Mibu Sayaka woke up from Aika's sleep spell a few hours after she was brought to the nurse's office of the school.
The fighting had ended with most of the infiltrators apprehended and very few escaping preemptively. Damage to the school was minimal, with only a few areas and windows broken from the explosion, and no students who fought against the infiltrators were heavily injured from the brawl.
Sitting on the bed, a solemn, regretful, and defeated expression painted Sayaka's face as she began to tell Mari, Mayumi, Kaito, Yuuji, Aika, Tatsuya, Miyuki, Erika, and Leon who had come to listen to her words.
"For over a year ago, Captain Tsukasa has been exhorting the kendo team to bring about the end of discrimination by magic. The captain once lured me to the Blanche office as well. Apparently, his brother is the head of the Japan branch."
"Not long after I enrolled, there was an incident in which I was discriminated against as a Course 2 Student… I think that is why I listened so intently to what the captain had to say."
"What kind of incident is it?"
Sayaka flinched slightly and became uneasy as she glanced towards Mari for a moment before looking down to her hands resting on her lap.
"Um… It was when the Kenjutsu team had caused a disturbance during the recruitment period. And I saw Watanabe-senpai's magic sword skills when she suppressed it, which took my breath away. So right away, I asked if she would take me on and advise me, but she just coldly brushed me off…"
"What?! Mibu, is that true…?"
Mari looked genuinely surprised at her words, and even without needing to know about the anime, Yuuji knew she wasn't the type of person who would do such a thing. After all, she was the first person who acknowledged Tatsuya's skills and recruited him into the Disciplinary Committee. Moreover, she had also displayed her dislike of discrimination against Course 2 students multiple times and built her Disciplinary Committee around that. So Mari discriminating against Sayaka because she was a Course 2 student was extremely unlikely.
"You said "You're not a match for me, so it would be a waste of time. Go pick out an opponent you're worthy of." I thought it was probably because I was a Course 2 student. And the thought of that…"
"H-Hey, wait a minute. I remember what happened that day. I've never brushed you off."
"Eh?"
"If I remember correctly, this is what I told you that day. "With my skills, I could never hope to be a match for you. It would be better if you practiced with someone worthy of your skills." Am I wrong…?"
"Eh…? U-Uhm…"
"Wait, Mari. So you said that you're declining to practice with Mibu-san because she's stronger than you?"
"Well, of course, if magic were involved then my skills might be superior. But there is no way I could ever beat Mibu, who has trained in pure swordsmanship, with my sword."
"Then… It was all… a misunderstanding on my part? I can't believe this… I'm such an idiot…"
Tears began to fell from her cheeks, darkening the white covers of her bed as she sobbed.
"Just assuming… misunderstanding you like that… Putting myself down… Wasting a whole year, resenting your kindness…"
"I don't think that was a waste."
"...Tsubakihara-kun?"
"...This is what Erika said after seeing your swordsmanship. You became so powerful, like a different person compared to when you were in junior high. That is undeniably the result of your swordsmanship skills you polished with your own two hands."
"That's right~"
Aika smiled brilliantly from behind Yuuji, and grabbed Sayaka's hands with hers.
"Instead of wallowing in your sorrows, you kept on improving and polishing yourself. There's no way that year could be called a waste~!"
"Kiryuu-san…"
Slowly, as if water had overflowed from the dam, Sayaka burst into tears as she clung onto Aika tightly, sobbing and crying her heart out as Aika gently stroked her back.
As someone who was "mediocre" and never "tried" to work hard to achieve greatness and improve herself, Sayaka's diligence looked very beautiful to her. Instead of giving up after being discriminated against, she continues to train, improve, and polish herself to be better. Such a thing was extremely beautiful to her, enough for Aika to be envious of her perseverance and diligence. After all, she was someone who was satisfied with "passing" and simply indulged in her porn.
It was only until she met Lelouch, Satoru, Tatsuya, and Yuuji that she began to work hard and do her best to get used to her new powers. After all, as the only one who was a regular human before getting the Group Chat, she didn't want to be left behind by them. For the first time in her life, she didn't want to simply "pass", but to be someone who could stand side by side with her comrades and friends.
If Sayaka called the year she spent working hard a waste, then it would be similar to calling her efforts a waste, and she wouldn't let it happen.
Yuuji looked at Aika and smiled softly.
Aika had always appeared aloof and relaxed, but he often saw her secretly training her magic and studying alone. But when she's with him, she'll return to being her "usual" self.
Seriously… Highschool DxD never talked about her deeply, but isn't she too cute? I would've never known she's like this if I didn't catch her practicing her magic in the training ground when I took a toilet break from programming the CADs with Tatsuya.
To him, the sight of her hiding herself maturing was absolutely adorable, and it made him want to pamper and love her a lot. But, that'd need to wait until they finish their business here and return home.
"Now then… The question is, where are the people from Blanche at this moment?"
Juumonji, Mayumi, and Mari immediately turned towards Tatsuya in surprise.
"Tatsuya-kun, don't tell me you're planning on fighting them…?"
Mayumi asked with concern obvious from her tone, especially when she saw Yuuji also having a face of determination.
"That's not an appropriate choice of words. We're going to destroy them."
"That's dangerous! You're overstepping your boundaries as a student!"
Mari retorted angrily.
"I'm against it as well. We should leave non-school-related issues to the police."
"And send Mibu-senpai to Family Court for attempted robbery?"
Juumonji Kaito realized what Tatsuya was alluding to.
"I see… Police intervention would be undesirable. That said, we can't just let this go. But still… we're up against terrorists. Neither I, Saegusa, nor Watanabe would ask the students here to risk their lives. Even if you, Tsubakihara, were to join… I understand that you are powerful, but dealing against other students and terrorists are different. I'm sure you understand that, right?"
Kaito turned towards Yuuji, who nodded to his words.
"Of course, Juumonji-senpai. However… I believe this is a chance to get rid of a cancerous tumor from our society."
"A chance…?"
Yuuji nodded at Mayumi.
"Yes. Now that Blanche had shown its ugly face, this is a chance for us to cut its head before it buries back into the ground and hide. Moreover…"
Yuuji glanced at Tatsuya, who nodded at him, and continued.
"We never plan on relying on the student council, the disciplinary committee, nor the extracurricular activities federation for help."
Kaito's gaze hardened at Yuuji and Tatsuya.
"Are you planning on taking them on by yourselves?"
"Well, we would've if we could have our way. But…"
"Hehe~ Of course I'm going to accompany you~ Who'll watch over your back if I'm not there, Yuuji~?"
"Brother, I shall accompany you as well."
"I'll go too!"
"Me too!"
Aika, Miyuki, Erika, and Leo all volunteered themselves.
And seeing how they were about to go into danger and fight against Blanche, Sayaka couldn't help but feel responsible and spoke up.
"T-Tsubakihara-kun, Shiba-kun, if you're doing this for me, then please stop! I'll be fine. I know I should be punished for what I did! But if something were to happen to you all because of me… I would-"
"I'm not doing this for your sake, Mibu-senpai."
"Eh?"
Tatsuya cut off her words crudely as he clenched his fist.
"The space in which I live in has been targeted by terrorists. If anyone tries to ruin my and Miyuki's daily life, I shall erase them all. For me, this is my highest priority."
"..."
Yuuji closed his eyes while Aika smiled helplessly as the others looked at Tatsuya speechlessly. This was the first time they've seen him display such intense negative emotion.
"...But brother, how are we going to locate Blanche's headquarters?
"If there's something we don't know, then we can just ask someone who does."
Tatsuya then walked towards the door and opened it, revealing the figure of the school's "counselor".
"Ono-sensei…?"
"U-Um… Ahahaha… Thinking I could hide from the disciple of Master Kokonoe… It seems like I'm still too naive…"
Ono Haruka, the "counselor" of First High School then gave them the location of Blanche's base and went to tend on Sayaka while they discussed their plan.
"An abandoned factory, huh? I guess it's as expected…"
"Mm. It seems like it'd be better to go by car."
"Are we going to break in head-on?"
"Yes."
"I'll get the car for us."
Kaito asserted.
"Eh? Juumonji-kun, are you going as well?"
Mayumi asked surprisedly.
"As a member of one of the Ten Master Clans, this is obviously my duty. But even more than that, as a student of First High School, I can't ignore this situation."
"Then-"
"You can't go, Saegusa."
"It wouldn't do for the Student council president to be away at a time like this."
Mari agreed.
"Hah… I understand. But if that's the case, you can't go either, Mari! After all, there might still be remnants hiding in the campus. Not having the Disciplinary Committee chairwoman would be problematic."
"..."
Yuuji giggled silently at Mayumi's adorable, slightly childish, behavior. Her words and arguments were logical as always, but all he could see was someone who really wanted to help but was rejected, so she also prevented her best friend who also wanted to help from joining.
But he quickly stopped when he noticed Mayumi looking at him with an adorable pout.
"A-Ahem… Then, it's decided. We shall go with these members."
All of them aside from Mayumi, who was still pouting at him, nodded to Yuuji's words and began their preparations.
Well, even though he said that they'll go with these members, he knew that a certain awkward senpai of his who wants to get revenge for his crush would also join them in this venture.
--------------------------------X--------------------------------
Racing through the streets to an abandoned factory under the orange-red glow of the afternoon sun, a military jeep sped as fast as it could.
Driving it was Juumonji Kaito, the heir to the Juumonji Clan, one of the Ten Master clans of Japan. Sitting beside him was Takeaki Kirihara, the captain of the kenjutsu club who volunteered for this mission to vent out his anger at the man who did this to his crush.
In the center row were the girls, Aika, Miyuki, and Erika, and behind them were the guys, Yuuji, Tatsuya, and Leo. Although, since there were no seats in the back given it was meant for military equipment, they were forced to stand up awkwardly in the rapidly moving and shaking vehicle while holding on to whatever handle they could find in this military jeep.
"Tsubakihara, Shiba. This plot is you two's brainchild. You issue the commands."
Yuuji nodded at Tatsuya to let him lead, and he nodded back at him.
"Understood. Leo, you secure our retreat. Erika, you assist Leo and deal with anyone who tries to escape."
"Alright."
"Don't you want any of them captured?"
"There's no need to take any unnecessary risk. Just make sure to do it safely. You guys' safety is the most important thing."
Yuuji looked at Erika in the eyes to make sure she understood it. He couldn't be with her, and although she's someone who could deal with anything herself, he wanted to make sure and remind her so she won't be reckless.
"O-Okay…"
Seeing his serious look and concerned voice, Erika felt her heart skip a beat and nodded shyly before averting her face. Her blush was hidden by the fact that the orange-red sun was shining on her, but she couldn't hide the feeling of her cheeks heating up from herself.
Tatsuya nodded and turned towards Kaito and Kirihara.
"Chairman, please head for the rear exit with Kirihara-senpai. Miyuki, Yuuji, Aika, and I will continue on and break in."
"Alright. Leave it to us."
A few moments later, they could see the abandoned factory through the tree lines. Kaito drifted the car through a sharp corner and they could now see the iron gates into the abandoned factory right at the end of the street.
"Now, Yuuji, Leo!"
"Panzer!!!!"
Leo activated his CAD and cast a strengthening spell onto the jeep itself. Then, Yuuji also activated a spell and raised his hand forward.
The iron gates started squeaking and shaking as it began to twist and bend, and be lifted off the ground.
Of course, Yuuji was not using his Innate Active Magic, "Gravity", but the weaker version of it where he's compressing the air and creating tremendous air pressure powerful enough to bend steel and lift it from the ground.
But even then, Kaito, Kirihara, Erika, and Leo who saw it couldn't help but become surprised at how powerful his spell was. They now realized that all this time he had been restraining and lifting up people, he had been holding back as to not hurt them too much. If he wanted… he could squeeze them to death instantly given how he could twist and bend steel like it was clay.
Kaito stepped on the gas even more and burst through the weakened gate, causing twisted bars of metal to fly off everywhere.
Once they were in, they parked the military jeep and separated into different locations. Leo and Erika followed after Kaito and Kirihara who were heading to the rear exit, while Yuuji, Aika, Tatsuya, and Miyuki entered the abandoned factory building.
As they could expect from an abandoned building, pieces of glass from broken windows and lamps were scattered about the dusty floor along with pipes and steel beams. Wires hung down from the ceiling and the walls had also displayed visible wear and tear, may it be from time or from human conflict.
Yuuji led the group in the front with Tatsuya by his side and followed by Aika and Miyuki behind them.
They turned the corner and entered a hallway lit up by the afternoon sun seeping through the small windows and holes high up on the wall to their right.
At the end of it were double doors, and using their elemental sight, Yuuji, Aika, and Tatsuya knew that the leader of Japan's Blanche branch was behind it and accompanied by tens of armed men.
This was the reason why Yuuji was up front so he could use his "Gravity" to protect them from anything they tried to do with those guns. Of course, given Tatsuya hadn't dismantled all of them.
"Let's go."
"Nn."
They walked through the hallway and opened the double door that led them into a massive warehouse-like space. It was dark, but they could still see without a problem, especially Yuuji and Aika with their keen eyes.
But the warehouse was quickly lit up by the afternoon sun when the massive shades of the large windows at the top of the walls were opened. And along with it, an annoying voice that Yuuji and Aika found even more annoying than the one in the anime echoed through the warehouse.
"Welcome! It is so nice to finally meet you two, Tsubakihara Yuuji, Shiba Tatsuya."
They all turned towards the voice and saw a lanky, bespectacled man with light purple hair hiding his right eye in a long, white overcoat and a reddish shawl smiling at them with his arms spread in a welcoming manner.
And behind him, 18 men with rifles all aimed at them stood, ready to fire at any time.
"And the beautiful princesses standing behind you… Kiryuu Aika and Shiba Miyuki."
His gaze turned lustful as he gazed at Aika's Goddess-like appearance, licking his lips as he slowly observed her figure from top to bottom.
Immediately, Yuuji stood in front of Aika, shielding her from his gaze, and looked at him with a stoic expression and spoke.
"And you are the leader of blanche?"
"Ah, that was rude of me."
His snake-like smile returned as he focused his gaze on the beautiful man before him and introduced himself elegantly, putting his hand on his chest.
"I am the leader of Blanche's Japan branch, Tsukasa Hajime."
"I see…"
And for the first time, Yuuji pulled out his golden gun-shaped CAD and aimed it at him. Similarly, Tatsuya also pulled out his Silver Horn and aimed it at him.
Unlike his bracelet-type CAD that only allowed him to cast his weaker version of "Gravity", "Aegis" had been calibrated to allow him to cast his "Gravity" more accurately. In other words, he could now easily rip apart every atom in someone's body as easily as spaghettifying the entire building into nothingness.
"Then I would like to suggest that you surrender. The compound had been surrounded, and they would rush in if I did not give them your word of surrender. Put down your weapons and put your hands behind your heads."
The men behind Hajime shook for a moment at the mention of the compound being surrounded. It was only a bluff from Yuuji, but it still succeeded in tricking them into becoming uneasy.
However, Hajime laughed out loud at his words, his cackling echoing annoyingly throughout the entire warehouse.
"If you really think that magic is such an absolute power, you're sadly mistaken!"
Hajime slowly calmed down after a while and then offered his hand to Tatsuya.
"Shiba Tatsuya. Join us. Your ability to perform cast-jamming without the use of antinite is of extreme interest for me."
"So using Mibu-senpai to make contact with me and having your brother assault me is for that?"
Tatsuya asked calmly, his gun still pointing at him.
"Mm, nothing I like more than an intelligent child. But the fact that you're aware of all that, yet still showed up here… proves that you're still a child after all!"
In a flourish, Hajime threw his glasses up into the air and looked at Tatsuya in the eyes.
"Shiba Tatsuya! You will join us as our comrade!"
A confident grin appeared on his face as Tatsuya slumped slightly. But then…
"Consciousness Interference Type Magic, Evil Eye. Or so it is called, but in reality… The flicker of light signals with their hypnotic pattern is projected into your subject's retinas. A simple light-wave oscillation spell. A simple hypnosis, nothing more."
"!!!"
His eyes widened in shock as sweat began to flow down his face. His Evil Eye had not worked. His trump card did not work and he couldn't figure out why!
Hajime used it again, this time to Yuuji, and then Aika to tell them to do the same. But neither worked.
Instead, all it served was to make Yuuji even more angry that he'd try to hypnotize his girlfriend. All sorts of expressions disappeared from his beautiful, handsome face, and his eyes were now devoid of any emotions except for one. Anger.
With contempt laced in every one of his words, Yuuji began.
"Is that the spell you used to replace Mibu-senpai's memories?"
Miyuki's eyes widened in shock when she heard Yuuji's words and turned towards Aika quesitoningly.
"I-Is that why…"
"Uhn. You should've realized it as well, right Miyuki? The difference between what Mibu-senpai remembered and what actually happened were too much considering that it was supposed to be such a vivid memory for her. There's no way it's natural."
"... You vulgar scums."
With his trump card ineffective, Hajime's body and voice began to shake.
"Y-You… W-Why… How…"
"I admit you have a talent for showmanship. Trying to draw our attention to your right hand by throwing your glasses while secretly controlling your CAD with your left. But you're really trash when it comes to magic. Maybe try going to showbiz. You'll make a living being a clown on national tv."
"It was indeed a cheap trick. After all, all I needed to do was delete a part of that spell to make it mere light signals."
"H-How could it be… Wasn't your magic counterattack cast-jamming, you bastard?!"
"Hmph. You really are trash. But I like you better now that your pretensions to greatness are gone. Really, you're much more entertaining that way."
Irked by Yuuji's words, Hajime immediately ordered his men to fire.
"Fire… Fire!!!!"
Hails of bullets shoot out from the automatic rifles, its sound echoing loudly throughout the entire warehouse and overwhelming the crazy, cackling laughter of Hajime.
But after all of them emptied their magazines, all the men and Hajime's eyes widened in pure shock and horror when they saw every single bullet that should've pierced through every inch of their bodies floating in the air before them, as if they were stopped in mid air by an invisible force.
The bullets dropped to the ground, filling the warehouse with clinging sounds of metal hitting each other and the ground and snapping them out of their daze.
"HiiiI!!!! Fire! Fire again!!!"
The men tried to reload their rifles, but before they could, their guns glowed briefly before dismantling all of a sudden into their constituent parts and dropping onto the ground.
"W-What the hell is going on?!"
Seeing the dismantled parts of the rifles on the ground and the demons before him, Hajime yelled an embarrassing sound as he panicked and stumbled away through his men, running away as fast as he could.
"Hehe… Ehehehe… Ehehehehe~ You shouldn't have shot at us, you know~?"
The men slowly turned their gazes back from the door their leader had gone into and towards the beautiful girl.
Her voice was heavenly, but somehow, they could feel the chilling fear radiating from her every word which was further intensified by the smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"And for that… it's punishment time~"
At first, they felt a chilling cold breeze that seeped into their bones. But almost instantly, frost covered their entire body, turning their skin purple, and froze all of them in place.
Miyuki looked at Aika in pure shock. The spell… Not only was it an extremely powerful spell, but its power had also been increased multiple folds…
The wide-range oscillation-deceleration type magic, Niflheim, was a spell that decreased temperature by decelerating the movement of air and atoms in an area. Because of that, the target would normally have frost slowly covering their entire body as the air around them freezes.
But when Aika did it, all of them froze in an instant. Meaning… Aika's phenomenon rewriting power to cause the air and atoms around them to slow down was far more powerful than hers.
"Ufufufu~ Don't worry~ I'll return you guys to tip-top shape after this, so stay frosty~!"
"Ugh… Aika…"
"Eeehhh~? Wasn't that a good one~?"
"Let's go…"
"Geez~ It is a good one, isn't it~? Hey, Yuuji!"
Miyuki looked at Aika, who was already heading to the door where Hajime escaped to with Yuuji, in disbelief and turned towards her brother.
"Brother…"
Tatsuya turned to her and let out a small smile, and followed after Yuuji and Aika.
"Let's go."
"Y-Yes…"
Heading deeper into the warehouse, Yuuji stopped everyone before turning the corner and turned to Tatsuya.
"Tatsuya."
"Ah…"
He walked up, turning the corner, and immediately cast a spell with his Silver Horn and dismantled all the rifles aimed at them before Yuuji, Aika, and Miyuki followed after him.
In the corner of the room, Hajime was standing behind another group of men who had just had their rifles dismantled, his face full of fear and shock.
"Let's just stop this farce and stand down, clown. We've got another guy coming, and he's really pissed at you. I don't know if I could even stop him from taking a bite out of you."
"Hiii! U-Use your rings!"
Hajime raised his right hand, revealing an antinite bracelet on his wrist, and activated it. The rest of the men also used their antinite bracelets, aiming it at Yuuji, Tatsuya, Aika, and Miyuki.
The moment they did, a confident smirk returned to his sweat-ridden face.
"How do you like true cast-jamming, magicians?"
Yuuji looked around the room.
There were truly a vast amount of antinite, a precious military resource that can only be produced in ancient civilizations of this world that prospered in highly-elevated areas.
Since he lacked knowledge of this world, its geography, and political landscape aside from those he received through the Group Chat related to supposed "missions" he and Aika went through with Tatsuya as his "background", Yuuji couldn't deduce Hajime's backing with this. But, he was sure that Tatsuya could.
"Your patron is the pro-independence breakaway regime, Ukraine-Belarus, and your sponsor, the Great Asian Alliance, then?"
Immediately, Hajime's eyes widened in pure shock and clenched his teeth.
"Kill him!"
The men slowly approached them with knives in hand, but before they could come even close, Yuuji used his "Gravity" and immediately restrained all of them before making the float in the air.
"W-What?! H-How could you use magic?!"
Seeing their struggles, Yuuji strengthened the gravity around them, crushing their arms and legs.
"H-How could you do that… H-How could you use magic under cast-jamming?"
Stumbling back to the rear exit, Hajime watched as men were all crushed and lifted up into the air in pure horror. When suddenly, the concrete doors behind him were suddenly cut up and broken through, throwing him back to his rear on the ground.
Kirihara entered and looked at the men floating in mid-air, screaming their lungs out in pain with their arms and legs limp and bloody. He then turned towards Yuuji, who had his hand raised up and couldn't help but look at him in shock and a bit of fear.
"...Guess you were really holding back before, huh?"
"I didn't want to hurt you after all, senpai. Let's just leave that as water under the bridge."
"O-Oh… Anyway, who is this dude."
Kirihara turned towards Hajime, who was looking at him in fear.
"That is the leader of Blanche in Japan, Tsukasa Hajime."
"That's him?!"
Immediately, Kirihara's face twisted into pure rage as his eyes widened, teeth clenched, and his grasp around his sword tightened.
"Hiii!"
Hajime stumbled up and raised his hand, about to cast a spell. But before he could, Kirihara had already activated his sonic blade and lunged at him.
"It's him?! The bastard who duped Mibu?!"
With a powerful, swift swing as expected from the best kenjutsu student in First High School, Kirihara cut off Hajime's right hand, splattering blood onto the ground as his arm from above the elbow fell with a wet thud.
And before he could go in on the man again, Yuuji stopped him.
"Please leave it at that, senpai."
Kirihara snapped out of his rage, looked at him, and lowered his sword. He, Yuuji, and the others then turned towards Juumonji Kaito who just entered and looked across the room.
His gaze first fell on the men with limp, bloody limbs floating in mid-air. Some were still screaming while some had already fainted.
"You can put them down now. I doubt they can run away with those legs."
"Yes, chairman."
Yuuji slowly lowered his hand and gently put it back onto the ground. As he said, none of them could even move their limbs and simply lay there in pain before fainting.
He then turned towards Hajime, whose severed arm was still spewing blood and stopped it with magic.
"Did we get them all?"
Kaito asked Yuuji and the others.
"Most likely…"
Kaito nodded and began checking the room along with Kirihara and taking care of the main perpetrator of this farce.
And as they were about to leave, Aika glanced at the direction of the room where she froze those guys, and subtly waved her hand towards them.
"There you go~ I kept my promise~"