"Three minutes before the assault."
"Got it. I leave the command on you."
"It's an honor for me."
Rather the commander of SMAT squad smiled. When he still went to the Chiba dojo, he was the chief of the "Erika's Guard". Recalling the past on this smile, Erika turned away in confusion.
There, among the waiting assaults, she noticed that Kasumi and Izumi, surrounded by a group of guardian magicians from the Saegusa family, were straining to look at the mansion.
Erika felt that they would be unable to move if they were so nervous, but quickly changed her mind, deciding that this was normal.
She had seen it before. These two were having their first real battle.
Although there was a case of confrontation with helpless activists, they did not have the opportunity to encounter an enemy of equal firepower.
Even if they study at a magic high school, high school students usually do not take part in real battles. Only after entering the Military Academy, climbing into the zone of military operations under a hail of bullets - would this be normal.
Erika remembered that she herself was involved in the riots and immediately after jokingly said: "I thought high school would be a more boring place."
Now she believed that this was not a joke. This time, she did not say it out loud, but thought about it.
The Blanche terrorists attack on First High, a sudden attack of the army by the Great Asian Alliance, Parasites and Stars, ancient magic magicians who became pawns in the hands of foreigners. All these incidents were not caused by her, but she was involved in all of them.
And the same thing could be said about Tatsuya. So thought Erika.
When a major incident occurs, Tatsuya participates in it.
Tatsuya participates, she also participates. Together with Tatsuya always comes trouble. And in the end, the family...
"Erika-san, what happened?"
"Nothing."
A member of the SMAT detachment asked Erika in a worried voice, to which she shook her head. It was another, besides the commander, a member of the "Erika's Guard."
"By the way, it's almost time, right?"
"Yes, another 20 ... 15 seconds."
You will not lose to evil fate. You will become stronger. But this is most clear when you are strong. Even if you are against the angel of death.
Last summer, one person was involved in similar circumstances. This man is strong. Therefore, being so he remained calm.
When you become strong, you start to be less afraid of fate. You become capable of outsmarting the angel of death without causing a tragic outcome.
Although Tatsuya attracts misfortunes, he also makes the people involved more powerful. So much so that they, with a smile, cut their way through these troubles.
"Therefore, Saburou... become stronger, so that even if your childhood friend is in trouble, you could cut your way with a smile."
Erika mentally turned to the guy who looked like he was trying to restrain himself so as not to rush forward, risking his life.
A girl named Mitsuya Shiina seemed to Erika born under a star of adventure. Even if not as much as Tatsuya, but still she was like him.
So that Shiina will not lose the troubles that can be called upon, Saburou should be made stronger.
For Erika, training Saburou was a precedent. Everything was for the sake of retribution.
...The name of the rival who Erika wanted to surprise was "Fate".
Shiina turned to hear the sound of the door unlocking. It was not her imagination.
"Tsukasa-san."
"Shiina-chan, I'm sorry to have detained you longer than expected."
"No, this room is quite cozy."
"Really? That's good." Tsukasa smiled at Shiina. There was no sense of guilt in that smile. "Now that we've reached the final stage of the exercise, you need to stay a little longer in this room. There was a small mistake and the schedule was extended, but soon rescuers will arrive in this room, and this will all end."
"So, I will no longer be moved anywhere?"
"Yes."
Relief appeared on Shiina's face. She did not doubt Tsukasa's words that she received permission from her parents, she just thought that they would worry if she stayed longer.
"I need to return to my post, so we say goodbye."
"Ah, good. Thank you for everything."
"This is for you, Shiina, thank you in advance for your work."
Shiina did not doubt Tsukasa until the very end.
The battle began between the self-defense forces and the police, between the intelligence department and SMAT.
Despite the fact that it was called a battle, the number of participants from both sides was small.
Police, conducting a siege, stormed using a small number of elite fighters. And the self-defense forces initially allocated a few soldiers to this case.
However, the level of preparation for a real battle was higher with the self-defense forces. Both sides attacked the enemy with non-lethal weapons, and in these conditions, the losses of SMAT were higher.
"Summoning a sacred wind!"
"Panzer!"
The efforts of Leo and Mikihiko were notable among the others.
Mikihiko ruled the winds and when he called them it was like the barricades were demolished with a sledge hammer, while Leo, in the event of a breakthrough of the defenses, defended those positions, enveloping himself with armor from Fortification magic.
"Shiina! Where are you!?"
Saburou shouted, forgetting about fear and his own safety. Thus, he broke away from Leo and caught a magical attack from one of the military magicians who met them.
A soldier dressed in urban area camouflage and a bulletproof vest, performing a maneuver under self-acceleration magic, along with this movement magic fired a small metal ball.
Having been hit in a stomach by a steel ball the size of a ball for table tennis, Saburou stopped.
The military magician pulled out a stun baton. Unlike the batons available on sale, this was a combat model, with the power of a real crushing weapon.
Approaching Saburou's head, the club attack was halted by Erika's short sword, which had come from somewhere. With her next move she hit the soldier in the face with the side of the blade.
It was not a strong blow like with a swing, but rather like a blow from a whip. From the blow, the soldier did not fall with broken teeth, and he fell not to his side, but straight down.
"Saburou, you're too impatient! You are becoming sloppy!"
"Got it! Sorry!"
It seems that the intelligence department decided that a turning point had occured. They concentrated the main forces at the stairs leading to the second floor.
The level of magical abilities of the main forces was quite high. Their magical power surpassed SMAT, in which magicians with better fighting power were gathered than from among the police.
"Mikihiko, you do not feel that there is something wrong with these guys!?"
"Perhaps they temporarily raised their magical powers with drugs!"
It was the feeling of Leo fighting with his fists, and Mikihiko's shooting magic.
"Uh, almost knocked!"
Erika repulsed a short missile with a flying projectile. The enemy was only a few meters away, and the police began to experience difficulties in invoking magic because of these "bullets" arriving from close range.
The initial speed of these projectiles was about 200 km / h. But the radius of danger was small, because the projectiles from light alloy quickly slow down. And for the same reason they did not possess any penetrating ability. Catching such a shot at close range, you can get a fracture-level injury, but at a distance of more than 2 meters it will be just bruises and light burns.
The problem was precisely in the "burns". At the moment of contact, the projectile shell emitted a high-voltage electric discharge, which hit even through clothing.
In other words, it was a kind of wireless taser gun. Both the side of the self-defense forces, and the police, were cautious against the same representatives of the Japanese authorities as they are. Nobody dared to use attacks that could kill the enemy.
In such a battle, from the point of view of ease of use, a weapon with which one cannot worry about killing an opponent will show its superiority. Especially from the point of view that when both opposing camps are approximately equal in magical power, then there is a possibility that the outcome of the battle will be determined at the moment when someone can overcome their indecision.
And this balance was broken by two fragile girls protected by a group of reliable comrades.
"Izumi, our way in!"
"Yes, Kasumi-chan!"
Hearing these voices, Erika, Leo and Mikihiko jumped aside.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Start!"
The countdown was voiced by two alternating voices. The last joint cry was a signal to activate magic.
In the narrow space of the corridor, a violent wind raged. It was assumed that the descending wind would simply surround both enemies and allies, but in fact it turned out that squeezed together in a narrow space, the military and police were densely attacked by the wind from behind and from the side. Only those who managed to instantly lift magical airtight barriers could stand on their feet under the impact of a frantic wind.
"Nitrogen Storm".
Hypoxia, caused by exposure to air with a markedly increased concentration of nitrogen, neutralized part of the fighting magicians.
"Next step!" Kasumi shouted. The compound magic of "The Saegusa twins" was a process in which to cast one magic, roles are assigned to construct a sequence of magic and control the interference force in an event. Although their abilities in magic were absolutely equal, most often for the construction of a sequence of magic, Izumi answered, and for controlling the interference force of the event - Kasumi. And also Kasumi had the right to decide what type of magic will be used next.
The choice of Kasumi fell on the magic of "Dry Storm". This magic collected carbon dioxide from the air displaced by the Nitrogen storm to the center of the room, created a hail of dry ice and sent it to the enemy.
Airtight shields designed to protect against gases, could not protect from solid dry ice.
Thus, at the current moment, all the soldiers of the self-defense forces from among the defenders of this point, were defeated.
"Kasumi-chan!"
"I know!"
The magic that Izumi asked for, and which was finally called, was called "Oxygen chamber."
Translated from English, this "chamber" meant "a closed room, a capsule with oxygen." It was magic for the treatment of hypoxia by creating a zone with increased oxygen concentration.
"Yoshida-senpai, Saijou-senpai, please take care of binding the enemy!"
Policemen who fell under the "Nitrogen Storm", began to recover and rise.
And Leo, Mikihiko and the police, who did not fall into the danger zone, began to bind the unconscious soldiers of the self-defense forces, who did not get the curative benefit of the Oxygen Chamber.
"What... happened?"
Saburou, recovering from a half-fainting state, staggering, hobbled to Erika.
"Uwaa, those two did not hold back~"
"What?"
"Nothing." Involuntarily expressing her thoughts about the twins, Erika replied to the interrogated Saburou. "Okay, let's go for Shiina."
Leaving the cleanup of the consequences of the police battle, Erika and Saburou went to the second floor.
Near the entrance to the room in which it seems Shiina was held, stood a female soldier. Erika pointed her sword at her. A moment before she activated the magic of self-acceleration, a female soldier threw a weapon with built-in CAD on the floor and raised her hands.
"...Are you giving up, or what?"
Erika did not think that she would be answered.
"Yes, I give up." But this woman soldier easily confirmed Erika's words.
"With my surrender, these exercises end with the victory of the rescue party."
"What? Exercises?"
Neither Erika nor Saburou could immediately understand the meaning of these words. The female soldier opened the lock and flung open the door.
Still not understanding what was happening, before the mind itself realized the situation, Saburou's body entered the room in search of Shiina.
Entering inside, Saburou looked around the room. He heard Shiina's voice before he could notice her.
"Saburou-kun!?"
"Shiina!"
Saburou walked briskly forward, but then suddenly stopped. His body thoughtlessly tried to hug Shiina. But by force of will he was able to restrain himself. Immediately stop at it did not work, and by inertia he jumped closer.
"Saburou-kun, what are you doing here?" Shiina asked, looking at Saburou with her eyes wide open, not hiding surprise.
"I came to the rescue! Shiina, are you unhurt? Did they do anything wrong with you?"
"For help? What for?" In her question it was heard that she was sincerely surprised. But for Saburou, this reaction of Shiina seemed even more incredible.
"Really... brainwashing...?"
"Uh, I really do not understand what you're talking about, Saburou-kun.
I just helped in the self-defense forces exercises?"
Saburou vacantly opened his mouth.
"Exercises...?"
Muttering aloud what he heard, he continued to stand with his mouth open.
Erika turned to the woman soldier, who raised her hands again after opening the door.
"Can you explain what's going on here?"
Erika pointer at her not only her sword, but also a sharp look.
"This is an interrogation of a prisoner of war?" Said the female soldier in a calm voice.
"That's right!"
"In that case, lower your sword, please. Intimidation of prisoners of war through hints of physical harm is prohibited by military laws."
"Oh you!" involuntarily broke out from Erika, but looking into the eyes of a female soldier, she clucked her tongue and lowered her sword.
"So it will go down?"
"Then can I drop my hands?"
"...It's good."
A female soldier dropped her arms and took a pose at the bar "freely."
"The theme of these exercises was the rescue of an important person.
We were divided into a rescuing and defending side. Initially, in order to win, the rescuing party needed to rescue the person playing the important person of the civil from this mansion and deliver it to a certain place before 18:00 of today. However, due to some problems with the rescue party, the conditions were changed so that the victory will be achieved at the moment the rescue party reaches that room."
Erika's left-handed sword was on her head.
"What does it mean? Do you want to say that Shiina is the 'important person'?"
"Correct. Mitsuya-sama has been cooperating with us since yesterday."
"... But we are not part of the self-defense forces."
"We already guessed. But, since there was no notice of the interruption of the exercises, we continued them with you as a rescue party."
"~~~~!"
Without hiding her irritation, Erika ruffled her hair.
"...You can go. I'm not an enemy of self-defense forces, so I do not consider you a prisoner of war."
"Thank you, all the best."
The female soldier saluted Erika and walked briskly away down the corridor. She did not take the weapon, apparently in order to show that she really does not have any hostility.
"No, well, really... that was an unexpected turn." Erika muttered gloomily.
"Shiina... What she said now is true?" Saburou asked Shiina still not believing in the voice.
"You mean the doctrine? It's true. I was asked by Tsukasa-san, and I helped the military."
"Tsukasa-san?"
"Tooyama Tsukasa-san. She is a sergeant from the Intelligence Department of the Self-Defense Forces. Saburou-kun, did not you meet her? She often comes to the Third Lab."
"...I'm hearing her name for the first time."
"More important than another!" With an expression on her face, as if she
"realized something important," Shiina suddenly jumped closer to Saburou. "Why did you intervene in military exercises!? You could have been seriously injured! Besides, what will you do if you are arrested, accused of obstructing official state affairs?"
"We did not interfere with the implementation of state affairs." Said Erika standing next to them.
"Chiba-sempai..."
Shiina remembered that there was a third party present and blushed with shame.
"Even for the self-defense forces, it is unacceptable to arrange such exercices in the city.
"Since there was no official request for the exercise, the police will arrest those who are involved, so these guys."
"Ah... But is it not true that the same judgment would be applied to the sempai who also participated in the riots?"
"No, because we are here in cooperation with the police. By the way, Mitsuya-san, it seems that you know me?"
Co-operation with the police is not the reason that you can run around the city, waving arms, but there was not a drop of guilt on Erika's indifferent face. And then she suddenly realized that, in fact, this is her first meeting with Shiina.
"Please, call me without 'san.' And, if it is possible, I would be glad if you would call me Shiina. ...Chiba-sempai is well known among first-graders."
"I see. Then, Shiina. I'm not trying to protect Saburou, but I think you should not be so reckless to scold him. After all, he thought that Shiina was kidnapped."
"Err?" Shiina was petrified. After a few seconds, she woke up, turned to Saburou and asked: "Is that true?"
"Yes! In addition to the Chiba-sempai, Kasumi-san and Izumi-san also came. Mitsuya-senpai and Kitayama-sempai were also very worried... It was a big mess."
"How so... After all Tsukasa-san said that she will tell everyone who needs it."
"I'm not saying that Shiina is to blame. But in any case, it would be worthwhile to tell us about it in advance."
"Aw..." Shiina howled in a thin voice, when she realized what she had said. ...No matter how cute it looked, Erika did not possess the habits of the "older sister" from a women's school that loves "younger sisters", so there was no strange atmosphere.
"But because we were so worried about you, you should properly apologize."
"Yes. Chiba-sempai, I'm very, very sorry."
Shiina bowed sincerely. But Erika was not angry at all.
"...No, not in front of me. Before Honoka, Shizuku, Izumi and others."
"Okay, I got it."
"...It will be quite difficult." Erika whispered.
There was no such feeling of naturalness as Mizuki had. Shiina seemed too incomprehensible, that for Erika it was quite difficult.
Luckily, Shiina did not hear Erika's whisper.
"Let's talk about something else."
"Good."
"Shiina, did you mention the intelligence department before?"
"Yes, as far as I understand, Tsukasa-san works in the counterintelligence unit of the intelligence department of the national self-defense forces."
"Is there something wrong with this?" with such a question in her eyes Shiina looked at Erika.
"Intelligence department, hmm... No, I do not mean anything."
Erika thought that this could be a prejudice against the intelligence department. But she could not deny the aftertaste of understatement in this dubious story.
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