Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 07 - Yokohama Disturbance Chapter (II)

by Sato Tsutomu

  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 BC[1] 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 is coming along no matter what" (that alone was sufficient to hesitate Kirihara), to which Kirihara presented the condition that "she is 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 C
ompetition, 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[2] mission was a piece of cake.

  (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 them.

  "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 when 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.