Chapter 104: Let the Hunt Begin!
Rip—!
Neither Lina nor Sylvia had time to react—or rather, they never expected something like this to happen.
In an instant, Mahiro suddenly grabbed the front of Mia's clothes and tore them apart with a sharp yank.
The fabric was shredded in an instant.
Her slightly plumper (though still slightly less endowed than Lina) skin was fully exposed to the air.
A winter plum blooming defiantly in the snow.
But what drew attention wasn't that—it was the horrifying, centipede-like scar running from her shoulder down to her waist.
A sword wound.
Or rather, a scar left by the Watanabe family's secret technique, "Dojigiri."
"Hah, as I thought..."
Seeing the scar, Mahiro let out a light chuckle before suddenly seizing the girl by the throat and slamming her against the wall with a thud!
"Didn't expect you to have quite the nerve."
His voice carried a mocking sneer. "Yesterday's attack on the people close to me—your comrades were behind it, weren't they?"
The girl didn't respond. Her gaze remained fixed on him, eerily calm, her silence unbroken.
But the timidity and restraint from earlier had completely vanished, replaced by an almost mechanical indifference.
In this rapidly deteriorating situation, Lina was the first to react.
"...Yotsuba, what are you doing?!"
As she shouted, Lina began constructing a magic sequence, her fingertips already gathering psion waves aimed directly at the back of Mahiro's head.
"Let go of Mia!"
Though pure psion waves weren't lethal, a direct hit would still cause severe unconsciousness.
"Tch, you really are stupid, Lina. The enemy's been right under your nose this whole time, and you didn't even notice."
"What do you mean?"
Just as Lina was about to question him—
A barrier of anti-magic suddenly materialized out of nowhere, blocking the path between her and Mahiro. The psion interference was completely nullified.
"Phalanx?!"
Lina was stunned.
In her memory, this was a magic that only Juumonji Katsuto—the towering, boulder-like heir of the Juumonji family—should have been able to use!
But Mahiro paid no attention to her shock. Instead, he turned his gaze back to the girl in his grip.
"Am I right, Miss Mia?"
Hongo Mia: "..."
Mia didn't respond. She simply stared at him with those hollow eyes, as if trying to devour him whole.
At the same time, that familiar sense of weakness crept up from Mahiro's palm once more.
Crack!
"Cough!"
Mia suddenly coughed as the hand around her throat tightened further.
"You think you can drain me faster than I can snap your neck? I suggest you drop that pointless little trick." Mahiro's voice was icy.
"Mia!"
Lina screamed in concern for her companion, but Sylvia immediately held her back.
"Wait, Lina, don't go over there."
"Sylvie?"
Lina was startled when she realized Sylvia was using a specialized magical communication method—one that didn't rely on physical speech, but instead vibrated the air to transmit sound directly into her ears.
A completely private conversation.
'Lina, look at Mia's expression... something's off.'
Indeed, upon closer inspection, Lina noticed it.
Normally, when someone was being choked, they would either struggle violently or claw at the hand around their throat, their face contorted in suffocating agony.
But Mia's expression showed none of that.
Only an eerie calm, as if the one being strangled wasn't her at all.
What was going on?
Just as the standoff reached its peak—
The corners of Mia's lips suddenly curled into an unnatural smile. At the same time, her pupils began to glow with an eerie light, revealing a gaze that was anything but human.
Just like Charles Sullivan, the attacker from last night.
"Fourth Research Institute's adjusted magician—Yotsuba Mahiro."
Her voice was devoid of emotion.
"Desireless, ambitionless... yet you harbor immeasurable hatred. And your body—it is undoubtedly the perfect vessel we seek."
Desireless? He wasn't sure about that.
But one thing he did know—this hatred was a gift from Maya.
A gift bestowed upon him when he was still just a cell, imprinted by her overwhelming spiritual power.
A desire for vengeance against the entire world.
Even if he himself sometimes failed to notice it, his methods against enemies were often excessively cruel. More often than not, his superhuman intellect would urge him to solve problems with his superhuman strength.
"Yotsuba Mahiro, your body shall be mine!"
"Yeah, go die."
Crack!
With a slight twist of his wrist, Mahiro effortlessly snapped her neck.
Neither Lina nor Sylvia had anticipated such a sudden turn of events.
But one thing was now certain—
Michaela Hongou was a parasite!
The one most affected was Lina.
To her, Mia had merely been a cooperative teammate, a neighbor separated by a single wall, someone she occasionally shared tea and conversation with.
But even so, that didn't change the fact that Mia had helped her on numerous occasions.
And now, those lifeless, hollow eyes—still fixed on her from the unnaturally tilted head—would forever remain burned into her memory.
"Yotsuba... can I have Mia's body?"
Having composed herself, Lina stepped forward and made her request.
"Sure, I don't have any use for it. But... this isn't over yet."
"?"
Lina was confused.
Killing the host body should also kill the parasite inside—that was the conclusion she had drawn from her previous experience hunting and executing Alfred Fomalhaut.
But now that Mia's body was completely dead, how could this not be over?
Just as that thought crossed her mind—
Before Mahiro could activate "Cocytus" to freeze the still-active spiritual entity, Mia's corpse suddenly moved.
Despite being biologically dead, it was still using magic.
Defying all common sense.
Electricity crackled across Mia's body, arcing wildly against the anti-magic barrier. All the while, Mahiro continued to hold her by the neck.
"Self-destruct?"
No.
Mia's corpse ignited under the surge of electricity, burning away like dry paper in an instant.
Then—after the ashes scattered into nothingness, magical lightning crackled into existence within the confined space Mahiro had created, lashing out chaotically in an attempt to invade his body.
But every time the lightning came into contact with him, it dissolved like snow against his skin.
"Gram Dispersion—"
The psion waves enveloping his body dismantled all incoming magic.
Then, Mahiro's pitch-black pupils shimmered with an icy hue.
"Cocytus."
A cold wind howled, rising abruptly from the ground and swirling around Mahiro.
Within the vast living room, a storm of frost erupted.
A chill capable of freezing souls gradually spread through the air. Even Lina, a magician with extraordinary magical power capable of strongly altering phenomena, had no choice but to retreat.
Within the "Linked Barrier," the anti-magic shield condensed layers of white frost.
The energy phenomenon of lightning was instantly frozen. At the center of the crackling electricity, an ethereal, spirit-like lifeform gradually crystallized into ice, solidifying bit by bit.
Only the size of a golf ball, it eventually turned into a frozen lump and fell to the ground.
Shattering like glass.
"Whew~ It's over."
The parasite inhabiting Mia's body was now thoroughly dead.
That left only one thing—
"Next, let's hunt down these damned parasites together."
So declared Mahiro.
...
Night fell.
At the Tokyo branch of the Maximilian Research Center in Shibuya—once the workplace of Hongo Mia and now one of the secret bases for the fugitive pursuit unit—nothing had changed even after Mia's death.
Tonight, however, an unfamiliar visitor arrived—
A man.
Tall and slender, his silver hair fluttered in the wind. His strikingly handsome face bore crimson eyes that seemed to reflect the starry night.
Sylvia watched him with a complicated expression.
There was no doubt—this was Mahiro, disguised using "Parade."
Nearby, the disguised unit commander, Angelina, was assigning tasks.
Opposite her, a figure with flowing "red hair" spoke while scanning the team members with "golden" eyes.
Her cold demeanor was a far cry from Angelina Kudou Shields.
This was their Major Angie Sirius.
The STARDUST members' curious gazes flickered between Angie and Mahiro Lina finished assigning the mission.
"Does everyone understand their roles?!"
"Yes, Commander 'Sirius'!"
The members selected for the fugitive-hunting team were all skilled in search and tracking. Most had abilities not yet practicalized in Japan—capable of recognizing psion wave patterns and detecting traces.
Perfect for tracking these parasites.
"Commander, is it really alright to involve him?"
While the STARDUST members hurried off to their tasks, Sylvia, responsible for communications, didn't take her position. Instead, she approached Lina with concern.
Mahiro would be joining their search team, mainly because—
Back at the apartment, when Mahiro declared he would hunt the parasites with them, their identities had already been completely exposed.
Strangely, Lina hadn't fulfilled her "Sirius" duty of eliminating witnesses. Instead, she agreed to Mahiro's proposal.
Her expression then had been one of resignation—just like now.
"Sorry, Sylvie. We... have no choice but to cooperate with him."
"I understand."
As Lina's adjutant and roommate, Sylvia was not only skilled in household duties but also highly perceptive.
If Lina said so, she must have already realized—
As unbelievable as it was, Lina likely couldn't handle this man. At the very least, she was no match for him in magic.
Of course.
According to intel, Mahiro was from the Yotsuba family, yet he could use secret techniques from the Kudou family—just like Lina—and even the barrier magic of the Juumonji family.
No wonder the commander suspected Mahiro might be the user of the "Scorched Halloween" strategic-class magic.
The possibility was extremely high.
Still, after everything that had happened today, even Sylvia was mentally exhausted.
She had no idea how things would unfold from here.
But most likely, Lina would face repercussions from the higher-ups.
...
.....
....
"Target spotted—in the open area of Park No. 2."
"Only one reaction detected. Let's flank. I'll take the right."
The hunters had found their prey and prepared to strike.
Dressed in fashionable coats, short skirts, black leggings, and ankle boots, they disguised themselves as young women enjoying a night out—female magicians concealing their USNA identities. Only their tone betrayed their true personalities as they coordinated with their partners.
They moved swiftly, encircling the parasite—cloaked in a coat and savoring its prey—in the park.
But then, a voice cut into their comms.
"No need for that. I'll handle it."
"Who is that?!"
The voice was unfamiliar, but they soon recalled the eerie man they'd seen earlier at the base.
Then, they saw him—a man in a black coat suddenly appearing above the target, his silver hair shimmering like moonlight, as if he were the lord of the night itself.
Descending like a falling star, he drove his knee into the target, pinning it to the ground.
His hand pressed against the parasite's head as freezing cold enveloped it, instantly turning it into ice.
With a slight squeeze, the frozen statue shattered into shards, dispersing into the air.
After effortlessly dispatching the parasite, Mahiro spoke into the comms again:
"From now on, you locate the targets and report. I'll handle the rest."
Mahiro had taken command.
He had no time to debate leadership with them. If these parasites dared target him and those close to him, they had only death to look forward to.
Lina remained silent, offering no objection.
And so, even if the others didn't understand Mahiro's identity, they had no choice but to obey.
After ending the call, Mahiro dialed another number.
[Hello?]
"Uncle Mitsugu, it's Yotsuba Mahiro. Do you have a moment?"
[Ah, Young Master Mahiro... Please go ahead.]
Mahiro sighed at the overly respectful tone.
"Uncle Mitsugu, you're the head of the Kuroba family, and Maya is your cousin. I'm just an adjusted-body magician—there's no need for such formality in terms of seniority or status."
"Just call me Mahiro."
[Understood, Mahiro.]
"Good. Uncle Mitsugu, about the matter my mother, Yotsuba Maya, asked you to handle—have you made progress?"
The direct question caused a brief pause on the other end.
A few seconds later, Kuroba Mitsugu's voice returned.
[Yes... We've confirmed twelve parasites spawned from the USNA's black hole experiment.]
[Two remain in USNA territory. Ten entered Tokyo—four were dealt with by USNA forces, three by you and Miyuki, one by Maya. That leaves two, but we've only located one so far.]
"As expected of you, Uncle Mitsugu."
This wasn't sarcasm.
To uncover so much intel in just a day—truly, the head of the Yotsuba's intelligence network was unmatched in information gathering.
But Mitsugu's swift action was mainly due to the attack on Maya.
For the Yotsuba family, this was the greatest provocation since the Great Han Incident thirty years ago.
So much so that Mitsugu didn't dispatch Ayako or Fumiya—he took the field himself.
"Since you've located one, please send me the details."
[Mahiro, are you passing this to USNA's 'Sirius,' or handling it yourself?]
"I'll deal with it personally—eliminating every host and parasite."
His answer was firm.
No suppressed emotions, no coldness—just calm certainty. It almost felt to Mitsugu like he was speaking to his cousin.
Truly, like mother, like son.
[But Mahiro, I must remind you—Tokyo isn't under Yotsuba jurisdiction.]
"Doesn't matter. If the Ten Master Clans have complaints, they can take it up with Maya. Besides, I'm cleaning up their mess—what right do they have to object?"
End of discussion.
Mitsugu could say no more. It was clear Mahiro had made up his mind.
[Very well. As you wish.]
After hanging up, Mitsugu sent the intel to Mahiro.
Then, he called Maya.
To his surprise, she wasn't the least bit angry. Instead, she laughed—a long, amused laugh.
She seemed entirely unbothered.
In fact, she instructed Mitsugu to fully support Mahiro's actions, even if it meant mobilizing the Asia Trade Society.
She would handle any fallout.
Mitsugu could only sigh.
To provoke this mother-son duo—these parasites were truly out of luck. No one stood a chance against them.