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Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 13.5 - SS - Chapter 1.2




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( August 17, 2094 )

 

August 17, 2094. The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The Yoshida family had a tradition of conducting an important ritual in the evening of Tanabata.

 

The ritual was called the "Ceremony of addressing the stars." Having departed from the traditional religion and became for the Orthodox the "group of heretics", the Yoshid family took from Shinto only the techniques of the so-called "spiritualism." The participants in this ritual demonstrated the techniques of invoking the divine spirit - a large-scale independent information body (also known as an isolated information body), capable of performing large-scale meteorological manipulations at the level of the whole state. In this case, “state” was understood as the definition of “province”, into which Japan was previously divided, and which are now called “prefectures”. That is, the coverage area was approximately equal to the area of ​​the territorial-administrative districts, which were before the introduction of the prefectures. Under the "call" It implied the challenge and activation of various entities: simple spirits (seirei), divine spirits (sinrei), ghosts (youkai), ghosts (yomu) and so on. In other words, it was a general meeting of the entire Yoshid clan and a competition in the superiority of magic, which gains access to and activates the divine spirit.

 

(In Shinto, magic of call is responsible for “spirit possession”, and magic of call, or so-called awakening, is responsible for “spiritualism”.)

 

In ancient times, the heirs of the family were chosen from those who showed the best results in this ritual. For this reason, it even came to bloodshed. Therefore, for some time, it was agreed that the status of the head of the family is inherited by the eldest son of the Yoshid family.

 

However, even in our time, when the election of the next head of the family is no longer held, this ritual determines the best user of magic in the clan. In addition, there is an unwritten rule that if a younger brother or cousin continues to demonstrate high excellence for a long time, superior to the eldest son of the family, then this eldest son voluntarily transfers this person the right to inherit. For example, the current head of the family, that is, the father of Mikihiko and his brother, was the second son of four.

 

At the moment, the right to be the next head of the family was with Motohiko, Mikihiko's older brother. There were only two brothers, and they had no sisters at all. However, they had nine cousins. For wizards of ancient magic who care about preserving their family tree, having many children is a common thing, so only two sons in the family were a rare exception. And the sons of the elder brother of the current head of the family with particular zeal each year participated in this ritual in order to throw Motohiko from the position of heir to the status of head of the family.

 

However, in this generation, the only one who until last year showed skills in call magic that posed a threat to Motohiko's position was his younger brother Mikihiko. Mikihiko, who was called the “prodigy of the Yoshida family,” has already surpassed his older brother in the techniques of invocation magic, which is the basis of divine magic (as Yoshida’s family called spirit magic), and, according to rumors, was already approaching the skill level of the head of the family. In fact, during last year’s ritual, Mikihiko was recognized as the second after the head of the family in terms of the skill shown.

 

Mikihiko showed no desire to become the head of the family instead of his older brother. He was a low-key guy that was not suitable for a leadership role. He himself also realized this, and believed that the elder brother Motohiko should in any case become the head of the family.

 

His desires and ambitions were directed in a completely different direction.

 

... "Dragon God", a divine spirit, standing on top among all natural spirits. He wanted to complete the spell using this spirit with his own hands.

 

This was Mikihiko's main goal. This has been the pinnacle of the Yoshida family's desires for generations.

 

It was known that the ancestors of the Yoshid family were “shamans” praying for rain. In every Japanese village there has always been at least one "caster", but this does not mean that he was necessarily from the famous Shinto clan "Yoshida". It was just that there was one difference between them: the ancestors of the Yoshid family had real abilities. It was not an intuition that could read the weather forecast from the behavior of wind and clouds, these were real abilities that caused clouds and rain.

 

But these were limited abilities. The force possessed by the ancestors was able to wind ordinary clouds to the right place with the wind, and thicken them to the state of rain clouds. They could not do anything when the air was dry and the arid weather continued for a long time. The village in which their ancestors lived eventually died due to prolonged drought. The villagers forgot their past gratitude and left the village, blaming the ancestors for everything.

 

Since then, the descendants of these "shamans" have been constantly looking for ways to counter drought with the help of the force they inherited.

 

Stop the river and make a pond.

 

Redirect the flow of groundwater so that you can make a well where you could not make a well before.

 

Manipulating the wind on a larger scale, drive the clouds from afar.

 

After much trial and error, the Yoshid family came to one decision.

 

... In the end, any method will be useless if there is no water itself.

 

To defeat drought, you need to call water. But where is the best place to get water?

 

Regardless of the duration of the drought, in which place is water always present?

 

If you think in this direction, then the answer to this question is not at all difficult to obtain.

 

...Sea.

 

They found their answer in the "water cycle in nature."

 

In Japan, the sea god is the dragon Vatatsumi. This concept was introduced with the advent of Buddhism, but it did not play an important role. The sea god is the god of water. The "Dragon God" who lives in the "Sea Dragon Palace" and rules the sea. He can lift water into the sky in the form of clouds, and drive these clouds anywhere to cause rain there. This was the essence of the challenge of the rain, which the Yoshida family sought.

 

The ancestors of the Yoshida family went around the temples in which they worshiped dragons, and asked hermits and monks to teach them ommedo and shugendo * in order to learn techniques with which to interact with dragons. They did not notice such concepts as religious morality and wisdom. They only continued to blindly run along the road leading them to dragons and gods. As a result, the original goal (the fight against drought) became secondary, and the main goal was to search for magic that would lead them to the Dragon God. As a result, we can now say about the current Yoshid family that they are quite famous for their ancient magic.

 

[Various Sino-Japanese teachings of interaction with the "other world" and spirits]

 

According to the ideas of the current Yoshid family, the Dragon God is at the very top among the spirits personifying natural phenomena. Spells that use other spirits and spells that can interfere with the activities of large-scale spirits (the so-called divine spirits) - all this was considered by them as a step to magic, able to reach the very peak on which God is located - the Dragon God.

 

They believed that sooner or later they would develop "a technique capable of reaching God." This was what Mikihiko wanted. With this dream, such trivial things as managing a family, he considered a waste of time, which is better spent on honing skills.

 

Therefore, even if he had a sense of rivalry for his elder brother, it was only from that point of view which of them was more excellent in summoning divine spirits during the "Ceremony to the Stars". Motohiko showed his skills to the third from the end, right in front of Mikihiko. The sequence of performances was determined in reverse order with respect to the places occupied in the past year.

 

Motohiko climbed to the altar. Mikihiko focused all his attention on him.

 

Their fraternal relationship was not bad. Due to the large age difference (Motohiko is 7 years older than Mikihiko), there was never a big quarrel between them, but at the same time in a friendly atmosphere they rarely managed to spend time together. Mikihiko respected his brother as an elder, and Motohiko defended a talented younger brother from envious people from his environment.

 

When Mikihiko was still a child, Motohiko was his mentor.

 

When Mikihiko’s talent began to surpass Motohiko’s abilities, Mikihiko began to prefer training alone. He unconsciously avoided comparing his abilities with those of his older brother. He didn’t like listening to voices saying that his brother’s talent was much worse than his.

 

And only at this ceremony did he cease to worry.

 

He had to show everyone that it was he who was suitable for this "technique capable of reaching God."

 

Therefore, with bated breath, he closely watched the magic of his elder brother, who became his greatest rival.

 

Brother looked in the mirror mounted on the altar. This mirror, mounted on an altar in the southern part of the ritual hall, was rotated to reflect the North Star.

 

"Not a talisman?"

 

Mikihiko was surprised to see what his brother held out to the mirror.

 

In his hand, Motohiko had a branch of the sacred sakaki tree.

 

The magic of the Yoshida family was based on the ideas of Shintoism, but from the technical side, the strong influence of ommedo was felt.

 

But the ceremony, which was now held by Motohiko, looked in a pure Shinto style. The ceremony itself was not Shinto, but it tried to evoke the divine spirit precisely in the form of Shinto.

 

"Paper tape * ... no, cotton?"

 

[Who wants to see what is being discussed, can google the pictures for the keyword "shide"]

 

Mikihiko intuitively realized that the tape was tied to a branch not of paper, but of the now rarely used cotton. And this zigzag cotton ribbon was made not by bending, but by gluing.

 

"Talismans made from cotton ... glued into a zigzag ribbon?"

 

Mikihiko seemed that this is a pretty suitable tool for the magic of the Yoshida family, which did not remain faithful to any one religious school, but took a little from each. Not only he had such feelings. The admiration was noticeable among many clan members watching the ceremony. Like Mikihiko, they all noticed that they were using Motohiko.

 

Stretching the branch of sakaki, Motohiko did not put it on the altar, but directed it to the reflection of the North Star in the mirror. The North Star *, being the star of God, at the same time had a reference to the "dragon".

 

[In one of the spellings, "The North Star" is written 北辰, which literally means "northern dragon"]

 

He did not cast spells or prayers. He did not even breathe. He simply poured “power” (spiritual power, sacred power, and also the power of the mind, which is called magical power, in the Yoshid family was called simply “power”) into an instrument specially prepared for this day.

 

"... contacted?"

 

Mikihiko clearly felt that his brother had made a connection with something.

 

With something gigantic, much bigger than human consciousness.

 

Due to the increased concentration of mind, Motohiko's face turned pale. In order to invoke a gigantic divine spirit with whom he had never yet come into contact, he desperately tried to hold and strengthen this contact.

 

Wind started to blow.

 

But neither the ritual clothes of Motohiko, nor his hair, nor a branch with a ribbon even swayed. It was the same with Mikihiko, his father, and the rest of the clan watching the altar.

 

Physically, the wind did not blow.

 

However, everyone who was present at this place felt the wind.

 

Its intensity gradually increased, and in the end they mentally felt the wind, equal in strength to a powerful hurricane.

 

- God of the wind ...? - Someone muttered, barely audible through the imaginary sounds of a rattling wind.

 

“Is it not from the god of the wind that this“ wind ”emanates ...?

 

These words made Mikihiko look up at the night sky. Everyone who was next to him also looked at the sky.

 

There they saw an illusory giant whirlwind covering the whole sky.

 

- He was able to call the god of the wind ...?

 

The whispers grew into a noise that spread around the altar.

 

Solemn mood enveloped this place. And Mikihiko, standing among these people, continued to look into the night sky and felt such intense pressure that he could not move a finger.

 

Finally, the wind stopped.

 

Breathing heavily, Motohiko turned and bowed to the clan. By his appearance, one could understand that he was very exhausted.

 

There were joyful exclamations. From everywhere, praise was heard of Motohiko, and passionate enthusiasm was evident in the voices.

 

"It far exceeded our expectations."

 

"As expected from the donor heir"

 

"This year Motohiko-dono will take first place"

 

Mikihiko completely agreed with the first two statements. However, he met the third exclamation with rejection.

 

“The ani-ue * technique was really awesome. It’s easy to see that he’s thoroughly prepared for today by creating this tool in an original way.”

 

[Respectful address to the elder brother. More down to earth than Onii-sama]

 

So Mikihiko thought, watching his brother descend from the altar with the help of a young female student helping in the ritual. Having exhausted his strength so much that he could barely stand on his feet, his older brother was able to call the god of the wind.

 

He was able to show all his strength using the right ritual. Mikihiko honestly thought that only for this his brother deserves respect.

 

Therefore he ...

 

"I will give all my best too. I will show today all that I can"

 

Mikihiko calmed himself and clarified his thoughts. When he came to the conclusion that he had reached a sufficient concentration of mind, he rose from his seat.

 

The surrounding noise died down. The eyes of the clan members gathered at the ritual focused on Mikihiko walking toward the altar.

 

The ritual was held in the open. This special ritual place was located in a mountainous area far from the inhabited places, and the weak night breeze sometimes brought only rustling leaves and buzzing insects. But now, the people gathered here heard only the sound of Mikihiko's footsteps walking toward the altar.

 

Mikihiko evened his breath. From his sleeve, he took out a stack of talismans and unfolded them in the form of a fan. It was a technique that used not one, but immediately nine talismans working in conjunction. He spent three months writing them.

 

- Wait, Mikihiko.

 

While clan members were curious, there was the voice of Satihiko, the head of the family, as well as Mikihiko's father. He stopped the caster during the ritual. Even for the head of the family, this was a thoughtless and unprecedented action.

 

But Mikihiko did not bother him at all, he calmly removed the talismans and turned around.

 

- What is it, father?

 

However, he remained standing on the altar and showed little concern with his behavior. Given the right manners, he should not have addressed the head of the family like that, looking down on him.

 

“What did you want to call now?”

 

But Satihiko did not blame him. However, he could not suppress his excitement.

 

After some doubt, Mikihiko resolutely answered this question:

 

“I'm going to call on the Dragon God.”

 

The ritual hall was filled with noise. In half the whispering, phrases like “cannot be” were heard, and in the other half there was hope like “finally.”

 

- Stop it.


 

But Satihiko’s response crushed those hopes.

 

- Why? Each caster participating in the ritual can decide for himself what he will call.

 

Many agreed with Mikihiko’s protest. Each caster in this ritual was on its own. He should not have violated this isolation simply because he is a parent.

 

Satihiko also thought it was right. But he still stopped his son.

 

“Mikihiko, are you really going to try to call on the Dragon God without the support of the crystal eyes?”

 

After the words of the head of the family, the noise of whispering rose again.

 

“I don't need them to do this.”

 

- Mikihiko, the amount of information that the Dragon God possesses is incommensurable with other divine spirits.

 

Frowning faces began to appear in those present when Satihiko uttered the words "amount of information."

 

The magic of the Yoshid family did not have a specific religion as its foundation. They indiscriminately took the spells they needed from various sources. Some of them even belonged to the so-called black magic and the forbidden arts. But they did not hesitate at all when they appropriated these spells.

 

(They got rid of users of black magic after they received their secrets from them. Thanks to this, they were considered a "group of heretics", but were not expelled from the magical community.)

 

However, there were many people in the clan who felt a sense of disgust for modern magic, systematized in this century. The trend of non-recognition of modern magic really existed, and this was a complex and confusing problem.

 

Satihiko actively opposed such negative moods within the clan and positively accepted knowledge from modern magic.

 

He tried to convince clan members showing the opposite opinion. He claimed that the magic of their clan was originally supposed to be just that.

 

But a feeling of disgust for modern magic still remained. These people now showed hostility precisely to the fact that he was trying to restrain his son with theories of modern magic.

 

“The Dragon God is a large-scale independent water information body.” It contains the principles of theories of water, air and fire. Moreover, each of these principles consists of information covering a wide area of ​​knowledge. To control the Dragon God, you need “eyes” that will guide you in this ocean of information.

 

To control the Dragon God, no, even to get in touch with him, just one caster is not enough. At this point, the Yoshida family has concluded that for the caster performing the call and control, such types of help are vital as indicating where the core of the divine spirit is and where its weak points are. This extra help is needed to find a place of penetration and a path to the center of the divine spirit.

 

- Father, this is nothing more than a hypothesis.

 

However, Mikihiko openly expressed doubt about the results of ancestral research.

 

- The existence of the owner of "crystal eyes", showing the way to the "crystal palace", where the dragon king lives, is not confirmed, and remains only a myth. The Yoshida family has been looking for the owner of crystal eyes for over two hundred years. I believe that the time has come to take the last step.

 

Many of the students nodded their consent to Mikihiko's words. Of the clan members, too, many showed agreement.

 

They are tired of waiting.

 

No matter how much they looked, the owner of crystal eyes was nowhere to be found.

 

- People all over the world and magic were also considered a myth and an invention. They believed that it does not exist, because they could not confirm this.

 

Satihiko, in an indifferent tone, objected to Mikihiko's words in the form of an indirect allusion.

 

- That was because ... we kept knowledge secret ...

 

“But magic really exists.” And we are living proof of that. Even those who considered magic a myth now know that it is real. Mikihiko, why do you say that the crystal eyes described in the legends do not exist?

 

Mikihiko did not have a reasonable answer to his father's question.

 

“Even if they exist, they make no sense if they cannot be found.” If I do not meet them in my whole life, then for me there is no sense in them either. I believe that as long as there is no owner of crystal eyes among us, trying to go the other way is not a mistake.

 

Therefore, Mikihiko directed the conversation in that direction.

 

- Father. Why is this "Star Ceremony" necessary? What is the purpose of our Yoshida family?

 

Raising the question of a universal goal, he got rid of the need for reasonable reasons. From the position of the head of the family, Satihiko could no longer deny Mikihiko's argument.

 

“... Motohiko, you say something to Mikihiko too.”

 

Satihiko asked for the help of his eldest son, not as the head of the family, but as a father.

 

“Father, I have nothing to say to Mikihiko.”

 

However, Motohiko did not respond to Satihiko's request.

 

“To be honest, I had to challenge such a challenge as the call of the Dragon God.” But I don’t have that kind of power. I realized this even when I called upon the divine spirit with only one elemental attribute.

 

Having said this, he smiled wryly, realizing that his body would not withstand such a load.

 

- This “Star Ceremony” is needed so that each caster shows his skill to the clan. If your brother says so, then I can’t stop it.

 

- Father ...

 

With unexpected support, Mikihiko did not know what to say.

 

“However, Mikihiko, don't do anything extravagant.” Everyone present knows about your abilities, but they also know that “a technique capable of reaching God” is the hardest of all tasks. If you think this is impossible, then immediately interrupt the spell.

 

- ...I understood.

 

Mikihiko understood that Motohiko did not say this out of a desire to become "this year's number one caster."

 

He realized that his older brother was just taking care of him. To dislike him was an unworthy behavior. Mikihiko understood this very well.

 

But at the same time, the idea arose in Mikihiko's mind that he must certainly succeed.

 

Mikihiko turned to the mirror on the altar.

 

There were no more voices calling him to stop.

 

He pulled out the talismans again and spread them out like a fan. From the letters and drawings inscribed on them, he considered the processes of building magic. Expressing in terms of modern magical science, he poured psions into talismans, after which, in the form of a return signal, they successively returned from each of them to the zone for calculating magic, where they were collected as parts of a single sequence of magic.

 

Then the assembled sequence of magic was projected onto the surface of the talismans. Thanks to these actions, the talisman can become the governing link for spirits - the so-called independent information bodies. If the size of the independent information body is too large to be completely controlled, then the talisman will still remain a kind of vehicle that conveys the will of the caster.

 

In short, spirits are psionic informational bodies in which information about natural phenomena is recorded. They do not carry energy in a physical sense. They contain only information about the structure of a natural phenomenon and do not contain information about the point of influence and direction of movement, therefore, by themselves, they do not cause the phenomena recorded in them.

 

Spiritual magic, or the so-called DS magic, gives this psionic informational body information about the point of influence and direction of movement, and, based on this, an independent informational body causes a modification of the phenomenon. For this, invocation magic is used, which gains access to the psionic informational body, enters into it information about the point of influence and direction of movement, and activates this prepared psionic informational body.

 

In order to invoke / awaken a spirit, we must first find it. However, in the current case, it was not necessary to find out where the desired spirit is located. The dragon god is an independent informational body of the "water cycle in nature." This gigantic informational body cannot be overlooked.

 

Problems begin after that.

 

To gain access to the information body, one cannot simply act at random. The signal must be finely tuned, similar to tuning the receiver to a radio wave. Of course, this process is much more complicated than setting up the receiver. You need to know the wavelength and frequency, as well as the regularity of the oscillations. It would probably be better to say that this is more like not decoding, but the process of decrypting the analog code. When it comes to large-scale complex independent information bodies, one should consider the changes in the many parameters that may arise.

 

Assuming that the caster can decipher these “waves,” the test that awaits him after that depends on the amount of information. The amount of information that makes up the mind of one person is huge enough to exceed the amount of information about a natural phenomenon. However, the amount of information that reflects only the consciousness of a person represents only a small part of the total volume. Such a small volume can simply be “crushed” by information about a natural phenomenon.

 

In most cases, before the consciousness is damaged, a person simply faints and access is blocked. Although people rarely become disabled from contact with independent information bodies, it happens that they lose their magical abilities.

 

First you need to "tune into the waves", while under continuous pressure. Then, controlling the “opponent”, you need to bring him to a state where it is possible to at least lead him in the right direction.

 

In this case, of course, it is necessary to maintain the activity of transforming information into a phenomenon.

 

If there was an owner of crystal eyes, then under his leadership it would be easy to carry out this “tuning to the wave”. However, the process of creating a counteraction force in order to restrain the force of pressure, in the end, must be performed by the caster himself. Mikihiko thought that if crystal eyes only facilitate synchronization, then they are not particularly needed.

 

If so, then you can perform all these processes yourself, step by step following the chosen path. With this in mind, Mikihiko focused his mind on the talismans that became the vehicle.

 

He immediately discovered the presence of the Dragon God. Up to this point, everything was within expectations. However, it was impossible to tune at all. As soon as he read the wavelength and frequency, they immediately changed. The pattern of wave oscillations was extremely complex, and only one setting for it heavily loaded and took away forces.

But despite this, Mikihiko, with concentration and endurance corresponding to his title of “child prodigy”, gradually adjusted his psionic waves so that they corresponded to the waves of the Dragon God. Even those who simply watched this process from the outside felt this response now. Sometimes from the crowd surrounding the altar, there were whispering voices.

 

And the noise of this crowd ...

 

... contacted ...

 

... contacted ...

 

... contacted ...

 

He turned into such voices. High-ranking spellcasters repeated this word one after another.

 

"... Caught!"

 

Fully adjusted, Mikihiko felt a response.

 

《Match ...》 *

 

[A word is used here that roughly means "meet the requirements" or "fulfill the conditions." In colloquial speech, this word can even mean "feed" or "fill." Why I chose the “match” option will be explained in the text below. Honestly, at first I thought that God asked him to eat ...]

 

Mikihiko heard a distant voice, like an echo or the sound of the sea.

 

"It seemed?"

 

Obviously, he did not hear this voice physically with his ears.

 

Ignoring this voice, Mikihiko continued to synchronize his psionic waves with the psionic waves of the Dragon God to make the connection between them even more reliable.

 

《Match ...》

 

Now the voice seemed closer than the first time.

 

《Match ...》

 

The closer the psionic waves of Mikihiko and the Dragon God came closer, the louder the voice.

 

《Match》

 

"Really ... is that the voice of the Dragon God?"

 

Mikihiko thought it was a stupid idea. They called him the Dragon God only for convenience, but in essence it should be just an independent informational body of the "water cycle in nature."

 

But contrary to all these thoughts,

 

Immediately after Mikihiko thought about it,

 

A clear and clear voice roared in his mind.

 

《MEET ME!》

- Ohhhh! - There was a cry of Mikihiko.

 

He himself was not aware of this.

 

His mind was in sharp, burning pain.

 

He somehow realized that his source of magic, which in modern magical science is called the "zone for calculating magic", is forced to work at increased speed.

 

But immediately after Mikihiko realized this, he forgot about all this.

 

More precisely, I could not remember.

 

He lost all of his psions.

 

It seemed to him that he had been "robbed."

 

It seemed to him that they had “devoured” him.

 

Unable to bear the pain of this loss, Mikihiko lost consciousness ...





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