by Sato Tsutomu
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 impre
ssive 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 the '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 bec
ause 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.