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    Chapter One


    Minami had been kidnapped by Minoru. Miyuki called Tatsuya for help, and Tatsuya quickly flew away from Miyako-jima.


    Flying by his aircar from Miyako-jima in the Izu archipelago to Chofu, a suburb of Tokyo, took Tatsuya just 20 minutes at the beginning of the 21st century. Tatsuya wasted no time in hurrying back to Miyuki.


    Understanding Miyuki’s shock, Tatsuya didn’t question Miyuki much. It was obvious to him that asking any further questions would only pressure her and would not be productive.


    “Yes, this is Ozaki.”


    Tatsuya contacted Yuuka over the radio, and was answered by her guardian, Ozaki Chiho. After a quick greeting, he asked her to explain the current situation.


    “Kudou Minoru attacked the hospital with the help of self-destructing parasitic dolls.


    They were destroyed upon being disabled, thereby releasing the true bodies of Parasites which attacked passerby. The Juumonji family had to react to this threat, and Kudou Minoru used the chaos to break through the line of defense, allowing him to get into the hospital.”


    “And Yuuka-san left to help deal with the Parasites?” Tatsuya asked.


    “Yes, it was an order from Miyuki-sama.”


    Chiho''s tone was slightly apologetic. Her excuse was effective, however, as Tatsuya could not complain about Miyuki’s decision. Yuuka had no grounds to refuse an order from the next head of the Yotsuba family, so Tatsuya accepted the excuse easily.


    “Minoru’s opponent was only Miyuki?”


    Tatsuya still didn’t understand the details of the event and asked for clarification.


    “Yes. We have not yet established the details of what happened in the hospital, but Miyuki-sama is unharmed. All four parasitic dolls that Kudou Minoru took with him to the hospital were disabled by Miyuki-sama’s magic, but Kudou Minoru still kidnapped Sakurai Minami.”


    Chiho’s explanation contained the approximate course of events, but Tatsuya’s attempt to understand the specific details was not making progress.


    Obviously, Miyuki’s Cocytus was what neutralized the parasitic dolls.


    When Pledge was still in effect on Tatsuya, it was supported by Miyuki’s power, so as well as removing the limiter on Tatsuya’s magic, removing the seal also allowed Miyuki to use her magical powers at 100%.


    Miyuki''s Cocytus was able to damage the Parasite’s true body — confirmed last winter in the battle at First High’s training forest. While with people, the Parasite “merges”


    with the host, in Parasite dolls the Parasite just takes possession as the doll does not have a spiritual body to merge with. Because of this, Parasite dolls had no way to resist Miyuki’s magic.


    Cocytus was a magic that did not allow leniency. Using this magic either resulted in death or failure. Minoru could withstand one hit with Parade, but he wouldn’t fool her magic a second time. Once Cocytus was used on Parade, Cocytus – which freezes activity of the mind, including Magic – would not allow Parade to be used again. Even if Minoru was not hit directly, allowing the main hit to be tanked by one of his Parasite dolls, Minoru would still suffer a decline in magical power.


    The basic course of events was obvious to Tatsuya, but he couldn’t possibly understand how Miyuki had allowed Minami to be abducted while remaining unharmed. Even if Minoru had somehow found a way to beat Miyuki, he wouldn’t have been able to do it by such a margin as to leave Miyuki unscathed. The only explanation was that Miyuki had allowed Minami to be kidnapped, but that didn’t make any sense.


    Therefore, the only explanation was that Minami and Minoru convinced Miyuki to let them go.


    There was no guarantee that Miyuki would win in a fight against Minoru. If she hit him with Cocytus, Minoru would lose, but if Minoru’s magic reached Miyuki before this – she would lose. Of course, Tatsuya would not allow Miyuki to be harmed, regardless of distance. As soon as an attack on Miyuki was started, Tatsuya would feel it, recognize the attack, and eliminate. Should the attack be one that could not be expanded, he would erase the enemy carrying out the attack. However, there were always exceptions. It was foolish to assume that Tatsuya was omnipotent. There were attacks he could not expand and enemies he struggled to eliminate. Minoru as he was now was not an opponent to be underestimated.


    Miyuki had no reason to kill Minoru or take magic away from him. She wasn’t even necessarily an enemy to the Parasites. Though Parasites were a threat to mankind, Miyuki was a fragile creature that could be destroyed unexpectedly, and her nature was relatively pacifistic. It was entirely possible for her to support Minoru’s love - however misguided he was in trying to turn Minami into a Parasite - if Minami agreed. If Minoru came for Minami and convinced her to go with him, Miyuki might just smile, wish them good luck, and let them go – she was the type of girl to avoid fighting if at all possible.


    However, Miyuki most likely would not have entrusted Minami to the current Minoru. If Minoru didn’t give up on turning her into a Parasite for “treatment”, Miyuki would probably have stopped him.


    Since leaving Tokyo, Tatsuya had not felt a single direct attack on Miyuki, and Chiho’s assertion that Miyuki was unharmed confirmed this.


    Then, Miyuki did not fight Minoru and overlooked his abduction if Minami…? No, Miyuki’s distress at the event meant she surely did not overlook Minami’s abduction.


    Something unexpected happened so that she could not attack Minoru?


    Tatsuya could not imagine what that should be.


    “Is Minoru’s current location known?”


    Putting aside his guesses on the events of how Minoru kidnapped Minami, Tatsuya started thinking about the pursuing Minoru. Given that the USNA and New Soviet Union’s plan to sabotage the thermonuclear fusion reactor had for the most part come to a conclusion, the pursuit of Minoru became the task taking precedence.


    “We don’t have details of the vehicle used, but it has been found moving west along the main road. The Juumonji family head has already completed preparations for pursuit,” Chiho answered.


    Since the appearance of the vehicle wasn’t known, surveillance systems would be useless, raising the question as to it was confirmed that he was heading west on the main road.


    “What was the basis of the conclusion that he was heading west along the central road?”


    “We confirmed his location using Psionic radar to search for Parasites,” Chiho responded.


    This Psionic radar was not yet at a level such that it could be considered complete, but it was still effective in determining the approximate location and direction of movement. More points of observation would have to be established before the radar could determine exact location using multi-point searches.


    If Minrou were in perfect condition, he would be able to thwart any attempt at following him by using Parade. The radar was nowhere near advanced enough to be able to break through the Kudou family’s magic. Knowing this, Tatsuya came to the following conclusion:


    “Minoru was damaged in a fight?”


    Minoru’s magical abilities had to have been deteriorated in a fight for Chiho to be able to be confident about his location, but this raised further questions. Was it temporary, or would it remain for an extended length of time as a side effect? Was the nature of the damage in the Eidos, or was it ironically caused by overheating of his magic calculation area, similar to what happened to Minami?


    He most likely received a strike from Miyuki’s Cocytus, but regardless of the cause, Minoru’s inability to use Parade provided an excellent opportunity to both bring back Minami as well as to capture Minoru without killing him.


    Tatsuya was still slightly indecisive on whether to kill Minoru. This could have been because of some slight emotional attachment, but more importantly, he couldn’t predict what would happen upon his death, the moment his body was destroyed.


    Minoru had retained his identity upon merging with the Parasite and swallowing the ghost of Zhou Gongjin. He was very different from the deserters of the USNA Army he fought last Winter and the magicians from Stars who Tatsuya had just defeated.


    Though he was able to seal the magicians from Stars of First-magnitude class, he might not be able to use the same method on Minoru. Killing Minoru could release a powerful spiritual life form unable to be sealed by Tatsuya’s sphere, and Tatsuya didn’t want to take that risk. Tatsuya felt catching Minoru alive and putting him in a state in which he wouldn’t be able to use magic was the method with the fewest possible consequences. The only problem was the difficulty of putting the plan into action.


    Capturing someone alive was far more difficult than simply murdering them. Minoru’s struggle in capturing Minami illustrated this difficulty. Tatsuya was not even sure he would win against Minoru in a battle for life and death if Minoru was in perfect shape; he would almost certainly not be able to capture Minoru alive, especially considering the magic available to Tatsuya. He needed to be ready to kill Minoru in the next fight regardless of the possible consequences.


    Tatsuya asked his question about Minoru’s condition intending to capture Minoru alive if the situation allowed it, and killing him if not. Chiho answered his question understanding this, but her answer didn’t provide much information.


    “It seems that Kudou Minoru’s masking and hiding abilities are weakened, but it isn’t known how long this weakened state will last for.”


    With this confirmation, Tatsuya’s thought screamed, “This is a chance.”


    Tatsuya arrived at the Aoba clinic in Chofu exactly 20 minutes after Miyuki called him for help. Flying back from the island to the clinic actually took less time than the flight from Chofu to the island – the fact that the return trip took less time than the initial


    trip, a trip in response to an emergency request from the main Yotsuba house, indicated Tatsuya’s priorities clearly.


    “Onii-sama!”


    Miyuki ran up to him and called him in an unacceptable manner under normal circumstances – forgetting to at least use “Tatsuya-sama” showed her distress.


    Thankfully, there were no magicians from the Juumonji family in range to hear her as they had already set out to pursue Minoru, but Yuuka and the Tsukuba family staff were still in place. This wasn’t that much of an issue considering they were still part of the Yotsuba family, but it still would have been more desirable for Miyuki to act as her position dictated. The Tsukuba family realized Miyuki’s distress, however, and didn’t comment on it.


    “Miyuki. I''m glad you''re not hurt.”


    Tatsuya hadn’t planned these words in advance, and Miyuki opened her eyes in surprise, not expecting words of concern. She at least expected questioning on the events or about Minoru, so his first confirming Miyuki’s condition came as a shock to her.


    Tatsuya was no less surprised by his words – while his concern for Miyuki was only natural, he was surprised that he had simply said what he was thinking honestly and openly without considering the words he was saying.


    “Thank you very much,” Miyuki responded.


    Miyuki’s response didn’t make much sense on the surface, but her words of gratitude were natural thoughts to her given the situation.


    However, like Tatsuya, Miyuki was surprised by her openness, and she hung her head slightly in embarrassment.


    “Tatsuya-sama!” Miyuki exclaimed. “It doesn''t matter what happens to me, after all, Minami-chan... !”


    Her short exchange of phrases with Tatsuya managed to suppress her panic, and she regained composure enough to switch to a more acceptable title for Tatsuya. Miyuki


    leaned against him and froze in a pose that seemed to call for a hug. Tatsuya gently laid his hands on her shoulders, and a slight tremor passed through his palms.


    “Tell me the details later. The main thing now is to get Minami back.”


    “...Can you get her back?” Miyuki asked?


    “I can’t promise.”


    Tatsuya could easily tell soothing lies, but he didn’t want to be insincere with Miyuki.


    “Minoru is strong, and his Parade is better than Lina’s. Even with his magical abilities weakened, I might not be able to detect him.”


    At this, Tatsuya paused briefly and slightly pulled away from Miyuki to look into her eyes.


    “But the longer I take, the harder it will be to save her, and I might end up being too late. It would be best to go right now.”


    Miyuki stopped shaking as she thought about how to respond.


    “Save… that’s right. What Minoru-kun is trying… is wrong. And Minami-chan…


    what is she thinking…”


    Miyuki’s words cast a bit of doubt in Tatsuya’s mind - Miyuki’s words made it seem as if Minami left with Minoru of her own free will - but he had enough composure to not let it show on his face. This problem didn’t have to be solved yet.


    “Alright. I''m leaving right away.”


    “Tatsuya-sama! Please take me with you.”


    Tatsuya expected this request. Miyuki considered herself guilty of Minami’s abduction for failing to stop Minoru. However, Tatsuya didn’t yet understand her full motivation. If Miyuki had applied Cocytus to Minoru without hesitating, Minami’s feelings would not have manifested in time for her to act in such an irrational way.


    Even if she ended up sad because Minoru was dead, Minami would still be safe.


    However illogical, Miyuki felt guilty and blamed herself for Minami’s situation, so she


    stubbornly wanted to correct her mistake herself. But Tatsuya did not give a favorable answer.


    “I can not.”


    Even Tatsuya could understand how she felt – if their situations were reversed, he would have wanted to go as well. However, Tatsuya’s plan for pursuit did not allow Miyuki to come with.


    “I will chase from air with the Freed Suit. The maneuverability of the aircar leaves much to be desired.”


    The refusal was not due to possible danger, but due to the lack of suitable equipment.


    “...I understand.”


    Miyuki was just as able to used flight magic as Tatsuya, but without a suit assisting her, she would only be a burden on Tatsuya. Understanding this, Miyuki did not beg further.


    “Tatsuya-sama, be careful. Take care of Minami-chan.”


    “I will.”


    Answering Miyuki curtly, Tatsuya took off and flew westward.


    Compared to the Mobile Suit used by the self-defense forces, the Freed suit developed by the Yotsuba family does not have the power assistance function and has an inferior quality data transmission channel, but it provides the same amount or even higher protection in addition to its more effective stealth and ability to fly much higher.


    Also, the data channel is only inferior at processing large numbers of simultaneous connections, and it has no problems processing external data under most circumstances.


    The Freed suit should not be considered inferior than the Mobile suit, and its increased mobility and stealth makes it more suitable for pursuit then the Mobile suit which is specialized for fighting.


    A translucent map of the terrain was displayed in Tatsuya’s field of view. The map of the Boso area of West Kanto showed a red circle with a diameter of about one kilometer giving the approximate location of Minoru, based on data from a psionic radar tuned to search for Parasites.


    He didn’t intend to waste time near the Aoba clinic, but his conversation with Miyuki had taken 5 minutes. He was almost 30 minutes behind Minoru. Tatsuya’s only advantage was that he could fly in a straight line at a higher speed than Minoru who was forced to travel on the road.


    The translucent circle giving Minoru’s location was moving west near Mount Takao.


    To catch up to him in five minutes, Tatsuya increased his flight speed to 400 km / h.


    After abducting Minami from the hospital, Minoru headed west along the central road in a car prepared by the Kudou family. It was separate to the van on which the Parasite dolls were being transported – Minoru was on the "Van Con", a closed-type wagon van in which the space occupied by the rear seats and cargo hold was converted to a livable area so that it turned out to be like a house on wheels.


    The only people in the care were Minoru and Minami; the driver was a combat quinoid (not parasitized) that looked like an adult human male. Minami sat down on a long bench that acted as a bed, and Minoru took the front passenger seat.


    No one was watching Minami to prevent her from escaping. The car was traveling at a high enough speed that she could not jump out without getting injured, but even if Minami was able to leave, Minoru didn’t intend to follow her. If she wanted to escape, Minoru would have accepted it and let her.


    While abducting her was selfish, he wasn’t going to force her to do anything more now that he had escaped. All he wanted was to talk to Minami and hear her opinion without interference from Tatsuya or Miyuki – what does Minami really think?


    "I don''t want to die"?


    Or "I don''t want to lose my magic"?


    Given the choices, "be human" or "be a magician", what would she choose?


    If Minami didn’t mind losing her magic, Minoru wouldn’t try to persuade or force her.


    He would never forcefully make Minami into a Parasite.


    Minoru just wanted to give her a choice. He didn’t want to observe in silence what appeared to be Miyuki and Tatsuya making Minami’s decision for her.


    Minoru realized his decision was selfish, and being smart, he knew that abducting her from Tatsuya and Miyuki was disregarding her intentions. Being conscious of the effects of his actions, Minoru no longer wanted to restrict Minami.


    He was also curious about what Minami’s feelings were at the moment.


    Was she angry?


    Disgusted, perhaps?


    Does she look at Minoru with contempt?


    Minoru partly chose to sit away from Minami in an attempt to show her he was not trying to limit her. But his main reason was that his magical power was greatly diminished after being hit by Miyuki’s Cocytus. He wasn’t shocked by his weakness, and he had the feeling it was temporary. But his current state wasn’t encouraging considering his situation. From the beginning of his escape, he felt a mechanical look pursuing him, identifying his psionic waves and transmitting them through the information dimension.


    In the current situation, in which the efficiency of his Parade had deteriorated due to his drop in magical power, Minoru could not completely mislead the psionic wave detection hardware. The most he could do was reduce the detection radius to about 1


    kilometer.


    At the moment, he was distorting the response from himself such that the detection radius was accurate to about 500 meters. Minoru was not necessarily in the center of the circle, either – he was constantly moving the signal source to a different direction to reduce the stability of detection results. He was careful about the speed at which he moved the signal source, as well – unnaturally increasing his speed would be clearly visible, so no matter how hurried he was, he wouldn’t go too fast. His only chance at getting away from the Yotsuba and Juumonji would be to use his weakened


    Parade as much as he could. So, his main reason for sitting away from Minami was so that he could focus – he thought that if he sat next to her, his thoughts would automatically divert to her such that he couldn’t focus on his magic.


    Minoru had recently begun to feel a different look than the mechanical one from the radar – like an all seeing eye, making it even more difficult to maintain his false image.


    It was Tatsuya’s Elemental Sight.


    Minoru understood the cause, but it didn’t help him in shaking it off. Minoru could never get rid of Tatsuya’s “eyes” in his current state. He had to make every effort to at least prevent him from accurately determining his location.


    Regardless of Minoru’s thoughts in sitting away from Minami, she was grateful towards him for keeping his distance. She felt that if she could physically feel his warmth, she would automatically cling to him. Minami didn’t trust her mental state enough for her to be able to hold herself back.


    She was tormented by guilt.


    She betrayed Miyuki... she could hardly believe her actions.


    Why did she betray Miyuki, her mistress?


    How could she betray Miyuki by defending Minoru?


    “Because you like Minoru more than Miyuki.”


    The depths of Minami’s consciousness whispered her guilt to her, eroding her mental state as she dwelled on her actions. But she still didn’t agree with her other self.


    She couldn’t deny that she had feelings towards Minoru, no matter how much she wanted to avoid admitting it. But a part of herself still remained confident that the whispered statement was false.


    Her emotions towards Minoru and Miyuki were incomparable; they were fundamentally different in nature.


    Minami viewed Miyuki as her mistress. At least, in the beginning, that was all. But now she thought of her as family, as an older, caring sister. She would protect Miyuki with her life not because it was her duty, but because she wanted to in her heart. She was able to extend her limits and overheat her magic calculation area when defending against the attack by Tuman Bomba because of her feelings. It wasn’t disputable that her feelings towards Miyuki existed, and Minami understood that she loved Miyuki as family. Miyuki was precious to Minami, which made her guilt towards her betrayal all the worse.


    On the other hand, Minami didn’t understand her feelings for Minoru – how she felt about him.


    Was it love?


    Was it more of an obsession?


    Or did she just not want him to die to Miyuki?


    No matter how much Minami thought about it, she couldn’t come to a conclusion.


    Minami knew she liked Minoru.


    She just didn’t know how much.


    Her thoughts had only progressed to the point at which she was just becoming aware of her feelings.


    While trying to come to a conclusion, Minami tried to remember how she felt at the moment she betrayed Miyuki, but she couldn’t remember what she was thinking when she stood in front of Minoru and begged Miyuki to “please stop!”. All she was sure of was that given the choice between never seeing Minoru again or never seeing Miyuki again, she would give her farewells to Minoru. Minami was convinced that she still hadn’t given up her loyalty to Miyuki.


    Minami ordered herself not to hesitate, to believe that she still hadn’t betrayed her mistress in her heart just yet.


    Arcturus decided to try to unite with his colleagues in order to complete his mission to sabotage the thermonuclear fusion reactor.


    His biggest problem at the moment was finding them.


    Though he had become an Astral body, he still had limitations in transportation. There weren’t any physical limitations like terrain – moving over mountains or sea was about the same as flying along flat ground to him now – and speed was not an issue either.


    He was limited to moving at speeds he had personally experienced, but since he had been in the cockpit of a supersonic fighter, he was able to move fairly quickly. His problem was that he couldn’t use any navigation systems as an astral body – he didn’t know where to fly, so any attempt would be a waste of spiritual energy.


    His awakening should have been noticed by his colleagues. Also, he should feel his colleagues’ presence. He should have felt where his comrades were, but no matter how hard he strained his perception, he couldn’t detect any sign of Regulus’ presence.


    “Am I no longer a Parasite?


    Did I… become human again?”


    Arcturus tried to make sense of his situation with his immaterial head; his mind, in other words.


    He decided to try searching again. This time he looked for the activity of the waves of his subordinate’s body by using ancient perception magic, a form of outer-systematic magic passed down among Native Americans which worked using information distance rather than physical distance.


    Information distance could be considered familiarity – close friends, relatives, sworn enemies and the like who one knows very well would give a strong response through the information dimension regardless of distance. On the other hand, one would not be able to detect a response from a stranger even if they were in the same room.


    Information distance disregarded the physical world and was a fundamental y different type of distance.


    Despite this, Arcturus still couldn’t establish the location of Regulus despite the fact that they had worked in the same detachment for more than five years.


    “Has he been kil ed…?”


    Arcturus pessimistically assumed the worst.


    He didn’t have long to grieve, however, as he was interrupted by a sudden feeling.


    “What is this ?”


    Arcturus caught a familiar feeling that he had a strong connection to through his network.


    “The same as at that time ?”


    Arcturus had found the presence of the sworn enemy who attacked the transport plane and sealed Arcturus’ physical body.


    “This is the enemy.”


    Arcturus knew this without even knowing the identity of the person he was against.


    Not knowing that this enemy was the enemy the mission was supposed to neutralize,


    "Shiba Tatsuya", Arcturus rushed after his enemy flying in the sky to avenge himself and his comrades.


    Tatsuya slowed down while flying near Takao Mountain. He was tracking Minami’s eidos through a filter impeding his view, watching for information related to Minami.


    He felt he was catching up to her.


    Tatsuya would be able to determine the location of Minami anywhere on the globe with no interference – his information distance to Minami was extremely close after having lived in the same house as her for more than a year – so though Minoru was hiding her exact coordinates using his magic, Tatsuya was still able to read approximated locational information.


    Minoru had assumed Tatsuya’s sight was directed towards him, but in actuality, he was feeling Tatsuya’s gaze on Minami because of his deep connection with her.


    Tatsuya turned off the helmet’s display and looked at the highway to watch for psion waves.


    Even with his masking magic weakened, Minoru didn’t emit extra psions which lingered and could be detected from a distance. However, he couldn’t completely suppress the Parasitic waves he emitted – lingering effects from being hit by Cocytus.


    This was how the Parasite radar was able to detect his signal – it picked up the distorted Parasitic waves he was emitting and approximated the source location after receiving a number of them.


    “…Are these his?”


    Tatsuya settled his gaze on an unusual wave wobble different from waves emitted by normal people. He lowered his altitude in order to establish the source of the psionic waves which spread around him like a mist.


    Suddenly, he detected magic aimed at him from his left. He stopped his descent and began to rise sharply, as if he had jumped into the air.


    Directly beneath him at the location he had been a moment ago slipped a thin strip of lightning created by magic. Tatsuya turned to face the source of the magic – the point of activation and the point of exit from the magic sequence nearly coincided. Someone had fired a lightning bolt straight from their hand as if it were a gun. This was unusual for modern magic, as weapons devices were preferred for this type of attack.


    Knowing this, Tatsuya figured his opponent was probably an ancient magician.


    However, Tatsuya was surprised by his enemy’s appearance.


    His enemy – was immaterial.


    The spiritual body attacking Tatsuya was in the shape of a person’s physical body, exuding hostile intent towards Tatsuya.


    “A psionic body storing someone’s will... a ghost? No, an Astral Projection ?”


    Tatsuya counterattacked the next attack instead of dodging it. A sharp, rotating spear made from compressed air flew towards him.


    Tatsuya neutralized the air spear directed at him by dispersing the spell as well as the plasma sparks on the surface of the air mass.


    Scatter spells analyzed the structural information of magic sequences and destroyed the connections between the psionic particles making it up.


    The first step of this obtaining the information describing the sequence of the magic.


    In doing so, information about the caster of the magic is revealed in addition to the content of the magic.


    Though the astral body resembled a human body in shape, finer details weren’t reproduced, so though Tatsuya could “see” the astral body was once a human man, he couldn’t establish any form of identity. All it looked like was a silhouette, like a person wearing a mask of a generic human face.


    However, after gaining information about the unknown enemy from the magic they used, Tatsuya recognized his identity.


    “Alexander Arcturus, first-magnitude magician of Stars.”


    Realizing this fact allowed Tatsuya to recognize some of the astral body’s clearer outlines.


    The psionic body, shaped like a man and hovering in front of him in the air, took on the appearance of a large magician whom Tatsuya had fought and sealed in a transport plane.


    Minoru detected the signs of a magical battle as soon as it started in the sky above him.


    “One of them is Alexander Arcturus… he’s fighting… Tatsuya-san?”


    He recognized Arcturus instantly – after all, they were both Parasites, and it was he who undid Arcturus’s seal, awakening Arcturus from “death”. Minoru detected Arcturus from the psionic waves the astral body was releasing, as well as the fact that his release from the seal was incomplete.


    The core of the astral body which had come out of Arcturus’ physical body was the same as the information body formed from the Pushion part of Parasites’ true bodies.


    The Eidos surrounding it – Arcturus – was covering, as if he were clothes for the Parasite.


    Minoru felt Arcturus presence by perceiving an information body similar to himself –


    the Parasite – in addition to the accompanying Eidos making up Arcturus.


    Minoru could only guess that the second person was Tatsuya, though his reasoning was opposite of what it was when identifying Arcturus.


    Minoru could not detect Tatsuya’s psionic waves.


    He had definitely used magic, but the only psions used were used in manipulating the Eidos using magic. There were no residual effects in either the information or physical dimension.


    This was not done by using high-level magic, but by high-level use of magic –


    Tatsuya’s performance could be called an art at how skilled it was.


    “…if you think about it, that has to be him. Tatsuya-san is the only one who can use magic that effectively.”


    Minoru may have been overestimating him compared to everyone else. There could well be other experienced masters with skills similar to or even better than Tatsuya’s.


    However, among magicians Minoru knew – magicians probable to be in this situation


    – Tatsuya was the only person in the list.


    “…Tatsuya-san is chasing me.”


    This fact made Minoru nervous. He wasn’t sure he could defeat Tatsuya even in perfect condition, so with his magic weakened, he had very little chance of defending Minami.


    Shortly after successfully abducting her, Minami would be taken from him.


    Taken directly from his hands.


    “This is bad.”


    He still hadn’t heard Minami’s answer – her feelings.


    Minoru had never relied on others in matters of magic. He used to rely on others physically due to abnormal pains in his body, but that was all. In magic’s case, his skill had always been sufficient for the situation and he never needed to ask for help from others.


    So this situation was Minoru’s first experience in asking for help due to his own magic being insufficient.


    “Please! …at least for thirty minutes, please. Somehow, please stall Tatsuya-san…!”


    Minoru pleaded for help from an unknowing Arcturus, who continued performing reckless attacks.


    Unlike Minoru, who detected Tatsuya by feeling the echoing psionic waves of the magical battle overhead, Minami detected Tatsuya from his Elemental Sight – his vision, his all seeing gaze pointed at her.


    “…he’s watching me.”


    Minami felt it through her intuition rather than her magical perception. Her detection of Tatsuya was not based on anything concrete in the present – it was based on what she knew from the past. She was under his view at home and at First High. She knew he was watching because he was always watching.


    Minami had crouched in fear of his gaze for the first few days, but even now she felt fear from his sight that saw all – even after more than a year.


    She was never scared of being scolded, of punishment. Tatsuya never showed signs that he judged her for the things she did.


    She was scared of the fact that he saw everything – every action she made. And from this, he could know everything about her character. Her quality of work, her effort.


    Normally, she could hide how she felt behind her actions, but she wasn’t perfect – she couldn’t maintain a fa?ade permanently. She could never relax and be content with what she was – she felt insecure that someone could see all the bad parts of her. Her incompetence, her laziness, her ugly side – all the parts of her she didn’t want to see herself were now open to someone else, making it all the worse.


    It seemed to her that when Tatsuya was watching, he saw so much that he knew about her insecurities – and yet she knew nothing in return.


    Minami understood she was making a problem out of nothing – she knew Tatsuya’s power couldn’t reach her feelings, and he wasn’t watching her actions enough to know all she did. In addition, after living under the same roof as him, she knew that he wouldn’t use her secrets against her. But that didn’t matter to her feelings – logically, she knew there was no problem, but feelings aren’t logic.


    Even if Tatsuya wouldn’t use it against her, the fact remained that he possessed a power that could see her secrets, and even if the power couldn’t look into her thoughts, it could still see the sins committed by man. Her actions were revealed as if Tatsuya was giving her Last Judgement.


    Tatsuya’s gaze weakened after 24 hours of not seeing his target, but this couldn’t reassure her. When they lived in the same house, there was never a time where they were apart for more than 24 hours, and now…


    Not even one hour had passed since Minami had betrayed Miyuki.


    Her emotions were no longer limited to just despair – now she cringed, clasping her shoulders as her hopeless eyes gazed at the floor.


    Minami was scared.


    Not of punishment by Tatsuya, but that he would not condemn her for her sins.


    She was scared that he would say she wasn’t even worthy of condemnation. That she would be thrown away as a useless person.


    Minami was scared that she would be pushed to the side, watching from the sidelines as someone who didn’t matter.


    More magic was sent toward Tatsuya from Arcturus’ astral body, but Tatsuya neutralized it all by interrupting and dispelling it.


    All this magic Tatsuya easily neutralized using Interrupt spells and dispel spells.


    Tatsuya now knew the identity of the astral body – he had identified it as Alexander Arcturus from Stars after the body first used magic.


    Tatsuya was mildly annoyed at this occurrence – after all, he was on a time sensitive mission and yet his time was being wasted by an enemy who should have been defeated. However, Tatsuya couldn’t just leave the fight. Arcturus used more diverse magic in his astral body than he had in his physical body. He even used outer-systematic magic to attack the mind this time. This only served to frustrate Tatsuya even more – this enemy, who he never should have had to fight again, was back for more and stronger than last time.


    Tatsuya wasn’t surprised by the fact that Arcturus was able to use magic without a physical body, as he had fought the true body of Parasites on multiple occasions.


    However, he was slightly shocked at the fact that his magical ability had increased.


    In past experiments carried out in Japan, there was no indication that astral projections increased magic power or activation speed. Tatsuya had attended experiments like this twice in the past when they were carried out by the Yotsuba family. The general conclusion from these experiments was that activation speed remained the same, while power decreased.


    But now, after having to neutralize heated wind blades in a state of plasma compressed via adiabatic compression, Tatsuya thought about why his opponent had seemingly increased.


    “…why didn’t he use this power last time?”


    He should not have been limited inside the aircraft – he had shot through the plane that time and was clearly not afraid to damage the body of the craft. It couldn’t have been the presence of friendly soldiers either, as Tatsuya had put Arcturus’ comrade in front of his eyes. Arcturus should have at least nearly used his full power when fighting on the plane, so his increase in strength was unbelievable. Had his power somehow increased the moment he got rid of the seal?


    “Minoru must have broken the seal made by Mikihiko…”


    Tatsuya could not use the ancient magic employed in sealing the Parasites, but he understood its nature. It could not be broken from the inside, so some outside force had to have freed him.


    “When Minoru broke the seal, did he use some kind of spel to increase his magic power?”


    Tatsuya didn’t know any magic that could increase the abilities of another, but he realized he didn’t know all the magic in existence. Some magic may have existed with that effect.


    “…I’ll think about it later.”


    Arcturus attacked using bullets made of uncompressed air. Upon hitting a target, the air around the target is scattered, causing a sudden drop in pressure resulting in cooling as a result of adiabatic expansion.


    Tatsuya destroyed the portion of the magic sequence which would cause the air to scatter using Gram Dispersion.


    As he expected, Arcturus’s interference force was wasted without causing an effect.


    Tatsuya was defending by harassing the enemy rather than neutralizing magic, but even though it affected his opponent, it was still a defense. Arcturus wouldn’t quit just because his attacks were ineffective, so Tatsuya needed to attack somehow.


    Suddenly, Tatsuya rushed towards Arcturus’s astral body using flight magic. He aimed at the Eidos storing the information about Arcturus’ physical body rather than the astral body itself.


    However, Arcturus had foreseen Tatsuya’s attempt to close the distance, and he materialized a red-hot wall of adiabatic compressed air.


    Tatsuya spread out the compressed gas by using a scatter spell, but this released the heat as the compressed air exploded outwards. Arcturus expected this to damage his opponent, but the blast wave was blocked by Tatsuya’s armor. At this point, Tatsuya had approached within 10 meters of Arcturus.


    Tatsuya shot a mass of psions toward Arcturus to interrupt him – Gram Demolition. If Arcturus had a physical body, all he would feel was a slight disturbance as the psions hit him. The physical body acted as a reference, stabilizing the Eidos. It didn’t matter if parts of the information body were blown off as the physical body could be used to recreate missing parts. However, without a physical body, the Eidos has no way to repair broken parts, so in Arcturus’s case, if his information body was damaged by pressure from a stream of psions, he would have no way to fix it.


    However, Arcturus’ astral body withstood Tatsuya’ spell. Its shape was slightly damaged, but that was all. The information making up Alexander Arcturus had not been blown away.


    Arcturus moved away from Tatsuya. He wasn’t running, but he needed to make some distance.


    After he felt he was a safe distance away, he released a series of thin needles made of lightning that were difficult to see. Rather than scatter them, Tatsuya evaded by maneuvering in the air, but by this time, he was too far out of range to use Gram Demolition again.


    Tatsuya’s frustration grew once more.


    The car with Minami continued to head west, and Tatsuya was stuck fighting a troublesome enemy.


    Minoru had probably prepared a shelter hidden by magic, and Tatsuya wasn’t sure how long Minoru’s reduction in magical power would last. For all he know, it would become impossible to track Minoru within just 5 minutes.


    But Tatsuya couldn’t just leave the fight. If he didn’t defeat the current enemy blocking his way, he wouldn’t be able to continue the chase. The problem was, Tatsuya still didn’t have any idea how to defeat this opponent. Though he had a rich combat experience – he could even be called a veteran, despite his age – he had never fought an enemy like this.


    He had fought magicians using astral projections in the past, but he had never fought against such a strong astral body. Astral projections were usually used to search for enemies – not for direct combat.


    The astral body’s natural state was tied to a physical body. Activity away from a physical body was unnatural. It was fine when using passive abilities such as detection, but actively using magic made it impossible to maintain the state for long. Even well trained magicians using this spell would only be able to carry out battles for two to three minutes. Despite this, Arcturus’ astral body showed no sign of a decrease in power or presence despite having fought for more than five minutes now. He continued releasing magic at Tatsuya without any indication that he would run out any time soon.


    Worse, Tatsuya had never encountered an astral body that could withstand the stream of psions from Gram Demolition. Though he couldn’t destroy the spiritual body entirely with it, all astral bodies Tatsuya had previously faced would be forced back into their physical bodies after taking a direct hit.


    Tatsuya tried to think of a way to defeat the enemy in front of him, but the astral body used this as an opportunity to attempt to drag Tatsuya into the illusion of madness using outer-systematic magic.


    Mental interference magic couldn’t be avoided physically, and since Tatsuya couldn’t use any mental interference magic himself, he had no way to resist the attack other than destroying the magic itself. Each time Arcturus used mental interference magic, Tatsuya was forced to dispel the spell.


    In other words, he was in a situation where he couldn’t attack, and couldn’t even focus on figuring out a way to attack.


    If Tatsuya didn’t change something, the situation would only grow worse. Tatsuya was currently neutralizing or evading all of Arcturus’ magic, but if Arcturus didn’t run out of energy and cancel his astral projection, Tatsuya could even lose the battle.


    Once again, Arcturus used mental interference magic to attack Tatsuya – The Illusion of Chaos. It was magic that caused the subject’s mind to experience psychedelic visions and sounds as if they were under the influence of a hallucinogen.


    It was first used medically to treat mental disorders using the effects of drugs without their physical side effects. At that time, its name was the far more innocent “The Illusion of Disorientation”.


    The magic didn’t pose much of a threat on its own, but it put the recipient at a fatal disadvantage in battle, so Tatsuya was forced to react and decompose it with Gram Dispersion. However, Tatsuya’s situation was growing worse and worse as all he was doing was reacting. He had completely lost the initiative in the battle as he waited for Arcturus’ attacks without attacking himself.


    Tatsuya had to retake the initiative to get out of the impasse. Since Arcturus was using wave, energy, and projectile attacks in addition to outer-systematic magic, Tatsuya sometimes had the chance to evade and counterattack Arcturus rather than the magic, but he was too far away.


    Gram Demolition had too short of a range to be effective in this situation. The spell’s effectiveness was determined by the density of psions, so as distance increased, the spell grew progressively weaker.


    Usually, effectiveness of magic was not correlated with physical distance. Since magic was activated from the information dimension, magic could generally be used anywhere from anywhere. Distance was mainly an obstacle due to the feeling of the operator that the target was too far away for the magic to reach; it was a limitation imposed by the magician.


    However, since Gram Demolition worked by sending a mass of psions through the physical plane, it was an exception to the general rule. The maximum range varied on the users psion count, but though Tatsuya’s psion count was impressive, Arcturus was still able to maintain a distance at which Tatsuya could not reach him.


    Tatsuya’s current limit was about 30 meters. This distance restriction was unique to Gram Demolition, and it was a much more serious limitation than limitations on other magic.


    Arcturus was maintaining a distance of more than 50 meters away from Tatsuya.


    Tatsuya had been able to approach to within 10 meters during his first rush, but his attack had been enough to alert Arcturus to the danger so Arcturus was being especially careful about keeping his distance.


    Tatsuya’s only way to defeat Arcturus seemed to be to reduce the distance. Since Gram Demolition had been able to inflict some damage, it would probably be able to defeat Arcturus eventually, and it was Tatsuya’s only method of attack – his innate Decomposition magic had no effect on spiritual bodies.


    “…but why is it not reacting?”


    While he continued neutralizing Arcturus’ magic, he had yet another question about his opponent.


    “I can’t recognize the structure of his mind? …I can’t use decomposition magic.


    Since the mind is a pushionic information body? …I can’t see pushions.”


    The mind was a pushionic information body, so Tatsuya couldn’t see or feel it –


    Miyuki was better suited for that. He realized that he was weak at detecting pushions, so he answered his own question.


    “…I can decompose a man’s body, but I don’t look directly at its structure. I can’t see every microscopic cel , nor can I see the molecules making up each cel .


    It’s the same for other substances too. I don’t recognize the components making molecular compounds directly.


    When disassembling things into its components, I do not see how the parts combine –


    only the Eidos recording information about the substance.


    I don’t see the structure – I see information connecting it, and delete it.”


    Tatsuya thought back to what he did when using decomposition magic.


    Magic was the technology of copying, storing, and replacing information about phenomena existing in the world. The Yotsuba family didn’t consider Tatsuya’s decomposition – the mass deletion of information making a body – to be magic, but strictly based on the definition of magic, Decomposition was fundamentally magic.


    “Despite not seeing the structure of substances, I can decompose them.


    Then why can’t I used decomposition just because I can’t directly see the structure of the mind?


    …


    The body of the enemy in front of me right now – what is it?”


    Tatsuya’s train of though finally started to reach a conclusion.


    The body he recognized as Arcturus was a psionic structure storing information about his physical body.


    The information making up the physical body was not just about the substances composing it. It wasn’t yet fully clear what the purpose of psions were, but they seemed to provide a link between the material world and the mind.


    Psions generally didn’t interact with the material world, with one exception – psionic waves could generate and detect small electrical signals. Because of this, nerve cells could generate psionic waves, and psionic waves could generate an electrical impulse in nerve cells, allowing magicians to feel psionic waves. This two-way communication with psions provided a link between the mind in the information dimension and the body in the physical dimension.


    All phenomena in the physical world are accompanied by information in the information dimension recorded by psions, and using psions to rewrite or change the information about an object changes the object. Phenomena in the physical world are intrinsically linked to the information recorded in the information dimension, so changing one also changes the other.


    However, to change the information, the information must be completely overwritten.


    Changing information requires an interference force determined by the number of psions used to overwrite the information, or else the object will simply repair damage to its Eidos using its physical body as a reference. The object must be


    “convinced” that the new information is correct, causing the physical body to change in accordance with the Eidos.


    In the psionic body Tatsuya observed in Arcturus, he found a link allowing the mind to work in the physical dimension.


    “Why is there any need for a spiritual body need to be accompanied by a psionic information body?”


    Tatsuya stopped trying to maneuver closer to Arcturus to get in range to use Gram Demolition, returning to evading and intercepting attacks. Tatsuya’s intuition told him to follow the course of his reflections, and he began building a new hypothesis based on his reflection.


    “This enemy is not just Alexander Arcturus – it also contains the true body of the parasite covered in a psionic shel .


    The mind can’t control the body directly, and nor can it directly recognize information recorded by the body. The mind – the pushion information body – gives orders to the physical body by emitting psionic waves, and receives information col ected by the physical body by receiving psionic waves.


    Would everything be the same if there was no physical body? The mind can’t directly interfere with or receive information from this dimension, but would it stil be able to access and send information?”


    Arcturus’s attacks suddenly became fiercer as he realized Tatsuya was no longer trying to counterattack. However, Tatsuya continued automatically neutralizing his magic, and he plunged back into his thoughts.


    “The information dimension is not a world separate from this one so much as it is a platform in which information about phenomena is recorded, so the spiritual body can’t access information in the same way it is in the material dimension.


    Then, it gets access to both the material and information dimension using a passage formed inside a psionic structure serving as a medium?”


    Tatsuya finally came up with a revelation.


    “So if I decompose the psionic structure connecting the mind to the physical dimension, the mind would be cut off from the material world ?”


    Tatsuya immediately decided to try this.


    First, he used his Elemental Sight to view the Astral body of Arcturus. Inside, he found a structure connecting the mind with the information dimension.


    The structure didn’t contain information about the physical body.


    It wasn’t really information about the link between the physical body and the mind.


    It was more like information about the gate, which connected the mind to the Idea –


    the platform of the Eidos – from which the magician released magic, but…


    “…not quite.”


    The gate existing between the lowest part of consciousness and the highest part of the subconscious is the area in the minds of magicians that released magic sequences from the magic calculation zone to the Eidos. Since Arcturus had left his physical body, he needed the function of the gate, but more.


    This gate was more like a modification of the connection allowing the mind to communicate with the physical body.


    “… ?”


    Arcturus suddenly sent a mental interference attack.


    Since Tatsuya was distracted from his observations of Arcturus’ Eidos, Tatsuya was a moment late. He had waited until the moment of release to catch the magic.


    Tatsuya was attacked by hallucinations depriving him of his sense of direction, forcing him to lose his orientation in space.


    However, after falling just two meters, Tatsuya used his own magic sequence to restore his orientation, allowing him to control his flight magic once more.


    “What now …?”


    Tatsuya went back to observing the gate in Arcturus’ Eidos but made sure not to concentrate too much on his observations.


    The part of the spiritual body outputting magic sequences seemed to be disposable, as it only left small traces.


    There didn’t seem to be any activity in this connection.


    But next to it, he discovered an active channel.


    As he neutralized Arcturus’ next attack, Tatsuya studied this passage. He used his interference force on the phenomenon almost instantly.


    Arcturus continued attacking, but Tatsuya was focused enough to constantly neutralize the magic.


    He might be able to find more channels if he didn’t rush this fight, but he didn’t have the luxury of time – he needed to finish this battle as quickly as he could in order to continue pursuing Minami.


    Tatsuya directed his Elemental Sight towards the new passage he had discovered with the ability to interfere with the Eidos, analyzing its structure.


    Finally, Tatsuya found his answer after devoting most of his time in the fight to observing Arcturus. He was able to understand the content of the structure because he had significant experience studying information bodies of material phenomena as well as the different structures in magic sequences.


    “… this is a passage to sustain the Astral Projection spel ?”


    As soon as his analysis was completed, Arcturus’ attacks became even more intense as if he had realized Tatsuya figured out an important key to defeating him.


    His behavior was impatient.


    Perhaps Arcturus had felt Tatsuya’s sight, and deduced its danger?


    But Tatsuya didn’t change his plan of action. He continued decomposing his enemy’s attacks as he prepared his own.


    There were usually small differences between the Eidos of various physical phenomena, but they are fundamental y similar, and decomposing information bodies was similar to decomposing magic sequences.


    Having come to this conclusion, Tatsuya finally applied his new knowledge while constructing a magic sequence for Gram Dispersion.


    It took him twice as long as it usually did, but Tatsuya still completed the modified magic sequence in less that half a second. Tatsuya released the sequence of magic for decomposing information bodies into Arcturus’ Eidos. Its target was not the whole Astral body, however, but rather the passage supporting the Astral Projection.


    The effect… was:


    He saw the passage with the power to interfere with phenomena be destroyed, and pushionic waves burst away from the corresponding location on the astral body.


    Tatsuya couldn’t detect the particles in the waves or detect the waves as signals, but he could still sense their presence.


    “Is this the nature of the power to interfere with phenomena ? But these are – pushion waves ?”


    The power of magicians to interfere with phenomena was directly related to the goal of the Eidos being interfered with, but the magician couldn’t see the event in any way other than interfering with the phenomenon.


    However, Tatsuya had now looked into the structure of the channel integral to the power of magicians to interfere with phenomena – he may have been the first magician to look into the nature of interference force.


    “So in magic, pushions are also used? It’s not just psions …?”


    Tatsuya unconsciously muttered his conclusion aloud.


    The interfering with phenomena happened instantly, so even magicians who could see pushions – those with supernatural abilities like “Crystal Eyes”– could not see their nature as psion waves.


    Even magic filling a space with interference force could only be observed after the space had already changed.


    There had been studies in the past about the nature of interference force, and some magic researchers did have the hypothesis that the conductor of the interference force was not a psionic but a pushionic information body – though its supporters were in the minority.


    However, this was probably the first time that the nature of interference force was actually observed as pushion waves. This could be a great discovery in magical science.


    However, Tatsuya’s instincts as a soldier quickly overpowered his curiosity as a researcher, and he turned his attention away from the collapsing channel giving Arcturus’ Astral body interference force.


    The situation changed quickly.


    Arcturus’ Astral body stopped moving for the first time since it had started attacking Tatsuya. It hadn’t just physically stopped, either – Tatsuya couldn’t observe any activity from the remaining Eidos of Arcturus.


    Then, the density of psions in the projection the Astral body began to decrease.


    This lasted for about 10 seconds before Arcturus’ Astral body completely disappeared, sucked into emptiness.


    Closing the passage between Arcturus mind and physical body made it impossible from him to continue supporting the Astral projection, and his spiritual body was thrown back into his physical body.


    Arcturus felt a sudden change in his state.


    “…but the battle was going in my favor.”


    Arcturus though back on the battle that had just occurred once his mind accepted the darkness.


    “I met the enemy of both my comrades and me.


    I tried to get revenge as hard as I could.


    The enemy only had one way to attack my spiritual body, and its range was extremely smal . He may have a powerful means to neutralize magic, but I won’t lose as long as I keep my distance and continuously attack.


    At least, that’s how it should have been.”


    Suddenly, Arcturus felt sever pain.


    He had never had his teeth removed, but he perceived his current pain as similar to the pain of removing a tooth without anesthesia.


    He felt like something was flowing out of him, like blood, but more directly connected to his life.


    Then his senses dulled. His sight darkened further to the point he could no longer see, and the rest of his senses suddenly died out.


    He felt like reality was drifting away, but when Arcturus realized it, he had already been embraced by that darkness.


    He remembered this darkness. This darkness was non-existence; void, null, nothing.


    He was isolated from the outside world; from everything, completely alone.


    “…I returned to my sealed body?


    …I thought I was dead. That the connection between my mind and body had already been completely cut off.


    I guess I was wrong. It seems there remains a connection between me – my mind –


    and my body with a link unknown to me.”


    While Arcturus thought about this, his mind was clouded and his thoughts became increasingly vague. It became impossible to think and reflect at all, and even his mind faded.


    ***


    “I think, therefore I exist.” – Descartes.


    Assuming this quote was true, then one would disappear as soon as they stopped thinking.


    July 8, 2097. Arcturus fainted just a few hours after he had woken up. His thinking stopped, and his identity drowned in the darkness of emptiness.


    A+A-


    The group of Juumonji magicians chasing Minoru, led by Katsuto, chased Minoru with harsh looks.


    After the decision at the Master Clan Conference, they waited near Minami’s hospital ready to ambush Minoru. Their role was to capture Minoru with the help of the Saegusa family. However, the Saegusa family had been completely useless during Minoru’s attack, and Minoru completely outwitted the Juumonji family in his second attack by forcing them to protect citizens from Parasites. Though the head of the Juumonji family, Katsuto, led the defense, Minoru still managed to bypass the Juumonji and approach the hospital.


    The Saegusa magicians, who hadn’t even made contact with Minoru, returned to their temporary residence at the direction of the family head, Koichi. This left the Juumonji family as the only magicians able to chase, so after failing to achieve their goal to interfere with Minoru’s plans and capture him, they chased Minoru in cars of their own.


    The pursuing squad consisted of eight people divided into two seven-seater SUVs converted from military models. The battle formation may have seemed understaffed, but the Juumonji family couldn’t send more people as they were still needed to protect the capital. In addition, the eight people sent were the most elite fighters in the Juumonji family, so they arrogantly decided that more people wouldn’t be necessary.


    They had fallen victim to Minoru’s tricks in Chofu because of the urban residents who had become hostages. In a fair battle outside the city, they wouldn’t lose. Minoru wouldn’t be able to pull the same trick again, so Katsuto and his subordinates kindled a fighting spirit, wanting to wash away the stain of their defeat.


    By the time the Yotsuba found Minoru’s escape route with Parasite radar and the Juumonji family left in pursuit, 10 minutes had passed since Minami had been abducted.


    To catch up, Katsuto ordered his subordinates to go as fast as they could. However, their cars weren’t police cars nor ambulances, and though most of their traveling would be done on the highway, they also had to drive in and follow the rules of the city. They had to be wary of being stopped by police due to “dangerous driving”, but despite this risk, they pursued Minoru west at the actual speed limit of their cars –


    much faster than the limit of the road.


    After this recklessness, Katsuto suddenly ordered the driver to turn onto a public road.


    He ordered the second car to continue the pursuit while directing his own SUV on the route from Hachioji Junction to Kos Highway along the Ken-O ring road.


    Katsuto had felt the signs of a fierce magical battle over the southern slope of Mount Takao.


    None of his subordinates expressed doubt at Katsuto’s judgement – they knew his reasoning without needing an explanation and understood it was valid.


    They were still within the old administrative division of Tokyo. As Juumonji magicians – the foundations of the capital’s defense – they couldn’t ignore the threat of a large scale magical battle.


    Juumonji magicians were not particularly skilled at passive perception; especially compared to their active power in battle, so they detected the residual psionic waves from the battle fairly late. Katsuto was the most skilled at this among them, but even he didn’t detect the waves until they were fairly close to the site of the battle.


    For all they knew, the battle had begun much earlier and was coming to an end. They had no way to know how the battle was progressing at their skill level. However, they couldn’t pass by without even checking what was going on. The Juumonji family’s entire purpose was to protect the capital from armed attacks – and magic was definitely considered to be a weapon in this case.


    Kudou Minoru was undoubtedly a threat to the entire state, and they couldn’t neglect the decision made at the Master Clan Conference. However, they also couldn’t ignore their actual duty to Tokyo, so as the head of the Juumonji family, Katsuto had to leave to personally deal with this threat.


    However, as Katsuto’s SUV turned south at the Hachioji Junction, the signs of battle abruptly disappeared. The residual psionic waves stopped, and the site became calm.


    The battle had ended without their intervening, giving them a choice: they could continue driving the ring road to make sure the battle was, in fact, over, or they could resume chasing Minoru.


    Katsuto gave priority to his duty to the capital. The last echoes of the battle had been observed in the sky southwest of Mount Takao, so Katsuto ordered the drive to head in that direction.


    Tatsuya stopped and turned around at the same time he heard a car approach from behind him, but not because he was surprised to hear the sound of a car.


    It was because he felt the presence of a person familiar to him, and he hadn’t expected to.


    He was confused.


    “Why did Juumonji Katsuto, who was supposed to be traveling west along the central highway chasing Minoru by car, drive along the ring road south-west of Mount Takao?”


    Still, Tatsuya wasn’t necessarily annoyed at Katsuto’s appearance. It was a convenient opportunity for him to rest after his surprisingly difficult battle.


    Tatsuya stood facing in the direction Katsuto would approach from and turned around.


    Two minutes later, the SUV approached Tatsuya and stopped in front of him.


    “Shiba?”


    Tatsuya didn’t see Katsuto, but he assumed the person addressing him from the front passenger window was his former senpai from first high.


    “Juumonji-senpai, if you’re pursuing Minoru, could you take me with you?”


    Katsuto responded to this insolent response in a single phrase:


    “Sit down.”


    Katsuto indicated a seat directly behind himself – in the second row on the left side of the car.


    Not even two months had passed since Tatsuya burned Katsuto’s left hand in Izu (though Tatsuya did restore his hand). Despite this, Katsuto turned his back to Tatsuya showing no signs of wariness.


    Though logically Katsuto should know that Tatsuya had no ill intentions towards him, the power Tatsuya held combined with his seeming lack of emotion should still inspire fear in most people – especially after suffering from him in the past. Was Katsuto’s confidence courage? Good nature? Or perhaps another way of thinking?


    Tatsuya didn’t know Katsuto’s feelings on the matter, but he accepted the show of goodwill and sat down in the indicated spot.


    “Shiba, who did you fight with?”


    Katsuto’s first question was about the fight that had just occurred, which was to be expected, considering his purpose for coming near Takao Mountain in the first place.


    “It was a USNA soldier turned into a Parasite.”


    Tatsuya had no reason to hide the details of the fight, so he answered the question honestly, but his response felt like an understatement.


    “The true body of the Parasite, leaving its owner, flew all the way over here?”


    Katsuto came to an erroneous conclusion, but this could probably be expected given that he had recently been forced to deal with the true bodies of many Parasites after Minoru’s Parasite dolls self-destructed.


    “No, it wasn’t the true body of the Parasite. I don’t have the ability to distinguish spiritual bodies, so I can’t say for sure, but it could be an astral body that left the physical body using Astral Projection.”


    After Katsuto’s comment, Tatsuya realized his previous explanation was insufficient and expanded on his answer.


    “Astral Projection? From a Parasite?” Katsuto asked.


    “It isn’t clear whether he was a Parasite or not.”


    “…but you said yourself that it was a ‘USNA soldier turned into a Parasite’?”


    “This was my second time fighting this adversary. The first time, he was definitely a Parasite.”


    Prior to this, Katsuto asked questions while facing forward in his seat, but now he turned around. The head restraint blocked part of his face, but what remained in Tatsuya’s view was still enough to give the effect of a sharp glance.


    “…you’re saying that the Parasite might have become human again?”


    “I can’t justify it with anything other that my own impressions, but this possibility can’t be completely ruled out,” Tatsuya answered.


    Katsuto turned forward once more, folding his arms across his chest as he sighed softly.


    Almost nothing was known about Parasites. The possibility of turning Parasites human again could add a new way to counter people assimilated by them.


    “…was this American soldier killed?”


    Katsuto temporarily postponed his questioning on Parasites to ask about the result.


    “Maybe. I at least managed to neutralize it for a while.”


    “I see.”


    Katsuto nodded.


    “As you assumed, we are pursuing Kudou Minoru. The Juumonji family has a second car at the moment currently heading towards Lake Kawaguchi based on information provided by the Yotsuba family.”


    Katsuto explained the situation to Tatsuya as he looked at the navigator screen.


    “It will be troublesome if he goes onto suburban streets…” Tatsuya said.


    “Compared to the center of the city, there won’t be much damage. Chasing him towards the suburbs can be considered an improvement, at least to an extent.”


    Katsuto decided to act while accounting for the possibility of involving 3rd parties.


    Minoru had already used citizens as human shields when fighting near the Aoba Clinic in Chofu, so he was well aware of the possibility of him using the same tactic again.


    Katsuto’s eyebrows twitched, but not because he felt the situation was worse.


    “They seem to have turned onto the highway, but this route doesn’t lead to an urban area. They seem to be heading towards the Sea of Trees1?”


    Katsuto said this with doubt. He hadn’t expected them to head away from an Urban area.


    Tatsuya put on the helmet he was holding and looked into its display, looking at the same data Katsuto was.


    The circle giving Minoru’s location still had an error of 1 kilometer, but he was currently south of the town at the shores of Lake Kawaguchi and moving west. With this course, it was probably safe to assume that he had some kind of shelter in the sea of trees.


    In the previous century, there were rumors that it was impossible to get out of the forest, but searching for someone they knew was in it with the assistance of the Parasite radar wouldn’t be overly difficult.


    Despite this, Tatsuya’s outlook on catching Minoru and retrieving Minami was not at all optimistic.


    The van with Minoru and Minami was driving on a narrow road in the Sea of Trees.


    It was a dirt road, but they didn’t feel any irregularities during the ride.


    1This is also known as Aokigahara, as well as the Suicide Forest. This forest was the source of Youtuber Logan Paul’s controversy in early 2018.


    On either side of them were walls of trees, and above them was a green canopy, and the winding road was only one car wide, so they could only see about 10 meters in front of them at any time.


    “There’s a road in the Sea of Trees at Mount Fuji ?”


    Immersed in her self-repressing thoughts, Minami couldn’t do anything but open her eyes in amazement.


    Minami hadn’t noticed them turn onto this road, so she didn’t have much of an idea where they were. They had been moving from east to west on a road south of Kawaguchi lake and Saiko lake, after which they moved south along a road going around the western side of Mount Fuji. Considering how long they had driven on this path, when had they turned onto this road? Minami had no idea.


    Since the road was only one wide, if they met a car traveling towards them, they would hit each other – the passage was too narrow. However, for the entire time traveling on this road, there had been no signs of vehicles or even pedestrians. The road was well-groomed and smooth, so it should probably have been used by tourists for walking, but there were no signs of that.


    Suddenly, a spectacle appeared in front of Minami’s head as her thoughts spun.


    The path suddenly opened to a rather spacious and well equipped plot of land with a one-story wooden house.


    It was here the road ended – at an unassuming little house which while not luxurious, had an exotic feel.


    The narrow road’s only purpose was to get to and leave this house.


    The territory the house was located on was perfectly circular among the trees, and it had no fence or gate.


    The van stopped in front of the main entrance, and while automatically looking back, Minami was surprised for a third time.


    The narrow passage they had come through had disappeared.


    “Huh?”


    Katsuto moaned with doubt in his voice.


    Tatsuya didn’t need to ask him why. He felt the same way.


    The small circle marking Minoru’s approximate position suddenly disappeared from the map.


    Tatsuya took off his helmet while Katsuto contacted the other car by radio.


    “…I see. Got it. Wait for me there.”


    After completing his short conversation with the person on the other end of the radio, Katsuto turned to face Tatsuya.


    “It seems like the car Kudou Minoru used to escape eventually disappeared from sight, and its signal was lost in front of a cave on the west side of Mount Fuji.”


    “So they turned into the Sea of Trees, but we don’t know where they turned into it?”


    Tatsuya asked.


    “Unfortunately, that’s how it is.”


    “…there are two possible options.”


    Tatsuya didn’t say anything like reproach towards the Juumonji family. He had also lost sight of Minoru.


    “Yes. Either Kudou Minoru regained his magical power or hid in a shelter with a powerful concealing effect. Or both options at once.”


    Tatsuya didn’t object to Katsuto’s third option.


    “In any case, all we can do now is look for traces of his presence.”


    Everyone agreed with this conclusion voiced by Tatsuya.


    ***


    When Tatsuya and Katsuto caught up with the first car chasing Minoru, it was already 16:20.


    The summer solstice had passed, but the days were still long, so though the dense forest towered along the edges of the road, it wasn’t dark enough to require artificial lighting.


    Katsuto alternated looking left and right at the walls of trees on either side, looking for any possible path, but found nothing. He sighed a little before turning to Tatsuya and asking:


    “Shiba, any ideas?”


    “Let me check something.”


    Tatsuya went to the west side of the road and entered the forest.


    After seeing what happened, Katsuto’s subordinates were a bit surprised, but they didn’t say anything as they understood what had just happened.


    Tatsuya didn’t go to a gap between the trees, but to a wall as dense as a thicket.


    However, instead of being stopped by the solid mass of trees, he nonchalantly passed through the branches and tree trunks as if he were a ghost.


    Then, he spread his arms out and slowly turned around.


    His hands, half turned, didn’t touch the branches or the leaves; instead, the trees they passed through disappeared, replaced by a road only wide enough to fit a single car through.


    “An illusion?” Katsuto asked the returning Tatsuya.


    “Yes. It’s a pretty powerful illusion magic that can’t be detected until you get close.”


    Since there aren’t any traces of a magician, this was probably done using a magic item.”


    “Magic item?”


    Katsuto asked another question.


    “I don’t know exactly what it is. It might be made using an ancient magic technique.”


    “Hmm…”


    Katsuto folded his arms and thought. The magic hiding the entrance was dispelled, but he didn’t know what other spells were lying ahead. In addition, this might not be the only hidden passage. There may be others, so it was impossible to be certain that Minoru traveled on this road in particular.


    Still holding his arms together, Katsuto faced Tatsuya,


    “We won’t find it if we search from air, will we?”


    His tone dropped at the end of the end of the question, as if he was making a statement rather than a question. He already knew the answer and was only asking for confirmation. A barely perceptible bitter smile came up on Katsuto’s face. Tatsuya returned the same smile as he answered.


    “You won’t.”


    If this illusion could be detected from the air, reconnaissance satellites or stratospheric platforms would already have done so. Self-defense forces would not have disregarded this road. Aokigahara, the Sea of Trees, was not just a tourist spot – it was also a military facility used by national self-defense forces to train for forest raids.


    To conduct exercises in a forest where an illusion could be created was a rather stupid act as it endangered the soldiers. They wouldn’t have allowed the spell to continue working.


    However, this illusion was still set at this place. The self-defense forces made a fairly serious mistake by missing this illusion. It most likely wasn’t due to carelessness as the military would have primarily scouted the area by air, but the soldiers were still put at risk due to the military missing this illusion.


    However, looking at if from another angle, this meant that observing this territory from the sky would not reveal the magic installed here – if it could, the military would have caught it.


    “Let’s move forward. Going into a tiger’s lair doesn’t guarantee you catch the cub, but turning back now won’t improve the situation,” Katsuto said.


    “I agree,” Tatsuya responded.


    Katsuto probably didn’t need Tatsuya to concur to make the decision to continue, but as soon as Tatsuya agreed with Katsuto’s reasoning, the other Juumonji magicians returned to their cars.


    However, despite pushing on, they couldn’t find anything. The narrow road suddenly cut off halfway, and they couldn’t find anything even after checking the entire route several times.


    Katsuto’s choice to state the possibility of failure seemed to have been prophetic, as if he had jinxed the situation. Murphy’s law held true for this situation: “Anything that can go wrong, will.”