A white, inspicuous, truck marched dowreet towards the Yokohama Branch’s Magic Association building.

  Within ecial force, picked from the already thinning numbers of the Great Asian Union’s forces sent to Japan for this mission, Lu Gang Hu, and Xiang Shan, two embers of the special force leading this atta one of Japan’s Magic Association Branch.

  Xiang Shan stood with a worried expression, his gaze directed towards his fellotain and main fighting force of this little squad set to infiltrate their main objective.

  Lu Gang Hu, a rge, muscur, bulk of a man, the S-ranked magi of the Great Asian Union’s special forces, sat there in his white, bck, and gold battle outfit with his arms resting on his knees. Bandages peeked out of the seams of his armor, a glimpse of the many bahat covered most of his still heavily injured body.

  The fight withientioer, in which he entered students of First High School during his mission to eliminate Sekimoto Isao, had given him much more trouble than he ever expected.

  Although they were all incredible mages that mao er him, a particur individual rend him into this state with inceivable magibsp;

  Most of the bones in his body were still broken, only set together forcefully with magic. It hurt just to sit there with every rock of the truck causing him to winwardly from pain.

  But, he still had a duty to fulfill and a mission to aplish. He was the spearhead of this operation, and the spearhead was not allowed to break under any circumstances, no matter how chipped it was.

  “We will now un B. Lieutenant Lu… I know that you are heavily injured, but hold on until after this mission. Fet about revenge. From the beginning, it was our mistake to obsess over a relic of unknown value and not colleough information about the fighting power of those we may enter. We will not make the same mistake.”

  “Uood.”

  “Good. The’s go.”

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  Upon their arrival he entrao the Magic Associa Yokohama Branch, chaos ensued almost immediately.

  Police forces and security teams of the Magic Association had set up multiple lines of defenses in front of the entrance, barrig it with rows of cars and using it as their cover at the same time.

  And the moment Lu Gang Hu and his army alighted from the truck, a rain of bullets and spells immediately showered them.

  However, with his Steel Qi Gong, a magic teique that involves the use of Qi Gong to apply a high density yer of Psion on the skin and reinf it, Lu Gang Hu was able to march forward along with his army behind him, tanking the bullets and attacks as his army made their ter attack from behind him.

  Then, once he was in range, Lu Gang Hu dashed into the ter of their defense and used everything he had to wreck the multiple rows of cars with a single blow of his fist enhanced by his Coiled Silk Force spell. The a magic teique that used the entire nervous system to create a spiraling force at the point of impact created a powerful whirlwind that blew away the heavy barricade along with the defending forces.

  A few cars burst into fmes. Most, utterly wrecked as if they were hit by a speeding trubsp;

  And using this opening, his army gained momentum and tio push their line forward, firing at the enemy fnks, who were caught off guard by their line of defense suddenly being broken that quickly.

  Meanwhile, hidden by the cloud of dust and smoke, Lu Gang Hu breathed heavily.

  With his dition and injuries, this was his only choice to create a distra big enough to let infiltrate the building while pinning most of the defending force here. He could not fight in a prolonged battle. He o strike fast, and strike true.

  However, with that strike alone, he had already used up a majority of his energy. At most, he’d only be able to fight for aen minutes against these grunts before the pain in his body robbed him of his sciousness.

  Unfortunately, just as the cloud of dust began to settle, a familiar feminine figure appeared before him.

  This time, a lean suit of armor and headgear that still showed her familiar tenance, he saw the swordswoman she entered ientioer standing there with her unique sword drawn.

  And behind her, dressed in First High’s school uniform, was the other woman who wielded ice magic during his fight against them.

  A look nition widened his eyes, before a feral grin of fierce excitement repced his shobsp;

  He was told not to think of revenge. But, it seemed that the opportunity had e to him on a silver ptter instead.

  A rush of adrenaline aement he excruciating pain from his barely healed bones scratg and pierg his muscles, and the maing tiger leaped towards the swordswoman.

  Mari immediately brandished her swords, extending them into a whip, and strike before he reached too close into her spabsp;

  But, his lightning fast rea time and the bat experience he had accumuted over the years made up for his slowing speed caused by his injuries.

  He dodged by bending backwards, did a backflip, and unched forward once again with the momentum he had gained.

  Lu Gang Hu readied his on, c his entire arm with his Steel Qi Gong spell and preparing to use his Coiled Silk Force at the moment of impact against the swords woman's body. But before he could reach her, a loud war cry from his right stole his attention.

  “Haaaaaah!!! Panzer!!!”

  A young man, dressed in First high’s male uniform, holding a sword with aremely thin, almost transparent, bck bde rushed towards him.

  He swung, f Lu Gang Hu to halt in his charge and duck downward. Then, using the attack he had readied for the swordswoman, he unleashed a powerful punch towards the man.

  “Shi-! Kuuhh!!!”

  Leo, who was just about to swing once again, was forced to defend against the ued speed of the hulk of a man in heavy armor. He crossed his arms, used whatever amount of fortification he could muster in this split sed, and braced himself. And in the moment, a force equivalent, or even more powerful, than the amount of force he received when he was hit by a speeding motorbike struck him, blowing him away into a car a few meters away.

  Lu Gang Hu breathed heavily once again. Both of his arms, normally bursting with power and strength, were now trembling from the sheer impact of hitting the barely reinforced arms of the highschool boy. His legs, normally stout and sturdy, were simirly shaking at the weight of his own body and the battle.

  The appearance of these talented young mages, who had proven to be more of a thorn in his side than the regur polid soldiers, was beyond his expectations… Now, he might not even st five minutes.

  Suddenly, his instincts fred and he immediately jumped and dodged to his left. And in the moment, a flurry of icicles struck the ground he was standing on previously.

  He looked up towards the woman who had just cast the spell with ched teeth. But once again, before he could charge towards her, his instincts fred once again, telling him to dodge sideways.

  This time, however, he failed to do so in time as a massive, long katana bde swung down, f him to raise both of his arms in defense.

  The impact shattered the ground into a spider-web pattern from one of his knees as the bde hit his steel, Qi Gong reinforced gaus.

  His teeth ched as he tried to withstand the heavy blow that came from a petite e-red head girl. He mustered his strength, trating his st bit of power into his crossed arms. But just as he was about to blow her and her sword away with a powerful push, the girl flickered away in e-red light, suddenly appearing a little bit over two meters away from him.

  His arms, now spread apart after his desperate attempt to push bad ter attack the girl’s assault, failed to muster power to protect his defeorso.

  And in a blink of ahe girl flickered back towards him with her massive, long katana raised high into the sky.

  She swung down, her bde immediately crag and shattering his armor that had been solely reinforced by his quickly depleting magic thus far, and sshed across his chest and torso.

  Blood spttered into the air before falling onto the ground. And at that moment, the maing tiger had finally fallen as Lu Gang Hu fell unscious.

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  As expected… The defenses are well trated here as well. Are they simply more prepared than us? Are we just unlucky…? Or do they somehow read our pns…?

  Questions filled the mind of Xiang Shan as he silently walked in the empty corridors of the Magic Association building.

  With the distra caused by Lu Gang Hu and his army at the entrance, most of the defenses within had been relocated to the front. Thus, could easily evade and hide his presence from the remainiries using his Ghost Walker ability.

  The a magic spell allows the user to manipute vectors, including redireg other people’s attention to a desired location at will. People with their vectors scrambled would never be able to locate and target the user, much like if they were to chase after someohout ever being able to catch up, or walking in circles while believing they’re walking straight.

  With this ability, he was able to walk casually into the magic association building without any one ever finding him or even looking at him.

  finally arrived before a mahogany double door with the words “Magic Association Main Office” carved into a polished wooden sign above it.

  He took out a device from his pocket and pressed it against the authentication devi the side of the door.

  The arm and security system were triggered and red lights began to fill the corridor he was in. But the door opened, allowing him to reach the main goal of his mission.

  A sense of relief and fulfillment filled his heart. He was now here. Everything he had done. Everything he had sacrificed. They were worth it now that he was here.

  He took a step forward aered casually. His lips curled into a smirk that belied the calm and posed nature he wao show. But then, he froze in mid step upon seeing what was before him.

  The office was empty… Utterly empty. Not even a single piece of paper, dot, puter, or soul was there.

  Just then, ist began to envelop him. And a beautiful, bell-like voice of a young girl resounded from his side.

  “So this is the Ghost Walker?”

  His eyes widened for an instant before he forced a calm look on his face as he looked towards the voice.

  “Shiba Miyuki…”

  “It seems like you really know who I am… They were right, after all. You are the one who’s been following me and my brother around tely, Xiang Shan.”

  “How did you- No… Why are you here…? How is my spell not w on you?”

  “I have already been warned about it. That I should be careful not to lose my bearing. In all hoy, that alo nothing to me. But I thought, if I was wary of all four dires, 360 degrees, I would manage somehow.”

  “What…?”

  “Fortunately, my best friend had predicted your every single movement and as. And with a magi who see the invisible on my side, she could still spot you even if your spell made you slightly invisible.”

  “Predicted… my every a…?”

  stood frozen, not from the freezing mist that pricked his skin, but from her words.

  It was… impossible. If what she said was true, then… Thehing… made sense.

  A realization finally came to him. All the answers he had been seeking. They were now answered.

  How prepared the defenses were for their attack. The heavy defenses in every single point they pn to strike. Lu Gang Hu’s enter with the suspicious individual in pure bck, who they assumed was from the military. The powerful mages assigo protect Sekimoto Isao, the target he assigned Lu Gang Hu to eliminate and prevent information about them being leaked.

  It all made sense if someoruly divined his as somehow… But that’s just-

  “Impossible!”

  “Impossible or not, it is the truth. At any rate, if you’re truly the mastermind behind this, then we rest assured for the time being if we make you disappear.”

  The cold wind blew stroowards as frost began to creep up from the floor to his legs, his torso, his arms, and his face, enpassing every single part of his body.

  “Please rest for a while. Thanks to my best friend, I have improved my teique in many ways, so there shouldn’t be any danger of you not waking up.”

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  The fight around Yokohama Bay Hills Tower Area cluded extremely quickly.

  Before the might of the Sahasranama, Mahesvara, and the Divine Light, the differen power before the defenders and the invaders were too painfully apparent.

  Their tanks and robots were turned iher scrap piles of metals and gore or ash in an instant. While any successful hit and attacks the Great Asian Union soldiers achieved against the flying “demons” were quickly undone by the divine light’s blessings.

  Their retreat quickly turned into a rout and their anding ship quickly made their escape from the Yokohama pier.

  “Captain Yanagi, should we pursue them?”

  “Leave the stragglers to the backup unit. We’re ung a direct assault on the enemy ship-”

  [Captain Yanagi, please refrain from any direct attacks on the enemy ship.]

  Just then, a beautiful voice of a woman resounded from within their unication unit installed within each soldiers’ helmet.

  “Fujibayashi, what’s the deal?”

  [The enemy ship is equipped with hydrazine fuel batteries. If we were to damage the vessel in Tokyo Bay, the adverse effearine life would be too severe.]

  “...Then what do you wao do?”

  [Fall back, Yanagi.]

  Another voice came. This time of a man.

  “ander?”

  [Don’t get the wrong idea. This doesn’t mean the end of operatiosurumi and Fujisawa units hahe sweep of the enemy remnants, aurn to base for now.]

  “Uood.”

  With that, the rest of the Yanagi squad returo base except for the three special officers, who had been called onto the roof of the Yokohama Bay Hills Tower.

  There, Major Kazama, Fujibayashi Kyouko, and Captain Sanada were already there waiting for them.

  “How did the sweeping operations go?”

  Major Kazama ask, and Kyouko answered.

  “We are more or less dohere are still some sporadic fighting going on, but that should die down some time tonight.”

  “Good.”

  “About the evacuatioer that got buried underh Sakuragicho Station, a temporary tunnel is scheduled to open up by tomorrow.”

  Sanada reported.

  “What about the enemy vessel?”

  “It’s heading south down Sagaminada at 30 knots. It’s approximately halfway between the Boso Peninsu and Oshima. There should be no issues if we sink it there.”

  Kazama o Kyouko’s words and turowards Yuuji.

  “Special Officer Akatsuki. Sink the enemy vessel using “Abyss”.”

  Yuuji’s eyes widened in shock beh his helm as he looked at the Major in shobsp;

  This… This wasn’t what happened in the anime!!! No, many things that didn’t happen in the anime happen now because of his and Aika’s presence. But this…? Why is he the oo sink the fleeing vessel? Wasn’t Tatsuya supposed to be the oo do it? There’s no reason for him to do it instead.

  And to go so far as to have him use the “Abyss”...

  It was a strategic-css magic equivalent to Tatsuya’s Material Burst. Yuuji himself had never used it, but it seems like he had used it once before acc to his memories to erase a fleet of Great Asian Union’s warships during the Okinawa defetle.

  And from his memories… he knew how terrifying of a spell it was. It… It doesn’t destroy. It simply erases.

  Yuuji fell speechless at his superior officer’s order, and just as he was about to ascertain the major’s decision, Sanada spoke up.

  “Although they’re already far enough away as to not cause harm to our marine lives upon their destru, it’s still better to destroy it… in a much less destructive way. That is why yic is more suitable for this, special officer.”

  “I see…”

  Yuuji slowly Sanada’s words.

  That made sense… Although its already far enough to be safely targeted by Tatsuya’s spell, it’s still in Japaer. With Yuuji and his spell in their disposal instead of only Tatsuya, his spell that could affely the target he intended would be the better alternative.

  “Uood.”

  Yuuji nodded and stepped up towards the edge of the tower’s roof.

  He raised his golden gun forward, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and expanded his elemental sight further than ever.

  As he trated, he felt an arm ing around his waist and another holding his extended arm from behind. And then, a familiar warmness enveloped him from behind.

  “I’ll help too~”

  Aika said in a cheery void activated her “heal” spell and elemental sight. Yuuji was uninjured and it would’ve taken much more thatles he had gohrough today to even make a dent into his stamina reserves. But, the warmth and fort her spell and her presence brought allowed him to delve even further into his focus and tration. And her elemental sight lessehe pertage of his owal sight he’d have to spend to clearly see the fleeing target tens of kilometers away.

  “Mm. Thank you.”

  Yuuji took a deep breath once more and opened his eyes.

  Particles of lights and wind began to surround the two as both with the increasing amount of Psions the two were releasing.

  Then, once he locked onto his target, he pulled the trigger of his “Aegis” and activated the strategic-css magic, “Abyss”.

  The spell creates a distortion of spacetime curvature that would affely its target.

  Every matter that exists in this universe has its own spacetime curvature that is caused by its own mass, no matter how small. Most were small enough to be negligible. However, the rger and more dehe matter was, the greater its spacetime curvature.

  A p would have a rge curvature, allowing it to pull on its moons and various smaller pary objects around it. A star would have an even rger curvature due to its mass, allowing it to pull on eves billions of kilometers away from it into its orbit.

  A rge enough space time curvature could distort even spad time itself, in a phenomenon called Gravitational Space Time Distortion. Oh such powerful space time curvature would be a bck hole.

  The spacetime curvature Yuuji created was by no means as powerful as a bckhole. However, although he had ried his limit, it ossible for him to create a spacetime distortion on par with a massive p or a small star.

  His spell created a spacetime curvature 1/100th of that several hundred meters above the target. But, that was enough to create a massive gravitational differeweeop” of the target and its “bottom”, causing the top to be pulled upwards much faster thatom, stretg it vertically, and causing the phenomenon called “Spaghettification”.

  Every siom of his target would be pulled at different rates from each other, ripping them apart utterly and pletely in an instant, and torn into its stituent molecules and atoms.

  To onlookers, his target would turn slightly red as the light ing from it loses energy fr to escape the spell’s viity. And then, it would disappear.

  It’d all happen in an instant, faster than a blink of an eye and pletely silent. The viity around the spell would darken slightly in that short period of time, and his target would disappear, as if it had been ed by the abyss itself.

  It was the plete opposite of Tatsuya’s spell, which was akin to a nuclear on that destroys everything in its path. He simply erases his targets from existehout a sound.

  And just like that, the moment he pulled the trigger, the Great Asian Union’s ship disappeared from existenbsp;

  “Elimination of the enemy ship has been firmed.”

  Kyouko reported after firming its disappearance from the satellite footage she was receiving iablet.

  Major Kazama her and turowards Yuuji and Aika.

  “Good work, special officer. We will now return to base for the final operation.”

  ““Yes!””

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  Upourning to base, just like in the aatsuya was given the order to annihite the Great Asian Union’s fleet.

  And just like that, the Scorched Halloween, the event that was a turning point not only in military history, but in his history itself, happened.

  A phenomenon that proved that magid magic alone, determihe oute between victory a.

  A true dawn of history for the raown as magis in all of his high glory and darkest suffering.

  Having just fired the spell equivalent to a nuclear on, Tatsuya lowered the “Third Eye” rifle-shaped CAD and looked at the massive s before him that showed the massive crater that was the Jinhae Naval Port and Geojedo Base offshore.

  He felt from firing the spell that annihited aire fleet of ships. There was no sadness for having taken the lives of so many people. Not even relief for having annihited the ehat threatened his nation.

  There was oiness.

  But just then, he felt two hands on both of his shoulders.

  “You did well… Let’s take a rest after this.”

  Tatsuya turo his left and saw Yuuji there with a soft, gentle smile.

  “That’s right~ We’ve had a suuuuuuper long day~ So let’s quickly go home and take a nice lo~”

  He turo his right and saw Aika with her usual cheerful grin and pyful wink directed at him.

  And this time, he felt something rising within his chest. A warmth. A sense of fort, relief… and gratefulness for having the eet such wonderful friends.

  Being a member of the Multiverse Group Chat was truly a blessing.

  “Oh! Better yet, let’s all go on a vacation~! We just call in sick from school for a few days~”

  ““Eh?””

  “Wait, Aika-”

  “Hehe~ It’s decided~ I’ll invite Erika, Mayumi, and Miyuki to join too~! Let’s all ditch school and have fun~!!!”

  VergsX