Chapter 6
[Sealing and Liberation]
September 16th, midnight local time, 4:00 p.m. Japan Standard Time on the same day.
Minoru dropped down to the eastern hillside of Mount Shasta. Dressed in for a day-trip mountain climbing: thick shirt and pants, trekking shoes with hard soles, and a small rucksack on his back.
But in today's activities he would not be venturing up to the summit; his destination was, instead, underground. The pole-like object he carries that was small enough to be held in one hand, was not a trekking stick, like one would expect, but rather the jeweled wand of Shamballa, which Tatsuya had entrusted to him.
The data obtained from the ruins under the Potala Palace indicate that the ruins are buried in this area. They don't have the exact coordinates given the change of topography in the thousands of years since the ruins were constructed, but this wouldn't be a particular problem for Minoru. Taking out a charm, he created a shikigami and released it into the underground. As a magician of the "Ninth", Minoru mastered both modern magic and Japanese-based ancient-style magic, and, having absorbed the ghost of Zhou Gongjin, his repertoire was bolstered by East-Asian mainland's ancient-style magic. He could produce a shikigami to search as easily as he breathed.
This shikigami just created favored more the Japanese-style of incorporeal, formless type. The continental Asian schools tend to give them temporary substance. The benefit of this choice was that neither dirt or rocks would be an obstacle, and it would clearly relay the landscape of the earth's depths, where light did not reach.
"...Found it."
Minoru's thoughts come aloud. Took him less than five minutes to locate the underground ruins.
Immediately after, his body was sucked into the ground. Similar to how Tatsuya did it
Only that he did not decompose the soil and stone composing the ground under his feet into gas to drill a shaft. In his case, he manipulated the density of the ground to create a capsule-like space for himself, and then moved its position, pushing through the soil in his path, leaving no tracks behind. Although the execution utilizes modern methods, the effects are rather similar to the Doton (Earth Release)-style of the ninjutsu schools of ancient-style magic.
Minoru proceeded undeterred through the literal definition of absolute darkness, i.e., absence of light. He stopped after diving more than a hundred meters, then expanded the space enclosing him to create a horizontal tunnel. At the end, hidden from view by the darkness, was a perfectly flat rock face.
Minoru walked through the tunnel unassisted by any illumination until he stood before a stone surface, where he pressed the jewel at the end of the wand in his right hand against it.
A section of the wall slides open with a heavy thud, creating a gap that Minoru can enter.
◇◇◇
At the motel in Mt. Shasta City, west of Mt. Shasta, where Lena and the rest of the FEHR group are staying.
In one of the rooms they divided themselves, Lena's body arose from the bed in a startle, "What was that?" she spoke up involuntarily. Her words came too clear to be considered a sleep talk.
Her roommate, Arya, woke up with the sound and movement. "Were you still awake, Milady? Is there something wrong?" she asked from the adjacent bed, her voice still carrying a hint of sleepiness.
"No, I was sleeping, I just... I thought I heard a door open somewhere."
"What do you mean, 'somewhere'? What kind of door was it?"
"I don't know. I think I might have just dreamed about it..." Lena's words trailed off, sounding unsure of herself.
"Even if it was in a dream doesn't mean it has to be meaningless. Milady, if it is not too much trouble for you, why don't you try to remember?"
Encouraged by Arya's assurance, Lena tries to look back on what she had felt.
"I think it was somewhere down, I think there was a heavy stone door sliding open..."
"...That wasn't the gates of hell that you heard open, was it?"
Arya was not trying to make fun of Lena. Despite being ethnically Indian, Arya was a Christian. And she believed that, if someone, Lena would actually be able to hear the sound of the gates of hell opening.
"Please... What are you saying now...?" Despite the person not meaning, and not appearing to be in a joking expression, Lena still seemed to think she was being mocked. "...No, it didn't have the impression of something ominous about it. It actually felt virtuous, somehow."
"That's a relief..." Arya's words seemed to be genuine. "But if there isn't anything ominous to it, then it doesn't sound to me that it has to do with FAIR."
"Maybe it's unrelated." After a brief moment, she then added, slightly embarrassed, "Then again, this could be just a dream."
Arya insists, "Do you know where exactly that door was?" She stays there looking at Lena, waiting for an answer.
"No, not at all. I've tried to reach for it again with all my senses, but it just didn't work. It was probably just a dream." With an apologetic expression, she again tries to dismiss it.
That expression made Arya feel reluctant to continue. "...Well, let's just go back to sleep for now. We can think again about it tomorrow with a clear head."
"Yes, that would be best. Good night, Arya."
Lena took the opportunity, they finished this conversation before even getting their feet off the bed. She just bid Arya good night and lay down.
Arya followed her example.
◇◇◇
"Nice," Minoru muttered to himself in a relieved voice, now inside the underground stone chamber, the vault left behind by Shambhala.
It took him three hours after he entered the ruins, but he was able to safely remove the stone tablet that imparts the strategic-class mass-destruction magic from the wall.
In the end, it was easier than he had feared, and he was able to accomplish it without causing too much damage to the ruins. Though there is still a possibility that removing a section of the wall might compromise the integrity of the structure in the future, there was nothing more that Minoru, or perhaps even Tatsuya, could do about it.
This was not the end of Minoru's work there. Minoru decided to seal the magic, tentatively named [Last Flame], himself. He and Tatsuya reached a consensus, so there wouldn't be any dispute. Sealing it would prevent any serious conflicts that may arise because or as a result of this magic.
Tatsuya had entrusted Minoru with one more task at this site. Tatsuya needed to visit this site himself, and Minoru's task was necessary for that to be possible.
If sealing [Last Flame] was all there was to do, sending Minoru was more than enough. He could get in and out of USNA faster and easier from his position in space, and Minoru had more cards on his deck when it came to covert operations.
According to the data of the assortment of each site they obtained from the underground ruin on the Potala Palace, this site on Mt. Shasta was a front-line stronghold. They, the civilization Shambhala, had an enemy, described in the Kalachakra Tantra as "Kla-Klo". Scholars of the Kalachakra Tantra often interpret the "Kla-Klo" as referring to the Islamic world.
The new discoveries that point to what was referred as the Utopic Kingdom of Shambhala was in fact an assortment of shelters made to survive the Ice Age, also promote a reconsideration of what might be the Kla-Klo. The name is an intentional corruption and banalization of the original name with derisive purposes. They don't have any means of reconstructing what the original term was, all that is reflected on the records is that it meant "Liberators" for the "Kla-Klo" people .
While one can only speculate on their motives, the data points they utilized of guerrilla warfare against Shambhala. The records on the Potala Palace ruins refer to a battle that took place on Mt. Shasta as the most intense conflict between the Shambala and the
Kla-Klo.
As such, most of the magics left behind in the area had to be designed primarily to combat guerrillas, as opposed to large-scale magic such as [Last Flame]. Nowadays, such kind of magic would be much more useful than something like [Last Flame].
Anti-unit, anti-personnel kind of magic could be useful for maintaining public safety, so generally speaking, there was no need to reject it. That was Minoru's opinion. But Tatsuya's viewpoint was different, he believed that those should be sealed off as well.
Their face-to-face in the Miyakishima private lab the other day was to discuss what to do about the magic besides [Last Flame]. His other task was what was decided on.
Not to eliminate access to the magic altogether, just to restrict access to only those with the possession of the wand, which serves as the master key to the ruins. Specifically, make the treasure wand memorize the path required for installation, and then make the ruins themselves inaccessible.
Minoru tucked the tablet with [Last Flame] into his rucksack and took out his homemade's lunch box. After replenishing his energy with the food Minami so carefully and attentively made for him, he began working through the data in the other tablets lining the wall with the wand.
◇◇◇
Around the same time in Japan, Tatsuya was invited to a dinner meeting hosted by the Chief of Staff of the National Defense Forces, Director-General Akiyama.
"I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to accept my invitation." Given his standing, Akiyama sounded remarkably over-courteous to someone who is ostensibly a civilian. "I'd like to show my appreciation for listening to our unreasonable request the other day." It was clear that by "unreasonable request" and "the other day", he meant the treatment of Kazama and Yanagi.
"Don't be, I wasn't completely unrelated myself." Akiyama didn't call him here just to thank him for that, and Tatsuya knew it. He brushed off the topic with a nonchalant reply, prompting for the main topic.
Only after the meal was over did Akiyama begin to talk about it.
"If we do not stand up to this act of unbridled aggression, we will lose our respect as an international power," Akiyama preached. "It's not a simple matter of pride, it's to maintain our credibility."
A reasonable argument, Tatsuya thought, "I can see your point."
"Our next move will be to pull out our contingent from the military observer mission in Tibet and dispatch a fleet to the Taiwan Strait."
"Wouldn't that lead to an outbreak of war?"
"Unlikely, in our assessment. It may take some time, but we intend to make a display and hold the pressure on the Greater Asia Alliance until we can extract some concessions."
"That country may act beyond your estimations and react rashly regardless, if you do."
In response to the concern expressed by Tatsuya, Akiyama readily stated, "We'll be ready for that."
"Won't sending a fleet violate the neutrality conditions? Our country's participation as observers in the war would be disregarded."
"Deploying a fleet to an international strait shouldn't be grounds for deeming us a hostile nation, not that it'll stop them from raising such accusations."
Sometimes international diplomacy can be summed up as a game of "he said, she said," where the one who makes the first statement has some edge over the information space. A diplomatic quibble that would not work in a bilateral engagement may have a real impact on the situation in a multilateral setting. By itself, it would be hard to consider the act of navigating through internationally recognized channels as an act of hostility.
Akiayama very much stated that his intentions are, in fact, to make a show of force. Which may be difficult to accomplish while also insisting on a non-aggressive, neutral position.
"Nevertheless, it is not in our diplomatic interest to fully remove ourselves from the Tibetan conflict."
Tatsuya made no comment, but he could see why Akiyama would think so. Tatsuya knew that Akiyama too had a hand in this war playing out, as evidenced by the message Sanada asked him to send to Lars Singh.
"I was wondering if you could reconsider the request made by Kazama earlier."
"About the civilian observer group, you mean?"
"So that's was it, after all," Tatsuya mused. He already had a strong suspicion this was Akiyama's intention given the timing of the invitation.
"The conditions presented by the Head of the Yotsuba family have been met. All that is left is your word, Shiba-san."
"Alright, in that case, I'll accept it."
"Oh..!" Akiyama let out a genuine gasp of appreciation as Tatsuya gave his agreement.
"I won't be able to keep a permanent assignment, but I'll be happy to come over once a week, if that's alright with you."
"Yes, that would be absolutely fine."
"I'll be using my own jet for travel. Can I use the airport in Kathmandu?"
"You must mean the Tribhuvan airport. Yes, I'll make arrangements so that you can use it."
Akiyama was quick to accept Tatsuya's conditions. Did he anticipate it? Or did he want Tatsuya's participation that badly?
Tatsuya also wanted an excuse to get involved in the Tibetan war, so he didn't mind playing along with their games.
◇◇◇
By the time Minoru resurfaced it was 7:30 pm local time. He had been in the underground ruins for nearly 20 hours.
He's done with everything he needed to do in the ruins; the tablet with [Last Flame] was in the rucksack on his back, and the access rights to the other magics left in the ruins were all registered to the wand.
However, his work here is not all done yet.
"...I brought it along, I might as well use it."
Minoru's soliloquy was an effort to persuade himself not to hesitate any longer about the measures to be taken.
He stared at the object in his hand, an artificial relic that preserves magic sequences, a magistore. This one stores the emission-type magic [Stone Coffin]. The name derives from concrete structures used to contain nuclear reactors following an accident.
Of the eight types, derived from the four systems of modern magic, emission-type magic manipulates phase transitions. [Stone Coffin] is a magic that alters the consistency of a solid substance into that of a liquid while maintaining its fixed position and temperature, then returns the substance to a solid state as a molecular homogeneous composite. Sediment under the effect of [Stone Coffin] is transmuted from cold lava into a solid rock.
To activate this magic Minoru needed no more effort than to supply his own power. The reason for relying on the help of the magistore was due to the sheer complexity present in the target area.
Only the sediment surrounding the ruins, excluding the stone chamber itself, was defined for alteration by the magic. The target designation part of the magic makes this an exceptionally technical procedure. That is because the magic interferes with the defined area as a single event, instead of producing an effect on every single component.
Conveniently, the dimensions of the stone chamber were among the data obtained from the ruins beneath the Potala Palace. Using that information, a magic sequence was developed and stored in the Magistore with the range of the effect of the [Stone Coffin] predefined.
Minoru activated the [Stone Coffin] magic sequence on the magistore. An ellipsoidal space with a major axis diameter of 16 meters and a minor axis diameter of 8 meters, with the Stone chamber at its center more than 100 meters below the ground.
The resulting object of event interference as defined in the magic sequence in the magistore was not a clean ellipsoidal sphere, it had natural distortion and uneven surfaces.
But it did the job, the ruins deep underground now were enclosed in a single block of rock formed in accordance with the defined parameters.
Not long after sealing the ruins, Minoru returned to space.
He was a demon in human flesh, his presence there was illegal in more ways than one. Best for him not to overstay his welcome once his business was done.
If only his business kept him here for two more hours, the chain of events that followed would have seen an entirely different outcome.
◇◇◇
The ruins Laura found at the northwest foot of Mount Shasta were left by Kla-Klo.
Around two hours after Minoru left for space, Laura entered the ruin accompanied by Dean.
"Is it alright to break down the door?" Dean looked slightly unsure back to Laura.
"We have no need for the ruins, the artifacts inside are what we came for."
While Laura managed to find the ruins of the Kla-Klo, she didn't have the key to the place, in contrast to Tatsuya. She found this place through a more roundabout way, using the clues she could extract from the [Babel] demons she now has as a familiar.
A jackhammer and concrete cutters served them well enough to open a passage into the ruins. While they took the time to determine the safe points in which to cut and make holes with magic, their means of entry were ostensibly modern machinery.
The ruin of the Kla-Klo was a stone chamber similar to the ones left by Shambhala, albeit smaller in size compared to the one Minoru had just sealed. Another difference was that, in contrast to the ruins in Shambala, which had hollow interiors save for the stone tablets lining the wall, the Kla-Klo were a cluttered mess. It gave the impression of a place that had to be locked up and abandoned in a hurry.
Laura and Dean were lucky to not be alone in this endeavor, as they were accompanied by a group of combat engineers courtesy of Zhu Yuen Yun. They were the ones who employed the machinery to open the entrance. Zhu Yuen Yun's people sorted the black stone slabs from the scattered relics and stuffed them into their bags. Neither Dean nor Laura raised a protest.
In less than an hour, the interior had been cleared. All the black tablets, identical in appearance to the Guru's Tablet, were safely stored in the backpacks of Zhu Yuen Yun's men.
"We'll stay here and do a deeper study of the ruins. If possible, you can pick us up... let me see... Tomorrow, around eight o'clock. Laura addressed the leader of the engineer team directly.
He turned to Dean.
Who backs up Laura, "What she said."
Soon, the group of combat engineers , backpacks on their backs, headed to the underground cave that led back to the surface.
Laura waited until they were alone in the ruins to begin to clear the artifacts and debris left on the floor and along the walls.
"Let me help,"
Dean volunteered to help clean up the mess, apparently finding some meaning in it.
Since the chamber was not very large, the task only took about 20 minutes.
"Alright... Now, Laura, I trust you can tell me more about this."
"Of course, My Lord." Laura knelt before Dean, pressing her forehead against the stone floor. "I am truly sorry for making you go through the trouble. However, it was required that the altar be cleansed by the person who is to receive the rite. I am astonished that you were able to understand this without needing my explanation, My Lord."
"So, this, what looks like an altar, is the actual legacy?"
Dean asked out of genuine curiosity. He didn't try to capitalize on Laura's overestimation, but he didn't correct her subjective assumption, either.
"With pleasure, My Lord. As you see, the flooring of this stone chamber is the grimoire that you seek."
"Didn't you just say back there that we didn't have to care about the ruins themselves?"
"I was being mindful of our company."
Dean considers Zhu Yuen Yun a compatriot and a benefactor. By extension, his subordinates are also his allies.
But to Laura, Zhu Yuen Yun and his men are mere strangers.
"Hm..." Dean grunts.
While that quite didn't bring a smile to his face, he wasn't entirely against it, either. Honestly, he held his own personal agenda above either his benefactors or his compatriots.
"If that's true, this is pretty big..." He looked at the ruins, the tablet with [Babel] came to mind.
"That's expressly how much higher grade the magic recorded here is."
"Hm... So, can you tell what sort of magic is here?"
"Yes..."
With that, Laura brough her head to the floor once more. Which implies her groveling before was actually a means to inspect the magics in the ruins.
"...You will be pleased to hear, My Lord," Laura stated once she was back up. If that smile was a flower, it would not have been a pleasant one, there was a hint of venom behind it. It resembled the bright and colorful carnivorous plant, sarracenia. "The magic contained here doesn't compromise your own magic. This will give you more power, My Lord, without having to sacrifice [Dionysus]."
"Is that really possible? What kind of magic is it exactly?"
"Indeed it is. It was written here under the name of [Gjallarhorn]. It is in the same vein as the [Dionysus] magic, inducing a number of individuals to go into a state of battle frenzy."
"...How is it different from your [Berserk] or [Ulfhedinn]?"
Both of the magics that Dean named also did what she suggested, robbing people of their reason and driving them to kill each other, the kind of witch magic that Laura prides herself on.
"The scale. [Berserk] and [Ulfhedinn] are limited to a small group of people. [Babel] has the potential to cripple a city-sized population, but it requires significant time to reach that point. This [Gjallarhorn], however, can create a pandemonium far more disastrous, almost on the scale of what modern magicians call strategic-class magic." Laura fervently spoke of the magnificence of the magic of the ruins. Drunken in the apocalyptic fantasy scenario brought by the catastrophic magic.
"Haha! Now, tell me more how this magic works!"
Dean's eyes seemed to be overtaken by a similar gleam.
Dean lay on the floor of the ruins, no pillow or cushion, head and body directly on the floor. Next to him, Laura performed a mysterious dance while sitting on the floor, singing a song in what didn't seem to be a human voice; it came out low and guttural, like that of an animal.
Her limbs and body swayed like seaweed at the bottom of the sea.
Her movements alluded to those of a mystical tree that captures and eats travelers, like those found in fantastic fairy tales.
Dean laid motionless. His mind drifting between wakefulness and sleep.
Laura's song and dance anchors him to the world of the wake.
So the witch spurns her magic.
The performance lasted for nearly ten hours. Awake, but not conscious. While her body danced, her consciousness remained in a state of trance.
Knowledge flowed from the floor of the ruins into Dean, which is why the direct contact. Information was not absorbed and recorded, but imprinted. Why is it so, what makes it so? Irrespective of such logical considerations, he was imparted with the knowledge of how to use it and its effects.
The musterion lasted for half a day.
◇◇◇
The FEHR group was in the middle of lunch at an American dinner in a town west of Mt. Shasta. It's a popular chain of dinners that have spread all the way to Japan more than a century ago. The quality is nothing to write home about, but it's cheap and there is quantity.
Lena brings the food to her mouth at a slow pace, her peers, Arya, Ryousuke, and Lois Roux, accompany her at the same table with a friendly banter.
At the center of this carefree atmosphere, Lena stands up abruptly, knife and fork still clutched in her hand.
Arya reaches to grab her chair, which is about to topple over. "Milady?" She asks, concerned.
But her voice didn't seem to reach Lena
The blood drained from Lena's face and she turned pale, her lips quivered slightly.
"Milady, what is happening?" Ryousuke calls out from across the table in a stronger tone of voice.
Lena still doesn't respond.
"Milady!" Arya stands up and shakes Lena by the shoulder.
Only then does Lena finally react and turn her head to Arya. But her eyes don't seem focused on the person in front of her.
"..." She mutters something.
Arya brings her ear next to Lena's lips.
"-Not good... That is not good..."
"Milady, what is not good?"
"Don't touch it... Else ××× will come..."
"What is coming?" Arya's voice cracks at the sense of foreboding those words bring.
"It's coming... it's happening... it's coming..."
"Lena!?" Arya shouted her name and shook her violently by the shoulder.
"Arya..."
At last, Lena's eyes met Arya's.
"I tried to stop it... I had to... but I couldn't... stop it..."
Lena's eyes narrowed, and her body lost its strength.
Arya tightened her grasp on Lena, keeping her from collapsing to the floor.
◇◇◇
"Lieutenant Shaula!"
"Ensign Spica, did you feel it too?"
Simultaneous to Lena standing up, the Stars members Shaula and Spica, who came to hunt for Laura Simons, also sensed the nefarious psion waves.
"It was east-northeast from here, what do you think?" "I think so, too," Spica confirmed Shaula's suggestion.
Spica confirmed Shaula's suggestion. The duo established their search group in the city of Carrick, situated to the west-northwest of Mount Shasta.
"It felt like some kind of aftershock, but I think it's still ongoing..." Shaula spoke in a mutter.
"Yes, seems so to me as well," Spica agreed, then proceeded with a suggestion, "Let's send a drone. We might be able to locate it before it's too late."
It was Shaula's turn to agree, then she ordered one of the men in her command to fly a reconnaissance drone over that area.
◇◇◇
Early in the afternoon, September 17. The musterion rite Dean received was successful after half a day's labor. The nefarious magic [Gjallarhorn] that beguiles people into destruction and carnage was at last released from its thousands-year slumber into Dean's body.
Who then went from his half-conscious state to unconscious in deep sleep. So did Laura, who fainted from exhaustion. It was late at night when they both woke up, just in time to see Zhu Yuen Yun's men rendezvous with them.
"How are you feeling, My Lord?"
"Terrible..."
Dean responds to her concerned question with a grimace. Even the simple act of speaking out was painful. He felt like suffering from the worst kind of motion sickness, or the equivalent of the visceral hangover after a night of cheap, synthetic liquor.
"Can you move?"
"Give me a minute."
Dean took his time getting to his feet, propping his hands on his knees. Laura noticed his legs began to tremble at the effort and hurried to offer her hand to support him.
"'─No need." Dean raised his palm to stop her. "Let's go," he said, walking toward the opening in the ruins made by jackhammers and concrete cutters.
"My Lord, if I may, I think it would be safer to wait here for a while..."
"There's no need. We have someone on our tail, right?"
Laura was left speechless for a moment. She couldn't refute Dean's point. He was right. Though it was surprising that he would be able to tell given his current condition.
"My head and my body feel like a wreck," Dean started with his usual arrogant attitude and a proud smile, "But, for some reason, my senses are sharper than ever."
Desisting on the idea of supporting him, Laura walks ahead, "I'll lead the way, My Lord."
"That I can allow. Lead the way."
"Yes, My Lord."
At a slow pace, Laura and Dean made their way out of the underground caverns.
◇◇◇
The Stars search team led by Lieutenant Shaula and Ensign Spica, all dressed in their thrust suits, a combat-purpose flight suit, dispersed over the northwestern foothills of Mt. Shasta.
They were unable to pinpoint the location of the wave signaling magic they detected in the afternoon. The drone sensors lost the psion wave in less than ten minutes after it took off. Not due to a malfunction; the magician emitting the wave either fell asleep, fainted or died.
Even if it was the latter, their body still needed to be identified, even if they had to scour the large area for a mute inanimate body. If the person was alive, which the team hoped was the case, it would be possible to detect them by looking out for a matching psion wave to the one they detected before.
And just as the clock was approaching eight o'clock in the evening, the search party's hopes were answered.
[Lt. Shaula. We have just confirmed the detection of the same psion pattern as the one from the afternoon,] Spica reported to Shaula.
"We also detected here as well," Shaula confirmed they detected the wave at nearly the same time.
Two reports came in with identical results. By cross-referencing the four detection sources, they determined the target's ─Laura's location.
◇◇◇
Laura's feet stopped just a dozen meters before the entrance to the cave.
"Laura? Wha-...?" Dean stopped mid sentence. "...so they found us?" After a pause he realized why Laura had stopped.
"How should we proceed, My Lord?"
Laura asked, keeping her eyes looking ahead.
"I don't know which one they are, but I don't want anyone to know about the ruins regardless. Fortunately, they still have to close down on us. Let's get out of here."
"Will we leave the entrance to the cave uncovered?"
"It would be counterproductive to leave traces of magic."
"As you wish."
Then Laura took out something resembling a pill, chewed it, and swallowed it.
"My Lord, please get on." She turns her back on Dean and crouches down.
Without a moment's pause, Dean allowed Laura to carry him.
"I'm afraid this will only last about five minutes."
The pill Laura just consumed was of her own brew, a drug with the purpose of assisting in the witchcraft of body enhancement.
"That's enough. Just get us as far away from here as you can," Dean ordered while clinging to her back as if it were a natural habit.
"Yes, My Lord."
Laura similarly had no reservations about the matter.
Dean climbed off Laura's back once they were about 500 meters away from the cave entrance.
"My Lord, please take cover behind those rocks." Laura pointed at the natural shelter, which was hidden from view from three sides by overlapping rocks.
Dean did so without protest. He still couldn't use magic, his mind was still processing the enormous amount of information of the magic he installed in the ruins.
Laura first distanced herself from Dean's position and then took out a knife with her right hand and ran its blade across her own left hand. The wound it inflicted was shallow, not deep enough for blood to pour out, but enough to coat the edge of the knife.
With it she drew an inverted pentagram, chanting the name of the fallen angel Grigori that corresponded to the four archangels.
Grigori, or Egregore, is a transliteration of the root "one who watches." It lends its name to the magic Laura used for sensing the approach of a person with hostile intent.
Additionally the name of the fallen angel she invoked, Grigori, has an effect on par with evil eye, allowing her not only to sense her enemy but also lowering their status with a single witchcraft.
That said, like all magic, witchcraft is far from all-powerful. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the status reduction is subject to the relationship of power with the other party. Laura shouldn't be relieved simply because [Grigori] was invoked.
The image of the bloodstone with the sealed [Babel] demon in it flashed across her mind. It was momentary, she quickly turned her attention away from it. That magic is most effective when used in urban areas where there are a good number of people. She experimented in Japan and it was of little use in a battle with a small number of people.
All she could do was to ready herself to intercept any enemy that came her way.
She felt as if hours had passed, but in actuality it took only about five minutes for her enemy to come in contact with her.
◇◇◇
The Stars search party was engaged in a frantic scuffle.
"...I didn't hear FAIR still had that many combatants left," Spica shot the complaint inside her trust suit.
They were tasked and expected to find just the FAIR leader and sub-leader duo on the run. But, for some reason, they now found themselves having to deal with as many as thirty people.
It's a well spread out search. The Stars have as many people on their team, however most were operators manning the drones and sensors. In terms of combatants, including Shaula and Spica, there were only six.
The internal politics struggle has limited the contingent size of how many combatants they could deploy.
[The faces don't match the photos in the database. Seems like we have people from outside of FAIR.] The answer came in Shaula's voice. She was responding to Spica's complaint that was picked up by the built-in communicator in her helmet. [My take is that they are fighters from the Triad.]
"The Triad? The Chinese mafia, you mean?"
[They come off more as soldiers than regular criminals.]
The Triad has its roots in the "anti-Qing/Ming-restaurationist movement". It's a Han led guerrilla effort to wrest control of the East Asian continent from the Manchu people. But military operations are a costly affair, anyway, anyhow. It seems to be the fate of organizations anywhere in the world who rely on guerilla tactics to resort to criminal activities to finance their campaigns. And so did the Triad, while still retaining its true nature as a militant organization. Once the movement accomplished its
"Ming-restaurationist" mission, the Triad has been active as the Hongmen's private army.
"There are some magicians among them, but do they have any link to the GAU...?"
[I don't think so. I've heard no info that the Triad I don't think so. I have no information that the Triad is an offshoot of the GAU forces. Wouldn't you know more about that than I do, Ensign?]
"I certainly haven't heard anything to that effect either..."
Ensign Spica was recruited for her talents as a magician who excelled in intelligence work. To the extent that there had been talks of her being assigned to the DIA instead of Stars. Her military training includes further additional specialization, and she has an extensive network of contacts in the same field. If there were any reports of close connections between Hongmen and the Greater Asia Union, that information would have reached Spica's ears long before Shaula's.
[The hostiles have some skill as combat magicians, but nowhere near our level. Let's wrap up this resistance and get the real target. I sensed they're using some kind of mental interference magic. Feels like ancient-style, my guess would be witchcraft. The target should be there.]
Shaula set a position in the map where she surmised the target would be and sent it through the data link.
Spica used the flight feature of her thrust suit to gain altitude. She ignored the incoming attacks from the Triad combatants and headed towards where it was marked on the map.
◇◇◇
(From the sky!? A flying device!)
The thoughts rushed through Laura's mind as she caught sight of the enemy closing in rapidly. She didn't expect that Zhu Yuen Yun's men would try to protect them, but as it turned out to be to no avail, regardless. If they were set against agents using flying devices, their opponents were at least from the internal security forces of the state police. At worst, from the federal army.
To the northeast and southwest. Presences were rapidly approaching from two directions.
(They're coming!)
Laura only noticed them thanks to the "One Who Watches" magic. Two figures clad in dark combat suits blend into the night sky. She simultaneously activated [Sariel].
(...Looks like it didn't work)
[Sariel], which equates to an Evil Eye, is a magic that weakens the physical functions of the opponent and can even lead to death. If it worked. Witchcraft, as well as any ancient-style magic in general, requires lengthy rituals to achieve a satisfactory effectiveness. Magic of the kind invoked with an abbreviated ritual will have trouble interfering with opponents with strong resistance.
One of the suited individuals threw a knife at her in the ground. The knife flew at a blinding speed, piercing Laura's thigh.
◇◇◇
(Target acquired!)
Spica recognized Laura's form and lowered to the ground. During which she had the sensation of magic event interference, but disregarded it as it had no effect.
She flung a knife as she landed.
[Hornet Dagger]. One of Stars signature magics that uses weapons in tandem. This specific magic maneuvers an electrified knife with movement-based magic to strike a target. The main purpose of the technique is to incapacitate the enemy, inflicting non-lethal wounds and applying static electricity.
The knife didn't miss its target, lodging itself in her thigh. "Mission accomplished," Spica thought. But she didn't expect the intense pain coursing her thigh a second later.
The pain is like being stabbed deeply with a knife. And there was an almost paralyzing numbness that radiated from the wound to the rest of her body. It was as if she was the one hit with [Hornet Dagger].
Spica didn't know it, but she was struck with the witches automatic retribution magic,
[Erinyes]. This magic reflects the pain the caster suffers by retracing the path of the magic formula projected to the target. This magic, which took considerable time to carve in her body, had the ability to project enough interference to break through even a Stars' magic defenses.
Her legs became unable to support her body, and Spica fell over.
Leaving Laura still standing with a knife in her thigh.
◇◇◇
Witches are a branch of ancient-style magicians who specialize in interfering with "human"-related phenomena. This naturally involves interference with the bodies and minds of others as well as with their own.
Laura blocked the sense of pain brought on by the knife in her right leg and ordered her paralyzed muscles from the electric shock to keep supporting her standing.
Right after that, Laura felt as if she had been punched in the back of the head. It wasn't a physical blow. She immediately understood that the damage was caused by mental interference-type modern magic, [Lunar Strike].
The impact knocked her level of consciousness down to half. By dividing her consciousness in two and allocating the damage to one of the halves, she was able to maintain her ability to continue fighting. However, Laura was aware that now, more than ever, she would not be able to hold on for much longer.
A high-pitched, shrill "sound", that could neither be described as a song nor a prayer, was wrung out of Laura's throat. Only by reforming her own throat could she vocalize the multiple simultaneous "sounds" at once. The witch developed a technique of abbreviated chanting, the overlapping complex phonemes, charged with magic meaning, served the same role as the activation sequence output by a CAD.
The name of the magic she just unleashed is [Azrael], the angel of death. It is a curse that kills one enemy within range of the "sound", interfering with a "human" event to cause a heart attack.
Laura's target was not Shaula, who struck her with [Lunar Strike], but the already incapacitated Spica, who was still suffering from the effects of [Erinyes].
Their opponents are clearly highly skilled magicians. There is a likelihood it won't work against someone of their level in normal circumstances. She might have better luck with a weakened opponent.
That judgment proved to be correct.
Spica, who was struggling to get back up, curled up, clutching her chest. The helmet obscured Spica's face, but Laura could imagine the scrunched up expression she must have been making underneath the helmet.
Laura anxiously awaited for Shaula's next move. She was honestly at her limit. Shaula dealt a serious blow on her with that [Lunar Strike].
Now Laura could only use basic and minor magic to protect herself. In this state, even the automatic activation of [Erinyes] would be difficult to accomplish. If her opponent prioritized the mission over the safety of their comrades, there was nothing Laura could do to avoid capture.
Seeing that she was cornered, Laura figured out that it was inevitable. Luckily they didn't seem to have caught notice of Dean. She would be the only one being caught, by who she assumes are the authorities. If so, at least she wouldn't be attacked in retaliation.
Brainwashing or human experimentation may await her after this. Whatever they had in store for her, Laura thought, she would have plenty of time to escape.
Fortunately for her, her concerns turned out to be unfounded.
"Ensign Spica!"
The shout didn't reach Laura, but she saw as the other figure, Shaula, flew over to her prone comrade. Shaula crouched down to check Spica's bio-monitor in her suit.
That was her chance.
She didn't have the resources to use that opening to launch a counterattack. Right now, her only option was to flee.
Ignoring the bleeding from her leg where the knife was still lodged, Laura ran to the cover of the rocks where she left Dean hidden. Whatever magic power left in her wasn't enough to strengthen her body on her own, but with the help of the witch's brew, she should be able to take Dean on her back and get away from this place.
As she formulated a plan, Laura peeked behind the rocks and nearly screamed.
Dean was not there. In his place was an East Asian, short-haired man.
The man held up a finger to his lips, signaling Laura not to raise her voice, and said, "I have been sent by Master Zhu. Mr. Dean has already been escorted out of the area. I'm here to take you as well, Ms. Simons."
"Take me...?"
The unexpected development made it difficult for Laura to grasp the situation. Did he mean literally?
"I'm afraid you won't be able to run fast or long enough in your current condition." The unfamiliar man crouched down with his back to Laura. "Please, get on."
"You want to carry me?"
"Get on, quick!" He rushed her and she reluctantly acquiesced.
Is it really fine to trust this man? Laura's sense of caution nagged at her, but his voice didn't seem to have the strength to compel her to take action. The man's voice did not have the strength to urge her to take action.
The man stands up and sets off running.
The landscape streamed past him at a breakneck speed. It felt like he was sliding on the ground, or rather that his feet seemed to glide just off the ground.
"Isn't this... [Shinkouhou]?" Laura was finally recovering from the surprise.
Laura was finally recovering from the surprise. That magic, [Shinkouhou], was the only magic from the East-Asian continent that allowed super-speed movement.
"No, this is not [Shinkouhou]."
''This is a Taoist technique called [Wind Fire Dual Wheel]. It is based on the treasure weapon of the Marshal of the Central Altar."
Marshal of the Central Altar is the Taoist name of the deity Prince Nezha. He is a familiar figure in folk tales and novels such as "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods".
In the literature, Prince Nezha is often depicted with his two Wind Fire Wheels. These wheels that are directly attached to his feet are said to allow him to soar through the air, leaving a trail of wind and fire in his wake.
This art of the taoist school of ancient-style magic of the East-Asian continent allows for a limited form of flight magic. Altitude is only a few dozen centimeters above the ground, trajectory can be adjusted only to the left or right, using the feet to turn in a roller-skate fashion. The caster is unable to vault over obstacles, and if they cannot stop themselves, they'll crash.
One difference from the original from the legend is that this version intentionally does not emit fire or wind, making it notably less conspicuous. [Wind Fire Dual Wheel] defines the direction of movement as the direction of the toe of the foot, regardless if right or left foot, so it does not suffer from the issue of escalating interference power requirements due to overlapping event modifications. Although it takes time and practice to master, this magic is well suited for infiltration and exfiltration.
For one, this characteristic was why Laura's [Grigori] didn't catch wind of him. This subordinate of Zhu Yuen Yun was taking Laura on his back from the scene at a speed of over sixty kilometers per hour.
Shaula confirmed on Spica's bio-monitor that she was having a heart attack and immediately administered emergency first aid. She overrides the suit open, then administered cardiotonic agents recommended by the onboard medical AI linked to the bio-sensor. As Spica had stopped breathing, artificial respiration and cardiac massage were administered.
Shaula's quick response paid off, Spica was now breathing normally.
After double-checking that the Ensign was out of danger, Shaula ordered the team to scour the area for Laura.
But she received no positive response. None of the sensors focused on the area detected any traces of witchcraft.
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