[359] The Magic Association (5)
The counter-terrorism unit was giving Shirone sharp looks. It was only natural—they'd effectively been serving as shields for the terrorists—but from the hostages' perspective it still stung.
The thug who'd grabbed Shirone, swinging a heavy club, was monstrously strong. When Shirone realized there was no way to break free without magic, he started to panic.
What do I do? Am I actually going to die here?
At that moment Plu cut through the suppression team and appeared. Seeing her face, eyes narrowed to slits, Shirone felt fear clamp down on him even as life and death hung in the balance.
Why is Plu here?
Plu jabbed a finger and shouted, "Hey!"
All the Black Revolutionary Group members turned to her. Unexpected developments are never welcome.
The terrorist holding Shirone asked in a threatening voice, "Hey, who's that woman?"
"Uh, well… technically she's my superior."
Plu exploded in anger. "Are you sane? I told you to go to the Alchemy Exchange—what are you doing there?"
Shirone hesitated about how to answer. She had every right to be angry, of course, but this wasn't the time to bring up something so absurd.
Why is she acting like this? Something's off.
As Shirone brooded, Plu went on. "I specifically told you to buy parts for the 'mana control device'! Because of you, innocent people got hurt! How are you going to take responsibility?"
Shirone's eyes flashed. Mana control device?
Now that he thought about it, Plu's look was unusually tense. Ah—this is a code.
Putting it together, it read roughly like this: The mana control device will be disabled. You take care of the hostages.
So there's a single chance. But when exactly?
Plu couldn't convey that part. You can make codes as you like, but if they're too long they invite suspicion. And in an operation decided in the blink of an eye, over-coordination can be fatal.
From that moment Shirone began to warm up his mind. There wasn't a precise time—what mattered was not missing the moment the mana control device was destroyed.
On the roof of an eight-story building two hundred meters from the Gold Tower, a gunner took aim at the Gold Tower with a crossbow loaded with an enchanted bolt. Unlike a regular crossbow, its tiller braced against the shoulder and it used a trigger mechanism.
As the gunner chewed gum and blew a bubble, a voice crackled over his comm.
- Alpha. Do you copy?
"This is Alpha. Sniper ready. Over."
- Transmitting orders. Detonate the mana control device in the Gold Tower.
The gum bubble at the gunner's lips popped. Even if the mana control device was blown up, with hostages still being held it didn't seem like there'd be room to act.
- It's a single opportunity. Don't make a mistake.
The gunner stopped thinking and fixed the mana control device in his scope. Strategy is for the head; fighting is for the muscles. He was the suppression team's nerves.
When he pictured the interior schematics of the Gold Tower, the lines in his mind lifted into surfaces and instantly formed a three-dimensional model. He rotated it at will and calculated trajectories.
The mana control device was built into the wall, invisible to the eye. He had to open his inner sight.
"Roger that."
Plu met Shirone's gaze and bit her lower lip. There were too many uncertain variables. Above all, even if the mana control device was destroyed, there was no guarantee Shirone could move the hostages to safety.
Please. You have to do this right. If you mess up, it's over.
Shirone was desperate to change the shape of his mind in advance.
He chose Mass Teleport: destroy the mana control device and, at that exact instant, teleport the hostages out.
Can I time it right?
He had to bypass the terrorists and enclose only the hostages within the Spirit Zone. Because the Spirit Zone he intended to make was an oddform not covered by standard techniques, pre-tuning his mind was crucial. If Arin, a mage specialized in mental magic, were doing it, it would be easy—but for Shirone, whose strength lay in endurance, it took substantial time.
This is harder than I thought. Nothing can happen now.
Meanwhile the gunner finished his sighting. The rhythm of his chewing slowed at regular intervals until he finally ground the gum between his teeth.
Slowly—following the sensation of the gum being crushed—his finger on the trigger bent a fraction more.
Click.
When his teeth met, the trigger went. With a ping and a twang, the enchanted bolt shot like a swallow snatching an insect.
Just a little more, just a little more!
Shirone reshaped his mind with everything he had. At the same time he couldn't ignore what was happening around him.
A flash of light glinted over the suppression team and something flew past Shirone, through the main gate.
The pointed iron enchanted bolt pierced the wall beside the vault and embedded itself in the mana control device's circuit board. Electricity sparked from the bolt, wires melted, and the overheated device roared and exploded.
Now!
Shirone's eyes snapped open and he entered the Spirit Zone. The hostages—including Aria—were trapped inside the Spirit Zone's amoeba-like, formless space.
What's happening? What is this?
The Black Revolutionary Group members were thrown by the sudden attack. But they'd undergone brutal training; they recovered their composure quickly.
"How dare they trick us!"
Just as the club fell from above, Shirone snapped his eyes wide. His body turned into light, and simultaneously all the hostages were struck by photonization magic.
Mass Teleport!
Blinding flashes erupted at once, then twisted and writhed as they streaked out beyond the Gold Tower.
Shirone arrived about twenty meters from the main gate. He wanted to get as far away as possible, but unfamiliar with the area, his reach was limited by line of sight.
He checked the number of hostages and used precise control to cut Armand's rope. On the Gold Tower side, the suppression team was taking the terrorists into custody.
Werewolves, underdwellers, goblins—their true species were varied.
The hulking club-wielder belonged to the Gader tribe, called a forest keeper. With a prominent prognathism, he howled in a low tone like a brass instrument while his arm was twisted by the knights.
One of the terrorists was missing.
Only seven had been captured. Glancing at the group, the leader they'd called the boss wasn't among them.
A scream from the sky made Shirone look up. Plu hovered there, striking something with a magic staff.
With a thud, a transparent object fell to the ground. A moment later the boss staggered into view, chest pressed to the dirt from the blow.
Plu landed as lightly as a feather and said, "Where do you think you're running?"
"Ugh! Annoying mage!"
The boss clutched his chest and ripped his robe apart.
A man with pale violet skin was revealed. Bald, with knife-like ears and pointed fangs bared between clenched teeth.
"So you're a vampire, after all."
For a moment the invisibility had seemed to be the vampire's own technique. But since he didn't appear to suffer from sunlight, he wasn't purebred.
If he'd been purebred, everyone here rushing him would have been impossible.
Plu kept her eyes on the vampire and told the suppression team, "I'll take him. Block the escape routes—vampires are good at getting away."
The suppression team immediately sealed the approaches to the Gold Tower. They knew that if they moved clumsily, a vampire could vanish like smoke.
Plu twirled her staff by habit, then gripped the end and pointed it forward. "Come on then, punk."
"Bold little bitch!"
Long nails shot out from the vampire's ten fingers like blades. His body blurred into afterimages and ripped across space like a torrent.
Vampires are fast. It wasn't raw strength but a peculiar embodiment technique—half-spirit, half-body—that gave him that speed.
Plu kept her eyelids half-lowered and only flicked her gaze left and right.
Crack! As she twisted and thrust the staff forward, one of the vampire's nails was severed mid-swing.
"Graaah! What the—!"
"You looked down on me. No mongrel can be faster than the Spirit Zone's shared perception."
"Shut up! Shut your mouth!"
The vampire slashed his nails dozens of times per second.
With a sharp rasp, Plu stepped back and he began circling her at invisible speeds. She abandoned the chase and slammed her staff into the ground.
"Phoenix Formation."
From the crystal orb, a giant firebird rose and spat balls of flame in all directions.
Resonating with the Spirit Zone, the phoenix unleashed fireballs at everyone within range. It couldn't distinguish friend from foe, but its reflexes—faster than the Zone's shared senses—were overpowering.
The vampire took a direct hit, writhed as his body burned, and rolled on the ground. By the time the flames were controlled he had no strength left.
Plu pressed her staff into his solar plexus and said, "You can endure the sun, but not the fire. Surrender your aura quietly."
"Don't spout nonsense! Do you know our suffering? Do you understand even a fraction of our misery living in the gutters?"
"No. Humanity can't even save itself. I don't have the capacity to account for your circumstances."
"Foolish, arrogant human! I too was once human. How long do you think you will dominate the world? One day you will pay a tremendous price for your sins."
"Maybe someday. But not now."
"Ha ha ha—shall we see?"
The vampire's body began to split like a jigsaw puzzle. At the grotesque transformation, Plu drew back her staff and took a step away.
"What is—?"
"This is precisely what you created!"
The vampire's body scattered into hundreds of black bats, which streamed through the air toward the hostages.
Plu immediately trained her staff on them. But she couldn't use Phoenix Formation where the hostages were.
"Help! Please save us!"
The hostages clung to one another at the sight of the bat swarm.
Shirone stepped forward and brought his fist down. "Rampage!"
A curtain of light pulsed and repelled the entire bat swarm. The bats that flew outside the barrier tangled and the vampire reformed into his original body, collapsing to the ground.
Kraaah!
The vampire's fingers, stretched toward the sun, slowly relaxed.
Once movement ceased, an emergency response unit rushed in and arrested him.
The hostages slowly lifted their eyelids. The terrorists were being moved one by one into steel cells.
"It's done. We've arrested them all."
"It's over! We're alive!"
The hostages cheered and applauded.
The focus of their praise was Shirone. He had entered as a hostage, bought time, and seen the situation through—he deserved the credit.
"That was amazing! Justice still lives!"
"What bravery! You should join the Magic Association!"
Shirone's face flushed. He worried people would mistake him for a Magic Association employee. Embarrassed and unsure where to look, he bowed his head as Aria approached.
"Are you all right?"
"Oh, I'm fine."
"Thank you so much for today. I want to reward you—"
"No, really! There's no need!"
Aria didn't want to let Shirone go. She'd been helped, yes, but she also felt a fated pull—he'd shared a carriage with her.
"My name is Aria of the Teshia family. My father is the kingdom's grade-one diplomat. If I speak about what you did today, it could—"
Plu grabbed Shirone by the head and squeezed. "There's no need for that."
"Huh?"
Plu bowed politely to the startled Aria. "Apologies. This child is not yet a full-time employee but a trainee. This was an operation conducted by the Association to capture the terrorists, so please understand."
Shirone kept his head bowed and averted his eyes. Strictly speaking, he wasn't even a trainee. But when he met Plu's fierce look, he knew what to say.
"Yes, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
Aria didn't care whether Shirone was full staff or a trainee—after talking with him she simply wanted to know more.
"No, I just wanted to thank you—"
Plu cut her off firmly with a wave of her hand. "It was what needed to be done. Personal rewards are strictly prohibited within the Association. I trust you'll understand. Now then—come on, you runt!"
"Ouch! That hurts!"
Plu dragged Shirone out of the Gold Tower by the hand as if pulling a child.
A regretful expression clouded Aria's eyes as the two walked away.