Chapter 8
At the same time the riots were taking place in the USNA among the STARS, the New Soviet Union was rapidly repairing the super-CAD
"Argan", intended for Igor’s use.
"How are we progressing?"
"Doctor!"
The Chief of the Brigade, responsible for the repairs, turned round with astonishment when he heard Igor. He was surprised because Igor, being like a celebrity, appeared in a machine room.
"The repair will be completed today. I'd like to ask you to run tests tomorrow."
The head of the repair service was very tense and spoke very politely, because Igor was an important person, like a government official or a general of an army, and Igor was corresponding to this importance.
"That's good. What time should I come?"
Igor has never applied his power to ordinary people. He wasn’t going to act arrogant with ordinary engineers who did not even occupy high positions. But it was not because he had such a character, but because he was absolutely not interested in the people of the lower classes.
"We can start at any time, even early morning!"
"Understood. Then... at 9:30."
"As you wish!"
Igor left the repair shop, after having given not only the Chief a kind look, but also to all the technicians involved in the repair.
He came to the workshop not only because he was in a hurry to continue the priority operation, which requires "Argan", but also because he still remembered how humiliated he was by Tatsuya.
It was a sudden "Tuman Bomba" attack, in which he was absolutely sure of success.
But he could not kill Shiba Tatsuya, even though he used "Igrok", human amplifiers for "Tuman Bomba". In addition, the 2 "Igrok" that he used were destroyed, and "Argan" received such a great amount of damage that it could not be used again. And what was made clear, is that Igor would’ve been dead if he hadn’t used "Igrok".
Before, Igor had never failed a mission entrusted to him as a Strategic Class Magician. In the battle against the USNA in the Bering Straight, which was quite violent, despite its small scale, he killed the previous commander of STARS, William Sirius, with "Tuman Bomba".
But he failed his current mission. Or even better to say, he suffered complete defeat.
To get rid of this feeling of humiliation, Igor wanted to resume this mission as soon as possible.
Thursday, June 20th.
It has been raining in Tokyo since morning. In the area around Hachioji where First High is, the streets are wet with the rain still gradually continuing on.
It couldn't be avoided because it’s the rainy season, but compared to the other students, Tatsuya has been on alert since morning.
Mizuki, who was sitting next to him, suspected something, because Tatsuya did not try to hide his tension, and would only answer with vague phrases.
Although it’s the rainy season, this year there wouldn't be a lot of rain in Tokyo compared to other years. During the first half of the month it had been raining a lot, but during the second half it had been raining pretty much since the morning. Though not as much as it does when it rains intermittently during the dry season.
It was just a season in which there were less rainy days than usual.
But Tatsuya didn't like that. On the contrary, he would be glad that it didn’t rain at the places where he was. He was originally not a rain lover, but it couldn’t be helped during this time of the year.
He has been feeling like this ever since he returned to Tokyo from Izu.
That day, when he was attacked by the Strategic Class Magic at Izu, it was also raining.
The best weather conditions for "Tuman Bomba" are when it had mildly rained and there was no wind. And today there was almost no wind. Tatsuya suggested that Igor would try again today.
Igor has not surrendered.
Tatsuya was sure of that. Among those who Tatsuya had killed 11 days ago, Igor was not one of them. But Tatsuya also believed that Igor is not necessarily involved in the usage of Tuman Bomba.. .
Igor is not the only user of Tuman Bomba. The New Soviet Union could surely have created someone"to replace" Igor.
Even if we only look at the State recognised Strategic Class Magicians, the "Thirteen Apostles", "Leviathan" has two users in the USNA,
"Ozone Circle" has one user in Britain and one in Germany, "Agni-Downburst" has one user in the Indo-Persian Federation and one in Thailand.
Sharing of Strategic Class Magic is not a rare occurrence. In addition, magic that has great destructive force will, on the contrary, be spread to any suitable candidates in the same country.
However, Tatsuya clung to the idea that the activation of this specific Tuman Bomba was done by Igor.
His basis for this is off the physical information he obtained when he decomposed the two magicians from Izu.
The make-up of their bodies was the same, including their genes.
There is a possibility of them being identical twins, although Tatsuya presumes that they're clones. The Information Bodies, when looked at, are unnatural and the natural distortion of the body was worse than that of those with modified bodies.
Tatsuya hypothesizes that Igor himself is the one who controls Tuman Bomba and the two female magicians were only used as tools.
Raymond Clark also knows that Tatsuya is the user of Material Burst and that the information saying so would have surely been communicated to the New Soviet Union.
The New Soviet Union has decided to eliminate Tatsuya, the user of the Strategic Class Magic Material Burst, and to completely remove the existence of his Strategic Class Magic. Tatsuya concluded that the attack on the villa was the result of this.
This morning he also told Miyuki about his reasoning.
Tatsuya ordered Pixie to connect to the school system so that she could maintain maximum vigilance in order to warn him as soon as an attack is detected.
Three minutes remained in the last class of the morning, when the cautious Tatsuya felt signs of an attack. At that time he was sitting behind his training terminal in Class 3-E.
After a bit of time was used to set up, Igor sat in the operator’s seat of the super CAD "Argan" at noon.
The time in Primorsky Krai was 1 hour ahead of the standard Japanese time, therefore it was still noon in Japan. Although it was already lunchtime, Igor was not thinking about food. All his attention was directed to carrying out the operation.
Reflecting off of his previous failures, "Argan" was improved in order to prevent "Igrok" from being damaged or decomposed, all by the use of the Inter-molecular Bonding Force Neutralization Magic. Igor believes it will work because he thinks he understands Tatsuya's Decomposition Magic.
In addition to this, the train which housed "Argan" was originally in the suburbs of Vladivostok, but it was moved a little north over the new Trans-Siberian Highway, and was now in the vicinity of Ussuriysk. It was a precaution so he would not get attacked based on their previous geographical data.
Igor brought more than twice as many of the Igrok as last time, thus having five bodies available for use this time around. He took the initiative to introduce all of the remaining Igrok into this strategy.
The following formation was used: two "Igrok" were used as an external computing device for activation, one "Igrok" as a firewall (as a decoy), and two more "Igrok" as spares.
Even when Igor went up against the USNA's STARS, he didn't have to go about things like this. What happened before, the evidence of Igor’s last disgrace is something he needs to rid himself of by accomplishing this mission.
...That time, being scared of Tatsuya’s attack, he jumped out of the wagon, which contained the super CAD "Argan" and ran away from it.
This memory tarnished Igor’s pride. This humiliation should be washed away at all costs. If he left the problem untouched, he'd probably go insane. These were Igor’s true feeling.
And the only way to forget this disgusting shame was to destroy Shiba Tatsuya. Such reckless persistence is deeply entrenched in the consciousness of Igor.
He opens up the data that arrived to him via the Intelligence Department on his console. According to this data, Shiba Tatsuya was currently at First High.
Frankly, Igor couldn't understand how Tatsuya, someone who is planning on building a nuclear fusion reactor plant, would learn anything from High School and that it’s nothing but a waste of his time.
Putting his presence at First High aside, his being there is still a problem.
A strong, reinforced concrete building will be difficult to destroy with just a shock wave. Moreover, it was not the usual concrete from the last century, but the highly strengthened concrete developed during the Third World War. If the shock wave would only break the glass windows, a fatal injury is not guaranteed.
However, Tuman Bomba was not an attack used on moving targets. and the building where Tatsuya was could be seen on the satellite, and his being there made it even more difficult.
...Destroying the windows with a shock wave. The fog goes inside and the explosion would then also take place inside.
Igor recalled this among his previously thought up strategies. The chair, where Igor was sitting on, was dragged into the control cabin of "Argan".
He operated the "players" and played the song of destruction and massacre as the "conductor", but instead of swinging the conductor's baton, he operated a consoles switch.
("Master, I detected signs of magic invocation. Invocation point is 200
meters above First High.")
The warning was sent by Pixie through active telepathy.
At that time, Tatsuya had already clearly perceived the invocation of
"Chain Cast" that invokes duplicate magic sequences with time differences.
He stood up and pulled out a CAD in the shape of a large handgun from his bosom.
Right now, he was still in the middle of class.
Surprised at what's happening, his classmates were astir. Without looking at them, Tatsuya looked up to the ceiling, pointing the CAD
Silver Horn Custom "Trident" directly above.
There was no delay in his movement.
The moment his aim was fixed, he pulled the trigger of "Trident".
A grating alarm could be heard from the interior of the large CAD
"Argan".
A warning message was being displayed on the console, stating that the Igrok for invocation was erased in the middle of building the magic sequence in a fraction of a second.
Magicians build magic sequences. Even if the construction of the magic operation area is completed, the magic will not be activated unless it is fixed to the target coordinates. If the magician itself is killed during that moment of projecting or fixing a magic sequence, the magic will scatter before it takes place.
"Replace it with the spare 'Igrok'. Hurry."
Bezobrazzoff ordered the workers on the outside from the inside of
"Argan".
This time, he couldn't afford to escape.
As Igor waited for the replacement work to be completed, the eerie shadow of death frightened him when he thought about the vanishing flesh.
It was difficult to obstruct the invocation of "Tuman Bomba".
To be more precise, it was difficult to invalidate "Tuman Bomba" with
"Gram Dispersion" due to "Chain Cast". This was what Tatsuya concluded after confronting it twice.
The magic sequences built by "Chain Cast" differ a little from each other. The difference increases the further the coordinates are separated. Even if he tried to dismantle them by grouping them together, he couldn't erase everything at once.
Even if he tried to respond with "Gram Dispersion" on rapid fire, in the middle of it "Tuman Bomba" would activate and expose him to a powerful explosion.
Therefore, there is nothing left but to interrupt the activation of magic at its source.
This was Tatsuya’s strategy.
In the last battle, he had acquired the know-how to trace the origin of the invocation of "Tuman Bomba". The moment
"Chain Cast" starts, he traces the path of the magic, decomposing the caster with his triple decomposition magic
"Trident".
"Chain Cast" was a technique where it extensively copies and fixes magic sequences and then simultaneously activates them.
Decomposing an individual with "Trident" was faster than the required steps to construct a magic sequence over a wide area.
When the target is two individuals, the added time is within the margin of error.
It wasn't a gamble. Based on a clear chance for victory, it was a counter-attack by means of defense.
"Igrok, replacement complete."
Without responding to the worker's report, Bezobrazzoff stared at the satellite image on the console. Since the previous "Tuman Bomba"
ended in failure before its activation, the targeted atmospheric conditions remain unchanged. There was rainfall under the heavy clouds and barely any wind. Attacking again immediately was possible.
In the previous battle, after erasing the two "Igrok", the second wave of magic that neutralizes inter-molecular bonding power did not come.
The result of simulating that phenomenon was that it took more than five minutes to activate, even with the computing power of the "Argan".
It was presumed to be that complex of a magic.
With nothing but a portable CAD in hand, there was no way to cast it in rapid-fire.
Even if that was possible, it would take more than 10 minutes.
Bezobrazzoff was thinking about it in this way.
In that case, the second shot of "Tuman Bomba" would be activated first. Just in case, he modified the settings of one "Igrok" at a time so that a third shot would be possible. In order for Bezobrazzoff to take Shiba Tatsuya out, he made "Argan" insert a put together activation sequence into his own Magic Calculation Area.
(Verifying the firing point of "Tuman Bomba".) Tatsuya consciously reproduced the projected path of "Tuman Bomba"
above First High using his "memory" of "Trident" that he used to counter-attack with as the origin.
(Changing the target to the CAD the operator is connected to.) During magic invocation, there is a close relationship between the magician and the CAD. In terms of information, when the CAD and magician become one together, the magician becomes a part of the system called "magic". It's the same even in the case of a large CAD that imposes magic on the magician.
Tatsuya puts "Argan", in his sight.
(Tactical target, complete destruction of the cargo vehicle type CAD.) Inside of the CAD where Tatsuya was "seeing", the process that constructs magic sequences was starting.
However, the activation sequence was only in its reading stage. It seemed to be a considerably complex activation sequence, where even if a second was skipped, the reading stage would not be completed.
By nature, Tatsuya's Decomposition magic would need the same or possibly more preparation. However, Tatsuya's Magic Calculation Area specializes in "Decomposition" and "Regrowth." Decomposition and Regrowth's subsystems are prepared in advance, so it was possible to activate extremely complicated magic by inputting additional data there.
Therefore, the complex processing of "decomposition of substances at the elemental level" and "decomposition of information bodies at the Psion level" were able to be performed in a very short time.
("Gram Dispersion", "Mist Dispersion", Activate.)
Disassemble the event interference force covering the surroundings of the large CAD and break down "Argan" at the elemental level.
Being able to invoke two kinds of magic across a distance of over 1,000
kilometers in the blink of an eye consecutively was possible because the system used for his "Decomposition" Magic was provided for in his mind, but at the expense of other magic ability.
Decomposition of information bodies magic and decomposition of substances magic were consecutively activated.
Bezobrazzoff initially thought an earthquake occurred.
The scene in front of his eyes was like seeing doubles.
However, his body was not feeling any shaking.
He could not withstand any more hallucinations.
The feeling of falling. This was not a hallucination.
Suddenly, the chair he was sitting on lost its ability to support his weight.
It was not just the chair. The console, the floor and the walls all became vague.
The floor gave way.
The ceiling fell.
The walls crumbled.
Everything turned into sand. Into dust.
Hitting the ground hard, Bezobrazzoff groaned.
A pain that made him unable to get up immediately.
Damage was not just limited to the body. It was not just external pain.
His head hurt badly.
He couldn't think about anything.
He didn't notice that the headache was due to the shock of forcibly severing his connection with the CAD.
Even so, the sand that covered his head made him irritated.
He struggled to raise his upper body and brushed off all the sand on his face. The current Bezobrazzoff did not have the strength to realize that the sand was the remnants of "Argan".
Before his eyes, the landscape of Ussuriisk stretched out. Once thrown outside, he finally understood after looking at the scenery.
In the middle of a violent headache, Bezobrazzoff sat down.
The hearts of the three "Igrok" stopped due to the shock of forcibly severing the connection to the CAD.
Bezobrazzoff could not hear their anguish.
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