Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 8 - Reminiscence - Chapter 18.2

Half a year has passed since then. Day by day, the nightmare continues for the Kunlunfang Institute and the Dahan government.

In the course of a single night, all the employees and magicians attached to a laboratory would be strangled.

A military base would suddenly break out in fighting between fellow soldiers, with the last man standing shooting himself in the head and dying.

The building the government's military liaison agency was moving into collapsed when one of their own military aircraft plunged into it. There were no survivors.

There were also administrative facilities for research where everyone in the building suffocated due to lack of oxygen. There was also awareness of incidents where everyone was stabbed to death. Politicians who were aware of the outbreak of the incidents traveled incognito for a secret assembly; that day, a rare congregation of Dahan's leadership took place.

There was absolutely no clue to who the culprits were. Among the incidents, there certainly existed cases wherein the culprit had been killed, but no corpses remained. Traces of the culprits vanished without exception.

Without a doubt, it was a nightmare.

Exactly half a year from the first mysterious event, the nightmare revealed its form at last.

All the subdivisions and branch offices were quashed; all that remained was the main headquarters of the Kunlunfang Institute. The fortifications solidified by Dahan's magicians were invaded by three magicians.

A mere three people. Against the three hundred stationed at the Kunlunfang Institute. Formerly, Dahan's magic regiment had boasted a breadth of three thousand; death and desertion had reduced it until it was a mere tenth of what it was.

"My name is Yotsuba Genzou."

The magicians guarding the main entrance were slain in the twinkling of an eye by the man in the prime of his life who introduced himself in Japanese.

The researchers and magicians assembled at the main branch, as well as the authorities finding shelter there, watched Genzou enter their view on the screen as one.

"In order to cleanse ourselves from our hatred of you, all of you will die. This is revenge for the future you took from my daughter."

While Genzou spoke, he slashed a knife toward the camera.

The five thousand people who saw the image simultaneously patted their necks as a vision of their own heads being lopped off assaulted them, then sighed in relief as they found their heads still attached. When they timidly returned their gazes to the screen, there was no one there.

The research focus of the Fourth Institute that birthed the Yotsuba clan was "the endowment and improvement of magical abilities given by the mind's structure for the usage of mind manipulation magic." In order to fulfill this purpose, The Fourth Institute first gathered people whose lineage predisposed them to have mind manipulation power.

Among these people, some individuals were transformed into genuine super powered beings, while others remained no more than mere illusionist tricksters who could do no more than create heat haze like mirages. The magicians with strong mind manipulation abilities were picked out, strengthened, and had the primary field of their magic calculation area directly modified. That was the Fourth Institute's accepted procedure for magician development.

The "Yotsuba" produced as a result inevitably descended from two types of magician lineages. One were those born with a mind manipulation ability that was strengthened. The other were those whose magic calculation areas were warped by a strong power. These two heritages stood side by side and mixed to form the "Yotsuba". Even those who shared the same blood displayed the two traits randomly. For example, Miya inherited the traits of the former, and 'Mind Structure Manipulation' is a form of mind manipulation magic that only she can use; Maya represented the latter, as she did not have any form of mind manipulation magic, but instead acquired a distinctive power from birth.

The three who have now infiltrated the Kunlunfang Institute each use a strong unique mind manipulation magic.

One was a user of human cognizance fixation magic. His magic used the five senses as a medium in order to get someone to "fixate on something," which is what could be called planting a fixed idea. The time period this continued was 9 minutes. For example, he would do so to a witness who spotted a concealed person in a certain place. It did not matter if it was with the naked eye or through a camera; it did not matter if it was one person or a thousand. The information from the vision, "I see him," allowed him to transmit his magic through any medium for nine minutes so no one doubted that "he has not moved from the shadow of that place." Even though he leisurely left the shadow and crossed their line of sight, those trapped by his magic were caught up in the idea that he was hiding.

Even if a loud alarm rang, they would not connect that sound to him.

The other one was a user of magic that controlled a person's will. The longest this could continue was one minute; the number of targeted individuals was seven people at the most, and the effect range was twelve meters. That he could not command the self infliction of wounds to those whose mind manipulation power exceeded his own was another limitation, but however temporary it was, when they fell under his technique, his victims inevitably could not resist his commands. In order to send commands, psion waves transmitted the general idea. It could overcome thick walls to work, and the barrier of language was also no problem. He took control from 10 seconds to 1 minute. Since the victims would reliably execute only a single command and there had been 2 examples recorded outside of Japan, the name of "One Command" had been stuck on this magic.

The pairing of these two's magic easily resulted in their infiltration into the facility turned fortress. They purposely let themselves be caught by surveillance cameras and soon let an image of them fleeing be displayed. By doing so, the three infiltrators were giving the impression that aside from Genzou, the infiltrators had left the facility and were outside. And "One Command" was used on the guards who passed through the front door to order them to throw open the doors. Of course, once the guards opened the doors, they were finished. Suggestion was repeatedly used for disposal. The two of them had a time limit of 9 minutes to reach their target location, the guard control room, a limit which was a struggle for the pair to make.

Next, the pair commenced their work. Due to their possession of powerful mental manipulation magic abilities, they did not possess more than the ordinary physical phenomenon manipulating magic from their four genetic lineages. While advancing upon the magicians defending the laboratory for nine minutes wore down their magic, it was certain that whether their enemies were many or few, mere words would not deceive them.

They directly wrote into the brains — to be accurate, they transmitted electrical signals to the brain which gave the mind data directly — using a manual to completely turn off the facility's security system.

That was, without a doubt, close timing. There was only ten seconds remaining until the pair's operational deadline. A group of over ten Dahan Magicians, all with gleaming metal bands on their heads, came to attack them. For a few minutes, there was a fierce fight and magical attack exchange — then the control room became unusable due to the extreme heat and the blast from the explosion.

Genzou became aware of his allies' self-destruction from the fact that the security system was down, which he knew due to crossing two places where the barriers had been released. In order to leave no evidence nor genetic samples, their flesh had been engraved beforehand with conditionally activated magic that self-immolated their bodies. The activation of the cast magic was perceived by Genzou's magic sense.

(...Sorry.)

Within his heart, Genzou apologized with one brief word. This battle, as he himself proclaimed, started with his own personal grudge. Nevertheless, his clan members accompanied him on his vengeance out of their own free will. Therefore apologizing for their sacrifice might be mocking their determination. —Even though he understood that, Genzou could not stop apologizing to his allies, who went to their deaths.

With this, the number of casualties to the Yotsuba clan from the feud they had started was twenty-nine. This was about half the number of Yotsuba who practice combat magic.

In contrast, the number of enemy magicians who had died added up to roughly three thousand five hundred. Each one that they had lost was balanced by about 120 times in enemies they had slaughtered, Yotsuba magicians did not go down easily. Genzou was determined that he would keep the balance sheets as they were.

Unlike his thoughts, his body did not stop. The director of the Kunlunfang Institute. He was today's target. Genzou was running down the corridor with the silenced alarm system to the inner sanctum. And anyone standing in Genzou's way, magician or not, would lose their life to the blade he flourished. Although he should not be aware of it, Genzou felt his magic calculation area overheat as he gradually approached his limits. If this continued, he was probably going to burn out his mind. Even so, there was no way he was going to stop now.

Facing the last door, Genzou did not stop his feet; without pausing, he accelerated.

The inside of the room was swollen with signs of magic.

There were probably four people whose magic rivaled his own. The director of the institute and his fellows. As Genzou faced his true desired foes, the magic of those who guarded them prepared to attack him.

Nevertheless, their magic was never completed.

Genzou's magic was faster.

The abilities of the four magician's and Genzou's were nearly equal. Regardless of that fact, Genzou was one to two steps ahead since his magic was already active.

Genzou kept his knife level and waved it like a flag. As anticipated, the response mowed down that side in a flash. In front of the waving blade, four enemy magicians fell, their necks spouting blood.

Genzou's magic was "Grim Reaper". It was the type of mind manipulation magic that implanted a specific image in the victim's mind. That image was "death". To the victim who had been given a premonition of death, the display of a symbol of that image was strong suggestive magic. It did not matter if the first image was only an arbitrary one. Direct or indirect contact made no difference, time and distance were also not barriers. As long as the victim was able to recall that image, a suggestion could be amplified a thousandfold to affect even the flesh.

Aside from ridding one's own memory of the image, any kind of protection was meaningless. Adversaries who met Genzou killed themselves off in the second encounter. In order for this magic "Grim Reaper" to activate, a direct meeting with the victim was necessary. For the magic to be completed, Genzou had to be aware of his foe and his foe had to be aware of him. Being plunged into your own personal valley of death was the first effect of this magic.

While regretting that the presence of the four magicians meeting their doom could not be prolonged, Genzou leveled the knife to strike them down. The director of the Kunlunfang Institute, the Dahan government's chief of military affairs, and the other Dahan dignitaries who quivered in this place simultaneously crumpled down, vomiting blood from the neck.

(This is way too quick)

Looking down on the horde of dead bodies before his eyes, Genzou soliloquized deep in his core. For this past half year, he had steadily cornered them to this end; Genzou was confident in the amount of terror he had generated in them. Nonetheless, the way the ultimate target had been brought down left him with the feeling that it might have better if it had been an even more painful way to die.

Unexpectedly.

As dizziness overcame him, Genzou went down on his knees.

He hurt like his head was split open,

(Wrong...)

In the midst of intense pain, Genzou deduced that the pain did not come from his body, but was rather sent to his body from his mind. The repeated use of "Grim Reaper" had exceeded the limits of his mind's ability to use magic.

(I will never return to Japan.)

It was unsubstantiated. The limits of an individual's magic calculation area could not yet be objectively measured by individuals. Nevertheless, Genzou was convinced of it. He who could manipulate the death visions of others felt death closer to him than ever before in his life.

Genzou sent strength into his trembling knees and stood up. In this facility, over one hundred people, the main body of all the employees and magicians who worked there remained.

(Looks like I shall be able to collect my fare to cross the Sanzu [26] .)

Genzou bared his teeth in a grin and laughed.

(Miya, Maya, forgive me.)

As Genzou sought his next prey, he apologized in his heart to his beloved daughters whom he would never see again.

Thus, the Yotsuba's revenge ended. In the aftermath, only tragedy lingered.

Yotsuba Maya lost her ability to procreate due to the injuries she received at this time. Regeneration treatment had progressed to the point of manufacturing limbs and transplanting them, but reviving her natural female abilities was beyond them.

Due to her inability to have a child, the Yotsuba clan and the Saegusa clan dissolved Maya and Koichi's engagement. Saegusa Koichi had forever lost his right eye and his beloved simultaneously. As for Koichi, cloning and transplanting techniques had advanced enough to restore his eye. Nevertheless, Koichi rejected that possibility, for he could not live on alone unmarked as if nothing had happened.

In the aftermath of this incident, Miya broke her body from overusing her mind manipulation magic before she turned twenty like a penance. She was repeatedly in and out of the hospital and lived her life under medical care for ten years.

In response to Maya's tragedy, the Yotsuba enacted a policy of attaching guards to clan members who possessed an especially superior disposition for magic. The post was not assumed by temporary guards who worked for money; these guards risked their lives to fulfill their duty throughout the lifetime of the one they protected — thus the Guardians were created.

In regards to the secret feud between the Yotsuba and Dahan; on the Yotsuba side, there were thirty dead. From this war, the Yotsuba lost the head of the family and half of its fighting strength.

On the other side, Dahan's dead were approximately four thousand. For the sacrifice of a mere thirty people, the Yotsuba clan assassinated four thousand: cabinet ministers, high class bureaucrats, officers, magicians and researchers; as for the continent of Asia, it had all its research results on modern magic annihilated.

Due to this damage, Dahan suffered an internal collapse after one year and the Great Asian Alliance unified the continent of Asia.

As for East Asia, the antagonism between the North and the South came to a resolution; as for the northern hemisphere, a resolution for the world wide border conflicts was jury-rigged.

It was the end of World War III.

And among those who knew the truth about the collapse of Dahan, the Yotsuba were feared as "Untouchable".

Afterword

Once again, truly, thank you very much to those who read "Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei". To everyone who picked it up for the first time, from now on, I hope you’ll stay with me.

The 8th volume this time is an "episode zero" story about the past and a short story about an organisation even further back. The short story "Untouchable" was written originally to be the preamble and so, the short story was made to be shorter. The short story was sent to the end of the volume on the advice of editor M Ki-san but, this order truly does make the unusual circumstances of Miya and the Yotsuba stand out more I think.

Speaking of short, when I submitted my paper manuscript by visiting M Ki-san and he said "the paperbacks are supposed to be of about this length" and I ended up shocked. Probably ignorance by the short length of the[ir] career. I must reflect on my thoughts. …While I may have said I reflected on my thoughts, I won’t be restricted from making the best of it.

I don’t particularly think the reason of "the longer the novel, the more it’s worth reading due to the value" is valued but, so too are there times where I complete a novel and it ends up longer. Like with the Dengeki Bunko Magazine serialisation, at first, I insert my conscious and I can finish it like that but, but if I don’t do it within the limitations, I tend to unconsciously pack everything in it seems.

A good (or bad, whichever works best) example of this would be the audio drama that goes on sale this month. When I was given a chance to request the manuscript for the drama CD, I proposed thinking "I want to do the past scenes of the reminiscence chapter as a full scenario" and it was approved, it received the "OK" for the drama version of the whole thing and I thought, they must have made a mistake. I thought it wouldn’t end up as just one volume, perhaps it would be finalised as three or four sets – and that’s simply thoughtlessness as it disregards cost.

Luckily, it ended up being an interactive DVD but they kept me in suspense until it was set in stone so once again, I offer my apologies.

Nevertheless, I received assistance from all involved resulting, in effect, an audio drama that the fans can look forward to I believe.

It’s become somewhat like advertisement for the audio drama DVD but rest assured, I believe this novel will also surely be received satisfactorily. –To everyone who picked up this book, I hope that you will all feel that it is "interesting" from the depths of your heart.

Well then, please look forward to the next novel, Volume 9 – Visitor Chapter (I). Thank you very much.

(Satou Tsutomu)

Translator's Notes and References

1. Туман-бомба: Mist Bomb

2. This means elder brother. Normally, a younger sibling would use an honorific with it. I am using the word because using my elder brother would indicate intimacy between Miyuki and Tatsuya that she doesn't feel.

3. Father. I am using the Japanese word because normally someone like Miyuki would use Otou-sama.

4. A female Japanese snow monster

5. descriptions given later indicate that this guy and his friends are in their late teens or early twenties

6. A deep bow with the forehead on the ground given to beg forgiveness

7. Large Japanese drum

8. A polite way of saying uncle

9. Father without any honorifics.

10. No real English equivalent; the idea of hitting your opponent in the stomach and having the impact transfer all the way to the back.

11. Lieutenant is not an air force rank.

12. 'Four' and 'death' have the same pronounciation in Japanese.

13. 'Striking at a distance' by projecting your ki, without physical contact. Kinda like a Hadouken.

14. Two-factor Theory of Emotion

15. Туман-бомба: Mist Bomb

16. 伯母上: archaic formal term of address for Aunt, made by combining the japanese word for aunt (Oba) with the honorific Ue. Still used nowadays in the upper echelons of Japanese society, albeit extremely rarely. It carries immense respect, which can be further increased by the addition of '-sama'. See Japanese honorifics: Ue for more details.

17. An honorific that lies between '-san' and '-sama'. When attached to a name it roughly equates to 'lord' or 'master'. See Japanese Honorifics: Dono for more details.

18. Prisoner of war

19. By Yamamoto Tsunetomo, on the way of the samurai. [1]

20. A city in China. See Quanzhou for more details.

21. Literally Great Han's or Great China's

22. An island between Korea and Japan. See Tsushima Island for more details.

23. The Kunlun Mountains have both a mythical and physical existence. The institute either has a physical location in the mountains or has named itself the equivalent of the Mount Olympus Institute

24. This is the Japanese term used address a cousin in respectful manner.

25. This Japanese term is an archaic and highly respectful form of addressing an elder brother, used by both younger siblings and their spouses.

26. a river in Japanese mythology that the dead cross over; coins are buried with the deceased to pay for the crossing.