Maidens of Cygnus - Volume 4 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Newcomers Competition — Incandescent Grassland

The morning events ended.

First High passed the qualifications in both men’s and women’s Speed Shooting. In Monolith Code, they beat Ninth High and got two wins in a row.

At lunch, Alisa and Marika were both planning to head to the same table as the female Speed Shooting pair that went through the qualification to try to show appreciation and encourage them, but Aki caught them first. Perhaps Aki was planning to give them some advice. Alisa and Marika, to not disturb them, decided to eat at another table.

Sharing the table with them were the usual members, including Joui and Mamoru.

“Joey, it is okay that you’re not preparing with your teammate?”

Koharu asked what Alisa was also thinking about.

“There is nothing we have to discuss right now.”

Joui replied, the mood around him being of a small shrug of shoulders — though he didn’t actually shrug his shoulders.

“I believe your match with Third High will be in the grassland stage, right? If it was city or forest there would be room for scheming, but in the grassland stage there’s nothing but confronting them head-on.”

Mamoru interjected with a fairly long theory.

“Karatachibana-kun, is it okay for you to not be with Tawara-kun?”

It was Marika who asked Mamoru this time. It’s a question that follows the flow of the conversation, but maybe a small part of it was intended to try to keep him away from Alisa.

“...I don’t think we should be together right now.”

The way he said it made it seem like a joke, but the contents of what it said were not.

Marika, taken aback by the unexpected answer, exchanged glances with Alisa with a bewildered expression.

Mei muttered “Right”, with a tone of someone who somehow understood.

Koharu examined Mei’s face with upturned eyes. Truth is she wanted an explanation, but her eyes were saying she couldn’t say it out loud.

“Tawara-kun is frustrated over his miscalculations, you see. There’s no need for Karatachibana-kun to worry about it.”

Mei ignored the ‘hard to talk about it’ and ‘hard to ask about it’ mood.

“Miscalculations?”

Marika also took advantage of Mei’s ‘inability to read the mood’.

“I was supporting the girls the whole time so I didn’t see Tawara-kun playing, but he had the same shooting style during practice, didn’t he?”

A faint bitter smile appeared on Mamoru’s face due to what Mei pointed out and Alisa nodded hesitantly.

Mei let out a small sigh.

“I believe his strategy was to give no room for defenders to intervene, but with that method the burden is placed solely on the supporter. Even if popular with the laymen, experts won’t rate it highly.”

This could be called scathing criticism. Mei didn’t say it in an emotional way, her tone was rational. But naturally, Mei also took into consideration to control the volume of her voice.

“He actually felt the expert’s appraisal was poor during the match, isn’t that right? You could tell by the mood around him.”

“Ah, I get it. Those appraising stares drill into you, huh?”

Marika, along with the comment filled with her personal experience, deeply nodded.

◇ ◇ ◇

The afternoon matches began.

Alisa and Marika went together with their friends to the Monolith Code grassland stage stands.

Alisa had been planning to go support Mamoru just like in the morning, but Mamoru himself told her “Please go support Joey”.

Certainly, this match is important, not just for the Monolith Code win, but it also influences the rankings for the whole newcomers competition. Even Alisa, who hates fights, was honestly interested. Therefore, just as Mamoru asked, she decided to change her plan.

Besides, she had one more reason to come watch this match.

(Tatsuki-san...)

Tatsuki, who determined Third High’s win in their match with Ninth High, is watching First High’s team intently from the front of his own camp’s monolith, with a composed look. It doesn’t seem like he’s paying any attention to Alisa in the First High stands.

“It’s not good to worry too much.”

Abruptly being called, Alisa’s body shook with a start, and she turned her head in haste. The person who talked to her was Yuuto, who was sitting behind her before she was aware of it. It’s not that Yuuto sneaked up to her, Alisa was just preoccupied with Tatsuki.

“The one who made the decision was Katsuto-onii-san. There isn’t a single thing for you to feel responsible about.”

“...I understand.”

Alisa doesn’t believe that ‘mother is to blame for having an affair. Therefore I am also responsible’. Rather than saying her nature is not self-torturing to that point, there’s a part of her that refused to accept her mother being treated as the villain.

But she didn’t have the mental fortitude to be able to ignore the fact that she was being hated. When the reality that the family was separated because of that right is in front of her, it’s even harder to not care.

Her response to Yuuto that she understands wasn’t a lie.

But even if she understands, the human heart can’t just be free like that.

If she is too self-conscious and overly concerned about Tatsuki, she should try not to look at him. But no matter what, she worries and looks at him. Alisa was in such a state.

Marika looked at her from the neighboring seat, seeming concerned.

As predicted by most people, the match was very back and forth.

Joui was protecting the First High monolith and incapacitated two competitors from Third High — Samon and Doumeki Yoshio.

On the other side, the one protecting Third High’s Monolith was Tatsuki. He too has knocked out the First High competitors other than Joui.

It is a one-on-one showdown between Joui and Tatsuki. The two stared at each other, slowly walking towards the center of the battlefield.

This won’t develop into a long-distance exchange of magic. Both of them are magicians who specialize in close quarters. They both intend to fight at a distance here they can best make use of their own special abilities.

The distance between them shortened until they were close enough to be able to hold a conversation.

Tatsuki stopped moving, and so did Joui.

Joui joined the fingers on his right hand together and waved it horizontally from left to right.

A flash of light accompanied by heat was launched from Joui to Tatsuki. Not the kind of heat that could cause severe burns. It is heat by means of electromagnetic waves that have the same effects as the riot control weapon ADS (Active Denial System), incapacitating the outer layers of the skin by giving a pain similar to a burn. And this magic, which incapacitates the opponent by repeatedly hitting them with fervent flashing lights, is Joui’s forte ‘Heat Flash’.

Kagari Joui. He is someone who has inherited the blood of the ‘Elements’, who were produced in the early days of the magician development project, before the Ten Master Clans.

Elements were magicians developed before the establishment of the basics of modern magic literature, the Four Great Systems and Eight Major Types, at a time where it was considered a valid approach to base the classification around the traditional elements of ‘earth’, ‘water’, ‘fire’, ‘wind’, ‘light’, and ‘thunder’. With the family line of ‘fire’ from his father and ‘light’ from his mother, he is a magician that has inherited both traits.

Physically, a dominating feature of ‘fire’ is that the inner muscles are developed and the outer muscles are difficult to strengthen, so Joui has a seemingly lanky body type.

But his magical side, if anything, strongly inherited his mother’s ‘light’. The ‘Heat Flash’ he used just now is magic of the ‘light’ system that pours electromagnetic waves with both millimeter-length waves and visible light.

At the same time Joui waved his right hand, Tatsuki also opened his right hand and put it up. A dome-shaped magic shield was formed with Tatsuki at the center.

That blocked the ‘Heat Flash’ that had neutralized the other two Third High competitors.

This is the magic that could be called synonymous with the Juumonji Family, ‘Phalanx’.

This magic has two varieties, a defense type and an offense type, and the one Tatsuki activated was the widely known one, ‘Defensive Phalanx’.

The strong point of ‘Defensive Phalanx’ is that, as long as the attack has a physical effect, it can be blocked even if the type of attack is unknown.

There was one time when Shiba Tatsuya — though this little known — broke through ‘Defensive Phalanx’ with a special magic called ‘Baryon Lance’.

However, the fact that ‘Baryon Lance’ was magic developed with breaking through ‘Defensive Phalanx’ as one of its objectives must be considered. Putting it the other way, unless you use special magic like ‘Baryon Lance’, it is impossible to break through the barriers of ‘Phalanx’ with magic that has physical effects.

Tatsuki’s magic shield blocked Joui’s magic, but it didn’t eliminate it. Instead of damaging Tatsuki’s optic nerves, the flash of light diffused along the surface of the shield and covered his field of vision with a curtain of light. The curtain of light didn’t just obstruct his sight in front of him, it happened to the whole surface of the dome-shape shield, so that Tatsuki was completely unable to see the outside.

But Tatsuki didn’t panic.

The curtain of light covering his vision is the aftereffects of his opponent’s magic. He knows it’s something that will disappear in a number of seconds, it is something temporary.

What he must be cautious of the most right now is the possibility that the opponent will touch his side’s monolith and read the code to take the victory while Tatsuki is still blinded. But, from his current position, he should have enough time to make it after the curtain of light disappears.

However, Joui wasn’t thinking of anything like using this opportunity to capture the monolith.

The mere thought of exposing his back to his opponent was too frightening. Joui thought of only one thing, and that is knock down Juumonji Tatsuki, the ace of the Third High freshmen, right there. In order to break through the ‘Phalanx’ shield, he invoked the strongest magic he has.

Invisible heat rays scorched the surface of ‘Phalanx’. Not in just one spot, but all over it. If the scene was seen with an infrared scope, it should be possible to observe thin beams coming from many spots in the middle of the air and from many angles being poured into the shield.

Light Wave Oscillation-Type Magic that produces infrared laser beams, ‘Laser Turret’.

When compared to ‘Laser Sniping’, which shoots high-output infrared laser bullets using an armed device, its power is lower, but it has the advantages that it doesn’t need an armed device and the firing point can be created in midair.

Though inferior in power to the ‘Laser Sniping’, which the former STARS, who became parasites and passed away, were good at, ‘Laser Turret’ is also sufficiently lethal. For this reason, Joui was firing the beams at angles such that Tatsuki would never be hit.

The purpose of ‘Laser Turret’ is simply to break the shield. When the magic shield is broken, he intends to immediately incapacitate his opponent with ‘Heat Flash’.

Inside the shield, still with his vision obstructed by the curtain of light, Tatsuki sensed the outer layer of ‘Phalanx’ being destroyed.

‘Phalanx’ won’t be broken by one shield being destroyed. If a shield is destroyed, a new shield is built to replace it instantly. That is the multiple barrier magic ‘Phalanx’.

However, it is not the case that shields are rebuilt limitlessly. Frankly speaking, Tatsuki is better at the offensive version of ‘Phalanx’ than the defensive version. Well, perhaps it is more appropriate to say that he isn’t very good at the defensive version.

In contrast with his elder brother Katsuto, whose reconstruction limit is 999 times, Tatsuki’s limit is slightly over half of that at 502 times. In practice, this is plenty of times, but considering that Yuuto, who has a one-year difference to him, has a limit of 791 times, sure enough, it has to be said he has a long way to go.

Also, the destruction of shields didn’t end at just one. Tatsuki sensed that they were continuing to be broken at the pace of one every second.

Even at this pace, there will be a delay of about 10 minutes until ‘Phalanx’ breaks. But Tatsuki obviously had no intention of waiting until then.

It felt like a little less than 10 seconds. Finally the effects of the opponent’s flash magic disappeared and his field of view cleared up.

The opposing competitor’s attacks continued dealing damage to the shields, but Tatsuki didn’t care and activated ‘Offensive Phalanx’.

Right after the curtain of light caused by the interference between the flash he let out and the magic shield disappeared by itself and he could see his opponent, Joui sensed that ‘Laser Turret’ didn’t hit the shield and burned the ground. A miss. What that means is that the shield disappeared.

Joui tried to fire the ‘Heat Flash’ he was preparing.

But before the magic was complete, he hit an invisible wall and was sent flying backwards.

He didn’t crash into the wall himself. The wall rushed towards him.

While rolling on the grass, Joui discerned he had been slammed by an anti-object magic barrier. He conjectured that the magic barrier his opponent was using to defend was sent flying to repurpose it as an attack.

It was an unexpected attack. Because he was taken by surprise, he took it head on.

(My bones are... not broken.)

Vigilant over the opponent not giving him any breathing room, Joui raised himself and kneeled.

The regret that he shouldn’t have been stubborn about asking Alisa about the magic of the Juumonji Family crossed through his mind. If he had known about the magic to send an object barrier flying, he would have been vigilant of that attack from the moment he sensed the shield for defense was cancelled. And even if he couldn’t avoid it, the damage would have undoubtedly been kept to a minimum.

But he didn’t have the time to regret at leisure. A magic barrier with a hardness that surpasses a wall of steel, in terms of the inability of objects to go through it, sent Joui flying backwards.

His body floated in midair, flying over for two meters and he landed on both feet. As if he had taken no new damage, he stood up from his lowered position and launched ‘Heat Flash’ at Tatsuki.

The second ‘Offensive Phalanx’ was also clearly a direct hit, just like the first.

The reaction he got from it was satisfactory.

(What?)

So when Joui stood up right afterwards, Tatsuki could not believe it.

Tatsuki spread out a defensive shield in a hurry. He decided on the spur of the moment that he wouldn’t make it in time for ‘Defensive Phalanx’, which he isn’t good at, choosing a simple anti-electromagnetic wave barrier magic.

A flash came towards him.

Choosing an anti-electromagnetic wave shield instead of an object shield was a gamble, but it looked like he got it right.

Still with the shield spread out, Tatsuki launched a third ‘Offensive Phalanx’.

(Did he predict that!?)

The magic shield blocked ‘Heat Flash’ and Joui mentally clicked his tongue.

He felt an increase of phenomenon interference power.

(It’s coming!)

Joui inferred that attack magic in the form of a moving barrier was being launched. He activated magic to defend himself. Not magic he inherited from the Elements, but magic he was taught after he enrolled in First High.

The object shield surged forwards. Barriers that don’t allow materials through try to crush objects they collide with. However, Joui’s body, still preserving its posture and the relative position of the clothes and protectors he’s wearing, was sent flying backwards with no deformation.

He landed on the grass with both feet, in the same position he had when he was sent back. Joui greatly lowered his lower back right after he landed on the ground, but he didn’t fall and immediately stood back up.

The technique Joui used to defend himself against damage was fortification magic.

Magic that prevents damage by preserving the relative position of the components.

By recognizing the clothes and protectors as parts and fixing their relative position before the collision, they turned into armor that protected against the collision of the object barrier.

Fortification magic is a traditional technique handed down in First High’s Mountaineering Club. Though it is called a tradition, it began when the Club President two years ago, Saijou Leonhard, taught it to the club members of the time as a technique for emergency response in case of falling accidents or incidents with falling rocks.

In general, ‘fortification’ of what you’re wearing lasts longer than a magic shield that was spread out. The long persisting time is useful in situations like when boulders are falling one after another and you don’t know when it will stop, or when you’re constantly sliding and don’t know when you will stop. The previous Club President, who was taught by Saijou Leonhard, thought as such, and decided to make it a mandatory technique for Mountaineering Club members, and that’s how it began.

Joui reflexively used that magic that had been drilled into him after joining the club and endured the second and third ‘Offensive Phalanx’.

As they blocked the magic that had the intent of finishing each other off, the fight between Joui and Tatsuki became a war of attrition.

There was an exchange of ‘Heat Flashes’ and ‘Offensive Phalanxes’. They defended against the opponent’s magic, Joui with fortification magic and Tatsuki with anti-electromagnetic shield magic.

Whenever there was a gap during that, ‘Defensive Phalanxes’ and ‘’Laser Turrets’ were used.

The fierce fighting ended after no less than 10 minutes, nearly 30 minutes measuring from the start of the match.

The last one standing was Juumonji Tatsuki.

In the third round of the newcomers competition Monolith Code, the curtain was lowered on the match between First High and Third High with a Third High win.

Looking back, the deciding factor was the first ‘Offensive Phalanx’. In the very end, what decided the outcome was the damage Joui received when he was taken by surprised in an undefended state.