Identifying the "Thirteen Apostles"—figures like Carla Schmidt, William McLeod, Leonid Kondratchenko, and Igor Andreivitch Bezobrazov—is no simple feat. Even with the formidable intelligence network of the Yotsuba Family, uncovering the full scope of their movements requires an immense amount of labor.
Yet, by some strange twist of fate, there were two individuals in Japan who could parse such secrets with an ease that bordered on mockery.
The first was Kagurazaka Yugen, the current head of the Kagurazaka family. He possesses magic capable of seizing control over all the world's military information. During the events of "Scorching Halloween," he was the man responsible for annihilating the New Soviet Union's fleet using the Strategic-Class magic Starlight Breaker. He stands alone as the only existence in the world capable of wielding every Strategic-Class magic known to the Thirteen Apostles.
The other was Excelia Kudo Shields. A former Stars magician who once bore the code name "Polaris," she now goes by the name Seria Konoe after her naturalization. Despite her youthful appearance, she is a Strategic-Class magician with extraordinary analytical abilities, capable of perceiving all phenomena through electronic data.
Furthermore, these two were reincarnated souls who retained the memories of their previous lives. Now cousins and fiancés, they sat in Seria's private room within the FLT Twin Towers, discussing the recent movements of the New Soviet Union (NSU).
"Kondratchenko and Bezobrazov are meeting at the Black Sea base... No doubt they're plotting something foul, and the target is likely the Far East," Yugen remarked.
"Most likely," Seria agreed. "If they turned their eyes toward Europe, they'd probably run into 'Dracula' or someone of that caliber."
"That magician..." Yugen trailed off.
"Do you know her, Big Brother?"
"...Well, my grandfather is partly to blame for her."
Four years ago, Yugen had returned to Tokyo to attend middle school due to family ties with the Mitsuya. After winning the individual national kendo championship, he decided to escape the relentless scouting attempts by taking his grandfather Gozo's offer to travel abroad.
From Japan to Los Angeles, he traversed the length of the California Peninsula and leaped over the Panama Canal. In Brazil, he decimated a guerrilla force that had the audacity to ruin his meal. After witnessing the birth of the South American Federation, he headed north, accidentally stumbled into the Stars base at Roswell, neutralized Heavy Metal Burst, and shot Lina out of the sky.
From there, he took the transcontinental railroad to sightsee in Washington and New York. In Europe, he toured England, France, Italy (including the Vatican), Germany, and Poland. It was upon entering Romania that he met a certain girl.
"I heard that when the NSU absorbed Ukraine, her parents and grandparents were killed. Grandfather couldn't just stand by after hearing her vows of vengeance. He hammered the basics of magic technology into her and told her, 'Once your revenge is complete, you should come to Japan.'"
"...Your list of potential mistresses just keeps growing, doesn't it?"
"I'm turning that down flat. Honestly, I can't keep up with the fallout as it is."
That girl eventually became the magician known in the NSU as "Dracula." Currently, she reportedly spends her time raiding bases along the Nordic border at the request of anti-government groups and humanists. Though she was naturally gifted, the combination of the Reinforce experiments and several months of training under Gozo had pushed her into the realm of a Strategic-Class magician.
Later, when Yugen entered the NSU through official channels, he found himself hounded not only by the regular army but by intelligence agents as well. When he asked Gozo for a reason, his grandfather suggested it was likely because Yugen had halted the invasion of Hokkaido. It was a textbook case of a petty grudge.
Pushed to his limit by their persistence, Yugen finally snapped. He stormed the Kremlin, took the head of state to task, and forced him to sign a formal oath of non-aggression. When they still tried to assassinate him afterward, he unleashed his secret technique, Suzaku Tensho, with enough force to half-level the palace. It was a miracle—or perhaps a misfortune—that the leaders barely survived.
Escaping the fallout, he fled through the Arab Union, Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand, before doubling back through Indonesia, the Indo-Persian Federation, the Great Asian Alliance, and Taiwan, finally returning home.
"If they can't even de-escalate despite the tension 'Dracula' is causing, the fear of the Tuman Bomba I used in the NSU must be rotting the resolve of their soldiers," Yugen noted.
"Strategic-Class magic can flip the script in a single shot, after all. You can't do much if you're dead," Seria said.
"Too many people struggle to see it that simply."
In reality, even if one isn't a magician, those possessing the "magic genetic factor" are few. No matter how many "one-man army" feats are performed, building an entire division out of magicians is nearly impossible. Manning a national-level military solely with magicians is a pipe dream.
"To put it bluntly, the announcement of Flight Magic turned first-class magician units into the equivalent of high-mobility weapons that can move freely across the battlefield. But while they can serve as support or trump cards, their numbers are far too low to be the main force."
In fiction, magic is often used for pre-emptive strikes or ambushes, but in reality, such movements are closer to "scouting." Even if an individual's combat power rivals an entire army, the ultimate deciding factor is numbers. In that sense, non-magician soldiers will never become obsolete.
"For example," Yugen continued, "even if a single person annihilates an entire region, they might be able to defend that vast land alone, but they cannot govern it. As long as the ratio of magicians doesn't increase, the utility of non-magician soldiers will only grow."
"For a nation with expansionist policies, they'd be so desperate for manpower they'd even take a cat's help," Seria joked.
"Exactly."
Shifting the topic, they discussed how anti-magic riots and demonstrations were rising across Europe. Even the pro-magician factions spoke with such a patronizing air that, to the magicians themselves, both sides seemed anti-magic.
"Still, you did a good job suppressing the anti-magic sentiment here," Seria noted.
"The medical magic technology from 'Taurus Silver' is effective even for non-magicians. Plus, the early detection system for illnesses using Psion waves has drastically reduced the risk of lifestyle-related diseases."
"...If Edward Clark tries to cook up that 'Project Dione' nonsense now, the Japanese public will likely be the first to oppose it."
Unlike the original timeline, "Taurus Silver" had contributed immensely to the non-magician population of Japan. If Clark tried to push the project under the guise of "exporting medical magic technology" to force magicians into space, Yugen already had several countermoves prepared. In the worst-case scenario, he was prepared to use Mirror Gate to haul Echelon III directly into the Kagurazaka estate.
"We provide technology to assist magicians already working in firefighting and emergency medicine. If that results in saving non-magicians, no one can complain. Honestly, the Twenty-Eight Families should be focusing on honing their skills to contribute in those areas."
"Since you and Tatsuya already have a track record, no one can say a word."
"We'll see about that."
To be honest, by significantly altering the Zhou Gongjin incident, the likelihood of a "Young Blood Conference" being held had decreased. However, seeing the movements of foreign nations, there was a fear that anti-magic sentiment might find its second wind. Yugen expected a meeting to be called under the guise of an "exchange of opinions" to address this before it became a reality.
"Big Brother... do you mean there's still a chance the Saegusa family will try to use Miyuki as a figurehead?"
"...To be honest, that whole affair still leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
In the original timeline's Clan Conference, Kudou Retsu took the fall, leading to the Kudou family's demotion, while the Saegusa family barely kept their position. Even after that, they continued to scheme to pair Tatsuya with Mayumi, making the Yotsuba's impression of them worse by the day.
The issue of genetic defects in a marriage between Tatsuya and Miyuki was their primary leverage. That was likely why the Saegusa family thought they could negotiate with Tatsuya by using Miyuki as a political symbol. Of course, Tatsuya's staunch opposition killed that plan, and even if it had reached the Clan Conference, Maya, as the current head, would have almost certainly vetoed it.
"Even if they tried to push it through the logic of a majority vote, the Yotsuba's opposition was inevitable. At worst, the Yotsuba might have seceded from the Ten Master Clans."
"So you're saying the plan the Saegusa family proposed in the 'original' wasn't Tomokazu Saegusa's idea?" Seria asked.
"If they just wanted a figurehead, Mayumi-senpai would have been a perfect advertisement. She hates the name, but her reputation as the 'Elven Sniper' is arguably as widespread as Miyuki's."
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