Chapter Fifty: Contigency Plan X
Monday
11:26 P.M
England.
Westminster.
SSS Base - Inside a camp.
Specifically, inside what seemed to be a training room.
Metal walls enclosed a spacious, hundred-meter area where a fierce battle was taking place.
Between two females.
Licking her lips, she tasted sweat.
A platinum blonde-haired female with a petite stature dragged her feet to a halt.
Slowly, she raised her head.
"Ugh. Haah... haah."
A Personal Territory surrounded her body, regulating the temperature around her.
Despite that, sweat trickled down her forehead.
Yes, it didn't entirely come from the temperature within.
Other factors were included:
Strain and excessive exercise, in particular.
Internal factors such as that couldn't be suppressed.
"Seems like you are slowly adapting to that suit already, kouhai."
"..."
Ashley Sinclair's knees almost buckled while trying to regulate her breathing.
She clenched her grip tightly to the
Currently wrapped around her body wasn't her usual punkish-style clothing, but a slim bodysuit.
Accompanying that was beautiful, slim armor clinging to her body, clad in silver and blue.
Modern magicians wear these in order to perform magic.
With this, they could extend their Personal Territories.
A subjective reality in which they could bend all laws within it at will.
However, right now however...
"Damn it.."
Someone of her caliber was being pushed into a corner by another.
In front of her–
Levitating a few centimeters off the ground, was another Wizard like her.
"Lieutenant's strength is seriously no joke…"
"No, no. You're already adapting to
Hearing that, Ashley's eyes dimmed a little for a moment before regaining focus.
She tightened her hold on the
Pointing it forward and leveling it at the Sergeant ahead.
"...please, let me try again."
"Okay."
Replying to that, Mana backed away several meters.
She adjusted her stance and readying her weapon.
'…'
Unlike the usual Combat Realizer frames, the one Ashley was using was very different.
It uses a mobile Realizer as a core.
While its calculations were done through an additional external system.
One not attached to the suit.
Instead, it uses a companion device within the bounds of the user Territory.
Additionally, it needed to sync with the mobile core to truly work at its best.
'The Commander seemed more confident in this design after seeing that guy.'
"Here I come."
That thin adorable voice came in front just as Mana was thinking.
However, Ashley's movement was anything but adorable.
The petite girl appeared in front of her.
Since her battlesuit was different, she had no need for jet thrusters, and instead.
Luminous, wing-like constructs powered by the [mana] inside her Territory flared out behind her as she shot forward.
It was at blinding speed.
Enough to get past the average Wizard, however, Mana was anything but average.
"How straightforward. Sadly, it won't work."
Mana, too, had learned a thing or two during her short time in Japan.
Thum!
Mana clenched her fist.
Generating a shockwave from inside her Territory, she swung her arm forward.
It was a punching motion.
However, what left her fist was a ripple of compressed force flowing outward.
It was an attempt to mimic what she had seen. And it worked.
Boom!
The shockwave burst outward with a crunching force toward Ashley, who was caught in it.
"Kuh! What—"
Ashley quickly raised her hand, reinforcing the defensive systems of her Territory, blocking the incoming wave.
"Learn to watch your surroundings better."
"I know!"
The moment Mana said that,
Ashley twisted around, gripping her laser blade
"…!"
Mana, who had appeared along the path of that sudden attack, widened her eyes.
She was already preparing for a vertical strike…
However, that maneuver caught her off guard for a moment.
Sometimes, the specs of one's CR Unit weren't the deciding factor.
A proper analogy would be a low-end device running a high-end program.
If such analogy is applied onto a living being, rather, a Wizard.
then no matter how high the specs of a CR Unit are, if you can't properly control it, it means nothing.
Ashley who was still adapting to her
However...
'I'm stuck?'
Mana's eyes widened.
She had stepped completely into the range of Ashley's Territory.
No, more accurately, Ashley had expanded her Territory into her.
But even that wasn't the whole picture.
'My movements has significantly reduced, but.'
Chik--pan!
Ktch!
The shoulder mechanical pads on her CR Unit seemed to change, ejecting like a laser.
Almost immediately, they equipped themselves onto her two arms.
Twin Blad Mode.
Ashley's descending
Mana crossed her arms in an X-guard, catching the blow as she bent her knees slightly.
Boom!
A striking force descended upon her, pushing her down.
Not only that, the components of her CR Unit, or rather, its weight, had returned to normal.
Normally, when inside their Territories…
Wizards made use of their subjective reality to lighten their equipment until it felt featherweight.
That way, they could fight without the burden of weight.
However...
The moment their Territories touch, Ashley's own overpowered hers.
'It must be the effect of her Territory. If that's the case.'
Mana's territory rapidly shrank around her, reduced to one-tenth of its usual size.
Instantly, parts of Mana's CR unit were now outside the influence of her territory.
More importantly, they were now inside the influence of Ashley's.
"Eh?"
"Kouhai. Enjoy."
Tsun! Tsun!
Immediately, the ejected components shot toward Ashley, forcing her to jerk her head aside before leaping back.
She would have been injured.
If the damage she received was from inside, then she would definitely sustain damage.
Thinking that, Ashley retreated.
It was the right decision.
Although she had the advantage, it was for a brief moment, and Mana turned it against her.
However, it was impressive she was even able to land a strike now.
Throughout the entire test battle, she hadn't been able to land an attack.
It was more than enough to tell her that she was improving.
Now, she was going to ride the waves and…
"That's enough. Test practice has concluded. Sufficient data has been taken."
A voice came from the communications embedded inside their suits, prompting both of them to halt their movements.
"Aaahh…"
The petite girl's voice trailed off as she looked toward Mana, who nodded and walked over.
"You did better than I expected. You even managed to land a hit on me."
Mana said with a wry smile.
"No, Lieutenant Mana was going easy on me."
Going easy, huh?
That wasn't necessarily the case, Mana thought.
According to what she knew about
A new feature was added to it which was still under development.
It was supposed to adapt to the pilot.
Nevertheless, it was a weapon that was supposed to bring them close.
Closer to creating their own version of
But she didn't comment on it.
Now that she thought about it, this girl in front of her, is that guy's sister wasn't she?
With that in mind,
They made their way toward the hangar inside the base, where they were meant to store their suits.
Mana, rearranging her thoughts while staring at the ground, thought back to a few minutes earlier.
She tightened her hand around her glove, forming a fist.
'Not enough.'
Mana thought earnestly.
And while she thought that—
"..Nngh."
A soft sound escaped the lips of the girl in front of the suit hanger.
It was one of the side effects that came after deactivating a Territory.
The body suddenly felt extremely heavy, and even the slightest movement…
…brought layers of discomfort impossible to describe with simple words.
Perhaps, the closest would be as though one is swimming in an extremely viscous mud.
"Are you okay."
"Mhm. I'm fine."
The girl curtly replied that, donning a distant look, one Mana knew all too well.
One she was very familiar with.
"H… how's he doing? That guy?"
She barely managed to force the words out, staring at her locker absentmindedly.
Caught off guard, Mana turned her head sharply toward her.
"You… know?"
"Mm. That woman told me."
"I see."
Mana absentmindely nodded her head in response for about a moment.
Then...
"Sinclair-san is doing well. And, um… he's also been worried about you."
Even as she said it, Mana didn't quite understand the situation fully.
But the girl didn't add anything more.
"Big brother is well, that's good."
The girl murmured with a small smile.
Meanwhile,
Further away from the SSS Base.
Underground of the DEM industries Headquarters.
"What's the meaning of all this drivel?"
"...exactly what do you mean by that?"
Down a hallway.
A dark and clunky one.
Dim light filtered across the edges running across gap sections in the walls.
Clearly, one could see the silhouettes of two women.
For a brief moment, they paused.
One of the two clenched the paper in her hand, rumpling it as her grip tightened.
In a wide arc, she flung the papers away.
"Don't play coy with me. All these are mere drivel. I alone will be—"
"Lady Ellen, that sort of thought is what gets people killed."
"You insolent cur, are you implying that I will lose to some kid?"
The first was a Nordic blonde-haired woman with pale skin, wearing a tight suit and jeans.
Much like her,
The second also wore matching outfits, except her hair was black.
And her eerie crimson gaze contrasted sharply with the other woman's.
Ellen had originally pushed Maya to the wall, gripping her collar with clear displeasure on her face.
However,
The other woman, Maya, didn't back down even once and simply looked straight at her superior.
'Haah, I guess the world's strongest wizard isn't strong in the brain department, it seems.'
Maya thought to herself cynically.
Right…
To put it into perspective, in a normal situation, Ellen would be right.
She was the strongest, after all.
Wizards and Spirits alike had met their end by her blade already.
Ellen had fought long enough and attained this status.
But…
He was different.
X, that is.
That wizard in question wasn't operating on the usual logic Ellen was familiar with.
Not to mention, that attack on Neryl Island.
It was a feat akin to a calamity.
Simply put, all that could be said was that calamity befell them.
While such attacks on that scale weren't exactly uncommon.
Calculations displayed an output that would have neared that of a nuke.
A wizard operating on that level.
One who wasn't one of them could be a thorn in their side if they didn't take measures.
"We've made our modifications already, Lady Ellen. That is the key to defeating X."
Then again,
Maya was doing this for another reason.
Adjusting her head upwards as Ellen's grip tightened against her collar.
She continued.
"It also possesses some sort of advantage against spirits too, I reckon."
Calmly, Maya addressed her.
It was clear Maya was looking down on her, even while addressing her with formality.
That gaze held no respect whatsoever.
"Che."
Ellen swiped her hand away, loosening her grip from Maya's collar, turning her back.
"That was uncalled for."
With those words, she began strutting off.
For a moment, Maya heaved a small sigh before brushing her collar.
To rough up the clothes Clair bought for me like this… what an annoyance.
Maya thought darkly before following behind.
In no time, they reached an office.
Ellen took a step forward and knocked.
"Ike, it's me."
Not even bothering to include me. What a vain woman.
Maya shut her eyes for a moment, but her thoughts were practically everywhere.
Just a second later—
A voice from inside came through.
"Come in."