2449but it should have been necessary to seal the Parasites.
2450“Hello, Tatsuya-san. Hey, Fumiya! Tatsuya-san is waiting. Hurry up and come out
2451faster!”
2452Ayako’s words after her greeting instantly dispelled the doubts. Fumiya’s special
2453magic “Direct Pain” used mental interference magic, and after he had been forced to
2454retreat from Minoru, he had learned a sealing spell for the Parasites from the main
2455house.
2456Fumiya, moving slowly for some reason, finally emerged from the armored car.
2457However, Tatsuya did not immediately know how to greet him.
2458“Fumiya… that is, Yami?”
2459“Call me Yami, please…”
2460With a face the same color as his shirt (that is, red), Fumiya answered Tatsuya with a
2461timid voice.
2462“I see… Yami, what is with this appearance?”
2463“I’ve already said I don’t like it!”
2464Fumiya replied in an angry, dissatisfied, and almost tearful voice.
2465“Nothing can be done because it’s necessary for the sealing spell.”
2466Ayako’s voice was tinged with detachment – she had already been forced to deal with
2467plenty of complaints from Fumiya.
2468“Needed… for sealing?”
2469Tatsuya turned to Ayako as he asked his question. He was short on time, but he
2470couldn’t help but ask.
2471“It seems that more than 5 spellcasters are needed to use the original magic for sealing
2472the Parasites.”
2473Ayako said this as both a response to Tatsuya and encouragement for Fumiya.
2474“But our staff is currently located in Tokyo, so we have a shortage of people,” Ayako
2475continued.
2476“I see. So Fumiya came alone?”
2477Fumiya was the heir to the Kuroba branch of the Yotsuba family. He was initially
2478supposed to help his father take the command of the Kuroba magicians, so the fact
2479that he was sent to Miyaki Island showed how much his magical power was
2480appreciated as a candidate for the head of the Yotsuba.
2481Still, based on only this, it was still unclear why Fumiya was dressed as he was.
2482“Apparently certain types of ancient magic have an increased effect when wearing
2483clothes of the opposite sex.”
2484Dressing as the opposite sex – a woman in male clothes, or a man in female clothes.
2485“So now we have Yami in the form of a temple priestess?”
2486“Yes.”
2487Fumiya’s clothing consisted of a white kimono top and a red hakama shit bottom. He
2488wore sandals over white socks, and his wig was square like the one he usually used,
2489but had long, straight hair tied behind his back.
2490No matter how you looked at it, he was a beautiful priestess-san.
2491“Yes. The head-sama said that since there are not enough people, I have to strengthen
2492my magic like this,” Fumiya said, somewhat dejectedly.
2493“Then… I offer my condolences.”
2494Tatsuya was unwittingly serious as he apologized to Fumiya. He had sent a request for
2495a sealing wizard, but his request had resulted in Fumiya becoming a toy in Maya’s
2496hands.
2497“…no, Tatsuya-niisan, you aren’t guilty. Besides, I’m just doing my job!”
2498Fumiya absolved Tatsuya’s guilt while encouraging himself. It was clear from his
2499appearance that he hoped to complete the sealing as quickly as possible to be freed
2500from this cosplay sooner.
2501“I see. Then seal these three first,” Tatsuya said.
2502It was necessary to preserve Fumiya’s motivation, at least for the start, so Tatsuya had
2503him start with the weakened ones. Tatsuya showed him to the spheres in which the
2504Parasites that had once merged with Regulus, Vega, and Deneb were locked.
2505“Tatsuya-san… did you do this?” Ayako asked.
2506Both Ayako and Fumiya stared at the Sealing Spheres curiously.
2507“But they look pretty sealed…?”
2508Tatsuya shook his head at Fumiya’s question.
2509“After about 6 hours, the effect of these Sealing Spheres will disappear. It is also
2510inconvenient to store and transport them like this.
2511“Indeed… well, I understand.”
2512Fumiya went back to the back-left door of the armored car and came back with
2513a wooden box which looked like a first aid kit. Inside were 16 Kokeshi dolls without
2514painted faces. The armored car also held two more boxes just like the first.
2515Fumiya took one Kokeshi doll out of the box.
2516Ayako pulled a red mat out of a gym bag and spread it over the road.
2517“I am starting.”
2518Fumiya placed the Kokeshi doll in front of the Sealing Sphere, sat on the mat, and
2519stretched his hand to his CAD – a long and narrow mobile terminal attacked to his
2520belt.
2521Tatsuya and Lina carefully stepped away from the twins.
2522“Tatsuya…”
2523Lina turned towards Tatsuya and spoke in a depressed voice. Tatsuya silently looked
2524toward her and asked her to continue.
2525“And Fumiya…?”
2526For a while after her escape, Lina lived under the Kuroba family’s protection, so she
2527was already acquainted with Fumiya.
2528“…because he wants to change clothes quickly?”
2529“Let’s hurry and neutralize the parasites still in the battle so Fumiya can seal them
2530quickly,” Tatsuya responded.
2531There were still 20 Parasites. Tatsuya replied to Lina with unconcealed pity on his
2532face, and the tense atmosphere was finally becoming calmer with Fumiya’s
2533appearance.
2534However, the tense voice Tatsuya heard from his communication device smashed his
2535ease to pieces.
2536â—Šâ—Š â—Š
2537Minoru and the Parasite dolls who had infiltrated Aoba Clinic climbed to the 4 th
2538floor using the stairs to get to Minami’s ward. Nobody had tried to stop Minoru during
2539his trip from the entrance to the stairs, or while he climbed the stairs to the fourth floor
2540corridor. He hadn’t even seen any signs of being noticed.
2541“…is this a trap?”
2542Minoru found it hard to believe that there weren’t precautions in place against
2543Minoru, and he hadn’t seen any patients or other hospital staff either. But if it was a
2544trap, where was it? Minoru couldn’t think of anything that could stop him.
2545Minoru only detected the presence of Miyuki and Minami inside Minami’s
2546ward, so it seemed to him like they were just telling him to come in and pick up
2547Minami. Minoru was suspicious, but also a little relieved at the situation.
2548…premonition.
2549Minoru felt a slight pang of worry for a moment, and the steps felt heavy after it. The
2550Parasite dolls had no feelings about the now sinister atmosphere, but they also slowed
2551down after Minoru decelerated.
2552Minoru and the dolls took almost 3 times longer than they should have to get to the
2553chamber. However, there was no indication that we was being attacked from within –
2554his worries seemed for naught.
2555Minoru took a deep breath and ordered one of the Parasite dolls to enter. Opening the
2556unlocked door, the doll entered the chamber. A moment later, Minoru glimpsed a
2557sparkling white ice field.
2558“I am standing in a lifeless, icy world of absolute silence.”
2559This illusion was pressed on Minoru’s mind with such force that his heart felt
2560ready to stop – so much that it took him much longer than it should have to notice
2561that the Parasite doll entering the ward had stopped.
2562The Parasite was not just frozen physically.
2563The Parasite’s true body – the difference between the fighting gynoids and the
2564parasite dolls – had also stopped. The spiritual life form was frozen.
2565As if thrown back, the Parasite doll returned to the corridor and crashed into the
2566opposite wall of the door. It fell to the floor of corridor. Minoru didn’t know if the
2567electronic brain inside the gynoid had been frozen, preventing body control, but it was
2568clear that the Parasite doll was out of action.
2569The door to the chamber remained open, but Minoru did not feel an invitation
2570to enter. However, there were no signs that someone would leave, so he would only
2571seal his fate by waiting – either Tatsuya or the magicians from the guard could return.
2572Minoru didn’t have much confidence that the Parasites on Miyaki Island would delay
2573Tatsuya for long, and the chance of them defeating him was zero. Minoru’s main
2574enemy was time, and he ordered the remaining three Parasite dolls to enter. Then,
2575focusing all his strength into Parade and Ghost Walker, he followed.
2576As he entered, he heard a whisper:
2577“Cocytus.”
2578Minoru once again felt the lifeless, silent world of ice. The illusion of Parade was
2579frozen; Ghost Walker was useless. If Parade had not protected Minoru, he intuitively
2580knew that his body… no, his very soul would have frozen. The Parasite dolls, without
2581any such protection, fell onto the floor without any sign of external damage.
2582When the vessels shaped like women became ordinary lifeless dolls, Minoru found
2583himself facing Miyuki – he was frozen, and Miyuki calm.
2584Miyuki did not move.
2585Minoru could not move.
2586Miyuki was the first to speak.
2587“What an eyesore,” Miyuki said as she waved her right hand. The Parasite dolls that
2588had fallen to the floor were pushed into the corner of the room.
2589“What was that, just now…?” Minoru asked, moaning. He was clearly not asking
2590about the movement magic Miyuki had used to move the dolls. Miyuki also
2591understood this and answered the real question.
2592“Cocytus: magic to freeze the mind. My trump card.”
2593Miyuki’s answer was cold, but it contained no hostility.
2594“Magic to freeze the mind…?” Minoru muttered, stunned. He couldn’t quite believe
2595the events that had taken place as he entered the room, and his question was really
2596asking “what does this mean?!”, but Miyuki didn’t answer that question.
2597“Minoru-kun. This is your miscalculation.”
2598“Miscalculation?”
2599“You thought I was weaker than Tatsuya-sama, right?”
2600“……”
2601Minoru had no answer.
2602“I am weaker than Tatsuya-sama.”
2603Minoru unwittingly swallowed saliva. He was not frozen anymore by his shock after
2604Miyuki’s magic, but by the tension her words brought.
2605“However, I am the natural enemy for the parasites. Jobs such as these… I am better
2606suited for,” Miyuki said. The last of her friendless remaining in her tone disappeared
2607as she said her next words.
2608“I can kill the true body of the Parasite.”
2609The Parasites were a spiritual life form and could not resist against Cocytus.
2610“Magic that freezes the mind… magic that freezes it to death?” Minoru asked.
2611“Cocytus is the magic that stops the mind.”
2612Physically, it is impossible to achieve absolute zero – heat transfers from higher heat
2613to lower heat, so as a substance approaches absolute zero, heat can no long be
2614removed. However, Miyuki’s magic Cocytus could completely freeze the mind, and
2615once frozen, the mind could never again be set in motion.
2616“Mental absolute zero…?” Minoru asked, still struggling to accept the events.
2617“A mind without material connections – without a physical body – cannot hold its
2618information body and will eventually disappear… it will eventually just cease to
2619exist.”
2620“……”
2621Once again, Minoru was at a loss of words. Miyuki was telling the truth – Minoru
2622was forced to admit he had miscalculated. Leading Tatsuya away was not enough –
2623when planning a diversion, it was more important to lead Miyuki away.
2624“Minoru-kun. Please get out of here.”
2625“Huh?!”
2626Minoru was not the only one surprised at this suggestion. Minami, next to Miyuki
2627watching the conversation unfold, could not hide her surprise.
2628“Your capture… it’s the work of Tatsuya-sama. It is enough for me to just protect
2629Minami-chan.”
2630“……”
2631“Run away Minoru-kun. I will not chase you.”
2632Even without giving a proper purpose, Minoru was sure Miyuki was telling the truth.
2633If he retreated, he would be able to escape, and Minoru found himself considering the
2634act, however cowardly. However…
2635“…I cannot.”
2636Minoru couldn’t accept Miyuki’s offer.
2637“I came here to help Minami-san. I can not retreat for my own benefit.”
2638Minoru realized he was being foolish, but he was not sure if he would get another
2639opportunity to “save” Minami.
2640“…perhaps this is the last chance…”
2641“…if I run away now, I will no longer be able to reach Minami…”
2642Minoru’s reasoning didn’t allow him to make a wise choice.
2643“… I see. I’m sorry.”
2644Miyuki held her right hand towards Minoru. Cocytus did not need a gesture; she was
2645giving Minoru the chance to change his mind, trying to push him through
2646intimidation. She was not worried about Minoru attacking in response – she had
2647sensed her previous Cocytus had effected Minoru, so his magical abilities were
2648temporarily deteriorated.
2649But Minoru still didn’t run away.
2650All of Miyuki’s emotions disappeared from her face, and she stood with her arm
2651extended. But right before she activated Cocytus, Minami shouted.
2652“Please stop!”
2653Minami called for Miyuki to stop and ran to Minoru, covering him as she spread her
2654arms to the side. She got in Miyuki’s way to defend Minoru.
2655“Minami chan, what are you…” Miyuki mumbled and astonished but she quickly
2656recovered.
2657She did not try to persuade Minami – Minami herself didn’t understand why she was
2658doing what she was doing.
2659…also, it wasn’t clear how Minoru would act.
2660Miyuki started to activate Cocytus, but she was forced to ask Minami to stop
2661instead.
2662“Minami-chan, don’t do that!”
2663Minami was trying to activate her barrier magic.
2664“Miyuki-sama, please! Stop!”
2665“Why…”
2666Miyuki didn’t know what to do – if she used magic, so would Minami. Minami’s
2667magic blocked physical events, and it couldn’t stop Cocytus. However, Minami’s
2668magic calculation area had been overheated, and if she tried to use magic again… it
2669could even deprive her of her life.
2670“Minami-san, I’m sorry!”
2671Minoru took advantage of Miyuki’s indecision. He stretched his hand around
2672Minami’s waist and jumped back with her, slipping through the air towards the
2673stairs. Miyuki quickly went out of the ward, but she stopped when she saw
2674Minami’s glance from over Minoru’s shoulder.
2675If Miyuki attacked Minoru, Minami would defend him from it. Miyuki feared the
2676consequences which bound her thinking.
2677Minoru escaped from the hospital through the window of the landing, but
2678Miyuki did not see it.
2679She ran back to the ward, and after making several mistakes while operating the
2680terminal, finally managed to call Tatsuya’s communicator.
2681â—Šâ—Š â—Š
2682“Onii-sama, Minami-chan...!”
2683Miyuki’s desperate cry returned tension in Tatsuya’s heart right as he calmed down.
2684“Miyuki, what happened?” he hurried to ask, trying to calm down as he held back the
2685trepidation that came along with the tension.
2686“Minami-chan is with Minoru-kun!”
2687“He could still kidnap her!?” Tatsuya exclaimed.
2688“Yes! No!”
2689Miyuki’s response was completely meaningless. She was clearly very worried.
2690“Miyuki, I'll be back as soon as possible.”
2691Tatsuya didn’t further interrogate Miyuki.
2692“Do you hear me, Miyuki? I’m coming back to you.”
2693“...Yes.”
2694Tatsuya’s words diminished Miyuki’s panic, if only a little.
2695“Miyuki. I'm leaving now.”
2696“Yes, okay!”
2697After finishing his conversation with Miyuki, Tatsuya faced Lina.
2698“Tatsuya, go,” Lina spoke first. “I’ll figure it out here. You should hurry to Miyuki.”
2699“I’ll rely on you then, Lina.”
2700Without saying anything to Ayako or Fumiya, Tatsuya ran to the aircar. It pulled
2701forward as soon as he sat in the driver’s seat, and Ayako turned at the sound.
2702As Ayako, Lina, and Hyogo silently watched, the light-blue care flew off towards
2703Tokyo.
2704(To be continued in the “Chase” chapter…)
2705Volume 27 Afterword
2706So, that was the 27th volume of the “The Irregular at Magic Highschool”, titled
2707“Sudden Change”. Did you like it?
2708I haven’t had the chance to compare with something, so this may be prejudice, but it
2709seems to me that I have problems with naming both the entire series and individual
2710arcs. I usually come up the names after writing a general plot, but before writing the
2711text, I always again painfully reflect on the name of the arc after reflecting on the plot.
2712There have been cases when I changed the name of the arc in this process. For
2713example, at the stage of writing the plot of "City Insurrection", it had the name
2714"Intrigue in Kyoto". There was also a case when writing the plot that there was not a
2715single good option for the name of the arc, so it was with the "The beginning of
2716unrest." I also wondered whether to give the arch of the "Ten Master Clans
2717Conference" the title "Problems for the Ten Main Clans", but in the end I left the
2718name "Ten Master Clans Conference".
2719This time I suffered the most. At the stage of writing 24 volumes, I completely revised
2720the plot of the entire series and realized that the names of the arcs prepared in advance
2721were no longer suitable for use. After the revision and prior to the direct writing of the
2722text, I was tormented: would it be possible to make volumes 26 and 27 a two-part arc
2723called “Invasion”? Or call it “Treason”? Or "Sudden Change"?
2724Time was running out, and it was necessary to decide whether the 26th volume would
2725go to print under the title "Invasion (Part 1)". As a result, the idea of a two-volume arc
2726was abandoned. We decided to use the name "Sudden Change", because the name
2727"Betrayal" was too much of a spoiler. To be honest, I was tormented by the agony of
2728the choice, even after writing the first version of the text.
2729Conversely, the title of the next arch "Chase" was coined without any suffering. I
2730think everyone who read the current volume "Sudden Turn" understands why this title
2731was chosen. The name for the next arc is also almost settled, but it also contains a
2732spoiler, so for now this is a secret.
2733It was decided that the next arc "Chase" will consist of two volumes. I think you
2734already understand that the main topic will be Tatsuya's chase for Minoru, but his
2735classmates from the First School will also have a lot of activity. The story line
2736Masaki, Akane and Liu Li Lei is also far from complete. The arch "chase" will be
2737filled with a variety of events.
2738I hope that you will read to the end of the " The Irregular at Magic Highschool ", the
2739plot of which continues to evolve rapidly.
2740Thank you again for continuing to read us. (Sato Tsutomu)