Chapter 5
The day after Tatsuya's unplanned nighttime excursion.
The Nine Schools Competition began without further incident.
In the next ten days, the number of spectators alone exceeded 100,000 people. Even though the location was inconvenient, at least 10,000 spectators came every day to watch the contests, and the number of online viewers easily surpassed 100 times this number.
While it couldn't draw the same numbers as popular professional sports games, there was still a large number of people who paid attention to this event. That being said, very few people knew about the details regarding last night's incident.
The participants all possessed first class Magic Power but were still high school students.
The malefactors' attack ended without any meaningful accomplishment, so the military judged that it would not negatively impact the participants. As such, they elected to keep the secret.
Rather than calling the opening ceremony glamorous, an orderly impression was more obvious. The magic contests were gaudy enough in their own right, so there was no need for any additional ceremony to embellish the issue, and neither were there tedious speeches from dignitaries. After the school songs from the nine schools were played in succession, the events officially began.
The curtains were drawn for the next ten days, where men and women each competed in 5 events for the Official Division as well as the 5 events for men and women in the Newcomers Division for a total of 20 events.
The 1st day's events were the preliminaries and elimination rounds for "Speed Shooting" and the preliminaries for "Battle Board".
The difference in scheduling reflected the time needed for each event.
"Onii-sama, the President is about to take the field."
"So our main strength is taking the stage for the first event, though I recall Watanabe-senpai's preliminary round is the third one?"
"Yes."
Tatsuya and company headed towards the Speed Shooting stands to watch Mayumi's event. From the left, the order was Shizuku, Honoka, Tatsuya, and Miyuki. They were not seated in the participants' area in the arena proper, but in the regular audience stands.
"Speed Shooting" involves using magic to destroy flying targets from 30 meters out within a limited period of time. The key lies in how accurate and how fast one could fire magic outwards, hence the name "Speed Shooting".
The contest was divided into two portions.
In the preliminary round, contestants advanced on individual merit based on the number of targets destroyed within five minutes.
The preliminary round simultaneously used four shooting galleries to conduct six contests, with the top eight advancing to the Elite Eight.
Also, only 24 contestants were allowed to participate.
If all nine schools sent three contestants, there would be a total of 27, but three of the nine lost their right to participate due to their performance from the previous year and were only able to dispatch two contestants.
Besides "Monolith Code", all events shared this rule.
After the Elite Eight, the event turned into a duel format.
There were 100 red and 100 white targets in the arena, with the total number of corresponding targets destroyed determining the victor.
"Highly destructive magics can be used during the preliminaries to swiftly destroy a large number of targets in one go, but after the Elite Eight, precision targeting is far more important."
Shizuku nodded at Tatsuya's words, as Shizuku was the only one among them to participate in the Speed Shooting portion of the Newcomers Division.
"Generally speaking, most people use different magics during the preliminary and elimination rounds......"
"But President Saegusa is renowned for using the same magic during these two rounds."
In the middle of Tatsuya's explanation, a young lady behind them cut in.
"Erika."
"Hey, Tatsuya-kun."
"Yo."
"Morning."
"Tatsuya-kun, Miyuki-san, Honoka-san, Shizuku-san, good morning everyone."
Seated behind Tatsuya and company, from right to left, were Leo, Erika, Mizuki, and Mikihiko (but the speaking order was Erika, Leo, Mikihiko, and Mizuki).
The reason why the four of them found these spots was that they were sitting in the back row.
"Aren't there more spots up front?"
"That's because I saw Tatsuya-kun's group sitting here, and it's easier to see everything from the back, right?"
"True."
The stands were built like a series of rising stairs, with the higher levels in the back.
This is an event involving shooting targets at high speed, so the spectators in the front rows have to possess the same eyesight as the contestants.
Even so, the spectators still crowded forward, because—
"Because there are an amazing amount of stupid boys."
Erika disdainfully declared in a way that wasn't altogether joking.
"Looks like there are more than teenager boys mixed in."
Tatsuya replied in a sarcastic tone.
In other words, for this reason, there were no spare seats in the front rows.
"Is this what is called 'Onee-sama~'? How depressing."
"Don't be like that, there might be considerable value up front. Even for someone like me who sees the President on a daily basis, she seems like a completely different person now."
"Whoa! Miyuki, what shall we do? Your Onii-sama has fallen for someone else!"
At Erika's ridiculous words, Tatsuya and Miyuki could only wryly smile.
The subject of their conversation was......
"The 'Elven Sniper', quite the suitable title."
"The President dislikes the term, so make sure not to bring it up in front of her."
Tatsuya's admonishment caused Honoka to shrug in her neck.
The teenage boys and girls squeezed into the front rows to admire Mayumi, who was waiting in the first shooting gallery for the contest to begin.
Mayumi wore a pair of mufflers over her luminous locks of hair, a pair of transparent goggles, an elastic pair of uniform pants and an upturned tunic that could be easily mistaken for a mini-suit. Paired with a rifle-shaped CAD that was mandatory for all Speed Shooting events, this created the perfect combination of cuteness and heroism as if she was the female lead in an upcoming movie.
"There are actually people who use the President as the subject for doujins......"
Mizuki softly said this probably because this getup jolted something in her memory.
"......That's the first I've heard of that."
However, this came so far out of left field that even Erika was barely able to manage a response in time.
"......Mizuki, exactly under what context did you come by this knowledge? If your 'interests' lie in that direction, I may have to re-examine our friendship."
Looks like Miyuki and Erika were thinking of the same thing. This outwardly serious voice contained roughly 10% earnestness.
"Eh? No, I don't have those kinds of interests!"
Still, Mizuki was undoubtedly the most shaken.
"It's starting."
Mizuki was in a full state of panic at realizing what they were hinting at, but managed to snap out of it and quiet down at Tatsuya's words.
The spectator stands were deathly quiet.
The participants were wearing ear muffs, so no amount of audience noise would affect them, but this was a matter of principle.
The participants raised their slender, elongated rifles that almost looked like cane-shaped competition-use CADs, while their poise and concentration caused the silenced audience to grip the edge of their seats.
The flashing light signaled for them to begin.
Targets flew through the sky accompanied by soft firing sounds.
"They're fast......!"
Were the soft words that burst out of Shizuku referring to the flight velocity of the targets?
—Or was she referring to Mayumi's magic that was busy smashing targets left and right?
Mayumi didn't raise her head and stood stock still with her CAD aimed forward.
This event never relied on using the rifle to shoot bullets, so there was no need to visually line up with the target and the CAD never possessed a muzzle or scope.
Rather than presenting arms, her stance was more akin to drawing a bow.
The targets shot forth at irregular intervals.
A total of a hundred targets in five minutes.
On the average, that was one target every 3 seconds.
Compared to normal shooting, this was a ridiculously fast pace. Complicating the matter was that sometimes multiple targets shot forth within a tight interval and sometimes, five or six would fly out after a 10 second interval.
Mayumi shot down every "individual" target without missing a beat.
The five minute contest was over in the blink of an eye.
"......She was perfect."
Mayumi removed her protective goggles and ear mufflers as she smiled in response to the spectators' applause. Seeing her, Tatsuya murmured as if he could think of nothing else to say.
"She was using sub-sonic bullets formed from ice particles, correct?"
Miyuki asked as she was applauding, prompting Tatsuya to smile and nod.
"Correct, I'm surprised you could tell."
"......That was trivial enough that even I could see that......"
Erika retorted in a huff, causing Tatsuya to chuckle wryly.
"That's true, seeing the same magic a hundred times certainly makes it easier."
Someone averted their eyes in shame (probably because they couldn't see it), but Tatsuya elected to pretend he didn't see them.
"One hundred? She didn't miss once?"
Honoka asked Tatsuya in honest surprise, likely brought about by her direct personality.
"Correct, the amazing aspect is not the speed of magic invocation or number of times activated, but the precision entailed. Even using Sensory Magic at the same time, the individual still needs to use their brain to process the data. I don't know if it's because she's accumulated enough experience in repeated calculations or is simply that talented...... She is truly worthy of being one of the direct descendants of the Ten Master Clans."
"Did the President use Sensory Magic?"
Mizuki exclaimed in surprise, but the difference was that many people mirrored her expression this time.
"Long Range Visual Systematic Sensory Magic 'Multi-Scope' is not meant to examine non-material bodies or information bodies, but observe a physical object from multiple angles like a visual radar. The President often uses this sort of magic."
Tatsuya's gaze asked "Didn't you notice?" to which Mizuki shook her head.
"During the school assembly, she would use this magic to 'watch' every corner, which is a very rare ability...... Don't you think that this level of shooting is impossible for the naked eye?"
"That's true."
Shizuku immediately replied. During the competition, she was putting herself in Mayumi's shoes and considering her options in the shooting gallery.
"Still, the President is using Speed-Type Magic to turn air molecules into ice particles then applying acceleration to sub-sonic levels and using Sensory Magic at the same time, right? With Sensory Magic running, and then using deceleration and acceleration back and forth a hundred times, the President has amazing Magic Power."
At this point, the "Magic Power" Leo was talking about did not refer to the "Magic Power" from the technical skills assessment, but the more generic context of having the physical capacity of repeatedly casting spells.
A common misunderstanding is that magic is an activity that consumes energy.
Phenomena are not rewritten by burning physical energy, but by editing the data surrounding the phenomena.
In order to edit the data, a Magic Sequence formed from psions is required, so the number of times magic can be invoked is limited by the difference in the scale of Magic Sequences. The "Magic Power" Leo is talking about here, if likened to an actual concept, would be similar to the mental strain exerted on the body.
"The President is using a variant of 'Hale Particles'. The original 'Hale Particles' is already a highly efficient form of magic and with the President's ability, she could probably cast this 1000 times rather than a paltry 100 times."
Tatsuya's endless praise towards Mayumi elicited complex expressions from Miyuki and the others.
They also acknowledged that Mayumi's Magic Power was incredible, but hearing Tatsuya, who was usually very critical on all things magic, give such unrestrained praise could not help but arouse some jealousy.
On the other hand, Leo was concerned about something else entirely.
"Eh, but to create ice in the heat of summer and then accelerate to subsonic levels should require a lot of power. Even if conservation of energy doesn't wholly apply to magic, I still find it hard to believe Tatsuya's assessment that you can use such a small amount of magic to achieve such a level of phenomena rewriting."
"While it may not wholly apply, that does not mean they are unrelated."
Tatsuya rose and headed towards the "Battle Board" spectator stands while responding with this mysterious answer.
"What do you mean?"
Leo chased after Tatsuya and asked again.
"Magic is a technique that involves changing phenomena and is not limited by conservation of energy. However, the object being rewritten remains bound by the law of conservation of energy. For example, if you apply Speed Magic to an object, without using magic to maintain its condition, the accelerated object will turn cold, since the objects own heat is being converted to energy of motion; if you cast Heat Magic on a speeding object, without using magic to maintain its velocity, then the target object will slow down, since the object’s energy of motion is being converted to heat. Generally, magic strives to avoid changing unrelated aspects by adding in measures to maintain the status quo, so there's rarely an opportunity to observe this in action.
The laws of physics are very difficult to circumvent and, even when altered by illogical forces like magic, it will attempt to revert back to a logical outcome. Thus, magic that does not break the law of conservation of energy remains a 'natural' phenomenon and from a magic perspective, it does not require high interference strength.
You should understand by now, right? The magic used to accelerate the ice particles is based on taking the heat that is removed from the frozen particles and converting it into the energy of projectile motion, thus scamming the laws of physics. While this runs counter to the law of entropy and is something that would never occur in nature, it’s a more logical explanation than simply constructing ice particles, accelerating the ice particles with magic, then applying thermodynamics."
"......I get the feeling that I've just been conned."
"Leo, magic is an ability used to 'deftly deceive the world', remember that."
"In other words, we Magicians are con artists out to ruin the world?"
"The stronger the Magician, the more likely he’s a crook."
Tatsuya was utterly serious as he explained all of this, but at Erika and Shizuku's added commentary, he could only smile in response.
"Battle Board" was a contest where the participant used a spindle-shaped surf board that was 285 cm long and 51 cm wide to navigate an artificial waterway. The surf board had no propulsion of its own, so the participants needed to use magic to arrive at the finish line. During the course, attacks on other players themselves or their boards were forbidden, but magic was allowed to be cast on the water's surface.
There was no unified set of rules for this event. This contest was originally designed by the navy to train Magicians, so with magic as a prerequisite, it was impossible for this event to be popularized enough to warrant a unified set of rules.
The Battle Board portion of the Nine Schools Competition involved completing three laps around a 3 km long waterway. The waterway possessed straight courses and sharp turns as well as uphill and waterfall portions.
Men and women each raced on a separate track, but there were no notable differences in difficulty.
The preliminary stage contained six rounds with four contestants each, while the elimination stage contained two rounds with three contestants each, with the four eliminated players competing for third place. The finals were held in a duel format.
The average duration of each round was 15 minutes.
The highest speed may exceed 30 knots — which is roughly 55~60 km per hour. Atop the surf board, the players had no cover against the incoming wind. Unlike other nautical races that could benefit from being downwind, Battle Board was entirely against the wind. Just dealing with the air resistance alone quickly sapped the players' endurance.
"Female contestants usually have a hard time in this event. Honoka, how are you physically?"
"No problems. On Tatsuya-kun's advice, I've been undergoing physical training. After being selected, I've also lengthened my hours of sleep."
Unrelated to the Nine Schools Competition, Tatsuya was concerned about Honoka's physical stamina from the first moment they met and thus advised her to not just undergo magic training, but also physical training as well. Tatsuya merely mentioned this out of hand, but Honoka surprisingly took it to heart.
"Honoka really put on some muscle."
"Ew, Miyuki don't be like that. I don't want to be a female body builder."
Hearing this two-sided conversation, even Tatsuya laughed aloud.
"You see...... Even Tatsuya-kun laughed."
"He's only laughing because Honoka spoke in an odd manner."
"Now even Shizuku is saying so...... Fine, I know when I'm being excluded. I'm not like the two of you — Tatsuya-kun isn’t willing to take care of my event."
Honoka's sudden tantrum mystified Tatsuya so much that he couldn't laugh any more.
Exactly why was she gunning for him now?
"......I'm responsible for Honoka's support and maintenance during 'Mirage Bat'."
At any rate, Tatsuya only responded to her literal complaint.
However......
"So 'Battle Board' isn't included? Plainly, both of Miyuki and Shizuku's events are within Tatsuya-kun's purview......"
This seemed to have achieved the opposite effect.
"......Instead, I've helped you train and strategize, so it's not like I'm excluding you......"
While trying to justify himself, Tatsuya felt himself falling into a sticky predicament and started to stutter.
"Tatsuya-kun, Honoka-san isn't referring to that."
Upon seeing this, Mizuki interrupted, but it didn't sound like she couldn't stand this scene any longer.
"Onii-sama...... I think you're being a little too slow."
Following Mizuki, it was Miyuki's turn.
"We've discovered Tatsuya-kun's unexpected weakness."
And Erika next.
"Blockhead?"
Shizuku also joined in on the attack.
Under siege from the women, Tatsuya was struck speechless. He felt that they were being ridiculously illogical, but at the same time he felt that resistance was futile.
Not that he got any support from the guys.
Until the contest began, Tatsuya could only patiently endure this situation.
With the waterway ready and the contestants assuming ready positions, Tatsuya finally escaped.
On route, he understood what Miyuki and the others were driving at.
That being said, understanding another's proposal was entirely different from being able to act on it.
In the future, he needed to be more prudent and keep his mouth shut — Tatsuya inwardly promised himself as he watched the four contestants float towards the starting line.
Being that this is on water, there's no way to draw lines (not that anyone could even if they wanted to).
Four people lined up along the passage, with Mari standing in the middle.
The other contestants were kneeling on one knee or both to prepare to charge, only Mari stood straight.
This scene primarily reflected the difference in balance between the participants, but from another perspective, Her Majesty the Queen was lording over the other participants (not just the queen, "Her Majesty" the Queen).
"Whoa, that woman is just as arrogant as usual......"
Hearing Erika's whisper, Tatsuya felt that she was displaying her enmity "as usual".
Still, he had just vowed to "keep his mouth shut", so he refrained from commenting.
Leo and Mizuki, who were seated at Erika's sides, also seemed oblivious.
The giant screen hanging from the airship in the sky displayed all four of the contestants' names.
Only Mari revealed a fearless grin.
She truly is the perfect type to play the antagonist's role, Tatsuya thought.
However, many among the female high school students would disagree with him.
When the announcer responsible for identifying the participants proclaimed Mari's name, the stands — especially the front rows — fairly shook from feminine shrieks.
Mari waved in response, which only intensified the screams.
"......Looks like our senpai has a crowd of diehard fans."
Compared to the young men who supported Mayumi, the insanity of this group was several times more intense.
"Watanabe-senpai cuts a dashing figure, so I can sympathize somewhat."
Miyuki agreed from a bystander's perspective. Ironically, after the Nine Schools Competition, Miyuki would possess eternally loyal fans from either gender that far outnumbered Mayumi's male fans and Mari's female fans. If she could foretell her own future, Miyuki may resonate with the same feeling lurking beneath Mari's mask as she smiled at her fans, but right now she couldn't care less.
"Battle Board" was a contest held at the height of summer, but the contestants did not wear swimsuits.
The bodysuits that tightly covered the entire body bore the emblems of each school.
As Mari stood above the water, her hair fluttered as it hung from the hair band keeping it in place, painting a picture that would not be out of place on the cover of a novel about young cavaliers.
Erika should have heard Miyuki's words, but she didn't immediately respond.
"Get set......"
The loudspeaker sent out the signal.
At the crack of a gun, the race was on.
"Self-detonation tactics?"
Erika murmured in disbelief.
Tatsuya was similarly struck speechless.
When the race started, the contestant from Fourth High detonated the water behind them.
She probably intended to create waves to disrupt the other players while riding the waves for further propulsion, but......
"Ah, she stabilized."
Creating a giant tidal wave was useless if it disrupted your own balance.
Mari had successfully charged in the beginning, so she wasn't affected by the chaos caused by the contestant from Fourth High and was now completely in the lead.
Mari's surf board was sliding over the water's surface.
She probably wasn't using Move-Type Magic to steer, but treated the board and her physical body as one entity, or even casting magic on two objects simultaneously — her body itself and the board.
Regardless of which it was, this required precise target selection for magic.
The board clung to the water's surface and deftly rounded a sharp corner.
Her stability was so complete it was like her feet were glued to the board.
"So she's re-calculating Application-Type Fortifying Magic along with Move-Type Magic."
Tatsuya didn't need to dissect the Magic Sequence. He saw through the mechanism based on Mari's posture and methods for maintaining balance as she coursed through the water.
"Fortifying Magic?"
Leo's ears pricked up at those words and immediately asked.
This was an area that Leo specialized in, so there was no way he wasn’t interested.
"What's the target for fortification?"
"Senpai stabilized the connection between herself and the board to avoid falling off."
Leo adopted a questioning look probably because he couldn't follow Tatsuya's meaning.
Naturally, Tatsuya never demanded that he catch on so adroitly.
"Fortifying Magic isn't only used for strengthening an object's durability, but to stabilize an object's corresponding location, do you understand so far?"
"Of course, because I use it myself."
"Watanabe-senpai cast magic to stabilize her position and connected herself to the board to form one object, then applied Move Magic to this now uniform 'body' that consists of herself and the board. In addition, this isn't a sustained-type magic but alternating between Fortifying Magic and Move Magic at appropriate intervals based on the changes in the terrain to deftly avoid magic overlap."
Owing to the fact this was a magic he specialized in, Leo could understand this was an extremely complex technique.
"Wow......"
Leo sighed in amazement.
On the other hand......
"Yet, this method seems to be lacking something...... True, the target of Fortifying Magic isn't restricted to objects formed from the same material. Hm, given that......"
Thanks to his habits as an engineering prodigy, Tatsuya fell into a deep thought that would not be out of place for a mad scientist.
"Onii-sama?"
Miyuki's voice roused him from his contemplation.
During the brief moment where Tatsuya averted his gaze, Mari's figure had already disappeared around the blind spot and was lost to sight.
Tatsuya vaguely replied with "It's nothing" and focused his attention back onto the large screen.
Mari was gliding up the waterways against the current.
"Speed Magic."
From her movements, she must have used a technique that reversed the vectors for acceleration.
"And she also used Oscillation-Type Magic, right?"
At the same time, she employed magic to create reverse waves to lessen the water resistance.
"Nicely played, she's juggling three to four magics together during re-calculation."
Tatsuya's praise burst from his mouth.
None of the magics were particularly powerful.
Yet, the combined effect was unimaginably powerful.
Compared to Mayumi, who had raised high speed precision magic to an art form to stun the audience, Mari relied on lightning fast decision making and a wide variety of tools to paint a veritable rainbow of overlapping magics to delight the audience.
The two of them had already far exceeded high school quality.
After Mari reached the peak, she leaped down the waterfall.
The moment Mari splashed down, an obvious tidal wave splashed outwards.
The tidal wave generated by Mari not only propelled her forward, but also nearly upset the player in second place who was behind her.
"What a strategist......"
"That's just a devious personality revealing itself."
Erika replied with an angry retort to Tatsuya's whispering. Tatsuya half agreed, so he didn't make any particular rebuttal. That being said, "a devious personality" was high praise for a strategist.
Before the first lap was even finished, Mari's victory was all but certain.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login