"Major, did you see that?"
"Did you see it, too?"
Tatsuya and Yanagi caught with their various perceptions the "wave"
that had spread across the sea.
"Enemy agents are rising to the surface."
" I will go. Cover me."
"There it is."
Immediately after the answer, Tatsuya and Yanagi jumped from the boat. He had in his hand a pole about two meters in length.
Yanagi landed on the surface of the sea. It should be said that he splashed down, but when it was clear that the legs did not sink in the water at all, what happened could only be expressed as "landed."
Standing on the waves, he stuck a pole into the water. Grabbing a pole with his left hand over the upper end, and right by 50 cm below, he made a "lever" by pulling his left hand down and his right up. This dragged the enemy soldier out of the water. Yanagi sent the soldier into the air. The soldier's cries drowned out the noise of the hydrocycle. The fact that heavy damage was inflicted could be seen only by the sight of the flying body.
The soldier who was thrown by Yanagi, fell directly into the boat, which Joseph led. Joseph quickly tied the fallen man. Yanagi, meanwhile, was already heading for the next enemy, who had already surfaced.
The sign of someone strong quickly approached the surface. He chose a position to attack Yanagi from behind. At the moment when Yanagi, using a rowing movement, attacked the head of the emerging enemy in front of him, a giant human figure jumped out of the water, like a jumping whale.
Tatsuya aimed magic at this big figure. But the imaginary trigger did not pull. Because he realized that there was a more ferocious thing than this person pursuing him, and was approaching to jump out of the water as well.
He already realized that the big man is the deserter from the Great Asian Alliance, Lieutenant Bradley Zhang. And his pursuer is captain of the army of the Great Asian Alliance, Lu Ganghu.
Bradley Zhang surpasses Lu Ganghu in body size. However, according to the amount of energy contained in the body, Lu Ganghu is 1-2 steps higher. Tatsuya left Zhang to Lu Ganghu and decided to help Yanagi deal with the remaining trifle... however…
At that moment, something so unexpected happened that even Tatsuya could not have foreseen it.
"Destruction!" With a little incomprehensible battle cry, the familiar figure rushed in with a flying blow to an enemy who had risen to the surface of the sea. After the attack, drowning the enemy, they deftly reacted and landed on the second seat of Tatsuya's hydrocycle, the young man turned out to be his senpai, a former member of the disciplinary committee, Sawaki.
"...Senpai. What are you doing in this place?"
"Mmm? I see, you're not surprised."
"Well, that's because I learned by the shape of the jump with a blow that it was senpai."
Tatsuya's answer was not a lie. He knew that the one sitting behind was Sawaki, because the unidentified enemy would have been shot down in the air.
"Could you understand this in such darkness? As expected from Shiba-kun."
"...No, it's not that dark. There is a moonlight. To some extent this is enough."
Today it was a full moon with clear weather. It cannot be said that there was "not a cloud", but at the moment the moonlight, unhindered, lit the entire southern sea. As Tatsuya said, it was not difficult to distinguish human outlines.
"Seryaaaa!"
Suddenly he heard a familiar voice coming from a short distance.
Tatsuya felt a phantom pain in his head.
"Kirihara-sempai, too?"
"And Hattori is with us too."
From the answer sitting behind Sawaki the pain was no longer phantom, but a real headache. Tatsuya unfolded the hydrocycle to the side where he heard Kirihara's voice.
After shooting a couple of times with weak magic for Yanagi's cover, Tatsuya drove up to the hydrocycle that Hattori was driving.
"Not only Sawaki-senpai and Kirihara-sempai, but even Hattori-senpai...
What are you all doing? Especially in this form."
Tatsuya changed out of his costume from the party. But not into a wetsuit, but to special naval combat clothing, which will not cause problems, even if he fell into the water. But all three graduates stayed in the same suits that had on at the party.
"I thought that such an adventure would not hurt, since we were going to have fun! Shiba, taking all the fun yourself is not good!"
Kirihara shouted joyfully, holding a 120-centimeter stick, which was a replacement for a wooden sword. Perhaps he borrowed it from one of the guards on the artificial island.
"We left the girls in a safe place. Unlike Yokohama, here you can tackle the extermination of bad guys without hesitation." Answered Sawaki, seemingly seriously.
From the words of Kirihara and Sawaki, Tatsuya felt the headache intensify, and wondered if they had lost a few screws from their heads.
The share of surprise was also present in the impression "is this his true nature?" from Sawaki.
"...Hattori the senpai. And about you…"
"No, I was against it! But I thought that it would be better than letting them go alone!"
In Tatsuya's eyes, Hattori also seemed to call on magic with great enthusiasm. But he did not dare say so out loud.
"Lieutenant Colonel Kazama." Instead, he decided to complain to Kazama.
"...What?" The answer came with a little delay. Tatsuya thus realized that Kazama already knows about the runaway graduates.
"Why were civilians released during the external alarm?"
As expected, a bad answer came to the question posed with emphasis on
"external alarm".
"Officially, there are no military operations in this area currently."
Since the defense forces intend to hide the attack, it is common practice that this battle will not remain in the official records.
"But this is not a reason to allow civilians here."
"Unlike airspace, free navigation by sea in waters where there are no military operations, we cannot prohibit. Moreover, we cannot officially say that the battle is going on."
Obviously, Kazama insisted that he himself would not say what was happening. However, to explain to the graduates that they were in the center of the battle and stop the reckless attempt to break into the middle of the battle, these were different things.
"Anyone can come up with a pretext. Lieutenant colonel. I have no doubt that you could easily stop them."
"The addition of civilians to the front line was not our initiative."
(Do they want to assess their fighting strength for the future...? ) Tatsuya realized that further questions were useless. As was seen by the names of Hattori, Kirihara and Sawaki, none of them belonged to the
"Numbers". They were outside the mainstream of the representatives of the magical world centered around the Ten Master Clans. For a Separate, magically equipped battalion, no, for the commander of the 101 Brigade, Lieutenant General Saeki, they were suitably talented candidates. That is, Saeki wanted to take advantage of this in order to deepen the relationship.
"You mean you cannot drive them away?"
This meant the approval of their participation in the battle.
Returning Sawaki to the hydrocycle, Tatsuya continued to provide covering fire for Yanagi.
Despite the fact that most of the enemy agents were already captured, two of the remaining three people, Sawaki and Kirihara, happily attacked, one with their fists and the other with a stick. The skills of the opponents were not very high. Therefore, it was not bad to leave them to do whatever they liked.
But there was one more person left. It was not enough to simply say that the level of his skills was higher. But here, too, there was no problem, because there was someone to trust. More precisely, it was useless to interfere.
Lu Ganghu ran along the surface of the sea. Sliding on the surface of the water, Zhang stood up in a protective stance. The left hand of Lu Ganghu and the right hand of Zhang rushed forward. The hands of these two clasped together. But this did not turn into a clash of four hands.
Just after a moment of struggle between the two, Zhang was severely discarded. Lu Ganghu went after Zhang, who had been started sinking into the water.
Zhang's body began to sink. Lu Ganghu stamped his foot on the water.
The surface of the water shook. Waves did not spread. Within a radius of 5 meters the water began to harden and shook like a bell. Having hardened, the water immediately turned back, foaming and swelling upward.
Zhang jumped out of the waves and foam. Directly on him Lu Ganghu was already approaching. There was an ascending elbow blow. Zhang, distorted his face in agony, flew into the air and fell into the water.
Tatsuya noticed this, watching the battle of these two. Bradley Zhang used "points of support" over the water. Lu Ganghu was making a
"road" over the water.
Tatsuya could make a "foothold", but did not know how to make a
"road". Lu Ganghu used a system of magical techniques that differed from Tatsuya's.
"I would like to better consider, but... it is unlikely to work out."
This was not the only place Tatsuya had to "see" in order to not make a mistake.
There were other things occurring as the battle between Lu Ganghu and Zhang came to an end.
Assessing the remaining enemy's skills as low, Tatsuya based this opinion on the comparison with the level of Yotsuba, the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion, and also Kokonee Yakumo. But for Kirihara and Sawaki, they turned out to be quite strong opponents. Neither Kirihara nor Sawaki have yet learned how to run freely on the water during a battle. Kirihara could make points on the water for 8 steps, and Sawaki - for 5. However, Sawaki could, after jumping into the air, take another five steps.
But in any case, during the battle Kirihara and Sawaki constantly had to return to the hydrocycle, which was led by Hattori. The borrowed hydrocycle was large, able to accommodate three people, so even if those two jump on it simultaneously there would be room. However, this forced Hattori to track the positions of Kirihara and Sawaki, and to travel between them so that they do not fall into the water. Because of this Hattori was even more nervous than the two men fighting in close combat.
Tatsuya saw that the Kirihara and Sawaki had higher combat abilities than the enemy soldiers they were fighting. But the enemies that were in a disadvantageous situation went under the water and aimed at their feet.
The soldier-deserters from the army of the Great Asian Alliance had activated magic that allowed for free movement on the surface and under the water. If compared with Japanese ancient magic, it is similar to one of the techniques of ninjutsu, "Water escape".
The magic of the army of Hong Kong, to which they originally belonged, is based on ancient magic from the continent and ancient magic from Britain, and is now in a chaotic state with a mixture of modern magic and the magic of their enemy, Japan, so it cannot be classified as any one "style." Criminal organizations, like "No-Head Dragon" are faithful enough to the traditions. The deserters themselves, using their techniques, probably do not know which system they belong to.
However, "Use, them if you can," is the correct way to use "techniques"
as tools. By itself, such thinking will not affect the outcome of the battle.
"Seryaaaa!" Kirihara slashed a stick at the shoulder of the enemy. Even with high-frequency blade, the stick did not have the attack power of a real sword. Nevertheless, the stick vibrating with a high frequency tore the clothes and skin of the enemy, sending damage to the bone.
Even when the enemy blocked the attack with a knife, the vibration spread through the blade and fingers into the palm of the hand and caused numbness. The enemy would not drop the knife, because they had hand protection, into which the fingers were pushed. Having fallen on one knee, the enemy completely disappeared under water.
"Again? Wooo!?"
With such an unexpected underwater speed, Kirihara was finally knocked down. Receiving an attack from under his feet is not what you would usually expect. Even when using magic "kenjutsu" Kirihara fell onto the surface of the sea, simply beginning to sink. The hand of the enemy moved around his neck while at the same time, the enemy soldier tried to strike Kirihara with a knife, which he held in his other hand.
Directly under them was an explosion. The blast wave pushed them to the surface and threw their bodies into the air. While Kirihara was still flying, the body of the enemy suddenly pulled down to the surface of the sea because of increased gravity. At the moment when surface tension began to support the enemy on the surface, electric current flowed through the water. It was a weak electric attack, which was not enough to neutralize a person. However, the strength was enough to make it difficult to act for a short time.
Underwater explosion, accelerated falling, electric shock. This magic chain was built by Hattori.
"Kirihara, now!" Hattori used remotely applied magic while also continuing to move the hydrocycle. Even though he shouted loudly, it is likely that his words were not heard.
"Yes!" But Kirihara did hear him and he did not miss this opportunity.
Kirihara changed his trajectory with the help of the magic "jump", rushing to the enemy with a stick wrapped in "high-frequency blade".
The sea water, affected by the high-frequency vibration of the stick, evaporated, bubbling violently. This resistance absorbed the strength of the stick, but as a result, everything went well.
Having pushed through all the water in its way by evaporation, Kirihara's stick reached the body of the enemy soldier. But instead of a slashing motion, he pressed the stick against the enemy, and he, furiously shaken in a bubbly pillow, lost consciousness.
Kirihara who had risen appeared on the surface of the sea, raising the captured enemy soldier. The battle between Sawaki and an enemy soldier still continued where the enemy attacked from under the water while Sawaki attacked from the air.
Simply put, they did not grapple each other. Sawaki obtained substantial damage from the attacks on his hands and feet, while the enemy soldier completely switched to attacks from under the water. On the other hand, Sawaki did not run on the surface of the sea, but instead was jumping high while sharply changing his trajectory in the air, diving down when the enemy showed up on the surface.
Each time this sequence of actions was repeated. Sawaki would try to kick the enemy, then enemy tries to grab Sawaki by the foot and drag him into the water.
"Oh, that's bad. Could I help him?" Frowning and muttering while floating on the waves was Kirihara, who was no longer fighting. The constantly jumping Sawaki, and the enemy that was waiting for his moment in the water. It looked like Sawaki would be the first out.
Kirihara was not the only one who noticed this. The head of the enemy appeared over the water and at the next moment a tightly compressed thin disk flew from the water, flying close to the sea, attacking the enemy, who immediately returned under the water. The water disk suddenly stopped over head and fell vertically.
Although not visible, it could be understood that the suddenly increased water pressure caused damage to the enemy under the water. Looking at the picture unfolding in the light of the moon, Kirihara involuntarily whistled as a token of praise.
Even without checking, one could say that this was also Hattori's magic.
The behavior of this disk was not the result of rewriting magic on the fly. He pre-programmed the trajectory, predicting that the enemy would dodge by dropping down.
"Truly 'the general', Not at all like me." Kirihara muttered a secret nickname in a whisper so that Hattori could not hear, because it was obvious that he would not like it.
This word represented "not an expert, but ordinary", "simple",
"universal." For example, speaking of the "universalist", in addition to the original meaning: "a person with experience, extensive knowledge, not limited to his own area," is also used for ridicule, meaning "one who cannot become an expert."
[note. The author describes a play of words where the English word "general" means
"ordinary" and similar meanings, if used, as an adjective. Hattori's nickname is pronounced in English.]
However, modern magic, based on the use of a CAD, was originally developed taking into account the "almighty soldier who can do anything alone". "Not a specialist" means that "he is not attached to any area of activity", that is, "he can do anything." This was exactly what modern magic sought.
Kirihara and his classmates believed that Hattori best realized the educational policy of modern magic among those their age while Mayumi and Katsuto represent those a year older, and Tatsuya and Miyuki represent those a year younger.
Marie, older than 1 year, also certainly has a lot of magic variations in her arsenal, however she is extremely concentrated on melee combat, and also has a lack of abilities against mechanized troops.
But Hattori does not have this problem. His main field of activity is group battles at middle and long range, however he can perform both hand-to-hand combat and sniper shooting at a high level. Kirihara, specializing in close combat, could not easily defeat Hattori in training battles.
The nickname "general" also had one more meaning. The Hattori family is not from the "Numbers". And also not some famous family of users of ancient magic. The name only coincided with the famous family of users of "ninjutsu" Hattori, though he was not associated with them. They are among the oldest members of the "One Hundred Families", but do not form part of the magical world.
Nevertheless, Hattori, who was on an equal footing or even higher than
"Numbers", was considered to become a leader, "Shogun," for the same numberless classmates, like Kirihara and Sawaki.
Neither Kirihara nor Hattori saw that Sawaki's lips moved slightly in the air. Like Kirihara, he, perhaps whispered the same unknown nickname.
Seen on the surface, the enemy soldier looked sluggish. The magic of Hattori, as calculated, inflicted damage on the enemy using underwater pressure. Bouncing off the air, Sawaki attacked the enemy floating on the surface of the sea while the enemy soldier tried to grab Sawaki.
The enemy's hands stretched upward. Sawaki held up both his legs.
Using not only the lower part of the body, but also the lower and upper back as a spring, he sharply extended both legs forward. Using self-acceleration magic, his feet reached the speed of sound. Surprised on the surface of the sea, the air wall completely cut down the enemy soldier.
The battle between Lu Ganghu and Bradley Zhang was also at the final stage. In a direct confrontation, Zhang cannot defeat Lu Ganghu. Having the nickname "The Man-Eating Tiger", Lu Ganghu is a warrior considered as one of the strongest melee magicians in the world.
He was defeated during the Yokohama incident because he was wounded in a battle with one of the strongest melee magicians, "Illusory Blade" by Chiba Naotsugu, and also because Tatsuya and Mayumi were his enemies. Even when wounded though, he could not be defeated by melee fighters, such as Marie, Erika, Leo and others. Lu Ganghu has a better command of both martial arts and magic.
Perhaps Zhang, finally, also realized this. From his presence, all signs of strength disappeared, it could probably say he was surrendering. Zhang knew what to do after the fight with Lu Ganghu. His goal is not to defeat Lu Ganghu, but to achieve a successful diversion of the artificial island.
However, at this rate, he will be defeated here. Zhang understood this.
Bradley Zhang's eye color changed. From his body, psions were bursting uncontrollably, covering his whole body with a veil that wavered like heat waves.
"Ho-ho." Lu Ganghu smiled joyfully and narrowed his eyes. The white armor worn by Lu Ganghu was covered with a layer of psions with properties of increased density and hardness.
Zhang bent heavily, standing on the waves. With his hands on the surface of the sea, he began to resemble a four-legged predator, preparing to attack prey. Water crawling over his hands, arms, and legs, covered the huge body of Zhang and lifted him into the air. This water did not limit the actions of Zhang. The water mass moved up and down, forming something resembling the mouth of a giant snake.
From the mouth of this supposedly giant snake, or dragon, Zhang looked at Lu Ganghu. Lu Ganghu looked while not hiding a joyful and fierce smile.
Lu Ganghu took the first step at the same time when the dragon Zhang set in motion. A big wave in the form of a water dragon swallowed Lu Ganghu. Immediately after that, a roar was heard from the waves, not belonging to the "dragon". It was the roar of a "tiger". After rising, the water mass dispersed, forming the shape of a bowl. At the bottom of the
"cup", breathing heavily, stood Lu Ganghu.
The surface of the sea began to return to its normal state. Before the waves converged on him, Lu Ganghu jumped out. Hanging in the air, Zhang attacked Lu Ganghu with a stream of water bullets.
"White Tiger Armor" Lu Ganghu is the creation of ancient continental magic and is subject to the law of the Five Elements. "Kinjosuy" means that the Element of Metal gives power to the Element of Water. [ed:
"Kindzosui" - literally "gold gives birth to water"]
And if you look from the other side, the Element of Water takes power from the Element of Metal. This is a different interaction, in which one participant is strengthened and the other is weakened.
"White Tiger Armor" refers to the Element of Metal. Therefore, with such reliable protection, victory is assured. Cold in nature, it is designed to control anger.
The armor of the White Tiger, having the property of the Element of Metal, is not when engaged with the Element of Water. Just a large amount of water will not affect it in any way, but if you attack with the Element of Water, its force will gradually decrease.
The attack of the detached Bradley Zhang reached Lu Ganghu, taking advantage of the law of the Five Elements. However, this was not enough to stop a man known throughout the world as the "Tiger-Ogre."
With the pain from the impact of water bullets, "Anger" became stronger. By transforming the enemy's attack into energy for his attack, Lu Ganghu with his right foot brushed aside the technique surrounding Zhang.
With one kick, the blow of Lu Ganghu, inflicted in full force, destroyed Zhang's technique and threw away his gigantic body. Zhang's body flew, drawing a big arc.
Was it a coincidence or a last will? Bradley Zhang was flying toward Tatsuya. Tatsuya's actions were the simplest. He just hit the gas. The hydrocycle suddenly accelerated and Bradley Zhang fell into the water and began to sink.
As Kazama suggested, the battle at sea did not affect the party. But those who know the circumstances, have not weakened their vigilance.
Warned by Tatsuya, Isori stayed in the banquet hall, and, together with Miyuki and Minami, they watched the group associated with First High.
However, there was absolutely no time for other actions. There were some unavoidable things.
For example, there are these.
"Kanon, where are you going?"
Instead of blushing, Kanon replied with a smile:
"Collect flowers."
"And me too."
"I’m go with, too."
This meant that Kanon was going to retire for an unavoidable reason, and Sayaka and Azusa wanted to go with her.
[note. Translation: Kanon used the Japanese "secret" female phrase, meaning a trip to the toilet, if anyone did not understand]
"Will Kei go too?"
"...Go, go."
The reddened Isori made Kanon smile to her ears.
Miyuki and Minami exchanged glances. They both heard from Tatsuya that Isori can become a target. In fact, their task was to observe Kanon and the rest. But Miyuki is alone. And for Minami there can be no question of leaving Miyuki. In the end they decided to stay there.
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