Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 18 - Chapter 6

By the Remains of a Dream

Tuesday, September 14th

Koutarou and the girls departed room 106 shortly after midnight. The apartment was normally well guarded through various means, but knowing that they were up against Darkness Rainbow, extra measures were put in place just to be safe. They’d had to wait for Kiriha’s subordinates to arrive and the drones to be put in place, but now that all of that was done, they were finally on the move. They split up into their preplanned groups and headed to their respective destinations.

Koutarou was on team Maki along with Sanae, Theia, and Ruth, and their assigned destination was the abandoned shopping mall. There was a paved road that led right up to it, but if Darkness Rainbow was actually using the mall for their ritual, the entrance road would undoubtedly be monitored. As such, the group decided to take an alternate route and was currently making their way through the wooded area that ran parallel to the road.

“How does it look, Ruth?”

“There are no reactions on the thermal sensor. There don’t seem to be any living creatures within range.”

The closer they got to the mall, the more vigilant they became. They hadn’t run into any problems so far, but they couldn’t be too careful. There hadn’t been any signs of surveillance yet, but perhaps that was to be expected since they were still over three hundred kilometers out from the building. It wasn’t like Darkness Rainbow could keep the whole area under constant watch. It was quite likely just the road was being monitored, but they still had to be cautious.

“I’m picking up some reactions on the sonic sensor.”

“Is it the enemy?”

“It could just be some wild animals. A more detailed analysis isn’t revealing any major movement.”

Their vanguard was an unmanned craft scouting from the sky. Fortunately, it hadn’t picked up anything, so it was all green lights so far. Next up was magic. Since they were dealing with magicians, it was only reasonable to assume that their surveillance network might be entirely magical. It was a good thing they had a magician of their own with them.

“Well, how does it look, Maki?”

“There are no magic reactions on the outside.”

Maki scanned for every kind of spell that she could detect, but wasn’t picking up anything. All she could sense was the latent natural mana of the area.

“Maybe they’re not here,” guessed Sanae, tilting her head to the side.

She couldn’t see anything with her spirit sight either, so she began suspecting that Darkness Rainbow wasn’t present at all. That meant that they were either at the resort hotel, or both leads had been bad.

“It wouldn’t be easy to monitor a place this big even with magic.”

“You’re right. It’s still too early to jump to conclusions. If they have limited resources, they would only put up surveillance where it makes the most sense. Like the entrance, for example. They don’t have the time or manpower to be watching every centimeter of this place.”

“You think we can get into the mall with relatively little trouble, then?” asked Koutarou.

The four girls nodded in serious agreement. While they couldn’t see anything for now, that didn’t mean the enemy wasn’t here. So, using technology and magic to conceal themselves, they continued towards the abandoned mall.

At about the same time, Yurika and the others arrived at their destination—the closed hotel. While the building itself was smaller than the shopping mall, it was far taller. It was also difficult to tell how many basement floors it had. Moreover, since it was situated in an open area with a good view, it would be difficult to approach without being detected.

“So what do we do now, Yurika-chan?” asked Shizuka, turning to their commander for guidance.

Team Yurika consisted of Yurika, Harumi, Kiriha, Shizuka, and Clan. Just like team Maki, they were stealthily observing the area before proceeding.

“We’re going in. I can kinda feel some mana, so I’d like to find out what it is.”

“I think I feel it too.”

But unlike Maki’s team, Yurika’s team was already picking up on something. Both she and Harumi were just barely able to sense some mana in the area, but it was still too vague to determine anything. They were up against Darkness Rainbow, after all. They’d been combatting Rainbow Heart for several hundred years. Feints, diversions, and other trickery were daily fare for them. Tossing a dummy charged with mana into an empty building that somewhat resembled their hideout was a favorite tactic of theirs.

“First thing’s first, let’s let the others know we might have something.”

Clan used her bracelet to send Ruth a short message. The two of them were responsible for relaying communications between the two groups.

“The problem is how we get in. There aren’t very many points of entry,” said Kiriha with a severe expression.

Because it was a hotel, the building had been constructed on a bit of hill with a good view. The second floor and up offered sweeping vistas of the entire area. That alone would make it difficult to get in stealthily.

“What do we do?”

Yurika gave up on trying to come up with something herself and turned to everyone else for their opinions. She knew her own ideas didn’t have a history of working out well in situations like this.

“If we assume that hotel is being surveyed from one of the upper floors, we should aim to infiltrate from the northern side by the service road.”

The majority of the windows in the building faced southward. The scenery to the north wasn’t as pleasing to the eye, so both the northern side of the building and the windows there were smaller. As a bonus, if Darkness Rainbow was observing things from a top floor, the steep angle would make the ground immediately below something of a blind spot.

“But Kurano-san, won’t they be expecting that?”

Harumi was worried that taking the better route would be the obvious choice. Surely Darkness Rainbow knew it would be weak to infiltration, and surely they’d put appropriate countermeasures in place.

“So we can choose between A: the front door which is going to be harder but less guarded, or B: the back door which is going to be easier but more guarded.”

Shizuka summarized the dilemma succinctly. Both options had risks associated with them.

“Personally, I’d pick A.”

Shizuka preferred the simple and straightforward solution of just going in the front door.

“I would prefer plan B...”

Meanwhile, wary Clan thought sneaking along the service road would be a better idea. Hearing her mutter to herself, however, Kiriha flashed an innocent grin.

“Because the north side is dark and gloomy?”

“Kii?! I’ll smack you, you know?! I said I’d prefer it because it’s closer... But either way, we’ll need to find some way to conceal ourselves, right?”

“What should we do, Yurika-san?”

“Um...”

When Kiriha turned to Yurika for a decision, she looked troubled and began racking her brain for an answer. There would be risks either way, so it was a matter of figuring out which risks would be easier to reckon with.

What I need to prioritize the most is... That’s right, the children! When we leave with the children, the safer the better!

After thinking for a while, Yurika made up her mind.

“Let’s go with the service road.”

“Because it’s dark and gloomy?”

“Kii!”

“Ahaha... No, it’s just that after we rescue the children, I think we’ll probably escape the same way we came in. In that case, I think it’s better to take the safer route.”

Yurika put the children’s safety above all else. Considering what could happen after they infiltrated the hotel, there was a high chance that they would be fleeing the scene with the children in tow. The easiest way to handle the entire situation would be to escape with the children before Darkness Rainbow even noticed. If they could do that, the children would be safe and the ritual would be ruined—two birds with one stone.

And after rescuing the children, they would need to get out of the building in order for either the Cradle or the Hazy Moon to pick them up. They could use the service road out back to get away quickly and under relative cover. In terms of safety, Yurika believed that plan posed the least risk for the children.

“Wow, so you did put some thought into it after all, Yurika-chan.”

Shizuka flashed a cheerful smile and gave Yurika a congratulatory slap on the back. She also thought putting the children first was the right thing to do. After losing her parents at a hotel not unlike this one, it would do her heart good to be able to reunite these kids with their families.

“Harumi, Kii. What do you two think?”

“I think Yurika-san is right. I’d also like to make sure the children are safe.”

Harumi agreed with Yurika’s plan. She was quite fond of children after all the time she’d spent with the kids at the hospital, and couldn’t stand the thought of anything terrible befalling the kidnapped children. She would put their wellbeing before even her own.

“My answer has already been decided. I’ll save these children just like I was saved eleven years ago.”

Kiriha smiled at Clan. In the past, she and Koutarou had come to her rescue under similar circumstances. She would never forget that day. Koutarou had been given the impossible question of whether he would save his own mother or an innocent little girl, and in the end, he’d chosen Kiriha. There was no way she could choose differently—she would save those children.

“How about you, Clan-dono?”

Kiriha’s smile took on a tinge of mischievousness as she asked Clan for her answer. It was the same smile a much younger Kii had turned on her eleven years in the past.

“I-I have no objections. Helping the weak and vanquishing the wicked is what’s expected of a princess of Forthorthe.”

With blatant gratitude and goodwill directed at her, Clan blushed furiously and turned away in an attempt to hide her red cheeks.

“It looks like everyone is in agreement then, Captain Yurika,” Shizuka reported.

The other three team members nodded in unison to confirm.

“Okay. Let’s start to make our way to the service road in the back.”

Yurika returned the group’s nod. She was resolved; she would save the children and not let her friends down. While Koutarou might not like it, everyone would admit Yurika was doing a splendid job as a magical girl right now.

“The princess of love and courage, ho!”

“You’re being surprisingly captainly, ho!”

In that moment—for at least that moment—Yurika was a true leader.

The inside of the shopping mall was silent. Ruth had detected some audio with her sensors, but whatever it was had yet to reach their ears. That didn’t surprise any of them, however. The mall was just that big.

“You can sense that, right, Aika-san?”

“Yes, I can feel weak mana over a wide area.”

But ever since they entered the mall, Koutarou and Maki had been sensing mana. It was faint, perhaps because the source was still some distance away, but there was no doubt that magic had been used here.

“Ruth, how about those sounds?”

“They’re still registering. The source appears to be moving now as well.”

Now that they were actually inside the building, Ruth could get better, more detailed information about what her sensors were picking up.

“It’s also emanating throughout the area. Possibly even the entire mall.”

“Guys, stop! Hang on! This might be bad...”

In the midst of their discussion, Sanae suddenly stopped the group with a rarely seen serious expression on her face. She looked to her right and left. There were concrete walls in either direction, but she was looking far beyond them with her spirit sight.

“What is it?”

“There are evil spirits all over the place. Like, not just one or two, but a lot of them.”

Sanae could sense a great deal of spiritual energy in vague, dark forms. They were clearly distinct from people and normal spirits. They were also meandering about, seemingly without purpose. That’s why Sanae believed they were evil spirits.

“Maybe the sound and mana are from them?”

“I think that might be it, Satomi-kun.”

“I believe there’s a reasonably high chance as well.”

“One of them will be coming around that corner any second now.”

“All right, everyone, let’s hide in that shop. I want to get a good look at this evil spirit.”

“An evil spirit, huh? Can’t say that I have any pleasant memories of those...”

Koutarou and the others ducked into a nearby shop and hid behind the display shelves and tables that had been left installed. They wanted to learn more about these evil spirits Sanae was sensing. It was possible they were demons summoned by the ritual.

“The sound is getting closer. It looks like the evil spirits are indeed the source for the sound.”

“T minus five... three, two, one...”

“Is that it?”

“It just looks like a human... Is that really an evil spirit?”

A single figure shuffled by the storefront. They were hunched over and walking slowly, but it definitely looked like a person.

“Your Highness, Master... This is strange.”

“What is?”

“There’s no reaction on the thermal sensor.”

“What does that mean?”

“It must mean their body temperature is the same as the ambient temperature of the surroundings.”

“What?!”

Ruth was constantly scanning their surroundings with multiple sensors, and could see quite plainly that the person passing by the storefront didn’t register on the thermal scan. Unless the sensor was malfunctioning, that meant that this person’s body temperature was exactly room temperature.

“I see... Satomi-kun, it must be a zombie.”

“A zombie?! You mean, like, the living dead?! Those monsters from horror movies?!”

“I’m afraid so. One of Darkness Rainbow’s own is particularly skilled at conjuring them. This must be Purple’s doing...” Maki explained, biting her lip.

“Is she that dangerous? This Purple girl?”

“Yes. I definitely don’t want to fight her.”

In terms of sheer combat ability, Crimson was the powerhouse of Darkness Rainbow. But if anyone could actually beat her, it would be Purple. Her specialty was purple magic—the art of spiritualism and necromancy—and she was constantly surrounded by an army of the dead. Purple couldn’t beat Crimson on her own, but that was the point. She was never alone. She always had her horde to protect and fight for her. She was the necromancer of nightmares, Dark Purple.

“Maki-san, how many of those zombies could she control at the same time?”

“There’s a limit to Purple’s abilities, of course, but the weaker something is, the more of it she can control. Reasonably speaking, however, there couldn’t be more than a hundred.”

Purple only had but so much mana, and the number and strength of the dead she controlled depended on how she chose to divide her power. She could choose to control one incredibly powerful soul, or dozens and dozens of weaker ones. And since she could freely go between them, the composition of her horde could vary from encounter to encounter. The reason she was so feared was because she was extremely adept at optimizing her army. The right servants for the right encounter.

“Master, this is bad,” Ruth reported with a grim expression. “Because of the zombies, I can’t determine the location of the ritual. I won’t be able to learn anything more from the scans until we clear them out.”

With the zombies shuffling around the empty mall, there were sounds echoing from almost every direction. That’s why she hadn’t been able to pinpoint the source before, and it would undoubtedly mask any other noise in the building. In order to get any other meaningful data, they’d have to take out every last one of the zombies.

“I see... Aika-san, what about your magic?”

“Ritual magic emits powerful mana, but there are spells to conceal that. If one of those has been cast, I’m not sure I’d be able to sense it over the mana the zombies are emitting. Really, since this is Purple’s handiwork, she probably intentionally has them enchanted with just the right amount of mana to disguise it.”

They’d struck out with magic the same way they’d struck out with the sensors. Maki’s intuition told her that Purple had unleashed the zombies for precisely that reason. They posed more than one obstacle in locating the ritual site, and letting them freely roam the mall would allow her to personally protect the magic circle.

“Now I’m worried Yurika’s team is going to end up finding the ritual site over there at the hotel.”

“Because we can’t leave until we defeat all the zombies here now?”

The worst possible scenario would be if all of this was just a clever diversion. Maki’s entire team might successfully be waylaid by Purple alone.

“I’m counting on you for this one, Theia.”

“Good! I’m raring to go!”

“Everyone, we’re defeating those zombies! There’s no need to hold back! Speed is everything when time is of the essence!”

“Yes, Maki-sama!”

“Understood!”

“Right!”

“Lemme at ’em!”

Koutarou and the others responded in harmony to Maki’s orders. Morale was high, and fortunately, they had Theia with them to lead the charge. They would make quick work of Purple’s precious horde.

Before Maki’s team began their assault on Purple’s minions, they contacted Yurika’s group to inform them of the situation. Once they attacked the zombies, the enemy would inevitably realize the mall had been infiltrated. And if Darkness Rainbow was actually stationed over at the hotel, they would tighten their defenses there as well. That was why they contacted Clan to give Yurika’s team a heads up. Ideally, they would synchronize and make their moves at the same time. The ultimate ideal was waiting until Yurika’s team cleared the hotel to make a move, but considering the urgency of the situation, they didn’t have that kind of time. The best they’d be able to do under the circumstances was coordinate.

“I’ve received a message from Veltlion and the others. They’ve spotted enemies, and are waiting for our signal to launch an attack. How should I respond, Yurika?”

“I’m sure Satomi-san and the others want to hurry, but they’ll have to wait until we’ve gotten inside from the service road. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes.”

“Understood. I’ll let them know.”

Yurika and the others had made it to the road that led to the back of the hotel. It was already potentially heavily guarded, so if Koutarou and the rest of Maki’s team prematurely sounded the enemy’s alarm, they might never be able to get in this way. Since Yurika and Harumi could already sense mana coming from inside the hotel, they wanted the others to hold off on their attack until they successfully made it inside.

Kiriha was feeling overly cautious since she couldn’t get a good read on the enemy, but time wasn’t on their side. She wouldn’t have the opportunity to pause and think of a good alternate plan, so she chased all doubt from her head and focused on the situation at hand.

“They’ve confirmed, Yurika.”

“Okay, then let’s go, everyone.”

Waiting until Clan had relayed their intentions to the other team, Yurika and the others emerged from hiding and carefully approached the service road. They had a plan in mind from here.

Darkness Rainbow was a group of skilled magicians, so using magic to try and hide was risky. Instead, they would conceal themselves using Clan and Kiriha’s technology. Clan’s multipurpose cloaking would make it impossible to detect them with thermal, visual, or electromagnetic radiation sensors. So as long as Kiriha’s haniwas could conceal their spiritual energy, the chances of them being detected at all were quite low. The biggest flaw in their plan was that, without using magic, they had no way to disguise any sound they were making. They were also going up against elite magicians, so they needed to be especially careful even with expert cloaking. Anything could happen from here

“Ugh, I’m so nervous...”

When the group reached the service road, Shizuka instinctively groaned. She didn’t like this sneaking and hiding business. She could hold her own in a fight, but she felt totally useless in stealth operations. Knowing one wrong move could send the whole thing up in smoke put her a little on edge.

“Just hang in there. We only need to make it inside.”

Originally they’d wanted to stay hidden the entire time. But with zombies protecting the mall, the situation had changed. Once Maki’s team attacked, their cover would more or less be blown anyway. That being the case, they needed to use this opportunity to the best of their ability and make it into the hotel before Darkness Rainbow realized they were there.

“Sakuraba-senpai, you’re awfully calm about this.”

“Heehee, I don’t think I’m particularly excitable.”

The girls encouraged each other and tried to keep morale high as they made their way down the road. The enemy shouldn’t be able to see them, and they weren’t emitting any mana that would give them away. But even so, the girls were still anxious. There was still a chance the enemy might hear them somehow. In the end, it was just like Koutarou said. Just because they were good at fighting didn’t mean they were well suited for operations like this.

The next few seconds would be a trial for the girls. Dark doubt swirled in their hearts as all kinds of terrible visions flashed through their minds. It was a harrowing experience. However, they endured, and eventually they safely made it to the hotel doors. The trial was over.

“Pheeew... I thought I was going to die of a heart attack...”

Shizuka leaned against the hotel wall and gave the others a weak smile. She was stronger than anyone else in a fight, but when it came to nerves, she was just like any normal girl. She was weak to that kind of tension.

“Shizuka-san, it’s still too early to take it easy. We need to make it through this door now...”

Yurika was already standing in front of it thinking about how they might actually get inside. Seeing her in this uncharacteristically serious state, Shizuka finally realized what it meant for Yurika to be a magical girl. She understood exactly why Koutarou didn’t like it.

“We’ll open it, ho!”

“We’re good at this kind of thing, ho!”

The two haniwas floated over Yurika armed with grasping tools for precision tasks. It seemed they were going to pick the lock.

“No, I’ll melt the lock with acid and break through.”

However, Yurika shook her head and readied her staff.

“That’s pretty bold for Yurika-chan, ho!”

“Are you sure you should do something so forceful, ho?”

“Satomi-san and the others are going to make their move once we get through anyway. That’s why I think we shouldn’t waste any time. Clan-san, please contact Ruth-san and let them know we’re in position.”

“Understood.”

Yurika waited for Clan to transmit the message, then began her incantation.

“Acid Splash!”

It was a spell to conjure a spray of strong acid. She hated that it wasn’t very magical girl-like, but she was getting more and more adept at using it. The acid shot out from the tip of the staff right onto the door. Both it and the knob quickly corroded and melted away. Despite being metal, they looked just like running candlewax.

“Let’s go!”

Yurika quietly pushed what was left of the door open. Without a knob and lock, it only took a light push. Yurika peeked through a small gap to confirm that nothing was on the other side before ducking inside. She was demonstrating a level of skillfulness and resourcefulness that no one would have expected coming from her.

“Seeing Yurika-chan acting so cool is kind of a bummer.”

Seeing Yurika take the lead in moving into the hotel, Shizuka realized just how terrible the situation really was. She was the only one to say it out loud, but the other three girls felt the same way.

“What are you all doing? Hurry up!”

That was when Yurika popped her head back outside. She’d gotten impatient when the rest of the group hadn’t followed her.

“Sorry! We’re coming!”

They didn’t have time to get sentimental. The girls looked at each other and nodded before darting after Yurika.

The first one to sense something was wrong was, of course, Green. In preparation for enemy interference, she’d cast a smattering of precautionary spells, including her specialty divination magic. And when that registered an anomaly, she swiftly reported it to her allies.

“Crimson, Blue-san. The enemy is coming.”

“Are you sure?”

Crimson and Blue were both in the room with Green, but only Crimson reacted. Blue currently had her hands full with the ritual and couldn’t spare the attention.

“Most of the possible futures where the enemy doesn’t show up just vanished. They must be on the premises.”

Green’s future forecast allowed her to see all potential futures, giving her a rough estimation of what would actually happen. For example, if she saw ten futures and the enemy appeared in six of them, the odds of the enemy actually showing up were 60 percent. But because there was no such thing as a certain future, that was as accurate as her divinations got—probability.

The further out a future was, the more potential it had. And as the hour of said future drew near, the possibilities would eventually whittle themselves down to one. For several possible futures to drop out of the equation all at once, Green knew there must have been an event to trigger that kind of decisive change in the future. For the odds of the enemy showing up to skyrocket like that, it likely meant they were en route. They might even already be in the building.

“What terrible timing. We’re the only ones who can do anything right now.”

Crimson clicked her tongue. Blue was in the middle of the ritual. Purple, Orange, and Yellow had left to create diversions for the enemy. They were set to stick to the plan and not come back until the ritual was ready. That meant the only ones there to defend Blue were Green and Crimson.

“Can you tell how many there are?”

“The highest odds point to five, but there are some fluctuations.”

“What about Maki?”

“I doubt it. It would be an anomaly for her to show up.”

“I see...”

After confirming what she wanted to know, Crimson picked up her staff that she’d left leaning against a nearby wall. Green turned to her with an anxious look.

“So you’re going?”

“Yes. If we fight down here, it’ll ruin things.”

The summoning ritual was currently one third complete, but if Blue were interrupted, they’d never see it finish. If there had to be a fight, it would be best to keep it as far away as possible.

“Will you be all right on your own?”

“I’m all healed up.”

“But...”

“Don’t be such a worrywart. Besides, you learned your lesson last time, didn’t you? Your forecast is way less accurate if you’re involved.”

According to the plan, Crimson would fight on her own at first. Green would hang back to gather information from afar and support Crimson with her future forecast. The reason they chose to fight that way was because they wanted to avoid the feedback loops that had been their downfall last time.

If Green tried to forecast her own future, the very fact that she did would distort it. It was like the divination equivalent of using a microphone in range of the speakers that were broadcasting it. It would eventually skew the margin of error to the point that the forecasts were useless. Kiriha had managed to see through that and use it against her in their last battle. And because she didn’t want to make the same mistake again, she had decided to leave the fighting to Crimson.

“Even so, I’m reluctant to send you out on your own, Crimson.”

“Oh? That’s not a very Darkness Rainbow-y thing to say.”

“Don’t make fun of me! I just want to make sure this plan is a success!”

Hearing Green shout her protests, Crimson felt a strange sense of disappointment. And that disappointment made her realize something.

I was expecting Green to replace Maki...

Having realized that, Crimson wanted to confirm something. That’s why she stopped in place and turned towards Green.

“Say, Green...”

“Yes?”

“If I wanted to—”

If I wanted to fight you, would you be my opponent?

That’s what Crimson wanted to ask Green, but she stopped herself midsentence. She realized she wouldn’t be asking it as a member of Darkness Rainbow, she’d be asking it as herself.

Thinking through things rationally, anyone who wanted to fight powerful opponents or grow stronger would fight Crimson just like Maki had. But there were very few people, even among those who lived by battle, who thought strength was everything like Crimson did. In truth, she was the only one in Darkness Rainbow who felt that way. And, too impatient to wait for strong rivals to appear naturally, she’d asked nicely for Maki to fight her.

That in and of itself wasn’t very Darkness Rainbow-like. It was something she’d only been able to do because Maki wasn’t a part of Darkness Rainbow anymore. So she felt stupid to think she could ask another member of Darkness Rainbow—one who’d already turned their back on a former comrade, no less—for the same thing.

“Never mind. Actually, Green, why did you join Darkness Rainbow?”

Instead, Crimson asked Green what had brought her to the organization in the first place, unaware that that was also a very un-Darkness Rainbow-like question.

“Me?”

But Green realized it, and her eyes shot open wide accordingly.

“Yeah. If you don’t mind, could you tell me?”

Though she was taken aback, Green didn’t say no. Urged by Crimson, she told her story.

“A long time ago... I had the rug pulled out from under me and I lost something very precious. That’s why I seek to know the future beforehand now. If I know what’s coming, I won’t have to lose anything again.”

“That’s not bad. I’ve revised my opinion of you, Green. Let’s at least seize our freedom to see the future from Rainbow Heart.”

“Crimson... Yes, let’s do that.”

There were things that both girls had yet to understand about each other. Crimson in particular had failed to realize that she was holding Green to Maki’s standard. That is, she was looking to her for the same level of openness and sincerity that she expected from Maki. But unlike Maki, Green would lie and hide her feelings. And Green didn’t realize that was why Crimson didn’t understand her.

Green wasn’t only worried about Crimson for the sake of the mission. She was also hurt that Maki had become an enemy. But because she didn’t want Crimson to know those things, she hid them. It was compulsive, almost. It was what her own personal darkness compelled her to do. If she could be more like Maki—honest with others and herself—she might be walking a different path in life.

Maki’s team waited for the signal from Yurika’s team before launching their attack on the zombies in the shopping mall. Fortunately, they weren’t particularly strong. They were also slow, which gave Koutarou and the others the advantage out of the gate.

“Even I can’t say I enjoy this...”

“Your Highness, if possible, let’s finish them with a single attack.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Zombies were combat-oriented demons made from the corpses of humans. That made it especially difficult for Koutarou and the others—even knowing they were dead—to attack them. That’s why they either tried to defeat them without hurting them too much or, conversely, obliterate them without leaving a trace behind. If possible, they wanted to put them out of their misery as quickly and as gently as possible.

“You’re thinking too hard about it, everyone. These people are thanking us. It’s painful for them to be like this.”

But fortunately, Sanae was with them. Thanks to her spiritual powers, she could tell exactly what was going on with the zombies. Most of them were grateful to have their souls freed from their abused corpses. There were some who were bitter and angry, but those negative emotions were directed at the person who’d made them zombies, not Koutarou and the others who were freeing them. And, knowing that, they felt much better about what they were doing.

“Koutarou, let’s beat Purple for the sake of all these people.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We have to stop her from doing terrible things like this.”

Koutarou and the others grew angrier and angrier with each corpse they defeated. The zombies were walking abominations to both the living and the dead, and there was no way of knowing what else Purple had under her control. They wanted to capture her and make her free her entire horde. That was the only way any of them would rest easy.

“But Satomi-kun, something’s strange...” Maki said cautiously.

“I think so too,” Koutarou agreed.

“What? What is?” Sanae asked, blinking in confusion.

“That Purple, the one who made these zombies, hasn’t shown up yet. Neither has anyone else from Darkness Rainbow. Why aren’t they using this chance to attack?”

As the fight continued, Koutarou started to feel more and more like something wasn’t right. They were quickly plowing through the zombies dotted around the mall. They’d easily taken out more than fifty now, which, according to Maki, should have been more than half of Purple’s army.

While the zombies weren’t very strong, they were difficult opponents purely because of their sheer number. Using them as shields and attacking from a distance seemed to be the most effective tactic, but as they burned through more and more of them... It started to seem even weirder that Darkness Rainbow hadn’t shown their faces yet.

“Master, maybe this really was a diversion.”

“I was afraid of that...”

“That said, there’s no way to know for sure until we defeat all of them. This Purple girl’s quite clever.”

“She is probably the scariest member of Darkness Rainbow right now.”

In Maki’s experience, Purple was the most terrifying enemy. In terms of pure fighting prowess, Crimson and Maya were leagues ahead of the others. But there was something different about Purple. She didn’t have the same kind of bravery or humor that Crimson and Maya did. She was always calm, even in battle. She attacked without mercy, and that made her all the more frightening. Koutarou and the others might already be in her trap. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that she’d chosen zombies to go up against teenagers, either. As Koutarou and the others were starting to realize that, they had no choice but to continue fighting.

After successfully making it into the resort hotel, Yurika’s team barely lasted a minute before encountering the enemy. It seemed the hotel was well fortified.

“Ane-san, there’s a spiritual energy reaction, ho! We’ll analyze the pattern, ho!”

“Analysis complete! There’s an 80 percent chance that it’s those mechanical soldiers from before, ho!”

“Not good! There’s a gravitational wave reaction too! There must be Forthorthian weaponry here!”

After coming in the back door, Yurika and the others had ducked into a storage room to try and scope out the situation rather than rushing into battle. The children were their top priority and, if possible, they wanted to find out where they were being kept first thing. If they couldn’t manage that, they at least wanted to get a better idea of what they were up against.

The first thing they detected was several reactions they believed indicated enemy forces. If they’d carelessly charged in, they would have been in for trouble.

“So the shopping mall is being protected by zombies while this place is being protected by spiritual energy and Forthorthian weaponry...”

“What is it, Kiriha-san?”

Hearing the haniwas’ and Clan’s reports, Kiriha put her hand to her chin and began thinking. When Shizuka asked her what was wrong, Kiriha turned to Yurika with a grim expression.

“Yurika, can you sense any mana?”

“Yes. It feels like the entire building is filled with it.”

“That must be it, then...”

“What is?”

When Shizuka questioned Kiriha a second time, she finally answered her.

“This is where the enemy is performing their ritual. This should be where the children are.”

“Really?!” Yurika exclaimed in surprise.

She then darted right over to Kiriha. It seemed she’d momentarily snapped out of serious magical girl mode.

“If the enemy is logical, there’s no doubt. The zombies were placed in the shopping mall to make it look like there was mana there. But here... They’re defending the place with spiritual energy technology and Forthorthian weaponry, not magic. So what does that mean if you’re still detecting mana?”

Kiriha didn’t state the answer outright, but Yurika managed to put it together with her help.

“I get it! There’s something else going on here!”

“Yes. Chances are high it’s the ritual they’re preparing.”

Darkness Rainbow had cleverly divided their resources to make both locations appear as though they potentially held the ritual magic circle. If they had it here and were protecting it with magic, there would have been enough mana in the building for it to be detectable outside. Conversely, if the mall was a distraction and it was only guarded by spiritual energy technology and Forthorthian weapons, it would’ve had no mana signature whatsoever—meaning Koutarou and the others wouldn’t even have a reason to inspect it. It would have been a failure as a decoy.

So to prevent either of those situations, they’d made good use of their assets. They were defending the ritual with nonmagical tech and the decoy with magical weapons so that they gave off similar amounts of mana and would smell equally enticing. That would leave Koutarou and his allies with no choice but to investigate both. However, it was precisely because of that strategy that Kiriha was immediately able to determine the hotel was the real location once they got inside. If it was being protected by nonmagical tech yet there was still mana coming from somewhere in the building, that could only mean one thing.

“Kiriha-san, please give me a moment! I’ll pinpoint the source of the mana!”

Yurika acted immediately and without hesitation. Her only concern was saving the children, which meant they had to stop the ritual before it was too late. There wasn’t a second to waste.

Thanks to Yurika searching the area for mana, they were able to determine it was coming from the basement. It was slowly increasing in intensity, but there wasn’t all that much of it—certainly not ten children’s worth. That came as a huge relief.

“It looks like the children haven’t been fully drained yet, but based on Sanae-chan’s experience, just being drained of a third of their energy is enough to have lasting consequences. We need to break through and get them out of here, even if it’s by force.”

“Please wait, Yurika-san! If we don’t think this through, the enemy will surround us and we’ll waste even more time!”

Yurika was ready to bust into the basement. The longer they waited, the more danger the children were in. Harumi knew that, but she still thought there was a better way. If they made a careless mistake now, it would only end up costing them more time in the end. They needed to plan accordingly.

“Ugh... You’re right. Does anyone have any ideas?”

Yurika respected Harumi, and readily listened to her. She then took a few deep breaths and tried to compose herself. The children were important to her, and that was exactly why she couldn’t afford to rush things now.

“Why don’t we go just go in the way with the fewest enemies?”

Shizuka’s idea was simple. They had access to a map of the hotel, and they had a good idea of where the enemy was. So in her mind, all they needed to do was figure out the safest route based on those two pieces of information.

“Someone acting as a decoy wouldn’t be bad, either.”

Clan’s idea was to use a strategic decoy. They could have one person distract the enemies while the other four snuck into the basement.

“I think Shizuka would be the best decoy,” offered Yurika.

“Why me?!”

Shizuka was left reeling at suddenly being volunteered for the job.

“That’s because you’re the least likely to be hurt.”

“Uhhh, that’s true, but...”

Since Shizuka had the powers of the Fire Dragon Emperor within her, there was no way that any normal enemy would put a scratch on her. But using those powers came at a terrible price—at least in her eyes. They dramatically increased her weight, and Shizuka feared that more than getting hurt.

“All right, let’s get started right away.”

“Wait a minute, Uncle! Don’t be in such a hurry! Kiriha-san! Please, Kiriha-san, I’m begging you! Don’t you have some kind of plan?!”

Shizuka interrupted Alunaya, who was already getting fired up, and turned to Kiriha with a pleading look. She never wanted to weigh over 200 kilograms again.

“Well, I can’t say I don’t,” Kiriha said with a nod.

She didn’t much care about Shizuka’s weight, but she still didn’t like the idea of using her as a decoy. She was in the middle of trying to think of an alternative.

“I don’t know if it’s possible or not yet, however.”

“Please, whatever it is, just tell me! I’ll do anything!”

Kiriha still wasn’t convinced of its success, but with Shizuka in tears, she had no choice but to share it anyway.

“We destroy the floor and head straight down.”

“Whaaaaat?!”

“Hooooo?!”

When Kiriha said that, the surprised voices of the four girls and the two haniwas came together in beautiful harmony.

“The biggest risk is that the children might get caught in it. We don’t know their exact location.”

They wanted to avoid enemies, and they didn’t want to resort to using a decoy. Kiriha had come up with a plan that would meet both of those conditions, crazy though it might be. Her chief concern was that in blowing out the floor, there would be a dangerous amount of debris falling into the basement. It might easily crush the children, and if that happened, everything would be for naught. That’s why Kiriha was hesitant about going through with it.

“Kiriha-san, this spot will be okay.”

However, Yurika had a solution.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Since the children are being used as sacrifices, they have to be on the magic circle. But I can sense we’re not standing directly over top of the magic circle right now, so there should be no risk to the children if we break through here.”

The children had to be in the center of the magic circle much the same way batteries had to be seated in a remote control properly—they were powering it. That was common knowledge to a magician.

“Then let’s do it! Right now! Hurry before someone changes their mind!”

“Do you really hate it that much?”

“You’re naturally skinny, Sakuraba-senpai! You’d never understand how I feel!”

“It’s not something you should be crying about...”

Thus, Yurika’s team made the bold decision of breaking through the floor.

Even though the procedure should be safe, there was still the off chance of something going awry. They were pressed for time, but with the safety of children on the line, they decided to take all possible precautions. They first put a small hole in the floor and sent a camera down to confirm the situation in the basement. As Yurika had said, there was nothing directly below them. As for the rest of the basement, it appeared to be a large, open room that stretched both long and wide.

After confirming the coast was clear, the girls could destroy the floor without worry. The actual destroying part was done by one of Clan’s work lasers, which opened up a neat one-meter hole. The circular piece of concrete that had just been a part of the floor fell straight down into the basement with a loud crash.

The noise echoed through the empty hall. It would undoubtedly alert the girls’ enemies to their presence, but when they were this close anyway, there was very little meaning in trying to be stealthy. The girls jumped down one by one, unconcerned about the noise they were making.

“I was wondering what you’d do, but that was pretty ballsy.”

An unfamiliar voice welcomed Yurika and the others as entered the basement. It was a girl wearing a carmine outfit—Dark Crimson, one of the leaders of Darkness Rainbow.

“You used to be so timid, too... I’m impressed, Rainbow Yurika.”

“Crimson-san...”

Yurika firmly held her staff in both hands as she looked at Crimson. The others didn’t know her, but based on the way Yurika was behaving, they all knew how to react to her.

“Why didn’t you try and stop us?”

“Because it was more convenient this way.”

As soon as Crimson said that, the hole Clan had just cut in the floor was covered up. It was the automated and mechanical weapons crowing around it overhead. Upon realizing that Yurika and her friends were breaking through the floor, Crimson had purposely left them be to lure them in. And now with their exit blocked off, they had no means of escape. That was why Crimson had called it convenient, for she intended to wipe them all out.

“You sound awfully confident, Crimson or whoever you are.”

“Kurano Kiriha... You may have gotten the better of me last time, but don’t think for a minute it’ll happen again.”

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?”

Kiriha flashed a confident smile, but it was only a bluff. Darkness Rainbow had the defensive advantage this time, and they’d come fully prepared. Kiriha knew she’d be in trouble if she simply relied on the same strategy from before. She had to think fast—but she had no reason to tell her enemy that. And so she racked her brain, her confident smirk never wavering.

Did Crimson come alone? There are six members of Darkness Rainbow... Even if they split up to guard the two buildings, there should be two more magicians here... What are they doing? One of them is probably performing the ritual. Is the other one helping her? Or something else? And then there’s the matter of the laser and cannon that Maki told us this girl has... How is she going to use those? What can we do to counter them?

All kinds of ideas popped into Kiriha’s head. That was her greatest weapon. She could contribute relatively little to a battle in the way of firepower, but her brainpower would lead them all to victory. Crimson was most cautious of this unique, unpredictable power of Kiriha’s. She’d seen it in action before and been burned by it.

“Green, how will they move?”

Crimson spoke to Green, who was standing by elsewhere, through a mental link. They were connected via a spell that let them talk telepathically, making communications devices like radios superfluous.

“It looks like they have countermeasures for the laser and cannon. There are also several futures where they’re able to block even normal attacks.”

“And if we play this according to plan?”

“There is an 80 percent chance of success.”

“Sounds good to me!”

Crimson grinned maniacally as she readied her staff and pulled the lever on the side of her barrel. She was clearly outnumbered, but she had every intention of winning. That confidence showed on her face

“Crimson-san, there isn’t any way you’ll stand down... is there?”

“What a silly question, Yurika! I joined Darkness Rainbow for fights like this!”

“Then you leave me no choice! As Rainbow Nana’s successor, I will defeat you!”

“Just try it!”

Crimson made the first move. She swung her loaded staff around and began an incantation.

“Ray of Sunshine!”

“The laser is coming! Yurika, Clan-dono!”

“Mage Shield!”

“Focus the deployment of the distortion field forward!”

At Kiriha’s warning, both Yurika and Clan took defensive measures. Yurika used magic and Clan science to create a large barrier to protect the group. Maki had warned them that Crimson’s laser was powerful, so they focused their defenses forward to create a sturdier shield. Between the two of them, they should be able to block the attack.

“Modifier: Single Wavelength! Targeting Option: Spread!”

But that was when something unexpected happened. For some reason, Crimson pointed her staff in a completely different direction. Yurika and the others were puzzled by her actions, but they’d soon be made painfully aware of her intentions.

“Go!”

The laser travelled out from the tip of Crimson’s staff, but when it reached the wall, it bounced off and headed back towards the group. And just before it hit them, it splintered into multiple beams and assaulted the girls from several directions. Since they’d only deployed their defenses in front of them, there was nothing they could do to block it.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Ugh!”

Yurika and Kiriha both cried out in pain. Harumi, Clan, and Shizuka had all been fortunate. The lasers had only grazed them, but Yurika and Kiriha had taken serious hits.

“Reflectors?! This room has been set up so she can freely use her lasers! No wonder she was so confident!”

Clan quickly realized what had happened. Crimson had bounced the laser of a reflector built into the wall for exactly this purpose.

“That’s right. You guys really jumped into a hornet’s nest down here.”

Immediately after deciding to use this hotel for their ritual, Crimson and the others began making preparations for possible enemy attacks. With bait like a ritual and child sacrifices, they knew the good guys would come biting eventually. As long as they approached from above ground, there were a limited number of ways they could get to the ritual site. Darkness Rainbow had taken that into account beforehand put defensive measures in place each step of the way. That included down here in the basement, where the walls, ceiling, and floor had reflectors installed. With them, Crimson could use her lasers creatively and attack from unexpected directions. Even though she was severely outnumbered, it was starting to seem like she actually had the advantage.

“Are you okay, Yurika-san, Kiriha-san?!”

“I’m fine.”

“The haniwas protected us.”

Fortunately, the laser had lost some of its power by reflecting off the wall and even more when splintering. As a result, though the hit was quite a shock, the laser hadn’t been enough to incapacitate them.

“But this is bad... Because of the reflectors, we can’t tell how the laser will move. And if we focus on that and deploy our defenses radially, we won’t be able to defend against the cannon. This was meticulously planned.”

If they were only going to be attacked by reflected and even split lasers, they actually weren’t in all that much danger. Deploying their combined magical and scientific defenses in a bubble shape would keep them fully protected. But if they spread the shield out like that, it wouldn’t be strong enough to hold up against a serious attack like Crimson’s cannon.

“In that case, it’s my turn.”

There, Shizuka stepped forward. As she did, Alunaya called out to her from within.

“Are you sure?”

“This isn’t the time to worry about my weight.”

“Very well! Then let’s go, Shizuka!”

At this rate, they’d be worn down by the laser before they could do anything else. In order to settle things quickly, they needed a strong offense in addition to defense. That’s where Shizuka came in. She unleashed some of Alunaya’s power and faced Crimson in her half-dragon form.

“Your appearance and mana are completely different from before. Is this your true power?”

Crimson grinned eagerly as she looked at Shizuka. She could sense the strength radiating from her, but her confidence seemed unshaken. She still wholeheartedly believed she could win. If anything, she was even more pumped about the fight seeing she’d get to have a go at Shizuka, who she felt a strong rivalry with after how their last fight had gone.

“Something like that. Looks like you’ve been training your magic too, huh?”

Shizuka hadn’t forgotten their last encounter either. She’d ultimately won against Crimson because she wasn’t a committed magician or martial artist—she straddled a line in between. But despite her previous loss, Crimson was still brimming with confidence. Even wielding the power of a dragon, Shizuka wasn’t going to let her guard down.

“A little.”

Crimson pointed her staff at Shizuka. As she did, the spiritual energy and Forthorthian weapons began appearing behind her, one after another. Yurika and the others could tell they’d been summoned to prevent anyone from getting in the way of Crimson and Shizuka’s battle.

“Here I come, Shizuka!”

“Try me!”

Once the weapons were in place, Crimson began her attack and trained the barrel of her staff on Shizuka.

“Explosion!”

The sound of the cannon being fired shook the entire hall, and the cannonball it launched sailed at Shizuka with frightening speed.

“Too easy!”

However, it would take more than that to defeat Shizuka. She spewed flames to intercept the cannonball midflight. While she wasn’t as powerful as Alunaya in half-dragon form, the fire she spat was more than hot enough to incinerate half of the flying cannonball. The remaining half lost its moment and fell to the ground inert.

“In the short while since we last met, you’ve sure learned some ridiculous things.”

Crimson was amazed by Shizuka and stopped to comment on it as she readied her next spell.

“Not so fast!”

Shizuka stepped forward to stop her, but the army of weapons closed in to shield Crimson.

“Shizuka-san, keep going! Just like that!”

Before the weapons could attack Shizuka, her allies acted to support her. Yurika repeatedly fired magical arrows to restrain the weapons and Harumi cast a protective barrier on everyone while Kiriha’s haniwas and Clan’s beam cannon began methodically destroying the weapons.

“It’s over, Crimson!”

Shizuka slipped past the weapons with the help of her friends and closed in on Crimson.

“I don’t know about that!”

However, that too was part of Darkness Rainbow’s plan. Crimson suddenly vanished right before Shizuka’s eyes.

“What?!”

As a result, the claws she’d just swung slashed through nothing but air. Surprised, she looked around the area but didn’t see Crimson anywhere. Instead, she beheld a surprising spectacle.

“The enemies are—?!”

The weapons that Crimson had called forward suddenly changed their appearances to look like Shizuka and the other girls. There were twenty of them remaining, for a total of four clones of each of the five girls. Shizuka and the others were stunned by this development, and the clones took that opportunity to intermingle with girls, making it impossible to distinguish who was really where.

This was all Dark Green’s doing. Green magic covered both divination and illusions, so spells like this were her strong suit. She’d precast both this illusion spell and the one to make Crimson vanish ahead of time, and activated them from a distance.

“If I do this, it doesn’t matter how strong you are, does it? Or are you going to defeat everyone including your own allies?”

Crimson’s disembodied voice echoed through the basement. She sounded as confident as ever. Regardless of how strong Shizuka was, if the situation deteriorated into a confused melee, most of her power would end up being used against her friends. And that was especially dangerous for someone like Shizuka who could eliminate her opponents with a single attack.

“Uncle, can’t you tell them apart?!”

“It’s difficult. The caster of this illusion is very skilled.”

Dragons were blessed with extraordinary amounts of mana, but they used it very roughly, focusing mostly on flight and combat. As a result, they weren’t good at more delicate magic like illusions. Seeing through ones cast by a green magic expert wouldn’t be easy.

“Yurika, however, might be able to do something.”

“Yurika-chan, please!”

“R-Right!”

Yurika and all of her clones nodded. She and the other girls were at a disadvantage not knowing where their allies were. Especially not since the weapons could communicate with one another and attack freely. They couldn’t use any sort of projectile that would give them away, but with how things were going, it would only be a matter of time before the girls were wiped out. Yurika knew she had to do something.

“You think I’d give you the time for that?! Ray of Sunshine!”

However, Crimson wasn’t that naive. Even though she was invisible, she was still attacking. She wasn’t able to do much damage with her lasers, but she was able to scramble the girls’ positions, making them lose track of where their allies had been. Now they were completely mixed together with the clones with no hope of reconciling. All they could do now was dodge the incoming lasers while fighting against their own clones. And that would be as hard as it sounded. The individual weapons did their best to avoid tangling with the girl they had cloned, leaving Yurika, Shizuka, Clan, Harumi, and Kiriha on the defensive since none of them were willing to attack their friends. Yurika didn’t have the time to cast a spell to try and see through the illusions.

“Karama, Korama, can you tell us apart based on our auras?!”

“It looks like this illusion is taking spiritual energy into consideration too, ho!”

“We can’t tell you apart at all, ho!”

“Image analysis and thermal vision aren’t working either! These illusions must have been specifically created to avoid detection!”

“Bingo! Did you think we’d stay ignorant forever?!”

Crimson couldn’t stop boasting. Though no one could see her face, they could all tell from her voice what she was feeling. Like with Crimson and her laser, Green had put scientific knowledge to use in improving her spells. These advanced illusions were Green’s take on scientific magic.

“Now, take this! And there’s more where that came from!”

“Kyaaah!”

Caving underneath a rain of lasers, Harumi fell to the floor.

“Sakuraba-senpai!”

The nearby Yurika instinctively reached out for her, but Harumi slapped her hand away.

“Eep! Senpai, what are you doing?!”

Yurika’s hand was just fine thanks to the protection her magical girl outfit offered, but she was utterly shaken to have Harumi attack her.

“Are you okay, Yurika-san?!”

Worried, Harumi called out to the panicking Yurika. In the middle of all the confusion, Kiriha tried to explain what was going on.

“Calm down, Yurika! That’s a fake!”

“R-Really? They can even mimic stuff like that?!”

They didn’t just move and sound the same as the girls they’d cloned. They could even pretend to get hit by lasers and yell for help. Green’s illusions were extremely elaborate and articulate, having been given some semblance of intelligence.

How can we turn the tables here?!

Kiriha protected herself from several clones and lasers while desperately racking her brain. Everyone was wounded at this point. She could tell because the clones were even mirroring the injuries the girls were getting. And those injuries were starting to add up. They’d all be annihilated at this rate. They needed something radical to be able to turn things around.

“Ugh, I don’t care about my weight if it means I can destroy these things!”

Even the superhuman Shizuka was helpless in this situation. Since she couldn’t tell friend from foe, her draconic powers did her no good.

Weight?

But nevertheless, her desperate complaint seemed to have given Kiriha an idea.

“Clan-dono, the mass! Even if they can change how they look, they can’t change how much they weigh!”

“You’re right! If I calculate space distortions, then...!”

Not even an illusion could change the mass of what it was disguising. Even if it could manipulate sound and electromagnetic radiation, it couldn’t affect the distortions the mass of the weapons themselves caused in space. Something like that would have taken a much more serious and powerful spell.

“All the fakes have been locked on! But there’s still that chance...”

None of the girls weighed more than 50 kilograms, so by limiting her targets to anything that weighed more than that, Clan was immediately able to identify the weapons underneath the illusions. But she couldn’t shake the fear that a fake Kiriha had given her this idea, which was why she hesitated to attack.

“There’s no need to aim directly at them! Just aim right next to them!”

It seemed Kiriha could sense Clan’s doubts, and she gave a new strange instruction

“What...? No, there’s no time to hesitate! Initiating the attack!”

Clan was puzzled, but she didn’t have the time to think about it. She ordered the firing control system to attack. Following the targeting data after filtering by mass, Clan’s beam cannon began its bombardment. Beams flew this way and that, aimed for directly next to most of the girls—hopefully the clones. Clan still didn’t understand, but she had to believe in Kiriha.

A white flash of a beam grazed one of the Yurikas. There was a crumpling metallic sound as it made contact with seemingly nothing in the air next to her. The beam had scored a direct hit on something, opening up a large hole that exposed all kinds of hardware and wires. The next moment, the illusion collapsed and the weapon underneath was revealed. It seemed the beam had struck something vital as well, for the weapon was no longer moving. It was exactly the outcome Kiriha had hoped for.

“Impossible! What just happened?!”

Crimson’s shaken voice echoed through the room. She was still invisible, but it was obvious enough how surprised she was.

“It’s nothing, really. Even though the weapons are disguised by elaborate illusions, there are two things that cannot be manipulated that way: mass and size.”

Clan had narrowed down her targets by mass, but was still worried something might be amiss. That was why Kiriha had had her attack adjacent to her targets. The mechanical weapons were pretending to be people with the help of illusions, but they only looked like the girls. They hadn’t actually shrunk down to human size. Kiriha and the other girls were even smaller than the standard human sized and shaped spiritual weapons too, meaning that aiming for around them would still hit whatever oversized weapon was pretending to be them.

“It wasn’t a bad idea, however. If you’d only cast illusions on real people, you would’ve had us.”

“Tch, to think there was such a blind spot!”

The strategy was sound; there was simply a flaw in its execution. Kiriha had zeroed in on that and used it to derail the whole thing.

“Kii, your brain truly is a terrifying weapon...”

“This means we just can’t aim for them directly!”

“Time for our counterattack!”

“I won’t forgive you for attacking Yurika-san with my appearance!”

Grazing attacks would be their secret to success here. They wouldn’t hurt their allies even if they managed to get caught in the crossfire, but they would destroy the machines pretending to be them. Now that they knew what to do, the girls rallied and began taking out the illusions one after another.

“Again?! Curse you, Kurano Kiriha!”

“Calm down, Crimson.”

“But Green—”

“Listen. You’re stalling five people, including Rainbow Yurika. That’s more than enough to consider this a victory.”

“Yeah, you’re right... Sorry for whining like a kid.”

Crimson was enraged, but Green was able to calm her down. Getting emotional was the first step to defeat. That was another lesson Kiriha had taught them.

“It’s okay. However, Crimson, your odds of victory have dropped below 50 percent.”

“Okay. Let’s continue as planned, then.”

“Yes.”

Now that she’d regained her composure, Crimson was able to think clearly. Still hidden, she snuck out of the basement. The plan she and Green had agreed upon beforehand was that she’d retreat if the odds fell out of her favor.

Even though Crimson had gained the powers of scientific magic and prepared several additional measures in advance, there had always been a distinct possibility that it wouldn’t be enough to win against five opponents. Green was actively monitoring Crimson’s chances of victory as she fought, and once they dipped below 50 percent—their predetermined benchmark—she would signal the retreat.

“Crimson, you did good.”

“You’re the only one that would say that to me right now.”

Yurika and her allies were still fighting against the weapons Crimson had left behind, but she didn’t even look back as she walked away. Twenty mechanical weapons was no big loss to Darkness Rainbow. And besides, their loss had already been factored into the plan. They bought time for Crimson to escape and regroup with Green.