M3 PT1

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Chapter 11





Psion waves, interfering with the use of magic, filled the space on the road leading from First High to the station. It was Antinite, a resource that ordinary people could not get. Minami's face twisted into a grimace. She pressed her hands to her chest and leaned down as if under pressure. The heaviness of her breathing was visible on the ascending and descending shoulders. Seeing these sufferings, Miyuki remembered that very summer day 5 years ago.

August 11, 2092, the day of the invasion of the Great Asian Alliance to Okinawa. This happened during the attack of traitors on the basis of self-defense forces. Honami, Miyuki and her mother were shot because her strength was enough to "freeze" only one enemy. At that time they were rescued by the "Restoration" of Tatsuya. But Honami never returned home from there.

And now the girl, exactly like Honami, suffered in her eyes from "Cast Jamming". This scene could not get out of her mind, she scrolled again and again ...

"... It's unforgivable." Miyuki's voice was full of anger.

"You are tormenting her again."

"Again you want to take her."

"I will not let you do this."

"This time, I'll stop you."

"This time, I'll" stop "you ALL."

Surrendering to memories, Miyuki completely fell out of the current reality. Guided by the anger and regrets of the past, she tried to free her strength.

"Miyuki-sama, please stop!" - A painful scream Minami chilled Miyuki's ardor. "Do you want to betray Tatsuya-sama's expectations?"

In the memory of Miyuki, Tatsuya's words arose, which she forgot in a flash of anger.

"It will be very bad if the one who is declared the successor to the Yotsuba clan, attacks ordinary people with magic."

These words Tatsuya told her the day before yesterday. Obviously, his words had a higher priority in her mind, even higher than the emotions from that day. The call of magic "Cocytus", which freezes people's mind, was stopped by mentioning the name Tatsuya.

"Minami-chan?" - Miyuki turned to Minami with alarm in her voice and with fear on her face.

"I'm all right, Miyuki-sama." - Being in danger, she cared only to calm her mistress.

Weakened by "Cast Jamming" the barrier was restored due to the refusal of "slowing down" and concentration on "blocking". The attacking people buried their hands in an invisible wall and stopped. Seeing that the enemy was confused, Minami looked at Miyuki. They met their eyes, and in the eyes of Miyuki read a message that "everything is in order." After that, Miyuki returned her CAD to her pocket.

"Miyuki-senpai?" "With a slight frown on her face from the psion noise, Izumi turned to Miyuki in a surprised voice. Miyuki should not have resistance to Cast Jamming.

Izumi could not understand the reason for her self-confidence. But then she realized that although she herself was experiencing difficulty in invoking magic, it was her "Adored Miyuki-senpai" and for her it would be simpler than that. With that thought Izumi looked at Miyuki's face. Miyuki nodded to her, as if to say "no problem." After that, she put her hands on her chest and closed her eyes.

Her body glowed softly. The light that ordinary people who were the "Humanists" cannot see. Visible only by magicians, psion light spread around Miyuki. In this "non-existent" light, there was no "Cast Jamming". For the outside observer there was no action or intent.

Even for magicians, it looked like "Pure Psion Light." Psions that do not carry the power of intervention should not have any effect on magic. This light did not have any influence either on the Minami barrier or on the people who attacked them.

Minami suddenly noticed that this soft light began to surround them. Pain from the "Cast Jamming" weakened.

The action of "Cast Jamming" was the prevention of the activation of magic, and not a direct effect on the magicians. But while magicians were especially susceptible to psions, there may be nausea and dizziness from such a Cast Jamming.

But given that this noise could block the construction of a sequence of magic, it was not just noise. For the application of magic, not only the concept of "purpose" is required, but also the concept of "source", which is the "magic calculation zone", located in the subconscious of the magician.

At the moment of the summoning of magic, it is in the "source" and if it is subject to Cast Jamming it will simply not see the "goal". And magicians using continuous magic, such as a barrier, do this by updating it in short intervals, so the impact of noise on them is stronger.

Minami realized that "Cast Jamming" had both mental and physical effects on her. But despite the impact of Cast Jamming, just that the discomfort from them was reduced by half.

"Miyuki-sama?" Minami looked at Miyuki again. Her mistress did it. There is no doubt.

"Miyuki-senpai, this is awesome!" You weakened the jamming by a dense stream of psions around us! "When she heard Izumi's voice, Minami understood that too. Psions that do not carry the power of noise should not have any effect on magic. But for noise, also not having the power of Cast Jamming, these psions have become a thick wall. "Humanists" fanatics also heard the voice of Izumi.

- Nonsense! You cannot conjure with Cast Jamming! - The leader of the "humanists" shouted, ignoring what he saw.

His words were amused by Izumi and Minami. They realized that you already cannot pretend. Because the very attempt to pretend was not a success.

Minami suppressed a slight laugh. The smile on her face was not at all her plans. On the other hand, Izumi was already laughing. This was an obvious mockery of the attackers.

In fact, "Cast Jamming" is effective against magic. But what Miyuki did was not exactly "magic" in the understanding of ordinary people. More precisely, it was the non-Systematic magic of psion control around his body.

Being both magic and not magic, she interfered with interference, as if mocking the principles of magic. The fanatics who surrounded them, did not even guess how advanced the technique was now being shown, and how great its performer was. And also, that there is a magic that can overcome "Cast Jamming".

For example, magic that breaks down the structure of the Psion waves, which violate the use of magic.

Suddenly, the Psion noise from the Antinite stopped. The uneven wave of Psions suddenly subsided and became homogeneous.

"Onii-sama!" Miyuki turned her eyes wide.

Tatsuya stood there, with his usual soulless expression, but the fire in his eyes was clearly flaring.



◊ ◊ ◊



Tatsuya found himself in a deadlock in his investigation in Kamakura, he could not find traces of the terrorist leader Gu Jie. He contacted Katsuto and said that he would miss the meeting today. After Kamakura, he was going to return to Zama to look again for clues. Look for Gu Jie more appropriate method. He decided to use his eyes once more. But suddenly a sense of danger arose. He immediately realized that the danger was not for him. He will feel it at any distance.

The fact that Zhou Gunjin was a disciple of Gu Jie, and was killed by Tatsuya, will clearly set Gu Jie against him. But even the attempt on Maya was not important for Tatsuya. Superfluous thoughts only interfere with his view, overwhelming unnecessary information.

When you've already seen the enemy "with a look", you just need to concentrate on it to find it again. And other surveillance goals should be removed for this time.

This means that Miyuki will remain without observation.

In Tatsuya's eyes, Gu Jie was not worthy of such a sacrifice.

However, if he looks for something on the ground connected with Gu Jie, this may be the key to further research. If such a key really exists, it probably already found other pursuers, but the current situation was serious enough to follow even this small opportunity.

But he turned around and drove back. But not home, but in the direction of the school.

He did not have the gift of foresight. His view only sees the present and the past 24 hours ago.

So it could be called just a guess. Guess that Miyuki can be in danger.

Tatsuya could not just ignore this fact. Compared with the safety of Miyuki, Gu Jie and all the rest did not bother him. He switched the bike to semi-automatic mode and rushed towards First High, keeping on track a partial view of Miyuki through the information dimension to help at any time.



◊ ◊ ◊



Tatsuya saw that Miyuki was surrounded by a crowd of anti-magicians. Still in motion on a motorcycle, he took off his helmet and took a deep breath. It was an attempt to calm down because of the fear that he would not be able to restrain himself from killing these bastards.

Those who intended to harm his precious Miyuki cannot be forgiven. The only thing they deserve is to be instantly blown to the dust. If there is at least a slight chance of causing harm, he will not hesitate. Because he can destroy a person without leaving any evidence.

He knew that the enemies were using Antinite, but he also knew that to Miyuki it would only bring a small discomfort, without affecting her mind. The fact that Minami suffered, did not cause him deadly intentions.

But he was also not one of those who like to watch girls suffer. Especially those who are close to his family. By the decomposition magic, he erased the "Cast Jamming", bothering Minami.

There is no need to use a CAD in the form of bracelets that he had on both wrists. "Decomposition" was one of two kinds of magic that he could use freely. To select the purpose of magic, he also did not need gestures such as "point with your finger" or "extend your hand". The goal was chosen simply by concentrating the consciousness on the object.

[Gram Dispersion]

The decomposition magic has erased the complex structure of psion waves that interfere with the use of magic. After destroying their structure, the waves became uniform, and no longer create the "Cast Jamming" effect.

"Onii-sama!" Tatsuya heard the voice of his sister from the crowd. After intervals in the crowd he saw her surprised face. He found her surprise amusing. Most likely she believed that the problem was not so dangerous that he was in such a hurry.

But his mind soon filled with anger. He saw in his sister's face weak, but, undoubtedly, it was a form of fear and anxiety. Schoolgirls were surrounded by a crowd of strange personalities. Regardless of how strong they are, to be afraid in such a situation is quite normal.

He looked at the crowd and took a deep breath.



◊ ◊ ◊



- To the side! A sharp, angry voice came from Tatsuya's lips.

Under the power of such a voice, the crowd reeled and parted. And this was not the magic of mental intervention. The bodies of people reacted before the mind, in the animal impulse of fear of a stronger being. Tatsuya walked forward with a quick pace. It was not even necessary to touch these people. No one stopped him. Not that he did not stop, there was not even the slightest attempt.

- Minami. - Stopping at the barrier of Minami, he called her.

"Yes, Tatsuya-sama." - There was an answer on the other side of the barrier.

- Can you move with a raised barrier?

"It's possible."

It was assumed that Tatsuya knows that Minami can do this. Minami realized that the question meant concern for her condition.

- I see. Then you three, follow me.

Tatsuya looked around. Looking around, he went ahead, and already after the second step, the "humanists" backed away.

"W-that you stood up!" Interference on! Run it again! - Antinite rings were in several people in the crowd, not enough for all, but apparently distributed to the best members of the sect. Inspired by the cry of the leader, despite the fact that their spirit was broken by Tatsuya, they poured psions into Antinite and again launched "jamming". The time for psion noise to take shape is less than half a second.

Tatsuya only looked at the source of the problems. There was not the slightest movement of his hands.

This was enough to stop the "interference".

The noise of psion waves, which prevents the activation of any magic, has disappeared.

In this case, it could not be a simple coincidence.

The noise of "jamming" is the psion waves formed in a complex sequence according to a certain pattern. As long as they have a form, they cannot avoid Tatsuya's "Decomposition." The form is given by the information body. The trump card, neutralizing any magician, against Tatsuya was not something significant.

- What the..!? - Fanatics shouted with rings on their hands.

- Do not be afraid! Again! - Useless orders of the leader were repeated again.

Tatsuya no longer looked back. The time to activate the interference was still less than half a second. But this time was enough for the decomposed structure of noise to not have time to form a single wave.

Antinite has the property of converting psions poured into it into noise waves and the ability to propagate these waves. But the continued feeding of psions without hardware assistance (for example, such as in a flight device) is a difficult test for an ordinary magician. That's why the launch of "jamming" will be intermittent.

And for a simple person who is not a magician who is not used to working with psions, this action requires very strong mental concentration.

Noise broke down right after the ejection. The preparation of these people was not enough to concentrate two times in a row, and even more so for the third time.

Tatsuya walked and led the three men behind him. After they left the "environment":

- Minami.

"Yes, Tatsuya-sama."

- Good job. You can already remove the barrier. - Minami, following Tatsuya's words, deactivated defensive magic.

- Miyuki.

Hearing her name, Miyuki said in a calm voice: "Yes, Onii-sama."

"Take these two back to school."

- Yes, I do.

Graciously bowing to her brother, Miyuki put her hands on her back to her "cohays" and pushed them toward the school.

But the leader of the "humanists" still did not give up. One of the first steps away from confusion, he shouted:

"W-What are you up to?" Do not let this Satan's offspring escape!

Unfortunately for them, this led to sad consequences. Ignoring Tatsuya, or rather avoiding it, the crowd of "humanists" ran. But none of them did more than three steps. In all there were 15 people. They did not start running at the same time. A third of them, five people, ran first. The others were still standing. It was unnecessary to say that Tatsuya's job was to decide that that third of those fleeing (the restriction of liberty was also considered a crime) should be stopped. But without using magic.

The first runner, taking just one step, got his fist into the solar plexus and fell to the ground.

The second runner, making his second move, was knocked out by a chopping blow with the edge of his hand.

The third one who ran, at the time of the completion of the second step, was caught by the seizure of his neck and fell on his back.

The fourth runner, in an attempt to take the third step, unexpectedly (for himself) struck a preemptive blow to the jaw.

The fifth runner, taking the third step, was seized by his wrist, and flew to the road, making a couple of turns in the air.

Each of Tatsuya's punches became a knockout, none of this five stood up.

- Hey, you! Do you think such violence is permitted by law? The screams of those who stayed remained to Tatsuya.

With a provocative grin, Tatsuya looked ominously at them.

- It was necessary to prevent violence against girls. Street cameras will confirm that you attacked first. - Tatsuya pointed them to the cameras, which were installed in this era everywhere, on every street lamp. The mocking smile still did not leave his face.

And the face of the leader of the "humanists" blushed so that it could be seen from a great distance. And it was clearly not out of shame for his previous words. It looked pathetic and funny.

The red-faced "leader" pointed to Tatsuya with his finger and shouted:

"Then let's start with this asshole!" Divine punishment!

His subordinates did not rush into battle. No, they heard strange voices expressing confusion. They felt the body, not the mind, that they had no chance against Tatsuya, and retreated.

But, despite animal fear, the fanaticist poisoned by the fanaticism could not normally recognize reflex signals about danger.

"Repent, sinner!" - Standing closest to Tatsuya, he swung at him with a sliding baton. Counter-movement of the left hand, Tatsuya met his hand with a club, striking her fingers clutching her.

- Ghe ... - A club fell out of the hands of a guy. He squeezed his aching arm and moaned pitifully. Right hand Tatsuya, without stopping, rushed to the face of the same person. A blow that was faster than the eyes of ordinary people could notice. Quite slow, boring for him the pace. But Tatsuya's hand went away from the head. Reason disconnected, the body collapsed.

"I warn you." If you continue to attack, you will not have a way back. - Tatsuya said this, examining the rest of the "humanists", and completely ignoring the body that fell at his feet. He did not try to provoke them. It was an honest warning.

After making sure of his sister's safety, he became calm. He no longer felt any harmful intentions. But that did not mean that he would no longer fight. Being attacked, he will definitely answer. All these actions were a necessity for recording the happening of the street cameras.

But it seems that these words only provoked them.

- What a nonsense! You're just a miserable tool without social rights! - The leader of the "humanists" shouted in a mad voice. But his companions just looked at him. Enthusiasm pouagas before the fear of being beaten.

Nevertheless, they apparently did not intend to leave. Apparently not yet departed from the shock. And in shock they were not from the fact that the magicians managed to get away from their "retaliation", but from the fact that they were defeated in the usual non-magical battle, which they themselves specialized in. For Tatsuya this hitch was only an advantage.

On the way here, when he watched this crowd gather, he saw a police station nearby. He thought it best to leave the capture of these people to the police. And it's time they already appear.

"The police will be here soon." Why do you not just run away? Perverts, trying to attack schoolgirls. Tatsuya uttered another warning. This time, the arguments in his words were even more convincing, but it seems they did not work either. Tatsuya himself did not recognize the need to pay attention to the wording. The fanatics seemed to break loose and looked violent.

- This boy! - The leader of the "humanists" howled and rushed to Tatsuya himself. Tatsuya saw how he pulled out from under the clothes something flat about 50 cm long. It was a deafening whip that has a built-in electric shock on the tip, and when it starts to flow, it becomes elastic, like a spring. And when you turn it off, it contracts back and becomes like a leather belt that you can wear. Tatsuya recalled that he had seen this weapon among other devices developed by the Erica family for the police, but not yet on sale (Erica's cogs in the form of a stick with a shape memory alloy was an example of such a device). It cannot be obtained if you do not have connections with the police or with the supplier. Or did he take it from the police officer?

If you conduct an investigation, an interesting story may pop up. Reflecting on such distant things, Tatsuya left the attacking whip in his direction. A moment later he was already behind the enemy. Observers thought that Tatsuya disappeared and the whip went through the void.

- I'm here. Tatsuya spoke before he was found. The leader of the "humanists" looked around in panic. He waited for a retaliatory attack, but it did not follow. Then he decided to attack again, sending a blow to the head. Tatsuya raised his hands to block the whip, pretending and lowering his hand before the blow. He just ducked so much that the blow went above him. As the attack went into the void, the attacker lost his balance and fell, sitting on his ass. Tatsuya could not hold a slight laugh. But it was not a mockery. At least in Tatsuya's plans this was not. I just could not stand this circus anymore.

He did not intend to ridicule the opponent's clumsiness, although he was not going to apologize. What happened, it does not change, there is nothing to help.

- You're in deep trouble!

It seems it all went too far. Moreover, the killing intentions of the screamer were not limited to words alone. He threw a useless whip and put his right hand in his pocket. At the moment when his hand was pulled out of his pocket, Tatsuya's right foot moved at a lightning speed. But it was not a blow, but a swing. Then the leg kicked the weapon out of the fanatic's hand with a sharp movement. The leg after the impact remained to stick forward. Then came a blow to the person who sent the leader of the "humanists" to lie on his back. Either the kick was enough, or else a blow to the ground helped, but it seemed to him that it was enough and he did not move anymore. The fact that he was such a weakling, Tatsuya's fault in this.

A small double-barrel pistol, dropped from the hands of the leader of the "humanists", rolled along the road. On his side, Tatsuya saw the inscription "Dillinger", which was the newest model of the end of the 21st century from the well-known manufacturer. And it was definitely illegal for a civilian to have weapons.

"Humanists" stood and looked at the deadly weapon lying on the ground. On their faces the expression "cannot be" was definitely read. Apparently their leader did not inform them that he took this with him.

Tatsuya turned to the remaining fanatics. They have already lost their morale. It looked so, that they do not have the strength even to escape. On this, Tatsuya decided that the "combat" part of the task was solved. But soon something happened that made his face stretch in surprise.

"Onii-sama!" - He heard a warning from his sister, who was watching from the other end of the street, and was ready to activate the magic.

The body of the leader of the "humanists" rose to a sitting position. He had to be unconscious. No, he's still unconscious. But who cares about such an insignificant detail? Tatsuya decided that this was not an accident. On the hands of a humanist standing with an empty expression of a human face, activists were activated - so-called spiritual beings. But Tatsuya thought that for this dirty violet flame the term "ghost" rather than "spirit" would be more appropriate.

"Miyuki, hide yourself!"

- Yes!

Following the command of his brother, Miyuki disappeared around the corner of the building. Tatsuya threw up his right hand and prepared. A moment later, a stream of psions flew from his hand. The violet flame was blown away by a strong psion wind.

[Gram Demolition]

This was the result of using the strongest magic of counteraction.

- What!? Tatsuya said in a surprised voice. He was surprised because in the hands of the enemy, a spiritual fire broke out again. It was considered impossible to trigger magic again immediately after the demolition of the magic sequence by interrupting the spell.

The interruption of the spell (Gram-demolition) is simply a blow by a stream of compressed psions. Its effect ends when the psion flow ceases. After that, there is no long-lasting effect of canceling magic. But the magic must restart in the subconscious mind of the magician. No matter how talented the magician, any magic has a design time. Even those Espers who can do without constructing an activation sequence will not be able to overwrite an event without a sequence of magic. Tatsuya did not see these processes in that person.

"It's not his ability." The DS is received from third parties. "

The spirit, that is, the "ghost", was clearly obtained by the method of indirect intervention, and was now controlled by someone from a distance. This meant that this "anti-magic" group was controlled by some user of ancient magic. Perhaps control is even carried out without the knowledge of these people. The probability of this was the most.

Tatsuya wanted to try to blow the fire out again ... but he did not do it.

People who decided on the riots as a protest against the terrorist attack of the user of ancient magic, themselves were under the shadow control of a certain user of ancient magic. It's hardly a coincidence. Taking the spiritual fire as a starting point, Tatsuya concentrated his eyes on the operator of this magic.

"Ma-magic !?"

"Leader ... wicked sorcerer !?" - Seeing the fireballs in the hands of his boss, the fanatics screamed in frightened voices.

It seems that this time not only Tatsuya saw the fire. DS on the hands of the leader of the gang seems to have generated a material violet flame. The hands under this fire have already begun to darken. Apparently this fire had not only visual properties of luminescence, but also thermal ones.

- Uhaaaaaa! - A recently looking cohesive group panicked to run in different directions, like children who saw a large spider. Tatsuya did not pursue them. More precisely, he did not have time to do it. As the violet fire exploded at the same time.

But it did not look like the disintegration of a big fire into small ones, dozens of lights of the same size as the original ones, scattered in different directions from the hands. None of the fireballs damaged the surrounding buildings. When the fire touched walls or even windows, it disappeared like an illusion. But when the fire touched the trees, they instantly burned into coals in places of touch.

No, the description of "burned" does not fit. What touched the violet fire "died" and turned black, as if getting old. It's like a curse that draws life. But what happens to the person who has fallen under this fire?

Tatsuya shot back the flames to his side with a gram demolition. He defended only himself. Concentration on the user's search for this magic did not give the opportunity to shoot down all the lights. It was helped by the fact that the lights were not aiming and did not have a homing function.

Several fireballs, which Tatsuya did not have time to knock down, passed to the left and right of him. Several of them flew toward the fleeing "humanists". They could hear screams of horror and panic.

Tatsuya did not look back to the place where the fire came in contact with the body of one of the evaders. It looks like fire has aged the flesh only in the place of contact. Tatsuya did not see this event, but he clearly felt that this magic cannot just be left. Before it was quite late, he interrupted the search for a magic operator, and focused on countering the fire.

If the operator of magic was the leader of "humanists", then you could just cut it down. But it's just the point of launching magic. In addition, you cannot cut someone who is already unconscious. The next option was killing the target. Perhaps the fastest way. Although there is a way to control the corpses, but Tatsuya's murderous magic wipes the bodies in the dust. No corpse will remain.

But not at this time. Even in such a situation, this will be regarded as an excess of necessary defense, and the media will be inflated in favor of anti-magical sentiments.

"An operator of ancient magic to control this fire must be somewhere nearby."

But then the other "humanists" can be used as the launching point of magic? If they all suddenly shoot that purple fire, then Tatsuya cannot avoid some damage.

"Perhaps there is some reason that only that one person was used."

For example, that the connection of the DS with the host is effected through some "mark" applied to the body. Thinking about this possibility, Tatsuya activated the eyes.

"You're in the way."

Using gram-demolition, he again blew the fire from the hands of the "humanist". The restart of the fire did not take long.

"...Found."

On the hands of that man there were "seals". Some drawings, composed by psion, were applied to the back of the hand. Although the fire went out for just a moment, Tatsuya had enough of this to see the anomaly with his "vision." The seal was invisible to ordinary vision, as it was painted with skin color. Pattern Tatsuya was unknown, but the method of control psions was well known. The use of seals was a favorite method of the operators of ancient magic.

Discarding the investigator's curiosity, Tatsuya used "decomposition" on the part of the press. The ink from the center of the complex picture was erased by a neat cut with the magic of "decomposition", which violated all the connections of the drawing.

Attached to the hands of two fireballs were knocked down by gram demolition. It was the last shot. The psion print pattern was also demolished, which deprived the DS of communication with the host. Perhaps this seal was also needed to control the body of a "humanist". Because immediately after the breaking of the seal by the gram demolition, the man who had just sat and fired, suddenly collapsed on his back and did not rise again. This time it seems final.

After waiting 10 seconds, Tatsuya decided that the situation was resolved.

By this time the policeman arrived, looking out from the corner of the building, he shouted: "All of you! Do not move!". This useless type seems to be hiding there for a while and decided to act when it's all over. But of all "did not move" only Tatsuya. The policeman looked around the scene, raised his eyebrows when he saw the charred trees. When he looked at the "humanists," signs of fear appeared on his face. Quiet and unharmed Tatsuya in this chaos apparently seemed to him the main culprit.

Undoubtedly, in the nearest police station to the Magical School, the staff were magicians, but it is rather doubtful that any of them could resolve this situation without sacrifice.

Tatsuya stood still, following the command "Do not move." There was no reason to break this order.

There is no need to move the body to chase the data. Data on the enemy magician, obtained from the press at the time of its decomposition. Right now Tatsuya was getting to the enemy in the information dimension. Despite the fact that the magic is already scattered and the connection is broken, the trace to the magic operator is still present in the information dimension data. A short distance to the goal in time and space. And also a causal relationship with Tatsuya himself, who became the target of the magic attack.

With this amount of incoming data, searching in the information dimension for Tatsuya will not be a difficult task.

The fact that he appeared here was the result of a feeling of concern for Miyuki that had come to him. This coincided with the search for Gu Jie, with the fact that he found a clue. That's why Tatsuya decided not to miss this opportunity, even if there is an additional risk involved.

At the moment, the investigation of the terrorist attack, carried out by the Ten Master Clans, is at an impasse. Internal investigation by the Yotsuba also did not find any new clues, impatience grew. At least from Maya there was no news. Tatsuya himself had no desire to hurry. In truth, at first he wanted to leave the police investigating Gu Jie's connection with the anti-magical movement, but now decided that it was worth using a clue.

For those who cannot use magic, it was as dangerous as a firearm or explosive. Roughly speaking, a magician can be considered an armed man. It is only natural that unarmed civilians will want to stay away from it. Such was the modern world.

But one could not turn a blind eye to the fact that the anti-magical faction is under the control of an enemy magician. Moreover, these people were only pawns in his hands. Although there was not much difference, at least pawns, albeit allies, they were still enemies.

Earlier, on the wrist of a humanist shooting fireballs, was a white bracelet, with a red and blue edges. Tatsuya knew that this was a sign of a member of Egalit, a subordinate organization of the anti-magical international organization Blanche.

Behind the "Blanche" was Zhou Gunjin, and Zhou Gunjin's boss was Gu Jie. This information Tatsuya learned from different sources. That is, if you hold the line of command from the very bottom, you will see that Egalit's members were under the command of Gu Jie from the very beginning. Nevertheless, members of such organizations like Egalit were recruited by people with anti-magical moods, and received brainwashing for more total control. Even the "leader" of this group seems to be shouting gravely anti-magic slogans, it was not like an acting game.

In the end, they were all deceived. Most likely, even about the properties of "printing" in the form of a tattoo on his hands, he was not aware. Having in the arsenal of firearms and magic, such a crowd was sent to attack Miyuki. From now on, it became Tatsuya's concern. Until he catches Gu Jie, Miyuki will be in constant danger. During the assignment, there will inevitably be a time when he will have to be at a distance from Miyuki. When dealing with terrorists, you should be afraid of retaliatory attacks on your relatives. It will not be sarcastic to say that such situations arise not only with terrorists, but also during civil and international wars, as well as in the fight against criminal groups. The fundamental difference between war and terror is a ban on attacking civilian and other non-combatable targets. In our time there are clear rules of war,

It all depends on whether the rules are observed or not.

Therefore, Tatsuya simply could not leave the pursuit of Gu Jie. As long as Miyuki is in danger. In the end, he decided, found and stopped Gu Jie with the maximum possible speed. It's decided.

He divided his consciousness in half and assigned one half the task of searching the ocean for information, leaving the second half to the observation of Miyuki.

The information is accompanied by events. If an event occurred changing anything, the "change" record will be left in the information dimension. Magic can also be called "the technique of changing information." Any manipulation of information remains in the information dimension as an "event" record. We take for the original data "DS was used" and "print, drawn with transparent ink" is used, and we get a blurred information trace.

"... what is it?"

Information about the enemy magician appeared in the eyes Tatsuya.

"This is not Gu Jie, but ..."

The informational body of the magician did not coincide with the image of Gu Jie, which he saw in Zama. If it was him, then right from here Tatsuya would use "Mist dispersion" and wipe it into dust. While the goal is fixed by a "glance" through the information dimension, the physical distance does not matter.

"Is it possible to obtain more detailed information by raising the limit of clarity of the" look "?"

Tatsuya read the data on the remote magician bit by bit. The name of Oumi Kazuki, specialization "puppeteer", the current location of Kamakura ...

"Here it is!"

Suddenly, serious changes occurred in the information body he watched. To avoid a possible magical counterattack, he reflexively turned off the eyes. The review switched to normal sight. The distance to the policeman who fled to him almost did not change from the moment of entering the information dimension. Less than one second passed.

"That is, he was killed right after I canceled the magic?"

The content of the data change was the transition from a living state to a non-living state. When Tatsuya began to track information, it was ten or more seconds after he destroyed the magic of the violet flame. At the time of the destruction of the seal, someone was near the magician. Tatsuya thought, was it a coincidence that the murder happened at the time of the "review" of the goal. One option was that the enemy has a technique for detecting surveillance. Another option was that the enemy could know about the eyes and simply killed the comrade out of caution.

"What a difficult opponent ..."

Tatsuya sighed, at the same time raising his hands and showing the policeman that he was not going to resist. At this point, you need to solve the current problems, thought Tatsuya.



 ◊ ◊ ◊



 Not paying attention to the corpse of the owner of the house of Oumi Kazuki, Gu Jie reflected on the current situation. He killed his comrade-in-arms, the user of ancient magic, only because he saw signs of feedback on the DC control channel. He did not know what kind of technique, but he felt a clear murderous intention from the point of connection with the spirit. The murder was supposed to cut off the communication route, but Gu Jie did not know if it helped against enemy equipment.

"Although I counterattacked, there was the possibility that they learned about this place," Gu Jie thought.

What he felt was Tatsuya's eyes. Gu Jie did not know that this is just a way of extracting information without an attacking effect. However, Gu Jie's ability to feel the danger that helped him survive the last 50 years, instantly smelled observation through the information dimension. Now he felt a strong enmity towards himself.

- Initially, I needed another day. Gu Jie glanced toward the next room, where there were two human bodies. One of these bodies had a potential that he had never before possessed. He thought it would be a great loss if you left it here. It takes only one day to make a "generator of death" instead of a "soldier of death" (not a soldier ready to die, but literally a "dead soldier"), so that you can use it longer.

"How wasteful ... Is it not stupid to be so greedy?" Shaking his head, as if discarding regrets, Gu Jie went into the next room with a ceremonial dagger, which he had just killed his companion and friend.



◊ ◊ ◊



 "I look so, that I'd rather die ..."  - Izumi did not try to hide her mood from adults, making a sullen look. There was no need to pretend, since she was really depressed.

- ... means, other than the defensive barrier Sakurai-san, the other magic was not used?

- Yes. - Shortly responded Izumi to the question of the teacher of 1B class.

Is it true that the other side used "interference"? - Asked Deputy Director Yaosak.

- Yes. - Again, briefly and firmly answered Izumi. Four adults, including the director and his deputy, began to discuss something lively.

"What a headache, why should I report here."  - Mentally expressed her dissatisfaction with Izumi. Although she herself was the one who created this situation. Just knowing what has happened will continue to warm up the anger in the depths of her consciousness. Schoolgirls coveted a crowd of men. Not surprisingly, the director and deputy director reacted so violently when they learned that the incident could result in trauma. It is clear that she was interrogated now as one of the sides of the incident. She was tormented by the question of why she was the only one here. Theoretically, she knew the answer. That this situation is inevitable.

The other side had an Antinite, a rare military resource. Confirmed its use as a weapon for the purpose of causing harm to health. Antinite is a well-known method of countering magicians, designed to block their magic and allow time to inflict physical damage. This kind of incident no longer falls under simple hooliganism and simple answers to questions from the police do not get off. Not only the attackers, but also the victims were taken to the police station. And because of the seriousness of the incident, it was necessary to inform the school administration immediately. Someone had to go there.

Minami was asked to go to the station as using the magic barrier, Tatsuya was taken to interview as a person who used force allegedly for self-defense. Although Miyuki did not use explicit magic, the sensors showed a large number of psion emissions.

By the method of exclusion Izumi was chosen the one who will go to school and notify the teachers. Izumi understood this. But as they often say, mind and emotions are two different things.

- Saegusa-kun. - Said the director Momoyama, who was silent until then.

- Yes. "He answered Izumi with a slightly restless voice.

- Did the attackers change their behavior after they identified you and Shiba-kun?

Izumi, feeling the pressure of the stern look of the director, spoke in a monotonous voice.

- And really, director. They saw me and said "She is from the Saegusa family," they named Shiba president "the president of the Student Council of First High," and after these words they went to our side.

- In other words, the previous incidents of attacks on the first year were only a search for higher priorities.

- I think so too.

"Hmmm ..." Momoyama pondered, folding his arms over the sleeves of his kimono. Izumi did not dare to show impatience and waited for the director to continue. Even for the rest of the adults, it was difficult to withstand the pressure of his silence.

- Director. Yaosaka interrupted the silence. Momoyama, not showing any concern that he was interrupted, looked at Yaosaku.

- Vice president. Temporarily close the school from tomorrow. For now, let it be until Saturday, the 23rd.

"Director, so suddenly closed school ..." Yaosaka suddenly tried to object to such an unexpected decision. But then he shrank with a face expressing "damn well I got", although the expected spree from Momoyama was not followed.

- What is the reason for closing?

"Ah, yes, that's ..." Instead of answering Yaosaku, a look that contained "do not you understand?"

- Before that, our students were subjected to simple pursuit, without the use of force. - He began explaining Momoyama. He seemed to like talking in a teacher's tone. "But now it looks like they decided to move to more active actions against our students." I believe that this is not a random incident, the probability of a planned systematic attack is quite high.

- Organized crime?

Yaosaka was not the only one who turned pale. Teachers of the first year of training, present here, and Izumi also felt the blood drain from his face.

- Since this is not a simple crowd, it is expected that things can get much worse. It is necessary to observe the situation for a while.

"Hmm ... yes, I think that's the best way."

"Leave the formalities on me."

After sending Yaosaki with an order, Momoyama turned to Izumi.

"Saegusa-kun, you've had a rough day."

Hearing these words, Izumi regarded them as a permission to leave.

- Yes, really ... - She wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible and decided to seize this opportunity.

"Then, director, I beg your pardon ..." She bowed cautiously and turned to the exit.



 ◊ ◊ ◊



 After the situation in the police station was over, and Tatsuya and the girls returned home, it was already more than seven in the evening. The police had many questions, so they returned home so late. Motorcycle Tatsuya took a traffic police officer. The policeman noticed that Tatsuya's motorcycle was completely bullet-proof (even tires and a windshield), but did not ask any questions, apparently he was aware of Tatsuya's personality. Personal belongings of Miyuki and Minami were left in the locker at the school. But things will not go away and will not deteriorate, so they decided to pick them up when they come to school tomorrow, and now stay home.

Tatsuya decided to drop the clue that was obtained by the discovery of the magic operator, but he already had one idea on this subject. In any case, today they were going to rest, but before they could take off their shoes at the entrance, an unexpected message arrived. Tatsuya quickly changed the military street clothes to a domestic one, and was already looking at the screen of the mobile terminal, sitting on the sofa in the living room, when Miyuki, disguised, came down from her room.

"... Onii-sama." You have a very terrible face. Did you get any bad news?

- No, nothing like that. "He looked at Miyuki and answered her, pointing to a seat beside him. Miyuki sat down at the indicated place, and glanced at the terminal screen, which he tipped toward her.

"Tatsuya-sama, Miyuki-sama, your tea." - Minami in apron over the form, went into the living room, carrying them tea. On the tray was green tea, brewed at the request of Tatsuya. Putting the cup on the table, Minami asked with her eyes if there were any new orders for her.

- Wait a bit. "Answering Minami, Tatsuya turned to Miyuki. She just finished reading the message and looked up at her brother.

"Onii-sama, this ... I cannot even refuse."

- Clear. Tatsuya sighed slightly and turned to Minami's waiting orders.

"Having finished my tea, Miyuki and I are about to leave." We'll eat outside the house, so, Minami, you can be free. You can use your free time on your own.

Miyuki thought that his brother's explanation was incomplete.

- I was invited to a meeting with the new head of the family Juumonji. "She said before Minami reacted to Tatsuya's words.

"As you wish." - Minami's answer would not have changed, regardless of the number of explanations. She bowed gracefully to her mistress and master.



◊ ◊ ◊



 Although Miyuki told Minami that she was "invited by the Juumonji family," even this was not a sufficient explanation. Tatsuya and Miyuki waited not only for Katsuto, but for Mayumi and Masaki. It was an invitation to an ordinary daily meeting at the same place as before.

Miyuki looked a little scattered, entering a larger building, similar to a mansion. Earlier Tatsuya contacted Katsuto and said that he would miss the meeting today. It was already 8 pm, at this time they usually had a so-called dinner after the meeting. Katsuto, Mayumi and Masaki met Tatsuya and Miyuki with serious faces.

- I'm sorry for the delay.

"Sorry for the urgent call." Sit down. - In response to Tatsuya's official tone, Katsuto spoke in a serious voice, with a slight tinge of guilt. At the table, three people were already sitting and waiting for the others to arrive. Katsuto sat at the head of the table, with Mayumi and Masaki sitting on one side of the table. Perhaps because it was a French restaurant, and they were sitting at a western table, their etiquette did not seem to care. Tatsuya landed Miyuki opposite Mayumi, and sat down opposite Masaki.

"Shiba-san, are you all right?" - Asked Masaki sat down Miyuki.

- Yes. As a result, nothing happened. Thank you for your concern. - Smiling, Miyuki answered him. Masaki's face flushed, but he still breathed a sigh of relief. He was seriously worried about Miyuki. At least that's how Katsuto and Mayumi understood Masaki's reaction.

"Shiba, what happened today is a disaster." - Instead of rebuking Masaki, Katsuto turned to Tatsuya.

- Really. This we did not expect. - Tatsuya honestly admitted that he was also not ready for such a scenario.

"Did the enemy have a pistol, and he also used attack magic?" - With anxiety asked Mayumi.

- Member of the anti-magical movement used magic? Or did the enemy magician pretend to be a "humanist"? - Directly asked Masaki.

Tatsuya did not answer Masaki, but spoke directly with Katsuto in the form of a report.

"The man who was used as the point of transfer of magic was a member of Egalit, a branch of Blanche."

"Blanche?" - Surprised Katsuto raised his eyebrows. "Did not we destroy their forces in Japan?"

"The remnants apparently went underground."

"Hmm ..." Crossed his arms, Katsuto considered Tatsuya's words. He did not show disbelief. The Juumonji family also participated in the "Incident with the sweeping of the Japanese branch of Blanche." Apparently Katsuto believed that he completely got rid of Blanche and Egalit.

"Tatsuya-kun, what is the point of transmission of magic?" - Mayumi did not participate in that sweep, so she was interested in another place in Tatsuya's words.

- A member of Egalit, who headed that crowd, was not a magician. A certain operator of ancient magic used this person as the point of transfer of magic, somehow ordering "to use it" for remote control of magic.

"Is this even possible?" - Mayumi seemed to be very surprised. The method of installing a remote point of magic was used in full in ancient magic, but in modern times it was a rarity. No wonder she was not aware of this.

- Omitting the details, the point of transfer of magic is created through a magical "label", previously activated by magic. There is a magic that does not require the purpose of exposure, it simply radiates heat or sound or magical "bullets". A good choice as an attacking magic. In our case, there was a call to the DS, which attacks in all directions indiscriminately.

"That is, the enemy is the operator of ancient magic?" Do you know who exactly? - Asked Masaki, to which Mayumi said "Hey! ~". Tatsuya could not admit out loud that he had finally heard the most useful question.

- I wrote down the sequence of activation of that magic. A check is currently in progress. "Until Tatsuya decided not to tell the truth." The fact that he is looking for the culprit was not a lie. Although he already knew the name and address, it was not Gu Jie, so he considered this information useless. What clues can be obtained from the magician of ancient magic, Oumi Kazuki? Connections around the country, places he visited, people he met. Which organization belonged to. There was nothing that could lead to Gu Jie. He must have already left the house of Oumi, but he could have left a mark. This case was transferred to Ayako and Yuka, and Tatsuya was waiting for news from them. He called Fumiya, because Tsukuba specialized in the magic of Mental Intervention, which could help the Kurobaa in their investigation.

"Did you record the sequence?" How the hell ...

The activation sequence is a program inside CAD, which is an electronic version of the sequence of magic. Recording sequences of magic - the existing technology, there is nothing impossible. However, in modern magic, it is also possible to observe the application of magic directly in battle, to see the magical processes constructing it, and to record them if required. Not surprisingly, Masaki asked this question.

"... no, I'm just on my nerves." I apologize. - Masaki did not wait for an answer and bowed, apologizing. Among magicians, it is considered a bad form to be interested in the secrets of rivals. Masaki instantly realized the error and corrected himself before he heard reproaches from interlocutors.

- Nothing wrong. But I hope that you will promise to keep it a secret.

- Naturally. So, Shiba, when will we get the results of the check?

Tatsuya, smiling, accepted an apology, and Katsuto translated the conversation to the main topic. Removing the smile, Tatsuya looked at Katsuto.

- I think the results will be tomorrow. We will inform sempais as soon as we find a clue. Of course, Ichijo also.

- Have agreed. I entrust this to the Yotsuba family.

Neither Mayumi nor Masaki disputed Katsuto's decision. Instead, Mayumi watched Katsuto turn to face Miyuki.

"Miyuki-san, today you had a hard day." First of all, it's good that no one was hurt.

- Thank you very much for your concern. Miyuki bowed slightly, waiting for further words. It was unnecessary to say that Mayumi was talking about something else.

- I heard from my sister that these "humanists" aimed directly at Miyuki-san?

Under the sister, she meant Izumi, by itself. Apparently she did not fully explain what had happened, so Miyuki decided to make corrections.

- No, initially they attacked other students, but when they noticed us, they changed their purpose.

- All the same, it seems they knew in advance about Miyuki-san.

Mayumi wanted to say that they "knew that Miyuki was the heiress of the Yotsuba family." Miyuki waved her head in denial.

- It seems that I was known to them only as "President of the school board of First High."

The only mention of the Ten Master Clans was when in Izumi the crowd recognized a member of the Saegusa family.

- In any case, the "humanists" after all, regardless of the original goal, attacked Shiba-san? - Masaki intervened in the conversation.

- We also think so. "Mayumi sharply stated, beating ahead of Miyuki's and Tatsuya's objections." "That's why Miyuki-san, will you allow me to add additional security to you?"

Miyuki was embarrassed by the proposal of Mayumi.

"A bodyguard?" But I...

I have Onii-sama, she wanted to say, but she began to realize that this was not the case. At the moment, Tatsuya is on a quest to find Gu Jie and he can leave for a long time. Although Tatsuya protects Miyuki from any distance, watching her with his "vision", this ability is a secret and cannot be disclosed to outsiders. Mayumi cannot be persuaded if he does not disclose the details of Tatsuya's abilities. Today they were lucky because of Tatsuya's premonition that he appeared on the spot and solved the problem without magic.

"Is this to catch the enemy who planned today's attack on Miyuki?"

Tatsuya's heavy voice made Miyuki feel uncomfortable. Tatsuya looked in turn at Katsuto and Mayumi, and stopped to look at Masaki.

- Ichijo. Do you plan to use Miyuki as a bait?

- Of course not! - Masaki quickly responded in an agitated voice. "I would never do that." If you need a bait, take me!

Masaki's words showed no deception, but Tatsuya's eyes remained sharp.

"I do not deny the bait plan itself."

Masaki showed a face that expressed "that's hell."

- Was it Kichijouji's idea?

p75

Masaki could not object to him, because he was in the top ten. Indeed, it was Ichijo's plan to use as a bait.

Ignoring the tense atmosphere, Katsuto broke the silence.

- The next head of Yotsuba cannot be left unaccompanied, as for terrorists it will be a tasty morsel. Of course, I want to take a chance to catch a clue in the search for Gu Jie.

Everyone realized that under the "next head of Yotsuba" Katsuto meant Miyuki. He realized that Tatsuya's charge did not contain malicious intent.

- But this is not the main goal. The main task of the escort is to protect the next head. Shiba, Saegusa came up with this so you could focus on the investigation.

Tatsuya looked at Mayumi. Their eyes met.

- ...Clear. - said Tatsuya and softened his eyes. - Then I give up my previous words. I will organize protection by the forces of Yotsuba.

This meant rejecting Mayumi's offer. Given her character, she wanted to protect Miyuki with all her heart, but she did not know that this was all her father's plan. It was more than just a defense.

- That's how ... Given the situation of Miyuki-san, this is quite natural.

"No, thank you for your concern." - Miyuki slightly bowed to Mayumi.

Mayumi smiled and shook her head, seeing the familiar picture already.

- Juumonji-senpai. Tatsuya spoke to Katsuto, looking from the girls. Hearing Tatsuya's voice, Katsuto's gaze invited me to continue.

"After all, I am the only one who used physical violence in that incident," humanists "suffered from my hands. If you need bait, why not use me?

But the first responded Mayumi, not Katsuto.

- Hyena will not go against the lion. Because he can attack in return, and it hurts.

- In addition, the bait should be an easy prey, and not a bunch of complex tests.

Katsuto caught Mayumi's rush and added his argument.

- Juumonji-kun. Do you really plan to make Miyuki-san a bait?

- Saegusa. Do not talk about it as someone else's business. Not only the next head of Yotsuba is the goal of the anti-magical movement. You, as the eldest daughter of the Saegusa family, can also become a target.

Puzzled, Mayumi looked at him and clapped her eyes.

"In today's incident ..." Miyuki said, Mayumi, who had lost her gift of speech. - I was not the only goal of humanists. I just heard them pointing at Izumi-chan and pronounced "She is from the Saegusa family".

Miyuki did not aspire to catch a spectacular moment to speak out, it came out by accident. The views of the three guys stopped at Mayumi.

"... Er, I?" Mayumi looked at the others with a frightened face.

- Saegusa. Where is your guard?

"I'm all right." I can stand up for myself.

Katsuto shook his head.

- Saegusa-senpai does not want to be protected?

- Clear. Katsuto's voice followed Tatsuya's words, but this time he nodded.

"Hey, I'm telling you it's all right."

- I do not doubt the skill of Saegusa, but in an emergency situation it may take more.

"It's not a reason to use the guards!"

- True? I remember seeing some strange shadow next to the university ...

- Strangers are not allowed into the territory of the campus!

Apparently, the guards of the Saegusa family for Miyuki managed to escape. Watching Katsuto with Mayumi, Tatsuya and Miyuki thought so.



◊ ◊ ◊



While Tatsuya and the others were already finishing the meeting, Kokonoye Yakumo received an unexpected guest. Yakumo was sitting at the end of the room, wearing an ordinary monk's robe. Being a self-named hermit, he was an opponent of luxury. The guest was like a foreigner. Although the old age was felt, the width of the shoulders showed developed musculature. Sitting opposite him, Yakumo felt young and insignificant. The head of this man was also clean-shaven "under the monk." He was dressed in an expensive luxury brand suit. The suit suited him perfectly. It was a habit to wear expensive things. There was a feeling that luxury, symbolized by tailored high-end costume, seeped from the inside.

From under the gray, dense eyebrows, I could see a sharp look. He expressed his majesty with his face. However, the white, muddy left eye caused a strange feeling of oppression. The impression of heterogeneity should also be largely conditioned by this left eye.

- His Excellency visited this modest nameless temple ... What kind of wind could bring such a turn of events? - Yakumo slowly set before the guest a cup of tea. The guest took a cup, took one sip and put it back. Although this way of drinking ignored the rules of tea ceremonies, the guest was not intended to show his impoliteness.

- Anonymous temple? Your modesty sounds like tasteless sarcasm, Kokonee Yakumo.

"Forgive me for being rude." - Cunningly looking at the one whom he called "His Excellency," Yakumo answered him.

"I do not think that the chief priest of some nameless church could talk like this to me, Todo Aoba."

- Oh, you do not like it?

- No. I rather liked it. - Elder Todo took a cup, and finished his tea. - I want more.

Yakumo smiled and took the cup. He boiled water on a wood stove with a hood (it fitted the interior of the room and was also used for heating in winter), and making tea, spoke in a relaxed voice.

"So, Your Excellency, what business do you have for us today?"

Yakumo brewed green tea, but instead of putting the cup in front of Elder Todo, he raised his head and spoke.

"You came last month." Why should I be obliged to see the face of the commander so soon again?

"Last month," Yakumo was the 4th of January. Then Tatsuya and Miyuki visited the temple and the person, because of whom they had to wait, was the one who was sitting in front of Yakumo.

- Kokonee Yakumo, I want to lend your power. - The answer of Elder Todo was simple and informative.

- What can a simple Buddhist monk serve His Excellency?

"Stop yelling." Your magic, perhaps, confirms the reincarnation of Kasinkodzi, if you do not help, then no one can.

[note. trans.: Kasinkodzi - a myth about a ninja who lived around the 16th and 17th century, and publicly showed some magical tricks.]

- Hmm. It is said that Kasinkodzi was most likely an ordinary magician. Is it possible to use the term "reincarnation" - a little bit too much?

- This myth came to us from times when magic was still considered an invention. It's useless to try to fool me. I know about your abilities.

After thinking, Yakumo scratched his bald head.

"... So, the elder." Giving you your strength for what? - Initially, Yakumo did not even think of escaping this old man. He was perfectly aware of who this old man was with a dull left eye.

"Gu Jie, a magician from the continent, is walking loose, it's just unthinkable. The technique of using puppet corpses is disgusting. He uses it indiscriminately, you need to do something about it.

"The Elder." For a simple monk, this will be difficult.

- I'm not talking about the exorcism ceremony. You are required to stop desecration.

"In other words, do you want to get rid of Gu Jie because of his joke?"

Sigh Yakumo this time was not an acting game.

"You just need to drive him out of Japan." It does not matter whether dead or alive.

"If his Excellency asks, I cannot refuse."

"I do not control those of Yotsuba anymore." Now I'm just a sponsor.

Yakumo pretended not to hear the old man's words. Previously, this old man was the owner of the Fourth Magic Research Laboratory, and now he is simply sponsoring Yotsuba. Although you cannot say "just" sponsors. Yakumo knew this.

- If this modest monk will put his hand, then in the main temple there will be a noise.

This was not an excuse. Yakumo was sent to do dirty work, such was the reality. Nevertheless, there was no point in complaining to this old man Todo Aobe.

"It's already been discussed at Mount Hiii."

This old man clearly had power and connections to be able to influence the right people.

"That's how it is ..."

Yakumo often sighed today, it was for him an unusual behavior.

"And yet, I do not expect much from you." I'm no longer in that position now.

- First of all, try to specify something specific. Regardless of whether you think this is possible or not.

For Yakumo it was a unique phenomenon to say such words. For example, Kudo Retsu was older than Todo Aoba, but even he could not refuse such a "request."

"We need you to do this with Shiba Tatsuya's force."

"... Did this boy take a liking to His Excellency?"

"Though he appeared by chance, he is one of the best of its kind." I need him to be useful for some time.

Yakumo felt compassion for Tatsuya. He understood that this old man looks at Tatsuya as a guinea pig trying to collect more useful data. He wants to get it in his hands. Yakumo believed that Tatsuya would be difficult to avoid this fate.

In addition, Yakumo did not know that Tatsuya was already engaged in this business.

"But is he suitable for such a thing as eliminating Gu Jie?"

"I think it's worth not fearing the clash between Shiba Tatsuya and Gu Jie."

- Are you worried about the possibility of a direct collision with the Stars?

Yakumo also knew that a certain senior Star officer had recently infiltrated the territory of Japan. It was not known at what stage their investigation was, but one thing was clear - he was sent here to destroy Gu Jie with his own hands. They do not want Gu Jie to fall into the hands of the Japanese authorities. Perhaps there are facts about which the Japanese side should not know.

If Tatsuya follows Gu Jie's trail, it's easy to predict that this representative of the Stars will one day rise in his path. Yakumo did not think that this is a situation where one must be at enmity.

- Speaking of pure combat power, I think the second issue of Stars Benjamin "Canopus" Lowes will lose to Shiba Tatsuya-kun.

- This is if there is a fight without rules.

- Clear.

Yakumo understood the anxiety of Elder Todo. He was worried about breaking the "rules". Todo Aoba tried to avoid getting "creating" Yotsuba on the battlefield, where victory and defeat is achieved not only by firepower.

"I'd like to ask you to make sure that Shiba Tatsuya does not get into this situation."

- And what about the search for Gu Jie?

- If possible, take it alive, but do not take chances. After all, in any case, before him, sooner or later, the Stars will get.

In other words, Gu Jie can also be killed by the Stars. They do not care about the reputation of the Ten Master Clans. For Elder Todo, it seemed to be a good decision if the Ten Master Clans get into a quandary.

"If you say so, I do not mind." This humble monk and Shiba Tatsuya-kun will take care of this problem.

"Thank you." Ten zabutonov as a payment suitable?

[note. Zabuton is a Japanese cushion for sitting on the floor]

"Zabuton" here was a code word among Japanese shadow entrepreneurs, and meant 10,000 banknotes of 10,000 yen, that is 100 million yen. 10 "pillows" meant 1 billion yen.

Yakumo shook his head with a bitter smile.

- No no. This humble monk is a hermit. There is no need for a material reward, like money.

This time Todo shook his head.

- The truth is that I have nothing more valuable. At least I think so. If you do not need money, how about a new Buddha statue that I recently bought, to replace your cracked one?

The proposed statue was of pure gold.

- Thank you for taking care of the temple.

"I'll leave formalities for you." It sounds like a bargain.

Todo stood up, his hand on his knee. This variant of getting up gave the aura of the old experienced man. A second later Yakumo got up, without making a sound.

"Tea is usually not tasty, but today I'm pleased with the results of the visit."

After these words, Todo, Yakumo smiled opened the sliding door.





Chapter 12



When Tatsuya and Miyuki returned home, it was ten o'clock in the evening. This time was not considered late for high school students. Minami, as expected, has not slept yet.

- Welcome back. - Changed the clothes to the working (in other words, to the maid) Minami greeted Tatsuya with Miyuki at the front door.

- We have returned. Did someone call or leave messages?

After Tatsuya's question, Minami's face took on a mixed expression, with a hint of hesitation and embarrassment.

"Since your departure, Kurobaa-sama and Tsukuba-sama have not been contacted."

Tatsuya was waiting for the results of the search in the house of the magician, discovered by the feedback of the spell. But Minami's behavior said that there was a message from someone else.

"You'll tell me in the living room."

- As you wish.

Tatsuya and Miyuki went into the living room and sat on the sofa, Minami stood in front of them and voiced the message received in their absence.

"An urgent message came from First High.

- Urgent?

"Yes, Miyuki-sama." Although the content of the message is not something bad, but I felt it necessary to notify you about it today.

- So, what's in the message?

"They said the school was closed from tomorrow." Originally planned until Saturday the 23rd, but there is the possibility of increasing the duration.

The brother and sister were very surprised at this news.

"... So suddenly."

- ... Recently in the Second High something similar happened. I quite understand why they went for this.

Tatsuya as well as Miyuki, expressed surprise at what he heard. But putting forward this theory, he agreed with the leadership of the school.

- I understand ... However, something worries me. - Miyuki put her hands to her cheeks and sighed slightly.

- What happened?

Miyuki, hearing the question of his brother, was slightly embarrassed, and looked him in the eyes.

"After that incident, we went straight home from the police station ... Personal things were left in the school locker."

From the behavior of Miyuki Tatsuya realized that she had left there something that others should not see.

"I'll go to school tomorrow."

Miyuki looked at Tatsuya in surprise.

"But Onii-sama." Will the school be closed?

"I think they'll let me go for a little while to pick up my personal belongings." You cannot give up an idea without trying.

Miyuki did not say that there was something important.

- I realized.

But she was obviously worried. In the end, Miyuki insisted that she should go for things with Tatsuya.

 Tatsuya stayed at home this night. He knew the place from which the control of the magic of spirits was carried out. Although the circumstances required action, Tatsuya's choice was different.

"Miyuki, are you feeling any better?" "Towards midnight, when they were about to sleep, Tatsuya knocked on the door of Miyuki's room.

- Oh yeah. Wait a bit.

On the other side of the door came a confused voice. It was heard as Miyuki in a hurry is doing something.

- I beg. Come in, Onii-sama.

Before him appeared blushing Miyuki, apparently it was due to the fact that she was wearing only a robe on her naked body. However, the robe was not fastened. Perhaps it was because of haste.

Despite the appearance of Miyuki, Tatsuya went into her room.

"Please come in, sit down."

"No, I'll stand here." Tatsuya did not go beyond the door.

"Onii-sama?"

- Miyuki. I'll probably say a strange thing now ...

- Yes? Miyuki bowed her head in question. It was the brother's strange behavior and she was puzzled.

"Can you get up early tomorrow?"

"Why is Onii-sama so very interested in such a small thing ...?"  - Reflecting on this, Miyuki automatically answered "Yes."

- Yes. Let me clarify, what time do I have to get up tomorrow?

Tatsuya's answer was within the expected.

- Come to our underground laboratory at 4 o'clock.

"... It's pretty early."

"Yes, I'm sorry, but ..."

- No, everything is okay!

Realizing that she looked upset in her brother's eyes, she tried to change the impression of herself by rejecting words that sounded like a complaint. Her complaints were completely groundless, so she decided for herself.

- Here's how. Tatsuya's gaze showed surprise for a moment. But quickly returned to his usual expressionless state.

"Onii-sama, did you want something else?" Please, do not be shy, talk. "Miyuki noticed Tatsuya's hesitation, and asked straight.

The dressing gown slightly opened, Tatsuya's eyes stopped on that convex place where there was no underwear at the moment. Realizing what he saw, he looked up sharply, and, restraining tension, answered.

"Take a bath before you go to the lab." Or simply the soul will be enough, the main thing to be clean.

- Good. Miyuki said in an elevated tone. Her heart was pounding in her chest, she tried to hide her concern from Tatsuya's words.

- Be dressed in a robe and underwear, no, better swimsuit.

Miyuki thought her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

- Good. And ... this ... is there a CAD setting? - Miyuki suppressed the excitement and decided to clarify, as the visit to the laboratory was at an unplanned time.

- No, it's different. Tatsuya said this, and looked away. Noticing this, Miyuki followed his gaze.

"Onii-sama he was embarrassed?"

"I'll tell you when you come." Sorry, I'm counting on you.

Quickly, Tatsuya left Miyuki's room. As soon as the door closed, Miyuki sat on the floor. Hands, attached to the cheeks, felt the heat.

Remembering that "I must get up at 3 o'clock in the morning," she sluggishly went to bed. Fearing lack of sleep, she forced herself to fall asleep quickly, showing herself an image of how she looked sleepy in front of her brother. Although perhaps she quickly disconnected because of the amount of excitement that has just taken away from her a lot of strength.



◊ ◊ ◊



After waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning, Miyuki washed herself, put on a new underwear, threw on her robe and tied a belt. Tatsuya said "swimsuit", but it seemed to her that this linen would do.

Sitting in front of the mirror, she combed her hair for a long time. Her hair was not tangled, the comb easily passed them the first time. The look stopped on cosmetics, but in the end she decided to go without make-up. She thought that her brother did not need it. Also fragrant shampoo was used. There were no more ideas how to improve your image.

So Miyuki understood Tatsuya's words "you must be clean."



At 4 o'clock Miyuki went to the underground laboratory. This was the room where she conducted the first flight test flight.

"It's Miyuki."

"Come in."

Miyuki took a deep breath and opened the door to the lab. Going inside, she stopped suddenly. It was because of Tatsuya's appearance. He was wearing only tight trunks.

In this room it was warmer than in the other rooms of the house. Perhaps the temperature was adjusted so specifically to match bathing suits.

Only a moment Miyuki felt indecisive.

She unbuttoned her belt, and the robe, slipping on the body, fell to the floor.

Now it was Tatsuya's turn to be fascinated by what he saw. At first he expected that under the robe would be a one-piece closed swimsuit.

But in reality.

Closing only a small part of the skin, she was wearing a white bra and panties, decorated with lots of lace.

Black or red color would look sexy, but here was used white, which caused the impression of elegance.

Of course, the atmosphere itself was created not only by linen, but also by its owner.

"... Onii-sama."

Blushing Miyuki (if you look closely, the red face was not only the face, but also the neck and chest top) looked down and spoke to Tatsuya.

"Please tell me ..."

Even if she is now ordered to "take off all the underwear," she will not dare to object. Her voice exuded readiness for everything.

"... Before we get to the main topic, listen to me a little."

- ...Good.

They stood about two meters apart when Tatsuya spoke.

"As you know, my "eye" does not have the function of clairvoyance. This ability does not automatically find and show everything I want to know, but requires a selective approach based on cause-effect relationships to find the required information.

- I believe that this is a great ability, able to reliably read the information to which to aim.

Miyuki praised her brother, but he did not change his tone.

- Of course, this requires a lot of time and effort, but the probability of obtaining a result is higher than with complete care in the subconscious. However, in order to go deeper into the genealogical tree of causality, clairvoyance is required, and more resources are needed for it.

- Magical resources?

- Attention, concentration, patience, multifaceted thinking ... they can be achieved without magic, but there will be no inconvenience if they turn out to be "magical resources".

- Yes, I understand that. "Listening to Tatsuya's story, Miyuki looked at him. Seeing the enthusiasm in her eyes, Tatsuya nodded and continued the story.

- I'm not talking about the theory as a whole, it's about the current mission. eyes I saw Gu Jie in Zama. Since then, there has been no information where he hides, but even without a causal relationship, only with the information obtained at the very beginning, it is possible to find it. But this is only possible if you provide yourself with enough resources.

- Not enough magical resources? Can I help you?

- No, by using all my resources, I can find a person anywhere in the country according to his informational body. And even 100% of the resources will not be used. According to my calculations, 70% of the resources allocated for the "Elemental Eye" are required.

Hearing this, Miyuki frowned. But less than 5 seconds later she opened her eyes wide.

- Is it because of the resources that are involved in my defense !?

Tatsuya nodded with a bitter look.

- I constantly use half of my resources "Elemental Eye" for watching you.

Regardless of the distance, Tatsuya's magic will always eliminate any threat to Miyuki.

No one can hurt her, because he always "sees" her.

Constantly, 24 hours a day, without interruptions. Of course, when he sleeps, he does not use any magic. Nevertheless, observation works in the unconscious area of the mind even during sleep. He continues to "see." If danger threatens Miyuki, he is sure that he will immediately wake up, no matter how hard he would have slept. No, the word "sure" does not fit here, it's a system that works 100%.

But the system may fail due to a lack of resources. Now was just such a situation.

- Oni-sama, free up the resources that fall on me right now! I'm near. So do not watch me with the "Elemental Eye"!

Miyuki, of course, spoke, following her character. Her words meant for Tatsuya the refusal of the duties of the guard. If it was not she, he might have agreed.

- But Tatsuya shook his head. I cannot do it.

- Why? There are no enemies here. This room is a dungeon with thick walls, it's hard to reach even for magic place. Even if magic is applied, it will be detected by multiple sensors, which you use here for experiments. Oh, this Onii-sama must understand better than me.

- Exactly because of this reason.

Miyuki looked at Tatsuya, and his confused look only added question marks over her head.

"It's true, but ... I cannot do it because of my emotional problem."

Miyuki held her breath. The question marks in her subconscious were replaced by exclamation marks.

- Miyuki. I am very worried about the opportunity to remove your eyes from you. I'm afraid that having removed the eyes even for a hundredth of a second, and not knowing that you are all right ... I can go crazy.

- Onii-sama ...

Miyuki barely found the strength to say it. The only real feeling that Tatsuya can experience is love for her younger sister Miyuki. This Miyuki heard earlier from her mother.

But now was the first time she heard the same thing directly from Tatsuya, also with details that he could go mad with love.

"The theory is known to me." Even if you remove the eyes, I will be there and if something happens, I'll notice it. If you let go of surveillance, you are no longer so weak and defenseless as before. You have grown since then, since Okinawa. I understand it.

Tatsuya tore his eyes from Miyuki and sighed with a self-reproached face.

"However, feelings and theory are two different things. If you leave Gu Jie, like today's incident will happen again. As a result, the risk of injury will only increase. To move forward in this situation, I understand that I should concentrate the "Elemental Eye" on Gu Jie, but my feelings interfere with me.

Tatsuya pointed to his heart with the thumb of his right hand, and shook his head, indicating that he was in turmoil.

- I think I first realized that emotions are such a troublesome thing.

Miyuki jerked to Tatsuya and grabbed his right hand, pressing against her.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

Their eyes met.

Tatsuya's eyes looked into Miyuki's eyes.

- Oh yes. Miyuki, please help me.

- Yes, anything, anything!

It seems at this moment Miyuki completely forgot about the shame.

Tatsuya, it seems, was a little embarrassed.

"The fact that I cannot take your eyes off you was just one of the answers.

Understanding Miyuki's suggestion to continue, Tatsuya overcame his embarrassment and spoke.

"I'm afraid I cannot understand if you're safe."

"... But, Onii-sama." Miyuki's here.

Miyuki still could not understand Tatsuya's words about his "eye."

- What can be seen with ordinary vision is only light and shadow.

It was useless. What does Tatsuya see as a eyes? Apart from himself, no one knows this.

- Those who see the world only with the naked eye, will not experience problems, seeing only light and shadow. But I always saw you with a "eye."

Super-perception Tatsuya can read information much greater than the signal received through the main five senses.

This super-perception, sometimes called the "eye of the spirits," Tatsuya always targets Miyuki. For Tatsuya Miyuki - a much more information-rich entity than other people, objects, landscapes, information about which is covered only by five senses.

For Tatsuya, people other than Miyuki look like pathetic shadows, like ancient rock carvings on a cave wall.

- By observing with simple vision, after seeing the eyes, I will not feel that you are safe. This prevents the release of resources.

Tatsuya put his left hand to Miyuki's hand, which she grabbed at his right hand.

"Therefore, Miyuki." Help me to be calm.

Miyuki, focused on Tatsuya, did not notice herself nodding.



Tatsuya, still in some swimming trunks, was sitting on the floor in the center of the laboratory. It was not the pose of a lotus or half-lotus, but simply a relaxed sitting with legs crossed. No, we will not be misleading that he "just" was sitting. Because dressed only in lacy lingerie Miyuki was sitting at his feet, with his back to him. Tatsuya's hands stretched to the left and right of Miyuki's body, holding Miyuki's left hand with his right hand and Miyuki's right hand with his left hand. It's as if he announced "I will never let you go."

The skin of Miyuki blushed slightly not only on her face, but also on her whole body, to her feet. The fact that she was not "red as a ripe tomato" may have been the ability to maintain an exquisite balance between excitement and stress. But still it seemed from the side that she was not well.

- Miyuki. Tatsuya called her name, speaking right next to her ear. Warm breath tickled the ear lobe. "Please release more power."

In response to Tatsuya's words, Miyuki strongly squeezed his hands.

"N-I cannot ...!" Miyuki groaned loudly. Almost screamed, but the breath that was knocked down did not let me speak normally.

These hands are big, masculine.

Hands tightly embraced her body.

With her back, she felt the warmth of the body of a man who is her elder brother and fiancé.

She could not understand, the quick heartbeat that she felt was Tatsuya or her own. For Miyuki this was indistinguishable at the moment.

"It seems you're a bit overheated." Calm down.

Miyuki was embarrassed to death. She wanted to hide her face in her hands, but they were both busy. At least he saved that he would not see her face, because she was sitting with her back to him.

But that did not mean that she was uncomfortable. Rather, she was glad that she was hugged in this way.

That's why she was embarrassed.

"Not that I wanted to do something" obscene ... "

Miyuki was desperate to convince herself. For the pupil of the second year of the senior school, her knowledge in this area was rather meager, because she was brought up in isolation, but undoubtedly, some knowledge was already available.

In a half-naked form, alone with the opposite sex. The situation was on the edge, but that's all. Only a hug from behind.

Tatsuya's hands hold Miyuki's hands.

The hands of Miyuki hold Tatsuya's hands

Between them there is not even a hint of affection.

But still...

"My mind seems to melt simultaneously with the body ..."

In order not to faint, she could not even stop thinking, no matter how hard she tried.

Suddenly Tatsuya's quiet voice penetrated Miyuki's ear.

- Your tender skin, the warmth of your body, are felt even with your eyes closed. You are now really in my hands.

- I'm here. Onii-sama will protect me. - The answer broke without thinking.

p104

"Therefore, Onii-sama ..."

"... not worrying about anything ..."

"... feel free to choose ..."

- ... use the full power of Onii-sama ...

Maybe it was something like a trance state. Like a holy maiden speaking from heaven, or as mediums or shamans, when talking to gods. Miyuki's words launched Tatsuya's "strength." The resources responsible for it were released. eyes Tatsuya swept across the sea of information in search of answers. All cause and effect relationships in the giant "tree" were viewed in an instant.

Finally, he noticed the enemy's track.



◊ ◊ ◊



Responsible for the attack in Hakone, a native of the former Dahan, manipulator of corpses, illegal migrant, magician of ancient magic, Gu Jie, woke up, feeling a sudden stabbing gaze.

He did not understand where they looked from. They did not look from the room, nor from the whole building. The look was as if from another world, as if looked from underworld.

Before the enemy could identify his identity, Gu Jie used a blocking curse to block an enemy spell.

This magic was the development of the Kunlunfang Institute, and was obtained by the study of the ancient magic of interaction with the stars, in particular with the Dipper Bucket. It was intended for limited protection of DS from modern magic. He did not know how long she could restrain the enemy, and what would happen if the enemy appeared on the line of sight.

But the next moment he fell under the psion pressure that tore his defensive spell. Gu Jie tried to quickly build a new protective spell. He held his breath.

The next attack was not followed. Breathing hard, but mentally appreciated the damage. There is no pain anywhere, the magic of preserving youth is not damaged.

As Gu Jie tried to investigate himself, he could not understand how much damage he had received by the previous attack. There was no sign that it was magic with activation delay. It was very scary to realize that he did not understand what was happening now. But there was no doubt that this place became known to the enemy. He decided to run away now.



◊ ◊ ◊



Miyuki came to herself, sensing the signs of strong magic from Tatsuya's body. Before she could get her embarrassment back, Tatsuya freed her hands and let her go. Miyuki quickly got up, taking care that her brother was not uncomfortable.

Feeling with her back that Tatsuya also rose, Miyuki stopped. However, the expected embrace did not happen, Tatsuya avoided it.

Going to the door, he stopped. Miyuki looked at him in the back, he spoke without turning around.

"Thank you, Miyuki."

Miyuki shivered with all her body, and not because of the cold.

"Was Miyuki useful?" - She asked in a joyful voice.

- Oh sure. - Tatsuya turned around, there was a smile on his face. "Let's get dressed and I'll tell you more."

Miyuki finally recovering, with a bright red face, and covering her chest with her hands, sat down on the floor. Tatsuya turned around and left the laboratory.



Although it was the fifth hour of the morning, she could not bring herself to sleep. Although she was sweating a little, she decided to take a shower after Tatsuya's story, so she was dressed in a robe, not in school uniform. When she came to the dining room, Tatsuya was waiting for her at the table in training clothes.

"Good morning, Miyuki-sama."

"Good, Minami-chan."

Yes, here was also Minami, dressed in a maid costume, which meant high professional skills.

"Would you like some tea?"

- Yes thank you.

Before Miyuki, who sat opposite Tatsuya, hot tea was already standing. The refreshing taste of tea cheered her and drove her sleepiness away.

"Minami, that's all." Rest a little.

"As you wish, Tatsuya-sama."

She bowed and left the dining room. She realized that it was not care for her, but a hint that the conversation would be private. Waiting until Minami came out, Tatsuya looked at Miyuki.

- Miyuki.

- Yes, Onii-sama.

Miyuki stretched out over the string, and tensed. The memory of direct contact with the skin Tatsuya surfaced in her mind. Her response was uttered in a tongue-tied tongue.

"I'm sorry for what happened."

However, seeing the care of Tatsuya about herself, Miyuki relaxed.

- ... To be useful to Onii-sama ... no, to belong to Onii-sama is happiness for Miyuki.

Miyuki shook her head with a happy smile.

"Moreover, Onii-sama, were your actions successful?" - Without expecting any excuses from Tatsuya, she translated the conversation to the main topic. Without squandering her expectation, he immediately spoke.

- Of course, I found a goal.

- So the problem is solved?

Miyuki did not even realize that she was not against killing a person. Or, to be precise, does not have anything against Tatsuya killing people. If Tatsuya decides to kill someone, this person will surely die. Such a distorted thinking for her was involuntarily in the order of things.

- No, I did not erase it.

If the target is visible in the information dimension, the physical distance for Tatsuya does not matter. Live or not living matter, people or things, it does not matter. Clearly realizing that Miyuki was referring to the "problem solved," Tatsuya shook his head.

"May I ask why?"

Miyuki did not criticize her decision with Tatsuya's decision. She just wondered why it did not coincide with her expectations. The reason for pardoning Gu Jie was unknown to her.

"The purpose of my assignment is not to kill the enemy." It is necessary to publicly show that the perpetrator of the terrorist act is punished. - Indirect answer Tatsuya was sufficient for Miyuki.

- Does it mean that the imperceptible elimination of the goal means the failure of the mission?

- Right. Although both-ue said that she does not care if he dies or not, naturally, it will be better to catch him alive. Or at least there should be a situation when he, being persecuted, is cornered and killed so that the corpse remains as evidence.

- This is necessary in order to present him as responsible for the terrorist attacks, and to show people that he is finished.

Tatsuya nodded at Miyuki's words.

Miyuki seemed to be pleased to hear Tatsuya's explanation, but suddenly her eyes widened.

So, why do not you have time for your opponent? It's found. Do not you have to go right now?

Seeing Miyuki's puzzled look, Tatsuya grinned.

- Everything is fine. At that moment, I put a mark on it.

"... The mark?"

- Yes. For this method, we must thank Zhou Gunjin. It helped me to get to it.

Pursuing Zhou Gunjin in Kyoto, Tatsuya failed to break through his technique Kimon Tonko on his own. Zhou Gunjin could not leave only because of the blood of Nakura, who remained in his body after their battle, and did not disappear only because of the very strong "will" of Nakura, his "desire" to fight.

Tatsuya has no ability to blow his blood. During the development of measures against the Parasites, he created a magic technique of squeezing a large mass of psions into a tiny psion bullet, the signal of which can be tracked for several days. During training with Yakumo, Tatsuya found that this magic gives an idea of the location of the target with such efficiency that Kimon Tonko becomes absolutely useless.

- In Zama I was distracted, and I did not have time to apply it. But now the location of Gu Jie can be determined without allocating additional resources. - Tatsuya said.

The target is detected.

Miyuki realized these words, said by her brother, and could no longer doubt them.



◊ ◊ ◊



Tatsuya as usual came to the training in the temple Kokonoe, without any vanity or complacency. He had already explained to Miyuki that his mission was only to catch the target, and not to kill her. For this it was required to organize search groups. But to communicate with the responsible people was still too early.

So he decided to kill time after training with Yakumo.

However, after the end of the usual sparring, something unusual happened.

"Tatsuya-kun, how's the investigation going?" - Sitting on the floor of the main hall, and sipping tea, brewed by the student, Yakumo spoke in a tone of secular conversation.

- Bad. "... it was until yesterday" - Tatsuya answered, skipping this reservation.

"To the extent that there is no sign of impatience." - Yakumo joked, not showing obvious interest.

- In the end, this is the task of other people.

This time the words "... until the day before yesterday" were omitted. After the attack on Miyuki, the capture and destruction of Gu Jie became Tatsuya's personal affair.

- Another's work ... It seems that they work diligently, though ...

"It's their job." Now I cannot interfere.

Ignoring the grinning Yakumo, Tatsuya asked the opposite question.

"How unusual." The Master takes care of my mission?

- Nothing unusual. You really helped us a lot during the "vampire incident" and "incident with parasites"?

- In other words, does this mean that there are circumstances that the master cannot ignore?

"Even hermits cannot completely avoid the problems of this world." Annoying problems.

From the word "annoying", said Yakumo, Tatsuya was unable to recognize signs of irritation.

"Could you help us find Gu Jie, the user of ancient magic from the former Dahan, who is responsible for the recent terrorist attack?"

Tatsuya saw vague signs of an invitation, seized this thread and asked for cooperation. He suggested that he would receive a refusal in reply, so he spoke in a voice in which sarcasm was felt.

- Good.

Having lost the gift of speech, Tatsuya nodded instantly.

- What happened? Are you surprised by something?

Honestly, Tatsuya thought he would lose here if he backs up. He decided to humbly raise the white flag. Although he understood that he had already been defeated.

- It's amazing. I did not expect that we would come to an agreement, only a few phrases.

- It's only cooperation. Just a little help.

Tatsuya has not yet learned to understand what Yakumo is thinking with his usual lazy grin.

"Then I'll think about what I would like to ask."

- Good. Let's use the available forces within the limits of opportunity. And by the way, there are no more techniques that I could teach you.

- I know it.

At the moment, Tatsuya did not know that there was someone else who allowed Yakumo to intervene, and what other words were said in that conversation.



◊ ◊ ◊



Back home from training, Tatsuya dressed as usual in school uniforms and they went to school.

He did not forget that the school is closed from today. He was going to pick up personal belongings with Miyuki and Minami, which Miyuki mentioned yesterday, after returning from the police station.

At that time schoolchildren no longer carried textbooks and notebooks with them, like 100 years ago.

However, for lessons in physical education and club activities, a change of clothes was required.

If you do not go into details, the school had a cheap laundry, which the pupils actively used, but none of the girls ever took clothes there, but only a uniform.

In addition, girls usually carried a lot of different things to school. Unlike guys who usually come to school empty-handed, the number of things brought by girls ranged from small to huge.

Although the gates were closed due to the closure of the school, the entrance procedure went smoothly. They were in uniform, as the rules said, and they carried an identification card of the student, so it's natural that there were no problems. They were not attacked on their way to school, and they did not meet any "demonstrations of protest." If everything goes at such a rate, they will very soon be able to return home. Tatsuya, Miyuki and Minami thought so.

The forecast itself was not wrong. However, the school had unexpected people.

- Shiba-san!

- Ichijou-san?

Masaki was alone in an empty Class 2A office.

- Did you come to study?

Miyuki asked in surprise, because she saw a lonely student at the school terminal, sitting in the classroom during an unplanned vacation.

- Hmm, yeah.

Masaki realized that this looks strange, and Miyuki responded with a bitter smile.

- In Third High today is not a day off ...

- Aha ...

Originally showing astonishment, Tatsuya now looked more convinced than Miyuki. Masaki after all used the terminals of First High to receive training from Third High remotely. He had a "place" in the class, but he was not a "pupil" of this class. The fact that this school was not closed at such a time was its standard.

Miyuki was surprised in response to Masaki's nod, which he again smiled bitterly.

- From tomorrow, Third High also closes, so I'm free from tomorrow morning.

Is it okay to miss today? Such words spun on Tatsuya's tongue, but in the end he did not say anything.

At that moment, the sound of attention was heard on the terminal used by Masaki. With a face expressing "traits," Masaki looked at the terminal. Miyuki, in a quiet step, not to interfere, went to the locker to pick up her things. After this, turning around at the exit, she apologized and left the class with Tatsuya.



◊ ◊ ◊



On the way home they did not encounter any problems. Tatsuya decided to think that the activists could not muster the strength for a new "demonstration" in the same place in just 2 days.

He was not dissatisfied or complained, but there was free time on the original search goal. Based on information that Masaki will be free only after dinner, Tatsuya agreed on the pursuit of Gu Jie.

"Tatsuya-kun, did you attack the trail of the terrorist leader?"

- Yes. A little earlier I received a message from family sources.

- Here's how ...

Mayumi stared judiciously from the screen of the videophone telling Tatsuya's lies. The incident took place in the territory of the Saegusa family, and it was probably interesting to her what the Yotsuba family was doing there. Tatsuya did not mention that in fact Yotsuba did not have much progress.

- Gu Jie, responsible for the attack in Hakone, is currently hiding in the city of Hiratsukaa.

"Uh, Hiratsukaa !?"

"It looks like the enemy did not move much from the very beginning." His movements were only in a small range. We decided that the enemy's plan would take advantage of the idea that the persecutors will decide that the perpetrator of serious crimes should run away.

- Here's how ...

Disappointment Mayumi was directed at herself, her father and elder brother. The search team, under the command of her older brother Tomokazu, was currently working in the interval from the Koto area to Narita. The direction towards Hakone, Izdu, and the Miura peninsula was abandoned, due to the low likelihood of the target being there.

But the criminal was in this area. This meant that the organized network of investigation was inadequate. Compared to Yotsuba's results, the Ten Master Clans in the person of the Saegusa family, who was appointed responsible for the investigation, looked mediocre. Mayumi found it hard to believe this.

- Saegusa-sempai, can we continue the conversation?

- Sorry about?

Mayumi looked helpless. Though her thoughts could not be read, she was given a miserable look. Nevertheless, Tatsuya did not console her, but only returned her consciousness to the current problem.

- In order not to give him time to prepare for an escape, you must move on to capture immediately. The problem of the terrorist attack in Hakone is not something that should be decided only by us. You should also consider connecting the police.

- Correctly. Explosions were held near the capital. The arrest of a criminal puts the prestige of the police at stake. If we do everything ourselves, it can leave a negative trace in relations with the police ...

Even if they catch Gu Jie, if relations with the police deteriorate along with it, the overall balance will be in the red. The Saegusa family had many active connections in the non-magical world, Mayumi immediately realized what Tatsuya means.

"Therefore, Saegusa-senpai." Could you mobilize the police to arrest Gu Jie?

On the screen, Mayumi frowned.

"Under what pretext?" Just saying that the information was provided by Yotsuba, I cannot get an arrest warrant.

At the words of Mayumi Tatsuya nodded without showing emotion.

- I know. If it was possible to connect the police in the usual way, I would not bother to senpai on this issue. Without sufficient evidence, I wondered if I could use the power of the Saegusa family to involve the police in the Kanto area.

It sounded like an open provocation, but Mayumi did not hide her sullen look.

"I'll try, but ... I do not think that my influence is better than that of Tatsuya-kun's girl."

Tatsuya was not going to scold her for playing such a word game. She decided to tease Tatsuya, calling Eric his girlfriend. Nevertheless, such actions did not make sense against Tatsuya.

"Then, if the sempai wants to cooperate with the Chiba family, let's talk with Erica."

In this case, the reputation of the Saegusa family may suffer.

"Please stop!"

Mayumi could not decide on involving the Chiba family on her own. No wonder she raised her voice and stopped him.

- As I said earlier, I would like to nominate squads as quickly as possible.

- I got it! I'll arrange it by evening! So do not scare me so much!

- Thank you very much, I rely on you.

Tatsuya did not object to the word "scare" Mayumi.



After finishing a video session with Mayumi, and also contacting Katsuto and Masaki, Tatsuya already decided that he could rest before the time of departure, when he heard the ring signal informing about the guests.

The guests were Fumiya and Ayako.

"Welcome, Ayako-san, Fumiya-kun." But do not you have to go to school today?

They talked in the living room, Miyuki was dressed in a modest outfit, which could also be used to go out into the street.

By the time it was almost 16:00. All schools of magic in Japan worked on the same schedule, from Monday to Friday until 15:20, except for club activities. Therefore, they would not have had time to get to the Fourth School here in such a short time. These two (both Fumiya and Ayako) were dressed in little attention. Baggage was not with him, it seems he was left at the hotel. Naturally, Miyuki asked "What about the school?", Not knowing the circumstances.

"Thank you for your concern, Miyuki-onesama." Today, the Fourth School is closed.

"Is that how it is?" I heard that Third High is working today.

To answer Tatsuya's question, Fumiya answered.

- Following the decision of First High, the leadership of the Second and Fourth also decided on such a measure. And from tomorrow, the decision will be supported by five more schools.

- I think they greatly exaggerate.

Tatsuya was stunned by the results of yesterday's incident, the main character of which was himself. It was completely wrong to comment on this, as if not being involved. Was it good or bad that there were no witnesses capable of indicating it?

Miyuki was targeted because she is the President of the Student Council of First High, this information was to reach the school's leadership, because Izumi was sent to tell.

"I have to somehow reassure Izumi-chan,"  Miyuki thought. If Izumi found out about this, she would probably dance in a frenzied dance with delight.

Tatsuya did not remember anything about Izumi and turned to the two people in front of him.

- So, why do not you finally voice the purpose of your visit?

The twins sitting in front of us exchanged glances and decided to respond. Not because of oppressive pressure, by itself.

- We found the corpse of the user of ancient magic, in the place received from you, Tatsuya-onisian. Oumi Kazukiyo, a magician of ancient magic, also known as the "puppeteer", who perfectly mastered the technique of continental magic, which manipulates corpses with the help of the magic of spiritual beings. This technique is different from the one used by our current goal, Gu Jie.

"Instead of directing the corpse directly, it controls the DS, infused into the body ... This is different from the magic of Gu Jie, about which we have heard. But the principles are similar, maybe it was his teacher? "To Tatsuya's question," Fumiya nodded without hesitation.

- Oumi was a descendant of a doctor who was naturalized from the continent about one hundred and fifty years ago. Dahan's officers, no, now the Great Asian Alliance should be proud that they could hide secret weapons for so long.

- This magic was inherited and transferred before the official recognition of the existence of magic.

Users of modern magic, even the strongest masters of their craft, are only newcomers, compared to users of ancient magic, honed their skills for centuries. It is hard to imagine what else could be expected. In addition, a purely Japanese name could be taken by parents with a view to mingling with local ones. But he himself seems to have gone in the opposite direction.

- The user of ancient magic with the necessary skills lived unnoticed and did nothing, and suddenly began to actively use this technique.

- Gu Jie simply used it as an instrument.

- Maybe.

- He can sympathize, but it does not justify it.

Without even thinking about empathy, Tatsuya continued to ask questions.

- Have other accomplices been found?

- An analysis of the residual energy in the house of Oumi showed that perhaps Gu Jie raised two more corpses ... Sorry, we could not find out the identity of these corpses.

"The fact that neither Kuroba nor Tsukuba could do this says that his skills are quite high.

- Yoshimi-san and Yuka-san are considered just like you, Tatsuya-onisaan.

After they become corpses, magicians and non-magicians cease to be anything different from each other. But the magician's corpse never resists magical examination. As soon as life has left the body, there are many opportunities for exploring the magic of perception.

The "No-Head Dragon" organization, under Gu Jie's control, was the technology of processing the magician's brain into a "sorcery booster". There was no reason to believe that Gu Jie could not do it himself.

Also in Kamakura, Gu Jie used the bodies of magicians, converted into Generators. There was no reason to do so, having another more effective ability. It was much more effective to involve enemies in suicide. In any case, Tatsuya thought so. However, what are these dead bodies that preserve their life?

It is well known that magic is the power of the soul. There is no reason to deny this. However, there is still no answer to the question "what is the soul"? All current explanations are at the level of hypotheses and assumptions.

Hypotheses suggest different options, from the theory of information fields, to theories of quantum entanglement. For example, there is a theory that answers the question "what is the soul made of," gives the answer "it is made of fuzz." On the question "where is the soul", there are options for answers: "in the information dimension," "there is a separate spiritual dimension," "the soul is material and is in our world," "there is no definite place and it is always on the move" - all these theories there are many followers.

If it turns out that the dead can use magic, it will mean that the soul does not require the existence of a life for existence. No, what then would be the difference between "life" and "death"?

Tatsuya knew by his example that one cannot resurrect those left behind by life. He knew not instinctively, but instinctively. His unique magic "recovery" told him this. She said that between life and death there is a clear boundary. If corpses can use the power of the soul - magic, then it is also possible that they can express intentions, emotions and memories, which according to theory are also products of the soul. That is, according to this theory, the dead must have the same personality as during life. And than it then differs from life ...?

"Onii-sama?"

"Tatsuya-san?"

- Tatsuya-onisan?

- Oh, I'm sorry. "The voices of Miyuki, Ayako, and Fumiya pushed Tatsuya out of his thoughts in the depths of his mind. Apparently his thoughts lasted too long, he thought.

"No, I'm sorry, we interrupted your reflections."

- Nothing. By the way ... - Tatsuya quickly changed the subject, not allowing Miyuki to take the blame on herself. - Going back to the first question, what is the reason why you came? Despite the fact that the message can be intercepted, it is not the only goal to provide results explicitly.

Saying this, Tatsuya looked at Fumiya and Ayako.

"You came to guard Miyuki while I was away?"

The twins withdrew their views, Ayako sighed.

"A good guess, Tatsuya-san, as expected from you."

Her words "good guess" meant that she realized that Tatsuya means "I do not understand your position and your feelings," and that does not mean his "approval." As if saying that he would "see" everything, he showed that they do not need to help.

"We were expelled from this operation so as not to interfere with the family of Juumonji and Saegusa. It's the same with our father and Yuka-san.

Of course, this operation was not so important as to expose the secret abilities of the families of Tsukuba and Kuroba in the magic of psychic interference that are unknown to the rest of the families of the Ten Master Clans. As a representative of Yotsuba, only Tatsuya can participate.

- The school was closed until the weekend, and we were allowed to become Miyuki-onesama's guards. Well, even if I say guards, Miyuki-onesama is still stronger than us.

"In that case, I'm counting on you until Sunday." Tatsuya nodded to Fumiya and Ayako, who sat with a grim look. - No, I can be calm, just because it will be you guys. Did you stay at the hotel until the weekend?

- Yes, right, could we stay here? A bed will not be required.

In other words, Fumiya had in mind that they would be on guard around the clock. As a guard, they did the work without jokes.

"If you two are not against sharing a room, it's better to pick up all the things from the hotel."

The guest room was now occupied by Minami, but there was still one spare room that used to be their parents' bedroom when they lived here. It had a double bed, so there will be no problems with sleeping. Their father Tatsuro suddenly does not return, because he lives in the house of his second wife. Tatsuya has already received a higher position in the family.

"... Neesan, what should we do?"

For Fumiya there was no inconvenience in living in such an atmosphere. For Ayako too. Nevertheless, Fumiya asked his sister, because he was worried that she might be disgusted with "sleeping in the same room." Fumiya's concern seemed superfluous, Ayako frowned slightly. Adolescents of the same age of the opposite sex in the same room, this fact caused indecisiveness.

Miyuki, noticing this, wanted to try and suggest Ayako to sleep in her room. However, Ayako's answer was ahead of her.

"We accept your offer." Tatsuya-san, Miyuki-onesama, Minami-chan, take care of us.

"And you will take care of us." Minami, prepare a room for them.

- As you wish. - It was already too late to start cleaning the room and preparing the bed. However, Minami accepted Tatsuya's task without lamenting and without expressions of disgust on her face.

"In that case, we'll go pick up our luggage from the hotel." "Ayako said, and she and Fumiya got up.

- It's time for me to leave. There is a high probability that today I will not return. Miyuki, in the rest I rely on you.

- Yes, Onii-sama.

- Tatsuya-san, good luck on your assignment.

Tatsuya with Miyuki stood up simultaneously.

"I hope to settle everything by tomorrow morning." - Supporting the mood of Ayako, Tatsuya replied.





Chapter 13





Gu Jie hides in the city of Hiratsukaa. In order not to let himself be noticed, and also not to spread panic among local residents, Katsuto decided to reduce the number of people involved and increase their secrecy.

However, the enemy noticed their movement. Gu Jie noticed them by the very ability that always helped him escape.

- Major donor. It was confirmed that the combined forces of police and magicians led by Juumonji Katsuto began to settle in Hiratsuka.

"Did they involve the police?" It looks like the Japanese side wants to arrest Haigu.

The second number of Stars, responsible for overseeing Angie Sirius, the head of the first corps of United Staffs of the USNA Army, Major Benjamin Canopus. He was sitting in the mobile base for operations in the form of a trailer, and having received a report from a subordinate, briefly withdrew into himself. It was a regular subordinate, not a member of the Stars. Other stars were not admitted to this operation. Do not let the terrorist be captured by the authorities (eliminating interference), help him escape, and kill him. Since all the details were absolutely illegal, it was stressed that one should not leave any evidence of involvement with the deserters last year.

In Zama was a joint base, so he could use regular soldiers from there, but unfortunately, within a limited radius. At the moment he was with a group of saboteurs of the East Asian appearance, members of the military intelligence department. They were a local analogue of Stardust. Soldiers who underwent the procedure of artificial body improvement, who received abilities on a par with the Stars, but could not stand the loads, and became a disposable expendable material with a limited life.

Half of the detachment were not magicians, but their bodies were also strengthened by mechanical and biochemical methods. Although their performance did not reach the cyborgs mechanizing almost the entire body, their ability to destroy was not inferior to the magicians.

This group of fighters had very low discipline and obedience, but Canopus completely controlled them, using superiority in force as an argument.

- Following the simulation, it is necessary to stop Haigu's arrest. - Canopus gave a short order to his squad.

The troops of Canopus tracked Dziaedo Haigu, i.e. Gu Jie technology, which the Japanese side did not possess. Possible escape routes were also observed. So they can say, there was no "loss of advantage when playing on someone else's field."

Following the instructions of Kanopus, a group of illegal operatives immediately began to take action. Canopus himself went to the destroyer, waiting on the high seas.



◊ ◊ ◊



Since entering the country, Gu Jie has been hiding in almost the same area. He used an old friend to get shelter, and soldiers for riots were easily made from local residents.

The more people he uses, the more likely a leak of information. Gu Jie reduced his contacts to a minimum and instantly cut off his way to himself, as soon as the Japanese magicians approached him at least a little. For Gu Jie, the notion of "friends" was exactly that.

However, even when it was time to escape from Japan, Gu Jie did not sit with his hands down.

At first he wanted to use the cargo ship, which he had penetrated into the country, to the last. For a real escape he planned to use the smuggled ship of the No-Head Dragon. But sudden difficulties obstructed his plans.

The No-Head Dragon is the organization of Richard Sun, who was supported by Gu Jie. It was destroyed by a joint operation of the USNA and Japan in the summer of 2095. (At that time, the Great Asian Alliance did not react to the cooperation of the USNA and Japan)

Later, the remnants of the organization united at the head of the daughter of Richard Sun, a student at the University of California. This daughter was called Sun Meilin. As the new head of the organization, she banned any hostility to Japan. Although she closed her eyes to smuggling, but people engaged in the sale of drugs and slaves, were exterminated mercilessly. Despite the dissatisfaction with the attitude to Japan of some members of the organization, this girl in a short time restored the destroyed organization and achieved stable results, which earned the trust and respect of the majority of subordinates. Therefore, Gu Jie could not find assistants among them.

"Sir Hague, this is Doe." Can I come in?

It was one of the mediators he could find in these circumstances last week. It was the driver of an ambulance, in which Gu Jie escaped from the Japanese magicians from Zama. "Haigu" was the pseudonym of Gu Jie for the No-Head Dragon.

"Come in."

Gu Jie did not trust this Dow. In Zama everything went in a hurry, but in the end ended well. The name Joe Dow amused him. He believed that "Joe" was an abbreviated form of "John," and "John Doe" was a common name in the USNA pseudonym for unidentified corpses and lost memory.

"Sir, the ship's preparation is complete."

- I see.

However, he had to use this strange person. Because Gu Jie was emotionally depressed.

A sudden mysterious look this morning. He came to the conclusion that this is the technique of Japanese magicians who seek him. Gu Jie did not know what information the Japanese magician could get by this magic, but he was sure that Ten Master Clans now know his current location. Being impatient in such a situation was in the order of things. He was in the center of enemy territory. At such rates, revenge for what he has done will soon overtake him. Although this was a big risk, Gu Jie decided to flee Japan as quickly as possible.

"We're leaving soon."

- I'll accompany you.

The fees are over. Initially, he had no baggage in the usual sense. Only money and materials for the magic of curses. Taking the materials for the curses himself, having given the bag with the money to the former policeman, he followed Dow.



◊ ◊ ◊



18:00. The cloudy winter sky has completely darkened. In contrast, the earth was filled with artificial lights. Most of the workers now worked remotely and the concept of "sleeping areas" left the language. At the same time, due to the development of the transport network, the area of commercial areas has increased. To understand the degree of change, one can see how the concept of a 100-year-old "shop near the station" has become a modern "store from Hiratsukai to Shibuya." In the outskirts of the capital, the night came faster than in the old days.

But at 6 pm there were still quite a few people on the street. Too early to start a fight in the city.

- Gu Jie began to move. He is accompanied by 3 people.

The eldest son of the Saegusa family listened to the report of the subordinate. Saegusa Tomokazu nodded, showing this gesture "I understood."

Tomokazu was 27 years old and externally he was very similar to his father Koichi (sunglasses, he naturally did not wear). By magical power, he was inferior to Kojiro's younger brother, 3 years younger than him, but he was still at the level of Mayumi. But by experience and skill, he excelled them. Although there was no cunning of his father in him, the reputation of a good manager after him was already fixed. He was a balanced person, there was no evil in him, as in his father Koichi.

In short, he was "capable, but not interesting." Uninteresting as a friend, but capable of being a reliable partner in the business.

- Juumonji-dono. Have you already given orders to the police officers whom we connected to the case?

Mayumi did not participate in today's operation. From the family of Saegusa the responsible person was Tomokazu. He was appointed to lead the operation from the very beginning, and Mayumi was not here because the brother simply could not allow the younger sister to participate in a dangerous mission. And it was not brotherly love for his sister, but his personal opinion that women do not have a place in dangerous matters. Of course, Tomokazu was much wiser than Koichi.

However, it sometimes seemed that his brutality was off scale.

"... Is not that dangerous?"

Katsuto gently rejected Koichi's proposal.

"I do not think that the enemy will simply obey the police." Even if you start with cautious steps, everything can grow into numerous victims and battles within the city.

Tomokazu was referring to the fact that an attempt to solve the issue by force would eventually lead to a charge in the direction of the Ten Master Clans that they made unnecessary sacrifices. Apparently he believed that the enemy has the power that can lead to such a situation.

- You should completely avoid street fighting, Juumonji-dono, do you agree with me?

- I think we will have more options when pedestrian traffic decreases.

Katsuto's answer was beyond their calculations. They believed that the goal would move closer to the night.

- Saegusa-dono. It seems the enemy is heading to the fishing port at the mouth of the Sagami River, and not to the one that we expected.

"So he plans to leave the sea?"

- Yes. I heard that the terrorist leader used a small smuggling vessel to enter the country. Perhaps now he will take a small boat for the coastal waters, and later transfer to an ocean ship in another place.

- Can we split the capture team into two parts? Ichijo-dono and Yotsuba-dono will be responsible for the new port, and we with Juumonji-dono and the police will monitor the car with a purpose.

Katsuto thought that Tomokazu's plan was unbalanced. Tatsuya was the only representative of Yotsuba. And the people quoted by Masaki were already appointed for blocking the retreat of the enemy by northern routes.

"I'll get people to help Ichijo-dono and Yotsuba-dono." If you certainly do not mind participating in your half of the operation only on your own, Saegusa-dono.

For Tomokazu there was no problem. There was a very high probability that they would capture the target before contacting the second group. All except Katsuto, in this group - from the family of Saegusa, so in the end Saegusa will receive more than all the honors for catching the target. The reputation of the Saegusa family will be restored.

- ... Good. I'm not against.

"Well, then let's begin."

Katsuto took out the terminal and called Tatsuya and Masaki.



◊ ◊ ◊



 "The Japanese magicians are on our backs."

Sitting in the back seat of a car driven by a former Japanese policeman, Gu Jie noticed a car following them. It was not long before the destination. That is, the distance was small. Therefore, you could not tear yourself away from the tail, changing the road.

- Do not worry.

Gu Jie thought of using a trained suicide bomber to intercept the chase, and looked at the front passenger.

- Persecutors in the affected area. Attack them.

It happened immediately as he finished.

 A bright flame flared behind him. It was not a single shot, it flashed over and over again.

"These are ... not hand grenades." Not a portable flare gun. Automatic grenade launcher?

"What insight, sir." However, it seems that all attacks were blocked by shields. I heard that the magician of the Juumonji family personally participates in the pursuit.

- Frightened? And what will you do now?

After the words of Gu Jie, from the remnants of the flame appeared a car of pursuers, completely without damage.

"There is no cause for concern." Dow's face showed no signs of excitement.

After passing the intersection, they overtook the car, which dropped speed, seeing explosions. Central AI in this place did not work, but the cars used autonomous AI, which reacted to problems in this way. The car of their pursuers clearly violated the rules of the road. According to the hazard prevention program, the previous and subsequent troublesome vehicles should be stopped. The pursuing car ignoring this rule, increased speed and tried to cross the intersection, changing the lane. But suddenly another passenger car flew from the side and blocked their way.

If it was a truck, they would have noticed it before. But suddenly a car at the crossroads closed the car and they did not notice a low car. Despite the reaction of the driver who pressed the brakes, the car of the pursuers flew into the car leaving the side at high speed.



◊ ◊ ◊



A moment before shots of grenades, Katsuto noticed that they were being pursued by a suspicious van. You can tell the whole group lucky that he was with them. Katsuto's magic barrier did not miss a single grenade.

- Saegusa-dono. Now there is no time to pay attention to caring for civilians. - Katsuto got in touch with Tomokazu, sitting in another car. "I'll deal with that suspicious car." I leave the detention of Gu Jie to you.

- I got it. Juumonji-dono, I leave it to you.

At the same time as the communication session was over, Katsuto ordered the driver to stop. The machine was driven by a magician subordinate to the Saegusa family. He did not obey Katsuto and the Juumonji family. But hearing the voice of Katsuto, he immediately pressed the brakes.

Katsuto opened the door and went out onto the road. The van, from which they were fired, also stopped and turned sideways. A muzzle was sent from the window of the van to Katsuto, but there was no sign of the man who ran it. Katsuto stretched his right hand forward. The grenade, released without a flash and sound, exploded, striking against the antiobject heat-resistant barrier.

Katsuto looked at the attacking van, arching his right arm. The next moment the van was crushed. The roof pressed inward and crushed the grenade launcher, deforming the barrel. The explosion did not follow, or grenades ended, or the level of safety in the manufacture of grenades was very high. The van turned over, but it still did not catch fire.

Katsuto, using magic to jump, approached the wagon, and at the ready "Falang", inspected it inside. There was no one inside. Looking at this, he raised his eyebrows, and just at that moment a heavy rumbling sound came from the direction where Tomokazu and the others had gone, pursuing the goal. Katsuto looked around and, jumping over the car on which he was driving, rushed to the cars, crashed at the crossroads.

The car Tomokazu was completely crumpled in front, but there was no damage in the cabin. Although the achievements of the automotive industry can boast a high level of security, this time this result was most likely achieved by the protective magic of Tomokazu.

Unfortunately, the other two could not boast of such a level of skills. Especially the police car was badly damaged. However, the hull design contributed to the protection of passengers. It was also luck that the car became an obstacle, was small.

"Saegusa-dono, are you all right?"

Glancing into the window of Katsuto, Tomokazu answered with a small smile.

- Yes, the body is whole. Ran almost none.

With a bang, the car door opened. Tomokazu did not come out right after the accident, because it took him some time to switch the lock from automatic to manual.

"Tomokazu-dono, could you see the state of the police?"

Katsuto received an affirmative nod from Tomokazu and went to check the cars that blocked them.

The car, which had become a barricade for them, was hit in the side and stood at a crossroads, blocking their way. Having received a blow, this car seems to have turned over several times and turned into a shapeless crowbar. This and two other cars stood at a crossroads in a checkerboard pattern so that the three cars completely blocked the passage.

Katsuto, lifting the "Phalanx", took turns looking at the cars that helped to escape Gu Jie. Like the previous van, they were empty. No driver, no passengers. The cars were driven by an unmanned AI. Katsuto found this suspicious. Having such organizational strength, the enemy will probably get away from Japan.

- Juumonji-dono.

Katsuto interrupted his meditation and turned to Tomokazu. He was right behind him.

"Tomokazu-dono, how are they?"

Taking the initiative, Katsuto inquired about the state of the police.

- Injuries are not fatal. I provided healing magic first aid to them, but I need to call an ambulance. It is impossible for us all to continue the pursuit. Cars also do not seem to go any more.

Tomokazu looked around the scene and did not find a single whole car.

"Juumonji-dono, please follow the terrorists." Meet with the second group waiting for the target at the end of the route.

Katsuto thought that for the Saegusa family this could be a blow. The current head of Koichi can even be regarded as a betrayal, he thought, but rejected the thought, having decided that he thinks biased. Saegusa Tomokazu was a person who could properly distribute the national interests and interests of the Japanese magical world.

"I think there will not be any more unexpected attacks, so I leave it to you, Saegusa-dono, be careful."

- Juumonji-dono, you also be careful.

Katsuto pushed aside the unmanned car blocking the path with magic, and drove on in the vehicle that had arrived, in which he had been traveling from the very beginning.



 ◊ ◊ ◊



Tatsuya and Masaki on motorcycles and two sedan car escorts arrived at the port at the mouth of the Sagami River. Each sedan had 5 magicians. These ten were the elite detachment of the Juumonji family, known for their unmatched fighters. Their fighting strength was quite enough.

Tatsuya and Masaki left the motorcycles and stood at the entrance to the harbor. There were four fishing boats in the port. All of them were exclusively for coastal waters.

"He probably wanted to change seats on another ship in the open sea."

- Maybe it is. - On the words of Masaki's doubt, Tatsuya agreed cold-bloodedly. Masaki was surprised at this and a little embarrassed.

"Shiba, do you know where Gu Jie is right now?" - Deciding to change the subject, he casually asked Tatsuya.

- It is directed to our side. Tatsuya did not like pointing out the obvious. But also to make fun of a guy (a man of the same sex) did not cause any interest. - As expected.

The calculations of Katsuto and Tomokazu that the enemy will go here proved to be correct. Masaki seemed to catch fire in anticipation of the battle. Masaki did not know by what means Tatsuya learned the situation of Gu Jie. But he did not show disbelief in his words. By this time, Tatsuya has already shown impressive results so that Masaki trusted him.

And if Tatsuya is telling the truth, his ambush (more precisely him and Shiba Tatsuya) will be the highlight in capturing the terrorist leader. Thinking about this, Masaki felt agitation.

"When will he be here?"

- Soon ... No! Tatsuya raised his voice and saddled his motorcycle. "Gu Jie has changed course to the west!" Ichijo, let's go after him!

- Got it! - A little behind Tatsuya, Masaki gave full gas. The motorcycle did not get on the rear wheel, because it had a drive on both wheels. Tatsuya and Masaki followed west to the main road running parallel to the coastline.

On the way there was a single car. Even without words, Tatsuya and Masaki realized that Gu Jie was in it. He tried to speed up and catch up with Tatsuya. But just at that moment, Tatsuya suddenly jumped off the motorcycle. Masaki reflexively yanked the steering wheel and almost lost his balance. Abrupt braking, turning and again acceleration. The automatic balancer did not let the motorcycle fall, as Masaki had suggested. And then suddenly an attack from the sky slashed the Tatsuya motorcycle and cut it in half.



◊ ◊ ◊



Contrary to Gu Jie's expectations, Dow went west along the main road, without going to the new port.

"Why did we not go to the port?"

"The enemy expects this." We will go to sea from another place.

Apparently, Dow for some reason prepared measures that even Gu Jie himself could not predict. Gu Jie also worried that the enemy might be waiting in the harbor, so he had no objection if he could avoid it.

- ... The other side reacted faster than I thought. Perhaps they have a magician who knows the magic of perception well. - Having left on the main road, Dow looked at the rearview monitor and clucked his tongue (the car on which they were traveling was of a type that the driver could sit on the left and right of the choice).

Gu Jie looked around. Behind them went 2 motorcycles and 2 cars.

- What do we do?

"My apologies, sir." There is still a little more.

Gu Jie did not show impatience or discomfort. He seems to have found a man whose work was too good, and that reassured him.

- They will catch up with us at such a rate.

- Now try to break away from them.

"No, it will not be necessary."

Gu Jie turned to the suicide bomber sitting next to him.

- Go on. Kill everyone.

Opening the hatch in the roof, Gu Jie hanged an enchanted katana on the back of the soldier, who, with a staff in his hand, jumped out of the car.

p147

The first attack occurred on the leading motorcycle, a chopping attack with a staff in a jump cut it in half.



◊ ◊ ◊



Tatsuya jumped off the bike on the road. Controlling the magic jump, he landed exactly on his feet. He saw how his motorcycle split into 2 halves. And that insane attack by the sword that did it.

The cars with the magicians of the Juumonji family drove up. Tatsuya stopped their attempt to join the battle cry.

- Ichijo! Follow Gu Jie! Continue the pursuit!

The enemy, armed with a devil-katana, directed the intention of killing in the direction of Masaki. But he did not have time to attack, as he was carried away. With a huge speed in the empty place hit the knife, where he had just stood.

It was not a natural fall. The knife thrown in the arc was accelerated by the magic of movement. It was Tatsuya's attack.

"Leave him on me." Forward!

- Counting on you!

Tatsuya held back the enemy. Masaki and the people of Juumonji chased after Gu Jie.

Tatsuya moved from deterring the enemy to full combat readiness. Today he had two CAD bracelet type with the mental control "Silver Torus". Automatic pistol in the pocket. Two knives attached to the belt. One of them was already out of the road.

With movement magic, Tatsuya returned the knife to his left hand. His right hand was left free for pulling out a pistol at any moment.

On the other side of the street, a man was approaching him, sending a sword, previously hidden in a staff, to him. The light of the lantern was illuminated by a face directed at Tatsuya. It was Tatsuya's familiar face.

"Inspector Chiba Toshikazu !?"

His face did not express emotion and was pale. But this face and appearance, of course, belonged to Erica's older brother, Chiba Toshikazu.

- The elder son of the family of Chiba from the hundred families, why did you take the side of the terrorist !?

In response, no words followed. Instead, hostile actions have taken place. Toshikazu struck Tatsuya with his sword. The sword was the optimal size, small and fast. Tatsuya was almost able to dodge a blow using taijutsu.

In planning to negotiate, Tatsuya made a big leap backward. But Toshikazu followed him without delay. Before that, Tatsuya did not meet opponents, moving and attacking at such a speed. But this does not mean that he "did not see" such people before. It's not that you cannot deal with it.

Tatsuya aimed at Toshikazu and released a stream of psions. Gram demolition shut off the magic of self-acceleration. The speed of Toshikazu slowed. But only for a moment. The body of Toshikazu was filled with psions and he attacked Tatsuya at the same speed as before receiving a gram-demolition blow. But thanks to that short delay, Tatsuya left the line of attack.

Tatsuya decided that it was pointless to ask again "why are you helping terrorists?". He read Toshikazu Eidos.

"Is he dead?"

Toshikazu leaped rapidly toward Tatsuya.

Tatsuya aimed a partial decomposition on his leg. At the moment of activation of Tatsuya's magic, Toshikazu landed on his feet and waved his sword down. There was a silent explosion. A flash of unphysical light invisible by ordinary eyes. Toshikazu released a dense psion stream from the whole body. Gram-demolition, canceling the magic sight.

Tatsuya did not hide his surprise. But this did not apply to the fact that Toshikazu used gram-demolition. Tatsuya did not hear that the eldest son of the Chiba family could use gram-demolition. Not only did Tatsuya not hear. Until now, there was not even a rumor about it.

However, this means that the Chiba family hid the ability of the eldest son. Tatsuya again activated the "decomposition" by taking in the goal a foot, shoulder and sword blade. Toshikazu released a large number of psions three times, after which his information body greatly diminished.

"Transformation of information about existence into the psion stream?"

Tatsuya was surprised that he actually sees what cannot exist in nature. By deleting information about existence in fact, he kills himself. A living being with a will to live will never do it on his own. Moreover, the number of psions in the information body should not be enough to perform gram-demolition.

Another blow Toshikazu Tatsuya took on a knife around which the shrouded magic of "decomposition". Regardless of the material, any substance will be decomposed by magic at the point of contact with the knife.

But the sword Toshikazu withstood the magic of Tatsuya.

"Is the sword magically defined as a single object?"

This became clear at the time when the magic of Tatsuya activated, that is, at the time of contact between the knife and the sword.

The secret technique of the Chiba family, Zantetsu. It defines the sword not as a mass of metal, but as a single concept of the "sword," in which a sequence of magic is recorded that moves the blade with the Systematic magic of movement. Since the information concept of a single whole is fixed behind the sword, it cannot be decomposed into components. Magic could not activate due to the refusal of the information definition. However, Tatsuya continued to support the decomposition magic in a limited area.

1 second. The grinding of steel.

2 seconds. Katana and the blade of the knife dug into each other.

3 seconds. Silence.

Tatsuya's knife cut Toshikazu's katana. The blade in fact is a set of iron molecules. It is impossible to continuously support the magic that turns an object into a "single whole". By itself, the Zantetsu technique is a sword technique that cuts the target in an instant. Action "Zantetsu" Toshikazu ended earlier than the "decomposition" Tatsuya.

The blade was cut without resistance, and Toshikazu's body moved forward with full force by inertia. But Tatsuya had no chance of a counterattack. Toshikazu went to the side, thus taking away the opportunity to attack him with a knife or fist. Tatsuya turned to Toshikazu. He still held a sword in his hand, but he now had half the original length. Tatsuya did not attack, but again retreated.

"Looking" he explored information about his opponent. The information presence of Chiba Toshikazu became less and less.

"So he transforms life energy into magical power?"

Tatsuya did not hear about this technique. It is known that the existence of "life energy" has not yet been confirmed by modern science (including magic). However, in ancient magic, this term is clearly stated that it "certainly" exists. He often heard this from Yakumo, and also during the incident with parasites, Mikihiko mentioned the term "spiritual power". Monsters that did not eat flesh and blood, but spiritual strength.

If Gu Jie has the technique of using life force as a force of magic, then various issues that have arisen recently will be resolved. Its dead are not dead, but people with a leaking information body.

If the person is considered to be alive with the life energy, and the dead - with its absence, then the life energy is drawn out by killing. Putting the released vital energy back into the corpse, it is used as a magical power, while it seems to us that the "corpse is alive", due to the fact that it "consumes life."

Then the use of Toshikazu gram demolition can also be explained by the transformation of life energy, and not the secret of the family. This also explains the reduction of the information body, as the process in which "information about the form of life" disappears.

Disgusting magic, playing with life and abusing the dead.

Tatsuya believed that magic is not good and not evil. This power is only the ability of people, and their actions will determine whether the result is correct or not. There is no good and evil, it is only an evaluation of the actions of people. Such was the image of his thinking.

Nevertheless, contrary to his own worldview, now he felt evil in the magic of Gu Jie. You cannot so trample on the lives of people and magicians. Although the generators and the "sorcery boosters" were not objectionable, this magic caused only Tatsuya's negation and rejection.

Tatsuya, indeed, was angry.

"Chiba Toshikazu!" Tatsuya turned to the dead swordsman. "Are you conscious?" Do you understand what I'm saying !?

Toshikazu did not answer. He silently tossed the broken sword and took out another, which was behind him.

"Chiba Toshikazu!" Is this your name. It determines who you are. Tatsuya tried to call Toshikazu, looking at him. This behavior was unlike Tatsuya.

Toshikazu sent his sword to Tatsuya. The intention of the murder was clear. Normal Tatsuya at this stage would have already counterattacked. Even if the enemy was familiar with the brainwashed, it is perfectly normal to defend him. This is Tatsuya's style. However, Tatsuya was trying to talk to the man who attacked him. Knowing that the enemy is dead, and the opportunity to get an answer tends to zero.

Toshikazu did not answer Tatsuya. Or could not answer. Instead, he slashed Tatsuya with his sword.

Instead of parrying with a knife, this time Tatsuya dodged, taking a step to the side. Compared with the previous battle, this time he had a reserve of room for maneuver. Toshikazu technique of the sword seemed awkward to Tatsuya. It seems that this curved sword did not fit Toshikazu.

The second name of the Chiba family is "magic swordsmen". The elder son of the family should not use improper equipment. Obviously, a third party intervened, that is, Gu Jie. The sword did not look like Continental swords with a wide blade, which he saw from Yanagi, but resembled the ancient swords of the Japanese dynasty of the North. Does this mean that there were additional allies within the country?

Tatsuya was not familiar with the old swords. He learned to manage swords, but did not teach them the story. But even his knowledge was enough to understand that the form of the sword of Toshikazu is strange. The blade had a strong bend and described the shape of the arc. The handle was made of metal, and at both ends there were through-going rectangular holes. The design also included engraving.

Tatsuya studied the sword in that instant. Tozikazu tirelessly continued to inflict chopping blows. Although he could boast of the sharpest physical and physical sight, he was not an expert in swords. He did not see the point of studying them.

He took the sword with a horizontal swing with a knife. Using the momentum of the sword's power, and slipping a knife through the curve of the blade, Tatsuya escaped the blow, taking him aside. Using an "instant call" for the magic of inertia, Tatsuya thought that this sword is a kind of magical device. Most likely this sword is not changed by the existing, but created from scratch by accomplices Gu Jie. Maybe he imposes a negative spell in the cut?

If you use the eyes more intensively, you can see what magic is hidden there. But unfortunately, he could not afford it.

Tatsuya applied the "Mist Dispersion" to the sword. The goal was not magic in the sword, but the very substance of the sword. This did not eliminate the risk of explosive release of that magic or other side effects.

At the time of the activation of Tatsuya's magic, Toshikazu exposed his sword in front of his face. Reactions to magic ... did not happen. More precisely, the time was chosen differently. Could a battle with a magician wake his body?

The sword shot a stream of high-density psions and blown away the sequence of the magic of "Mist Dispersion."

System magic uses a sequence of magic to call. Even Tatsuya's magic does not escape this fate.

Tatsuya, though his magic was neutralized, approached Toshikazu. Not only the left arm was armed, in the right was the second knife with the arm protection. Tatsuya waved his left hand horizontally. The blade of the knife passed through the base of the sword just at the moment when the sword finished releasing the psions. Thus, the blade was cut off from the handle.

Immediately after blowing the "Mist Dispersion", Toshikazu did not have time to cancel the new decomposition magic on the knife. Installed in his body, the countermagic did not keep up with Tatsuya's speed.

The blade fell on the road. Just before that, Tatsuya's right fist, clad in the defense of his hand, hit Toshikazu in the chest. From this blow he fell on his back. Tatsuya felt with his hand that he had inflicted heavy damage, an ordinary person, most likely would have already lost consciousness from the pain.

Body Toshikazu rebuilt in the fall, and making a couple of turns restored his position, standing on one knee. However, if you look closer, you could say that the damage is quite serious, even for a dead body.

"Chiba Toshikazu!" - Tatsuya again acted in an uncharacteristic way. Again spoke to Toshikazu. "Is this name not familiar to you?" Do you realize who you are?

Death is a state from which one cannot return to life. Even the "restoration" of Tatsuya cannot resurrect the dead. But where does the boundary between life and death go?

Brain stop? Heart failure? Termination of metabolism? Or loss of the soul?

His eyes Tatsuya said that Toshikazu is already dead. However, Toshikazu used magic, which is the power of the soul. "Vzglyad" also said that magic belongs to him, and not transferred from outside. If he is not completely dead, he can be returned by "restoration". But this incomplete state of death can be made complete if it continues to attack. And to use the detailed eyes now there was no time. Gu Jie is still on the run.

So Tatsuya spoke again.

If Toshikazu realizes himself, then one should avoid fatal attacks. If Miyuki were here, there would be no need to worry about it. It could have been kept frozen for a while. Of course, Tatsuya did not regret it. The safety of Miyuki was a priority higher than the life of Chiba Toshikazu.

Choosing rationality by priority, do not worry about such things. Immediately eliminate the enemy. That's the correct answer. Even if Chiba Toshikazu got into this state, he is not the enemy who will cheat.

- Answer! If at all there is a desire to answer! "Nevertheless, Tatsuya did not want to kill Toshikazu. What is death, and what is life? Inside Tatsuya there was a desire to get an answer to this question. If Toshikazu survives, you can try to find a hint. But even the desire for knowledge does not justify the fact that the life of a magician becomes a price for it.

Magicians were a tool of war. Tatsuya also thought of himself as an instrument. Tatsuya, himself took many lives, did not claim the right to protect the value of life. Whichever way we die, no matter how we kill, death is death.

But, at least.

Resist, and you will die.

Fight and you will die.