Sorcery Hacker:Volume3 Phase03

Phase 03: Top of the Territory – The Summit

Part 1

“Hm?”

Ayato expressed his confusion after opening the steam control room’s metal door, poking his head out into the curved hallway, and crouching.

There was no one there.

The security level rose as you went up the tower, so there would naturally be fewer people using the higher floors. This was the top floor, a special area past Grade S that only the most privileged could use. Very few students or teachers had access to Floor 101. It would usually be empty at any time of day.

However.

Mamilis stuck her head out of the door just above Ayato’s.

She asked a question with their heads stacked like dumplings on a skewer.

“No sign of life. But, coach, didn’t you say at least one of them would remain in their office?”

“…”

Ayato didn’t answer as he entered the hallway by slipping through the cracked door like a cat.

He drew his Linkage Plug sword.

The Student Council Office was on the gem tower’s top floor past the Grade S zone. Its existence wasn’t hidden on the diagrams, so Ayato walked past the doors and found the nameplate he was looking for, the girls hurrying after him.

“Won’t it be locked?”

Teleria’s question was answered by a dull thunk.

Ayato had stabbed his sword into the door, hacked it, and swiftly unlocked it. To reach this point, he had even dressed Henrietta up as a grim reaper in glossy black bondage gear to gather attention in the Sorcery Library. He had to reward that girl for her lewd sacrifice. That was one of his rules.

He sensed no presence or warmth in that silent space.

Unlike the ordinary classrooms, the interior decoration was better suited for a large mansion’s office. There was a leather sofa and an ebony bookcase and cabinet. In the back where a heavy desk and chair with matching colors. That would be the President’s desk.

There was another door in the back, which led to a shower room and nap room. It might as well have been a luxury hotel room located in the school.

“Are they really all away?” muttered Ayato after checking in every hiding spot.

“The place isn’t rigged to explode, is it?” asked Henrietta, keeping her voice low.

The enemy had known they would come here and they found the place unnaturally deserted. Her mind immediately went to the possibility of a booby trap.

But Ayato shook his head.

He flicked his floating crystal tarot card.

“I would detect any toys of that nature. It looks like the place really is deserted and with no traps.”

“So did they just run away?” innocently asked Mamilis.

That didn’t sit right with him.

The Student Council had no real reason to run away. Plus, their office remained intact, along with any evidence of serious crimes that could lead to their downfall.

(Did they remove any incriminating documents and go into hiding? I doubt it. It would be too risky.)

Each member of the Council was the master of their highly specialized field. The extent of their power could be seen in the Bouncer who had used brute strength to smash a rocket capable of leaving the atmosphere.

Each of them was that absurdly powerful. They could hold their own politically or in direct combat, so they had no reason to attempt a risky getaway.

With their strength, they should have left someone behind to defend their office. Or if that wasn’t an option, they should have set up a trap just like Henrietta had suggested. They couldn’t be 100% certain Ayato would fall for their trap, but it still didn’t make sense for them to not even try. If it had even a 1% chance of success, it was worth doing even if it only served to annoy him.

President Umihiko Darkavenue was a true Sorcery Hacker, so it was unthinkable for him to not reach that same conclusion.

“Does that mean we’ve already fallen for some trick? But what could it be?”

“…”

Teleria’s face clouded over.

Ayato failed to notice as he looked around the fancy room.

“Anyway, we need evidence. I want some records related to the devil revolver incident.”

“Coach, could it be in here?”

Mamilis slapped her hand against something: the back of the leather sofa.

“It’s really heavy for a simple sofa. I can push with both hands and it won’t budge. I don’t think it has stuffing or springs inside.”

Ayato lifted the cushions to find it was basically a coffin made of thick mana-conducting silver. Needless to say, the lid wouldn’t open.

The silver-haired, brown-skinned girl tilted her head.

“Is this like hiding your secrets below your bed?”

“Basically, but I doubt whatever’s in here will be very entertaining.”

Henrietta held a hand to her chin, so she may have been mentally calculating if she could smash through it with her strength. But she must have arrived at the conclusion that it would require quite a bit of strength – so much strength that she could easily smash the contents along with the metal box.

Ayato’s focus was drawn to the fact that it had four keyholes. A complex set of dials or a series of buttons would have been preferable here.

Henrietta looked puzzled.

“What’s wrong, dangerous individual? You aren’t going to brag about your criminal talents this time?”

“This one…poses a problem.”

Everyone turned to him in surprise.

It was unusual for the Ayato Criminaltrophy to say he couldn’t do something without even trying first.

While he struggled to find a starting point, he heard a monotone buzzing. He looked over to see the small spherical Media Summoner on the edge of the President’s desk was receiving a call.

He stabbed his sword into it and hacked it to not show his face before answering.

“Are the four locks your next trap?”

“Do not get ahead of yourself. It only causes confusion. But you are correct, Ayato. You can’t open that door, can you? Because those locks are pure craftsmanship – no Sorcery Hacking technology involved. They are the pinnacle of the four continents’ cultures. You won’t find any details with a Media Summoner search and a high-precision 3D printer cannot reproduce the keys.”

Umihiko’s voice carried a thin smile.

“We only need to surround that office while you work in vain at those four keyholes. But you have a bad habit of jumping out the window when you feel cornered. I have a lot of work piling up, so I would prefer you did not keep escaping and trying again. Let’s end this now. If you want the four keys, then defeat each of us. You will battle the President, the Vice President, the Treasurer, and the Secretary atop the gem, mana, security, and control towers respectively. We both have the same number of people, so how about making it four one-on-one battles?”

Henrietta was about to say something, but Ayato held out a hand to stop her.

Only he would stand in harm’s way.

“Do you really expect me to follow your rules? Why should I?”

“You can refuse of course, but I know your weakness.”

Had he expected this, or was he quick to adapt?

The President’s response was smooth and unfaltering.

“You want all four keys right away. You can’t afford to lose a single key to reach the evidence you seek. But the same isn’t true of us.”

“…”

“Do you see your worst-case scenario now? We can protect our secrets by breaking just one of the keys. We need nothing more to stop a Sorcery Hacker. So you have no choice but to follow our rules. Let me be clear: you will only send one challenger to each tower. If you win all four battles, you can open the sofa locks, but that door will remain forever closed if even one of your people loses. Do you grasp the rules now? Then let the game begin.”

Part 2

A few quiet beeps sounded.

Ayato pulled his sword from the desk’s Media Summoner and flicked the barrel of one of Teleria’s handguns.

“Miss Teleria, Miss Mamilis, and Miss Henrietta too. I have stolen the Student Council’s Grade S authorization and applied it to your front sights. Now you can ignore the frustrating grade system and freely enter any part of the towers.”

Ayato pulled out some other items a little bigger than an oil lighter.

They were assassination handguns that fit in the palm, but they weren’t loaded. Their front sights were what mattered. They functioned as a second key, not as a weapon.

“And this is the secret key needed to pass the final security colosseum and reach the special top floor. With the two sorcery guns, you can reach any floor from the surface to the roof.”

He could arrange this so easily, but those four keyholes had him stumped.

This wasn’t a failure in Ayato’s own skills. No technician in the world could have gotten through that. That was just how monstrous the President was.

“Be honest. How powerful is each member of the Council?” bluntly asked Henrietta, hands on her hips.

She was implicitly asking which of the towers she would be in charge of.

Ayato brought a hand to his skinny chin.

“Well… To start with, you wouldn’t stand a chance against the Vice President on the mana tower.”

“What!? I knew you were disrespectful, but doubting me before I even have a chance to try is a step too-”

“Surace Bran Zorca Totalinus is a legit princess from the Combined Royal Family that rules the Static Continent. I believe she is 4th in the line of succession. That makes her a blood relative of that minotaur, but are you saying you could attack her anyway?”

Henrietta instantly petrified.

“This means one of the people you have been calling eccentrics this whole time was a real princess. Now, I don’t know all the rules, but if someone important heard you saying that, couldn’t they cut you down for being disloyal, Miss Striker?”

“Oh! Oh, no! Oh, no, no!!”

Yes, she was no more than a regional knight, so she could never engage a central royal in combat. It was more a matter of faith than one of skill.

“This also means she uses royal-exclusive magic and knows a lot about ancient sorcery devices. Simply put, she uses the same kind of blade as the ones managed by Micha Angelos and Angela Messenger. Not a good matchup for you, Miss Henrietta.”

In that sense…

“Thus, I want you to handle Treasurer Gark Bryan waiting on the security tower. He’s the highest ranked Bouncer and has earned the nickname Grapple Shields. He’s basically a walking hulk of defense, but he also barely uses any trickery. If you can shatter his two shields with brute force, you win. It’s straightforward but far from an easy task. I think only you could handle him.”

“What about me, coach?”

“Secretary Sibell Wildcat at the control tower. She’s an expert assassin who can fight close range as a knife fighter and long range as a sniper. Rumor has it she silently eliminates any of the school’s weirdos who take it too far. I’ve heard she’s the only one the eccentrics of the School Pet Committee and Theatre Club fear.”

“Isn’t that asking a lot of a rookie?” asked Henrietta, face clouding over.

But Ayato saw things differently.

“She can’t fight the way she likes without using her opponent’s blind spots. In a duel on a flat rooftop with nowhere to hide, she can’t make full use of her knife fighting or sniper skills. Miss Mamilis uses a full-auto shotgun. If she uses an endless barrage of thick fire magic and doesn’t let her opponent move too quickly, she can simply overpower her. That seems like the best plan to me.”

The dark elf puffed her cheeks out.

She may not have liked being pitted against the weakest one. Even though the more experienced Teleria and Henrietta would have a hard time against Sibell since anything short of a full-auto shotgun wouldn’t be able to restrict her movements.

“I will take care of President Umihiko Darkavenue on the gem tower. A Sorcery Hacker is best fought with another Sorcery Hacker. I’ll counteract his tricks with my own.”

“So Teleria is left with…”

Mamilis looked to the blonde girl.

Ayato shrugged.

“She will go to the mana tower to deal with Vice President Surace who Miss Henrietta declined to battle. That should become a clash of magic barrages, but I can’t imagine Miss Teleria and her twin handguns losing when it comes to variety of attacks. I believe you can win.”

“…”

“Miss Teleria?”

“Oh, yes. I understand.”

Teleria’s response was awkward and Mamilis’s long silver hair swayed as she tilted her head.

“That’s weird.”

“Eh? Eh? What is?”

“That ‘I understand’. You normally object to the very act of fighting itself whether you could win or not.”

Teleria’s eyes widened and she bit her lip.

Henrietta sighed softly.

“I am willing to help, but how are you ensuring our safety? I will do my job, but I want to know these other two at least will be safe.”

“I thought of that. For you as well, Miss Henrietta.”

Ayato tossed each girl a small bag he grabbed from the cabinet.

“The Student Council must have these in case of fire. They are emergency escape parachutes. If you conclude you can’t win, do not hesitate to jump from the roof. That way you can at least escape with your lives.”

“Um, coach. Don’t we need all four keys?”

“Your lives are more important.”

With that, the four of them left the Student Council Office.

From here, they had to split up. Reaching the other towers meant either using a connecting walkway or descending to the surface.

“Ayato.”

“Yes?”

“Um, uh, never mind. Just be careful, okay?”

“You too, Miss Teleria. Like I said, your lives are the most important thing. Do not get too fixated on winning the key. If you feel you are in danger, immediately jump from the building.”

The blonde girl turned back once more as she left. Ayato gave her a puzzled look, but she said nothing more and disappeared down the stairs.

(Now, then.)

He sighed.

And looked up at the roof.

Ayato’s opponent was President Umihiko Darkavenue.

That top-rate Sorcery Hacker was waiting directly above here, on the gem tower’s roof.

Part 3

Once Mamilis Coster arrived at the connecting walkway to the control tower, she found the gate that functioned like a train station’s ticket gate.

(Let’s see. I hold my sorcery gun’s front sight up to the reader…)

“Boop. Done.”

With a submachinegun that would fit in a small bag, using the muzzle like a stamp may have been simple enough, but it was a fair bit of work with a full-auto shotgun she had to carry on her back. She wondered if Henrietta was having even more trouble thanks to her axe-like bayonet.

However, the gate opened surprisingly smoothly. The military sorcery device – which looked more like a giant treasure chest than coffin and had translucent slime oozing out – didn’t budge from where it was standing guard. Mamilis must have looked like she knew what she was doing because a Public Morals Committee girl with twin braids was walking the other way but only gave a nod of greeting toward the unauthorized outsider. The girl out of uniform and carrying a full-auto shotgun did not draw her attention because she was too focused on pursuing a short girl from the Mystery Club who was attempting to enter off-limits areas in broad daylight in the name of investigating a mystery.

Mamilis recalled what Henrietta had said before they had to part ways.

“Mysterious organizations like this Student Council do not always keep their promises. They might launch a surprise attack before you reach the tower’s roof, so be on your guard on your way there.”

For that reason, she was carrying the full-auto shotgun in her hands instead of on her back. But if she let herself get too nervous, the smallest thing could scare her into pulling the trigger. She earned a somewhat surprised look from a very logically-minded Fencing Club boy who was walking down the hallway while flipping through an anatomy textbook.

Fortunately, she was never hit in the back of the head and never triggered a tripwire.

She found the stairs inside the control tower and began to climb this time. She honestly would have preferred the elevator, but she had been told that wasn’t an option because she could be trapped inside.

(This is floor 70, the end of Grade C. Each tower is a different height, so am I almost to the roof now?)

Would her strength last? She was afraid her legs would be too worn out by the time she arrived for the rooftop duel.

“Even if I was sent after the weakest one,” she commented, pouting her lips.

It was more accurate to say her opponent could not make use of her greatest strengths in a one-on-one battle in an open area but was second to none when it came to assassination techniques using blind spots, but the meaning had undergone a metamorphosis within Mamilis. And she was too much of a rookie to realize it was a bad sign if she was using her personal impression of the situation to create a more optimistic view.

She decided to climb the stairs at a steady pace like she was mountain climbing. If she rushed up them, she would be in no state to fight the duel. At the open security colosseum on the way, she held her shotgun’s front sight up to the flat reader and continued her way up. She knew it wasn’t going to attack her, but the large orchid mantis staring at her with mechanical eyes was still terrifying. Its armor was made of cold mana-conducting silver, but its movements were weirdly realistic.

“I know real orchid mantis larvae mimic flowers in appearance and smell, so is this trying to lure me in too?”

Her question went unanswered.

As she continued her work in silence, the isolation and weariness turned her thoughts inward.

(But this is unusual.)

Mamilis pondered her situation as she climbed the stairs.

She patted the emergency parachute she wore on the side of her hip.

(Coach wouldn’t normally have us split up for something as uncertain as “I’m sure you can win this”. He normally says he won’t let us fight unless he’s 100% certain of our safety.)

Ayato was the kind of person to throw out his entire plan and make a run for it if unforeseen circumstances caused his scenario to fall apart. He had done precisely that during their first run in with the President.

He had the strength to dryly conclude that clinging to his plan out of trite stubbornness wouldn’t change the reality of the situation, so he would immediately rework it into something workable.

(But now he’s sending us on a one-way path to an unrecoverable situation?)

Thinking about it wasn’t going to reveal the answer to her.

Maybe this was a sign of just how desperate Ayato was. Even as an outsider, Mamilis could sense that something big still linked Ayato to his old haunt of the Academy Towers.

She wasn’t opposed to taking on some risk to support him here.

He had saved her life and she disliked how he still worked so hard to protect her.

(That settles it. I’m going to show coach how useful I can be. Then he’ll be singing my praises.)

This tower apparently only went to floor 91 with a grade of S. That meant the security colosseum on floor 90 was the final check. But reaching the top floor required a special key, unlike the standard grades from I to S. Mamilis felt a bit flustered as she pulled out the palm-sized assassin handgun and pressed its front sight against the security colosseum’s reader.

She had no real interest in the Grade S zone on floor 91. She continued past it until the stairs ended.

“I’m at the top. Is this the door?”

She found a metal door in front of her.

It likely led to the roof. Mamilis Coster’s duel opponent would be waiting out there.

Sibell Wildcat.

The Student Council’s Secretary. As a dark elf from the outside world, Mamilis had no idea what value that title held, but given how large an organization the Academy Towers was, she could easily imagine only a select few could hold positions like that.

She gulped.

She reached for the doorknob but pulled her hand back again. Whether she used the elevator or stairs, the challenger had to pass through this door. It was the best spot to lay a trap. She didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but she still avoided touching the knob with her bare hand. She first lightly touched the lever-style knob with her shotgun’s stock which she ordinarily held against her shoulder.

She heard a click.

“?”

Her brown shoulders jumped, but nothing happened. That must have been nothing more than the door’s latch. She blushed a bit and cleared her throat before lowering the knob with the stock and using the thick sole of her boot to push the door outwards.

Mamilis arrived on the roof safely.

The powerful wind was much chillier than on the ground. Her breath left her mouth white. She held up her full-auto shotgun and peered through the sight to view the large circular space ahead. There wasn’t any kind of railing. It was only an open, flat space with nothing in it. There wasn’t a single place to hide.

“…?”

But this was odd.

Puzzled, Mamilis Coster removed her eye from the sorcery gun’s sight.

The dark elf described the impossible situation aloud.

“There’s no one here?”

On the roof of the security tower, Henrietta Split Destrius scratched her head after finding a similarly empty space.

But unlike Mamilis, Henrietta viewed things with a more strategic eye.

She immediately realized what the Student Council had done.

“Damn.”

If her opponent wasn’t here, he had to be somewhere else.

And if the Student Council felt no need to follow their own rules, it was best to assume the “one person per tower” rule was also invalid.

But there was nothing she could do with this new information.

She turned back toward a different tower and looked up toward the top of that much-taller structure.

“Are they ganging up on a single target!?”

Teleria Nereid Aquamarine’s face had gone pale.

She could not stop herself from trembling.

The pair of handguns she held were meaningless.

They had built-in suppressors, lasers, and dot sights. All the accessories covering the sorcery guns seemed to represent her own lack of confidence.

She couldn’t hit anyone from this range, but heading back to help would require descending the mana tower, using either a connecting walkway or the ground, and then climbing the gem tower.

She could see her destination, but she couldn’t reach it.

All she could do was watch.

The Student Council’s true target was…

“Ayato!!!”

Part 4

Ayato Criminaltrophy stood alone on the tallest tower’s roof, a hand on his hip and a sigh on his lips. Ganging up on the enemy 4-against-1 was a plan Ayato himself had considered.

President Umihiko Darkavenue.

Vice President Surace Bran Zorca Totalinus.

Secretary Sibell Wildcat.

Treasurer Gark Bryan.

They were fanned out to surround Ayato from a distance of about 20 esoule. They had broken their own rules for the duels and gathered all four members to make sure they could crush just one opponent.

The President’s intellect was obvious enough just from his continental championship trophy for online chess.

The chestnut-haired glasses boy chuckled.

White breath flowed from the corners of his mouth and he identified the truth right away.

“You knew about the trap but sprung it anyway, didn’t you?”

“You could say that.”

Mamilis Coster had found Ayato’s decision odd. He would never send those girls to their possible deaths based on a rough estimate that “surely they can win”. He would not allow even one of them to be lost for any reason, intentional or accidental. So he would never leave things in their hands until he had set things up so they had a 100% chance of survival.

He hadn’t actually broken those rules.

By agreeing to the duels and sending the girls to other towers, he knew he could at least distance them from the fighting. Even if they caught on and tried to return to the gem tower’s roof, the roundabout route wouldn’t let them arrive in time. Ayato had made a point of waiting just long enough that the girls wouldn’t hear any battle noises before heading up to the roof.

He had known Umihiko would keep his forces close at hand to protect himself. And Ayato had given the girls parachutes. In the off chance he had misread the situation and one of the girls was the target of the 4-against-1 attack, they could immediately jump from the roof. There was no other use for the parachutes. They wouldn’t provide a shortcut from one tower to another.

All alone just like he had chosen, Ayato silently drew his Linkage Plug sword.

The glasses President responded with a slight smile.

Resting on his shoulder was a scythe like Death used to reap souls.

“Outnumbered and still no reaction at all? Interesting.”

A high-pitched sound like a purifying bell rang out.

The President had used his other hand’s thumb to flick a large crystal coin straight up. Gravity failed to pull it back down, so it stopped at his face height.

It endlessly rotated there, creating his Linkage Monitor.

The clear coin’s afterimage displayed a wildly fluctuating array of information.

“Now, then.” Umihiko tapped the crystal coin with his finger. “This is an empty rooftop. This thing has no role to play here.”

Since the crystal coin was constantly spinning, a slight touch was enough to send it flying. But like a fly returning no matter how many times it was shooed away, the Linkage Monitor always returned to its designated spot.

A coin toss had even odds. That gave them value in testing one’s luck – and thus in fortune telling. But the President introduced external interference that let him determine the fortune that was told. He created an inconsistency in the odds, letting him manipulate the values. That was how his Linkage Monitor worked.

It was an ideal monitor.

Ayato’s crystal tarot looked more advance and complicated, so it seemed more like a specialist tool. Mamilis or Henrietta would have a hard time moving the cards lined up in the air. In fact, they wouldn’t even be able to read the arcana of each card.

But generally, pros disliked complexity.

Sorcery Hackers in particular liked to create highly compressed shortcuts to let them complete processes in the blink of an eye.

In that sense, the way Umihiko had cut away every last piece of fat to display everything on a single crystal coin proved he was the best of the best. Seeing it made Ayato painfully aware how much excess fat he still had in his method of merely complexly moving around a deck of tarot cards.

The President was clearly several steps above him as a Sorcery Hacker. And that trickster of a Sorcery Hacker wasn’t Ayato’s only opponent here. He was just one member of a party where each member was a master of a separate field.

But.

What did that matter?

Ayato Criminaltrophy took a step forward himself.

It didn’t bother him if it was 1-against-4.

Why should he care if that boy was a better Sorcery Hacker?

None of that was a problem. An entirely different problem was occupying his mind.

Yes…

“I believe it is time you told me about Miss Teleria. You will tell me everything you know even if I have to break your ribs one at a time to get it out of you.”

“Oh? You noticed that?”

“She is a culinary genius, but her cooking has been in a rut since we arrived here. She has given up on creativity and adlibbing and simply modifies a well-received dish as requested. She ordinarily enjoys the act of cooking itself, yet she has begun going through the motions like it is no more than work. That means something is distracting her.”

Ayato had known Umihiko was much more skilled than him, but this meant he had discovered even the original trailer they had hidden in. That was the only explanation. It all came down to Ayato’s failure.

“You must have contacted her on our first night after arriving at the Academy Towers. And you found something you could use to threaten her. Am I right so far?”

Umihiko simply shrugged.

“I doubt she would want us discussing her secret.”

He reeked of the rotten superiority that came from someone using a secret for blackmail.

Did people like this find their way into power, or did power turn people into this?

“You are a fool. The key to combat is not physical strength or superior weapons – it is information. If the Sorcery Hacker is defeated first, the rest will be helpless to stop me. But don’t you worry. I will thoroughly indulge myself in the ‘presents’ you have brought me. Not just Miss Teleria, either. I will find unique ways to enjoy all three of them.”

Ayato had heard enough.

A static-like pain raced through his brow.

The Student Council had set up this extreme trap and Ayato had come to tear it apart. Both sides took a step forward.

“You are not leaving this roof alive.”

“If you meant that, you would have brought your revolver, Hexajinx.”

A group of four had ganged up on just one boy.

A highly broken duel had begun.

Part 5

Let’s review a basic definition.

Ayato Criminaltrophy was a Sorcery Hacker. He could not win a direct magical battle using sorcery guns.

He could not display his power if he did not first stab his Linkage Plug sword into sorcery devices to hack them.

That meant this was a worst-case scenario for him.

He was on an empty rooftop. There were no devices he could use as a Sorcery Hacker and nothing he could hide behind or use as a shield. He was entirely defenseless. If someone simply launched the most basic fire magic from their sorcery gun, he would be blown to bits, unable to evade or defend.

Princess Surace took one look at Ayato’s Linkage Plug and snorted in laughter.

A sword?

Was that supposed to be a sword?

The Linkage Plug lacked the sharp edge a knight used to cut through and overwhelm their enemy. It also lacked weight and penetrative power. It looked impressive when he held it like a real sword, but it wouldn’t function as one.

“We didn’t even need all four of us for this.”

He heard a heavy clanking.

The real princess held a hunting rifle in both hands. But you wouldn’t find a gun like that in any store. It was a one-of-a-kind item a royal gunmaker provided the royal family. The barrel, grip, scope, stock, trigger, and every last screw had been thoroughly optimized for 4th-in-line Surace Bran Zorca Totalinus alone. It was designed to blend into her silhouette as a princess and it was probably worth as much as a noble’s mansion.

The sexy Vice President pressed the polished wooden stock against her shoulder.

“Prepare to die, thief. There is nothing you can do now. Not even scream.”

Ayato immediately took action.

Surace had shifted the long gun against her shoulder, which meant she had taken her eyes off of Ayato for a split second to glance down at the gun.

“!?”

By ducking low and weaving in an S-pattern, he disappeared from her scope despite rushing in from the front. She blindly launched Tertiary Thunderbolt magic and it tore horizontally through the space in front of her. It shot right past Ayato’s ear, but that was all. Even the strongest magic was no threat if it missed. In fact, the recoil of the shot kicked back against her shoulder and caused her to freeze up for just a moment.

That was his chance.

Once he was close enough, out flew his sword. Of course, that was only a Linkage Plug meant for sorcery hacking. No matter how much it looked like a sword, it could not behead a human any more than a palette knife could be used to fillet a fish.

So his target was of course a sorcery device.

Yes, he was going to hack the royal rifle Surace held in her hands.

The sword tip stabbed into the chamber and Surace bit her lip. It was a part of her silhouette as a princess and she may have been quite attached to it, but she did not hesitate to let it go.

“Ghh!!”

The bullet detonated in the chamber, blowing up the gun from the inside. Fragments of mana-conducting silver formed a wall that slammed into the princess’s entire body.

“That gun is Level 500!! How did you get to such a high level!?”

He had no obligation to answer her.

And he didn’t have time to even if he wanted to.

A crash as loud as a sorcery vehicle accident came from his side. He doubled over and flew through the air. He prepared for his landing and rolled along the rooftop, immediately looking to his new enemy.

“So you released your blade? Smart move. Rolling with that in hand could have sliced you up with your own weapon.”

This was the strongest Bouncer.

Grapple Shields Gark Bryan.

Those thick shields had a brutally dull shine to the edges and they were not just a passive defense. They were bone-shattering blunt weapons.

“I challenge you to a duel, Hexajinx.”

“…”

“I’ve always wondered who would win if the strongest Bouncer and the strongest Forward fought.”

Sounded like this wasn’t about conspiracies or a calculated plan with him. He just loved to fight, but in a different way from Henrietta. He was a walking danger zone who sought out any and all worthy opponents with no concern for what was right and wrong.

Ayato spat out some bloody saliva and squeezed his Linkage Plug’s grip to draw out a new blade.

Don’t fear him.

His shields are sorcery devices. You can hack them.

He kept all that in mind.

Ayato took a quick breath and stared straight at his enemy.

“Shut up and die, coward.”

He was pissed.

He had given up on reason.

Ayato’s silence hadn’t been from remaining calm. He had abandoned all attempt at understanding his opponent.

He focused on the situation. Trying to fight fair would be just plain silly.

Part 6

“Yikes.”

Someone trembled silently within all the intense fighting.

It was Sibell Wildcat, the short-sleeved gym clothes girl with a bestial air to her. Whether she used long-range sniping or close-range knife fighting, she needed to hide behind cover or in a blind spot to use her assassin skills.

So she was hiding behind the large boy.

Just as Gark tried to tackle their opponent with his twin shields, Sibell threw a poison dart from a blind spot.

(Are you serious? Stopping that with the bottom of your grip isn’t human. Ayato Criminaltrophy supposedly can’t fight ordinary sorcery battles with a sorcery gun, but is that really true? If he isn’t magically boosting his muscles and nerves, then how the hell did he react like that!? That isn’t how a Sorcery Hacker fights. Don’t tell me…has that bastard gone back to his devil days!?)

“Ohhhh!!”

With a roar that would put a steam engine to shame, Gark Bryan charged straight in with his shields out in front. A tackle like that could break through a castle’s gate and the brutal edge was a heavy weapon that could tear down a castle’s wall if thrown.

It was simple but effective.

Ayato tried to stab his Linkage Plug sword in, but he was instead lifted from the ground with a dull thud. Then Gark pulled the pin from a grenade with his mouth and threw the grenade out past his shields.

A grenade was a single-use sorcery gun that had its limiters removed so the magic sealed inside would explosively expand, destroying the gun in the process.

By angling the shields in a V-shape, he could direct the blast. If concave, the blast would focus down on a single point, piercing through the enemy’s armor. If convex, the shockwave would fan out to hit an entire group of enemies at once.

The strongest defender endured his own Primary Blaze blast with his shields and then broke through the wall of flames for another ultra-heavyweight tackle.

Normally, this simple series of actions would wallop, tear apart, and crush any opponent.

However.

“What!?”

The shocked exclamation came from Gark during his charge.

It was Ayato Criminaltrophy who tore through the flames, appearing right in front of Gark. The courage to approach head on was impressive, but how had he done it? Ayato hadn’t had any way of escaping the grenade blast. It was too powerful to survive without any kind of protection and there were no wooden boxes, hunks of metal, or other cover on the roof. Anything short of Gark’s own shields could not deflect the engulfing flames.

Yet Ayato was very much alive.

The experienced Bouncer saw through the puzzling phenomenon.

“Did you hack the grenade!?”

Even if it was single-use, it was still a sorcery gun. And if it was a sorcery gun, it was a sorcery device. That meant it could be hacked if Ayato got his Linkage Plug in it. Then he could rearrange the magic inside before it detonated. He could even control the blast to leave a safe zone, like a missing slice of pizza.

(But.)

“That doesn’t mean you’ve conquered my shields!!”

Gark gathered strength in his legs again and moved to slam his thick shields into his target. At full speed, Grapple Shields could open a giant hole in the side of a warship protected by mana-conducting silver chloride armor.

But he did not feel it land.

Gark Bryan’s weight found only empty air, like he had charged into a cloud of mist.

(!? He didn’t just reduce the power.)

“An illusion. Did you adjust the grenade’s magic to create a mirage from the flames!? The flames and yourself charging through them were both an illusion. You hacked in and rewrote all that in such a short time!?”

It was too late.

Even the great Grapple Shields was defenseless if he directed his shields the wrong way.

Ayato silently approached the large boy’s back while he was leaned forward for his tackle. He moved as casually as if he were patting Gark on the shoulder, but the large boy’s entire body shook from that slight contact.

Then he crumpled to the rooftop.

Gark Bryan’s back had been pierced by a poison dart so small you would have to wrinkle your brow and stare intently to find it.

“My dart!?” shouted the gym clothes girl, eyes wide.

She was right next to Gark because she had been using his large body and shields to hide her much smaller form.

Ayato glared at her with his Linkage Plug sword dangling from one hand.

His eyes carried a look even more fearsome than a beast’s.

Without Gark’s shields and body to hide behind and while squarely in her target’s field of vision, Sibell Wildcat could not make use of her assassin skills.

“Eek!”

Two people moved in from either side to block the predator’s gaze.

The two were President Umihiko Darkavenue and Vice President Surace Bran Zorca Totalinus.

“Sibell, you can use us as your next cover.”

“O-okay.”

“Now, Ayato.”

The President was smiling.

Smiling cruelly behind his intellectual glasses.

“That was some impressive movement, but you’re pushing yourself too hard, aren’t you?”

“…”

Ayato gained nothing by letting it show on his face.

Sorcery hacking did nothing to boost his physical body. He was only forcing his unboosted body to use the techniques of his Forward days, but that was the same as a retired athlete forcing their body to go through their old moves.

“Heavyweight athletes and figure skaters both train their bodies, but they develop muscles in fundamentally different ways. There is no one-size-fits-all way to train your body or mind, which is why the Academy Towers divides its personnel into clubs and committees so we can grow in a way specialized for their greatest strengths. Everyone has their area of expertise and we ensure they can always provide the greatest results while remaining generally flexible.”

Umihiko aimed the tip of his scythe.

That scythe was the ultimate Sorcery Hacker’s Linkage Plug.

“In that sense, Ayato, these superhuman actions of yours might as well be suicide. You cannot be a sorcery-gun-wielding Forward and a Linkage-Plug-wielding Sorcery Hacker at the same time. Knowing the techniques isn’t enough. Just like Gark here can’t be a Bouncer and a Forward at the same time, people need a body that matches their skills or they will simply self-destruct. Every last one of your muscles is stiff, isn’t it? Your bones are crying out in protest, your tendons are stretched too far, and your entire body has become a ball of agony.”

“Do you think that makes you more charismatic, or something?” growled Ayato, spitting onto the roof. The spit had some red in it. “No one likes a leader who loves to get up on stage and prattle on. I can smell the old-man stink from here.”

Ayato had in fact previously demonstrated these brief, extraordinary actions separate from his Sorcery Hacker skills.

For example, back in Sky City Celedileka when he had clung to Demon Lord Nirvelphany when she jumped from the castle tower to escape and knocked her out with a headbutt to the forehead.

For example, back on the Annihilator-class Predator Island when he had singlehandedly climbed into the ship’s main cannon and blown it up to protect the giant Fleurelisia of the Four Lords.

But those had only been brief.

What happened if he continued doing it?

The answer was swirling within his body now, but he did not let it show.

He wanted to kill this boy before he coughed up blood and passed out.

If it would save the girls so close to him, he would do so without hesitation.

The President smirked.

All the insults and mockery directed his way only sounded like his fleeing prey giving away their position. The bespectacled hunter smugly took aim.

“Reach for your devil. That is what belongs in your hand.”

“Did you think you got to choose how I kill you? I’m doing that my way.”

Someone slipped between the two of them.

The lithe, bewitching silhouette belonged to a real princess.

It was Vice President Surace.

“Don’t expect us to hold anything back, thief.”

A buzz of vibration ran through the air.

The next thing Ayato knew, the ringlets girl held a bizarre sword in her hand. It was a thick sword with comb-like teeth carved into the front and a dagger as sharp as an awl jutting out from the bottom of the grip.

The former was a sword breaker meant to catch and snap a sword. The latter was a mail breaker meant to stab through chainmail and reach the wearer’s vitals.

Together they formed…

“As fourth in line, I command you to activate, Mass Conversion Ultra Gravity Crusher – Gaugebosonia.”

There was no major change.

Only a mirage-like shimmer. The background grew distorted, like it was contracting toward the sword.

That magic sword could bend even light and it thoroughly crushed anything it touched – including people and objects. Ayato immediately recognized its ability to reject the attack and defense of any who opposed her. He responded by raising his Linkage Plug sword.

He ignored the royal sword as he spoke.

His voice carried less emotion than a cold sorcery device.

“What does it feel like?”

“What?”

“I defeated one of them while you watched on. What does it feel like to have one of your people hurt?”

The glasses boy snorted.

“I know I don’t feel as bad as you.”

“…”

“Because you let us manipulate you into killing someone who didn’t need to die.”

Ayato Criminaltrophy felt his blood boil.

And he let that red-hot current take him.

“And you have no idea what’s going on with his sister’s body.”

The black-haired boy with the Linkage Plug sword did not hesitate to charge straight ahead.

His soft flesh, blood, organs, and even bones ached, but he swallowed all of that pain.

These pieces of shit were responsible for the dark shadow cast on Teleria’s life.

Ayato had unwittingly carried out the fateful command and torn a family apart.

That was enough of a reason for him.

He aimed for Surace’s Gaugebosonia sword, but someone slipped between him and it.

Was this a 1-on-1 duel?

Assuming his opponents would play fair would be the height of folly.

“Hee hee!!”

A small girl in gym clothes swung a knife to the side, aiming for Ayato’s flank in something resembling a hook in boxing.

No, a closer look showed the grip had a small trigger on it.

That blade had magic in it. Even if he caught this with his Linkage Plug sword, which wasn’t even meant for direct combat, the knife would slice through it as easily as custard or yogurt and tear into his vitals.

Ayato did not bat an eye even while experiencing pain like his organs were being wrung out like a wet rag.

He pulled the trigger on his Linkage Plug.

His blade came away.

“Ah.”

Sibell’s knife did indeed slice through the Linkage Plug, but at an unexpected point. The slight resistance subtly altered the knife’s path like a blade swinging through water.

It constricted his blood vessels and he thought his sense of pain was going to numb over completely, but he still ducked below the knife and swung up his right hand. He made a hammer-like horizontal strike with the remaining grip and guard. With enough force to possibly cave in the girl’s temple.

“Gwah!?”

Ayato didn’t even glance Sibell’s way as she collapsed. Instead, he pulled a new blade from the grip. He ignored the unnatural red tinge creeping into the right side of his vision. The enraged beast glared at the President.

He tasted iron on his shallow breaths.

“That’s two I’ve taken from you, Umihiko.”

“Do you think you can soothe your wounds by taking as many from me? Teleria would strip off her clothes right now if I ordered it. While biting her lip and weeping like she’s the most unfortunate person in the world. Blouse first? Skirt first? Or maybe go right to the underwear first? It’s all up to me.”

Was he asking to lose a third one? Ayato swung the new blade and directed the sword’s tip at the Vice President this time.

A dark red liquid dripped from between Ayato’s tightly clenched teeth.

He had the fearsome stare of a wounded animal. Any ordinary person pierced by it might have been too terrified to stay on their feet.

But the princess stepped forward, happy to accept the challenge.

That attitude may have proved she had what it took to rule not just a kingdom but the entire continent.

“You are interesting. If you think you can steal this sword from me, just try it!!”

Their swords crossed.

The clash was deafening

It shouldn’t have been possible.

That sword was of the same type as the ones managed by Micha Angelos and Angela Messenger. Not even a Sorcery Hacker of Ayato’s level should have been able to hack it so easily.

But someone had done so in the past.

And that showed who it really was who had stabbed their blade in from the side and sorcery hacked the 4th’s sword.

“Huh? Eh?”

Surace looked dumbfounded and tried to look back despite the situation.

But the hacker wouldn’t let her.

“Thanks as always, Surace.”

It was the President.

Umihiko Darkavenue’s scythe had pierced the 4th’s sword.

He used his other hand to poke at the crystal coin still spinning in midair. That was his Linkage Monitor, which displayed sorcery data and let him manipulate that data.

“But I’ll be taking that. I don’t trust the combat skills of some sheltered girl who’s barely stepped foot outside her palace.”

Ayato’s body grew distorted.

Cracking and straining sounds came from his right half. The ultra gravity capable of bending light was compressing and destroying his bones and muscles.

And even worse happened to the sexy princess who was actually holding the sword.

“G-g-g-gyaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!??”

The Vice President left behind an unnaturally distorted scream as she collapsed with blood spurting from every orifice, but the glasses boy didn’t even look down at her.

He easily caught the Gaugebosonia sword in his other hand.

Umihiko surveyed the results of his attack with eyes shining bright. He stared directly at injured Ayato who remained standing but at an angle.

Ayato’s right hand was useless now, so he wordlessly switched his Linkage Plug sword to his non-dominant left hand. It was obvious his ability to fight was drastically reduced.

After confirming that, the President grinned.

“And that makes three. Happy now, Ayato? Ah hah hah. Now I’ve lost more people than you.”

His dry laughter continued.

Laugh was all the President did. Despite everything he had lost. Or did he not see any value in the people around him?

Ayato did nothing.

He had to fight gravity.

Umihiko had hacked the 4th’s great power so he could destroy, and thus neutralize, the enemy’s weapons. Or, if so desired, to crush the enemy’s vitals and kill them.

But despite the extreme damage he had taken, Ayato was thinking of something other than the sword of succession.

Quaternary Press.

That earth magic had been used by High Priest Belbath at Sky City Celedileka and by Teleria’s brother. They had both held noncombat jobs, so where had they learned attack magic meant for explosives or bazookas, which bent even light to gather mana and then detonate it?

“You steal your opponent’s specialty and lay on the pressure.”

Ayato felt like he had the answer now.

He didn’t know how planned-out it was or if this boy had thought it through to the very end, but he must have given them the magic while smiling just like this.

“If you sense any danger to yourself, you find a way to reset things even if it means destroying your own allies. Your own safety always comes first.”

“…?”

Umihiko Darkavenue was growing confused.

And the instant the President’s eyebrows moved, Ayato spoke the critical words despite the red blood dripping from the corner of his lips.

He said it clearly.

“Just like I predicted.”

Something exploded.

Needless to say, this was intentional destruction caused by sorcery hacking.

The metal door Ayato had used to reach the roof was blasted outwards and something rolled toward them.

Several somethings, in fact.

They were small enough to grab between the fingers, but they sounded as heavy pickling stones. Their relative density had to be greater than pure gold. They were a heat-resistant alloy made from mana-conducting silver nitride, which had extremely limited uses in extreme heat environments or in vacuums.

There were dozens of them here.

The President seemed mildly surprised Ayato had set this up before emerging onto the roof, but he was till a Sorcery Hacker. This wasn’t enough for him to forget his nature.

The rational thinking he had built up to the point it was fused with his instincts was shouting that he needed to identify these new objects.

“Impactors,” muttered the glasses boy. “Tools used to investigate asteroids?”

With a loud explosion, Ayato sent the remaining stock rolling out.

All to greatly change the nature of the battlefield.

These prototypes were only experimental and sounded more delusional than anything. They were meant to be launched 25 thousand esoule in a count to three, collide with asteroids soaring out in space, and forcibly extract samples.

Without the satellite’s speed to start with and while under the effects of the ordinary atmosphere, they could not move anywhere near as fast, but they were still special sorcery devices designed to tear off and gather large pieces of an astronomical body. They were more than enough to punch through and rupture soft human flesh.

These were of course borrowed from the Rocket Club.

Reaching space was no more than a wild dream for anything but Nirvelphany’s orbital sorcery cannon, and she had been known as a Demon Lord for that. Only those eccentrics would bother drawing up plans and building prototypes for experimental tools to operate in that dream.

They were only slightly larger than golf balls, but they were still explosives.

And they were sorcery devices that used gemboards smaller than stamps. A Sorcery Hacker could use them for attack or defense.

The 4th’s sword was powerful. It used a vortex of light-bending gravity to crush and destroy any matter.

But that didn’t mean it could defend its wielder against deadly projectiles flying in from multiple directions at once. Besides, Gaugebosonia was designed for offense, not defense

In other words, this did not reduce the risk to Ayato, but it definitely increased the risk to Umihiko.

“You thought there were no sorcery devices for me to hack? You thought you could easily kill me by luring me onto the empty roof and ganging up on me? Don’t make me laugh.”

Ayato spread his arms wide to show off his handiwork.

The grenade in front of the twin shields. The knife and poison dart which carried magic. And the royal sword that identified its wielder as 4th in the line of succession. The gruesome battlefield was littered with deadly weapons.

“If I need something, I just have to bring it with me. It’s the obvious solution. And, Umihiko, since you can only understand your opponent in your own condescending way and can’t bring yourself to trust your own allies, I knew you would do the same thing if you felt threatened. I knew you wouldn’t trust your foolish friend with something so powerful.”

“…”

“But. You can’t be a sorcery-gun-wielding Forward and a Linkage-Plug-wielding Sorcery Hacker at the same time. You said that yourself. Umihiko, isn’t that sword of royal succession too much for us gloomy indoorsy types?”

Ayato never did reach for the devil revolver.

He stuck to his Linkage Plug sword even when the damage reached the skeletal level.

Not so for the President.

The moment he had given into temptation and stole that powerful sword from the Vice President, he had fallen into the gap between two specialties. In a pure confrontation between Sorcery Hackers, Ayato might have lost. There was no way for Ayato’s mind to go through a dramatic evolution and he couldn’t change how quickly his fingers operated his crystal tarot cards. So he had diluted his enemy’s purity to drag him down.

One side was using his specialty, the other was not.

One side was a Sorcery Hacker, the other had become a jack of all trades and master of none.

Their positions had reversed. Ayato made his announcement while stabbing in his Linkage Plug sword.

“Umihiko.”

“Ah ha…ha ha ha. Ayato…”

“Go to hell where you belong.”

A moment later, they took the shortest route to a clash.

Part 7

Ayato and Umihiko were both Sorcery Hackers.

But this time, it was Ayato who regained his purity first.

The President clicked his tongue. He had to throw aside Gaugebosonia and shift his focus to his spinning crystal coin before he could make his first move.

Meanwhile, Ayato’s sword moved quickly in his left hand. He stabbed his Linkage Plug into more and more of the golf-ball-sized impactor prototypes strewn across the roof, he operated his crystal tarot cards with his tattered fingers, and he ignited the devices one after another.

They tore through the air with a shrill whistle.

Piercing points more fearsome than shooting stars flew toward Umihiko. Yes, points. They lacked a satellite to carry them, but the impactors were designed to tear away pieces of asteroids. Their damage was lot like a sharp stab or penetration than a heavy blow. Simply having your flesh or organs sharply torn away like that could be fatal. And these piercing hammers glowed orange from the air friction and produced a powerful shockwave that could cause the wound to explode from within.

They left no room for a second chance or rehabilitation.

The barrage carried Ayato’s clear intent to kill the boy here.

“Ha ha.”

The President continued laughing while facing down the approaching barrage.

He laughed as he gripped his Linkage Plug scythe in both hands once more. The giant crescent moon blade stabbed into a sorcery device at his feet.

He flicked the floating crystal coin with a finger.

He created a distortion in the fair odds to manipulate the massive numbers hidden within.

“I knew it!! I knew you were my greatest enemy!! As long as I kill you, no one will stand in the way of my stable future!!”

The device was the thick shield Gark Bryan had used.

Twisting his body would not be enough to dodge this wall-like barrage, so Umihiko forcibly deflected it by hacking the shield’s defense magic.

A less skilled hacker had pushed the greatest hacker to this point.

The impactors had turned to orange streaks of light, but they either crashed into the shield and exploded or were deflected off into empty space. The end result looked a lot like an accident at a fireworks show.

The chaotic dance of light pushed the danger zone toward Ayato as well.

But he did not even shut his eyes against the light. In fact, he crouched low and ran forward to bring himself closer.

Both boys swung their blades, creating glinting lines in the air.

They loudly crashed together.

The tip of Umihiko’s scythe had stabbed through the flat of Ayato’s sword blade.

A Linkage Plug was also a type of sorcery device.

If that was hacked, it was all over.

However…

“I see.”

“Don’t let this surprise you.”

A handkerchief was roughly tied around the middle of the sword blade. That was all it was, but that one layer of cloth could prevent the hack as long as it kept the scythe’s tip from reaching the sword blade.

“Ohhh!!” roared Ayato, gathering strength in his sword.

He used the Linkage Plug sword to knock back the scythe that served the same purpose. Umihiko’s scythe looked formidable, but it wasn’t built for combat. There was a chance its tip could pierce armor or a helmet if its weight was placed behind the blow, but a Linkage Plug wasn’t meant to destroy its target.

Ayato still had his balance, so his sword had the upper hand at the moment.

Ayato’s sword could slash at Umihiko’s feet before Umihiko could regain control of the deflected scythe. Umihiko was already overbalanced backwards, so that would fully topple him over and he would let go of his weapon too.

However…

“Ayato.”

The President leaned backwards while standing on the edge of the circular roof.

He released his scythe blade and let it fall from the tower. They were on the roof of the 101-floor building. Even a single coin would be deadly from that height, so he showed no interest in even the most basic of morals.

Ayato didn’t need to approach him.

He only had to operate his Linkage Monitor crystal tarot cards and send a command to the golf-ball-sized impactors he had hacked. If a horizontal barrage from those pushed Umihiko back a step, he would fall off.

Just then, Ayato’s vision greatly blurred. No, a gust of wind had blown in. As tall as this tower was, that shouldn’t have been possible. This gust had to be artificial.

It had blown up from below.

With a horrific creaking noise, a military sorcery device resembling a serpent as long as a train emerged from below. The movement of its great mass had stirred up the air. That high-altitude guard device had no possible use beyond defending the 1000-esoule towers by wrapping around them. The tower walls supposedly had randomly-positioned trap areas that made people’s fingers or devices’ legs slip off, so did this thing know how to avoid those? Or was it designed to neutralize the slippery traps with an oil or cleaning agent?

The fangs in its gaping maw could spray high-pressure poison to melt through mana-conducting silver armor and its scales doubled as a scattershot weapon that shot out to create a wall of shrapnel and an explosive blast.

Umihiko had released and dropped his scythe blade so the momentum of its fall would stab it into and hack the patrol device moving along either the tower itself or one of the connecting passageways.

His finger reached for the crystal coin spinning in the air.

The devil in intellectual glasses whispered with his back to the giant military sorcery device which was glaring down at its target.

“Did you forget what it means to be a Sorcery Hacker? We infiltrate the invisible network to manipulate the entirety of our location’s infrastructure. We do not always build up our Linkage Plug level because we want to hack the puny little weapons visible in front of us.”

“Tch!!”

Ayato flicked the crystal tarot cards floating in front of him to change the target of the impactors lying on the roof.

Streaks of light flew both up and down. The entire roof was engulfed in explosive flames and the giant serpent lost its balance as it took damage to the weak areas not protected by its powerful armor: the liquid vial tilt sensors, the synchro-sensors that allowed the many pleated joints to operate together, etc.

Scorching orange, rotting purple.

Lines of several colors flew in wild arcs.

Neither side escaped unscathed.

The train-sized serpent spewed dark smoke while its great body was dragged from the roof by the head that fell off first.

And…

“…”

Ayato was slammed back-first into the floor and then flipped himself over. Once face down, he realized he couldn’t feel anything in his hand. He must have let go of his Linkage Plug sword based on a deep-set habit – so he wouldn’t stab himself with his own blade.

A direct hit from the high-pressure poison jet or even a single drop of spray after deflecting it with an impactor would have done serious damage. And the impactors had to be accurately aimed at a specific point, so they could not have shot down all of the scattershot scales approaching like a thick wall.

Even after everything he had done, he couldn’t reach his goal.

He had a righteous purpose here, but he still couldn’t win.

He heard heavy breathing a short distance away.

It came from President Umihiko Darkavenue.

Had that thing’s appearance been part of the glasses boy’s plan, or had it been unexpected for him as well? After a short but unnatural pause, the President spoke three clear words.

“Pick it up.”

He invited something in.

He pierced Ayato with his words rather than his Linkage Plug scythe.

“I won’t let you be a Sorcery Hacker. So pick up your devil, Ayato.”

Ayato heard a heavy thud.

The dull shine within arm’s reach belonged to a silver sorcery gun.

It was the Queen Astaroth Revolver.

“…”

The black-haired boy’s breathing truly stopped.

His thoughts seemed to burn him in that asphyxiating hell.

He could end the tragedy here. He could remake Teleria’s life into something bright and happy after unwittingly taking all that from her. He could give the President what he deserved for multiplying his misdeeds ten or twentyfold in order to cover up his crimes.

How far was he willing to go for that?

What taboos could he permit himself?

That was the real question here.

Ayato reached out and…

And…

And…

He grabbed his Linkage Plug sword, not the sorcery gun.

He had broken the law.

His past reputation as the strongest Forward was only valid in the cramped confines of the Academy Towers and he was a wanted criminal the instant he set foot into the wider world. He had taken one step down the path of shadows and now there was no escape.

But he could accept that.

Because he believed there were more important rules he had to follow.

So.

Even as each new action seemed to shorten his lifespan, he did not pick up the devil’s revolver. Because this was the path he had chosen for himself!!

The Sorcery Hacker slowly stood up once more. He stood on his own two feet without borrowing power from anything else.

The President snorted.

“You are a fool.”

“You would – huff – never understand.”

They had shared the instant of life and death this long, but those two elites still did not understand each other.

“And if that was all, I wouldn’t care. But because you don’t understand, you mock others for caring and you steal away the things they care for. That’s what makes you a truly lost cause. If you felt even a twinge of jealousy when you saw the shining treasures others had, at least it would mean you understood how important those things are.”

Silence fell.

Ayato and Umihiko remained motionless in the biting wind of the tower roof’s elevation.

There was no signal.

But the Sorcery Hackers still took action at the same moment.

Their footsteps were nearly explosive.

One side use sword and crystal tarot. The other used scythe and crystal coin. They charged toward each other with their hands making intricate movements. They increased their level by hacking the grenade, knife, and other sorcery guns along the way, but they also tore through the air to take the shortest route to their opponent.

They only had one thing to target now.

Sorcery Hackers were not swordsmen or knights. So even though their Linkage Plugs took the shape of bladed weapons, they were never meant to lock blades.

This was the only exception to that.

The Sorcery Hackers worked to hack each other’s Linkage Plugs – their tools of the trade. The winner would gain the greatest honor and the loser the lowest humiliation. It was the ultimate 1-on-1 confrontation.

Yes.

Any Sorcery Hacker would focus on winning this honor that no one would ever recognize.

However…

“Ayato!!”

“?”

In that instant, Umihiko Darkavenue did not direct his scythe toward Ayato.

Almost like he didn’t want their blades to clash.

Almost like he didn’t want to settle things between them and was making a cowardly escape despite all his talk of killing Ayato.

Then the clever, cheating scythe hacked Gaugebosonia as it lay on the roof. Crushing Ayato’s body with its ultra gravity field was the most powerful attack available here and also an option the less-experienced Ayato could not choose.

Umihiko was undoubtedly the superior Sorcery Hacker.

The flick of his crystal coin rang loud.

And a dull boom reverberated across the roof.

“You…”

Time stopped.

The wind carried only President Umihiko Darkavenue’s amused voice.

The powerful stench of blood ruled that place.

Umihiko’s unnecessary action had delayed him just enough for the sword to reach him despite its shorter length.

His crystal coin Linkage Monitor had fallen at his feet.

The battle was over.

“You know…nothing.”

“…”

“Teleria Nereid Aquamarine? Listen, Ayato, read the ancient inscriptions carefully. That girl is hiding everything from you. I promise you her secret will send a chill down your spine. You’ll be too horrified to so much as touch her!! Because, you see, that hideous girl is in fact-”

“Shut up.”

There was a dull grinding sound as Ayato twisted his wrist.

This wasn’t even sorcery hacking. Just like a holy man hitting someone in the head with his staff, he was making a weapon out of something not designed for that purpose.

It was the cruel sound of him further twisting the Linkage Plug sword stabbed deep into Umihiko’s chest to intentionally widen the wound.

Hadn’t it been said enough that you can’t be a sorcery-gun-wielding Forward and a Linkage-Plug-wielding Sorcery Hacker at the same time?

Yet President Umihiko smiled thinly without managing to wipe the fear from his heart.

In a pure confrontation between Sorcery Hackers, there had been no way for the less-experienced and less-pure Ayato to win. And when the President had moved his scythe elsewhere, it had been obvious where Ayato’s blade, aimed for that scythe, would end up instead. And even with his target gone, Ayato hadn’t really tried to stop the blade tip as it flew toward the President. Ayato had his right half shredded by the gravity attack again, but when that attack failed to fully kill him, fate had bared its fangs on the President.

A coward avoided direct confrontations and took the easy and more advantageous route.

But when a coward was defeated, they always met a more gruesome fate than someone who fought fair and square.

A fierce smile formed on the President’s lips. And he spoke through that smile.

“She is…in fact…”

Ayato Criminaltrophy whispered quietly, like he was scolding someone’s poor manners at a classy theatre or restaurant.

“I said shut up.”

That was the end of it.

Ayato heard something hard rolling along the roof.

“Uh…ugh.”

A groan came from Sibell Wildcat as she convulsed on the floor. As an assassination expert, she could make full use of her abilities as long as she had a blind spot. While Ayato and Umihiko were glaring at each other, the gym clothes girl had collected the grenade fallen outside the boys’ field of vision, pulled the pin with her mouth, and rolled that single-use sorcery gun without even getting up.

Primary Blaze.

Boosted fire magic erupted in every direction. The merciless blast crashed into Ayato’s side like a solid wall, toppling him over. But the President wasn’t so lucky. He, his Linkage Plug scythe, and his Linkage Monitor crystal coin all flew right over the edge of the circular roof. He plummeted from that 1000-esoule height. He might as well have been a balled-up piece of paper tossed into the trash.

Time seemed to run strangely slow and Umihiko remained smiling to the end.

Fallen on the roof, Ayato managed to read the lips of that Sorcery Hacker with the darkness lurking deep in his eyes.

Be honest with yourself.

Those were his final words.

After finding so much success and victory in this wide world, he hadn’t found a single thing that made begging for his life worth it.

A quiet but distinctive metallic clink came from the rooftop. A thin chain reminiscent of a necklace had broken and a mana-conducting silver key now lay near Ayato. Had the blast broken the chain the President wore around his neck?

(Lonely till the bitter end.)

The remaining Sorcery Hacker gave one last snort of laughter before passing out.

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