“hmm?“
“Is he moving?“
In one of the rooms at the Pearl & Hermes base, the voices of two men sounded simultaneously.
The first voice belonged to Major Kevin Antares, and the second to First Lieutenant Eliya Sargas.
Major Antares is the commander of the eleventh detachment of the Stars, and First Lieutenant Sargas is a member of the same detachment, having the rank of the First stellar magnitude class. They were both magicians specializing in magic of mental interference, and both were converted to Parasites as a result of "secondary infection."
When they became Parasites, the magic they knew about best didn't change. On the contrary, they showed a tendency to go even deeper into their specialization.
Antares was good at magic affecting many minds simultaneously, and Sargas was strong at magic that focuses on one target and makes a powerful attack on their mind.
The magic that plunged Minoru’s mind into "darkness" was created by Antares, and it was called "Nyx*". This magic could be called the trump card of Antares. It intervenes in the ability to perceive the mind, creating an area of hallucinations that blocks visual and auditory information.
[The goddess of the night from Greek mythology. She is Nikta or Nyukta in other translation options. In Japanese transliteration and English spelling - "Nyx".]
Opponents who fall into this area fall into a state where they "do not see, even when they are watching" and "do not hear, even when they are listening." And its effect is not limited to the vision and hearing of the physical body. It covers all information recognized by the mind as visual and auditory. As a result, the magician also becomes unable to recognize information about Eidos, perceived visually, and information about psionic waves, perceived audibly. In other words, not only the five senses, but also the sixth sense is “shrouded in darkness.”
Antares used this magic to seal Minoru's remote aiming and prevent a counterattack from magic. This provided Sargas with a safe environment to destroy the mental barrier of Minoru. That was their strategy.
As they planned, no counterattack came from Minoru.
Minoru had come so far with this girl and should not have left her so easily. Now, however, he stepped out of the corridor and walked briskly away. At least that was what the magical perceptions of Antares and Sargas told them.
It was hard to think that Minoru would abandon his companion.
The magic “Nyx” of Antares didn't aim at one specific person. It was intended to affect many people at once, by targeting a specific area of physical space. Minoru realized this and planned to counterattack the enemy magicians, leaving this area and thereby regaining the ability of remote magic aiming.... Which was Antares interpretation of the current behavior of Minoru.
“Following the target.“
In order not to subject his subordinates to danger, Antares began to move the hallucination zone created by his magic Nyx after Minoru.
“Yes, commander.“
Sargas also began his pursuit after the moving Minoru as a target for magic.
After Minoru activated Parade, the magical darkness disappeared, and the darkness of the night returned.
The magic that created the darkness wasn't interrupted. The area of effect magic, depriving perception from the mind, shifted away from Minoru. Minoru didn't leave this place, but only moved information about his location. After all, the enemy pursued Minoru informationally, and therefore moved the coordinates of the aiming of magic.
The speed of this reaction indicated a high level of magical skill by his enemies.
But, this high level skill, on the contrary, made them immediately fall for Minoru's trick.
As he expected.
Minoru subsequently activated mental interference magic with psionic light moving through physical space as an intermediary.
The magic was called Phobos. This is a magic that sends psionic light into the enemy’s magical field of vision, painted in colors that evoke the image of fear itself. There is also a magic called Deimos, which doesn't require an intermediary and sends fear directly, but it wasn't in Minoru’s repertoire yet.
The effect of Phobos is not lethal. However, people affected by it, regardless of their mental stamina, will be subject to indescribable horror, and their mind will noticeably weaken. Even those who have trained to resist fear cannot escape the fear brought by Phobos. And no matter how hard you try to suppress this fear, it will continue to keep coming from the depths of your mind.
After activating Phobos, Minoru realized that the magic of the “voice” that attacked his mental barrier before activating “Parade” was interrupted. The “darkness” that had previously swallowed Minoru also disappeared. Both magics no longer had any effect on Minoru. But for him, now it only meant that the operators could no longer maintain the magic aimed at the substitute created by his Parade.
“Major Antares!? What happened!? Lieutenant Sargas, let me know what happened!?“
First Lieutenant Spica screamed in a panicky voice, looking at the two men writhing in agony, who fell to the floor with the chairs they were sitting on. It seemed to her that an attack of convulsions suddenly seized the two.
“Was that just now... Phobos?“
Moaned Antares, waking up first.
“... I agree with you, commander.”
Sargas agreed with Antares, clutching his sore head with his hand.
“It was a mental interference attack by Kudou Minoru!”
Spica's cry implied the question "how is this possible!?" In order to apply magic to an adversary that you cannot see physically, it is necessary to fix the “image” of the target in the information dimension. And “Phobos”, in particular, is magic that achieves the result by directly irradiating the enemy with psion light. And we aren't even talking about "Deimos", directly sending images. For a remote attack by Phobos, it is necessary to accurately determine the coordinates of the target through the information dimension. This was impossible to do while in a state of difficulty obscured by the magic of Nyx.
“Major Antares, Lieutenant Sargas... well, and Lieutenant Spica at the same time.”
At that moment, a mental voice so powerful (not loud) sounded in the minds of these three that it seemed as though their head would crack from it.
“Mr. Kudou. Did you want something?“
With a grimace, Spica answered him. She decided that it would be better if she answered Minoru, instead of Antares or Sargas who had just attacked him.
“I think Raymond hears us too, so I won’t repeat it. I do not intend to take control of you.“
Spica's heart nearly jumped out of her chest. It happened exactly as she and Antares was afraid of. They could not gain access to Minoru consciousness. No access - so you can not intervene. However, Minoru had access to their
consciousness. If Minoru wants to, he will be able to correct her consciousness, and so that she won’t even notice it.
This was "only possible theoretically," but in fact it wasn't known whether in practice one Parasite could take control of other Parasites. However, Spica and other soldiers of the USNA army could not ignore the likelihood that they could fall under the control of the Japanese Minoru.
“So never try to get into my head again. I do not want to control anyone. And I don’t want anyone to control me.”
“... Got it. We won't do that again. We apologize for our deed.”
Antares answered him.
“Apologies are accepted. For my part, I also apologize for my rude behavior.“
At this Minoru interrupted his mental connection.
“Rude behavior...?”
Groaned Antares.
The bitterness of defeat was present in his voice, as well as on the face of Sargas who heard him.
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