In the parking garage reserved for large cars and special vehicles where Third High students were locked in combat with irregulars, approximately half of them were unable to join in the fighting. —Because they were emptying out the contents of their stomach.
"Ichijou, can't you hold back a little!"
"You too senpai, please retreat."
The culprit was Masaki, not that he cared about the reprimand.
He was pointing a handgun-shaped Specialized CAD stained in the scent of blood at the guerillas of unknown nationality.
A blood red flower bloomed, and sprinkled down.
Oomph, the sound of another person covering their mouth traveled to Masaki's ears.
Every time he killed a man, both his side's and the enemy's morale dropped a bit.
(If this is enough to terrify you, you should never have stepped onto the battlefield in the first place.)
Regardless of how those eyes perceived him or what words were directed towards him, Masaki coldly ignored them all.
His perspective was correct. Indisputably correct.
However — how many soldiers could calmly witness human bodies rupturing and blood (more like red blood cells) scattering like dust?
The Ichijou Family's secret technique, "Rupture".
Magic that was able to instantaneously vaporize fluids within a physical object.
When used on humans, blood would vaporize and the subsequent pressure would tear through muscle and skin. Red blood cells, which made up the majority of the composition of blood, would then scatter outwards like a crimson flower that was blooming.
Besides a select minority, his classmates and upperclassmen found out for the first time what it meant to be known as "Crimson".
From the other side, which was the command center located on the bridge of the camouflaged amphibious vessel that successfully launched their surprise attack, the area was covered in an atmosphere which was radically different than one of complete success.
"We lost communication with the unit sent to the underground shelter. There is also no reply from the bipedal tanks."
The Commanding Officer(CO) of the unit, who was also the captain of the camouflaged amphibious vessel, had a sour look on his face when he received the signal officer's report. His original plan called for the infiltrated operatives to take hostages before he committed the mechanized troops.
However, the losses of the plainclothes operatives greatly exceeded initial estimates. This was especially true for the squads sent to the international conference center and the parking garage for large vehicles, where casualties were heavy. The captain judged the strategy that called for their feint to allow the operatives to do the majority of the work regretfully needed a little reworking.
"Allow the mechanized troops to land!"
He gave the order to launch the bipedal tanks and APCs manufactured in their own country.
"......So? Why is Toshi-nii here?"
In a corner of the plaza before the station, the Chiba siblings were putting on a not-quite-warm reunion (?) act. (The older brother was quite happy, so maybe a reunion was not incorrect.)
As for why they were in the "corner", that was because neither Erika nor Toshikazu were adept at cleaning up the bipedal tanks' wreckage, interrogating the captured pilots, or clearing the area so the helicopters could land. —Although saying that the currently active Inspector Toshikazu was "inept at interrogation" was a problem in its own right.
At any rate, that was the reason why the two of them were loitering (in defense of their honor, Kirihara and Sayaka were doing the same).
Still, at least Toshikazu didn't mind that he didn't really contribute much to this situation — Inagaki was — so he was enjoying this verbal spar with his little sister, who stood there with both hands on her hips.
"The fact that you ask me why thoroughly saddens me. Is there anything strange with a kindhearted older brother wanting to help out his dear little sister?"
"Kindhearted!? You have a lot of gall saying those hypocritical words......"
"Hey, hey, Erika, a young lady should not use terms like 'gall'."
"You! And now you dare to talk to me like I'm some sort of Ojou-sama. Do you even have the right!?"
"Ah, how terrible...... It's obvious that I love my little sister dearly."
Maybe Toshikazu went too far in feigning silliness, but the excited Erika swiftly calmed down. Seeing his sister's expression change to one that was watching him with cold eyes, Toshikazu sighed as if bored.
"At least my coming to help is definitely true."
Toshikazu said this with a bored expression and indolent tone, but upon seeing his sister sneer at him, he suddenly wore a mischievous smirk.
"Is that the right attitude, Erika?"
"What do you mean?"
Erika's expression wilted slightly. The other person is stronger, that was the impression — an uncomfortable feeling she didn't know how to handle since her early childhood years and wasn't something that could be easily erased.
"I brought something nice for you."
"Something nice? I don't want something like that."
Even so, Erika still held out — stubborn and refusing to capitulate. Chiba Toshikazu was one of two people that Erika would never surrender to.
Not only was this something Toshikazu approved of, this was also something his sister always aimed for since her childhood.
"Don't be like that. Today, this is something you absolutely need."
For Toshikazu, "Little Erika" was the cute little sister whom anyone wanted to tease. Now, she was standing much stronger and cuter than before. "Let's just end it here," he said with with mischievous thoughts running through his head as he brought out a long, curved object from the cargo truck.
Seeing the silhouette, Erika was at a loss for words.
Removing the thin outer covering, Toshikazu handed the odachi to Erika.
The entire length ran 180 cm and was even longer than Erika's height.
Just the blade alone was 140 cm long.
For a tachi the curvature was too shallow, making it an unnatural shape—
"Orochimaru? Why is that here......?"
"Why? What a ridiculous question, Erika. Orochimaru is the blade forged to use 'Yamatsunami', and you are the only who can perform 'Yamatsunami'. Neither our father nor Naotsugu can use 'Yamatsunami'. Although they can mimic the form, the only one who can 'truly use' that is you. In other words, Orochimaru exists for you to wield."
Erika's hands shook as she accepted the odachi.
She tightly gripped this weight that was sufficient to send her swaying back and forth and finally stopped shivering.
The Chiba Family forged the strongest weapons. Just like Ikazuchimaru, this was the pinnacle of sword-type armament forged by the Chiba Family, the secret weapon that was the source of their pride.
Even for the briefest of moments, to be granted the freedom to wield this blade was something Erika never even dared to dream of.
"You look delighted."
Hearing her brother's voice, her head violently rose.
The earlier resistance she bore towards her brother had vanished. Erika's entire being was focused on Orochimaru.
If she had to say why, that was because this sword—
"Are you that happy to hold the beloved sword you see as an extension of yourself, Erika? Hm...... So that's the case. No matter what our father or Naotsugu think, Erika, you are a true daughter of the Chiba Family."
"......Hmph! I'll say thank you this time."
"That's why young ladies should be so brusque......"
Without waiting for Toshikazu to finish, Erika turned and left.
Seeing Erika prance away with Orochimaru in her hands, Toshikazu smiled in delight at his sister's easily understood attitude.
"Do you have any new intel?"
His upper body stuck inside the pilot's seat of the bipedal tank, Isori heard a voice behind him, so he pulled himself out and shook his head.
"No. I'm not very good with weapons and I think this is an older model purchased in the second hand markets. There's no way to identify nationality."
"There are second hand markets for weapons?"
Noticing the shocked expression on Mayumi's face as she asked this question, Isori smiled and nodded his head.
"There are even second hand markets for fighter jets. In small scale conflicts, weapons from the last World War are still seeing service."
Hmph~, despite Mayumi's gentle smile of admiration, Isori felt a rather miffed aura beside him.
At this time, he could tell who that was without even bothering to take a look.
Isori reined in his expression and once again glanced at Mayumi.
"Generally, weapons purchased from second hand markets in allied countries tend to be cheaper. Given that this bipedal tank is manufactured in Eastern Europe, the chance that these guys are operatives from the Great Asian Alliance is quite high...... However, in order to get at their motives, we still need intelligence out of the pilot."
"But, will he just give that up?"
"That depends on Mari's skills."
Mayumi shrugged her shoulders at Kanon's obvious question.
"Then I'm off to clean up the area."
Watching Isori lightly nod and head off with Kanon pressed close against him, Mayumi walked towards where Mari was conducting her interrogation.
Besides slight frostbite on their faces, the two bound pilots showed no signs of external injury.
Inagaki was questioning one of them while Mari handled the other one.
"How is it going?"
Mayumi sidled alongside Mari and simply asked about the situation.
"Silence. If I knew this would happen, I would have brought a stronger perfume......"
Unable to obtain a satisfactory result, Mari was starting to get a little anxious.
"There's nothing we can do about that. Our condition for interrogating Sekimoto today was that all chemicals were forbidden."
Publicly acknowledged as an anti-personnel combat specialist, Mari excelled not only in magic and swordsmanship, but also smaller weapons and even chemical weapons.
One of her favored tactics was to manipulate the air flow to direct pheromones into the enemy's nose.
This evil woman also carried hidden perfume on her that could directly affect her opponent's mental status (which was practically a crime).
Now, she was using this chemical on her bound opponent in a clandestine fashion, but to no avail.
"Well, there's always torture."
"Wait, no matter what we......"
Hearing Mari utter that dangerous phrase, Mayumi hurriedly put a stop to this.
"Relax. I have confidence that I will only cause pain and suffering without leaving any visible injuries."
"That's not what I'm talking about! ......Mari, why don't you take a break?"
"......That's true, I'll catch a quick breather."
She must have realized that she was too highly strung.
Mari waved her hands at Mayumi and moved towards where Suzune sat on a bench with a map unfurled in front of her.
On the floor in front of where Suzune sat on the bench (covered of course), an intricately detailed map was being projected.
Suzune used the terminal to open the map while Honoka refracted light to project it.
This was a detailed map of the local shoreline where they were that stretched from Sakuragi-ch? to Sangech?.
There, another projection showed newly added ships, crowds of people, and the scenery of the local streets.
"Ho, how impressive."
"Ah, Watanabe-senpai."
The projection of the map on the ground wobbled slightly, but was quickly restored to a clear image.
The scenes of the street overlapped and matched the map perfectly.
Suzune's fingers flew over the keyboard of the notebook-type terminal. After hitting the last confirmation key, Suzune raised her head.
"Did you learn anything new?"
"Alas, no."
Mari bitterly shook her head at Suzune's inquiry, but her face quickly transformed into an interested expression.
"Looks like you guys got some results."
"Ah. Thanks to Mitsui, we have a good grasp on the enemy forces and direction...... Mitsui, that's enough."
Hearing Suzune's praise, Honoka smiled with embarrassment as she nodded.
At the same time, the map on the ground vanished.
"Even if it's light-controlling magic, isn't it quite rare to see such a fine degree of control?"
"Indeed. I cannot recall anyone who can just use light refraction to create clear images that rival low altitude observation drones. Looks like this is a different type of magic than the average light refraction magic."
Suzune's faint praise caused Honoka's face to redden even further.
"How can that be...... Compared to Tatsuya and Miyuki, my magic is nothing special......"
"No need to be so humble, Mitsui. It's true that both of them possess powerful magic, but based on the situation, there are times when intelligence can control the battlefield even more than firepower."
"Just so, Mitsui. The ability to look down and grasp the situation is a tremendous asset. Since we are cut off from unmanned observation drones and the street level camera system, the contribution from your magic is incredibly meaningful."
"Thank you very much!"
Watching Honoka bow deeply with her entire face flushed, the two Year 3 students revealed gentle smiles.
Recently, they had seen too many thick skinned (?) underclassmen, so occasionally catching a glimpse of an innocent reaction was rather refreshing.
In order to get from the international conference center to the Magic Association branch headquarters in the Yokohama Bay Hills Tower, taking the route along the coast would be faster, but taking the inland route wasn't that much of a detour either.
The enemy's main force was amphibious troops launched from the combat vessel of unknown nationality. Currently, their troops that had infiltrated the city were also active along the coast.
However, Katsuto shook his head when asked "Should we take the detour?" Not up and down, but left and right.
Immediately afterward, the military vehicle that Katsuto was riding advanced through the crossfire on the street along the coast as it moved towards the Bay Hills Tower by the shortest route possible.
Near the Bay Hills Tower — actually the closer they got to the Hillside Docks — heavy weapons appeared among the enemy. Likewise, the number of mechanized weaponry (bipedal tanks) was also on the rise.
"Rather than saying the enemy's forces are concentrated here, it would be more accurate to say that they are in the process of spreading out."
Sitting in the passenger's seat, Sergeant Tateoka proceeded to explain the situation to Katsuto.
Katsuto wordlessly nodded.
The reason he said nothing was not because he looked down on the low ranking officer, but because he was putting all his concentration on his magic.
Next, on the side of the intersection ahead, a small group of enemies carrying shoulder-mounted rocket launchers appeared.
They weren't plainclothes soldiers. Although they wore no identifying emblems to identify their nationality, they all wore uniform combat fatigues.
This must be their amphibious force.
The squad took aim at the vehicle Katsuto was in and fired four guided anti-tank missiles.
This was practically point blank range.
Even though they were guided missiles with slower initial speed, there was no way the all terrain vehicle was going to dodge them.
However, Corporal Otowa handling the wheel never wavered and Sergeant Tateoka put down the windshield on the passenger's side and propped up an automatic rifle.
The guided missiles detonated in the air five meters in front of the vehicle.
The flames from the explosion enveloped the hemisphere barrier that surrounded the vehicle.
Bullets were fired from within to hit the enemy troops.
Attacks from the outside were unable to penetrate the interior, but attacks from within were unimpeded.
Needless to say, that directed transparent barrier was the result of Katsuto's area magic.
Setting himself as the center of the hemisphere's space, he altered the fabric of the hemisphere to reject heat beyond a certain level and any molecule greater than oxygen.
Even while on board a vehicle moving along at high speed, Katsuto's barrier magic never faltered.
During this short journey, Fujibayashi's subordinates personally experienced what it meant to be called an "Iron Wall".
While the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion was designated as a "battalion", their numbers were on the scale of two companies.
Initially for this mission — which was originally to test magitech weapons — they only mobilized 50 men. The two large armored trailers coincidentally carried the perfect number of new equipment.
"—How is it, Special Lieutenant?"
"Just as I expected of you. Quite impressive."
Standing before the racks filled with protective gear that would not look out of place on a knight, Sanada couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.
"The measurements should be perfect. Change quickly."
Sanada urged Tatsuya to strip off all the clothes he was wearing. Although there were female soldiers in the trailer, neither of them paid any attention to that.
On some level, all the soldiers in the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion were seen as lab rats, so full body examinations weren't anything out of the ordinary. Not only would male soldiers see female soldiers in the nude, the reverse also happened. There was no way someone who was ashamed of something like that would be able to last in this outfit.
Tatsuya deftly put on the special underclothes and immediately put on the black outfit — the Mobile suit.
After tying the broad belt, he snapped every button in place.
Setting the CAD in one of the leather holsters on the belt, he finally put on the mask-like helmet.
"Doesn't appear to be any problems."
"Indeed, all errors are within the acceptable boundaries."
Tatsuya's voice came through the speakers equipped in the trailer's interior. Detecting that the automatic transmission activated, Tatsuya manipulated the helmet and popped the mask.
"Bulletproof, heat resistant, shock resistant, and also resistant to biological and chemical weapons and a simple motion supplement system was added into the design as requested. Of course, the Flying Device was also attached to the belt. When coupled with the shock resistant function, you can completely nullify the recoil when firing, so you can also fire in the air."
"Perfect. Its performance far exceeds my design."
"No, I also enjoyed myself to my heart's content."
Sanada and Tatsuya shook hands. While this was happening, Kazama finally arrived leading two more soldiers.
"Sanada, are you finished?"
Staring wordlessly at the subordinate who saluted in response, Kazama shifted his gaze to Tatsuya.
"Then, effective immediately, the Special Lieutenant is to rendezvous with Yanagi's unit. Yanagi's unit is currently sniping the enemy unit that is approaching the connection bridge to the Mizuho Wharf."
"Captain Yanagi's location is displayed on the protective visor."
"Understood."
Putting the visor back on, Tatsuya verified the location for Yanagi's unit and stepped out of the trailer.
Without using the ramp, Tatsuya jumped off the trailer and hit the button on his waist before his downward acceleration disappeared. That was the power switch for the CAD equipped with Flying-Type Magic.
Lightly tapping off the ground, Tatsuya soared through the sky.
The unidentified invaders composed of the mechanized unit that landed at the Hillside Wharf split into two groups.
One advanced towards the Magic Association located near the bay.
The other marched along the coast.
The group headed north did not plan to rendezvous with the irregulars locked in combat with Third High, but went in the opposite direction and were preparing to pursue and capture the civilians attempting to flee by sea.
The Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion already controlled that direction.
This was an attacking unit that heavily emphasized mobility with 6 APCs.
Standing before the two lines of APCs that charged straight for the bridge, Captain Yanagi sneered beneath his visor.
He was the archetype anti-personnel combat Magician.
He excelled in reading the enemy's movement pattern, mixing physical skills and magic to lure, amplify or reverse enemy attacks in close combat. There was practically nothing he could do against this armored column — until he joined the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion.
Since the CO of the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion was an Ancient Magic user, the majority of the troops in the 101st were also Ancient Magic users, with Yanagi being one of the model Ancient Magic users.
Yanagi, who was able to use magic while in the middle of hacking and slashing, had received a technique that used his body's motions and "shape" to replace a binding seal and was feared because he never left an opening even when operating a CAD.
Still, even he was forced to admit the low practicality of large scale magic on a Specialized CAD that could flip a heavy object which weighed in the dozens of tons.
If he used a seal to replace the ritual needed to activate magic of this scale, the minimum requirement was at least five seconds. That was frankly impossible with the enemy already bearing down on him.
(How unpleasant.)
Although he was complaining mentally, his mouth still wore that wry smile.
Smirking malevolently beneath his visor, Yanagi leaped out from behind cover directly in front of the column of APCs.
Pitch black armor.
One man stood there.
Maybe because they hesitated at the sight of this unexpected enemy, the APC's turret didn't immediately spit fire.
Since there was only one soldier, it might have been that they planned to simply grind the man down beneath their wheels.
The difference in defensive power between an APC and the armor was simply too great.
Yanagi never planned to sit in front of the enemy's cannon for too long.
Clutching the rifle with the bayonet attached — the trigger of the CAD, he verified that the magic was activated before ducking back behind cover.
Suddenly, blocks of earth flew through the air along a straight line as if someone cut a straight line through the ground.
Along this line, the wheels of the APCs left the ground.
The shaking earth gave off a series of groans that told Yanagi the magic's results.
The APC that was tilted off balance crashed into the vehicle alongside it.
Careful scrutiny revealed that all the vehicles on the east flipped over to crush the ones on the west.
Gravity-Type Magic "Thousand Tatami".
By cutting off the Earth's gravity along the north-south axis, this caused the object to tilt from east to west because of the Earth's revolution.
The bottoms of the APCs, the "belly", were facing upwards and were struck by a hail of bullets.
Practically at the same time that Yanagi activated his magic, the squad flying in the sky opened fire.
The Weaponized Integrated CADs in the shape of rifles shot out a stream of bullets with increased penetration that easily drilled holes through the underbelly of the APCs covered in armor designed to withstand mines.
Once the fuel was hit, flames erupted from the underside of the vehicle.
The western group of what appeared to be a routed armored column remained unscathed.
The enemy must have Magicians who excel in "Counter" magic on board the APCs for extra defense.
With the ability to create a barrier strong enough to hold back an object that was dozens of tons, impact from normal weapons would be completely nullified.
Either there was an incredibly strong Magician on board, or they were using some sort of magic booster.
Bullets rained down from the sky again.
The interference strength from the strengthened shots and bullet repulsion magics canceled out one another, causing both magics to fizzle.
The anti-armor bullets hit the APC, but weren't able to completely penetrate through.
The autocannon turret on the APC sprayed the air with large caliber rounds.
Two soldiers were hit and fell to the earth.
Thanks to the armor's bulletproof properties, at least their physical bodies didn't suffer terrible injuries.
Taking stock of the situation from cover, Yanagi once more flew in front of the enemy and continuously hit the trigger three times.
Yanagi's "Thousand Tatami" was a magic that cut off the Earth's gravity and was not something that directly altered the target's Eidos. Thus, the gravity nullifying magic completely ignored the enemy's defensive magic around the vehicle as it activated.
The enemy APC started tilting over.
The shock of the rotation caused the magic barrier surrounding the APC to buckle. After the penetrating rounds fired from the sky hit the armor on the bottom, the remaining three APCs were also devoured by fireballs.
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