Chapter 27

The fifth day of the Newcomers Division dawned with a bewildering atmosphere.

An unprecedented malicious act had occurred during Monolith Code yesterday, seriously injuring the players from First High to the point that they were unable to compete. Usually, the remaining two matches would end in their capitulation, but thanks to the board's intercession, a replacement team was allowed to compete on the following day.

Monolith Code used a variable rotation format with each school competing in four matches and the four schools with the most victories advancing to the elimination round.

In the event of a tie, totals were recalculated with uncontested victories excluded. In the event of a tie, there has been a precedent where two schools fought it out to determine who advanced. If there was no direct contest, then the school with the smaller amount of time needed for victory would advance.

The current standings were Third High with four victories, Eighth High with three, First, Second, and Ninth High each with two victories. Ninth High took less time to achieve two victories than Second High. One of First High's victories included Fourth High being disqualified, so they couldn't simply advance with two victories.

In today's special matches, if First High defeated Second and Eighth High, then the schools that advance would be First, Third, Eighth, and Ninth High.

If they beat Second High but lost to Eighth High, then First, Third, Eighth, and Ninth High would advance.

If they lost to Second High but were able to beat Eighth High, then First, Second, Third, and Eighth High would advance.

If they lost to both, then First High would not advance to the elimination round. Second, Third, Eighth, and Ninth High would advance instead.

...That was how this event was going to play out.

Regardless, if First High defeated Second High, then Second High would be eliminated rather than advancing without a win, hence Second High vigorously protested this arrangement. On the other hand, if they beat Eighth High and went easy on Second High, then the Nine Schools Competition would be accused of cutting inside deals.

"In other words, to please both sides, we just have to lose both matches..."

"If we're heading out, we're going out to win it. If we lose, then making the exception becomes pointless."

"Looks like I don't need to worry on that account."

The fact that First High's replacements were not registered players was the source of much confusion and gossip.

Rather than selecting their substitutes from the top ten representatives of their cohort, they went with a member of the technician team as well as two newly recruited members.

Some wondered, did First High hold back another expert on Monolith Code? In that case, why wasn't this person put forth as a starter for Monolith Code in the first place? Each of the schools was mystified by First High's intentions.

And now, the three of them who walked onto the arena only aroused more curiosity.

"...Don't you think we're a little too conspicuous?"

Mikihiko seemed unable to settle down. Hearing this, Tatsuya resolutely curtailed his words.

"It is only natural for players on the field to draw the eyes of the spectators."

"Well, that's not what I'm talking about..."

Mikihiko shook his head at Tatsuya pretending to be ignorant, despite knowing full well what he was talking about and cautiously peered at Leo.

"That's really eye-catching..."

Leo knew what that look implied and dropped his own gaze to waist level.

The ruckus from the stands vindicated Leo's suspicion. (That being said, it's not like they could tell what was being said.)

Their protective gear and helmets were the same as the other schools. "A sword? Isn't direct contact against the rules?"

But the presence of the Mini Communicator threw the crowd into an uproar.

Leo's "sword" was actually a Weaponized-Integrated CAD. However, less than 10% of the crowd was actually able to discern that detail. Very few people, even among the players and engineers, knew of the existence of Weaponized-Integrated CADs, which was hardly surprising in and of itself.

In addition, magic written into the Weaponized-Integrated CAD usually involved buffing its martial ability — the "weapon's" ability. "Blades" usually improved cutting power. "Spears" buffed their piercing force. "Rods" strengthened their striking power. "Shields" empowered their defensive abilities.

Take "Sonic Blade" for an example, some of the options include "Speed Boost", "Penetration Boost", "Fortify", "Reflect", but all of these were used to raise (the original weapon's) martial nature and incorporated into the Weaponized-Integrated CAD.

As a "sword", the typical options include cutting power and armor penetration, so whichever power it was it still directly correlated with the weapon's physical attack. Anyone familiar with CADs was justified in their reasoning that this was against the rules for Monolith Code.

Yet, Leo was not the sole focus of attention.

"...There he is."

"Yeah. Never thought he would appear as a player on the field."

"Twin pistols, with a bracelet-model on the right wrist...

Simultaneously operating three CADs?"

"He's not your average Joe. I don't think he's bluffing here. Doesn't it look like both are long-barrel model Specialized CADs?"

"They don't look like stealth weapons, so he's probably dual-wielding two Specialized CADs. But most people choose to use Generalized CADs when operating magic from different systems..."

"So you can operate multiple CADs at the same time. Show me what you're capable of!"

Masaki and Kichijouji's conversation embodied the perception from the majority of the viewers. Each school's players and auxiliaries were all watching Tatsuya.

This was the infernal super technician that won First Place for every event he was responsible for.

In contrast to the fervent cheers of support from the Year 1 female players, the Year 1 male players looked on mockingly.

They were silently rooting for the opposing team. Curiosity reigned over all other thoughts now.

In the midst of this, the match against Eighth High commenced.

◊ ◊ ◊

"So we're up against Eighth High in a wooded area, eh..."

"Generally... That's to our disadvantage."

Mari murmured with eyes glued to the screen while Mayumi replied as she watched the progression.

Monolith Code was an event that placed the players against each other under variable outdoor conditions. The Nine Schools Competition used five scenarios: Woodlands, Boulders, Open Plains, Valley, and Urban Setting.

Among the magic high schools, Eighth High placed the most emphasis on outdoor training, so the Woodlands were like their home court. The settings were randomly generated, but even under these exceptional conditions, the fact that a favorable setting was picked for one of the schools that originally possessed an unearned victory definitely raised concerns that someone was manipulating the odds.

—Yet, neither Mayumi nor Mari or any of the other members of the brass gathered in the pavilion were particularly worried.

It was public knowledge within First High's command level that Tatsuya trained under the "Ninjitsu Specialist" Kokonoe Yakumo. A woodland setting with lots of visual obstructions was an ideal location to bring out the merits of "ninjitsu" to the fullest. This was also common knowledge.

However, for the opposing school that was wholly unaware of this "fact", this was a titanic miscalculation.

Between the starting locations — where the monoliths were erected — there was a distance of approximately 800 meters.

In full protective gear and carrying a CAD, players needed at least five minutes to thread through the gaps within the woodlands.

When taking into account that they needed to be constantly on guard against enemy movements and assault, the time was easily several times higher.

Regardless — less than five minutes into the match, combat broke out near Eighth High's monolith.

The players' activities were closely monitored by anti-cheating cameras. The recorded images would be displayed on a large screen for the audience. In arenas with large numbers of visual obstructions, the audience was reliant on these images to follow the unfolding match.

Currently, the large screen hanging from the sky displayed Tatsuya's image appearing before the defender from Eighth High.

"He's fast...!"

"Personal Acceleration?"

At Kichijouji's murmur, Masaki also asked aloud, his eyes still locked onto the screen.

The image appeared briefly before the cameras, and then leaped out of the frame in the next instant.

The defender on the other side fell to one knee.

The camera switched over to find Tatsuya flanking the defender to the right side and sprinting for the monolith.

"No, it doesn't look like he used Move-Type Magic... Ah!"

The defender raised the muzzle of his CAD towards Tatsuya. Tatsuya's earlier attack appeared to only have temporarily upset the defender's balance.

The Specialized CAD shaped like a short-barrel pistol started its Activation Sequence.

Immediately, in the frame specifically designed to show psion motion, a rapidly expanding, non-physical shock wave — a psion explosion — shredded the defender's Activation Sequence into nothing.

Just then, Tatsuya's left hand was holding a CAD. From the rear, his right hand was empty.

But in the image now, Tatsuya was running with the CAD in his right hand pointing towards the defender.

"When?"

Did he draw? Masaki omitted the last few words. But Kichijouji's answer wasn't directly on the money. "Wait, don't tell me... Gram Demolition!"

"Did you say Gram Demolition?"

The defender was shocked into immobility by his disintegrated Activation Sequence. Tatsuya kept an eye on his opponent and clicked the trigger in his right hand before the monolith.

"Nice! The monolith is opening!"

Seeing Tatsuya plug in the special code that served as a key and split the enemy monolith in two, Honoka was fairly dancing with joy.

"...Odd."

By her side, Shizuku wrinkled her brows in confusion. "Shizuku, what's odd?"

In the crowd of Year 1 female students, Eimi asked Shizuku.

"The monolith has been opened, so why is he retreating?"

Just as Shizuku said, Tatsuya didn't approach to copy the code in the monolith but altered his path and ducked back into the cover of darkness within the forest.

"Now that you mention it... Hey, Miyuki, what do you think?"

"Even Onii-sama would be hard pressed to input all 512 characters under constant enemy harassment."

The shell-shaped keyboard worn on the left wrist was also the terminal used to input the code. Even if Tatsuya typed at lightning speed, he would still need some time to input all 512 characters on the tiny keyboard.

"You're right... This is the first time I've seen someone use the key while the defenders are paralyzed."

Just as Shizuku muttered with dawning comprehension, the frozen defender came around and hustled into the trees after Tatsuya.

"Just now... That was..."

When Tatsuya used Counter Magic, no one was more astounded than Mari herself.

Mari was panting and unable to speak coherently. The surprising thing was that next to her, Mayumi was able to reply blandly.

"Gram Demolition... I had an inkling you were capable, Tatsuya-kun...

And you didn't disappoint."

"Mayumi, you know what that was?"

Mayumi glanced at Mari, who was itching to approach, and swiftly looked back towards the viewing screen.

"Gram Demolition uses compressed psion particles to directly detonate the target by charging forward without using the Information Dimension. This Counter Magic is accomplished by forcibly blowing away all the accompanying Activation and Magic Sequences — anything that has traces of magic psions recorded on it.

This is a magic that demolishes the record of magic (Gram), hence the name Gram Demolition.

While it is called magic, this is strictly a psion cannon ball that makes no attempt to use Magic Sequences to alter reality. This way, Gram Demolition is not restricted by Data Fortification or wide area interference, and the cannon ball's own pressure would reject any effects of Cast Jamming.

Since there's no actual physical effect, physical obstructions can do nothing.

This way, the magic that your opponent is casting is forcibly blown away by the psions.

In order to halt that kind of furious charge, a multi-layered defensive wall of psions might barely hold up.

Besides its rather short effective range, there are almost no weaknesses. Along with Gram Dispersion, Gram Demolition is known as one of the strongest Counter Magics within Nonsystematic Magic...

But there are very few people capable of performing this feat. I cannot do it either.

Since this isn't an interference ability but a true dispersion, I am unable to create that kind of force with my psion count.

In summation, it's a super heavyweight!"

"...In other words, it's like a huge brute swinging around a giant mace with all his strength, right?"

Hearing Mari's roundabout description, Mayumi burst into laughter.

"To be able to say it like that, you're quite calm about it, Mari! However, you're largely correct. During the match with Hanzou-kun, I thought Tatsuya-kun was a more delicate, finesse type... I never imagined that he was actually a front line bruiser."

"Then, during the incident on the way here, it was really..."

"I believe that's what happened. I didn't see it at the time, but didn't Mari witness it? There were at least ten overlapping Magic Sequences during the incident, but they were all dispelled instantly... Exactly how high is his psion count..."

Eighth High's formation consisted of one defender and two attackers.

The two attackers split into two paths. One of them reached First High's territory.

"Ah, Tatsuya-kun, hurry!"

"Go, Leo-kun!"

First High's territory, which contained First High's monolith, was in a setting that allowed the audience to easily pick out all the details.

Under Erika and Mizuki's gaze, Leo dropped into a combat stance before his monolith and drew the "sword" from his waist.

The attacker's figure could be seen in the shade of the trees.

He held a Specialized CAD similar to the ones his teammates were carrying.

The attacker's intent was clearly to overwhelm Leo, the defender, then open the monolith in one go.

The attacker aimed his CAD at Leo.

While Leo swung the Weaponized Integrated CAD "Mini Communicator" horizontally.

Both occurred at the same time. "Excellent!"

"Damn, that guy's pretty good!"

Both Erika and Mizuki erupted into cheers.

A flying metal board traced an arc as it flew through the trees and sent the attacker rolling with a direct blow from the front.

Based on the coordinates of the trees, Leo had already calculated his effective range and used the separated blade to strike away at the attacking player.

After restoring the "blade" as one, Leo pointed the "sword" towards the sky.

The "blade" in his hand shot forward and came to a halt high in the sky.

"Oh — Ah —!"

With a roar, Leo swung the "blade" downwards with a speed that matched the radial motion and bestowed the final blow to the attacker lying on the ground.

"What, was that?"

While her question may seem stern, Suzune's question clearly portrayed that she lost a little of her usual coolness.

"That would be the "Mini Communicator" — a Weaponized Integrated CAD and original magic that Shiba-kun pioneered."

Azusa, who was on hand last night during calibration, answered in response.

"Both a Weaponized Integrated CAD and an original... I wonder what's the design?"

Hearing Azusa's concise explanation, Suzune nodded repeatedly.

"I see, that is a novel concept. Yet, for Shiba-kun at least, this seems like a coarse system."

"Coarse, is it?"

Suzune patiently explained to Azusa, who was tilting her head to one side.

"Yes, this magic has obvious limitations regarding the user's physical specifications and usable environmental situations..."

The third player from Eighth High was repeatedly backtracking through the forest.

While the setting was the woodlands, this wasn't the Fuji forests themselves. Parts of the hills in the arena were artificial, with trees and plants transplanted here, and it was only intended for training purposes.

Half a century had passed since the transplanting phase, and the forest had naturally grown on its own. Still, this wasn't a dense jungle where people could easily get lost 800 meters in.

But the reality was that the player from Eighth High was hopelessly lost.

"Where the hell are you, you SOB! Stop skulking around and get your butt out here!"

The player from Eighth High made no attempt to disguise the agitation in his voice as he attempted to use magic to remove the ultrasound waves.

The strength of the ultrasound waves was not even worth mentioning. The only noticeable effect was a slight ringing in the ears.

That being said, this ringing was irritating to the extreme.

While the players were wearing military-grade protective helmets, they were only standard infantry gear intended to protect the head from shock and pressure, so there was no function to block vapors or sound waves. The helmet protected the face, but there were small holes to allow sounds to reach the ears.

Under attack from ultrasound waves, the only counter was to use your own magic to defend yourself.

The player from Eighth High returned his team CAD to the holster and pulled out a cellphone-shaped Generalized CAD he prepared from his pocket. He planned to use this to defend himself from the ultrasound waves and advance on First High's position,

However, regardless of how long he walked, he never found the enemy field.

He never even noticed.

Under a constant barrage of high and low frequency sounds, his attention had been entirely drawn to the high frequencies, enabling the low frequencies to wreak havoc in his inner ear.

His vision was restricted as he endlessly turned left and right — complicated by the fact that he had no opportunity to reestablish his bearings and his senses were out of whack. This would naturally result in the situation where he was utterly unable to grasp his current location.

If someone noticed they were lost, they would immediately consult a compass, but if they were gradually misled by their senses, it was infinitely more difficult to correct the problem without being aware that one was misled in the first place.

The player from Eighth High had fallen into the time-honored trap known as "hubris".

Mikihiko was the one responsible for laying this snare. Spirit Magic "Echo Maze".

Even if he wanted to retaliate, thanks to his scrambled senses, he couldn't even tell where the caster was. Scratch that, even if he was functioning normally, he had no chance of sniffing out Mikihiko's location.

That was because Mikihiko initiated this sound wave attack through the spirits.

If he caught the source of the magic, the only thing he would find would be the position of the floating spirits.

The power of absolute stealth.

This was one of the greatest weapons within "Divine Earth Magic", the branch of Spirit Magic Mikihiko belonged to.

Behind the aimlessly wandering player from Eighth High, Mikihiko calculated that it was about time to execute the next phase of the mission.

After luring the defender away from the monolith and deep into the forest, Tatsuya was mulling his options and trying to decide whether he should attack directly or assist in other theaters.

If he chose to attack, he must win the necessary time to input the code after swiftly incapacitating his opponent.

If he chose to assist, he must continue to draw the defender's attention, hereby buying time for Mikihiko to input the code.

He paused for an instant to consider. Tatsuya elected to attack.

He drew the CAD on his left and clicked the trigger after pointing it towards the ground.

After activating magic to lighten his weight, he lightly tapped off the ground and sprang along the treetops with the ease of a squirrel.

Once he used magic, his opponent should be able to easily pinpoint his location.

The use of magic would create unavoidable side effects through the change in Eidos.

A skilled Magician could not only identify the caster's location based on the ripples of magic, but even the magic used as well. However, for such a weakly applied magic like this, could the player from Eighth High even detect that he used Weight-Type Magic? And if so, could he ascertain that Tatsuya was bounding along the treetops?

For Tatsuya, that would be the most convenient outcome.

As he moved between trees, he didn't cast magic while leaping.

As if his legs had springs attached to them, he didn't even cause the trees to shake.

As expected, the defender had already arrived at the point where he had leaped off the ground.

His gaze was scrolling upwards.

Behind him, Tatsuya squeezed the trigger in his right hand.

On the widescreen that showed psion movements, the image depicted the defender from Eighth High as he was inundated with psions from Nonsystematic magic.

The defender staggered briefly, then collapsed. "...'Resonate', eh, Nonsystematic Magic."

"So he used biological waves and the psion wave to create resonance in order to incapacitate his opponent?"

Hearing Kichijouji's words, Masaki nodded.

"It appears that he's calibrated the right hand to use Nonsystematic Magic and the left hand to use Weight-Type Magic and is using them interchangeably."

"George... Don't you think this guy's Nonsystematic Magic contains traces of Ancient Magic?"

"You think so too, Masaki? Is it Shugendo... Or even Ninjitsu? Biological waves — historically known as 'chi', is actually quite similar to the magic he's using."

"I think that even those Ancient Magic users wouldn't con people with the term 'chi' these days."

"Ho? Nitpicking isn't very becoming of you, Masaki."

The defender hadn't completely lost his mobility. He was still somewhat conscious. Still, in his current condition, he was no longer able to keep up with Tatsuya.

Using a bent tree branch's potential energy, Tatsuya took a giant leap. As he flew overhead, he clicked the trigger in his left hand and didn't bother to adopt a landing posture. He arrived in front of the monolith in a blink of an eye.

The image of Tatsuya opening the shell and inputting the code was displayed all over the screen.

Off in the distance, the wails of the supporters from Eighth High could be heard, but Mayumi turned to look at Mari.

Mari also turned to catch Mayumi's gaze. "...He won."

"...He actually won."

Now, First High was guaranteed to advance to the elimination round.

Yet for some reason, neither one of them seemed overjoyed at that thought.

After receiving the code, the ending whistle rang out shrilly.

As First High's banner was raised into the air, the stands where First High's supporters sat turned into a complete bedlam.

"We won! We won!!"

"Amazing, amazing, amazing! It was a complete victory!"

"Congratulations, Miyuki!"

"Your brother did it!"

The shrill shrieks of joy came from the Year 1 female players. It was as if they had captured the championship already.

There were also cheers and congratulations being swapped in the normal stands, but much more subdued.

"Whew... My heart almost stopped!"

"Why? Weren't Tatsuya-kun, Leo-kun, and Yoshida-kun all safe and sound?"

"Nah, I felt that besides Tatsuya-kun, the others were really tight..."

"Eh? How?"

"You ask how... Well, in a lot of ways."

Hearing her friend's abstract and incomprehensible words, Mizuki tilted her head in a comical fashion.

"You're weird, Erika-chan."

At being seen as a weirdo by Mizuki, Erika had dozens of excuses lined up to defend herself, but making her friends anxious wasn't Erika's favorite pastime, so she decided to let it slide just this once.

◊ ◊ ◊

The next match, between First High and Second High, was set 30 minutes from now.

While he felt that the break was rather short, Masaki didn't have to worry about this since he was unlikely — (certainly) — not going to meet them in battle today. On the other hand, he should probably welcome the idea of First High's players exhausting themselves. Yet, the moment he thought of this, he found the idea despicable and immediately erased it from his thoughts.

The next setting hadn't been announced yet.

After the match, Masaki was still sitting on the observation deck and couldn't help but engage Kichijouji in conversation.

"So, what do you think of that match?"

"Masaki isn't asking about the team as a whole, but 'him', right?" His words corrected for him, Masaki could only smile wryly.

"You're right. George, if it was you, how would you handle him?"

"I feel that he's very accustomed to the battlefield. Combat movement, surveying the battlefield, positioning... Compared to his magical abilities, those are the things we should be watching out for, aren't they?"

"What about his magic?"

"Let me think... While I was shocked by 'Gram Demolition'... But that final 'Resonance', even though he got the perfect surprise attack from behind, he wasn't able to render his opponent completely unconscious. Isn't that an opening we can exploit?"

"Yeah..."

"Now that I think about it, at first contact he likely used Weight-Type Magic to disturb his opponent's balance — but he may have wanted to topple his opponent completely, but was only able to force him to one knee.

That was also the case with the Light Weight Magic he used to jump to the trees. Just that alone was not sufficient to hold his weight.

To a certain degree, perhaps he's unable to wield strong magics?

This may be a side effect from using high performance CADs for so long, he may be unable to use his full strength with inferior models, but we may never know."

"That's possible. With that kind of superlative skill, he would naturally use the state-of-the-art hardware. Thanks to his sudden elevation as a substitute, he didn't have the time to get used to the weaker models."

"We don't know all the details, but that's not necessary, is it? At any rate, from a magic perspective, I think 'Gram Demolition' is the only thing we need to watch out for. Rather than following the example from the player of Eighth High, we should definitely take heed not to fall into the same strategy."

"So you mean that we do not fear him in a head-to-head confrontation?"

"Exactly. If we could only force him to meet you man-to-man... If we could do that, then Masaki's triumph is assured. For example, if our match is set on the 'Open Plains', we would win ten out of ten."

◊ ◊ ◊

During the resting period for the players of First High, Mikihiko was distracted as he repeatedly sat and rose from his seat.

"Mikihiko... Can you settle down?"

The calibration for the "Mini Communicator" was just completed. As if reexamining its weight, Leo was waving it around as he said listlessly.

"Leo... You're truly a carefree sort. Well... Even meeting peers from other classes that we've never met before."

Those words seemed to be squeezed out of Mikihiko. Under a "What?" gaze from everyone, Miyuki revealed a charming smile.

"I never knew that Yoshida-kun was so shy!"

Tatsuya shrugged and sat in a relaxed posture. Behind him, Miyuki stood there massaging his shoulders and turned a dazzling smile on Mikihiko.

"I think that Mikihiko's reaction is perfectly normal. He is an innocent youth after all, Miyuki."

"Aya! Really, Onii-sama. Miyuki has never seen a shy Onii-sama before, has she?"

Seeing Tatsuya turn his head and gaze at her with narrowed eyes, Miyuki's smile only widened. During this time, her soft, white fingers never stopped to gently caress and massage her brother's shoulders.

— So I'm shy, damn it! —

—But seeing you guys like this only makes me even more mortified!

...Unable to voice this aloud, Mikihiko could only suffer through this in silence.

Speaking of which, Mayumi and Azusa passed through the covering (made of the highest quality cloth from the 21st century) and came in.

Seeing the siblings like so, both came to a halt, with Azusa's face turning hotter with each passing second.

While Mayumi failed to blush openly, she looked at Tatsuya as if she saw a dirty stray crawling in the filth.

"...Somehow, I feel like I'm being mercilessly condemned, or is that disdain?"

"You're thinking too much!"

When Tatsuya turned to face her directly, Mayumi ruthlessly bit those words out, then quickly coughed to pretend to clear her throat.

By the time she turned around, Tatsuya already rose. (Somehow...This child seems like a soldier...)

The tips of his toes were slightly apart, his back ramrod straight, both hands were crossed behind his back, as if this pose was perfectly natural for him. Was this anxiety, prudence, or overconfidence? Nothing seemed out of place on him.

Rather, it made her feel like her own actions were undeniably childish. "...Seriously, don't worry about it."

In the end, Mayumi still defended herself despite her overwhelming reluctance to do so, causing her to slightly despise herself and wish for a swift end to this task.

"The setting of the next match has been decided."

"So you've come specifically to tell us. Much thanks."

Tatsuya lightly bowed to Mayumi and used his eyes to ask: "Where?"

"Urban district."

Mayumi's words struck Tatsuya speechless.

"...This is still the case despite what happened yesterday?"

"That's because the setting was selected randomly. I'm afraid they didn't even take it into consideration."

"I see..."

It was quite impressive that the board was willing to be so candid, Tatsuya thought, but he chose not to voice this.

"I'll hurry over immediately. The CAD calibration is already done."

"Thank you!"

Mayumi nodded her acceptance while Leo and Mikihiko immediately started preparing.

The preparations only included buckling on the protective jacket, helmet, and CAD they took off earlier.

That was all the preparation necessary.

They threw on the jacket, closed the zipper and tightened the buttons. "Uh, Shiba-kun..."

As Tatsuya adjusted the CAD and holster, Azusa asked him a question. "What is it?"

"What are you going to do with... Saijou-kun's CAD?"

"What am I going to do?"

"Because... Wouldn't it be hard to use 'Mini Communicator' in close quarters, such as rooms or stairs? That magic can only cause the blade to float in the air, so its strength is still reliant on the user's arm strength, right? While the blade does possess the advantage of 'extension', if there isn't sufficient room to swing the weapon, then there wouldn't be any advantage in its design... At least, that's what I heard."

"From Ichihara-senpai, correct?"

Tatsuya's words saw right through her, causing Azusa to blush, but for a wholly different reason than before.

"As expected of Ichihara-senpai, that was quite the accurate analysis. However, please don't worry on that point. There will still be room to swing a sword in the interior. Even if we can't use a ten meter long sword, one meter will work just as well."

Catching Tatsuya's signal, Leo nodded with a "Just leave it to me" expression.

◊ ◊ ◊

The match between First and Second High completely ignored the incident yesterday and set their respective monoliths inside two buildings — specifically, the third floor in five floor buildings.

This stubborn refusal to accept their own responsibility and error once more reminded everyone that the bureaucracy from the magic universities was quite politically minded.

—However, neither the responsibility nor the blame for yesterday's "accident" would fall in the laps of the management board.

For Tatsuya at least, enclosed locations with lots of cover from prying eyes were infinitely preferable to wide open areas, so he wasn't complaining.

Currently, Tatsuya had infiltrated the top floor of Second High's building. He snuck between the detection of the defenders and looped from the neighboring buildings into this one by hopping along the rooftops without using magic. Precisely because he was engaged in purely physical activities, he eluded the detection of the defenders as he closed in on the target.

Due to the fact that he was passing between the shadows of the buildings and maintaining a stealthy profile, Tatsuya spent a considerable duration of time. Even if they lost this match, they would still advance to the elimination round. That being said, the format of the elimination round pitted the first seed against the fourth seed, and the second seed against the third seed. Meeting Third High in the semifinals was completely different than taking them on during the finals. Tatsuya estimated that time was still in short supply even though he left Mikihiko behind to support Leo.

"Mikihiko, can you hear me?"

"Received, Tatsuya."

While Monolith Code didn't forbid the players from using wireless communicators, very few schools took advantage of this. That was because, even if the contents of the message couldn't be deciphered, modern techniques were quite capable of pinpointing the sender's location.

On top of that, a three man team using wireless communicators could easily run into the situation where one or more of the members were out of range. Generally speaking, wireless communicators bore little value in this competition.

Despite this, Tatsuya still prudently chose to use this service, undoubtedly for some ulterior motive.

"Let's begin. We're relying on you to find the monolith's location."

"We can't hold out here forever. Hurry up!"

"Understood."

The other side appeared to be locked in combat.

Tatsuya manipulated the bracelet on his right wrist and brought up summoning magic.

Leo swung the "Mini Communicator" horizontally with gusto.

The metallic piece was 40 cm long and 12 cm wide — part of the blade flew through the air in an arc and rushed towards the player from Second High. The weapon's lack of weight was made up for by additional arm strength in the swing. Leo chopped the attacker's legs from beneath him.

The attacker fell to the earth. If this was "live combat" he would immediately step forward and bestow a finishing blow. However, Monolith Code forbade close quarters combat.

"Mikihiko!"

Even knowing he couldn't hear him, Leo still signaled Mikihiko, who was "watching" the scene unfold through the spirits.

In response, a ball of lightning formed in the air. And struck the prone player from Second High.

Yet, Leo didn't have the spare time to express joy over taking out one person.

Noticing that his body was under the effect of Move-Type Magic, Leo hurriedly shouted.

"Halt!"

The voice activated CAD on his left wrist received his command through the microphone embedded in his helmet. In terms of wielding two CADs simultaneously, so long as the two activated magics were from different systems, no interference would occur between the two.

Fortunately — in only a handful of situations — Leo's personal CAD was a highly durable and reliable CAD that had the processing power from two generations ago, so it fulfilled the conditions for competition-use CADs in the Nine Schools Competition. Even if the dubious nature and slight time delay for the voice recognition system were not up to Tatsuya's standards, in this situation, personal habits trumped that concern, hence Leo was using his personal CAD after some (massive) adjustments to the Activation Sequence.

Just as planned, even though Leo's CAD was the "latter one", it still managed to invoke defensive magics before the enemy's Move-Type Magic launched its attack.

From where he was standing — setting the point where his feet contacted the ground, he fortified his body's connection to the corresponding coordinates. This was the same tactic that Mari used during Battle Board, though on a smaller scale. Mari's magic allowed the body freedom of movement while stabilizing herself relative to the moving board. Unlike this, Leo's sole purpose was to solidly "stabilize" himself to the ground without moving a single muscle. This only lasted for a short instant.

However, because this was a massively downgraded application, this was still able to counter the magic his opponent was in the process of casting.

This building was designed after a school dorm.

From the broken windows, their opponent's figure could be seen passing through the corridors.

Leo pulled back his right hand and fell into a lunging position, but his opponent had already fled.

Cautiously approaching the prone and convulsing player, he removed his protective helmet.

According to the rules, once an opponent lost their protective helmet, they were forbidden from taking any further action during the match.

(OK, now we've taken out one of them...)

Even knowing he had no way of sending this message, Leo still thought this in the privacy of his mind.

(It's all up to you, Tatsuya. It's getting hairy over here.)

Thanks to Tatsuya's summoning magic, the spirit stuck to him became active.

Tatsuya was unable to use Spiritual Magic.

Even if he could detect the active SB, he had no way of commanding it. Magicians utilized modern magic to create false signals to manipulate and rewrite the Eidos of a target and not because they could exert their will to control the Eidos itself.

Nonetheless, they were still capable of using the most basic summoning magic from Spiritual Magic.

He was able to memorize the Magic Sequence within the Activation Sequence because his artificial magic calculation area was stored within his consciousness. No matter what magic it was, once he decoded the Activation Sequence that served as a blueprint for the Magic Sequence, this rudimentary projection of the Magic Sequence was still within his abilities.

This wasn't even on the same level as casting magic since he was merely imitating the processes that led to magic invocation. However, so long as the necessary components were involved, even if it was a simple replication, some degree of effect could be achieved.

Mikihiko placed an inactive spirit on Tatsuya, which Tatsuya used magic to reactivate.

This way, he immediately established a connection with the "master", Mikihiko.

While Tatsuya was unable to control the spirit, he had no reason to do so in the first place.

To some degree, his objective was to bring Mikihiko's reactivated spirit into enemy territory.

His earlier magic should have alerted the defender to his presence.

The most desirable outcome was for the defender to leave the monolith and climb to his level.

Tatsuya silently began to move.

Through his "contracted" spirit, Mikihiko detected that Tatsuya also successfully "summoned".

(Seriously, how are you a Course 2 student, Tatsuya...?)

This thought formed in one corner of his mind as Mikihiko concentrated on the far away spirit.

In reality, in magic terms, distance posed no real barrier. For the giant information dimension, physical distance wasn't even an issue.

Originally, only Nonsystematic Magic that directly fired psions without using the information dimension would be restricted by physical distance.

Yet, human beings are limited by the five senses as well as their experiences.

If the physical distance was very large, there would be a "distant" perception.

This perception of distance becomes a magic's "range".

With that knowledge in mind, magic also becomes less effective.

Thus, for casting magic on remote targets, the key lay in the perception that the target was right before the caster.

On this point, Spiritual Magic referred to the connection between caster and spirit — once synchronized, they could feel the proximity of the spirit. In other words, Spirit Magic was something that could easily circumvent the range issues for magic.

—Just like this. (...I see him.)

Visual Tuning.

He wasn't summoning the spirit over and reading the recorded information. Instead, he was using the connection through the information dimension to directly receive the visual information through the active spirit. This was known as Spirit Magic's "Sense Tuning". When restricted to vision only in order to promote clarity, this technique was known as "Visual Tuning".

"Found him, Tatsuya!"

Yet, next came the tricky part.

Mikihiko was maintaining the connection to two spirits — the one following Tatsuya and the other on Leo, as he transmitted this to Tatsuya.

(That was fast...

So he found it already.)

Spirit Magic was quite convenient, he thought leisurely as he heightened the tension in his body.

No matter how you described it, he was concealing himself by hanging from the ceiling.

Probably because the building was intentionally set in a state of construction, there were many exposed air vents inter-crossed over the room where Second High's monolith was located. Tatsuya hung from one of them and watched the defender cautiously poke his head around beneath him.

He must have detected the source of the signal, but he never imagined that his opponent was lurking in ambush above him.

Maybe not, Tatsuya thought.

In his eyes, the defender's extreme agitation created this tunnel vision. His breathing was ragged likely because he ran up the flights of stairs.

He certainly didn't feel like someone suited for defense. At this juncture, he was supposed to be cheered at his opponent's ineptitude, as pity would most definitely be hypocritical.

He toyed with the idea of letting the defender pass, but he ultimately chose to release his grip, twisting in the air to prepare for his landing and pulling out the CAD from his right at the same time.

He squeezed the trigger immediately upon hitting the ground. The defender didn't even have a chance to turn his head.

The activated magic was simply a psion shock wave. For a few seconds, the technique would incapacitate him by creating concussion- like symptoms.

In combat, a few precious seconds was the difference between life and death, but this was a competition that forbade direct contact. Tatsuya kept an eye on his unbalanced opponent and ran towards the target Mikihiko pinpointed for him.

It took him less than 10 seconds to pass two rooms and reach his destination.

Noticing that the defender was finally on the move, Tatsuya pointed his CAD directly at his feet.

Each floor was three and a half meters high.

There were approximately seven meters between the third and fifth floors.

This was well within the firing range of the "key". He squeezed the trigger.

A subtle change in Eidos traveled along his hands.

Prudently, Tatsuya took the stairs opposite from where he came and descended to the next floor.

With his sight synchronized with the spirit, Mikihiko easily saw the code carved within the monolith.

He looked away.

Right now, Leo hadn't made contact with the enemy yet.

Mikihiko prayed for a little luck as he started to input the code he visually received from the spirit.

When the ending whistle sounded, Tatsuya was busy dodging the "Kamaitachi" magic the defender was shooting at him.

Leo had his back to the monolith and was prepared to throw everything he had into one last charge.

"Whew... That went down to the wire!"

Mayumi let out a satisfied breath of relief to which Mari responded with a displeased disposition.

"That guy...

Was he screwing around near the end?"

"Eh? Really?"

"He should easily be able to avoid those attacks...

Why didn't he eliminate his opponent?"

"I'm sure he has his reasons."

Mari glared at Tatsuya with a peeved expression on her face while Mayumi calmly rebuffed her words.

"What do you mean? He used 'Resonance' during the last match and something else to take out Hattori. Shouldn't he have more tricks up his sleeve?"

"Supposedly, he cannot use the magic he used against Hanzou-kun because the hardware requirements for the competition-use CAD are unable to execute his abilities. Likewise, wasn't his 'Resonance' attack from the last match unable to completely silence his opponent?

Mari, have you forgotten?

Yesterday, we forced Tatsuya-kun into the replacement's role, so he only had one night to prepare! In that one night, he had to calibrate Saijou-kun and Yoshida-kun's CADs and also had to iron out a strategy that took full advantage of their talents...

I can understand that Mari's irritation comes from the fact that you hold Tatsuya-kun in high esteem. However, I think it is irresponsible to have towering expectations without giving him the necessary time to meet those expectations."

"Well... OK..."

Mari nodded slightly, signifying she was reflecting on her words. Suddenly, she paused.

"...Speaking of which, Mayumi."

"Yeah, what's up!"

Feeling an icy aura of vengeance manifesting, Mayumi couldn't help but shiver.

Still, this may be exactly what Mari was looking for. "You were quite ready to come to Tatsuya-kun's defense!"

"Wha!? No, what are..."

"No need to be ashamed about it. However...

I think even you would be in for a hard fight against that sis-con level..."

"I already said that wasn't it!"

While Mari's objection was derailed by a tangent during a typical conversation (more like nitpicking) for female high school students, those sentiments were echoed by someone else with another perspective among the audience.

"In the end, he only used 'Gram Demolition', 'Resonance', 'Phantom Blow', and Weight-Type Magic, eh... I can understand not using

'Decomposition', but isn't he skimping too much by not using Flash Cast or Elemental Sight?"

"Sensei, you should know that he has reasons for keeping those under wraps, right?"

"But, Fujibayashi... Forget Flash Cast for now, even if he used 'Eyes of the Spirits', none of those third-rate Magicians watching him would have any idea what he just did."

Dr. Yamanaka and Lieutenant Fujibayashi from the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion were deep in conversation in the audience stands. If someone familiar with the concepts overheard their conversation, they would undoubtedly leap out of their chair in surprise. Yet, since they were wearing inconspicuous summer clothes, these two could easily have been mistaken for a couple — which was impossible, since they looked like a doctor and his nurse (In Japanese, "sensei" could be used to address a teacher or doctor). If anyone overheard a series of foreign terms, they would probably think they were specific terms from psychology or a related field. No one around them paid them any particular heed.

"Despite this, if someone saw what should not be seen, this would raise a warning flag among the sharper spectators. Compared to Sensory Magic, 'Elemental Sight' is more like a Superpower. Based on the situation, it may draw more attention than even 'Decomposition'."

The "Eyes of the Spirits" they were talking about — "Elemental Sight" referred to Tatsuya's ability to identify the "landscape (color)" of the information dimension.

Each of the Four Major Systems and Eight Major Types of magic projected Magic Sequences onto the Eidos through the information dimension.

Thus, Magicians who wield modern magic have the ability to link to the information dimension. By connecting to the information dimension and verifying its "existence" — Tatsuya's senses could be said to expand the field.

And... this "expansion" had dire consequences.

Anything with a physical body in this world had their Eidos imprinted in the information dimension.

Also, this wasn't done through the five senses, or as if he could "see through" this expanded information dimension and the subsystem's signals to pull out the targets he needed. Rather, he was able to identify each and every Eidos and target them separately.

In other words, no one could escape from his Elemental Sight.

The term "Eyes of the Spirits" was actually a misnomer that became part of the technical jargon due to its long service.

The first scholars who translated this term initially used the adjective "Elemental", but that was mistaken to mean the noun "Elemental", giving rise to "Eyes of the Elementals", which was shortened to "Eyes of the Spirits". Of course, there were many people who caught onto the mistake, but since "Eyes of the Spirits" was more magically inclined than "Elemental Sight", the name stuck. This was a slightly unscientific way of approaching the issue, but that was the reason why the term was never corrected.

While this "mistake" was the source of much friction between specialists and non-specialists... Regarding the fact that no one stepped forward to correct the issue, the jury was still out on whether this was mystifying or worthy of despairing over.

— Back to main line —

Yamanaka knew exactly what Fujibayashi was talking about. Elemental Sight was the same as "Mist Dispersal" in that they were both highly classified.

Despite this, Yamanaka was still reluctant to accept that.

"Since he's not allowed to disclose this, we're probably in the same boat..."

They were neither simple nor innocent enough to simply come and support Tatsuya. Nor was Tatsuya fragile enough to painfully publicize that which was forbidden before everyone present. On this point, Yamanaka, Fujibayashi, Kazama, Sanada, and Yanagi were all perfectly clear. Nonetheless, there were always exceptions. If a catastrophe broke out and classified magic was forced out into the open before public eyes, they had to be on hand to handle the situation. That was why they were here bending all their focus and energy towards Tatsuya's match.

Thus, they had no right to criticize the Yotsuba Family's clandestine nature, which was precisely Yamanaka's point. Regardless of how much Yamanaka wanted to see Tatsuya cut loose and show the world a move or two, there was nothing to be done.

"Still, I think that he may get around to Flash Cast. Against the 'Prince' or the 'Cardinal', I don't think even he could handle them with such a weak CAD."

As if finally soothing Yamanaka's demands, Fujibayashi ended the conversation there.

Not all the audience members were focused on Tatsuya alone.

A considerable amount of people were watching Leo. Especially because he was the first one to wield a Weaponized-Integrated CAD in this competition that both dazzled and bewildered the audience.

Likewise, several spectators were also watching Mikihiko, who had accurately "seen through" the 512 character code from range. Among the crowd of spectators who remained oblivious to what happened, one childhood friend was the exception.

"Really, Miki...

You're just like you were before."

"Eh, what is the same as before, Erika-chan?"

Mizuki tilted her head in interest at Erika's involuntary muttering. Erika vaguely replied back to muddle the issue, then fell deep into her own thoughts.

Erika and Mikihiko's relationship went back farther than Mizuki realized, so of course she knew exactly what Mikihiko was doing.

While Sense Tuning was by no means a small feat, before his unfortunate accident, the so-called "prodigy" Mikihiko could use that as easily as he breathed the very air itself. Nevertheless, after that incident occurred, he was never able to freely wield magic the way he used to.

(Seriously...

Your mental trauma had long since healed.)

Occasionally, people would say that physical injuries were easy to heal, but mental wounds closed slowly.

In reality, physical injuries were also separated between those that could be saved, and those that couldn't.

At the same time, mental trauma should be the same.

(Miki...

Did you notice? Today, you are just like you were at your peak!)

Erika didn't possess the power to identify spirits, nor was she equipped with the eyes to see the spirits themselves.

Thus, she was unable to directly confirm whether Spiritual Magic had succeeded. That being said, she was a daughter of the Chiba Family, renowned for endlessly training in anti-personnel magic combat.

Based on the minute and subtle changes in motion, line of sight, and expression, it was possible to identify to some degree when someone used magic, what they were targeting, and whether they succeeded.

The daughter of the Chiba Family used her pair of "Swordsman's Eyes" to behold that Mikihiko had cast his desired magic at long last.

(Unbelievable...

Hurry up and realize this. You've already recovered!)

Presently, Mikihiko had recovered his "ability", but not his "confidence".

She could read that much from his stolid expression. This was the product of many years of forced interaction during their childhood years.

Now, all he needed to do was renew his confidence. All he had to do was believe in himself—

"...Erika-chan, what's wrong? Erika-chan!"

"Eh? What?"

"What do you mean "Eh? What?". What's up with you shutting yourself away all of a sudden? Are you worried about something?"

"Eh, yeah, now that you mention it, I am a little worried. Didn't I just say this one was close? Hopefully, the next match will be A-OK~."

Mizuki was successfully misled by her words and started talking about "Speaking of which", "Next time", "We'll cheer them on". Setting Mizuki aside for now, Erika once again delved into her inner sanctum.

◊ ◊ ◊

The seeding for the elimination round had been announced.

For the first match of the semifinal round, Third High was up against Eighth High.

In the second match, it was First High vs. Ninth High.

The results for the rotating preliminaries were First Place: Third High,

Second Place: First High, Third Place: Eighth High, and Fourth Place: Ninth High. According to the rules, the semifinals should have pitted Third High vs. Ninth High and First High vs. Eighth High, but since First High already crossed swords with Eighth High in the preliminaries, they made another exception here.

The elimination round would begin in the afternoon.

While Tatsuya's match was the second one in the afternoon, they couldn't afford to miss out on Third High's match.

It was still a little early for lunch, so Tatsuya carried a bento box and accompanied Miyuki back to the hotel.

—It didn't appear that they could enjoy their lunch in peace at the pavilion.

Leo and Mikihiko had already evacuated back to their rooms to avoid the chaos.

Even though Honoka wanted to join them, if her presence caused an endless stream of well-wishers from their cohort to tag along, then fleeing the pavilion became meaningless. Shizuku stopped her by whispering this in her ear.

Finally shaking off the intrigued gazes — the majority were warm looks directed towards Miyuki — the siblings quickly moved away from the competition area and found a rare scene waiting for them in the hotel's lobby.

"Hm?"

"Wow..."

In the corner of the lobby, Mari was standing there with an embarrassed flush on her face.

Next to her, a slightly older young man was standing there.

Definitely less than a ten year difference. He was probably in his early to mid-twenties.

The siblings both knew that Mari was rumored to have an older lover. Was this young man her partner?

He had a medium build without being overly tall, though he was slightly taller than Tatsuya. As could be attested by other people around him, his lanky build wasn't that of an athlete, but someone who has gone through martial and combat training. This was an obvious distinction in the siblings' eyes.

According to conventional wisdom, his delicate features labeled him a beautiful young man. While Mari's features were more neutral, she still qualified as a beautiful young woman. The two of them were a match made in heaven.

Suddenly, Tatsuya slowed down his pace. "Onii-sama?"

Miyuki, who was half a step ahead now, turned her head to look at him.

Tatsuya was not playing a joke, nor was he planning anything devious like eavesdropping.

The young man's face was slightly familiar. After searching his memory for a moment, he stopped completely.

"...As expected of the Nine Schools Competition. You can expect to meet celebrities everywhere."

Now he was interested in their conversation. This thought only flashed through Tatsuya's mind briefly because he was well aware that this situation called for prudence.

"Do you know him?"

"He rates as an international celebrity."

At his side, Miyuki urged him to answer. Tatsuya originally planned to answer as they walked.

Still, while he stopped to recollect his thoughts, he didn't dare to actually "obstruct the date", but another fearless challenger appeared. A shrill voice caused both Tatsuya and Miyuki to halt their footsteps.

"Nii-sama! What are you doing here?!"

A familiar voice in a completely unfamiliar polite tone of voice addressed the young man.

"Nii-sama? Then this person is Erika's...?"

Miyuki switched her gaze from Erika, who was stomping towards the young man, to Tatsuya in hopes of confirmation.

"If my memory serves, he should be her second brother. The 'Chiba Kirin', Chiba Naotsugu. Currently studying at the University of National Defense, and reputed to be one of the finest magic close combat specialists in the world within a range of three meters."

"So he's that amazing. .....But, I would think that having such an older brother would be a great source of pride for Erika, but this open animosity seems out of sorts."

"Correct. While there are rumors that Naotsugu is an apostate within the Chiba Family... Yet I hardly find Erika the type to be a stickler for the 'formalities'."

"Indeed...."

As the siblings were discussing this, Erika was in the process of tearing her brother a new one. -- And wholly ignoring Mari to one side.

"Nii-sama should be in Thailand serving as a swordsmanship trainer until next week! Why are you here now!?" Erika was already burning with fury.

Normally, she was indifferent to the coming and goings of other people and the world at large. Today, this scene was certainly a surprise.

"Erika...

Settle down a little."

The young man — Chiba Naotsugu sought to calm his sister's towering fury, but this seemed to have no effect on Erika's animation.

"How can you tell me to settle down! I have no idea what Onii-sama would do, but I could never imagine that Nii-sama would abandon his post!"

"That's not it, calm down...

I didn't return by abandoning my post..."

Chiba Naotsugu appeared to be at odds with his fame, given his weak, or maybe gentle, disposition. In front of his little sister's agitation that showed no signs of diminishing before a crowd, he never scolded her and couldn't muster any defense save for a few excuses.

"Ho...

Is that so. Then as you said, cooperating with the Thai Royal

Magicians and serving as a swordsmanship instructor was my complete misunderstanding?"

"Well, no, that part is just as Erika said...

But I didn't go AWOL, I was granted furlough..."

"Really. Since you had to put a diplomatic mission involving Japan and Thailand on hold, this surely must be a mission of absolute importance.

In that case, what is so important and demanding that Nii-sama was forced to return home and appear at a hotel reserved for a high school competition?"

In Tatsuya's eyes, Erika's tone may have improved, but her mood had plummeted straight down.

Naotsugu likely noticed this too.

As evidence of this fact, his face started cramping.

"No, it's not diplomatic or anything that grave...

It was only an exchange of goodwill for military officer candidates about to receive their postings, so it's nothing more than a university student exchange activity..."

"Nii-sama!"

"Present!"

"Goodwill exchange or not, student exchange activity or not, isn't that still an official mission?! That's not a reason for you to be lax on your duties!"

"Yes, just as you say!"

Seeing one of the world's finest reduced to such a state, Tatsuya could only gape in shock.

"...I've certainly heard of being hen-pecked, but I have no recollection of someone being whipped by his little sister..."

Feeling that the sight was too much for him, Tatsuya averted his gaze to find Mizuki fidgeting anxiously to one side. After waving her over, Mizuki seemed to relax somewhat and skitter over.

"Tatsuya-kun... What's up with Erika-chan?"

"Seriously, what's going on

...?"

Hearing Mizuki's question, Tatsuya could only shake his head in bewilderment.

"Onii-sama, I believe Erika is venting?"

Miyuki could barely contain her laughter bubbling up from within and gave Tatsuya this vague answer.

"Venting? Venting what?"

"You'll find out very soon."

More and more mystified, Tatsuya and company could only keep watching as this "sibling fight" turned a new corner.

"Nii-sama, don't tell me that you abandoned your post because you wanted to see this woman, did you?"

"Again, I already said I didn't abandon my post..."

"I don't want to hear that!"

Erika ruthlessly curtailed her brother's words and glared at Mari, who she had (likely consciously) ignored until now, before turning back to Naotsugu.

"Really, how appalling... Nii-sama, known as the Chiba Kirin, would actually abandon his duty for this kind of woman..."

"...Erika, at the very least, I am still your senpai at school. I don't recall slighting you in any way to deserve being called 'this kind of woman'?"

Up to this point, Mari patiently endured in silence, but finally broke her silence to interject.

Yet Erika completely ignored Mari's words.

"Speaking of which, I do believe that Nii-sama fell from grace after starting a relationship with this woman. A swordsman that mastered the Arts of the Thousand Blades neglected to practice his training and became infatuated with those petty magic tricks..."

"Erika!"

For Naotsugu, that must be a taboo subject. He shed his gentle nature like an actor removing a mask. Faced with this blistering castigation, Erika quivered in shock.

"In order to hone the talent, one must always absorb new techniques. This is what I believe and have always done.

This has nothing to do with Mari.

After hearing Mari got hurt, I was the one who could not sit still. Even so, Mari told me that it's fine if I couldn't make it.

In spite of this, from the very start, as a daughter of the Chiba Family, you should be ashamed of your behavior!"

"......"

She bit her lip in silence, but even so, Erika never shifted her gaze from Naotsugu.

"Come, Erika. Apologize to Mari."

"...Never."

"Erika!"

"I refuse! It's true that Nii-sama dropped his official task to come here! And all because of that woman!"

Once again, the tables turned.

"I'll never budge on this point! Nii-sama started to degenerate after going out with that woman!"

Erika swiftly pivoted and fled from her brother with rapid footsteps.

◊ ◊ ◊

"Erika-chan, hold up, Erika-chan!"

By the time she reached the elevator — and completely out of sight of the lobby, Erika finally turned around to face Mizuki's voice.

Then, she opened her mouth to form an "Oh".

"...

Tatsuya-kun. Miyuki as well...

Don't tell me both of you heard that?"

Her tone and expression were both typical of Erika.

Yet, Tatsuya's instincts told him that Erika was barely holding back her tears.

"I apologize...

We didn't mean to."

"Tatsuya-kun, this time you foot the bill."

"What!? ...

Fine, you win. Please be merciful."

"Negotiations complete."

Erika revealed her usual flighty and carefree smile.

Given that she had already adopted her usual facade, if Tatsuya overly pampered her, she would only raise her guard, which would defeat the entire purpose.

"Erika, have you eaten lunch?"

"Hm? It's still early..... Eh, OK. I haven't eaten yet, so let's go together."

At Miyuki's question, Erika gave a noncommittal answer.

"Onii-sama?"

"Fine. We were going to eat in the room anyway. If you don't mind, would you like to join us?"

"Sure, I'll go! Mizuki, want to come too?"

"OK, then excuse me."

"Please, you're not a bother at all."

"Eh? That's not what I meant!"

"Seriously...

Tatsuya-kun, picking on others is too much."

Mizuki was still in a bad mood because she was used as a tool to lighten the mood.

However, she wasn't really holding it against him, this point was obvious. Tatsuya smiled wryly as he took a large bite out of his sandwich.

Mizuki and Tatsuya both pretended to be oblivious to what happened earlier, so they didn't raise the subject again.

"Then... Tatsuya-kun, Miyuki, Mizuki, do you guys have anything you wanted to ask me about?"

Still, the person in question — Erika, was ready to reopen Pandora's Box.

"The person going out with Watanabe-senpai seems to be Erika's older brother."

Miyuki was the only one who deftly answered the conversation in a carefree manner.

"Yep. That stupid brother of mine, it's both pitiful and infuriating at the same time that he's been conned by that woman..."

"Isn't he a world-class swordsman? Even if you don't praise him, I don't think you should refer to him as 'stupid brother of mine', right?"

"Eh? ...Ah, so that's how it is. If it's Tatsuya-kun, it wouldn't be surprising if you knew about Naotsugu Nii-san."

"E-ri-ka. Even though you're with us, you don't have to change your words, OK? Isn't it Naotsugu Nii-sama?"

"Ah~, forget about that! That's totally not like me!"

Erika wrapped her hands around her head and buried her head into the bed.

Apparently, the term "decorous" caused her no end of embarrassment.

...Compared to that, he was hoping that she would be more embarrassed about burying her head into a pillow that a man uses. Tatsuya thought worriedly.

"OK, OK. So Erika likes Naotsugu-san."

"......"

Erika wasn't the only one who froze.

Miyuki's frost bomb instantly turned Tatsuya and Mizuki into ice cubes.

"...No way in hell!"

Erika leaped to her feet and screamed.

Owing to the fact that her face was buried in the pillow as she started to reply, the only words they heard was "in hell". To be able to respond so swiftly in that situation was certainly worthy of praise.

Miyuki laughed merrily as if a cornered beast had let out a furious, but easily understood, bellow.

And dropped an even more explosive bomb.

"So, Erika. You turned out to have a Brother Complex!"

"Wha..."

Erika gaped at that.

The following explosion far surpassed her critical point.

"I don't want to hear that from you! You hardcore bro-con girl!"

—As to what happened afterwards, Tatsuya and Mizuki kept that to themselves.

◊ ◊ ◊

"...Hey, Tatsuya, you're looking pretty bad, eh? Are you alright?

"Somehow, you look exhausted..."

When Tatsuya arrived at the audience stands, the first thing he heard was Leo and Mikihiko commenting on him.

"I'm a little tired. It's nothing really, it's more emotional exhaustion than mental stress. I'll be fine if I concentrate during the match."

Tatsuya waved his hands in a casual manner. On the other side, Miyuki and Erika sat down as if nothing had occurred.

Behind them, Mizuki's actions were slightly suspicious, but neither Leo nor Mikihiko noticed, since all of their focus was on the upcoming match.

"...Sorry. Looks like we're letting Tatsuya draw all the fire."

Mikihiko kindly (intentionally?) misinterpreted this. "No, that's hardly the case. Relax, don't worry about it."

While the words "that's hardly the case" meant nothing of the sort, the fact that Tatsuya chose to respond in a dubious manner showed that he also possessed a slightly twisted personality.

"As long as you're alright. Tatsuya really took it too far last round, so don't push yourself!"

"I'll keep that in mind."

I am not worthy of such a kindhearted friend, Tatsuya thought. "I'm keeping tabs on that as well, so don't worry about it."

He never intended to have such an honest friend worry about him so, hence Tatsuya made an earnest effort to nod his head in agreement.

Still, once the match began, how grave his face became was no longer important.

Their attention — of course, Tatsuya included — was currently drawn away by the match between Third and Eighth High in the "rocky" setting.

Surpassing all their expectations, the match was a complete landslide.

Actually, it may be more appropriate to describe this as a solo performance.

Following the "Open Field", the Karst-like "Boulders" had the least amount of obstacles in the setting. While there were large boulders jutting out across the area, their difference in height wasn't noticeable, nor were there any trees to obstruct vision.

One player moved out of Third High's field and leisurely paced from between the boulders.

Heedless of any hostile fire, Ichijou Masaki "advanced" while disdaining to rely on any cover.

Nor was Eighth High just standing there helplessly as they continuously unleashed magic on Masaki's position. Even the attacker who was advancing on Third High's position from the shadows of the boulders was pouring on the fire.

Even so.

Masaki's pace faltered not.

The rocky fragments hurtled by Move-Type Magic were thrown away by even stronger Move-Type Magic.

Weight-Type and Oscillation-Type Magic fired at him were nullified by a wide area interference barrier that extended in a one meter radius around him.

As if mocking the "pointless gestures", Masaki's pace was slow and leisurely.

"...'Armor of Interference', eh. Move-Type Wide Area Interference should be the Juumonji Family's specialty."

Leo and Mikihiko were both struck speechless by this overpowering might. On the other hand, Tatsuya was the master of himself as he praised Masaki's strengths.

"To be able to freely wield this type of magic without breathing raggedly likely requires more than a large capacity within the magic calculation area. Looks like he's very adept at 'cyclical breathing'. I guess that should be called innate talent."

When continuously using the same magic, cyclical breathing referred to the space between when one magic ends and the next one begins. The less overlap between the first and second magic, the less stress was placed on the Magician. Magicians who excelled in shortening the dead time between the two were known as "adept at cyclical breathing".

Miyuki was also a Magician "adept at cyclical breathing", but in Tatsuya's eyes, Masaki possessed a talent that rivaled Miyuki's.

In face of the unyielding defense, the attacker from Eighth High stopped his assault.

He frantically hid and charged towards Third High's position.

He gave up on bringing down Masaki and chose to assault the enemy's monolith in hopes of pulling out a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Alas, his choice was overly reckless. Probably because it was made in a panic.

With his attention completely in front of him and exposing his defenseless back, how could someone like Masaki let this opportunity simply pass by?

After suffering a point blank explosive shock wave, the attacker from Eighth was flung face first into the dirt.

"Convergence-Systematic 'Bias Release'. Simply using compression and release would be sufficient... He's certainly someone who likes to put on a show."

"Bias Release, right? I've never heard of that magic."

"That's because it's a highly convoluted and inefficient, second rate magic.

For example, it's like pumping air into one side of a can and sealing it, then opening the other end towards the target. Compared with normal air, that sort of concentrated compressed air would strike with greater force and higher control over the direction of the force, so these are some possible advantages. But if it's only to increase the output, it would be far better to simply increase the amount of compression. If he wanted to add vectors to the attack, then direct contact with the compressed air would be sufficient.

...No, he's trying to decrease the power of the blow, hence he used a combination of the two.

Being overpowered is truly a hassle in this circumstance."

Tatsuya revealed an ironic smirk.

Miyuki gave him a look that said "Isn't Onii-sama the same way?", but he pretended to be oblivious.

While Tatsuya was explaining the mechanics, Masaki continued to close in on Eighth High's position.

Likely arriving at the conclusion that simply waiting was no solution, the two remaining defenders combined their strength to challenge Masaki.

The boulders split apart and rushed towards Masaki.

The Release-Systematic Magic used by the players from Eighth High set off a shower of electrons from the minerals, causing sparks to erupt around Masaki's feet.

Regardless of the scale of the former or the difficulty level of the latter, both were of the highest caliber magic — which was no exaggeration.

When Tatsuya's team dueled Eighth High, their victory only appeared easy because they never gave their opponent the chance to put their best foot forward. If it was a head-to-head shootout, the battle undoubtedly would have been a very stiff contest.

However, Masaki easily nullified their full frontal combined assault.

The scattered fragments were flung away by a sphere of reverse vectors centered around Masaki, while the electric discharge was suppressed before it even started.

A block of air hammered into the players from Eighth High.

Upon contact with the released compressed air, the two of them were swiftly and easily incapacitated.

The ending signal sounded immediately.

For the entire duration of the match, Kichijouji and their other teammate stood stock still in Third High's field and contributed nothing to the overall result.

"He has far exceeded our expectations, this 'Prince' of the Ichijou Family..."

Mayumi said to Katsuto as she shifted her gaze away from the screen. Her usual companion Mari wasn't present.

Currently, Mari was preoccupied to the point that "whoever disturbed her would rue that day".

Originally, she should have been confined to bed rest, but Mayumi and the other members of the brass turned a blind eye.

"Somehow I feel that he's very similar to Juumonji-kun."

Even if someone said they were similar, this would probably be a hard sentiment for Katsuto to respond to.

As expected, before he was able to reply, Suzune had joined the conversation already.

"That may be intentional. The combat dogma for the Ichijou Family revolves around proactively controlling the initiative through medium to long range bombardment. Today in the rotating preliminaries, he used long distance attacks to annihilate the defenders. I don't have a real basis for this but... I think this may be Ichijou-kun throwing down the gauntlet."

"A challenge?"

At Mayumi tilting her head, Katsuto answered her.

"I'm not certain if he's conscious of my style, but I think he's calling out Shiba to 'trade shots with him if he dares'."

"Hm... I can understand that feeling."

Mayumi's expression seemed to say: how childish.

Tatsuya's strengths lay in mobility, analysis, and his ability to surprise.

Compared to his Magic Power, it was his combat ability that was more striking, which the two matches today clearly testified to.

How could Tatsuya be taken in by such blatant baiting, Mayumi thought.

Yet, Katsuto didn't receive that wordless communication, so he continued onward.

"Shiba will most likely accept that challenge."

"Eh? Tatsuya-kun?"

"At the original distance, he has no chance of victory. This may be his only opportunity."

"I don't believe it, that's simply..."

In the audience stands far from the main pavilion, of course there was no way for Katsuto's opinion to reach Tatsuya's ears. Nonetheless, Katsuto's point was mirrored in Tatsuya's mind.

He was also aware that this may be Third High's, and Kichijouji Shinkurou's in particular, real intention: to reveal the only way for him to emerge victorious while at the same time forcing a direct confrontation.

The tricky part was, besides accepting their opponent's invitation, First High didn't have any other options that had a higher chance for victory.

(Well played, "Cardinal George"...)

"Seriously, what kind of defensive ability is that!"

"In the end, the only thing we caught a glimpse of was Ichijou-kun, which was our mistake. This way, we have no way to plan for our encounter."

Leo and Mikihiko must have misinterpreted Tatsuya's comment.

The two of them seemed to be overwhelmed by Masaki's strength, but at least they were better off than he was. He was in the process of being devoured slowly by this quicksand hell, so they undoubtedly suffered less mental stress than he did.

"In regards to Kichijouji-kun, I have a rough estimate. I have no idea about the third person though."

"Oh, really?"

Tatsuya proceeded to correct their misinterpretation.

"The 'Cardinal Code' that Kichijouji Shinkurou discovered is a fundamental code used in Weight-Type Magic and he appeared in Speed Shooting.

Thus, his favored magic would probably be 'Invisible Bullet', which applies increased weight to select points."

"Cardinal Code?"

"So he's not altering the target's Eidos but only applying increased weight to a certain portion, but is that possible?"

"Well...

Looks like this explanation will take some time, is that fine?"

At Tatsuya's query, Leo hesitated briefly, but Mikihiko immediately nodded.

"Within Magic Sequence research, there is a theory known as the 'Cardinal Code Hypothesis'.

There is considerable popular support behind this theory. There are the Four Great Systems and Eight Major Types, 'Speed', 'Weight', 'Movement', 'Oscillation', 'Convergence', 'Dispersal', 'Absorption', and 'Release' as well as their corresponding positive and negative poles for a total of 16 fundamental Magic Sequences. This theory believes that, through the various combinations of these 16 Magic Sequences, any magic from any of the major systems can be created.

Meanwhile, the Magic Sequence that serves as the basic building block is called the 'Cardinal Code'.

In summation... It is capable of constructing any and all the

Systematic magics. Strictly on this point, the theory is incorrect, but the 'Cardinal Code' truly exists."

"...The theory is incorrect but the code exists?"

"...Sorry, you lost me."

Faced with Mikihiko and Leo's responses, Tatsuya waved his hand as if to say "Don't be hasty".

"Calm down, let me go over it again slowly.

There is magic within the Four Great Systems that cannot be created by the 16 'Cardinal Codes' no matter what combination you try, hence the Cardinal Code theory is incorrect. Then again, based on its fundamental principles, there does exist a Magic Sequence that is capable of being a building block.

Within modern magic, certain effects will take place after redefining the status of an object after phenomenon rewriting.

While the driving force behind the change has been defined within the Magic Sequence, this driving force would not exist without a definition of what happens after the magic has affected the target.

However, Cardinal Codes are able to create the driving force themselves.

In other words, Cardinal Codes are Magic Sequences that literally define 'Speed', 'Weight', 'Movement', 'Oscillation', 'Convergence', 'Dispersal', 'Absorption', and 'Release'.

Thus, rather than having an overall effect on the Eidos themselves, these act on a single object — and render them possible.

Currently, the only discovered Cardinal Code on record is the one from Weight-Type Magic.

And the one responsible for that discovery is Kichijouji Shinkurou of Third High — 'Cardinal George'."

Hearing the last few words, Mikihiko displayed a cowed expression. "Kichijouji Shinkurou, no wonder I thought that name sounded familiar...

So he's 'Cardinal George'!"

Seeing his face, Tatsuya thought: "Damn it." Regardless, he had already said the words, so there was nothing he could do about it.

"Exactly. So Ichijou-kun isn't the only one we have to be on guard against. While it is true that talented researchers are not necessarily talented users, so long as he is capable of wielding the 'Cardinal Code', he will be a fearsome opponent."

Magic that relies on the Cardinal Code has no need to define the altered phenomenon that is mandatory in normal magic because the driving force itself has been defined. Under this condition — where force is applied unilaterally, the magic that directly involved Tatsuya in Monolith Code, 'Battering Ram', and 'Invisible Bullet' share the same characteristics, but 'Battering Ram' required additional force — especially on the point of attack — in order to rewrite the entire phenomenon. Compared to that, 'Invisible Bullet' had no need to rewrite the surface that force was applied on — regardless of whether it was a wall, the surface, or even the human body. 'Invisible Bullet' was a magic that directly improved the force itself.

Not rewriting the entire Eidos, the Magic Sequence needed to rewrite only the necessary portion was naturally going to be smaller. Because this was not altering the Eidos of the target itself, 'Data Fortification'

—abilities that defended against rewriting the Eidos — was unable to defend against it.

Smaller Magic Sequences and the ability to influence the Eidos in spite of Data Fortification makes this a powerful advantage for using this type of magic.

Fortunately, 'Invisible Bullet' was hampered by the absolute necessity of visual confirmation. Rather than relying on the Eidos, a direct confirmation of the object was a necessary, but ironic, handicap. Owing to this handicap, cover was a useful defense against the attacks from 'Invisible Bullet'. While Wide Area Interference is viable, Data Fortification is no defense, so be very careful!"

"Got it. I will be extra careful."

"Ho...

I still don't understand one point."

After Mikihiko nodded in understanding, Leo politely opened his mouth.

"What is it Leo?"

"This doesn't really have anything to do with the match... Tatsuya, earlier you said something about 'there are magics that cannot be constructed by the 16 Cardinal Codes', right? In other words, Tatsuya knows all 16 of the Cardinal Codes?"

Though his attitude and tone might claim otherwise, Leo was no fool in his own right.

Setting aside general knowledge, he was still highly intelligent.

Tatsuya was well aware of this, but was still caught by surprise by this keen statement.

"...Currently, Kichijouji Shinkurou is the only one who has discovered a Cardinal Code. I only know that there are magics within the Four Major Systems that cannot be created by the Cardinal Code Hypothesis."

"Onii-sama, isn't it time to go?"

Leo opened his mouth — he wanted to ask another question but was interrupted by Miyuki.

"You're right. They're about to announce the setting for the next match. Let's return to the pavilion."

Upon rising, Tatsuya's figure denied any more follow up questions.