In the face of such an anticlimactic conclusion, Erika lowered her guard and called out in a flat, dispirited voice.
"Miyuki?"
The figure that appeared in her line of sight was, unmistakably, Miyuki. Tatsuya could be seen standing behind her.
"What is happening!? Lina, are you alright!?"
"I'm fine for now. However, please send any available 'Soldiers' as reinforcements. This might turn into a bit of a rough exit."
"Understood. I'll arrange it immediately."
Lina issued instructions in a faint whisper to Sylvia, whose voice trembled with concern for her safety. While Lina conversed with Sylvia, Tatsuya walked up to stand before her.
"Cut."
Lina muttered a single, quick word. The connection with Sylvia was severed. It might have been futile, but it was a measure taken to hide her hand. Tatsuya surely saw her lips move, but he made no comment on it.
"Lina. She seems to be an acquaintance of yours, but I'll be taking her."
As he spoke, Tatsuya approached her neighbor, now transformed into an ice sculpture.
" The people from Maximilian... did you kill them?"
"You make me sound terrible. I just had them sleep a little."
The Maximilian employees were not collaborators, nor did they know Michaela's true nature; they were civilians who had simply been swept up in the mess. While it might have created an opportunity to break the deadlock if they had caused a commotion, it was indeed Lina's honest feeling that she was relieved no further trouble had befallen them.
Lina stepped back, reluctant but accepting. In her place, however, another girl stepped forward, ready to assert the rights of the victor.
"Wait a minute. I'd be troubled if you just took her away on your own. It might seem silly to you, Tatsuya-kun, but we have a reputation to uphold. If that woman is the one who got Leo, I can't just hand her over, not even to you."
"I don't particularly need her. She didn't attack Leo of her own free will in the first place, did she, Lina?"
Erika directed her hostility at him, but Tatsuya ignored it entirely, turning his gaze instead to Lina, who likely knew the circumstances.
"The body belongs to Mia, but the will inside is likely something else entirely."
"What does that mean...?"
"Tatsuya, I believe the neural structure in question exists within Mia as well. If we separate it from her, do you think she would return to normal?"
"I don't know. How do you intend to separate it in the first place? You aren't suggesting we cut open her skull and extract her brain right here, are you?"
At Tatsuya's remark, Mikihiko and Mizuki covered their mouths, looking nauseous. They had likely imagined the scene vividly.
"I can't do it... but I thought maybe you could."
"Me?"
Receiving Lina's pleading gaze, Tatsuya shifted his eyes toward Miyuki. Because Michaela was barely within his peripheral vision, Tatsuya was the first to notice the change.
"Miyuki, get away from there!"
"Brother?"
Tatsuya rarely shouted orders. For a split second, her understanding lagged, but realizing the urgency of the situation, Miyuki immediately leaped away from the ice sculpture.
"Get down!"
Katsuto, grasping the situation, barked an order to the other members. In the brief moment Katsuto's eyes left Michaela, Tatsuya pulled the trigger of his CAD with his right hand.
Whether it was a self-destruct mechanism or something else remained unclear, but the blast shattered Miyuki's freezing magic into dust. Michaela Hongou, who had been encased in ice, collapsed to the ground.
"Now then... something has exited her body and is hovering in the air."
Hiding in the shadow of the trailer while shooting down the Parasite's attacks, Tatsuya stood beside Erika, whose expression was grim as she looked at Michaela.
"Shiba. What do you think is happening?"
Katsuto, who had likewise regained his composure while deploying a barrier to protect against the Parasite's assault, asked the question. Currently, Tatsuya and Katsuto were in a back-to-back formation, sandwiching Miyuki, Erika, and Lina between them. They couldn't see each other's faces, but there was no difficulty in understanding the intent of the question.
"I don't know if it's intentional or instinctual, but it seems to have a reason for wanting to keep us here."
"Meaning if it wanted to flee, it could have done so at any time?"
"At the very least, I have no means of restraining it."
"Nor do I. In the first place, I cannot tell where it is."
The opponent was a Pushion Information Body. Tatsuya could perceive its coordinates, but because he couldn't grasp its structure, he had no means of attacking it effectively.
"Lina, do you know anything?"
Mid-sentence, Tatsuya whipped around, aimed his CAD past Erika, and pulled the trigger. The signs of magic that had begun to form next to her dissipated into mist.
"...The Vampire's true form is a non-material entity called a Parasite."
"That's the definition from the London Conference. I know that much."
Lina had considered staying silent, but realizing this wasn't the time, she spoke reluctantly—only for Tatsuya to retort dismissively. Lina was left speechless for a solid ten seconds.
"...What are you people? You aren't going to tell me all Japanese high schoolers are like this, are you?"
"Rest assured. We are exceptions in many ways. And?"
It was uncertain whether Lina understood the complex emotion hidden behind his choice of the word "exception" rather than "special." Since Tatsuya himself wasn't clearly conscious of it, it would be no wonder if she didn't.
"Parasites possess humans and alter them. It seems there needs to be compatibility with the host, but seeking a host appears to be the Parasite's behavioral principle, equivalent to a survival instinct."
"In other words, it intends to possess her again?"
"I don't know. It might be someone else..."
"How does it do it?"
"I don't know. I'm the one who wants to be told!"
"...Useless."
"Excuse me!?"
While trading insults, Tatsuya continued to shoot down the signs of magic emerging all around them.
"Let's ask Mia when she wakes up. I don't know if she's back to normal, though."
"That depends on whether she retains her memories of the possession."
He had completely 'Decomposed' the threat and secretly 'Regrown' the damage. Tatsuya suspected that her memories might have been lost in the process. However, even Tatsuya didn't have the luxury to spare any attention for such concerns right now.
Forcibly peeling off the Parasite, decommissioning the explosion, and erasing the injuries with Regrowth... Mia surviving this shouldn't impact the story too much...
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