Tatsuya hadn't called Miyuki to his side out of mere brotherly concern. While that sentiment wasn't entirely absent, his primary motivation was far more pragmatic. He had sensed a shift in the battlefield—a complication that surpassed the capabilities of Erika and Leo. To counter it, he knew he needed Miyuki's specific brand of power.
His intuition, as usual, was unerring. Just behind him, he heard Miyuki catch her breath at the carnage unfolding before them. Scattered across the ground were the soldiers of the National Defense Force. Though the siblings didn't know it yet, these men were combatants belonging to a faction under the Kujima family's influence. Out of the ten-man squad, eight were already corpses; the remaining two were so severely wounded they couldn't even stand. They had been utterly annihilated.
This wasn't Tatsuya's handiwork. It was the result of the Parasites currently engaged with Lina.
"Lina, fall back!" Tatsuya commanded.
"Mind your own business!" she shot back, her voice strained.
Tatsuya wasn't just a spectator. He was in the thick of the fray himself. Lina was charging headlong into a swarm of Parasites. There were six of them—and when added to the ones they had already neutralized, the total exceeded the count they had received from Pixie.
Against ordinary opponents, a group of six would be a trivial matter for someone of Lina's caliber. The name "Sirius" wasn't just for show; as the primary operative tasked with "processing" rogue magicians, anti-magician combat was her bread and butter. Ordinarily, it was unthinkable for a squad of this size to give her such trouble.
Yet, Lina was struggling. Had Tatsuya not been incessantly decomposing the spells being hurled at her, she might have already been overwhelmed.
Lina's greatest asset was her unparalleled casting speed, but the Parasites operated on a different plane: they could manifest magic through thought alone. For them, the mere act of visualization translated directly into magical phenomena.
Facing six of them was a different beast than the three they had fought earlier. It wasn't just a doubling of the threat; according to Lanchester's Square Law, the combat power of a force in direct-fire engagement is proportional to the square of its numbers. If this law applied to magical combat, a 1-vs-3 disadvantage resulted in a power gap of 1-to-9—a difference of eight units. But a 2-vs-6 disadvantage meant a power gap of 4-to-36. The disparity had ballooned to thirty-two units.
The only reason Tatsuya and Lina could normally stand against a crowd was because their casting speed allowed them to bridge that numerical gap. But in a situation where they no longer held that advantage, they were forced onto the defensive. Tatsuya, in particular, was completely occupied just dismantling the spells targeting himself and Lina. This was why he had summoned Miyuki.
"Miyuki!"
"On it, Brother!"
The exchange was brief. With nothing more than the mention of her name, Miyuki understood exactly what was required. From her body—or more accurately, from the very coordinates she occupied—a high-pressure wave of interference surged outward.
Zone Interference.
It was a counter-magic that didn't define a specific physical change, but instead saturated a fixed area with pure interference strength. It was, in essence, magic that forbade others from using magic—a technique to nullify any phenomenon not her own.
Lanchester's Square Law only holds true when the firepower against specific points can be quantified as constants. It does not apply to an overwhelming force that asserts total control over the entire field of engagement.
Miyuki's Zone Interference created a "magical vacuum." Within this void, Tatsuya and Lina began weaving their own spells, narrowing them into thin, high-density threads. Their individual interference strength was powerful enough to pierce even Miyuki's suppression.
Even for those two, launching a direct attack on Miyuki within her own zone would have been difficult. However, using magic for other purposes remained possible, even if its effectiveness was significantly dampened by the environment.
The Parasites, however, possessed nowhere near the interference strength of the three magicians facing them. Tatsuya and Lina unleashed a rapid-fire succession of spells.
Lina targeted six sets of coordinates. Tatsuya targeted twelve. Half of Tatsuya's targets were actually Lina's own spells; he was attempting to decompose her lethal magic to keep the Parasite hosts alive. However, even his god-like speed could only dismantle half of what she threw.
In the end, three Parasites were obliterated by Lina's magic. The remaining three were pierced by Tatsuya's spells, only to self-destruct a moment later.
The 1st Division of the Ground Self-Defense Force's Skirmish Infantry Platoon—the "Battotai." While they were a group tied to the Kujima faction, they were also a close-quarters unit specializing in blades and short-range magic. Among all infantry units, they had spent the most time under the tutelage of the Chiba family. To them, the Chibas were their masters.
They might not have recognized Erika, who rarely appeared in public, but they certainly knew Shuji. He was famous as the "Kirinji"—the "Wonder-Child of the Chiba." More than that, the platoon commander himself had once been personally instructed in the way of the sword by Shuji.
"Master Shuji..."
When Shuji suddenly appeared, the soldiers froze. It was a visceral reaction. In terms of military rank, the platoon leader was a commissioned officer and technically outranked Shuji, who was still a student. But in this moment, the room was governed by the hierarchy of the martial arts world.
Shuji walked past the frozen soldiers and came face-to-face with Erika. He released a sharp burst of killing intent, exchanged a brief, silent clash of wills with his sister, and then abruptly turned his back on her.
"Brother...?"
Erika's guard wavered, caught off guard by the move, but no strike followed. Shuji didn't answer her. Instead, he leveled his martial pressure toward the Battotai.
"I am Shuji Chiba, Reserve Second Lieutenant, attached to the National Defense Academy's Special Combat Tactics Research Department. I am currently on a mission to escort civilians who have been targeted by terrorists. I demand to know your affiliation, rank, and objective!"
He stepped forward, his voice ringing with authority.
"If you have deployed with the intent to harm civilians, it is an act of treason against democracy. I will not hesitate to stop you."
For the Ten Master Clans and the Hundred Families to invoke "democracy" was, in a sense, a farce. They prioritized the interests of magicians far above those of the general public. Erika knew this as she listened to him, and Shuji likely knew it too.
Yet, there was not a single flicker of doubt in Shuji's presence. With the edge of his blade pointed at them, the situation ground to a tense, absolute stalemate.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 30 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[pat*eon*com/DaoistRoeoNQ]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"