Chapter 8: Conclusion
May 6, 6:00 PM.
"Good evening. Excuse me."
"Good evening, Saegusa-san."
When Mayumi opened the service entrance door of the FLT lab, Ryousuke received her with a brisk greeting.
"Tookami-san, you're early today too."
Mayumi is wearing a pants suit instead of the skirt suit she wore until yesterday. And while it is a business suit, it allowed her to be more dynamic. She wore laced leather shoes with almost no heels. She had dressed with the intention to fight.
"And…… you're very enthusiastic about it, huh?"
Ryousuke wore a high neck shirt, with a neck guard. Over the shirt, he wears a military vest. On the bottom, he is wearing thick work pants and, clearly, sturdy work boots. If someone told he is going to get on a transport to the battlefield, dressed like this, it wouldn't be surprising.
"Really? I usually wear this type of clothing."
"…..Do you like military fashion?"
At Mayumi's honestly hesitant question, Ryousuke lightly twisted his head.
"No, that's not why I'm……. It's just that it's sturdy, I guess. Because I used to often wear my clothes out or make them crochet, for a long time."
Apparently he's the sort of person who values practicality first and foremost in his choice of clothing.
"Okay, I guess."
Mayumi had no other way to respond to it.
It was past 8 p.m. when the situation arose.
Mayumi, who until now had been offering various topics of conversation every time the silence was about to turn into an awkward atmosphere, suddenly fell silent in the middle of the banter.
"……What's wrong?"
"Tookami-san, I can use 'Multiscope'."
"The Remote Visual type Perception Magic?"
Remote Visual type Perception Magic 'Multiscope'. It is not a way of looking at immaterial or information bodies, but a multi-perspective visual radar that perceives real objects from multiple angles. Or perhaps it should be called an anisotropic ability to perceive three-dimensional space in a true three-dimensional sense, albeit in a visually limited sense.
The owner of the multi-scope does not reconstruct a flat image in the brain by using binocular parallax [19] or motion parallax, but rather has the mental function to recognize a three-dimensional object as it is, but in a sense, what is important now is not the aspect of the four-dimensional cognitive ability. It's the aspect of remote vision, where there is nothing to block it.
"What did you see? You don't mean, intruders?"
"Yes. Opening the main gate, a pair of men have entered the wing."
Ryousuke briskly turned to the console of the security system. However, the warning lights that would turn on if an intruder was detected remained off. For some reason, the monitors that were supposed to show the intruders also would not switch to the lobby leading to the front gate.
"I guess this must be the effect of the 'Arabian Nights' that the executive director mentioned."
After Mayumi and Ryousuke agreed to come tonight, Tatsuya explained to them──mainly Mayumi, since Ryousuke had heard the gist of it from Rena──the expected characteristics of the thieves 'Janus'.
Between 170cm and 175cm tall.
Middle Eastern in appearance, possibly of Persian descent.
And the unique magic that is 'Arabian Nights'.
"He described Arabian Nights as able to interfere with a wide range of phenomena that fit the concepts of 'Open' and 'Close'. They probably used the 'Close' magic to close off the connection to the security system and then used the 'Open' magic to open the gate."
"……If it is something so versatile, then the effective time should be short."
"Now that you mention it……, that makes sense."
Ryousuke felt uncomfortable as Mayumi agreed, surprised.
Because, when he spoke just now, he was just parroting Rena's take on it.
"In that case, Janus must be in a hurry. We have to catch them before they run away."
But those thoughts were blown away when Mayumi brought him back up to speed.
"You must be right. Let's go!"
Meanwhile, Janus' duo had a bad feeling when they broke into the lab.
"……Bahadur, isn't it weird?"
When asked by Bahman, Bahadur replies in a low voice as he continues to crack the visitor's terminal.
"I know what you mean. It's certainly unusual that there's no one in the security room of the first floor."
Bahadur replied, taking a moment to be aware of the stun gun in his breast pocket that he had obtained in the foreign city. According to their pre-arranged plan, they would neutralize the staff in the security room with non-lethal bullets before they could get to work.
"It's not just the security office. Isn't it only eight o'clock? And yet, it's devoid of any signs of life."
Implicitly, Bahman raises the issue that it might be a trap.
The reason why they broke in so early was because they estimated that if there were staff working overtime, there would be no security guards patrolling the premises. Janus' specialty is not to break into unoccupied buildings, but to break into ones that are still occupied and quickly steal it. It was unusual for them to aim at uninhabited places late at night, like at the Stellar Reactor Plant the other day.
This is also something that can be done because of the unique magic they carry 'Arabian Nights'. Once again, up to the point of breaking into the building, it was going well as per usual.
But the fact that there was almost no sign of people inside the building was beyond their expectations. They don't possess a perception type magic──or a superpower──to detect the presence of others. Nevertheless, as professional criminals, they pride themselves on having keen senses. That's why they can confidently say that this building is not completely deserted, yet there are no more than ten people in it.
By some chance, those few people might be the guards. Bahman felt that they both might fall into their ambush.
"But we can't go back to headquarters empty-handed. We were prepared to cross some dangerous bridges when we signed up."
"Yes, you're right……."
Bahman does not contradict Bahadur's words.
But he was not fully convinced.
Bahman truly believed that it would be better for them to flee immediately.
It wasn't hard for Bahadur to see that.
But Bahadur pretended to be oblivious to his partner's sense of impending danger and continued his cracking through magic.
"I found it. It is probably this one."
And then he speaks up in a small, yet clear voice.
"Really?!"
Bahman forgot about the vigilance of his surroundings and ran up next to Bahadur.
"It's in this production line, on the second floor. It's completely independent of the other lines."
Bahadur explains to Bahman, pointing to the floor plans of each floor, which he calls up after prying open the security of the intranet.
"We don't have time. Let's get over there as soon as possible."
Bahman prompts Bahadur. He understood that his magic, which had closed the security system, would not hold much longer.
"Understood."
Bahadur stood first and started running, with Bahman following behind.
Next to the FLT R&D Third Division lab. In the Magian Company headquarters office.
(It's about time.)
Muttering in his mind, Tatsuya pressed the send button for the message he had prepared beforehand. He then stood up from his utilitarian desk chair, a bit short of the title of Executive Director, and moved to the window.
"You came?"
While looking outside through the window, Tatsuya spoke to the person behind him.
A sign of a jolt and a shiver.
"Don't come with 'You came?'. Like you didn't already know."
But the sign was overshadowed by a brazen voice.
"That's not what I meant……"
Responding in a tone with a mix of exasperation, Tatsuya looked back.
There was an hesitant Miyuki and a defiant-looking Lina, both with terrified faces. The one with the brazen voice of earlier was Lina.
As she said, Tatsuya had noticed them entering the room. He then added "You came?" intended as a reprimand, meaning "You should not be here at this hour".
"I understand what you mean, but it's only after eight o'clock, okay? I'm not a child."
"We'll talk about it later. So, you came here because you intend to help me?"
Miyuki, who had been keeping her eyes down, made eye contact with Tatsuya.
"May I…. help you?"
"To be honest, I think Miyuki can handle this better than me."
"By all means! I'll not disappoint you!"
"All right, I’ll be counting on you, then."
"Yes."
Miyuki looked up to Tatsuya with laced fingers and moist eyes.
"Hey……, how long will you keep this up?"
Lina interjects in a bland tone.
"Keep what?"
Miyuki turns around and gives her a dry smile. There's not a shred of sweetness in her voice.
"──No, nothing."
And Lina stiffly averts her eyes.
Offshore at Kawasaki harbor, Fumiya nodded after looking at the screen of the information terminal.
"Is it from Tatsuya-san?"
Ayako, dressed like a passenger of a luxury cruise ship, stepped closer to peer into Fumiya's terminal. The boat they were on was apparently a plain water bus. Which didn't exactly match Ayako's current fashions.
"We've got the green light."
While nodding, Fumiya responds. For today he is dressed in a boiler suit of dark tones. He is also wearing a marine cap and protective glasses to prevent his eyes from flying debris. There's not a shred of femininity in him, tonight he certainly doesn't look like a woman.
He turned his attention to a small freighter anchored a short distance away. The quay was empty, but there were no motions to dock. Well, even if they were to dock at this time of day, no sailors other than domestic vessels would be able to go ashore as an anti-smuggling measure.
"Nee-san, if you please."
"I don't think there's any such thing as a 'what if', but you should be careful either way."
"I'll get in touch when I'm done."
Fixing the transceiver to one of his ears, Fumiya bent down lightly, holding his private CAD in the form of a knuckle duster in his right hand, ready to be used at any time.
Ayako's hand touches Fumiya's back.
In the next instant, Fumiya's figure disappeared from the deck.
Mayumi and Ryousuke made their way from the control room of the security system on the second floor to the main lobby in the first floor. They didn't want to make noise, so they took on a stride instead of running.
They hadn't been in the security room on the first floor from the beginning due to Tatsuya's instructions. Honestly, both Mayumi and Ryousuke felt that this instruction didn't make sense to them, since the production line of Artificial Relics was on the second floor.
On the way there, just before the emergency staircase leading to the first floor,
"Tookami-san, stop."
Mayumi stopped Ryousuke.
"Not this way. The thieves are going up in the elevator!"
"In the elevator?"
That's ridiculous, thought Ryousuke. It was against his common sense to choose an elevator that would be a secluded room with no way for a thief to escape due to the difference in height between the first and second floors.
But he wasted no more time in idleness and turned on his heel. The elevator hall is a short distance away from the emergency stairs. Loitering around would allow the thieves to break into the Artificial Relics production line.
The elevator carrying the Janus duo starts to ascend. The number of floors is one. Their arrival is quick.
Neither Bahadur nor Bahman suspects that a guard is waiting for them in the elevator hall. They know the building is not deserted. They were also certain that there were very few of them. The reason for taking the rather obvious elevator was so the guards could ambush them. If the number of guards was small, they thought it would be better to deal with the situation first rather than just let it happen, as they did not know when they would encounter it.
The digital display changes to "2".
Bahman was ready to activate his magic.
Just as Ryousuke arrives at the elevator hall, the lamp simultaneously turns on to indicate their arrival.
Mayumi catches up with Ryousuke and stops behind him.
The stainless steel door opens slowly. No, maybe it's Ryousuke's state of mind that makes it seem slow.
The moment the door was halfway open and a figure could be seen in the cab.
('Close, Sesame')
His vision went dark as his head was filled with a sort of double echo of the language and famous incantations he had heard but didn't understand.
He was not blinded.
The lights on the entire floor, including the emergency lights, went out at once.
Ryousuke and Mayumi were paralyzed by the unexpected situation. At the next moment, their eyes were assaulted by a bright light.
The light was coming from inside the elevator.
A high-intensity handheld flashlight. It's a best-selling 'Maglite' from an American manufacturer that has been widely used since the twentieth century.
The intense light came just after the complete darkness, dazzling Ryousuke and Mayumi.
Ryousuke suddenly jumps on a Mayumi in that same state, pushing her down.
Mayumi lets out a scream.
Sparks flew from the synthetic marble wall across the elevator where Ryousuke and Mayumi were behind.
The lights came back on, and Ryousuke and Mayumi, though vaguely, were able to see again.
Underneath Ryousuke's body, Mayumi had recovered from her panic.
The sound of the bullets coming from the wall commanded her to remain calm.
Mayumi surveyed the situation with her Multiscope, not with her poorly recovered physical eyes.
Two people of Middle Eastern descent, one has a hand-held flashlight, they each hold what looks like a pistol.
Mayumi realized that Ryousuke had protected her from the gun (or something similar) by pushing her down.
Mayumi shifts underneath Ryousuke.
Ryousuke scrambled to lift himself up.
With her now free hands, Mayumi operated her CAD.
She activated a convergence-type magic, that compressed the air between the two bandits' feet.
Fire sensors detected the sudden rise in temperature caused by the adiabatic compression.
The elevators locked up and the elevator hall sprinklers were triggered.
Large amounts of water poured down.
With those water droplets, Mayumi created an ice bullet.
The pair, a man and a woman, who were waiting in the elevator hall, were bathed in lights and blinded, Bahadur aimed his pistol at the man and Bahman at the woman.
They were non-lethal rounds with electrical stunning. Instead of a wired system like a taser gun, the bullets themselves have a discharge function. The bullet's velocity is low, but it's heavy, so if it lands, there's quite an impact. On top of that, it's a high-voltage electric shock. If it hits, the opponent will almost certainly be neutralized.
However, the paralyzing bullets missed despite being at point blank range.
The man pushed the woman down to cover.
The effect of Bahman's magic, which had closed the electrical supply channel, ended and the lights were restored.
Suddenly, a chill ran down Bahadur's and Bahman's spines.
As they had signaled to each other, they stepped back from the elevator and hurriedly hid in the shadows of the doorframe.
All of a sudden, the sprinklers activated.
And from the pouring shower, ice bullets shot out and pierced the space where they had been standing.
Bahman hit the closing door button on the panel repeatedly.
But the elevator's controls were locked and the doors were unresponsive.
Ice bullets shot from a deep angle grazed Bahman's body, which was clinging to the wall.
('Open, Sesame')
Bahadur activated his magic from the opposite side.
The lock on the system was released and the door closed.
Bahman pressed the button of the first floor.
Immediately after that, the man jumped in through the gap of the closing door.
Mayumi shot ice bullets made of water droplets from the sprinklers.
The elevator hall was the only place where there was water being released. No water droplets have reached the inside of the cab.
She is spraying a barrage of ice into the cage through the open boarding door, but the duo hiding in the blind spot were not hit effectively.
(Then I'll drag them out!)
After finally recovering completely from the damage to his eyes, Ryousuke summoned his own magic to jump into the cab.
The 'Toogami' magic that was given by the former Tenth Research Institute, and the one that led to their expulsion from the former Tenth Research Institute.
Individual Armor Magic 'Reactive Armor'.
A plain anti-object magic barrier is constructed in line with Ryousuke's body.
Somehow the doors, which should have been locked by the operational system, begin to close.
Ryousuke jumped into the cage through the gap between the half-closed doors.
Bahadur shot a paralyzing round at the young man who jumped into the cab.
The bullet, which had a built-in discharge mechanism, was stopped by the barrier the youth was covered in.
"A magical barrier!"
A surprised remark came out of Bahadur's mouth.
The young man grabbed the gun Bahadur was holding and lightly twisted it.
With that alone, Bahadur's body was thrown against the cab's wall.
The young man was around 180cm tall, while Bahadur was roughly less than 170cm.
Even though there was a difference in physique, that alone did not explain his skill that looked like a sleight of hand.
Under the impact of being thrown, Bahadur mustered his willpower and activated his magic.
('Open, Sesame')
The barrier that covered the young man's body momentarily opens.
Bahman was about to shoot a paralyzing round onto the back of the now unprotected young man.
But faster than he could pull the trigger, the young man's barrier was restored.
('Open, Sesame'!)
Bahadur once again activates his magic to neutralize the barrier.
But this time, the 'Arabian Nights''s "Open" didn't work.
The magical resistance of the barrier had been greatly increased.
It no longer let 'Arabian Nights' come close to it!
The bullet Bahman fired was blocked by the young man's barrier.
The young man quickly turned around.
The cab arrived on the first floor and the doors slid open.
The young man grabbed onto Bahman.
He didn't look at Bahadur as he crawled out of the cab, sure that he could take care of him at any moment.
The young man's hand reached for Bahman's pistol.
It didn't look like a very fast motion, but Bahman couldn't avoid the hand.
The young man didn't grab the handgun, but Bahman's wrist.
From where he grabbed, a sharp pain spread through Bahman's whole body.
The gun dropped out of Bahman's hand.
Amidst the pain, Bahman felt a floating sensation.
The gun and Bahman's body fell to the floor of the cab at the same time.
He wasn't able to take a safe landing [20] .
The young man didn't let him take a safe landing.
In his field of vision as he looked up, the young man raised his hand overhead.
It was not a fist, but a stance of a palm bottom strike, yet the damage would surely be the same.
He could easily guess that.
There is no way for me to escape.
Bahman realized that his fate was at its end.
Seeing the approaching palm strike of the young man, Bahman summoned the last of his strength.
('Close up, Sesame')
The elevator doors quietly close.
The young man's palm strike reaches Bahman's chest.
Bahman's consciousness was engulfed in darkness.
With an Aiki skill, Ryousuke slammed Bahman to the floor and knocked him unconscious with a palm strike to the chest. Aikijutsu [21] - a little different from Aikido - was the martial art that Ryousuke was most proficient in.
A hit in the head to the point of rendering a person unconscious could cause brain damage. Ryousuke's palm strike to Bahman's chest was a "safe way to stun an opponent" that he learned from a different master in high school than Aikijutsu.
There is only one more. Ryousuke lets out a sigh of relief.
The fact that Janus' magic had the power to interfere with his barrier magic was unexpected. In the moment that his barrier was disabled, he was honestly so surprised that he panicked a bit.
But, as soon as it was broken, his individual armor magic would be rebuilt with an assigned resistance to "the same type of power of attack that triggered it". Hence 'Reactive Armor'. Armor that reacts to attacks.
As long as he is not neutralized by a single blow, he will stand up and continue to fight as many times as he can.
That's the magic of the expelled from the former Tenth Research Institute and turned Extra 'Toogami'.
There is a virtual limit to the number of times the barrier can be rebuilt. So, defeating the enemy before this limit is reached is how 'Toogami', and now Tookami Ryousuke, fight.
Ryousuke pressed the open door button on the panel to chase after the remaining one left.
But the elevator doors did not respond to Ryousuke's operation.
Ryousuke hit the buttons on the panel repeatedly.
The doors remained silent.
(The magic is still in effect……? Even though the magician is unconscious?)
Ryousuke was confused. That's why he couldn't realize it.
He couldn't reach the truth.
It was indeed Bahman's magic that closed the door. But the reason why the button to open the door doesn't respond is because the system is locked.
The elevator's operating system had been locked by Mayumi, who had falsely led the building's fire prevention system to believe that there was a fire. Bahadur's magic had forced the locking in the system to be lifted.
With the effect of Bahadur's magics now wearing off, the elevator system is now locked up again. And now that the fire prevention system no longer detects the false fire, all he has to do to get the elevators working again is to contact the Systems Management AI with the emergency call button and request to reactivate the elevators operation.
Ryousuke knows this procedure. If he was calm, he would have realized it right away.
But Ryousuke, who thinks that the magic of "Close" from 'Arabian Nights' is what is trapping him, keeps hitting the buttons on the panel incessantly.
Tokyo Bay area, offshore of Kawasaki Port.
There is another settlement here as well.
[Nee-san, do you read me?]
Fumiya's voice comes over the radio to Ayako's ears.
[I've finished]
It's over.
The message from Fumiya was the report that the subjugation was complete.
"That took a surprisingly long time, didn't it? Was it tough?"
[There were a lot of people]
"There were that many enemies?"
[No, I couldn't tell who was the enemy, so I knocked them all into a coma for now]
Fumiya words trailed off at this point.
[──I think it was a little over a hundred people. Well, no one is dead, so it doesn't matter]
The resumed speech elicits a dry laugh from Ayako. It's been bothering her lately, but she can't help but feel that her younger brother since his graduation from Fourth High, has been losing his "human sensibility".
Maybe I should look at my alma mater sometime and see if I can find out about the "humanity" that Fumiya lost…… Ayako thought about such a trivial matter.
[Nee-san?]
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to pick you up?"
Ayako suggested that she would fly with the Mock Teleportation and bring the Fumiya back to this ship.
[No, I want you to order the ship to come over and berth here]
"You're taking the whole ship?"
Fumiya is apparently planning to take not only the bandit's companions, but also the entire crew of the ship.
[I have no proof, but I have a feeling that the ship itself isn't unrelated]
"Right……."
While saying so, Ayako gathered her thoughts.
Fumiya says that there is no basis for this, but it is not unlikely that the cargo ship was staffed by all of the crew members employed by a crime syndicate. It is even possible that they were all members of a crime syndicate.
Fortunately, the Yotsuba family now has an extraterritorial base at Miyakijima. It's not too farfetched to take an entire ship captive. Rather, in this case, it's the most reliable solution.
"Alright. Let's hijack this cargo ship."
[Seajacking is……. Maybe that's the case]
Fumiya replied in a dumbfounded voice. It seemed the joke was worth it. Ayako slipped a chuckle, relieved at her brother's normal reaction.
Dazed from the impact of being thrown by Ryousuke, Bahadur reached the parking lot where he parked the private car they had used to get here.
He didn't feel guilty about escaping on his own. Even though they have been a duo for many years, in the end, Bahman was not his relative.
He might not even be able to return to the organization because of his failure in the job, but he didn't need to consider twice that his safety was his top priority.
I dared to use a paid facility for parking so as not to cause any unnecessary trouble. As for payment, I chose the place where I could pay by prepaid electronic money that does not require biometric authentication. There shouldn't be any problem concerning parking.
However, the car that should supposedly be parked in the lot was not there.
In its place, there is a different wagon parked, with a beautiful young blonde woman leaning against the front of it, looking at a terminal.
"……Excuse me, but do you know of a car that was parked right here?"
Bahadur questioned the blonde beauty in his inexperienced japanese.
"Who knows?"
The woman gives an exaggerated shrug to Bahadur. It was a natural movement that didn't seem out of place.
It seems that the blonde beauty had no intention of having any further conversation. Once again she looked down at the information terminal.
Bahadur's mind was quick to switch from confusion to defiance.
There was no point in thinking about the vanished car.
There is no time for that.
Fortunately, there is only a slim young woman here. He's going to take this wagon and leave this place.
Unfortunately, Bahadur's magic can't make her unconscious or blind her like Bahman's.
But the opponent is just a seemingly helpless young woman. He dropped his paralyzing pistol in the elevator, but Bahadur decided that his bare hands would suffice.
Bahadur is a criminal. He may avoid killing, but he has no hesitation in committing violence against women.
He didn't utter a word, but instead used the handle of the Maglite, held in the opposite direction, to strike the blonde beauty.
However.
The maglite Bahadur swung down, sliced through her body and struck the wagon's windshield.
Behind Lina's virtual image, the wagon's windshield made a dull sound.
"What?!"
Bahadur exclaimed in astonishment.
His surprise was not for the fact that the windshield did not crack.
Seeing the Maglite made of duralumin being repelled by the windshield, just assumes that the glass was bulletproof. His reflexive astonishment was quickly replaced by understanding.
His astonishment was because of the fact that the Maglite had passed right through Lina's body.
Lina's Information Body Camouflage Magic 'Parade'. Originally a secret art of the Kudou family of Ten Master Clans, originally intended to be used to obstruct the enemy's magic targeting. 'Parade' is not an illusion magic, but counter magic.
Yet the illusions created as a side effect are also very advanced and far superior to ordinary illusion magic. It may not be his first time facing an illusion, but an illusion that was completely indistinguishable from the real thing, accompanied by a sign of and also a feeling of presence, must be something he had never experienced before.
"What are you doing, all of a sudden!"
With the Maglite passing through it, Lina's vision extended her palm as if trying to push him away by the chest.
Bahadur staggered backwards as the pressure on his chest, accompanied by a temperature of thirty-six and a half degrees Celsius, hit him. The blood drained from his face.
The constituent factors of the human sense of touch are temperature, vibration and pressure. In other words, if these three elements are generated at the point of contact with the virtual image, a person will perceive the virtual image as real.
There is no substance in a ghost. Such a notion was present in the culture in which Bahadur grew up. If there is a body, it is not a ghost, but another monster. He was trapped in the belief that she may be relative to an immortal monster [22] that would instantly regenerate even if her body was gutted or split open.
"Hey, I'm asking you what you are trying to do."
The vision of Lina, with Maglite gone, took a step closer to Bahadur.
With a small shriek, "Hiii!", Bahadur turned his back to the virtual image of Lina and ran away.
He ran and tried to get away.
However.
Bahadur had to stop after taking a single step forward.
Standing before him was Tatsuya and snuggled up to him, Miyuki.
"Tatsuya Shiba……"
"Oh. So you know me."
Bahadur's consciousness didn't register Tatsuya's reply.
Bahadur's eyes turned to Miyuki at Tatsuya's side.
"And Miyuki Shiba……?"
"Oh my, you know me too."
Miyuki smiles brightly.
That smile was perfectly gorgeous, so bewitching that it was almost out of this world.
Both of Bahadur's eyes were tinted with the color of fear.
His consciousness was swallowed up by the panic.
"Aftah ya Samsam!"
Bahadur suddenly loudly shouted.
It is Arabic for 'Open, Sesame!'.
It has no meaning in and of itself.
It was just a key word imprinted on the consciousness of many people, a mere spell that exists in the world of the story, a key word that has the specific function of opening the rock door of the treasure cave. There is no symbolic meaning to it, nor is there any magical effect that could work in this world.
It's just that when the BS magician Bahadur invokes his innate singular magic, these words are formed as an image of a voice in his own mind. Earlier, whether he says it aloud or not has no relevance to his magic, and having someone hear it aloud does not make them more susceptible to the magic effect.
Nevertheless, Bahadur's magic 'Arabian Nights' 'Open' was indeed activated. Compared to Bahman's 'Close', 'Open' had a narrower range of applications in combat. But it is not completely useless. It can be used to deprive an enemy of the capacity to make a calm judgment by opening the inner doors that lock in the hostility as well as fear, and drive them to self-destruction.
However.
Bahadur's magic had no effect whatsoever on Tatsuya or Miyuki.
Almost at the same time as Bahadur shouted, Tatsuya easily extended his right arm, which was wearing a simple silver-colored bracelet, forward.
That bracelet is the 'Silver Torus'. A perfect thought operated type specialized CAD system in the form of a cylinder.
The Activation Sequence is issued in an instant, and the Magic Sequence is completed in an instant.
The activated magic is 'Gram Dispersion'.
A magic that decomposes the Magic Sequence, thus nullifying the magic.
A magic that doesn't interfere with the effectiveness of a magic, but rather destroys the magic itself.
Bahadur's 'Arabian Nights' was destroyed by Tatsuya's 'Gram Dispersion' before it could manifest its effects.
"Please stay put, okay?"
Miyuki whispers softly to a stunned Bahadur and extends her right arm in the same manner as Tatsuya.
The bracelet on her wrist has been processed in such a way that the lights are reflected unevenly in a certain way, making it look as if it were shimmering.
This is also a perfect thought operated type CAD in a cylindrical shape. But it is not a specialized type, but a general-purpose one. Because the perfect thought operated type of CAD does not need any buttons, it can be freely augmented with decorative features. No matter how decorative it may be, its function will not be compromised.
Miyuki's magic strikes Bahadur.
Superficially, there is no significant change.
Only the expression on Bahadur's face had slipped from his face.
Bahadur paralyzed and terrified, as if his soul had been drained out of him,
A second later, collapsed on the street as if all his strength had been drained out of his body.
Simultaneously, both Tatsuya and Lina started walking towards the fallen Bahadur.
Reaching first, Tatsuya bent down by Bahadur's side and checked his pulse, breathing and temperature.
"It's okay. He's just sleeping."
Hearing Tatsuya's line, Miyuki exhaled lightly.
A magic that Miyuki developed with Tatsuya, based on the hibernation magic that Minoru used to put himself into sleep, a restrained variation of the Mental Interfering Magic 'Cocytus', called 'Icythorn'.
Cocytus brings eternal silence that can never be reversed, a virtual death, to the spirit.
In contrast, Icythorn is a spell that forces the victim into a slumber, in which they cannot awaken on their own, without having a special Non-Systematic Type Magic cast on them.
Cocytus is a magic too powerful by its nature to be manipulated in any way. They devised this magic in order to make use of Miyuki's invaluable natural disposition for Mental Interference type on a more widespread basis, the completed magic, Icythorn, was a most effective spell to restrain the enemy.
Although it was completed in theory, the Mental Interference system of magic, by its very nature, could only be tested on a human opponent to see its effectiveness. Due to her psychological resistance to human experimentation, Miyuki hadn't gotten the opportunity to test Icythorne.
Tonight, however, by using a criminal magician as a test subject for an attempted theft, the completion of the new magic, Icythorn, was finally about to be verified.
Tatsuya handcuffed and gagged Bahadur, raised and then said to Miyuki, "Well, let's wake him up".
Miyuki uses Non-Systematic Type Magic, a Psion wave with a specific pattern, as the key to his awakening. Since it was a Non-Systematic Type Magic, Tatsuya could do it too, but since it was her first time, he decided to let Miyuki see it through to the end.
The effect was immediate.
Bahadur grunted low and stirred. When Bahadur opened his eyes, he raised himself up and tried to escape in handcuffs, but Tatsuya silenced him with a blow on the solar plexus.
Tatsuya then turns to Miyuki with a smile that shows no lingering effects of violence.
"Congratulations, Miyuki."
"Congratulations, Miyuki. That's awesome."
"Thank you very much, Tatsuya-sama. And thank you too, Lina."
Miyuki smiled with a mixture of joy and relief as Tatsuya and Lina congratulated her.
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