Leo, who had been tailing Tatsuya, came to a sudden halt just short of the clearing where the flashes of psionic light and lightning signaled the heat of battle. Miyuki stopped almost simultaneously, her movement so synchronized that Pixie—her mechanical frame struggling with the sudden change in momentum—nearly stumbled into them.
"Be careful, Saijo-kun," Miyuki warned, her voice cool and steady.
"That's my line," Leo grunted. His tone was casual, almost a joke, but his eyes were sharp, scanning the treeline with predatory focus.
"Surrounded... no, that's not quite it. They're making it feel that way. The right flank is wide open, but it smells like a trap. Miyuki-san, what's the play?"
Leo didn't possess X-ray vision or infrared sensors. Despite having no formal training in sensory magic, he had detected the semi-encirclement through raw, unadulterated instinct alone.
"We meet them head-on," Miyuki replied.
"...You don't hesitate, do you?" Leo sounded impressed, perhaps even a bit overwhelmed by her sheer forwardness.
"Is it so surprising? There is no reason to be afraid. After all, if I find myself in over my head, I know Brother will come for me instantly."
"Ah... yeah. Right. Of course."
Leo's expression flattened into a half-lidded stare. When she put it like that, it sounded almost sweet—a sister's simple trust—but coming from her, it felt like a force of nature.
"Still, I'd rather not trouble Brother more than necessary... Pixie, get behind me."
"Understood."
Miyuki turned toward the thicket on their left. Pixie, who was under strict orders from Tatsuya to follow Miyuki's lead, complied with a clinical, one-word response and moved into position.
In her left hand, Miyuki gripped a mobile-terminal CAD. Leo hadn't even seen her draw it; despite being at her side the whole time, he hadn't noticed her preparing for combat. He felt a surge of genuine admiration, though his gaze barely registered on her. To Miyuki, the opinions of anyone other than Tatsuya were background noise—she wasn't being rude; they were simply "outside her field of vision."
The air in the forest began to shimmer. Tiny, scintillating shards of ice began to dance among the trunks and branches, settling onto the frozen ground. It was diamond dust—a phenomenon usually reserved for the coldest mid-winter nights in the deep mountains.
None of the combatants present, friend or foe, mistook this for a natural occurrence.
In a single heartbeat, Miyuki had manifested a field of frost spanning a hundred-meter radius. It wasn't an attack, nor was it a defense. She was simply claiming the space, bringing the entire area under her absolute awareness. To Miyuki, the art of magic was often less about increasing power and more about the delicate, agonizing task of restricting it.
—Left to its own devices, her power would stain the world white as far as the eye could see. That was the reality of Miyuki's magic.—
Watching this, Leo felt a genuine pang of anxiety—not for himself, but for the enemy. For Leo, a fight was a way to settle a dispute. But Miyuki's power didn't care about arguments; it simply erased existence. It wasn't a cat toyed with a mouse; it was an elephant stepping on an ant. It felt almost unfair.
"Miyuki-san, I'll take these guys," Leo said, stepping forward. "You just provide backup until Tatsuya gets here."
"Very well. I'll leave it to you."
Miyuki stepped back with surprising ease, though the biting, unnatural cold she had summoned showed no sign of receding.
(I can't back down now...) Leo thought, bracing himself as ten men in field dress emerged from the shadows.
Even for a powerhouse like Leo, taking on ten trained soldiers at once was a tall order. Gaps in his defense were inevitable. Trusting his hardening magic to soak up the damage, he ignored a blade lunging from his blind spot on the right, instead driving a flicker-jab into the face of a soldier directly in front of him.
CLANG.
The sharp, metallic ring of steel on steel echoed from his right. Leo's punch had only grazed his target, but the two soldiers who had been closing in on him were forced to leap back. One of them was now empty-handed; his combat knife lay vibrating in the dirt at Leo's feet.
"Thanks for the save."
"Even you seem to be having a rough time," a familiar voice chirped. "Though, even if I hadn't stepped in, I think Miyuki would have had you covered."
Erika stood there, her blade drawn. Leo glanced back; Miyuki offered a faint, ethereal smile. It seemed that if Erika hadn't parried the knife, the soldier's arm would have been flash-frozen solid in the next second. Leo felt a cold shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature.
"Where's Tatsuya?" Leo asked.
"He's handling the ones trying to loop around to the rear," Erika shouted, her voice deliberately loud.
As intended, her words sent a ripple of unease through the enemy ranks.
"Miyuki, Tatsuya-kun wants you to rendezvous with him," Erika continued.
"And what about Pixie?"
"Pixie stays with us to help out. Pixie, you've received your orders, right?"
"Master's... commands... and psychic... use... authorization... confirmed," the doll replied in its melodic, slightly disjointed cadence.
"There you have it. Miyuki, leave the rest to us."
"Then I'll leave them in your hands."
Despite the life-or-death stakes, Erika remained playfully confident. Miyuki gave a short nod and sprinted off toward Tatsuya without a single backward glance.
"Man... she doesn't even ask where he is," Erika sighed. "How cliché can you get?"
"That's just how those two are," Leo replied.
"Anyway... we were asked to handle this, so let's clean up this mess and go home."
Leo flashed a predatory grin, and Erika shifted her grip on Mizuchimaru. But before they could lunge, a new presence stepped onto the stage.
"That's enough. Erika, sheath your sword."
Erika froze. A tall silhouette emerged from the artificial gloom of the trees. It was a man she knew all too well: her second older brother, Naotsugu Chiba.
"Brother...?"
"Who's the guy?" Leo asked, sensing the shift in the air.
"My other brother," Erika whispered.
"Hmph... he's strong. Seriously strong."
Leo could feel the man's power through his sheer presence, but Erika was beyond being impressed. She was paralyzed by a sudden, jarring confusion. She had never, in her wildest dreams, imagined a scenario where her own brother might stand on the opposite side of her blade.
Note: If Miyuki truly lost control, the "Battalion" of soldiers would be nothing more than statues in a frozen graveyard...
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