Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 04 - Nine Schools Competition (II)

by Sato Tsutomu

  Regardless, Mikihiko's objection was easily turned aside by combat practicality.

  "That scoundrel...... She must be laughing herself silly now......"

  Leo didn't clarify exactly "who" he was talking about, but for the two other people present, nothing else needed to be said.

  "Ahahahahahah...... My, my sides are killing me~. What is that, WHAT is THAT! Ahahahahaha......"

  Just as the three of them surmised, Erika was roaring in laughter in the stands.

  "Erika-chan, please stop......"

  After Mizuki tried several times to bashfully persuade her, Erika's laughter finally dropped to a level that was more normal.

  "......Ah~, I'm dying. No wonder everyone's eyes are drawn to the things that Tatsuya-kun thinks up."

  "......I think Erika's the one who's being watched right now."

  Next to Erika, Mizuki shyly hunkered down.

  "Sorry, sorry. I just couldn't help myself there. I promise to stop messing around now, so cheer up, OK Mizuki?"

  "Seriously...... Please do!"

  After she could feel the gazes (she didn't have the courage to visually verify this) around her stabbing towards her turn back to the arena, Mizuki finally raised her head.

  "But, what exactly is that?"

  Since there were no obstructions on the open plains, the audience could directly view the entire arena. Even so, the distance was still far enough that details were hard to make out, so everyone was watching the large screens for details on the players' expressions, just like in the other competitions.

  Erika was watching the images on the main screen that depicted Mikihiko and Leo standing in First High's territory.

  After watching for a few more seconds, she shook her head as if to say "might as well raise both arms now".

  "Nope. I still can't tell what they're trying to do. Since this is Tatsuya-kun after all, I'm sure he's not just doing this for show."

  "......Lots of 'spirits' are gathering on Yoshida-kun's robes......"

  "Huh?"

  An unexpected response answered her murmuring. Erika turned to one side and sucked in a breath as she saw Mizuki remove her glasses and an incredible light dancing in her eyes.

  While a minority in the audience believed that Leo and Mikihiko's garb was out of date or from the wrong century, very few people laughed outright in derision. The thought that dominated the minds in the audience was what were the "robes" and "mantles" being used for.

  Still, for their opponents, they couldn't just use the word "curiosity" to wave it off.

  "Are they just doing this for show?"

  Hearing their teammate's speculation, Masaki and Kichijouji both shook their heads.

  "That guy knows George's background...... Is this his solution to 'Invisible Bullet'?"

  "It's true that my magic doesn't have much in terms of penetrating power...... Still, it's not so simple that a mere piece of cloth can stand against it, so it's hard to believe that he would rely on such an amateurish countermeasure."

  "Or this is done to make us think there is some strategy at work here?"

  "That possibility is not altogether zero, yet......"

  Masaki's words became vague.

  "......I don't understand. Was he saving this all this time for this moment......"

  Kichijouji bit his lip. It was precisely because he prided himself on his intellect that he was particularly frustrated.

  "We advance recklessly, but forcing ourselves to contemplate something that cannot be discovered now is pointless. There is always some degree of risk when using force to win."

  In order to cut through Kichijouji's befuddlement, Masaki spoke up in a forcible tone.

  Despite this, Masaki himself wasn't immune to this perplexity.

  What aroused curiosity from the audience was nothing short of a source of great wariness to the enemy.

  The players and auxiliaries were oblivious to this, but there was another reason behind the ruckus.

  The reason came from the observation deck near the board chairman's room.

  A completely unforeseen visitor had arrived.

  "Kudou-sensei! Why are you here?"

  Elder Kudou, who usually watched the matches from the screens in the VIP lounge near the main headquarters, had personally come to the visitors' observation deck.

  "Even I like to occasionally come here for a look."

  Kudou Retsu nodded generously to the board members that all stood to welcome him and sat in the leather chair that was hastily prepared for him.

  "Of course, it is our honor to host you here, but......"

  But, why now? In face of this silent query, Elder Kudou frankly replied.

  "It's nothing really. I just noticed a rather interesting young man."

  The moment before the match begins was undoubtedly the time when a player was at their most nervous. No matter how confident they were or how great their odds were all things became questionable at this time. This was no playoff that was the best of a series, this was single elimination where everything came down to the line in one match, so it was only natural to be uneasy at being uncertain of their opponent's strength.

  That being said, their nervousness vanished the moment the starting signal sounded.

  Once the battle was initiated, there was no room for further doubt.

  Once the signal was lit, both sides began bombarding one another.

  They were using long range magic attacks.

  The audience was overjoyed at this result; whereas, the supporters in First High's stands were shocked into silence.

  There were approximately 600 meters between the two fields.

  The distance was shorter than the woodlands or valley settings, but in terms of range for firearms, this was still a stretch for the effective firing range of assault weapons. This was the range for sniper rifles.

  At the same time, both sides were firing at one another with CADs shaped like automatics as they steadily approached one another step by step.

  Tatsuya was dual-wielding twin pistols just as he was during the preliminary and semifinal rounds.

  On the other side, Masaki had swapped out the Generalized CAD he used during the semifinals for a Specialized CAD.

  While the CAD in Tatsuya's right hand was responsible for intercepting enemy attacks, the CAD in his left was retaliating. Realizing this, Masaki abandoned his defense and concentrated on attacking.

  The ensuing result was,

  The originally disparate gulf in firepower widened even further.

  Compared to Masaki's "shots" that possessed the power to decisively end the engagement, Tatsuya's "shots" could do nothing aside from try and tie up his opponent.

  However, his attacks were not telling. This level of Oscillation-Type Magic was too weak to rate actual defense, as a Magician's unconscious Data Fortification would protect themselves.

  The number of attacks was also overwhelmingly inferior.

  Despite having many tricks up his sleeve, Tatsuya was undoubtedly weaker in terms of pure technical skills. Yet, not only was he exposing himself to his opponent's attacks, he was accurately shooting down each of the incoming attacks at a distance that the naked eye could barely ascertain. Just this point alone was awe inspiring.

  "Such courage!"

  A nameless Year 3 male student quietly gasped.

  "Is he really a Course 2 student?"

  A female player asked one of her teammates.

  The upperclassmen were expressing their surprise not because of the strength of his magic, but because he maintained his mental concentration despite suffering severe bombardment from his opponent.

  Yet — Mayumi, Katsuto, Suzune, Azusa, Hattori...... Each of them wore grim faces.

  Right now, both sides were still feeling each other out, but every step Tatsuya took forward put him more and more on the defensive and subsequently, he was retaliating less and less. This point was blatantly obvious to all of them.

  Compared to the players and members
of First High, Kichijouji felt an altogether different shock in Third High's territory.

  Tatsuya was currently using Oscillation-Type Magic.

  Yet, in the three matches leading up to this moment, Tatsuya was using Nonsystematic and Weight-Type Magic.

  (He managed to alter the design of his Activation Sequence in a mere two hours......?)

  Kichijouji shook his head to dispel the cobwebs.

  No matter how skilled his CAD calibration skills were, the calibration process had no bearing on the match itself.

  What determined the outcome was only how he chose to wield the result of his calibrations.

  This was not the time to appreciate his calibration speed. That was the "perplexity" that may lead to an accident in battle—

  "Proceed as we discussed, I'm heading out!"

  "Understood, leave the rear to me!"

  He hadn't even noticed his hubris towards the enemy team before his eyes. Kichijouji looped around Masaki's rear and charged towards First High's territory.

  Since Kichijouji charged out of allied territory, the match had entered a new phase. Nonetheless, the audience's attention was largely still focused on Tatsuya and Masaki's ongoing struggle.

  To be able to endlessly release powerful magic, Masaki's talent was truly worthy of praise.

  Regardless, Tatsuya's "Gram Demolition" that unerringly struck down Masaki's magic was even more moving.

  Few members of the audience were aware of high level Counter Magic like "Gram Demolition". "Gram Demolition" demanded an excessive psion count, so even researchers specializing in the field had few opportunities to catch a glimpse of this magic.

  Even without knowledge on the subject, the large screen that displayed the psion movements clearly showed the scene of brilliant psion shells striking, shattering, and then erasing the Compression-Type Magic Sequences.

  This was a glorious, dreamlike image that set one's heart aflame.

  Magicians who could perceive the psions and the spectators who possessed latent magic talent had no need for the large screen and could only bow before the psions wildly dancing in a storm of magic before their eyes.

  Unbound by reason or logic, they were held spellbound by this spectacular air show.

  Presently, Tatsuya focused all his attention on shutting down each of Masaki's attacks.

  Even so, he still took note of Kichijouji emerging from Third High's position.

  Like a chain reaction — in reality this was a direct result of seeing Kichijouji's advance, Tatsuya's hitherto steady pace accelerated to a run.

  Masaki didn't panic in the slightest at Tatsuya's change of pace and calmly launched Compression-Type Magic at Tatsuya.

  His run failed to adopt any evasive maneuvers.

  It's not like his opponent was using his eyes to aim, so that degree of evasion was meaningless.

  As he ran forward, Tatsuya concentrated on the mass of energy formed to alter the Eidos in the air and sent a bullet made of psions — "Gram Demolition" straight into the mass, shattering Masaki's magic before it could materialize.

  Nonetheless — with the distance between them drawing ever closer, aiming was more simplistic. While physical distance was not a direct factor, the closer the physical target was, the easier it became to perceive its proximity and existence.

  Especially when aiming air-like objects that are not usually visible. The closer the target was, the easier it became to take aim.

  Of course, in this situation, the only target at hand was Tatsuya himself.

  Fifty meters from Masaki, Tatsuya ground to a halt and was unable to completely nullify Masaki's attacks.

  The compressed air that Tatsuya failed to bring down came crashing towards Tatsuya.

  Tatsuya relied on his five senses to detect their trajectory and deftly used his physical techniques to avoid them as he continued to advance towards Masaki.

  Unable to advance straight forward, the dozens of yards between them became an insurmountable wall for Tatsuya.

  "So, he's finally reached the point where he can't hold back any more."

  Seeing Tatsuya forced into a corner, Yamanaka actually remarked happily.

  "Please be serious, sensei. Even Tatsuya-kun can't rely on only his five senses to completely detect the early warning signs of magic invocation and Invisible Bullet. Given the current situation, we can still use a 'sixth sense' as an excuse in place of 'Eye of the Spirits'."

  At Fujibayashi's vigorous defense, Yamanaka smiled devilishly.

  "Really? That's true, while he can fool those third and fourth rate scrubs...... It's hard to imagine he could pull a fast one under the eyes of that gentleman."

  Yamanaka's line of sight was resting on Elder Kudou, who was watching the match with abundant interest from his seat in the chairman's lounge.

  Fujibayashi only spared him a quick glance before switching back to Tatsuya.

  Kichijouji was looping around the fringe of the arena as he advanced towards First High's monolith. When he came within 100 meters of First High's territory, Leo barred his path.

  Finding it odd that the defender was so far forward, Kichijouji fired off an "Invisible Bullet" as he ruminated on this.

  No, more like he was about to fire.

  "Wha?"

  In front of him, a black wall obscured his gaze. Leo had removed his mantle and held it unfurled before him.

  A metallic plate flashed towards Kichijouji's flank like a storm of blades.

  Facing the flying blade from the Weaponized Integrated CAD, Kichijouji immediately activated Move-Type Magic and sprang backwards to avoid the blow.

  On its heels, a powerful gust chased after him.

  Kichijouji used Weight-Type Magic to reduce inertia his body was suffering and used the force of the wind to reduce the gust attack.

  (How meddlesome!)

  Kichijouji muttered in his mind and aimed the "Invisible Bullet" at Mikihiko.

  He chose to first remove this irksome fire support.

  However, the moment his gaze fell across the gray robes, he was suddenly unable to detect the target's proximity.

  Like a heat wave disrupting the focal point of a camera, the gray figure became fuzzy and hard to grasp.

  (Illusions!?)

  They had taken advantage of the fact that "Invisible Bullet" required visual confirmation. The moment Kichijouji realized this, he also detected the blade of the "Mini Communicator" slashing downwards at his head. Unable to dodge, he could only close his eyes and await the impact.

  "Gah!"

  Yet, Leo was the one who cried out in pain as if all the air had been forcibly expelled from his lungs.

  The blade Leo swung was sent off target and buried itself into the earth. Leo was flung aside by the blast and crumpled to the floor.

  "Masaki!"

  He was saved! Sparing the words of thanks, Kichijouji called out the name of his protector.

  Kichijouji, who had completely fallen into the enemy's trap, was plucked out of danger by Masaki, who was still bombarding Tatsuya's position.

  His fingers quickly danced across the screen of his CAD as Kichijouji brought up Weight-Type Magic.

  The force of gravity abruptly intensified, sending Mikihiko "plummeting" downwards helplessly.

  Kichijouji abandoned fixating on his favorite magic and poured on the magic to crush Mikihiko into the earth.

  Completely suppressed, Mikihiko could only expel the crushed air out of his mouth.

  Tatsuya did not idly watch this scene pass by.

  The split second that Masaki diverted his attention to Kichijouji, Tatsuya immediately closed the gap to within 5 meters.

  For someone with Tatsuya's physical skills, this was but a paltry display of his prowess.

  Yet, his target still remained one step away.

  Masaki's face clearly betrayed his agitation.

  Rather than being a panic brought on by terror, the instincts of a soldier who had survived the battlefield told him he was in danger.
>
  A continuous chain of sixteen compressed air bullets, far surpassing the limits laid down by the rules, came swarming towards Tatsuya.

  The Counter Magic Gram Demolition was a technique that used compressed psions as bullets to forcibly eradicate Magic Sequences.

  Due to its forceful nature, this was a highly inefficient technique.

  Unknown to the common man, Magic Sequences also differed in strength.

  The Magic Sequences forged by someone of Masaki's caliber could not be so easily disassembled, so overwhelming force was used to forcibly annihilate it, which required an outrageous amount of compressed psions. Even for Tatsuya, this was not an inconsiderable sum, though it was far beyond what an average Magician could produce even if they spent the entire day working at it.

  Yet in this instant, he had to dispel 16 shots.

  Even though Tatsuya instantly made the call that Gram Demolition wasn't going to make it in time, he resolutely refused to use "Decomposition". He stubbornly stuck to his orders to keep classified magic under wraps.

  He hid the fact that he was capable of "decomposing" information structures through "Gram Dispersal" and met the attack with "Gram Demolition".

  The ensuing result was a given.

  After bringing down 14 of the shots, the last two hits struck home on Tatsuya's body.

  Seeing Tatsuya begin to crumple towards his feet, Masaki spat out "Shit!" in deep regret.

  While in a complete flight or fight mode, he had released magic that surpassed the rules for destructive power. He realized this point the moment he released his magic.

  This was only a few seconds after the fact, so the panel of judges might not have noticed yet.

  The red flag hadn't been raised yet, but he was profoundly aware that he was about to be disqualified for violating the rules.

  That realization caused precious seconds to slip from Masaki's hands.

  His mind was completely blank as he concluded that there was nothing he could do to avert that.

  [Multiple rib fracture. Liver ruptured. Massive internal bleeding.]

  [Combat level dropping below optimal conditions]