"Old man, want to have some fun?"
Even though this was an alley with sparse traffic, the man almost dropped the drink in his hand upon hearing these words before the sun had even set.
Turning around, he found a young girl with a ponytail that could be described as "beautiful" in a heartbeat standing at the intersection where he was keeping an eye on the cafe's backdoor. She kept both hands held behind her back as she smiled happily.
However, upon recognizing her face, the man became anxious for a wholly different reason.
"What are you talking about? You should be more careful with yourself."
"Ah? I just said 'have some fun'. What exactly did you take that for?"
The young girl continued to wear an innocent smile as she tilted her head to one side. There was no doubt about it, she was one of the people close to his surveillance target.
"Don't mock adults. Now stop messing around and go home."
He was mentally sweating buckets, so all he could do was put on his game face and continue to act like "an adult annoyed by a child's antics and about to leave".
"The sun is about to set. If you stay in a place with little traffic like this, you risk running into the phantom killer."
As he said this, the man turned his back on the young girl.
Only to stop dead in his tracks.
"......By phantom killer, you mean someone like me?"
Directly in front of him, a bulky youth chuckled while smacking his fist that was covered with a black glove into his other hand that also wore a black glove.
"Didn't you know? Phantom killers refer to 'Magicians who just happen to be "passing through" '."
Within the young girl's happy reply to the young man, the man began to feel increasingly uneasy and turned around again.
The young girl wielded a retractable police baton and fell into a combat stance.
She smoothly raised the police baton in her hand, but that simplistic motion caused an overpowering pressure to resonate from the young woman in an instant.
If he had lowered his guard, that "pressure" would have sent the man to his knees...... From this, he knew what that was.
That was her fighting spirit.
Not killing intent, the wish to crush the life from one's opponent, but a pure desire to seek combat.
"Scary...... So you're the type of woman who only reveals her true nature in these kinds of places."
He heard a voice merrily commenting on the situation.
Despite his inability to verify the conditions behind him, he believed that the young man must have made this remark with a grin on his face.
"Help! Thieves!"
There was no way for him to escape. If that was the case, the man decided he might as well call for help.
He possessed a modicum of ability.
Even if he wasn't the most talented individual, he didn't believe that he could be vanquished by fifteen or sixteen year olds.
Regardless, he was currently in the middle of an assignment, so he chose to avoid confrontations if possible, given that squaring off against them served no benefit towards his mission parameters.
"Wow~, how weak......"
"No, no, I think you should praise his decisive judgment, right?"
The action the man chose seemed to gravely disappoint the young girl.
But the young girl didn't let go of the police baton, nor did the young man drop his raised fists.
—Afterward, nobody came to answer the man's calls for help.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it's useless for you to call for help, OK? After all, no one drops by this area."
"More like no one can even approach. We've already set up a barrier around here with our 'understanding' as the foundation, so you're not leaving here without knocking us out, got it?"
Hearing the girl's words, the man finally realized that nobody had passed by since the start of their confrontation.
They found out.
He was out of options.
The man retrieved the cup he dropped earlier and drew to his full height.
Wearing a thin jacket, he raised his hands like he was protecting his head — which was what they thought until he suddenly turned towards Leo and dropped his left arm to a 90 degree angle at the height of his stomach.
"Hmph...... The boxing stance known as the Hitman Style? I thought you actually carried weapons of some sort......"
"You idiot, just because he didn't pull one out doesn't mean he's not carrying one!"
Hearing the warning (?) Erika threw out, the man clucked his tongue.
Still, beyond that, he didn't appear to be overly anxious.
He didn't have any need to keep up pretenses.
There was no time for that.
The cowardly middle-aged man who was just screaming had warped into an experienced fighter who was closing in on Leo.
His lowered arm whipped towards Leo and landed blows like rain falling to the earth.
The bullet-like punches came crashing towards Leo's face.
The continuous chain of attacks persisted without pause, which gave proof to the fact that this man was a wolf and not a sheep.
However, neither Leo nor Erika was surprised by this turnout.
Through Erika's insight developed through long years of training and Leo's natural instincts, they already detected that the man's real nature was that of a wolf, no, a highly-trained hunting hound.
With astonishing speed.
Matched with incredible power.
And most importantly, the ability to move at a speed that surpassed human physical abilities without a trace of magic usage.
He had launched dozens of punches in less than 10 seconds without leaving any room for retaliation, so Leo could only move his arms left and right to defend himself.
Finally, there was a chink in Leo's defenses and a fist bypassed Leo's defenses and crashed straight into his face.
Pow, with a sound of a rubber balloon bursting, Leo went flying backwards.
Without wasting any time to verify the result, the man immediately swiftly whirled around.
Using the centripetal force when turning around, he flung a flying dagger towards Erika.
Clang, the crisp sound of metallic impact.
Erika used her police baton to deflect the dagger.
Since she swung her police baton from inside to out, there was an opening in her forward defenses.
Without missing a beat, the man's left fist swung towards Erika's face. However, the police baton pulled back to defend at a speed that surpassed the man's fist, so he pulled back.
Not only did he pull back the punch, the man's entire body jumped backwards. —Yet, in the next instant.
"Gah!"
The man's back took a direct hit from a powerful shoulder tackle and he went face first into the ground.
"......Ouch, that hurt. This guy isn't a normal human being. Still, I didn't feel any machinery during contact...... Maybe he's using medicinal enhancements?"
After applying a tackle from behind, Leo rubbed his chin where he took the hit and murmured at the man stretched out on the ground without letting down his guard.
"......You're in no position to talk. Just then, you definitely took a solid blow to the face."
Compared to the groaning man who was trying to find purchase with his hands, Erika seemed to be more wary of Leo as she said this.
"Of course. After all, as a Magician, a fourth of me is thanks to the research labs. I have no inclination to say that this is entirely due to my natural genes."
Leo chuckled wryly at Erika's piercing gaze and ruthlessly kicked at the prone man's limbs.
"Ooph!"
"Stay down. We don't want your life. We just want to know why you're following us around."
Leo spared a glance at Erika to find her utterly shocked at his barbaric behavior wholly unlike that of a normal person before raising a foot off the ground.
The implication was obvious.
"......Wait a second...... I got it, I surrender...... Originally, I never...... was your enemy...... It's not worth...... getting killed over......"
"That's true. If it wasn't the two of us here, your attack would have killed us for sure."
"Aren't you...... the same......"
Coughing in between his words, the man sat up.
"If I hadn't strengthened my flesh, that hit would've ruptured my internal organs."
The pain must have largely passed, seeing as how the man still sat on the ground but was able to speak more fluently.
"If I didn't think you were enhanced, I wouldn't have done that in the first place."
Leo's tone wasn't concerned in the slightest.
"Regardless, since you're not our enemy, then give us the low down. You can't expect us to keep this barrier up forever."
"OK. It's not my intent to draw attention to myself anyways."
The man seemed to look past all this and sighed in relief.
"Start with your name, since you already know ours at this point."
"Jiro Marshall."
The man answered Leo's question, but there was no way to tell if this was his true name or not.
"I am unable to reveal any details regarding my identity, but I can say that I am not affiliated with any government organization. That is all."
"So you're black ops."
Again, the man didn't affirm nor deny.
"......And then? Since you won't tell the truth even if we asked, then why don't you talk about your purpose as well as the current situation?"
"My task is to monitor the magic high school students and prevent cutting edge magic technology from falling into the hands of the East. I am to take action in the event that magic technology that could constitute a military threat is leaked to the East."
At Leo's impatient urging, the man who called himself Jiro replied back in a business-like manner.
The East was a term favored by USNA intelligence agents and military personnel after the last great war. Even Leo and Erika were familiar with knowledge on that level.
That being said, this did not prove the man's connection with the USNA intelligence community. In order to confuse his affiliation, he may have intentionally used terms specific to a certain region.
"At the very least, your employer isn't someone in this country, right? Why bother with all this?"
Hearing the skeptical implication behind Leo's words, the man shook his head like he was saying "Seriously......".
"And here I thought this country's peaceful naiveté had been cured, though I guess I can't apply the same standard to teenagers...... Military balance across the globe isn't just one country's problem. If this country's technical expertise was handed to the East, then the West's technological advantage may be lost. Regardless of whether it's the New Soviet Union whose interest lies in improving existing Magic Sequences or the Pan Asian Alliance who emphasizes restoration of old magics over advancing modern magic, everyone is searching for new practical applications of technology in magic engineering for military purposes. Not just this country, but the USNA and the nations of Western Europe have seen large increases in spies that target magic engineering. Even your school has become the target of the East as well."
"Peaceful naiveté is an old term from decades ago, and if you really wanted to creepy peeper then you should be more cautious. Didn't we easily discover that you were following us?"
Irritated by the man's smug attitude, Erika ruthlessly attacked the man, but she didn't object to the actual contents of the man's message.
"Exactly. I'm not a spy, I'm just tasked with stopping their activities. Since I'm not your enemy, there's no conflict of interest here."
The man stood up and made a show of brushing off the dirt.
Mockingly — in reality, sarcasm probably made up 30% — the man delicately brushed his pant leg before straightening up.
In his hand was a pistol that could easily be hidden in the palm of his hand. The muzzle was pointed at Erika.
"Tch!"
"You!"
"The fact that I didn't pull this out earlier is proof that I'm not an enemy."
"......Things might get a little hairy if you used a gun. Lots of evidence will be left behind."
At Erika's furious words, the man smiled meaningfully.
"That's true as well. Next, I've said everything that needs to be said, so allow me to bid adieu. May I trouble you to alert your companions to take down the barrier?"
Despite his bantering tone and attitude, there were no weaknesses to exploit in his stance. It would be suicidal for Erika and Leo to press the issue here.
With the advancements in CADs, modern magic could achieve speeds that rivaled firearms on some level. Still, this didn't mean that they were "faster than guns", nor were they even "as fast as guns". When compared to firearms that could fire bullets that pass through the human body with the click of a trigger, modern magic still had to go through the process of reading the Activation Sequence and constructing the Magic Sequence. Though magic had more versatility than firearms, possessed superior firepower and could even provide cover against bullets, that was only under the condition that the speed differential wasn't a problem. When faced with the situation that one bullet could be fatal or render someone unable to keep fighting, "a speed differential on some level" became the difference between victory and defeat. And that was the situation they were faced with right now.
Mikihiko was probably monitoring the situation here with magic the entire time. Before Erika and Leo could reply, Mikihiko already disabled the barrier.
"—And thus I bid you farewell. Oh yes. Allow me to give you two one final suggestion. Please convey to your companions to be wary of their surroundings at all times. Even on campus, don't let down your guard."
As he said this, the man removed a small canister from his coat pocket.
After pressing a button on the canister, he threw it into the middle of the triangle that the three of them formed.
Erika and Leo both leaped backwards at the same time.
With a small explosion, a dense, white smoke rapidly spread outwards.
The two of them closed their eyes and covered their mouths and only opened them after judging that there was no poison involved. By that time, the man who called himself Jiro Marshall had long gone.
At the Rotbart Cafe in the Yokohama Hills, Inspector Chiba and Fujibayashi were still deep in their conversation. Something had piqued Fujibayashi's fancy, causing her to chatter on to the point that Chiba never had an opportunity to get down to business with the owner. Still, owing to Fujibayashi's skillful verbatim, Chiba was highly invested in the conversation as well. On some level, Chiba didn't feel that speaking with her interfered with the investigation, but his partner Inagaki certainly didn't seem nearly as interested.
Just as Chiba was about to completely forget the reason why he came here, Fujibayashi's cellphone rang. Despite the sound not being loud enough to disrupt anyone else, Chiba still heard it from his seat next to her.
Fujibayashi pulled a smartphone from her bag and glanced at the subject heading. After perusing the message, she turned around and flashed Chiba a secret smile. That smile perfectly displayed her dazzling features that simply put her ordinary makeup to shame.
Chiba's pulse spiked to a rate wholly unbefitting of his age.
"My apologies, Inspector, may I take my leave for a moment?"
Even though Fujibayashi's eyes never hinted at any ulterior motive or hidden meaning, Chiba was immediately able to grasp that Fujibayashi had work to attend to.
"—Oh, of course, by all means."
She rose from her seat and nodded in greeting to Chiba, passed her credit card to the owner and left for her electric car that was in the parking lot.
Taking a seat behind the wheel, Fujibayashi switched the smartphone display over to the dashboard screen.
Cars that had adopted the palm pilot control schematic had no need for steering wheels. This was a natural course of events for a system that incorporated acceleration, deceleration, and directional control entirely. The palm pilot control schematic was used to create a more direct driving experience and especially to avoid blind spots by switching the traditional dashboard for a varied control panel (such as a larger display monitor with multiple functions). With a few extra modifications in place, technological prowess in the car could match that of a workstation at home.
However, Fujibayashi's personal vehicle was equipped with a system a level, maybe several levels higher. Although this was a small two seat sports car, it had the same processing power as that of a combat command vehicle. Equipped with a highly sensitive and powerful communication device, whenever Fujibayashi added her magic to the mix, the sheer electronic warfare capabilities at its disposal certainly deserved the title "Electronic Combat Vehicle".
"Looks like Tatsuya's friends ran into a little bit of trouble."
She wasn't unconsciously murmuring to herself, but using that specific term to target her magic. By using Tatsuya's "connections" as markers, she was overlapping the information dimension with the electronic intelligence network.
"Yoshida Mikihiko, the one-time prodigy of the Yoshida Family. Even though there's some degree of improvement since his adolescent years, I still wish he would pay more attention on the streets."
Names are a symbol of the actual body, so once the name was spoken, then one could home in on the actual body. Closely related individuals, essentially people who are closer on a mental scale, can be used as markers for magic by setting their movement, status, and names as specific variables.
"Even Ancient Magic will leave traces in the observation system."
Compared to modern magic, Ancient Magic, especially SB Magic, was much more difficult to capture by the cameras of the observation system. The difficulty wasn't that it was harder to catch the magic being invoked since the cameras would still record it, but determining who was the one wielding the magic in the first place. The emergency mission that Fujibayashi was currently tasked with was to overwrite the areas where the magic was recorded.
Even though erasing recordings for the improper use of magic wasn't within Fujibayashi's job description, she knew very well that it was integral that the people surrounding Tatsuya didn't stand out too much. If there were too many flags being raised, the prey would be on guard and no longer continue its pursuit. In other words, Kazama and company were using Tatsuya as bait—
(—On that point, I doubt you would mind.)
With these words in mind, the "Electron Sorceress" activated her unique ability.
The operative from an unknown country called Jiro Marshall stopped running after using his enhanced legs to run the distance between bus stops. He stopped running at such a dangerous speed that would draw attention to himself not because he judged it to be safe.
Actually, it was the exact opposite.
Even though he was running at a pace that no one could match no matter how hard they trained, something was continuously following behind him. He hadn't verified what that "something" was, but Jiro Marshall was strongly suspicious whether that "something" was even human.
There was no need to check whether it was the pair of teenagers from before. He was not a moron who allowed his opponents who he was in a standoff with to follow him without his knowledge. Regardless of whether his pursuer was a Magician or an enhanced human being, the likeliest possibility was that this was an enemy. As a solo operative, Marshall didn't have a team for this mission. Even if he received unexpected reinforcements, he would still receive a message ahead of time to avoid friendly fire. However, since the start of this mission, he never received any intel of this sort.
(—Where are you hiding?)
Marshall slightly lowered his head to concentrate on listening and, using his extensive expertise, searched for the "aura" that was the most critical aspect of three dimensional sound. There was no way he could fail to detect the man following, no, pursuing him. Even if that guy was hidden, he should still be able to find him, Marshall thought.
Unfortunately, his prediction was entirely incorrect.
Suddenly detecting an unexpected "aura", Jiro Marshall abruptly raised his head.
Directly in front of him, a young man stood there in silence.
Just now, he realized that any noise in front of him had been entirely muffled. Marshall was only able to physically detect the danger thanks to his instincts.
The man was exceptionally tall and well built, but his figure was East Asian. He wore a plain grab that consisted of a pair of gray sports pants and a gray jacket with a black jersey beneath. His features were not particularly eye-catching or ugly. From appearances, he was undoubtedly human — but Marshall had the inkling he was squaring off against a man eating beast.
Seeing the young man's face, Marshall suddenly recalled where he knew him.
"The Devouring Tiger!"
In reality, it wasn't that they had met before, since this was the first time he saw the man face to face.
"Lu Gonghu......"
The name of his opponent that unconsciously slipped from his lips headed the list of targets that he had to watch out for during his mission briefing. Rumored to be the one credited with the highest number of kills in melee combat from the Pan Asian Alliance, he was an S-ranked individual from the Pan Asian Alliance special Ops.
By the time Marshall recovered his wits, he had already raised his right hand to aim the gun at Lu Gonghu. Born of reflex honed by countless hours of training, Marshall's body had long since surpassed his mental facilities.
However, Marshall's finger never clicked the trigger.
Faster than even his reflexes, Lu Gonghu's fingers already pierced Marshall's wrist. The inside of his wrist pierced by the other man's thumb, the handgun slipped from Marshall's hand to the ground.
Marshall could only blankly watch his handgun fall to the earth.
When was his wrist pierced? No, speaking of which, when did Lu Gonghu stand right next to him?
Marshall never caught a glimpse of Lu Gonghu's movement.
As Marshall's consciousness was wallowing in the pain that overwhelmed his surprise, his life had already fallen into eternal darkness.
Lu Gonghu swiftly retracted his right hand from where it was embedded in Marshall's throat.
Even though his fingers were stained blood red, very little blood escaped from the wound.
Using his left hand that was free of any blood, Lu Gonghu removed a stack of paper from his chest pocket and carefully wiped away the bloodstains on his right hand.
Afterwards, he flung the papers soaked in Marshall's blood onto the corpse. During the descent, the paper spread out to a handkerchief's size and fell onto Marshall's corpse.
The blood soaked paper suddenly ignited into flames that were redder than blood. The flames started from the center of the paper and spread outwards in a circular fashion.
Nothing existed within the inside of the circle. No matter if it was the ashes from the burnt paper, the clothes that covered the corpse, or even flesh, nothing remained.
After the flames consumed the paper, they began spreading across the corpse.
And so, the circular flames completely devoured the corpse.
Seeing the corpse vanish, Lu Gonghu turned to leave.
There was nary a human presence at the scene. Regardless of whether it was voices or footsteps, there was no trace that someone had ever been there.
The only thing that witnessed this scene was the broken camera that swayed near the intersection.
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