Executing God's Will (Arc 3 Magic Side)

"Irritating." he muttered, the words escaping unbidden from his mouth. Milo was still aiming at them. None of the things that could imply were good, and if he didn't do something soon, the result probably wouldn't be pretty. Whether Milo's confidence in his ability to hit them with this mob in the way could be attributed to the boy's magical or mundane skills, it appeared more than likely that turning tail and running would lead to him getting shot in the back.

At any rate, it appeared that he would have to return fire. And so, in a single fluid movement spoke of years of practice, he removed a golden hilt, lacking any sort of blade, from his pocket, and raked it across the ground. As he did so, the asphalt rose up to meet the hilt, and by the end of the motion, where he once held but a bladeless hilt, Jack held a simple longsword. Though made from asphalt, one would would find it hard to tell from a distance, and the sword did not appear blunt as one would expect of a weapon made from such a material.

And then, before he took any further actions, though for just an instant, the blade released a clearly malicious aura that was quite obviously directed toward Milo. Seemingly satisfied, he muttered "Now let's see if this gamble pays off." under his breath, before leaping toward Milo, directly into his line of fire, and swung his sword in a motion that would have hit the pistol aimed at him had the boy been several feet closer.

And she ran without stopping, without knowing where she was heading but feeling that she wasn't going the wrong way. In normal cases, she would've stayed out of their business, but as she was paying the clerk for her groceries she noticed it, and entrusted the groceries to the clerk to sprint outside the shop.

There was mana flowing around, and not just a low amount of it.

It's not like it was an unnatural feeling to her, but in midst of this city that has no magicians whatsoever, she had lost the habit of feeling it from other magicians. Though she wasn't a prodigy as far as being a magician went, it was close enough for even Natsume to feel it.

Worry submerged her, why would magicians be in the city? Was that young boy's panic attack related?

Despite the fact that she could feel mana flowing at two distinct places, after a dozen of minutes and her using her wind communication, she finally reached the closest place, only to see that the young unfortunate stalker was being attacked. By the man she met earlier.

Trying to keep herself calm and take advantage of the situation, Natsume grabbed in her hip-pack an at first seemingly normal dagger and continued to rush towards both, but the blade embedded in the handle dug into her skin and flesh, even though there wasn't a single drop of blood leaking from her hand.

Taking a deep breath, she aimed and swung the dagger upwards, producing a vertical wave of pressurised wind immediately dashing towards its target.

The target wasn't Shinichiro but the needle in his hand that was reflecting light off it, hoping that if it wouldn't break it then at least it'd alter its course.

"They came from the restaurant, right?" She ducked under a clumsy swinging fist and retaliated with her own trademark right hook. "That would be the first place to look." She shoulder checked another of the mindless crowd and they toppled, taking two others with them.

She stepped between Gou and the advancing mass of clawing hands. There were too many to hope for victory, but she could at least hope to buy the boy time.

Milo took his time aiming the pistol as Jack closed in. Bringing a sword to a gunfight. Not a clever decision. Jack raised his blade and Milo had a clear shot at his heart. He felt the sudden impact of something clashing against his weapon and the gun turned aside with a pop. The round ricocheted off into the distance. Milo raised the pistol again but the barrel and slide severed cleanly. He looked at the remaining chunk of metal and tossed it aside with a sigh. He raised his arms in surrender.

But Milo's eyes were following something else. Something in the distance behind Jack. And as he feigned surrender the bullet he had fired was screaming back in a wide, looping arc towards the sword wielding magician's back.

***

The sliver of metal spun off into the alley but Shinichiro's hand continued to its mark. A tiny pinprick in Koyoko's side produced a droplet of blood. Feeling the weight removed from his torso he scrambled to his feet and jabbed that same tiny broken off fragment into the web of his thumb.

Koyoko would feel a tiny bee sting in his own hand.

Shinichiro smiled victoriously and stood back without defence. A foolish tactic, were it not for the magic he had just invoked. He had been holding this trick back for a last gambit against the Strongest, but he had been forced to play his hand early.

With a nod he declared his intention. They had to solve this situation, no matter how hopeless it was. And so they were forced to cling to any hope presented to them.

Furuhashi had to reach the restaurant. He took a deep breath and a few steps backward, focusing on the large number of “zombies” that were blocking everything in front of him. The spiky haired girl was fighting them and some other fight seemed to happen close by as well, but the latter didn’t really matter right now. The goal was the restaurant and that meant to somehow get past the crowd.

”Sorry everyone.”

As there weren’t that many ideas flowing into his mind considering the grave difficulty this situation presented, Gou was forced to stick to the most simplistic solution, no matter how much it would pain him. He charged forward with full force and speed, attempting to circle around the large human wall in order to somehow make it to the restaurant. It was a desperate act, as no matter how hard he would try there was no way for him to make it through without hurting others. The crowd was getting in his way, literally trying to stop him with everything they had.
But he already had expected that kind of reaction. There was only one solution for that. He simply had to burst through them! Rushing ahead like a train he simply forced his way through. They were grabbing him, pushing him, pulling him, yet he didn’t stop. Bringing up all his strength he fought theirs, taking the most harm out of it all.
Albeit it had been a hellish fight Furuhashi Gou had somehow made it through, approaching the restaurant’s broken front window.

There being no way to stop his run right now, he simply brought up all his physical ability to jump straight through the window’s frame also gaining himself some distance from the malicious horde. After he had been rolling for a about two metres in order to soften his landing, he had gotten up from the ground, breathing heavily. There had only been a short moment left for him to recover from this obstacle course. ”So…what do we have here…?”
Time was pressuring him. The zombies would reach him sooner or later.

It happened too quickly. Koyoko could barely process everything that was going on. In a single moment, the needle in which that was lunging at him with malicious intents, was practically cut in half, the tip flying down the alley way with a clambering sound. Didn't really see who exactly save him because he was still focused on the magician. Sadly, simply cutting off the tip was not enough, and Koyoko felt a stabbing sensation in his side, not as damaging, but it was still a bit painful. However, this caused his mind to panic a bit, firing off his pressured air early, hardly touching Shinichiro, but giving Koyoko some distance instead, sliding back three meters, holding his stab wound. From a quick inspection, is didn't seem significant.

Koyoko turned to helped him, and hitched his breath seeing the girl from the convenience store. ...What is she doing here? He just found it hard to believe she found him by coincidence. On top of that she had a dagger right in hand. Carrying weapons like these were somewhat common when it comes to someone of Koyoko's stature. But this girl came off as more of an innocent, kind girl. Did she always have that dagger?

Koyoko's train of thought derailed as his hand began to sting from another pinprick. When did he get that? When he looked up, Shinichiro smirked down at him as he removed the broken needle from his own hand. Koyoko didn't think too much of it at the time. The rage, that was calmed by confusion, turned into a large flame in him. Because that smile kept reminding him of that bastard. The one in which had taken nearly everything he held dear from him. He gritted his teeth a slowly got from his knee to his feet.

"Who do you think you are, you bastard..." Koyoko has lost some of his reasoning. He had enough of this guy, as he pressured more air into his hand, little wisps of the molecule can be seen forming a ball in his hand. "Why are you just standing there, smiling like him...Do you want me to kill you...?" Koyoko muttered to himself, but loudly enough that both Natsume and Shinichiro could hear. He wanted to beat him to a pulp, kick him into a ditch, throw him off a helicopter, whatever it would take to make him feel pain. Not realizing what kind of spell had placed on him. "WHY ARE YOU SMILING?!" He yelled out, wanting an answer from him before he would release that air, to send this guy down the street, and possibly his death.

"WHY ARE YOU SMILING?!"

"You want to know why I'm smiling?" Shinichiro repeated Koyoko's question back to him. "I'll tell you then..."

"No. In fact, let me demonstrate." He kicked his toe hard against the dumpster beside him. The effect on Koyoko was immediate. Intense pain shooting up his leg as if the bones in his feet had snapped.

"Get it now?" He hissed through clenched teeth and his own pain. "Anything that happens to me, happens to you." He started to back away from Koyoko and Natsume. "So unless you're willing to kill yourself to get to me your best bet is to let me go." The foreign boy shuffled towards the exit of the alley.

"Come any closer though..." He whipped open the folding knife in his pocket and held it to his throat. A bluff? Or the last ditch attempt of a cornered fanatic? He made off as fast as he could and it was nearly two blocks before the adrenaline wore off and the stabbing ache of his broken toe came to him in sickening waves.

I think I went overboard... He clutched at his injured foot and rubbed it vigorously before limping off to the rendezvous point.

***

Inside the restaurant resembled the scene of a bomb scare. People's belongings littered the floor and booths of the establishment and half eaten meals still steamed quietly on the tables.

But Gou wasn't entirely alone however. A single zombie had split from the group to follow him with mindless determination and it let out a low, hissing groan as it clutched at his shoulder to spin him around. Its fingers gripped Gou's neck and it forced him backwards into the table, knocking a small salt shaker that rolled within Gou's reach.

The restaurant’s interior could only be described with one word: Lifeless.
Absolutely empty of humans as if a storm had brushed any living creature away, just like that. The air felt heavy and the tension rose second by second. There was also feeling of pain nagging him; the path he had chosen to get inside had left its marks after all.
He took a short glance around, yet nothing special was to be found. Even further inspection wouldn’t reveal anything out of place.

Silence. He stepped forward.

Before even realising the sudden groan’s source or meaning he was already under attack. Something had simply overwhelmed him, spinning him around and forcing him backwards with superior strength. The impact of unexpectedly hitting a table added another painful experience to the list, leaving him defenceless for a little longer.
Facing the attacker Gou’s fear had become reality; it was one of them. ”…damn it...”, he cursed his situation of being chained down by his own and Judgement’s rules. Wasn’t there any way to solve this? He couldn’t just fight an innocent citizen, not even in a state like this. Pissed at his own inability he tried to move backwards, only to be reminded about the object that would prevent it. He was cornered.

Desperately he tried to reach out for something on the table behind him, maybe an object he could throw in order to distract his opponent creating an opening for a quick escape.  Gotcha! For once he had been blessed with luck, was he now grabbing an object, something small made of glass; most likely a shaker of some sort.
A new idea came across his mind.
He focused, began doing calculations. He had to hurry, as the danger was drawing closer second by second. The moment he was done, he pressured the object in his hand with all his might, forcing it to crumble into tiny little shards much like powder. In any normal case this would have taken much more strength, he however had used his ability to weaken the glass’ structure to as heavy an extent as possible, reducing its fragility to a cookie’s level. Unfortunately his hand didn’t escape without harm.  

”…I'm really really sorry!”

Before thinking any further or giving the “zombie” enough time to attack, Gou threw what was in his hand, a mass of powder complemented from glass, blood and salt – he guessed that, as he had been feeling some sharp burning pain coming from his wounded hand.
There wasn’t any time for proper aiming; all that mattered was for the powder to somehow hit the other party’s face, causing their sight to be blinded for a short instance.

And without even waiting to see his action’s result, the young boy would immediately dart past the opponent aiming to make his way towards what seemed to be the kitchen.

Koyoko followed Shinichiro's movements cautiously, controlling himself from completely launching him into a third floor window on the other side of the street. His blood was practically boiling, his rage fueling him with putting everything into his attack, but he wouldn't dare let go of it, until he figured out what the hell was going on. Something was definitely wrong, keeping himself open like that. It's not like he has that bastard's Vector shield. Yet why didn't he release all that air upon him? Why wouldn't he take the chance? Not this again...Not now. It only happened to him a couple times, but each time brought him back to the same memory. Fear. It was creeping up on him again, making his legs shake, hit teeth clenched, and sweat going down his face. But it wasn't exactly the man he was afraid of. It's what would pop up into his head next.



The images rolled through his mind like an old VCR tape, his vision blurring out from reality and into the past. Right until he felt a sharp pain in his leg, which snapped him back to where he was. Koyoko didn't realize what really happened until he was on the ground. Apparently, Shinichiro had slammed his foot into the nearby dumpster. Hissing and wincing from the pain of having his bones broken. But the problem was, like some sort of phantom pain, Koyoko had received the same exact damage. He trembled slightly, looking up with a glare, as Shinichiro taunted him, pulling out a knife and putting it to his own neck.

"So that's why..." He muttered hoarsely. Shinichiro was using some sort of ability to inflict the same damage on Koyoko. But how? There was no esper ability he was familiar with that would make this possible. Judging by the looks of it, the damage is real. Shinichiro was threatening his own life, but in reality Koyoko's life was the hostage.

Shinichiro started moving away, confident this was good enough to save his own skin. He began walking backwards before turning it into a run down the other end of the alley. If he gets away, Koyoko was convinced someone else might get hurt, let alone killed. Koyoko still had the pressurized air in his hand, he could still use it. What if it hit though? Would he die? Would he accomplish anything? This really had nothing to do with him, yet why try so hard? Questions kept begging him to find a reason to stop. He gripped it with his fist and muttered something under his breath. Shinichiro at that time was right by the exit.

"I SAID STOP!" Koyoko frantically let go of all the air in his hand, the blast going down the alley way, kicking up garbage and old worn posters on the concrete walls flew loose, flying aggressively through the current. However, it was hopeless, for Shinichiro made the turn and the blast completely missed him, dissipating into a calm wind. Koyoko had hesitated too much, and he was getting way. "Dammit!" He cursed loudly, forcing himself up, and took two steps of a run toward his direction, "Ghhh!" Only to forget his foot was broken, and fell onto the dumpster, grasping to it tightly, to make sure he stays up, but it was pointless, he wouldn't be able to catch up like this. Koyoko was trembling, his body felt entirely weak, it had reached it's limit, as he slid off the dumpster in seconds and fell on his arm. He struggled to sit up, and only just remembered a certain brunette had been witnessing all this. He looked at her, rather ominously and yelled.

"Don't just stand there! That bastard's getting away!" Koyoko ended up trying to force the problem on the girl, who'm he knew little about. What could she do? She only just arrived and is probably clueless about what is going on. Why does he think she could do anything? Because he didn't think, that rage and sadness was still fueling his actions. Even a complete stranger can tell that he wasn't himself right now.

He couldn’t afford to let his guard down yet. He’d made far too many utterly idiotic, humiliating mistakes,the likes of which he hadn’t made in years, and was only still alive by virtue of random chance and the efforts of a young girl not even out of high school.

…He’d have to pay her back later. No matter how embarrassing, the fact remained: She’d saved his life.

Returning to the matter at hand, he had successfully destroyed the Milo’s weapon, and the boy'd raised his hands, seemingly admitting defeat. However, something was wrong. His gestures indicated surrender, and his sigh as he abandoned the remains of his weapon spoke of resignation, but it was still too early to let his guard down.

This was a fight between magicians. To let your guard down is to invite death.

Before, Milo had cast some sort of incredibly powerful spell without the use of any sort of magical artifact, so disarming him didn’t necessarily mean he was in the clear. More importantly, however, Milo should be looking at him. He should be carefully watching the man who held his life in the palm of his hand, waiting for an opportunity to turn the situation on its head and regain the advantage. The boy was just that, a boy, but he’d already proven himself to be an extraordinarily competent magician who would kill him without hesitation if he let his guard down, so he should be perfectly capable of doing something as basic as that.

And yet, the boy was looking at something else. Something behind him.

Without hesitation, he spun on his heel, swinging Tyrfing as he went.

....He found a bullet, fired from Milo’s gun, hurtling towards his chest. He was about to die.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, and every muscle in his body contracted to their limit, preparing to use every ounce of strength his body could muster in one final, futile attempt to escape the inevitable, he heard a sound.

A small clang, the sort of sound you’d hear if you chucked a rock at an iron wall.

By some miracle, some act of God, his sword had collided with the bullet in midair and sliced it in two. The chances of such a thing occurring were abysmal to say the least, even in the best of circumstances. So for the thin edge of his blade to impact such a small, fast moving target as he swung around to face it, there was no way it could have been anything but a divine miracle.

Only, it wasn’t. No, it was not due to the intervention of some god that Jack still breathed, but thanks to an unholy curse. Tyrfing, the original Tyrfing, was said to have to caused three great evils, to have cast three powerful curses upon its wielders, dooming them to tragic fates. His blade was a simple replica, capable of drawing upon only the barest slivers of that power through Idol Theory, but precisely because it was so much weaker than the original, it was possible to weaponize them.

Even if casting death upon upon his foes was not an option, it was certainly within his power to ensure that they had a very misfortunate day.

“Heh!” he barked, the adrenaline, the thrill of having so narrowly escaped death causing a sound of mirth to escape from his lips. He continued spinning, completing a three hundred sixty degree turn, and faced Milo once more, his blade positioned so that a mere flick of his wrist would be all it took to bisect the boy at the waist.

“If you so much as twitch, you die. If you stand still like a good boy, you get to live. Sound like a fair deal?” Jack said, a cocky grin plastered on his face. Despite his overconfident attitude, his eyes never once left his quarry, and his grip on his blade never slackened. With his free hand, he reached into his pocket, and flung the stone he’d grasped within towards Milo.

It was a hagalaz runestone, the same as he’d attempted to use on the red nun when he’d first arrived in the city, and the same as the one that had first set him on the path of a magician.

Milo sneered in annoyance as his Free Shooter was cut down in a single stroke of that man's blade. Whatever magic he was wielding, Milo knew he must have it. Such a powerful tool might be altered towards some fascinating results.

He kept his guns trained on Jack as the magician performed a pirouette to point his blade at Milo.

“If you so much as twitch, you die. If you stand still like a good boy, you get to live. Sound like a fair deal?”

"Heh." Milo chuckled bitterly. "You're pretty good." He didn't lower his gun, nor did he show any signs of backing down. "But you brought a sword to a gunfight!" With a flick of his wrists he fired off two rounds with blinding speed. The stone and Jack's sword turned aside with the impact of the bullets as Milo closed in.

Before Jack could bring his sword to bear again Milo was almost face to face with him. He swung the barrel of his pistol at Jack's sword arm to keep the weapon at bay and lifted his own to aim the second gun at Jack's face.

***

The zombie recoiled from Gou's distraction. But rather than continue its assault it let out a rasping, choking scream and clutched at its throat. Their skin seemed to smoke and steam and their eyes slowly lost the glazed blankness of their thousand yard stare. The zombie fell to the floor, alive but motionless, their chest rising and falling with quiet breaths.

***

Shinichiro knocked on the door of the dormitory, pulling his cap down low over his eyes. He glanced about nervously before realising that only made him look more suspicious. He forced himself to still and to slow his breathing.

Slowly the door opened.

"Yanda-san?" The young boy who answered the door was of average height but his physique was strong and toned, a fact that was obvious even through his loose shirt and apron. His fiery red hair was cropped short. "I expected you sooner. Did you run into trouble, my son?" The priest, Kotomine Shirou asked as he beckoned Shinichiro inside.

Natsume's eyes were wide from shock as the couldn't process the events occurring in front of her correctly, there was no mistaking this feeling she never got from Espers.

"I SAID STOP!"

What was a magician doing here, attacking Espers? Were they purposefully trying to break the small balance there was between both sides?

(Unless...) Natsume rose her head to stare at the sky for a minute and sighed (Unless there's something this city has done that already disturbed it?)

Gritting her teeth, Natsume looked at Koyoko and then the direction Shinichiro had started to take off to, conflict eating her from the inside as blood dripped from her fingertips. Things would get ugly if an Esper were to take out a magician, but she didn't feel she'd manage to fight against him or serve any real purpose, but perhaps...

"Don't just stand there! That bastard's getting away!"

Finally, Natsume snapped out of it. She didn't have the confidence to fight, but perhaps she could at least protect others so that the situation wouldn't be aggravated by death, and as such, she grabbed her phone with her bloodied hand and called for an ambulance as she slowly walked towards Koyoko, slapping him with her free hand.

When she finished the call, an angry look gradually made its way to her face.

"What are you doing? Left and right, left and right... People are endangering themselves for hardly anything... Do you realise you could have died?!"

He hadn’t waited to see his actions’ result, still continuing his quick sprint towards one of the room’s exits, the one leading into the kitchen. However when he had heard the dull sound of something hitting floor, his attention had been drawn in.
Turning around only slightly Gou found – to his surprise – the mindless person that had been attacking him a few seconds ago lying there limply. ”Huh…?” Unable to fully comprehend he came to a halt, even turning around and then reducing the distance by a little.

Checking from safe distance he was trying to monitor the other person’s behaviour. ”No sign of movements…”

After a few seconds had passed, Furuhashi Gou had finally settled on inspecting the person on the floor from close by, kneeling right next to them, while trying to check their vital functions. He had already figured out that they had passed out, yet he hadn’t been able to determine if they were dead or anything else had happened. To his surprise, though, everything seemed to be alright – more or less. Regular heartbeat, regular breathing, regular sleeping behaviour, no damage caused by the impact.
Letting out a sigh of relief the Judgement boy felt slightly victorious. He had somehow managed to achieve save victory.

One accomplishment however wouldn't make the final score.

”They don’t appear to be under the mental interference’s effect anymore. But why? Did I do something special? Or did the one behind this suddenly cut the connection?” Standing up for a second he took a glance out of the restaurant’s glassless window, before returning back onto his knees. ”No, they’re still like before…”

The grey haired boy tried to focus. ”There is a high probability that my actions are somehow related to them being set free.

...so what did I do?

It couldn’t have been my ability; I mean I haven’t directly used it on them. Also the shock itself shouldn’t have been the decisive factor, at least I hope so…”

Sometimes thinking too deeply into something would prevent one from noticing the simplest details. Especially if those details were as tiny as a grain of salt.

Koyoko wasn't sure what happened the next moment at first. He was trying to get himself up and off the dumpster in order to get out of the alley way, and perhaps by some minuscule chance to find a way to catch up to the bearded man. However he was having such a tough time, he realized he really was pushing himself too hard, and perhaps just lost his only chance. This has came more apparent when a sudden collision for skin and flesh came in contact with his cheek.

SMACK

The sound was clear and crystal to him, as he felt a dull pain on his now reddening cheek. It started to tickle and sting as he slowly turned to the girl he met at the convenience store, who had unknowingly approached him while he was struggling. He was now sitting against the dumpster, on the filthy alley floor, listening to her angry words. Though he became slightly worried when he saw blood all over one of her hands. Was she stabbed? Cut? He didn't see her get hurt, but there was the wound.

"What are you doing? Left and right, left and right... People are endangering themselves for hardly anything... Do you realise you could have died?!"

"Died...?" Koyoko muttered back rather clueless as a child might be. Perhaps he was in a slight shock since every event up until now had better utter shit. Broken ribs, a reopening of his gunshot wound in his shoulder. He didn't notice but there was a red damp spot on his shoulder. Was he that blind? Or did it open when he fell? He couldn't tell. There also the small stab from the broken needle, though wasn't as serious.

Koyoko soaked in her words, until frustration and anger slowly took over him again. He clenched his teeth a bit as he looked down at his feet, feeling the pulsing pain in his foot. She didn't understand, did she? Or maybe she did and just had an opinion that conflicted his own personal desires.

"Then what should I have done?!" He began to yell back after a long pause. "Should I have just ignored him!? Leave him be to let him kill another person?!" The regret deep in his past started to float in his memory again, his eyes looked slightly watery, whether it be form the pain or the emotional turmoil. Koyoko then hung his head a bit and looked down at the ground, laughing softly."...Honestly...who cares if some dead beat drop out dies...Boo fucking hoo..." He was aware of his own worthlessness to this city. Hell, he was surprised he wasn't thrown out. He quit the power curriculum, left school, and even left his own home to be all by himself in some pitiful apartment. "I've already lost people due to my own weakness...My failure to act..."

Koyoko's sad smile contorted into an angry frown and looked back up at her with fierce, yet mournful eyes, salty fluids leaving his eyes. "ARE YOU TELLING ME I SHOULD'VE DONE IT AGAIN!? LET THAT MAN GO AND KILL SOMEONE BECAUSE I WAS TOO WEAK TO TRY AND STOP HIM!?" This was his way to cope from that regret, do some good and forget of his own well being. In fact, it might've been a punishment he gave himself just so he won't have to feel much pain anymore. Now it's all come back though, and this time he's taking out all those emotions on not Shinichiro, but this girl now. The assassin had got away, so who else was going to listen to his words. Certainly not his friends.

After all that yelling and venting, he hung his head again, and closing his eyes tightly, refusing to let anymore of those worthless tears to come out. He felt hopelessly weak whenever it would come out of his eyes. "...Don't make me hate myself more than I already do..." He said in a choking, begging tone, as he remained with his head down, his grey bangs hiding his face. "...Don't make me..."

At first, Natsume felt like getting angry at his words that clearly reflected he didn't understand her point, but was soon feeling pity for the young boy who seemed to have gone through a lot, and was openly contradicting himself from his what seemed to be due to various strong emotions.

Why, she didn't know, but there was one thing she could tell and it was that his attempt at “redeeming” himself was pointless.

“If you die, then he'll have even more chances to kill others, won't he?” She said, a kind look finally appearing on her face.  However, it was quickly replaced by a stern but wise expression that reflected the only thing she understood about this situation. “He'll be closer to the goal that you want to prevent him from achieving; killing people, if you realise that then surely you'll realise what you're trying to do isn't the right thing to do.”

Natsume took a handful of tissue papers in her bag to slowly wipe the pouring blood out of her hand, even though she knew it was futile and she would most likely use her blade again if this didn't settle soon.

“Stop wallowing in your self-pity and running away because of it. If you want to “redeem” yourself for whatever you think you've done, then don't seek death to achieve self-satisfaction and seek an actual solution.” And so, as she heard the distant alarms of an ambulance, she slowly walked away; her destination being the second place where she felt mana to inspect the scene.

She still had the choice to attempt pursuing Shinichiro with his mana, but didn't take it, for that girl who gave advice without bearing any real confidence in herself sought someone that would enlighten her on what she should do.

Koyoko wasn't sure what she said entirely, since at this point he was hardly conscious. Yet, somehow he was sure he managed to register each word she was saying. However, he was too tired to rewind her attempts to lecture and comfort him. His eye lids felt heavy, as his precious crimson fluids leaked from his body. Some distant sirens are heard, and woke his senses up as his finger tips twitched ever so slightly, getting out of his deep thoughts.

"Oi..." He started his sentence. He lifted his head slightly, yet still couldn't see the brunette. Should he thank her? Yell at her some more? He wasn't sure. He just wanted to say something. Anything at all. So he mustered up his strength to raise his head again, ready to communicate with the mysterious girl who'm he'd harassed at the the convenience store earlier. "..What's your n-..."

However, when he would ask for her name, he wouldn't receive it since she had already left by the time the sirens had awoken his senses. Koyoko felt a tinge of sadness, but over all felt a slight relief as an ambulance pulled up. He didn't know when this happened exactly, but it seems that he could no longer hear anything. He was sure they were talking as they gave him a quick analysis and trying to get him to respond.

"...I'm not dead, dammit..." He muttered, even though he had no idea what they were saying. One of the medics nodded to the one kneeling beside him, grabbing a stretcher from the back and quickly moved it by his side. They quickly moved his body onto, as he let a slight moan of pain as they moved him.

Before he knew it, they were already driving down the road. Koyoko wondered if he was actually dying or just plain exhausted. He hardly tried to make any moves as he felt the stretcher vibrate from the tires rolling around on the asphalt. Judging by the air outside, they were moving extraordinarily fast. It reassured him as he hazily watched the paramedics work on his broken body, stitching up wounds, giving sedative and slowly losing consciousness as his world turned black.

...So I failed, huh?

"Heh. You're pretty good." He was laughing, not showing so much as a hint of trepidation. That was never a good sign, but with his recent streak of bad luck? He nearly had to repress a sigh a he attempted to follow through on his earlier promise, seeing as how the combination of his own apparent misfortune and the enemy's confidence would almost certainly render his efforts useless.

"But you brought a sword to the gunfight!" Ah, there it was. The misfortune. Even as the words left Milo's mouth, two bullets had already been fired from his gun. One of them knocked the runestone out of the air, and the other hit Tyrfing mid-swing, interrupting what would have otherwise been a killing blow.

And before he could recover and try for a second swing, Milo had already rushed into close quarters, within arm's length. It was the same sort of situation he'd been in back when that nun had trounced him. Not wasting any time, Milo hit his sword arm with the barrel of his gun, further interrupting his attempt to resume his swing, and then pointed said barrel right at his face, giving him a spectacular view of the gun's innards.

But he wouldn't give Milo the chance to fire. Like with the nun, if he didn't immediately take action to open up the distance between them back to the optimal level, then he'd likely lose. He was somewhat skilled in close quarters combat, but he worked better at mid to long range, and if he was up against someone specializing in close distance, then he would be thoroughly beaten, as that nun had so kindly reminded him.

He let his knees buckle and fell to the ground in a single smooth motion, leaving nothing but empty space before Milo's gun, and then jumped back up, attempting to nail the boy in the chest with a solid shoulder ram with all his weight behind it. That would be sufficient to buy him enough time to back up some. It was a pity he didn't have the opportunity to pull out a runestone, though. In close quarters like these, Milo wouldn't have had much in the way of defense against one.

"...What's happening?"

Natsume had arrived at the location of the scattered mana; near a recently deserted restaurant. At least that's what it would've looked like if a hoard of people weren't currently staring straight at her, suddenly lunging forwards.

“Zombies?” She analysed them with a quick glance.

…
…
…

“Eeeeeek!!” Natsume cried out, obviously scared by the sheer amount dashing towards her, some at times nearly tripping in their drunken course. “Uuu... Don't touch me!!” As the zombies closed in on her, Natsume took advantage of one actually tripping over. In her fear the girl had found herself an unusual athletic trait.

...It could be considered odd for a magician to be scared of magic-related occurences, but unfortunately even knowledge of magic couldn't cure every fears.

Natsume stepped on one of the group's head, seemingly dancing on them as she jumped and jumped on each of the following zombies' head with tears in her eyes. “Leave me aloooone!”

As she reached the end of the crowd she fell forward, but a few of the zombies at the front of her side turned around and one of them grabbed her leg, which she countered by repeatedly kicking it in the face and crawling away until she actually got back to her feet and ran into the restaurant.

(Oh crap, that was actually a person... I'm sorry!) She realised; but how would she get rid of this hoard without actually harming them? (Wait a minute, if I recall correctly, salt was thought to be the origin of Holy Water. I don't know where they came from, but I should be able to get rid of them by cleansing them with salt!)

Natsume halted for a second and looked around seeking an entrance to the restaurant's kitchen and rushed towards it when she found it, but instead bumped into someone.

“There's one in here too!” She cried out in fear, not caring to notice the actual zombie was down and the person wasn't one of them as she just shoved the person out of her way, rushed into the kitchen to grab a sealed pack of salt that felt really heavy for her thin arms, and ran outside the kitchen.

Halting for a brief moment, after ripping open the pack with a nail she poured salt in the person's face. Then she rushed out like a crying madman, carrying the salt like a mighty weapon as she kept shaking the pack around to make sure everyone in the zombie party would get a taste of it.

Still caught up in her lonely quarrel against the zombies, Kamijou Touko could only watch flabbergasted as someone simply fought their way through he horde in a rather comical way.
However before long one of those lifeless demons would remind her of the unfortunate situation she had found herself in…once again.

Simply swinging her right hand she fought off the mindless attacker, reducing the opposing force’s count be one. Only a few more dozens to go…


Furuhashi Gou was still right where he had been a few minutes ago, still doing what he had done back then. Even after inspecting the “defeated” zombie in front in such great detail he had been absolutely unable to reach any new realisations, meaning that he was still caught up at point 0. This situation truly felt like one of those terrible riddles that were common in old video games, forcing most children to throw their console away in anger or frustration; only that this wasn’t a game.
As time passed there was still no motion in the world’s progress bar, until…

«Hold on…salt…?»

Just as there had finally been some progress someone entered. And just like a storm they rushed through the otherwise empty restaurant, knocking Gou off his upright position forcing him to fall onto the ground back first, leaving him laying there reminiscent of a turtle.

«…wah…!?»

Before however destiny would allow for him to make out the culprit, a certain kind of powder met his face and eyes, summoning forth a new dimension of humiliation.

«WUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!»

Those truly painful screams echoing throughout the scene were evidence of the sufferings he had gone through that day. Even in the many years to come, facing the many obstacles ahead Furuhashi Gou would never forget this day. Never would he…

The pain of late realisation.

The blonde’s movements had come so sudden and unexpected Milo couldn’t prevent himself from being caught off guard. A heavy flaw as he would come to realise immediately after. The unforeseen impact of a shoulder hitting his upper body would throw him off his feet resulting in his butt to make acquaintance with the dirty concrete.

Luckily his grip around the guns hadn’t been weakened in the process, allowing for the albino boy to immediately point the one in his right at the opponent while forcing himself back on both his legs.

However even though he had a perfect chance to, he wouldn’t fire.

Of course he wouldn’t.

Der Freischütz was an old story originating in Germany. While there had been many versions of it one there was always one baseline to it all: Bullets that would always hit the target the shooter wished to hit. In many versions of the story those bullets were only limited to the number of 7. 7 bullets that would never miss. 7 bullets that could bring unpreventable tragedy. 7 bullets that could bring instantaneous victory. Well actually there were only 6…

«Heh, so that’s your weak spot? Even though you’re using a sword you don’t seem to enjoy an opponent close to you, eh?»

He had returned to his legs before the other party could even make their move, still pointing forward the gun.

«A sword you made from the ground capable of casting some kind of curse onto the opponent; probably a curse that doesn’t make the fight that beneficial to me. To top that you are even able to attack over a greater distance. Oh and not to forget the fact that it looks kinda Nordic due to the runes carved into the hilt.
That sure gives me something to work with. » Speaking out his thoughts aloud Milo gave an obvious presentation of how threatening he had become in this battle of Magicians. «I’d say whatever is the real deal behind your sword, it’s probably a little abstract making it tricky to see through. Buuut that shouldn’t be a problem. That’s common nowadays.»

Yes, in a battle between Magicians fire power alone would often remain a secondary thing. The true core of it all would be the analysis of the opponent’s skill set, cracking the secret behind their spells and coming up with a proper counter measure against it all. So obviously many of those fights wouldn’t end with a clash of the strongest moves, but in the very moment a counter measure to block the other party’s spell was found.

However no matter how close to the truth one was, the other party could be much further than oneself.

Placing fingers on both of his gun’s triggers he sped forward not allowing for another second to pass.

“Ha... haaaa....” Natsume panted, tired from the arm exercise that was exorcising the people transformed into zombies, having not noticed someone was nearby trying to do the same thing at first.

However, they were nearly done as the number of the crowd had reduced to a single one; whom Natsumi tiredly doused with the remaining salt, falling back on her butt as she tried to properly catch her breath.

“What... was that... about?” Natsume looked around, only to find the unfortunate girl from earlier. “Eh, Kamijou-san? What are you doing here, what happened here?!” Natsume exclaimed in surprised, ready to bombard Touko with questions.

It was finally over. Kamijou Touko had been victorious. Well victorious in another sense than the one you’d expect of a typical one on one scenario. What she had defeated wasn’t a normal human being, an Esper or a Magician. What she defeated was misery itself. She had once again swung her right hand in order to save as many human beings as possible and she had been successful. So now she was standing in the middle of an ocean of collapsed people.
Well she hadn’t done it alone in the end. Someone had come to assist her, someone with a solution at hand. However it wasn’t the one she had expected. It was…

«Natsume…? How? What are-…»

“Eh, Kamijou-san? What are you doing here, what happened here?!”

Both sides countering the other’s surprise. Caught up in this crossfire Kamijou would remain mentally stalled.

«That Magician…! Right! We need to stop him before things get worse!»

Jumping a few steps too far the girl had actually become close to simply running off in order to pursue the one she knew was responsible for it all, totally ignoring anything else that would be important in this situation. However before her legs would actually start moving she came to a halt. «…damn it! I don’t even know where he ran off to!!»

That simple realisation would block the path ahead. She might have been able to defeat misery here, but as long as that man was on the run there was no knowing if such an incident would repeat itself. No actually it was too likely.

Gritting her teeth she glared into the distance. She had already forgotten about that girl to her side or the fact that she had found a method of solving this incident. She wouldn’t wish for anyone normal to be drawn into all of this anyway. That was just the kind of person Kamijou Touko was.

«Natsume, sorry but I need to move on to prevent even worse things from happening! Take care of the people over here until Anti-Skill arrives!»

As for Milo…she could only hope for that blonde Magician to solve things properly…

His shoulder charge worked marvelously. From the looks of it, his sudden movement had caught Milo off guard, causing what had originally been a simple ploy to knock Milo off balance to send him flying off his feet instead.

Not willing to waste even a single second, he scrambled backwards, putting ample enough distance between the two of them for him to swing his sword as he pleased without obstruction.

Unfortunately, by the time he had readied himself, Milo had already regained his bearings and once more leveled his guns at Jack. If he'd been a bit faster, he could have ended the battle then and there, but the opportunity had already come and come so there was no use thinking about it.

«Heh, so that’s your weak spot? Even though you’re using a sword you don’t seem to enjoy an opponent close to you, eh?»

«A sword you made from the ground capable of casting some kind of curse onto the opponent; probably a curse that doesn’t make the fight that beneficial to me. To top that you are even able to attack over a greater distance.»

«Oh and not to forget the fact that it looks kinda Nordic due to the runes carved into the hilt. That sure gives me something to work with. I’d say whatever is the real deal behind your sword, it’s probably a little abstract making it tricky to see through. Buuut that shouldn’t be a problem. That’s common nowadays.»

His magic had been analyzed. From the sound of it, it didn't seem like Milo had realized his sword's identity yet, but even with just the knowledge he'd already discerned during the fight, he'd be able to steer the fight in such a way to capitalize on Tyrfing's disadvantages. Simply put, he was in check.

With this, Jack's guard rose. He lowered his stance and prepared himself for anything and everything that Milo could throw his way. Or at least, that's Milo likely expected to happen. Instead, Jack simply grinned and begin a monologue of his own.

"Yes, it's common indeed. Standard practice, really. After all, it goes a long, long~ way toward obscuring the true nature of your magic. And on top of that, the variety it introduces makes it so that even if you have a dozen magicians using the same myth as a basis, they could all have completely different spells!"

By this point, his voice had taken a distinctively mocking tone, and his grin had morphed into a great sneer. His posture was relaxed, though he still held Tyrfing at the ready, and he even went so far as to put his free hand into his pocket.

"You, on the other hand, don't seem to have any such thing. Weapons that seek the target are hardly rare, with examples like Gae Assail and Gungnir. But no matter how you look at it, your gun is simply that: A gun. It shows no signs of symbolically representing a spear, arrow, or even a mace."

"So, I can only to come to one conclusion. It is a gun that fires target seeking bullets. Nothing more, and nothing less. And I happen to only know of one weapon that fits such a description."

Jack was laughing now.

"Hey. You've already fired five bullets, right?"

He was in check, there was no doubt about that, but Milo was already in checkmate. His magic was too simple, too obvious. Its brutal efficiency certainly made it effective in battle, but the moment one figured out Freiscütz's identity, the battle became a simple game of Time Attack.

He flicked his wrist, signaling the beginning of a sword stroke to cut Milo in half, and as he did so Tyrfing released a malicious aura toward Milo once more, signaling the use of its second evil.

And at the same time, he removed his hand from his pocket and tossed not one, but two runestones. Hagalaz and isa. The first, representing disruption, would cause a lapse of awareness, while the second represented stillness and would rob the target of all ability to move.

The effects would only last so long as they were in physical contact with the target, but with Tyrfing that was more than enough time to dole out a fatal blow.

Milo had three targets to shoot down, a curse to deal with, and a single bullet to do it with.

The blonde’s words were rewarded by Milo’s smile. However said smile wasn’t one belonging to an accepting loser, but a superior winner.

It was true that Der Freischütz was easy to analyse and see through for any opposing party. No matter how strong that spell was, it was such a simple one any Magician would be capable of identifying its source right away. That was its commonly known weak spot. Exactly: It was common knowledge.

«Just as expected», he announced while still speeding forward, quickly swinging the arm holding the already damaged gun using it for the crucial act of blocking the life threatening sword-thrust. With a loud clang ringing out Milo nearly lost his own balance, being thrown off his proper path.
He accepted that reality even making use of the momentum he had just gained in order to avoid one of the flying rune stones; the other would simply be smacked away by the gun in his other hand.

The instance all incoming attacks had been blocked, he fired two times.

With two bullets being launched off into the open space he would still continue his advance, charging straight toward that blonde man. There was not a second’s hesitation. He had planned all this to some extent even if it taken some improvisation over the course of the action.

That was Milo Lorelei, a Magician that was neither really skilled at physical combat nor the type to stick to and specialise into one single spell. His one and only constant weapon would be his tactical prowess, something that made him so different from all the others. Blessed with such an ability he had gone long ways to search out the right solutions to the problems at hand, analysing each bit of the situation. While it would have taken him much longer to fully understand his opponent’s spell he had gone ahead to work with what he had already known.

The first bullet would arc around his target, taking a long detour before going straight for the blind spot at the backside of his head.
The second bullet’s path would still remain impossible to predict.
And from the front there would be Milo attempting to smack that other Magician down with one of his guns.

He had timed it so well that all attacks would hit at once.


Blood was spilled, metal burst into every direction. He screamed in pain, yet never stopped. The 7th bullet arrived first, destroying both the remaining functional gun and the hand holding it.

It didn’t stop him; he simply took it as a fact and charged in, attempting to slit the blonde’s throat with the remaining splinters of his last weapon. Pain, anger, despair, he’d force it all into that one final swing. Overcoming all his sufferings the wild beast would strike and he would….?!


Milo Lorelei’s plan was complicated. He had known about the sword’s cursing trick and he had known about its significance. That’s why he had fired that final bullet. Both the sword and his own bullet would bring nothing but misfortune over him, so he simply used that fact to his advantage. What if both would collide and end up in one single result instead of two different ones? What if it’d allow for him to direct all misfortune into a predictable direction?
He had thought maybe it would even allow for him to cause a result where both would cancel each other out leaving behind nothing but good fortune?

Oh well, the outcome had already occurred.

«Just as expected.»

Returning his sneer with a confident smile, Milo charged forward. It seemed that despite having his magic's secrets ousted, he still believed he could win.

The thought dissolved Jack's sneer, painting his formerly confident countenance over with resignation. In his eyes, this had already ceased to be a battle between magicians, and become the simple, everyday scene of a hunter putting down a wounded beast.

His sword stroke was blocked by the remnants of the gun he'd ruined earlier, and the first stage of his offense was countered.

Next, Milo used the impact of the clash to avoid the hagalaz runestone, and then proceeded to knock the isa runestone out of the air with his second gun.

And then, his path finally clear, Milo fired his gun, not once, but twice. The first, a true magic bullet, shot straight past him, doubtlessly already beginning the curve that would embed it into his defenseless back.

The second bullet, on the other hand, didn't even make it halfway to him. Instead of piercing his body, it made an abrupt u-turn and smashed Milo's hand, crushing both it and his one remaining firearm in a single decisive move.

Even as these events occurred, Jack stood still, and simply observed.

Milo's strategy was sound. He sacrificed a useless weapon to block a fatal blow from Tryfing, and rather than waste bullets firing upon the runestones like he had earlier, had simply avoided them. And then he fired Freishüher's seventh which was said to bring tragedy upon its shooter to attract the curse.

And the boy's strategy had worked perfectly on every front. All of Jack's defenses had been routed, and even now Milo was about to crush his throat with Freischüher's splintered remains.

In the end, though, it simply wasn't enough. If this were a battle between ordinary men, then this would be Milo's victory ten times out of ten, no question about it.

But such tactics simply wouldn't work against a magician.

Jack's reactions were simple. He grabbed Milo's hand, splintered metal and all, and wrenched it upwards, knocking him off balance, and used the opening to brutally slam his knee into Milo's gut.

And for the bullet that was coming at him from behind, he simply flipped Tyrfing into a reverse grip, rested it against his back parallel to his spine, and activated its third and final curse.

«Natsume…? How? What are-…»

Kamijou Touko it was indeed, Natsume sighed. She had only met her today yet had already figured out the older girl had a knack for involving herself in trouble all the time.

“That's my li-”

«That Magician…! Right! We need to stop him before things get worse!» Natsume felt a tint of irritation at how she was trying to aim for trouble again, though she was shocked to see her uncommon awareness of the magic side. But she had to put that aside for now, when did that girl stop looking for trouble?!

«…damn it! I don’t even know where he ran off to!! Natsume, sorry but I need to move on to prevent even worse things from happening! Take care of the people over here until Anti-Skill arrives!»

“Hey!” Natsume called out to Touko and jumped from her position to grab her collar before she took off. “Where do you even plan on going?” She sighed and took her phone with her free hand to call the authorities and an ambulance, yet again.

Keeping the call short, Natsume put her phone back in her pocket and freed Touko's collar. "I know where he ran to, but he might've escaped far away already..." But despite that, Natsume started running towards her previous location, hoping they'd find a hint before more people got injured.