Chapter 16
Saturday, April 28th, 3pm sharp.
Under Hattori’s guidance, Tomitsuka and Takuma found themselves in Practice Room #3 at the appointed hour.
Hattori was the referee for this match. Possibly out of curiosity regarding the casual relationship or simply a natural turn of events, Tatsuya was also present for Takuma’s match as a witness.
Still, from Tatsuya’s perspective, Takuma seemed to be free of any lingering side effects, both physically and mentally. The actress must have wrapped things up quite well on her end. Yet, at the same time, it was only reasonable to assume she had not formally “broken off” from him. For now, Tatsuya believed that additional observation was necessary.
Others present included Miyuki from the Student Council, Sawaki and Mikihiko from the Public Moral Committee, Kirihara from the Club Activities Group as well as other elites. Kirihara even brought his wooden sword and had received permission to bring his CAD.
They were here to forcibly intervene if necessary.
That was because this match carried a few special rules. To be precise, special exceptions like “unrestricted use of Million Edge” were added into the rules. In regards to Million Edge, usage would be permitted regardless of how powerful the spell became. Intervention into the match would only occur when the opponent would blatantly suffer injuries as a result. Nevertheless, the one who proposed this ruling was Tomitsuka, Takuma’s opponent for this match.
It was possible that Tomitsuka had a trick up his sleeve to completely neutralize Million Edge. Highly put out, Takuma had also rationalized along those lines. This was practically saying that the Shippou Family’s trump card was worthless. Still, this match was the result of Takuma protesting his defeat via disqualification, with the reason being his use of Million Edge. Hence Takuma welcomed the current rules with open arms and had no cause for complaint.
Currently, Tomitsuka and Takuma stood facing another across a broad stretch of space.
Today, Takuma also wore the uniform designed for outdoor exercises.
On the other hand, Tomitsuka wore the uniform for the Magic Martial Arts Club. The top half contained a long tunic without buttons that had padding around the forearms while the bottom half had pads around the knees as well as loose pants that only tightened around the ankles. On his feet, he wore soft sneakers used during fighting competitions. With protective gloves over both hands, all 8 fingers besides the two thumbs were wearing thick rings that served as the Specialized CAD input devices for the Magic Martial Arts Club. Each ring corresponded to one button and when the fingers moved (pressed by the thumb) or psions gathered around his fingertips, the signal for the Activation Sequence selected by his fingertips would be passed through the glove to the connecting CAD around his wrist. In other words, Tomitsuka had prepared himself very seriously.
Standing between the two of them, Hattori reviewed the rules. Not that there was anything in particular he had to explain as this was just a formality.
Quieting the two, Hattori raised his hand.
Tense anxiety suddenly spiked here. Everyone present could feel the furious clash of nonphysical waves, not psion waves, between Tomitsuka and Takuma.
Tomitsuka slightly fell into a crouch. Takuma placed his right hand on the book serving as his medium that was being carried in his left hand.
Besides the two in question, no one moved a muscle or emitted a sound. In the utter silence of the classroom, even Hattori breathing deeply in could be heard.
“Begin!”
Hattori’s voice shattered the stillness and quiet.
The first one to move was Takuma.
Or rather, Tomitsuka neglected to act.
Takuma opened his “book” and used the fingers on his right hand to pinch several dozen pages. Takuma proceeded to rip those pages to shreds. Scratch that, in the process of applying force, he was turning the pages into paper snowflakes.
There were approximately 80,000 paper blades that measured 4cm by 4cm. Rather than choosing to unleash Million Edge in its entirety, Takuma chose the finesse strategy and only wielded a small portion of his blades.
In response, Tomitsuka remained motionless as he watched the paper squares gradually close in on him. Based on his posture, he appeared to be gathering power. That appeared to be an accurate assessment.
The white paper squares dipped and soared as they advanced, like four giant snakes crawling through the clouds. The targets for their fangs were the left and right arms along with both legs. Takuma planned to first damage Tomitsuka’s limbs to immobilize him.
The current of paper drew closer to Tomitsuka as the paper snowflakes decreased in length and grew in density. The attack stalled briefly before immediately picking up speed. The storm of paper blades wrapped around Tomitsuka’s limbs with the intent of shredding his flesh.
At the same moment.
Tomitsuka’s entire body flashed with an explosive psion light. Amid that blinding light, the paper blades faded back to being normal paper. All 80,000 paper squares lost their magic power to float in mid-air before returning to true paper snowflakes and falling to the ground.
Sawaki, Kirihara, Mikihiko and company couldn’t help but raise an arm to block the light. Tatsuya, Miyuki, and Hattori all narrowed their eyes.
They knew exactly what that light signified.
“Was that Gram Demolition……?”
Mikihiko murmured in an astounded voice.
“So someone other than Tatsuya is able to use that in our school……? And someone in the same grade level at that……?”
Gram Demolition was perceived to be a rare ability that only a few users had access to. This wasn’t Mikihiko jumping to conclusions, as this was both the truth and general consensus. He could hardly be blamed for his shock that there were two such individuals at the same school in the same year.
“To be precise, I believe the term Contact-Type should be added before that phrase.”
Miyuki was the one who supplemented Mikihiko’s words.
“You are exactly right! As expected of Shiba-san, to be so knowledgeable on the subject!”
Sawaki nodded overtly when he heard her words.
“Speaking of which, Tomitsuka seems exceptionally fired up today.”
As his senior from the Club Activities Group, Sawaki knew that Tomitsuka would use what Miyuki termed “Contact-Type Gram Demolition”. This technique neutralized any magic that came into contact with his body. For a spell like Million Edge that used magic to continuously alter phenomena in order to convert plain paper into blades dancing in the wind, this was practically its nemesis.
Sawaki understood very well that Tomitsuka proposed these rules because he had complete confidence in himself. Sawaki himself was wary against Tomitsuka’s Gram Demolition, but today Tomitsuka seemed even more vibrant than usual. This fact brought considerable joy to Sawaki. —As such, Sawaki also had a youthful aspect to him as well.
However, unlike the upperclassmen in attendance, Takuma had no time to feel impressed. He knew very well the meaning behind that earlier exchange: Million Edge was useless against Tomitsuka.
He only needed one attack to understand that.
(—No, it’s true that direct assaults are useless! But two days ago, I just learned that different applications of the same magic will achieve differing results!)
Tomitsuka’s eyes were pinned on him as Takuma bolstered his own confidence. Currently, there were openings all over Takuma. If Tomitsuka intended to, he could end the match in an instant. However, that would be pointless, as Tomitsuka knew that he couldn’t finish this match in such a simple manner.
Finally, Takuma adopted a new pose. In response, Tomitsuka also raised the psions’ activity level. Takuma’s hand pretended to flip the pages as it surreptitiously stretched towards the CAD on his wrist.
The magic he activated was Air Bullet. Takuma sent seven Air Bullets shooting towards Tomitsuka at high speeds.
Without waiting to see the result, Takuma activated the next magic. Takuma never even considered that Air Bullets alone could defeat Tomitsuka. This attack only served as a smokescreen. Takuma used personal Acceleration Magic to loop around to Tomitsuka’s flank.
Yet, Tomitsuka was already waiting for Takuma at his intended destination.
“Kuh, oof!”
He directly took the combination of a heavy punch and a left hook. Unable to keep his feet, Takuma fell to the floor. It was only out of sheer obstinacy that he still clung to the book that served as his medium. Takuma called upon his fighting spirit to dispel his blurred vision as he searched for Tomitsuka’s figure.
Tomitsuka didn’t follow up on his attack as he looked downwards at Takuma. Normally, this nice guy’s face seemed a tad childish, but it now wore a derisive expression as he looked upon him like one looks upon a mad dog — looking at him. In Takuma’s eyes, that was the current situation.
The sudden flare of heightened emotions surpassed his fear for the moment. One knee on the ground, Takuma used his left hand to flip through the book.
The first attack on Tomitsuka contained twice as many paper squares as the previous assault. This time the squares weren’t split into four groups but gathered into one swarm. The greater the number of the “herd” in Herd Control, the lower the interference strength. By gathering the Magic Power from all four portions into one, Takuma was going to challenge Tomitsuka’s Gram Demolition directly.
—Which was actually a feint, as the true blow was the next attack that was activated a moment later.
Bathed in the light released by Tomitsuka, 16,000 paper squares turned into paper snowflakes and fell to the floor.
As if bursting through the clouds, the 20,000 paper blades that were released after a moment’s delay roared towards Tomitsuka’s feet like a tornado.
Got him, Takuma thought. Gram Demolition was an ability that released a massive amount of psions at a time. Not only were they released, pressure sufficient to blow away a Magic Sequence was also required. There was no way he could use this repeatedly in such a short time.
However, Takuma’s theory was in error. The moment that he realized that this was wishful thinking instead of a theory was quite a long time from now.
Twenty thousand blades were rendered into 20,000 paper scraps the instant they came into contact with Tomitsuka’s body.
In regards to Takuma, who had just gotten back to his feet, Tomitsuka bestowed upon him the deciding blow of the match.
“That’s enough. The victor is Tomitsuka.”
After Hattori announced the winner’s name, Tomitsuka bowed slightly.
Afterwards, he fell to one knee next to Takuma lying prone on the floor.
“Shippou, are you awake?”
Takuma groaned in what seemed like considerable pain, signifying his conscious state. That was because Tomitsuka intentionally struck him in such a manner and all went according to his plan.
“Thank you.”
After coughing a few times, Takuma finally answered the question.
“Then, go ahead and sit against the wall to rest a while.”
“—Got it.”
Overcome by the magnitude of his defeat, Takuma obeyed Tomitsuka’s instructions without comprehending the reason behind them. Clutching the area around his abdomen where he had been struck, he tottered and staggered to the wall opposite from where the witnesses stood. Leaning against the wall, Takuma gradually slid to the floor.
After verifying that Takuma had reached that side, Tomitsuka walked towards Tatsuya.
“……What is it?”
After Tatsuya’s question, the hitherto taciturn Tomitsuka finally opened his mouth.
“Shiba-kun, I wish for a match against you!”
Drawing back to survey this article that was so difficult to verbalize, Tatsuya tilted his head and thought “Why?”.
Surrounded by an array of shocked looks, Tomitsuka uneasily averted his eyes. Still, as if making the decision to cross the Rubicon — that might be an exaggeration, he wore the determined look of someone about to take a bungee jump as he endured Tatsuya’s gaze.
“I want Shippou to witness your power!”
Tomitsuka watched Tatsuya with burning eyes. In his mind, he must have envisioned Tatsuya resonating with his manly display and nodding in affirmation. However, this only deepened Tatsuya’s befuddlement.
“I’m not sure I understand what you are talking about?”
The moment he told him so, Tomitsuka became slightly harried in a rather fascinating manner.
“That, well, was kind of out of the blue. In other words……”
“Would it be possible for Shippou to see a match between people of outstanding caliber?”
The one who took over the explanations from the panicking Tomitsuka was Hattori. —Still, just these words alone were insufficient to dispel Tatsuya’s mystification.
“In order to show him a match between people of sufficient caliber, wouldn’t a match between Chairman Hattori and Sawaki-senpai be more appropriate?”
“Shiba, this only becomes meaningful if he sees how powerful you are.”
Hattori’s explanation remained incomplete to the end.
“Onii-sama, isn’t this a wonderful idea?”
Nevertheless, the strongest supporting fire for their cause came to aid Tomitsuka and Hattori at this moment.
“I believe that providing a frame of reference for underclassmen is also one of the duties for Student Council members.”
For some reason, all the upperclassmen and her peers (excluding Tatsuya) who were present mentally translated “Student Council members” into “Onii-sama”.
“I also feel that it’s about time to display Onii-sama’s abilities.”
Miyuki’s motive was both blatant and not entirely in accordance with Tomitsuka and Hattori. There was significant frustration and anxiety lurking behind her smile, to the point that Tatsuya felt that “leaving it alone would be a bad idea”.
“……Since you put it that way, very well.”
Tatsuya changed his mind, or more like decided, and this should be exactly what Tomitsuka had desired. In spite of this clear turnout, for some reason, Tomitsuka’s mood couldn’t help but soar.
This feeling was not restricted to him alone.
Hattori had extended the appointment in this room precisely for this reason from the very beginning. All of the Year 3 students present knew about this plan. With the permission slip already obtained, they could begin at any time after clearing the practice floor.
“Please leave it to me.”
Miyuki volunteered to clean up the paper scraps scattered all over the floor. After manipulating her CAD, there was hardly an instant’s delay before air currents gradually began to move. The currents covered the entire floor in a complicated swirl and gathered all the trash into a pile in a few quick moments. Using the vacuum cleaner provided for the room, Miyuki disposed of the paper scraps.
Seeing her naturally perform a complicated and pristine magic with surgical skill, the Year 3 students watched her with impressed looks, Mikihiko and Tomitsuka let out amazed breaths, whereas Takuma once again suffered a blow. —Excluding the process used to harden the paper scraps, the magic Miyuki just wielded far surpassed the technical difficulty for Takuma’s Million Edge.
“Shiba-kun, do you think this is sufficient?”
“Ah, it’s fine.”
Tatsuya passed his coat to Miyuki before taking the field in his uniform.
“Would it be better if I removed my shoes?”
“No, you’re fine as you are.”
That sentence implied that Tatsuya would be fine even if struck by kicks from thick-soled shoes.
Following that, Tatsuya and Tomitsuka faced one another at the center of the field.
Hattori remained the referee. However, he skipped the explanation this time.
“Are you two ready? Then, begin!”
The instant Hattori gave the signal, both Tatsuya and Tomitsuka stepped off from the floor.
Differing from the earlier exchange, Tomitsuka aggressively charged towards Tatsuya’s position.
Yet, Tatsuya’s retreat was even faster. One leap took him to the other end of the practice room as Tatsuya pointed his pistol-shaped CAD at Tomitsuka.
The magic Tatsuya equipped was Decomposition Magic, Mist Dispersal.
Heedless of Miyuki’s shock, Tatsuya pulled the CAD’s trigger.
—And nothing happened.
(As I thought.)
Completely opposite from the pale faced Miyuki covering the corner of her mouth with one hand, Tatsuya wore an expression that signified that this was within his expectations as he jumped to the side in order to avoid Tomitsuka’s punch that had been enhanced by personal acceleration magic.
This was not him putting on a brave front, as he had already predicted that Mist Dispersal would be nullified.
In Tatsuya’s vision, Tomitsuka’s projection was covered by a thick cloud, turning it into a fuzzy outline. That was how he beheld Tomitsuka’s figure through the Idea.
The dense cloud surrounding Tomitsuka’s body was the psion armor that covered his personal information.
Gram Demolition was a Counter Magic that relied on psion pressure to strip the Magic Sequence from the target.
However, Tomitsuka wasn’t using the psions like a cannonball to blow away the Magic Sequence. The thick layer of psion armor surrounding his “body” denied any invasion from Magic Sequences.
If Gram Demolition was artillery, then Tomitsuka’s Contact-Type Gram Demolition was a wall of steel. Furthermore, that wall was not built from information and was only a massive amount of psions haphazardly wrapped around him. Even for Tatsuya, breaking through this line of defense to directly affect Tomitsuka with magic was no easy task.
In that regard, using the phenomena brought on by magic to attack could not be stopped by psion armor.
Yet, so long as Tatsuya still held onto the handicap of not utilizing attacks through the Idea, then he was a deficient Magician who could not use magic that directly influenced physical phenomena.
After his charge had been evaded for the 5th time, agitation began building in Tomitsuka’s heart.
He who was known as Range Zero had no long range magic abilities. On the other hand, he was confident that he was twice as capable as the average person when it came to close-quarters magic.
Nevertheless, his attacks had been easily dodged.
He was not being avoided through magic, but by a combination of magical and physical techniques.
(Although I had my own suspicions, to think that he’s capable to this degree……)
In all honesty, his awe was growing thanks to the caliber of his opponent. Yet, at the same time, his morale surged.
(But I’m not going to lose. I definitely can’t lose at this range!)
Shippou vanished from Tomitsuka’s consciousness. The purpose behind this match as well as the role he was supposed to play also faded within his mind. His entire will had been submersed in the drive for victory.
“They’re both pretty damn good! I knew about Tomitsuka’s skills a long time ago, but I never imagined Shiba-kun was just as capable.”
“I’m actually more surprised that Tomitsuka can keep up with the elder Shiba in a fight.”
Hearing the conversation between his seniors, Mikihiko could only feel astonishment. His opinion mirrored Kirihara’s own. He never thought that one of his peers would be a match for Tatsuya in a fight. Mikihiko felt like this was the first time he had ever seen Tatsuya being pressed in battle.
Tatsuya had long since been able to just avoid Tomitsuka’s attacks. Now, he had been forced to the point where he had to counterattack. Tatsuya holding the CAD in his right hand was a clear sign that Tatsuya surrendered that point. According to the rules of the match, using the CAD to strike an opponent was forbidden. Even excluding that detail, Tomitsuka’s furious attack was pressing home on Tatsuya.
Suddenly feeling a little concerned, Mikihiko directed his gaze to one side.
There, Miyuki wore a completely invested expression as she concentrated all of her attention on her brother.
Sitting against the wall, Takuma was blown away by the battle unfolding before his eyes.
From a cursory examination, this was nothing more than a plain brawl. No, thanks to the occasional kick, this appeared to be a mixed martial arts match. However, high level magic was behind every single blow. It was only because he had the talent to recognize this that the mental shock was amplified.
Tomitsuka closed the distance at a speed that the naked eye was unable to follow. Although he was using personal acceleration magic to raise the physical body’s speed, this was nothing so coarse as “as fast as possible”. Within the realm of conscious control, he held his speed at the upper limit of where his consciousness was able to follow.
Regardless, here Tomitsuka’s pace grew ragged. The instant he stepped off to move forward, there was the misconception that the ground he stepped off from seemed to vibrate. Of course, this vibration was created by Tatsuya’s magic. In spite of this, even if vibration waves appeared where Tomitsuka was standing, they were often nullified by (what appeared to be) occasional activation of Gram Demolition. Takuma had personally encountered this first hand. Nonetheless, the aftershocks that accompanied these vibrations were pure physical phenomena and could not be dispelled by Gram Demolition. If this was on muddy terrain or concrete, the aftershocks would probably not be strong enough to be detected. However, the floor in this practice room was designed with the appropriate hardness and flexibility to cushion falling without disrupting movement. Taking this into account, Tatsuya used magic to interfere from this angle.
His body had already taken everything into consideration until this disruption presented itself, so Tomitsuka paused briefly to maximize the fluidity of his body’s motions. Using this brief opening, Tatsuya aimed the CAD at Tomitsuka and pulled the trigger. At the same time, Oscillation-Type Magic rushed towards Tomitsuka at such speed that Takuma didn’t even have time to comprehend the deployment of the Activation Sequence. Based on the wavering psions, this magic contained both Oscillation-Type and Nonsystematic magic.
This magic did not possess the power to strike down Tomitsuka. Takuma hypothesized that this magic probably placed more emphasis on speed than strength. Takuma supposed that he was unable to recognize the Activation Sequence because it had been tuned this way or this was the CAD’s effect.
That being said, not possessing the strength to strike down Tomitsuka was not the same as having no effect. After being struck by the psion wave, the psion field around Tomitsuka’s body also shook slightly. Turning into noise and smoke, the psion wave briefly dulled Tomitsuka’s senses.
The next blow was the real attack. Using his left palm, Tatsuya threw a palm strike at Tomitsuka. Takuma detected that some sort of magic was being held in his left hand.
Once again, Tatsuya displayed a different attack. This time, Tomitsuka adopted a defensive stance. Using the right arm wrapped in Contact-Type Gram Demolition, he blocked Tatsuya’s left palm holding Oscillation-Type Magic. In the face of a myriad different attacks, Tomitsuka only used one shield to continuously defend himself.
At this point, Tomitsuka’s left hand jabbed towards Tatsuya’s abdomen. Dodging was made difficult because his earlier attack had been blocked, and Tatsuya barely managed to slide across the blocking right arm.
Tomitsuka activated Acceleration Magic “Explosion”. In the middle of casting this magic, Tatsuya used Gram Demolition to destroy the magic that was being activated.
In order to avoid the follow up attack, Tatsuya jumped far to the side. Takuma momentarily forgot to breathe as he watched this. He was unable to believe the sight unfolding in front of him and was terrified that his feelings as a Magician were faltering.
Tomitsuka’s Acceleration Magic had been nullified during the cast. Using the interrupted phenomenon as a stepping point, Tatsuya activated his own Acceleration Magic.
(Is that sort of thing even possible!?)
Takuma wanted to shout out loud. If his internal shock was any lighter, he undoubtedly would have called out. It was true that for the same type of phenomenon alteration, the latter magic could be cast without suffering interference from the phenomenon alteration strength of the former. Since Explosion was an acceleration vector that expanded outward from the point of activation in a semi-spherical manner, accelerating to the side did not violate this principle.
However, that was merely not violating the principle. Takuma had never even considered the possibility of using another person’s magic to create new phenomenon alteration by moving in accordance to the physical rule of least resistance.
What was being displayed before his eyes was indeed the same “magic” he himself was using. They were techniques that belonged to the same category. Yet, his own magic was far beneath the level of the magic before him. Takuma had been completely defeated by the otherworldly duel erupting before his eyes.
(My attacks aren’t landing!)
Tomitsuka was gradually growing more agitated.
The battle had not gone on for very long. Barely 10 minutes had elapsed since the beginning of the match. Yet, unlike his physical sensations, Tomitsuka’s mental fatigue felt like he had been in combat for dozens of hours.
The current situation favored him. Without a doubt, his side held the advantage. Tomitsuka had complete confidence in that assessment. Although he had yet to land the decisive blow, Tomitsuka could feel that his attacks were beginning to tell even though they fell upon his opponent’s defenses. Tomitsuka sensed that from contact.
However, Tatsuya was not the only one sustaining damage. Tomitsuka himself could detect the accumulated wear and tear building on him. While he had successfully blocked his opponent’s attacks, the damage he incurred came from misconceptions and not his physical body. Yet, it was precisely these misconceptions that were steadily causing his shield to crumble. Each of the varied attacks sent his way were uniform in the sense that they all contained Nonsystematic Oscillation-Type Magic. The oscillation would rebound off the shield and dissipate, but in that instant, the vibration would carry over to the shield itself. That vibration would shake the psions, causing the psion field to expand as if heated, alerting Tomitsuka that the density dropped during those moments.
Tomitsuka himself was unable to fire psions at distant targets and could only maintain a field tightly surrounding his own body. This deficiency was precisely the reason why he was unable to use long distance magic. The magic scholar summoned by his parents explained that this phenomenon showed that his “core” heavily attracted psions, hereby restricting psions that normally flowed out of the body from doing so. On some level, the Contact-Type Gram Demolition that Miyuki and Sawaki spoke of was the byproduct of his cursed physical disposition.
Tomitsuka had long since come to terms with his condition. After expending considerable effort to become somewhat able to use long range magic, he had turned this unique condition of his into a close combat weapon that could not be found on any other Magician. When facing purely physical attacks coming at him like the shockwave emitted by Sawaki’s accelerated fists – the fact that the president of the Magic Martial Arts club bestowed upon it the embarrassing title of “Mach Fist” remained a secret only known to club members – this only offered a “slightly higher” level of defense, but in regards to coming into direct contact with magic, Tomitsuka had absolute confidence in himself.
In spite of this, the psion field that should only be able to contract was gradually expanding under Tatsuya’s attacks.
This detail struck Tomitsuka in a manner that was beyond expression. This was not simple fear or cowardice, but the shock that came upon someone who peeked into Pandora’s Box.
The psion field that could not spread out was expanding. Wasn’t this that long cherished, but impossible dream?
Tomitsuka hurriedly stilled his leaping heart.
The one standing against him was not an opponent he could defeat while worrying about frivolous matters.
In order to settle this, he decided to use his trump card.
Tomitsuka’s entire body was covered in psions. Beyond Tatsuya, everyone here to watch the match could feel them.
Tomitsuka’s body accelerated at an explosive rate. —The only two who realized that this was not caused by personal Acceleration Magic were Tatsuya and Sawaki.
The psions that wrapped around Tomitsuka’s body like a formless cloud suddenly grew organized. They were driven into place by Tomitsuka’s will.
Far more precise than before, Tomitsuka delivered a mid-kick.
The Magic Sequence for “Heating” covered his leg. If struck by that kick, the damage would be equitable to being bathed in microwave electromagnetism. Using his elbow as the focal point for Gram Demolition, Tatsuya planned on blocking the kick fueled by Heating Magic.
Yet, Tomitsuka’s right leg came to an unnatural stop an instant before coming into contact with Tatsuya’s left elbow.
The Heating Magic was nullified by the Gram Demolition coming off the elbow, but for Tomitsuka, this was the expected outcome.
From his current position with the right leg extended, Tomitsuka used a right hook. No, that wasn’t a right hook. He wasn’t leading with the fist but the fingers instead, making this a palm strike. Still, his current bent posture was usually unable to deliver a strike with any force behind it.
Despite this, Tomitsuka’s palm strike was both swift and vicious. Bending at the waist to block the kick, Tatsuya was in a position where he was unable to avoid this attack.
Pah, a lifeless sound rang out.
“Onii-sama!”
Along with a mournful shriek.
Tatsuya’s body rolled along the floorboards.
Lowering his right leg and retracting the right hand while standing there only on his left leg, Tomitsuka blinked in shock as he stood there like a doll.
“……Tomitsuka is surprisingly devious. That rascal was aiming for the older Shiba’s eardrum.”
Kirihara saw that Tomitsuka’s palm strike actually curved the palm to concentrate the air pressure on the point of contact.
“Ho, and he managed to jump away himself! Can’t believe he managed to neutralize Tomitsuka’s 'Self Marionette' even under those conditions. Shiba-kun, nicely done!”
By the time the two Year 3 students finished dissecting the exchange, Tatsuya had already recovered his footing. Sawaki correctly caught Tatsuya rolling away to widen the distance.
Tomitsuka’s astounded expression came from the lack of any physical resistance that he believed was inevitable. If Tatsuya had stiffened his neck to prevent the head from shaking, then any stiffening in his leg and waist should have resulted in physical pushback on his hand. If he relaxed to jump back in accordance with the force of the blow, then naturally the contact would feel soft. In other words, Tatsuya relaxed at the same time that he applied force.
Tomitsuka hurtled any shock fountaining from his heart into the back of his mind as he activated Self Marionette again. This was a type of magic that only used Move-Type Magic to move his physical body. This Magic Sequence attempted to suppress the flesh’s magical resistance as much as possible while prudently taking heed not to surpass the extents of the joints’ movement.
This was not a magic that could be used haphazardly. In terms of design, modern magic could only mimic movements. Nevertheless, this could still create attacks like the previous one that should have been impossible according to human anatomy and physics.
Tomitsuka turned himself into a puppet master that wielded his own body like a doll and attacked Tatsuya in a manner that ran counter to martial theory. –And Tatsuya saw through the movements of the psions surrounding Tomitsuka’s body.
Tomitsuka’s entire body had been covered by a single Magic Sequence. It was an exceedingly complex Magic Sequence that even a high-class Magician would be hard pressed to recreate. Maybe it was because he didn’t want them to interfere with the Magic Sequence, but the disorderly psions that surrounded his body were now neat and orderly, recreating an untouchable Eidos that only suffered Self Marionette to pass.
The disorderly chaos had transformed into an orderly world.
Order was both form and design.
Tatsuya’s “Decomposition” could destroy designs. Although he was unable to destroy formless objects, he could deconstruct anything with a form even if it was the Eidos.
The formless cloud of psions wrapped around Tomitsuka now had a form created by Tomitsuka’s own magic.
Through “Elemental Sight”, Tatsuya understood this immediately. He also saw that this was an incredibly opportune moment for victory.
Tatsuya directed psions into his CAD. He was not pretending to use his CAD but actually using the CAD for Decomposition Magic. The magic he chose was “Gram Dispersal”.
Tatsuya pulled the trigger.
With the form in hand, Tatsuya’s magic that destroyed information shredded Tomitsuka’s armor.
The exposed fighting marionette closed in on Tatsuya.
Tatsuya held a concentrated block of psions in his left hand.
The solid block was so sturdy that it could have broken through Tomitsuka’s armor even if it had recovered.
This was not hiding his strength, but to achieve victory. Rather than choosing the magic he was most comfortable with but which still might be blocked by the incomplete armor, Tatsuya chose the magic bullet that would definitely pierce through the incomplete armor.
Designed and honed to clash against inhuman objects, the high pressure, high penetration Far Strike named “Penetrating Magic Shell” (by Yakumo) shot from Tatsuya’s hand and pierced through the fighting marionette named Tomitsuka.
Taking a shot from the cannonball that had no physical form, Tomitsuka flew backwards. This was Self Marionette’s side effect. Once he suffered a powerful blow directly, this impression would rewrite the variables for the Magic Sequence. Using a Magic Sequence that did not have a complete command interface caused the theoretical miscalculation that ultimately ended with Tomitsuka’s defeat.
Sent flying by his own magic, Tomitsuka laid there with his limbs extended outwards and did not move a muscle. Since he was unable to restore strength into his relaxed muscles in time, he had suffered a mild concussion.
“Victor, Shiba.”
After verifying Tomitsuka’s condition, Hattori announced Tatsuya’s victory.
“O……”
After murmuring “Onii-sama”, Miyuki lowered her head. Forgetting herself, she was about to pounce on Tatsuya when she recovered her wits at the last second.
Tatsuya smiled gently at Miyuki when she raised her head.
Nodding at the brilliant smile coming from his sister, Tatsuya turned his body around.
He put the CAD in his right hand back into the holster and walked towards where Tomitsuka was lying on the ground.
“Tomitsuka, can you stand?”
Still lying on the ground, Tomitsuka used his right hand to tightly grasp Tatsuya’s extended right hand.
“Thanks.”
Getting a lift from Tatsuya, Tomitsuka finally got back to his feet. He appeared to be a little shaky, but his concussion didn’t appear to be too serious. Tomitsuka’s footsteps quickly returned to normal.
“As I thought. You’re really strong, Shiba-kun.”
“You as well, Tomitsuka. That hurt a lot.”
Faced with Tomitsuka honestly pulling off his helmet, Tatsuya smiled back with his reddened face.
Next to them, a silhouette dashed by.
“Ah, hey, Shippou!”
Without turning his head, Takuma fled Practice Room #3.
At the end of the Robotics Club’s garage, an empty area next to the outdoors practice facility had become a sparsely populated location for private conversations.
Yet, Takuma had not come here for this reason. He happened to chance upon here after running away from the eyes and ears of other individuals.
Before the sizable tree that incidentally didn’t have a “cursed” legend attached to it, Takuma stood there numbly for a long moment. However, maybe because he was unable to control the agitation welling up inside him, he suddenly began punching the tree with his right hand.
“Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!”
He lost count of how many times he punched the tree.
“Stop it, Shippou. You’re starting to bleed.”
When his curses grew ragged, a voice called out to him from behind.
Takuma swiftly turned his head.
There, he found Kasumi staring at him in astonishment.
“Saegusa, you!”
Seeing Takuma glaring at her furiously, Kasumi raised both hands and shook them softly.
“Ah, don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t following you. I just happened to be here by coincidence.”
After saying this, Kasumi walked towards the frowning Shippou. She pulled out a handkerchief and folded it into a bandage before grabbing Takuma’s hand while he was glaring at her the entire time.
“What are you doing!?”
“Ah…… The skin peeled off.”
Kasumi wrinkled her eyebrows at the blood and wrapped the handkerchief around the hand of the faltering Shippou.
“Sorry, I haven’t been given permission to use Healing Magic. Remember, you’re better off going to the infirmary later.”
Takuma was unable to answer Kasumi’s words. He could only stare at the handkerchief stained with his blood.
“Oh, and you don’t need to return the handkerchief.”
“…………”
Standing in front of the completely motionless Takuma, Kasumi sighed deeply.
“You must have been soundly beaten.”
“…………”
“As expected, the upperclassmen’s bar is really high.”
“……Why?”
Takuma’s eyes remained on the ground.
“Hm, why what?”
Finally seeing a reaction, Kasumi played along with another sentence.
“Why are those guys so strong!?”
A painful outcry. This cry must be what they mean by spitting blood, Kasumi thought. —As for who “those guys” were, Kasumi instinctively knew already.
“They’re high school students like us, aren’t they!? There’s only one year’s worth of difference! Even so, how are those guys so incredibly strong!?”
“Why does there have to be a special reason?”
“What did you say……?”
Kasumi finally felt like they were having a conversation, but she was foolish enough to say that aloud.
“They must be strong because they are. True enough…… If you have to find a reason, then they must have worked hard to get to where they are, no?”
“I also……!”
“Yeah, you must have worked hard too. I did as well. Yet, surely those guys are stronger because they put more effort into it, right?”
“…………”
“I’m not denying your talent here, OK? I too believe that a large proportion of my own power comes from my talent.”
“…………”
“But, a level of 'might' that is enough to stagger even me…… Surely that came from a different place than talent, don’t you agree?”
Takuma raised his head and looked Kasumi in the eye.
From Takuma’s eyes, a tear of regret trickled down.
“Well, I’m not exactly interested in something like 'might'. Since you want to get stronger, then that is your problem. Remember, Shippou’s strength is something that belongs to Shippou.”
Just as she said, Kasumi easily turned around and vanished from Takuma’s sight.
Once again, Takuma vented his rage on the tree, this time using his palm instead of his fist.
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