Shizuku, beside Mayumi, spoke into her comms unit with her housekeeper.
"Kurosawa-san? …Yes. …No, thank you."
As she lowered the unit, the thrum of helicopter rotors echoed.
"Saegusa-senpai," Shizuku reported, "the company heli's almost here."
Mayumi, staring at her terminal with a frown, forced a smile. "Got it. Kitayama-san, prioritize women and families with children for evacuation. Inagaki-san, board the heli to assist her and guide those evacuating versus staying. Ichihara and I will help. Mitsui-san, keep watch."
Issuing orders briskly, Mayumi stifled a sigh. Hurry up already!
Ideally, two helicopters would've arrived together. With some already resentful of a child taking charge, delaying anyone's evacuation would spark complaints.
If only Juumonji-kun or Tatsuya-kun were here… Mayumi sighed again, thinking of Katsuto, heir to the Ten Master Clans, and Tatsuya, oddly adept in crises.
An armored vehicle skidded, spinning out of control at a crossroad.
"Kanon!" Isori shouted.
"On it!"
Isori's magic made the wheels spin uselessly, toppling the vehicle, and Kanon's Minefield rendered it immobile. With the intercept point advanced, sparing underground students, Kanon could unleash her family's signature spell.
Bullets chipped the building where they hid. Shielding a screaming Kanon, Isori conjured a reverse-vector field along the wall, deflecting the gunfire. The vehicle fell silent.
Mari, from cover, tried lowering oxygen levels, but the sealed interior thwarted her spell. Cursing, she nullified her interference and fired overheated air through her grenade launcher's muzzle. The loaded grenade exploded, destroying the adjacent machine gun.
Kirihara and Tomoe attacked, splitting high and low. Kirihara's high-frequency blade slashed the vehicle's legs, unbalancing it, and pierced the driver's seat. As the rear hatch opened, a soldier with a pistol emerged. Sayaka's crossbow bolt pierced his shoulder, and Kirihara and Tomoe's blades struck his throat and abdomen.
"Mibu, you okay?" Kirihara asked.
"No need to push yourself," Tomoe added.
"I'm fine," Sayaka replied, pale but resolute. "This is a battlefield. I'm ready."
Miyuki's interference left no room for enemy magic, even boosted ones. Leo's Thin-Winged Dragonfly struck a frozen vehicle, its ten-meter blade—harder to form the longer it grew—slicing it horizontally with ease.
"From the right! Same core!" Mizuki called, spotting an approaching tank.
Mikihiko cast a spell-breaking ritual, and the tank jerked as if hitting an invisible wall, its arms slumping. Erika darted in, Yamatsunami and Orochimaru's massive blade crushing the mechanized soldier. With Miyuki and Mikihiko's support, Leo and Erika decimated the enemy vehicles.
As the fight paused, Miyuki called to Mizuki. "How's Chiyoda-senpai's group?"
"No change in position," Mizuki said. "Still engaged."
"What's wrong, Miyuki?" Erika asked. "Why so pensive?"
"Isn't it odd?" Miyuki said. "Why do they keep coming where we're waiting?"
"It's the only route to the station, right?" Mizuki offered.
"Only on the main road," Miyuki countered. "They have comms and outnumber us. They could slip past elsewhere."
"A diversion?" Erika suggested.
Mizuki's eyes widened, but Mikihiko's shout—"They're coming!"—cut their theorizing short.
As Kurosawa's twin-rotor transport heli descended, a black cloud surged from nowhere—an out-of-season locust swarm. Even insects could clog engines, and their unnatural appearance screamed magic. Shizuku, at the landing zone, drew her silver CAD, a post-Nine Schools Competition purchase with Tatsuya's Phonon Maser loop-cast spell.
Firing skyward, the sonic beam mowed down locusts, but the swarm was vast. Shizuku kept shooting, but some slipped through. Honoka, her magic incompatible and fearing interference, hesitated, as did Airi and the others.
As the swarm reached the heli, a Wind of Ruin swept through, dissolving the black cloud like an illusion.
Shizuku and Honoka looked up, joined by Mayumi, Rinne, and Airi. A black-clad figure floated, silver CAD in hand.
"Tatsuya-san…?" Shizuku or Honoka whispered.
A group in matching black suits flew in, forming a protective ring around the heli, which landed safely.
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