Civilian Evacuation
Tatsuya, having obliterated the locust swarm, connected his comms to report.
"Repelled the conjured attack. Supporting the heli's descent."
"Leave escort to others," Yanagi ordered. "Find and eliminate the caster."
"Understood."
Tatsuya focused his Elemental Sight, tracking the spell's origin. He hadn't decomposed each locust but targeted the magic formula conjuring them, reducing the swarm to psion particles. From this distance and time, tracing the caster mid-flight was feasible.
There.
Elimination was possible from here, but direct sight enhanced accuracy. Tatsuya soared above the fleeing caster. A black-clad soldier with a silver pistol-shaped CAD, he shot across the skyline like a meteor. His comrades formed a midair circle, guarding the heli as it landed in the plaza.
The faceless, black-suited fliers exuded menace, yet Honoka, Shizuku, Mayumi, Rinne, and Airi's Third High group felt no fear.
"Who are they?" Inagaki asked, uneasy.
"Allies," Mayumi replied with a smile.
Part of the National Defense Force, linked to Tatsuya and Kyoko—that was enough for her. As civilians boarded the heli, the fliers maintained aerial vigilance, unflagging despite over ten minutes of flight. Clearly high-level mages, they were rumored to be an experimental unit of eccentric, battle-proven mages. Mayumi nodded, thinking they suited Tatsuya perfectly.
"Reliable reinforcements," she added, watching the heli's boarding near completion.
As Shizuku and Inagaki's heli took off, another rotor's hum announced a second arrival.
"Finally," Mayumi muttered, her relief genuine.
Larger than Shizuku's heli, it came with a combat heli escort.
"Young Mistress Mayumi, are you unharmed?" Nagura's voice crackled.
"I'm fine. Where are you?"
"On the combat heli. Master orders you to evacuate on this one."
"…Understood."
Turning to Rinne, Mayumi said, "Let's hurry the civilians aboard."
"Freeze!" A young man's arm locked around Rinne's neck, a knife at her throat. A rifle aimed from a rooftop, and another man stepped forward, brandishing a grenade.
"So, this was their plan," Rinne said coolly.
"Quick thinker," the guerrilla sneered, disguised as a civilian.
"You targeted me for energy stabilization?" Rinne asked.
"Not just that. Many comrades are detained. You're our hostage for their release."
"I'm not much leverage alone."
"Not true," he snapped. "Move, and you're done!"
He glared at Mayumi, who'd subtly reached for her CAD. Airi and the others, also reaching, froze and raised their hands.
"Your capture will force the Saegusa to act," the man said. "A friend's hostage is more effective than their daughter."
"True," Rinne said. "Mayumi-san's too soft."
Mayumi bristled at the unfair jab but held back. Soft, maybe, but getting blamed by the hostage?
"You'll abduct me to your country?" Rinne pressed.
"Exactly."
"But that's not a hostage exchange."
"What did you—" The man froze.
"Your plan wasn't bad," Rinne said, brushing the knife aside and slipping free. "But you picked the wrong target."
She disarmed the grenade-wielding man. "I paralyzed your motor cortex. Your bodies won't move for a while. Direct bodily interference magic—once banned due to human experimentation. It takes time to work, but your chatter helped. No, your slip wasn't magic—just your carelessness."
With a cold smile, Rinne hastened civilian boarding. Once complete, she parted ways with Mayumi.
"Take care, Rin-chan," Mayumi said.
"Don't overdo it, Mayumi-san," Rinne replied.
As the heli ascended, black-clad soldiers escorted it to safety, then veered toward the coast.
"Let's go," Mayumi said. "We'll pick up Miyuki's group and Mari, then evacuate."
Nagura, seeming to want to protest, nodded and returned to the copilot seat. As the combat heli carrying Mayumi, Honoka, and Airi lifted off, Mayumi spotted a lone soldier on a rooftop, silver CAD in hand. Honoka and the others, looking elsewhere, missed him. Mayumi stuck out her tongue in a playful "bleh" and winked, unsure if he saw.
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