Chapter 73

By 4:30 PM local time, the battle was starting to turn around.

Originally, the invading army never planned to get bogged down for a long fight.

There was only one invading vessel in the shape of a camouflaged cargo ship; they were not working very closely with the soldiers who infiltrated ahead of time. The initial objective of the surprise attack was the National High School Magic Thesis Competition, but due to the fact that insufficient forces were committed, only partial damage was caused to the building. Even so, they originally anticipated only police resistance as they took control of key objectives and kidnapped civilians, hence they only invested a small force. However, a major miscalculation came from the fact that the Magic Association organized volunteers for defense much faster than they expected.

Of course, there was also the fast reaction time from the JSDF. One hour after mobilization, a battalion of reinforcements had appeared to shield the fleeing civilians.

Since the nearby enemy started retreating, the battle turned into a peace-keeping sweep. Beyond verifying the identities of evacuating civilians, the situation was improving rapidly.

However, the young men and women stuck in the heart of the maelstrom had no inkling of this.

◊ ◊ ◊

"Kurosawa-san? ...Yes, OK. ...Yes, thank you."

After speaking with someone, who must have been the butler from her home (Kitayama Family), Shizuku removed the transmission device from her ear. Simultaneously, the sound of a helicopter's engine could be heard.

"Saegusa-senpai, the company's helicopters will be here shortly."

Hearing Shizuku's report, Mayumi raised her face from the messaging terminal she was staring at with a grim expression and put on a cool smile.

"I got it. Kitayama-san, you go ahead and take the women and families with children first. Inagaki-san, please accompany her and provide support for Kitayama-san on board. Also, Inagaki-san, could you please coordinate and direct the people who haven't evacuated yet? Ichihara and I will also lend a hand. Mitsui-san, please monitor the surroundings."

Crisply giving out a series of orders, she quietly heaved a small sigh. The already fussy civilians who were being evacuated slowly would undoubtedly be displeased.

There were a lot of people who balked at having a child controlling the evacuation process.

So far, they hadn't encountered anyone creating a scene because they were afraid that they couldn't board the helicopter in time, but if there were any delays from the incoming helicopters, then tensions and anxiety would definitely rise.

Originally, two helicopters arriving at the same time would have been ideal, but she couldn't tell the helicopter that arrived first to just wait overhead.

"What are you doing wasting time here? Seriously."

Looks like Mayumi first needed to wrestle down her own anxiety.

◊ ◊ ◊

The CO of the invasion force didn't bother to hide his grim visage at the continuously worsening situation of the battle. In order to succeed, this operation called for a solo ship to blitzkrieg the enemy nation, accomplish all the objectives, and evacuate before the enemy could respond. According to this design, the first phase of the mission was a complete success. While the enemy's fast response time was within predictable parameters, the strength of the civilian resistance surpassed all prediction. Based on the original plan, they should already have shifted to the withdrawal phase, but while they were bogged down with the resistance from the volunteers, the enemy's encirclement was complete.

The route along the coastline to the north had been barred by forces coming from Tsurumi. It was now impossible to catch up to the civilians fleeing by sea and take hostages.

"Lost contact with all unmanned observation drones!"

Upon his subordinate's report, the CO couldn't help but bitterly smack his lips. Even the last unmanned drone had been shot down. Now, he could only issue orders with the intel he had on hand. He mentally railed at Chen Xiangshan, who was currently deep in the enemy formation and still had yet to send the signal, before ordering the troops headed north to retreat.

At the same time, in the inland direction — there was a plaza in front of the bus station waiting for helicopters to arrive.

◊ ◊ ◊

The wheeled APC that turned the corner on the intersection skidded and started spinning.

Isori's "Road Extension" successfully broke through the vehicle's suspension and caused the APC to flip over, only coming to a stop after the spinning wheels collided with a traffic light.

"Kanon!"

"Leave it to me!"

Since they were on the outer perimeter of the defense line, Kanon no longer had to worry about the students in the underground shelter, so she could activate the Chiyoda Family's far-famed "Mine Genesis" with impunity.

A titanic vibration originated from beneath the APC as if mocking the shock resistant devices attached to each wheel. The shock wave spread throughout the vehicle's interior and caused untold damage. The outer armor of the APC survived, but the insides were a complete mess.

Thanks to the shock delivered to the brain and semicircular canals, the pilot must have been concussed into unconsciousness.

Bullets from an autocannon turret tore chunks out of the building's wall that the two of them were hiding behind. That was retaliatory fire from the APCs following the lead vehicle.

Isori hugged the screaming Kanon into his chest and protected her with his body while he erected a reverse momentum field along the wall.

Taking advantage of the opening created by the reflected bullets impacting the APC, Mari activated magic that lowered oxygen density from her hiding spot on the other side.

However, to defend against Bio-Chemical weapons, the excellent air filtration system within the vehicles resisted the change, so her magic didn't achieve any noticeable effect.

Clucking her tongue, Mari disengaged the magic that interfered with the oxygen density's Eidos and instead increased the temperature of the air surrounding the Howitzer.

The Howitzer was just about to fire, and the ensuing explosion took out the neighboring autocannon turret as well.

Seeing that the APC had lost all combat capabilities, Kirihara charged forward on the attack.

The armor was penetrated easily.

Sonic Blade stabbed into the pilot's seat.

The rear cargo doors opened and soldiers armed with rifles appeared. A bolt came flying.

Immediately afterward, Kirihara's sword sliced through the throat of the soldier whose right arm was pierced by that bolt.

"Mibu, you alright?"

Sayaka was the one who shot the right shoulder of the soldier taking aim at Kirihara. Sayaka insisted that "she was coming along no matter what," (that alone was sufficient to sway Kirihara) to which Kirihara presented the condition that "she was not to use her sword techniques to kill anyone." The only times she was allowed to use the sword was against nonhuman targets or in cases where she was forced to defend herself against other humans; all other situations were strictly forbidden. For this, besides her kodachis, Sayaka was also equipped with a small mechanical crossbow device.

"I'm fine. This is the battlefield, and I've already made up my mind." Sayaka's face was a little pale, but her answer was resolute.

At this moment, the ground started to shake again.

This time, it was the incoming bipedal tanks that suffered under Kanon's magic.

Unfortunately, the enemy vehicles retreated to reduce taking damage.

Wary of further attacks from the Howitzers, they were forced to take cover.

The slowly growing enemy formation locked their sights on Kanon's group.

Miyuki's interference strength did not allow any enemy magic to exist. Even those amplified by Boosters.

The frozen APC was under attack from "Usuba Kagerou".

The length of the ultra thin blade made of carbon nanotubes tucked within the hammer head could increase up to 20 meters. In other words, Leo was holding a sword that could stretch out to 20 meters at will.

Still, the longer the blade length was, the greater the difficulty of the Fortifying Magic to sustain it. That being said, Leo easily formed a 10 meter long blade and neatly bisected the APC from the side.

"Enemies on the right flank! Core is in the same position!"

Mizuki was the first to catch wind of the enemy bipedal tank rounding their flank while Mikihiko provided the magic to break the enchantment.

As if the bipedal tank ran straight into an invisible wall, both arms draped downwards.

There, Erika struck with a speed that the eye could not follow. Yamatsunami.

Orochimaru's large blade smashed the mechanized weaponry that was twice its height.

Miyuki and Mikihiko provided covering fire, which allowed Leo and Erika to take down the enemy vehicles one by one.

"Mizuki."

After things settled down for a while, Mizuki turned her head when someone unexpectedly called her name, only to find Miyuki inquiring about what the other groups were doing.

"How is Chiyoda-senpai's side doing?"

Miyuki did not know about the reinforcements headed in Mari's direction, nor did Mizuki mention this. (She never had the leisure to do so.)

"Hm... There's still no change. They're still locked in combat."

The team of upperclassmen took up a defensive position slightly ahead of them. It was the second of two important positions leading to the bus station.

"What is it, Miyuki? Why are you thinking about that at this point in time?"

Seeing Miyuki frown slightly as she spoke to Mizuki, Erika asked with Orochimaru hanging over her shoulder.

"Don't you think this is a little strange? Why is the enemy specifically coming for our area?"

Erika also furrowed her brows at Miyuki's question.

"If they want to get to the bus station, don't they have to pass through our location?"

The two locations where the upperclassmen and Year 1 student teams were dug in were based off of Suzune's estimations using the local map.

However, Miyuki was unable to accept Mizuki's response at face value.

"That would be under the assumption that the enemy advanced along open streets, Mizuki. The enemy is at least equipped with communication devices.

We only have a paltry 10 people on defense; the enemy could easily circumvent us by secretly advancing through areas we have no one defending."

"...They must be blocked off."

Erika's words prompted a look on Mizuki's face that said "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Incoming!"

Yet, with Mikihiko's warning that new enemies were inbound, their speculation was forcibly put on hold.

◊ ◊ ◊

Once the twin-engine helicopter piloted by Kurosawa — this female butler seemed to know how to pilot helicopters in addition to taking the wheel of a vessel — appeared overhead and prepared to lower the altitude, an incident broke out.

Suddenly, a black cloud appeared and rolled through the air. Without warning, a swarm of locusts came barreling down out of season.

Even if they were only locusts, flying into the active intake was extremely dangerous.

Also, this unnatural timing hinted at their supernatural origins.

About to greet the helicopter, Shizuku immediately made the decision to pull out her CAD.

A handgun-shaped silver CAD.

After the Nine Schools Competition, she purchased the second generation Silver Series.

On it, she had installed "Phonon Mazer" under the Loopcast System. Pointing it at the sky, she pulled the trigger repeatedly.

Rays of sound cut swathes through the locusts. "There's, too many...!"

The locust swarm wasn't being burned to death, merely disappeared upon being burned, but that was only a portion of the entire swarm.

Despite the repeated Phonon Mazers striking the rapidly approaching locusts, the swarm continued to close in on the descending helicopter.

Honoka noticed this as well, but since her magic was unsuitable for meeting the enemy, she held back in fear that her magic would interfere with Shizuku's own.

Just as the locust swarm was about to engulf the helicopter.

A hurricane of annihilation swept across the swarm.

Like a dream, the black cloud of locusts lost cohesion and swiftly vanished as their colors died away.

Honoka and Shizuku both looked skyward.

Half a step late in detecting the anomaly, Mayumi and Suzune also swept their gazes skyward.

There, a black figure hovered in the air with a silver CAD in hand. "Tatsuya...?"

There was no way to tell if Shizuku or Honoka said this.

More combat personnel wearing the same black suits appeared and formed a protective barrier around the helicopter.

The cargo helicopter began to descend once more.

◊ ◊ ◊

"Successfully denied enemy chemical congregation attack; commence escort for helicopter landing."

"Leave the escort to other personnel. Special Lieutenant, hunt down the Magician and eradicate them."

"Understood."

Acknowledging Yanagi's order, Tatsuya activated the "eye" used to locate the Magicians who sent the familiars.

When he struck, he wasn't aiming to decompose each individual locust's body.

The target his magic was aimed at was the Magic Sequences that formed each locust's chemical congregation.

After decomposing the magic holding the chemical congregation together, the locust dissolved back into psions.

During this process, he also caught the trail where the Magic Sequence was coming from.

At this distance and taking into account the time already spent, even while continuing to maintain Flying-Type Magic, finishing the S&D mission was a piece of cake. [Search & Destroy]

(There, is it?)

Although he could take them out from here, using magic within sight range was significantly easier.

Tatsuya flew towards the skies above the fleeing Magician.

◊ ◊ ◊

Wielding large caliber silver guns — gun-shaped CADs — the soldiers in black garb flew like comets towards the skyscrapers.

Comrades toting rifles formed a circle in the sky as the helicopter descended to the plaza in the middle.

The pitch black figures with completely obscured figures gave the impression that they were the harbingers of disaster.

However, regardless of whether it was Honoka or Shizuku, Mayumi or

Suzune, none of them felt uneasy in any way. "Who are they?"

Inagaki walked over and asked warily. "Comrades."

Mayumi replied succinctly with a smile.

They could be said to be Tatsuya's comrades, Fujibayashi's comrades, or a unit from the JSDF.

Mayumi wasn't familiar with the details, but that was sufficient.

While the civilians were boarding the helicopter, they carefully guarded the area from up high.

They had been continuously in flight for ten minutes at least. Even so, there was no sign of magic exhaustion.

All of them must be high class Magicians. There was once such a rumor.

The JSDF selected powerful Magicians from specialized fields and formed an experimental unit.

Their individual rankings as Magicians were nothing special, but once in combat, they were a combat Magician unit capable of unimaginable carnage.

Thinking along those lines, they fit the criteria perfectly. "They're reliable reinforcements!"

Mayumi added this as she watched the helicopter load up on civilians.

The helicopter with Shizuku and Inagaki on board successfully lifted off and once it reached a height safe from hostile fire, the flying units from the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion on guard scattered towards the surrounding skyscrapers.

The remaining citizens were considerably settled now. The JSDF was on guard, and although there was that sense of foreboding because their faces couldn't be seen, at the very least it was better than leaving everything to children. As for their current feeling, there was little point in demanding anything further from.

"They're finally here..."

There was no longer any danger of a panic settling in thanks to the reinforcements, but Mayumi yearned to escape from the pressure exerted by the citizens, so there was nothing fake about using the word "finally" to describe her current mood when the long sought for sound of engines came to her ears.

A military twin-engine helicopter had arrived.

It was a whole level larger than the normal helicopter Shizuku arranged for.

This way, the remaining civilians could all be brought on board with no difficulty.

Also, the helicopter didn't arrive alone.

There was another combat helicopter escorting the first one. "Mayumi Ojou-sama, are you safe?"

Her bodyguard Nakura's voice came across the transmission device tucked in her ear.

"I'm fine, Nakura. Where are you?"

"I'm aboard the combat helicopter. The master ordered Ojou-sama to also board this helicopter."

"—I understand."

Mayumi already gave up on asking to "stay behind". Unfortunately, Nakura was better at close quarters combat too. Even so, she couldn't just attack the helicopter that came to rescue them, hence she had abandoned all ideas of resistance.

"Anyway, please hasten the boarding process."

After ending the transmission, she made the request to Suzune. In response, Suzune turned her head.

At this time. "Don't move!"

A young man put an arm around Suzune's neck from behind while a glimmering knife appeared in the other hand.

Although the rifles on the neighboring skyscraper pointed in the man's direction, another man rushed in front of him holding a grenade.

"...I see, so this was the plan all along?"

The one who quietly spoke up was the one being threatened by the knife, Suzune.

"You certainly think quickly on your feet!"

Although that steadiness warned him something was awry, the guerrilla who pretended to be one of the fleeing civilians still replied in the affirmative to Suzune's words.

"The mechanized units drew our forward firepower so you could ascertain the target once the number of fleeing people decreased."

"We never planned on letting them flee in the first place, but even if they did, that wouldn't impact the mission in the slightest."

Suzune spoke as if completely ignorant of the danger, whereas the man also seemed to be affected by this and replied back.

"You selected me as the target because of a reliable source of energy?"

"Not just that. Several of ours were captured in this battle, and you are the hostage necessary for their release."

"I'm not that big of a bargaining chip."

"I'm not so sure about that—I thought I said don't move!"

Keenly aware that Mayumi was operating her CAD from behind her back, the man waved the knife in his hand.

Mayumi gave up and put both hands up.

"If you're the hostage, there's no way the Saegusa Family would just abandon you. Compared to taking their daughter as the hostage, taking the daughter's friend as a hostage is far more effective."

"That's true, since Mayumi is a naive person."

Why was she watching me with such critical eyes; despite how unreasonable those words were, Mayumi couldn't interfere.

Maybe she was being "naive", but certainly not to the degree that deserved a scolding.

"Next, you're going to abduct me to your home country, correct?"

"Exactly."

"But shouldn't you perform the exchange beforehand?"

"That's... You! What have you done?"

The man finally realized he said far too much. While he did have a hostage in hand, even he couldn't believe that he just shot his mouth for so long while surrounded by enemies.

"Your combat capability isn't too bad."

Suzune easily pushed aside the hand holding the knife. "But your target selection is poor."

She deftly got free of the arm around her neck.

"I'm nothing special casting magic with a CAD, but my magic without a medium surpasses even Mayumi and Juumonji-kun."

She turned to the man holding the grenade and plucked the grenade from his hand.

"I can numb your muscles and nervous system at will. For a time, your bodies cannot move freely."

As she said, no matter how they tried to budge a muscle, their hands and feet were unable to consciously move.

"Magic that directly interfered with the human body was once forbidden. The very nature of this magic was essentially a form of human experimentation, hence it was forbidden on the surface. The disadvantage is that this requires a certain amount of time to activate, but your ceaseless tirade certainly proved to be a huge help. Oh yes, speaking of which, your verbosity had nothing to do with magic. You were simply too careless."

Suzune said this with a chilling smirk on her face.

◊ ◊ ◊

The enemy attacks on the side branch of the Magic Association intensified. Reaching the limit of their attack, the invader force committed their forces to get a decisive victory.

In the side branch, Katsuto kept overhearing reports coming in.

The JSDF were beginning their counterattack from Sakuragi-chō, but the volunteers formed by the Magic Association were barely holding the enemy at China Street in Ishikawamachi.

"—Have you prepared a combat uniform?"

At Katsuto's question, the female employee looked aghast. "Do you mean to sortie yourself? You can't do that!"

"You have prepared a combat uniform, correct?"

Still, Katsuto's determined follow up question overawed the female employee into nodding.

"But, you're the heir of the Juumonji Family..."

"Please lead the way."

Katsuto cut short her stuttering words.

The female attendant stiffly rose to her feet.

◊ ◊ ◊

The other scion of the Ten Master Clans joined the volunteers at China Street. Amid the enemies running to and fro, one man passed through them accompanied by blossoming crimson flowers and made contact with the unit fighting against the invasion force.

The protective gear he wore was obtained from one of the wounded.

Pressed against cover, his left hand tightly gripped the glowing red CAD as Masaki panted loudly.

This was the exhaustion caused by repeated use of Rupture.

In addition, the enemy's attacks switched from mobile armors to magic, causing exhaustion to set in earlier.

Phantoms advanced in waves. They were called phantoms because they didn't have an actual body and were illusions created by Ancient Magic.

Masaki didn't use the Specialized CAD in his left hand and operated the Generalized CAD on his left wrist. Interference strength expanded outwards.

With only a wooden idol left behind, the phantom illusions vanished.

In order to create a wide area interference strength and dispel all the phantoms, this exhausted a lot of Masaki's reserves.

His "Rupture" magic was used to evaporate fluids within the target's body. If the target did not contain fluids inside its body, then that magic would have no effect.

The enemy's response was incredibly swift. Seeing the first force of bipedal tanks fall under attacks from Rupture, they immediately threw phantom units onto the battlefield.

Against illusions created by Ancient Magic with no physical body, Rupture held no meaning.

Even without a physical body, the illusions still possessed attack power.

They worked in the same way as hypnosis.

Humans cut by the illusions would die from the red welt that appeared on their body.

While Magicians who applied Data Fortification to themselves could nullify the phantom strikes, volunteers who were not Magicians were not so fortunate.

Mixed in with the volunteers, Masaki could only continue to clash against the phantoms while his specialized magic was sealed, while desperately searching for the location of the enemy Magicians.

◊ ◊ ◊

On the side of the cargo helicopters, the civilian boarding was already complete.

"Rin-chan, it's all up to you now."

"Mayumi, don't push yourself too hard." The helicopter took off.

The soldiers in black accompanied the helicopter into the air and flew escort.

After seeing the helicopter ascend to a safe height, the flying soldiers flew towards the coast.

"Let's go as well. Let's find Miyuki and Mari's groups and get out of here."

"—Got it."

Nakura seemed to have something to say upon hearing Mayumi's orders, but ultimately chose to respectfully bow his head and return to the co-pilot's seat.

The combat helicopter Mayumi and Honoka boarded began to ascend.

Along the way, Mayumi noticed one of the soldiers watching them leave from atop one of the skyscrapers.

In his right hand, he held a silver Specialized CAD.

Honoka was facing the other direction, so she didn't see him. On the helicopter, Mayumi stuck her tongue out at that soldier.

◊ ◊ ◊

Beneath his gray mask, Tatsuya clearly beheld Mayumi making a funny face at him.

(...What a cheerful individual.)

Beyond that, Tatsuya had no other thoughts on the subject. (Speaking of which, so Ichihara-senpai used to be "Ichihana", eh.)

The magic that Suzune used was the other reason why the Ichihana named had been stripped.

That magic relied a great deal on the Ichihana Family's natural innate qualities.

Magic that directly interfered with the human body was forbidden at the time, so besides medical reasons, usage of that sort of magic was heavily restricted.

Although he had no idea whether Suzune was aware of all the details, the truth of the matter was that she inherited the Ichihana bloodline.

However, Tatsuya also thought.

(If that's the case, then my magic wouldn't result in something so easy as being stripped of my number.)

Instead of chuckling wryly, he was silently contemplating this in the privacy of his mind. Tatsuya activated the transmission device on his helmet.

"Saegusa Mayumi-san has boarded the helicopter and is flying towards the coast at low altitude. She is expected to rendezvous with her peers and underclassmen before evacuating from the area."

"Understood. After verifying that the VIP has departed from the combat zone, return to the main unit."

"Understood."

So it's finally starting, Tatsuya thought, after he cut the feed.

Yanagi may not have said it, but the counterattack was about to begin even if he did not.

Thus, the first priority was to ensure that Mayumi's group safely escaped.

Standing on the roof, Tatsuya pointed his CAD downwards and simply pulled the trigger.

One corner of the building burst into flames before abruptly disappearing.

Besides the guided missile launcher that fell to the ground, nothing else remained.

Modern day weapons would not detonate because of such a trivial impact.

The same occurrence happened five times.

After double-checking that there was nobody else taking aim at the helicopter, Tatsuya turned his head.

Only to find a man holding a sword standing there. "—Who are you?"

The question came from the man before him.

To be able to climb up here — and not using any orthodox method at that since he took the odd approach of leaping between the walls of skyscrapers. He was definitely a man of considerable skill.

"JSDF 101st Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion Special Lieutenant, Oguro Ryuuya."

"What?"

The man — Inspector Chiba Toshikazu, didn't expect Tatsuya to frankly answer his question.

Tatsuya's sudden reply along with that unheard of unit designation caused Toshikazu's stance to waver slightly.

Tatsuya lightly stepped off the rooftop.

Rather than jumping in Toshikazu's direction, he flew off the building. Tatsuya's left hand tapped his belt.

His body was released from gravity's control.

The CAD in his right hand keeping Toshikazu at bay, Tatsuya roared to a height where bullets could not reach.

◊ ◊ ◊

The volunteers from the Magic Association were forced to retreat step by step.

The enemy's amphibious unit was plainly their main force.

The unit advancing to the north was a mixed unit of APCs and bipedal tanks though the primary force composed of APCs, but the enemy force assaulting the Magic Association branch was composed of special bipedal tanks designed for close combat along with multiple Magicians alongside.

Wild beasts that looked like dogs turned into fiery bombs. They were chemical congregations created by Ancient Magic to mimic the monster called the "Wazawaito".

Just when they thought that was all there was, a one legged crane-like bird dispersed flaming ash and vanished. They were chemical congregations also formed by Ancient Magic that imitated the form of monsters called the "Hitzukata".

Ancient Magic from the mainland swarmed the volunteers.

The enemy was no longer an army of "unknown nationality". Abandoning all pretense at hiding their identity, they were applying unique magic and bipedal tanks with enchanted defenses to crush the volunteer unit's formation.

The Magicians from the Magic Association quickly retaliated with modern magic that was swift to cast with instantaneous effect, but they simply couldn't handle the overwhelming enemy numbers.

"Damn it, retreat!"

"Fall back and reestablish a new defensive line!"

It sounded like their morale had not broken, but in the face of such force, the only ones who could say so were the ones who fell back within the new protective line.

"Do not retreat!"

At this time, a roar shattered the volunteers' cowardice.

The avian chemical congregations that spewed fire were smashed to the earth and faded into ash.

It was as if they had been swatted aside by a giant hammer.

"Arise, ye who wield magic. Protect our homeland from falling into the clutches of these wretched invaders!"

Ahead of the volunteers, a bulky figure walked before them.

It was Katsuto, fully armored in protective gear and helmet like the samurais of old.

Katsuto raised his arm and swung it forward. Although the swing was not made with great force,

But at the same time as the swing, one of the enemy's bipedal tanks collapsed.

The implication of this action was blatantly clear in everyone's eyes. The same thing happened once more.

The mechanized weaponry with magically fortified defenses were being destroyed like toys.

A thunderous roar sounded all around him.

That was the triumphant shout of the volunteers who were previously in an inferior position.

Katsuto hid the feelings of shame deep in the pits of his heart. He was not childish enough to believe in absolute justice. Nor did he only seek personal advancement like an adult. But he was very clear on the role that fell to him.

The enemy didn't take very long to recover their wits. They were not very clear on exactly what Katsuto did.

Still, even the dullest of their men knew that Katsuto was the one who launched the magical attacks.

The bipedal tanks leveled their weapons at Katsuto with the churning of treads. Not one, but three tanks attacked as one unit. Apparently, the enemy was nothing more than inept soldiers who could only rely on their equipment.

However, the result was that none of the three bipedal tanks could advance a single a meter, nor could they fire a single bullet.

The only thing Katsuto did was to simply reach out with his right palm.

That alone was enough to render the bipedal tanks into scrap. Multi-Layer Barrier Magic "Phalanx".

This magic was not only used to block the enemy's attack.

Its true value lay in its ability to annihilate the enemy and it existed for this purpose.

The magic behind Phalanx lay in constructing multiple barriers, so even if the initial barrier faltered, the one behind would simply replace it, to be continued ad infinitum.

The barriers were in constant motion within set boundaries.

The barrier was not set in front of oneself, but rather dozens of barriers were sent crashing at high speeds into the enemy.

This was the true usage of Phalanx on the offensive. The offensive barrier that possessed the sole function of being impermeable to all attacks could even be spread out within another person's magic. The magic barrier that set matter as its target possessed an interference strength that simply disallowed any other magic to exist.

Although there were disadvantages in that the firing range was limited and it could only be used against existing phenomena, this magic that combined attacking the enemy, anti-object, and anti-magic properties had powerful applications at short distances in group combat.

Defensively, there were multiple barriers being erected simultaneously.

Offensively, multiple barriers with a single characteristic could be fired successively.

As befitting the name "Phalanx", this was a magic that combined offense and defense together.

Fire and thunder came crashing down on Katsuto.

Ancient Magic attacks that had to go through various procedures and could not affect the Eidos without physical phenomena changes were the easiest opponents for Katsuto.

In the air, he erected heat resistant and lightning resistant barriers to protect himself and the volunteers surrounding him.

Along with the escorting soldiers at the front, he sent the enemy Magicians flying.

The appearance of a single person completely turned the battle around.

◊ ◊ ◊

Exhausted by constantly having to deal with phantom attacks, Masaki changed his mind.

He stopped hunting or the enemy's Magicians and decided to massacre all the enemies around him.

Until now, he was afraid of dragging the average citizen into the crossfire so he had relied on magic that targeted individual enemies, but if the situation continued progressing the way it had, more and more citizens would suffer. — He was not going to deny that he was getting enraged.

Masaki set the area where the enemy was most densely congregated in three man squads as the square shaped execution site.

Each side measured 15 meters. Just in case, he kept a 2 meter buffer zone (until now, there was no sign that the enemy forcibly entered the nearby buildings).

He operated the CAD on his left wrist and activated the magic.

Unrelated to physical obstacles, this was a power that devoured cover in order to alter the phenomena.

The initial change was gradual.

The enemy soldiers would only feel a slight increase in body heat.

However, this would quickly turn into burning hot pain that led the victim to roll around on the floor. Thirty seconds later, their eyes would turn murky and they would be rendered a corpse.

This was Heat Magic that relied on the oscillation of fluid molecules, "Kyokan Jigoku".

The Magicians of the Ichijou Family specialized in Dispersal-Type Magic that evaporated fluids, but that certainly did not imply they could not use any other magic.

With apologies to his friend, Masaki actually suspected the veracity of the "Cardinal Code Hypothesis". If the Four Great Systems and Eight Major Types of Magic were flawlessly interconnected, then weren't they by nature the same entity? This was his gut speaking and not a logical theory. He felt that using systems to categorize magic was simply a matter of convenience.

Currently, the magic that Masaki was using, "Kyokan Jigoku", could be described as an inferior version of "Rupture".

Compared to "Rupture" that could instantaneously evaporate fluids, "Kyokan Jigoku" required time (nothing more than 30 seconds to a full minute) to increase fluid temperature. By paying the price in sheer firepower, this magic expanded the range from "target object" to "a wide area".

Within the summoned cauldron of hell — needless to say, this was a metaphor — rapid destablization spread throughout the square shaped area.

"Kyokan Jigoku" was a magic that directly affected the human body within the targeted area. Thus, it was very difficult to affect Magicians who applied Data Fortification to themselves.

On the other hand, that also meant that Magicians were the only ones who could survive the execution site.

(Found you!)

There were many enemies, but Masaki's instincts told him that this Magician was the one who was responsible for the illusion magic.

He charged out from behind the building and sprinted into the "execution site" that was suddenly wide open.

The guns pointed in his direction were silenced by allied covering fire.

Once more, he raised the handgun-shaped Specialized CAD at the Magician who attempted to flee.

He pulled the trigger before the other man had a chance to turn around.

A crimson flower blossomed.

Masaki eliminated the enemy Magician before he even had time to surrender.

◊ ◊ ◊

Small thunderbolts danced wildly across the street as the enemy gunfire came to an end.

Miyuki's company still encountered sporadic resistance from the enemy, but they no longer saw any bipedal tanks or APCs coming to reinforce the enemy.

After Mikihiko's lightning magic rendered the enemy infantry impotent, the five of them gathered under the cover of one of the large buildings.

"Saegusa-senpai appears to be coming by helicopter to pick us up. Unlike the ones used for the civilians, this helicopter is specifically reserved for our evacuation."

Receiving Mayumi's communique, Miyuki relayed the details to everyone else.

"As expected of Saegusa, how generous." Erika was moved in a rather odd direction.

"I think this has nothing to do with generosity... It must be so that the upperclassmen can safely escape."

"Even so, that's something worthy of thanks."

"Indeed. Thanks to that, we also have a chance to evacuate."

Mikihiko, Leo, and Mizuki were only able to chat so leisurely because the enemy attacks had gone silent.

"Ah, is that them?"

Even without Erika pointing this out, the distinctive sound of a propeller could be heard. Originally, they picked a location that wouldn't take very long to walk back from. Besides the time spent lifting off and setting down, this was a negligible distance for a helicopter. Yet after a few moments passed, the helicopter still hadn't arrived. Plainly, the noise was traveling down from above, but there was no sign of the helicopter.

Miyuki received a ping indicating that a new message had arrived, so she moved the transmission receiver to her ear.

"Miyuki? I'm sorry, but the area is too narrow to land. We'll let down the ropes for you, so can you grab hold of them?"

Before she could respond, five ropes came trailing down from nowhere above them.

Upon closer inspection, the highest point of the rope showed a heat signature that was hovering back and forth.

"...Invisibility, no, more like optical camouflage. Nicely done, Honoka."

Murmuring to herself, Miyuki grabbed hold of the rope and put one foot through the step at the bottom end.

The other four hurriedly followed suit.

After boarding the helicopter, everyone else in addition to Miyuki were also aware of what Honoka was doing.

Honoka was projecting images of the sky using a hemispherical display and was so intensely focused that she could not even spare energy to speak. If this wasn't the sky and was a more dynamically changing scenery, there was definitely no way she could keep up the optical camouflage while moving.

"Even so, this magic can also be used when setting ambushes."

"Seriously, trying to maintain such a complicated process isn't something that can be done with a little imitation here and there."

"Even Miyuki can't do it?"

She could only do her best to ignore her friends' conversing voices.

"We're almost there, but if you feel tired, it's OK to disengage it as well."

"I'm fine."

It was all Honoka could do to muster a response to Mayumi's encouragement.

However, when the time came to extract Mari's group, the situation could not proceed as planned.

Perhaps it was more accurate to say that the enemy was engaged in their last desperate struggle. Watching the scene develop from on high, Mayumi and the others could see that the center of the battle had moved to the area surrounding China Street and the enemies in the immediate area had almost been entirely eradicated.

Nevertheless, Mari's squad of 5 was still under furious attacks that primarily came from rifles and grenade launchers from infantry units that had Magicians mixed in. Not knowing that Toshikazu was holding off all the attacks from the rear by himself, Mayumi and company did not waver because of their limited numbers and immediately provided cover for the five people below.

Correction, "Mayumi and company" would be the wrong term, since Mayumi was the only one who unleashed supporting magic from the helicopter.

Hail descended on the enemy soldiers.

Rather than small grains of ice, dry ice pellets rained down at supersonic speed to penetrate armor, a phenomenon utterly impossible in nature.

This was the "Magic Shooter" using dry ice as bullets.

The crossfire from the bullets came from all sorts of different angles to strike the enemy soldiers' head, back, and flanks. They were struck down without even knowing where the magic came from.

Using air to ground fire and aided by the advantage that the attacks came from unknown directions, Mayumi's magic pacified the scene in less than 5 minutes.

"Sorry for the wait, Mari. We're letting down the rope, so grab ahold."

"Ah, thanks."

The overwhelming firepower — she wasn't sure if this was the right way to put it — that Mayumi provided easily suppressed the enemy forces, which irked Mari somewhat as she called for the Year 2 students.

Isori and Kanon, Kirihara and Sayaka ran forward in pairs.

They forgot to be wary of their surroundings, but this was a hard charge to lay at their door.

Up until now, they were knee deep in the maelstrom of battle.

Also, the helicopter overhead had disengaged its optical camouflage, providing a lulling sense of security.

Except, the true value of guerrillas was shown here when conducting surprise attacks. "Watch out!"

The shout came from Mari.

The first to hear this and move was Kirihara. Sprinting towards Sayaka, he whirled his blade.

Although the frantically activated Sonic Blade miraculously deflected the bullets aimed at the chest, that only protected his torso.

His leg was struck by bullets.

The right leg beneath the thigh was in tatters. "Kirihara-kun!"

"Kei!"

On the other side, Isori pushed Kanon down and covered her with his body.

Fresh blood flowed down his back.

The wound was caused by grenade shrapnel — it looked to be a fatal injury.

"Kei! Kei!"

"Kirihara-kun! Hang in there!" Two girls were sobbing.

Mari unleashed magic against the irregulars who launched the surprise attack.

However, her magic was drowned in the overpowering interference strength that covered the scene and fizzled.

She frantically looked to the side — and her gaze fell upon the source.

There, leaping down from the helicopter was Miyuki, landing lightly on the earth as if entirely free from the bounds of gravity. Fearlessly, she raised her right hand.

Miyuki had lost her temper.

For her, Isori and Kirihara were nothing more than acquaintances.

Yet, using despicable means to hurt people she knew was enough to ignite the furnace of wrath within her.

Despite her rage, her brain remained calm as usual.

Even if she jumped down on reflex, she had a perfect grasp on the gravity that pulled her down.

There was no need to use a CAD.

Now, with her magic territory released, the only thing she needed to consider was how to construct her favorite unique magic.

Miyuki wasn't just sealing Tatsuya's power.

In order to seal Tatsuya's power, Miyuki spent half of her own magic on her brother.

The fact that Miyuki's magic went out of control was a side effect of suppressing her brother's magic.

Now, with Tatsuya's might unleashed, Miyuki's personal power was also released.

The Yotsuba Family did not have a signature appellation.

That was because each individual possessed a unique ability that could not be categorized, though no one deviated from the principle that 'magic is inherited'.

Miyuki's mother possessed the unique Outer-Systematic Magic that could interfere with another person's mental makeup.

Thus, it would be no surprise if her daughter inherited some sort of spirit interference magic.

Also, she was able to serve as Tatsuya's limiter precisely because she possessed spirit interference magic.

Indeed — her Freezing Magic, which originally derives from it, is the manifestation of her innate magic interfering with the physical world.

She stretched her right hand out.

By this action alone, the world froze.

It was as if the world centered around Miyuki had frozen solid. The surface of the road and the walls were not covered in frost. What was frozen was the world of the consciousness.

There was no change from Mari, Kanon, Sayaka, as well as the critically injured Kirihara and Isori when they brushed against that wall.

However, the enemy soldiers who were pointing guns or getting ready to throw grenades, regardless of whether they were regular troops or guerrillas, all stood there stiffly without moving a muscle.

They weren't frozen, merely halted in place.

Rather than their physical bodies freezing, their minds were frozen.

Outer-Systematic·Mental Interference Magic "Cocytus".

The frozen mind shall never awaken.

The frozen mind cannot comprehend death. There was no way to even inform the flesh that death was upon them.

The bodies bound by their frozen minds could not even die. They could only collapse like a row of statues, forever captured in the postures before the frost came.

No one could explain what Miyuki did.

But all beheld the image of the frozen world.

Everyone's instincts informed them that Miyuki did something. Even without words, they could feel that mind-crushing terror.

Miyuki turned to one side before gazing skyward and drooping her head once more with traces of a lonely smile lingering on her face.

However, she immediately raised her head and cried out while waving her hands.

"Onii-sama!"

Directly in front of her eyes, everyone besides Isori and Kirihara could see this.

There, the figure of a soldier in pitch black descended to ground level. He landed near Miyuki and removed the protective visor and goggles. Tatsuya ran to Isori's side with a grim expression on his countenance. "Onii-sama, please!"

By his side, Miyuki grabbed hold of Tatsuya's right hand.

Tatsuya nodded and pulled out the CAD on the left side of his waist. "What are you doing!?"

And pointed the silver CAD at Isori. There was no time to stop him.

The only thing Kanon could do was scream at him. He pulled the trigger.

On reflex, Kanon closed her eyes.

[Commence Retroactive Eidos Tracking]

Tatsuya's expression did not change.

[...Confirm Restoration Point]

The time required for this magic was overly minuscule.

Yet during this instant, Miyuki knew that her brother was suffering unimaginable pain. Miyuki's eyes deftly caught the trickle of sweat running down Tatsuya's face.

Unconsciously, Miyuki averted her gaze.

Nevertheless, in the eyes of the biological machine casting magic that Tatsuya embodied, no trace of extraneous information was reflected.

[Restoration Commence]

The other magic that Tatsuya could freely wield, "Regrowth", activated.

He backtracked through the changes in the Eidos and obtained the one an instant before any injuries occurred and then copying that.

He copied that information onto the Magic Sequence and applied it to the Eidos.

Events were accompanied by information,

And information can alter the event.

In accordance with the basic rules of magic, the injured flesh began to change.

It was regenerating back towards its uninjured state.

Rather than healing the injury, the truth called injury was being erased.

The restorative power of the world was cooperating with the changes being cast on Isori's flesh.

The shrapnel was "devoured" by Isori's body.

The fragments in Isori's body disappeared.

Rather than being decomposed, they somehow fell by his side.

Isori's body seemed to glow with light.

In the next instant, there wasn't even a trace of a wound on his body. Not only that, even the bloodstains on his clothes were fading.

[Restoration complete]

In a state unharmed by any shrapnel, Isori's flesh and body stabilized within the world.

Tatsuya didn't even have time to confirm the results of "Regrowth" on Isori before turning to Kirihara and pulling the trigger on his CAD again.

Visually speaking, this was even more dramatic.

Seeing the shredded leg and thigh reconnect, Kirihara's body also began to glow.

Next, a hale young man with all four limbs was lying there.

Tatsuya returned the CAD to his left waist and wordlessly embraced Miyuki.

"Ah...!"

Both of his arms encircling the wide-eyed Miyuki, Tatsuya softly whispered something in her ear before releasing her.

Stepping back, he put on the protective visor and pulled down the goggles.

Returning to a completely black form, Tatsuya thumbed the power switch on his belt and returned to the skies.

Miyuki could only blankly follow him with her eyes.

Her brother's words "Well done" continued to reverberate in her ears.

Wearing a skeptical expression, Isori started examining his own body.

Utterly astounded as she watched her lover's body, Kanon suddenly burst into tears and threw her arms around Isori.

On the other side, Kirihara tilted his head slightly as he repeatedly alternated between hopping on one foot and standing on one foot with Sayaka smiling through her tears as she watched him.

Miyuki turned her head when she heard the light footsteps behind her. Behind her stood Erika, who also leaped down from the helicopter and was still carrying the odachi that was taller than she was.

"Nice work. That magic was incredible."

Seeing Erika strike up a conversation just as usual, Miyuki let out a reserved smile in response. — A smile that smacked of some sort of fear.

"...Before Onii-sama, even Thanatos must bow. But that magic..."

"Hm? No, I know Tatsuya's magic was amazing too, but I was talking about Miyuki's magic. As expected of Miyuki, magic that only targets and strikes at enemies is simply awesome."

Erika's expression was not an act, nor was it forced in any way. She was simply praising Miyuki's outstanding ability.

There was no sign of horror. So,

"—Thank you."

Miyuki also replied with a typical, natural response.

◊ ◊ ◊

After being repulsed from the northern face of one of the hills near the Magic Association side branch, the invading forces looped back to launch their last assault from the south.

They had completely abandoned any idea of taking hostages.

Currently, they did not possess the troops to occupy the area for any duration of time.

At the current rate, the only thing they could do was retreat empty- handed. At the very least, the invasion force decided that they needed to seize the documents related to modern magic stored at the Magic Association side branch and kill as many Magicians as possible to decrease this country's available firepower.

Grasping the appropriate time to retreat was extremely difficult.

Retreating was difficult enough after winning an advantage, but without any clear signs of imminent defeat, they couldn't simply abandon the field without anything to show for themselves.

They would blunt the enemy attack then counterattack as they were retreating.

This tactic firmly placed all the momentum on their side, the CO of the maneuvering unit believed, hence morale remained high.

The mobile force that only consisted of APCs and bipedal tanks had yet to encounter the enemy.

This operation was devised under the assumption that the defending forces lacked mobility. The CO riding in the APC believed this assessment to be correct.

Exactly at that moment.

The soldier on guard who poked half his body out of the rear of the APC raised his head when he noticed black shadows flying overhead.

However, this soldier was unable to discern the identity of these black shadows before a bullet fired from the sky hit him in the head.

Amid panicked communication between the invading vehicles, all their weapons raised skyward.

The unit in black descended rapidly from the sky as if mocking their paltry response — the flying detachment from the Independent Magic- Equipped Battalion dropped onto the roof of the skyscraper next to the side of the road and started firing from above.

Rifle bullets empowered with increased penetration fell like rain and pierced the bipedal tanks whose magic defenses had already been shredded.

Concentrated explosions from grenades also took out the wheels on the APCs and burning hot shrapnel ignited the fuel into an inferno.

It's not that the invaders offered no resistance on their part.

Heavy autocannon turrets fired along the wall and took down the flying soldiers peering through their firing spots.

Yet, the firepower from the unit in black never slackened.

Rolling flames danced across the rubble, but atop the perforated roof, the incoming shots only intensified.

The invading soldiers in the APCs and bipedal tanks now knew the terror of fighting undying monsters.

Immediately, they had the opportunity to witness this unique ability in action.

One of the flying soldiers crumpled and fell on the roadside.

He managed to avoid instant death thanks to the bulletproof properties of the pitch black armor, but that was undeniably a fatal injury.

At this time, an obsidian demon dual wielding two silver CADs descended next to his body. The one in his left hand pointed at that soldier and the soldier's wounds vanished.

The CAD in his right hand locked onto one of their bipedal tanks.

Noise suffused the machinery covered in armor, then the entire 3.5 meter tall mobile weapon faded into dust.

"...Mahesvara!"

[One of the principal Hindu deities, worshiped as the destroyer and restorer of worlds and in numerous other forms]

A terrified scream tore across the radio.

Some attempted to flee in terror while others chose to resist in horror. These two conflicting urges completely destroyed any semblance of order in the invasion force.

Amid the panic, the only ending that awaited them was eradication.