Chapter 30 — Why Does Our Martial Art Have Anti-Air Techniques, Anyway?
“The last time we saw someone use magic, they didn’t need a staff.”
He had already forgotten the guy’s name, but Yogiri did recall the classmate who had destroyed the bus. He’d had nothing like a staff at all.
“I’m a Wand Master. I can draw magic from a staff, but that’s it; I can’t use magic without it,” Riza answered from her spot crouched on the floor.
Fundamentally, using magic required some sort of energy reserve and an appropriate amount of charge time before use, depending on the strength of the magic. The amount of time needed varied based on the user’s competence, the type of magic being used, and other special factors, but it was never zero. A Wand Master’s staff, however, was constantly charging that magic, so it could unleash powerful attacks at terrifying speeds. The drawback was that such mages could only use the few spells that were already built into the staff itself.
“Hm, well I can deal with enemies that require items to use their powers. If only things would always be so convenient.”
It had only gone this well by sheer coincidence. Yogiri couldn’t expect that most of their opponents would rely on such items.
This girl may possess other hidden tools. I believe the safest option is to kill her now.
As Mokomoko cautioned them, Yogiri turned to face her. Since Riza couldn’t see the spirit, it must have looked strange to see him conversing with thin air, but he wasn’t especially concerned about her opinion.
“If I just killed everyone that could be dangerous to me, everyone around me would be dead.” Yogiri wasn’t especially fond of killing people. But his only way of defending himself was to kill others. He didn’t hesitate when it came to killing, but that didn’t mean he would go out of his way to do it. He turned back to Riza. “It seems you kind of get it already, but I’ll explain it anyway. I can kill people just by thinking it, and I can detect any threats against me. If you try anything, I’ll kill you instantly, so please keep that in mind. If you understand, then I’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Understood,” Riza replied, nerves clear in her voice. Her previous air of looking down on them as children had completely vanished. If she made the wrong choice, she would die. That fear must have felt like a physical pressure on her.
“As a Wand Master, I find it hard to believe you only carry that one staff with you. Do you have any backups?”
Reaching between her rather ample breasts, Riza pulled out a pencil-sized stick and placed it on the ground.
“Why would you hide something there, of all places?! And Takatou, stop staring so much!” Even in this situation, Tomochika was the same as always.
“No, I just thought it was a clever hiding spot.”
An item of that size could be hidden anywhere in her clothes. Perhaps we should strip her as well?
“I’ve never tried, but I could probably kill just her clothes.”
“Hold on, you’re joking, right?” Tomochika piped up, disbelief clear in her voice.
“You haven’t complained about me killing people, but making them naked is a problem?” He couldn’t follow her train of thought, but he wasn’t keen on having Tomochika be upset with him, so he left it alone. “Next question. You were ordered to retrieve Dannoura, right? It seems you’ve given up on that, but does that mean your orders aren’t absolute? From the story we heard earlier, Yuuki was using slaves in suicide attacks on monsters, right?”
“The suicide attacks were for labor-tier slaves with no other use. We upper-tier slaves are much more valuable, so we are instructed to protect ourselves above all else.”
“What about your friends? There are five members of the Bodyguard Unit, right?” Erika was dead, and Riza was here, so that left three.
“Of course,” she said with a chuckle, “they have received the same orders.” As she spoke, something dropped from the ceiling. Whatever it was had aimed directly for Tomochika before being slammed violently into the floor. Catching it midair, she drove it straight into the ground.
Well, that paid off rather quickly, Mokomoko mused.
The thing that was now lying on the floor was a young girl, her neck bent at an entirely fatal angle. Tomochika’s fingers were pressing into the fallen girl’s throat, one hand ready to gouge out her eyes.
“I’ve wondered about this for a while, but why does our school of martial arts have anti-air techniques anyway?”
The Dannoura Way is prepared for all circumstances.
Despite her neck being broken, the girl began to stand up. Looking closer, it became clear that she wasn’t human — it was an exquisitely made doll.
By the time they realized it, Tomochika and Yogiri had been completely surrounded. Stuffed animals, tin puppets, porcelain dolls...although they varied in size and construction, they were all dolls of some sort. They had moved in to block both ends of the hallway, and were even crawling over the walls and ceiling.
“Ahh. I thought you were being a bit too cooperative, but you were just buying time.”
Realizing she couldn’t win on her own, Riza had simply been waiting for reinforcements. She hadn’t given up on her orders at all.
“I had thought that I alone would be sufficient, though,” she said with a relaxed smile before suddenly collapsing. Yogiri’s power had been unleashed again. Now facing multiple opponents, leaving her alive was only a liability at this point.
Hmm. I guess you would call this a Puppeteer? Mokomoko continued her commentary. Each individual doll didn’t seem all that strong, but together their numbers were enough to potentially overwhelm them.
A young girl in a black frilled dress sat on the landing in the emergency stairwell. Perhaps a reflection of her interests, she was surrounded by numerous dolls and stuffed animals.
It was Chelsey, one of Yuuki’s bodyguards. In reality, there should have been no reason for her to participate — taking a single girl with no powers captive should have been easy enough for Riza by herself. Chelsey had been content to let the captain of the Bodyguard Unit take the credit for the job, coming along just in case, but things had gone in a completely unexpected direction.
Riza’s magic had been totally ineffective. As shocked as she had been, Chelsey had immediately moved into action. She knew her dolls would be more than enough to get the job done. If some of the dolls themselves were destroyed, it was no real problem.
Chelsey’s method of operating dolls was similar to possession. Something like a soul would inhabit the toys, allowing her to control them directly. If one body was destroyed, all she had to do was move that “soul” to another.
“She’s better than I thought,” Chelsey said to herself. She had figured she could grab Tomochika in a heartbeat and be done, but it seemed things wouldn’t be going that smoothly.
“Owwww! What’s with this girl?!” The voice came from a life-size female doll — the same kind as the one that had just attacked Tomochika.
“Start by killing Yogiri!” The teddy bear in Chelsey’s arms spoke in a way that was in sharp contrast to its adorable appearance.
“Heheheh, we can take off one or two of her arms, right? As long as she’s still alive!” This time it was a doll in the shape of a young boy that spoke, wearing a devilish smile and holding a large knife.
The dolls gathered around Chelsey were the leaders of her collection. Each of them could control other dolls of the same type as themselves.
“That’s right. He only said to bring her to him,” Chelsey said, despite having fully understood her instructions. She looked down at her own body. Though she had an endearing, fairy-like appearance, she knew there was little in the way of sex appeal there. With a body like this, she could never earn Yuuki’s affection. There was no way she wouldn’t be jealous of Tomochika. “Okay, everyone! Hurt them just enough that the girl doesn’t die!”
“Here we go!” the bear in her arms responded.
Looking through the eyes of her small army, she watched the scene in the hallway unfold. Stuffed animals, dolls, and robots all threw themselves forward at once. As they did, they suddenly locked up in the air, flying past their targets and falling clumsily to the floor. This was as expected.
“Next...huh?” Suddenly struck by a sense of unease, she looked down at the teddy bear in her arms. It was just a normal teddy bear. “Morurun?!” Chelsey began to shake the doll in a panic, but the teddy bear neither spoke nor moved. “Jennifer! Jackie!” The girl-shaped doll had fallen to her knees, and soon after began rolling down the stairs. The boy that had been brandishing his knife was completely still, lying on the floor.
“No...no, no, no! Morurun! Jennifer! Jackie! Move! Come on! Come on!” Each of her special doll personalities was irreplaceable, like a part of her own self. Those irreplaceable companions were now being stopped forever, one after another.
Overcome by fear, Chelsey looked through the eyes of the ones that could still move. Yogiri was walking down the hallway like nothing had happened. As ordered, the remaining dolls attacked him. And once they approached him, they stopped moving.
Chelsey heard the sound of the door to the emergency stairs opening. Looking up in terror, she saw Yogiri and Tomochika step into the stairwell. The dolls that could still move immediately made to intercept them and protect Chelsey.
“Stop! Please, stop! Don’t hurt them! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
She finally ordered the dolls to stop their attack. Continuing the assault would only increase the number of casualties, although even that thought was beyond her in her desperation.
“Takatou, you’re starting to look like the bad guy all of a sudden...”
“You say that, but all I’m doing is protecting myself,” she heard an exasperated voice answer.
By the time the pair had stepped into sight, only a few of her dolls remained.
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