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The conflict between the group of First High students and faculty (including outside personnel) that headed for the shelter via the underground tunnel and the ard guerrillas in the tunnel drew to a close.
The number of evacuees totaled nearly 60 people.
Since that attack ca after First High's presentation ca to an end, the number of students who ca to show their support had reached a peak.
Azusa ntally lanted this unfortunate turn of events, but as the Student Council President, she had to put on a brave front no matter what happened.
Ahead of them was the sound of gunfire and shock waves.
That was the sound of Sawaki taking down the enemy guerrilla ard with guns at the forefront.
Under everyone's combined efforts, the primary weapons such as assault rifles and semi-automatics had been successfully nullified.
Azusa also used magic to solidify the air in the muzzle to cause an explosion that took out two guns and their respective users.
The result lay before her eyes.
Despite being a tunnel, this wasn't a hole excavated in the previous century. There were plenty of lights illuminating the way.
Along the bloodsoaked underground passage, several irregulars lay on the ground.
Normally, she would try to avoid looking at this tragic sight. However, out of duty as the student representative, Azusa forcibly stifled her terror.
She had no experience in magic combat skills or tactical squad command.
Even if she didn't say anything, the security personnel selected from the Club Activities Group and Public Moral Committee wouldn't allow any guerrilla to approach their group.
Azusa fought down the bile rising in her throat and beheld Hattori and Sawaki arriving to rout the guerrillas. All she could do was watch them with her eyes, such was her duty.
Likely because of the sparse number of enemies, there were fortunately no fatalities on their side.
However, Magicians were not immortal. They will bleed if cut, die if shot.
Magic defenses were not omnipotent either. If the bullet's kinetic energy surpassed magic's ability to alter the Eidos, then the magic barrier would be penetrated.
They endured that sort of risk to serve as our living shields. She believed that to turn her eyes away from these comrades who protected individuals like herself who were inept in combat would be a betrayal of the highest order.
Azusa carefully scrutinized Sawaki as he used his fists and feet to take down the guerrillas that sward from all directions as well as Hattori who stood behind him to provide covering fire with magic.
The guerrillas who burst out from cover were also crushed by Sawaki effortlessly.
Their opponents were irregulars of East-Asian descent, so there was no way to imdiately tell them apart from normal civilians.
Anyone holding a large weapon like an assault rifle could imdiately be identified as hostile, but guerrillas that stalked forward with hidden combat knives or combat knives were hard to differentiate from the average civilian. Hence Sawaki abandoned any and all attempts at telling them apart.
He fortified his defenses and struck down anyone who raised a hand at him.
He was only able to rely on this rough strategy because of the superlative sturdiness of his defenses.
Convergence Move-Type Combination Magic "Air Armor".
Setting the first 3-5 centiters of air around his body as the target, he rendered the surface of his skin to be smoother and lowered the angle of physical penetration so he could avoid high speed bullets with low mass.
This was not solely magic or physical skills, but a combination of the two which produced the speed and technique necessary to carry out this practically suicidal strategy.
A newly appeared enemy swung a broadsword at him.
Repeatedly activating magic, Sawaki cast personal acceleration magic on himself.
The speed of his fists approached sonic speed.
Surrounded by compressed air, his fist broke the sound barrier. With a boom, the guerrilla went flying.
This sort of overkill successfully impeded fresh enemies. Earlier, repeated threats appeared to serve no effect.
Still, just as physical stamina is limited, human inner strength is also limited. Sawaki's blow caused the soldier to collide with the irregular behind him, forcing both of them to collide solidly with the wall and slide to the ground. Seeing this, the guerrillas' morale finally started to crumble.
As Sawaki disengaged the magic armor, his ill-natured classmate was hurtling steam blocks charged with electricity at the fleeing enemy presence.
Fujibayashi's squad had two all-terrain vehicles and there were eight people including Fujibayashi. Although the unit was small enough to barely rate as a squad, every mber looked highly competent.
"Mayumi, I'm sorry to say......
That I cannot accommodate everyone on board."
With an apologetic expression, Fujibayashi inford Mayumi, who appeared to be awed by each soldier's battle hardened aura.
"Ah, no, we originally decided to evacuate on foot......"
"Is that right. But wouldn't that be too far, and where do you plan to evacuate towards?"
She was speaking to Mayumi and not Katsuto because they were old acquaintances, but Mayumi earnestly wished that she was discussing this with Katsuto. Under these conditions, Katsuto undoubtedly would field the questions better than she would.
"The unit from Tsuchiya is using Nogeyama as a base and are engaged in sweeping for guerrillas in squads.
We still cannot ascertain what the camouflaged vessel in the hillside docks is up to, but they'll probably unload chanized forces soon. This way, the shoreline will turn into the center of the battlefield, so I recomnd that you evacuate inland."
"Then...... As we planned, I think the shelter near the station will probably be better."
Mayumi said in slight bewildernt as she glanced at Katsuto. "Agreed. That would be preferable."
Seeing Katsuto nod in assent, Mayumi let out a relieved expression.
At this, Fujibayashi smiled with slight interest, but this action went undetected, even by Mayumi.
"Then we will provide cover with the car in front, so just follow along at your own pace."
After saying this, Fujibayashi approached one of the vehicles with Mayumi and Mari right behind her.
"Lieutenant Fujibayashi."
However, Katsuto didn't move and called out to Fujibayashi from behind.
"What is it?"
Fujibayashi didn't delay and imdiately turned around. As if she expected to be called on to stop.
"I know this is a rather willful request, but can you lend
a car?"
That's insane, all the students from First High thought when they heard this. There were only two cars. Also, this not only for carrying people but for ammunition as well.
"Where do you want to go?"
This was not the ti to allow independent action. Still, Fujibayashi did not imdiately reject Katsuto's request and asked him the reason for this course of action.
"To the side branch of the Magic Association. Although I'm only a surrogate, I am still a representative of the Master Clans Conference and must fulfill my responsibilities as a mber of the Magic Association."
That was a voice from the depths of his abdon. Unlike the shallow youngsters with heroic fantasies, his voice was the voice of soone who was resolved to carry his burdens.
"Understood."
Fujibayashi replied frankly.
"Sergeant Tateoka, Corporal Otowa. Escort Juumonji to the Kantou branch of the Magic Association."
With no regard to Katsuto's bewildernt, she gave orders to two subordinates and lent him a car. Next, she raised her voice towards Mayumi and company as they stood next to the other vehicle.
"Quick, get on board. We can't let you guys waste any more ti."
The representatives and supporters from Third High elected to use the bus that carried them here for evacuation.
"Why is it so far......"
"That's just how the street is designed; what can you do?"
The bus was waiting in a parking garage reserved for large vehicles that was far from the conference hall. Hearing Masaki's complaints, Kichijouji seriously scolded him.
The very fact that they decided not to stay the night and arranged for the driver to wait on station ahead of ti was worthy of cheer.
In terms of distance it was slightly closer than heading for the docks where the evacuation ship was, so Kichijouji felt that complaining about this sort of thing would invite divine retribution.
What was concerning was that the southern side of the parking garage was significantly closer to the docks where the camouflaged enemy vessel was moored. However, the militant students of Third High encouraged one another with ideas of "sticking it to the treacherous invaders" as they advanced.
Apparently, they were enraged that they had been forced to disarm (?) earlier on stage.
This overly optimistic cheer only served to deepen Kichijouji's unease.
Although they were known as the militant Third High, the only ones with real combat experience were a handful of students with Masaki at the head.
He himself had no "real combat" experience, and the faculty leading this team all specialized in research.
In this world, if sothing could go wrong, it would.
In the middle of the previous century, a certain man coined this rather unpleasant law which Kichijouji felt applied to this situation (in reality, the law beca mainstream in the latter half of the century).
Just as they entered the parking garage and the large bus ca into view.
The bus suffered several direct hits from rocket launchers. Fortunately, the point of impact
maybe the sole blessing in disguise
was near the rear of the vehicle, so the driver was able to frantically escape before being caught in the explosion.
The body of the vehicle was covered with the sa heat and shock resistant plating used to coat military vehicles, so while the windows were cracked and several areas were burnt, the body itself was not compromised.
Except the tires, which were completely shredded.
"Those assholes!"
Next to Kichijouji, Masaki was furious.
In order to quickly get him to calm down, Kichijouji switched gears.
If they were to change tires, they couldn't allow the enemy to close in during this ti.
He decided to let his good friend vent a little.
Kichijouji left Masaki's side and moved towards the teacher leading this group.
"Sensei."
"Kichijouji, what is it?"
With that slightly shaking voice, it was quite impressive that the man managed to steady himself.
If he wasn't assured of his friend's overwhelming might, he too might be in the sa condition.
"Leave the enemy to Masaki; let's prepare to change the tires."
"But, even if you say prepare......"
"This is a designated parking garage for large vehicles and specialized cars. I believe there should be tools for simple maintenance and spare tires as well."
"Y-You're right! OK, everyone with nothing to do help Kichijouji search for spare tires!"
Having everyone with nothing to do join in was because there were other people who could engage the enemy besides Masaki.
Unrelated to his identity as a Year 1 student, Kichijouji naturally controlled the initiative here given his status as the calst individual present. The students from Third High, regardless of whether they were classmates or upperclassn, moved together with the teachers along Kichijouji's instructions to prepare for evacuation.
The group led by Azusa (which was a slightly inaccurate description) that included students from First High, faculty, and other associated individuals, reached the underground shelter slightly later than the other schools.
The reason for their tardiness was because they had more people to account for.
They had over 60 people. Normally, this was't a large number. Yet trying to bring everyone to a certain location without misplacing a single one required a lot of effort, and coupled with the fact they had to fend off hostile attacks along the way, their superior numbers were both an advantage and a disadvantage.
The main entrance that allowed access to the outside during crises had been closed out of consideration of the enemy's presence.
The lock must be disengaged by the evacuees already in the shelter's interior.
While the door was being opened, Hattori and Sawaki were checking for stragglers in the plaza (the underground area was constructed as a plaza) before the front entrance.
The faculty were also fulfilling their duties as adults. Asuka was examining the injured, Haruka was comforting the uneasy students, while Tsuzura was at the rear with Tomitsuka on guard.
Thus, maybe this was the reason
why Tsuzura discovered the abnormality first.
"Everyone, get down and cover your head!"
There was an odd noise coming from the ceiling of the underground passage.
The concrete creaked and groaned.
The overhanging lights went out, plunging the tunnel into darkness. Cracks appeared all over the ceiling and walls.
All of this happened in an instant.
There were so who scread in fright.
There were others who just ducked and sought cover.
Still others attempted to hold off the falling tal, concrete and dust with magic.
Nonetheless, no matter what power caused this, the tunnel's collapse appeared unavoidable.
At this ti, Azusa was using the terminal responsible for communicating with the people in the shelter to ask them to hurry up and open the door.
Hearing Tsuzura's warning, she couldn't help but turn her head, and now she couldn't tear her eyes away from the tragedy unfolding before her.
There wasn't even ti to close her eyes as the ceiling buckled and the walls started peeling off.
She didn't have to worry about being caught in the cave-in.
Even though she was standing outside the door, the shelter's entrance was covered in reinforced tal alloy.
But the other students were......
"......Eh?"
However, after the dust settled, she used the remaining lights from the air raid shelter passage to survey the wreckage of the tunnel, but her eyes were not filled to the brim with painful tears. Instead, a shocked voice erupted due to this unexpected scenery.
None of the First High students were buried alive.
The concrete scraps were ford into a do-like shape.
What sort of pure coincidence could enable large concrete blocks to perfectly lock together to form a do shape that held enough room beneath for half a person's height?
No, this cannot be pure coincidence......
The probability that this was a naturally occurring phenonon was practically zero.
(......I see, this is Polyhedra Handle! That's Tsuzura-sensei's magic!)
The "Polyhedra Handle" she was ntally calling out did not refer to the command used to describe 3-D projections, but magic that broke up physical objects into pyramids and quadratic prisms and manipulated them to form these simple projections to form large scale construct variations.
Modern magic did not excel in manipulating one aspect of an object. In order to halt the underground passage from caving in, the typical approach was to set the entire underground passage as the target.
On the other hand, Polyhedra Handle split one object into multiple components and sought to alter one component in order to affect the entire whole.
Of course, this required the ability to separate one object into multiple tiny pieces. Magicians capable of doing so could consciously create miracles when it would be impossible otherwise. Just like now.
Likely understanding that the underground tunnel was unable to support the weight above and collapse was imminent, Tsuzura used the sand's pressure to form a do and controlled the impact of the falling rubble.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day this was only a temporary asure ford of concrete and did not possess the sturdiness of natural stone.
"Everyone, get over here quickly!"
Azusa desperately cried out to the students, faculty, and third party individuals still sprawled on the floor and urged them to quickly flee through the shelter's opened doors.
Asuka had left to care for the wounded, so Hirakawa was left all by herself in the 60 man group and she could only hunker down without even making a peep.
True, the ceiling did collapse. The walls should have fallen. If that was the case, why wasn't she buried alive?
Slowly opening her eyes in trepidation, Hirakawa was shocked out of her senses by the scene before her.
Steel and concrete mixed together like toys to form a do with a small opening. This impossible coincidence caused Hirakawa to stare blankly.
But, just then,
"What are you staring at!? Get moving!" Amid the scolding, soone grabbed her hand.
She gave a start out of panic and tried to fling away that hand on reflex.
However, that hand gave Hirakawa a feeling of warmth without pain and contained a strength that refused to relinquish the grip on her hand.
"Co on!"
Without minding her reflexive rejection, that hand pulled her onward.
Behind them, there were no human sounds or presence. While she was staring blankly, she had beco the only one left behind.
Ahead, a weak light shone the way forward, probably caused by people who had already fled the debris and turned a flashlight back this way.
At this point, Hirakawa's brain wasn't even functioning. She was only being led by her hand and running as fast as she could despite her bent posture.
The light at the end of the tunnel continued to grow stronger until they could finally see the exit.
An unspecified sound reached her ear.
Part of the debris was unable to sustain the weight and was beginning to collapse.
The catastrophe played out in slow motion before her eyes.
The young man pulling Hirakawa tugged that hand clasping Hirakawa into his bosom while using his empty right hand to pat the right side of her waist. Suddenly, Hirakawa noticed that her body was being pulled along with the charge.
In front of the hand holding her tight, Hirakawa subconsciously clung onto the chest in front of her.
By the ti Hirakawa realized that this was the inertia caused by ergency acceleration, they had already escaped the falling debris into the shelter's passageway.
Seeing Tomitsuka successfully rescue the young girl who hadn't fled in ti, Azusa finally let out a sigh of relief.
Yet, upon seeing the young girl's face, her recently settled heart suddenly pounded furiously again.
(Hirakawa-senpai's younger sister......
)
As a mber of the Technician Team for the Nine Schools Competition, Azusa enjoyed a close relationship with Hirakawa Koharu.
The cultured and refined older Hirakawa was an upperclassman whom Azusa got along well with, and at the sa ti, she was a senpai who excelled in the sa technical field.
When Azusa first heard that her sister attempted to sabotage the representative team's work, Azusa initially suspected that she had misheard it.
She had never t the younger sister directly, but based on the understanding reached from casual conversation, Azusa didn't believe she was the sort of girl to do such a thing. Hence she was hit doubly hard by this.
Seeing her frantically separate herself from the young man who carried her in his embrace and dropping her head in sha while sneaking a peek at the young man, she looked like any other ordinary underclassman.
Hopefully, this will enable her to wake up from this nightmare......
Azusa herself prayed that this would be so.
Barely averting being buried alive at the eleventh hour, Hirakawa let out a sigh of relief near the sturdy ceiling covered with tallic alloy.
And finally had the leisure to discover her current posture. "!"
Was that a record setting reflex action? Hirakawa thought as she successfully sank into panic. The reason why she was successful was likely because she didn't enter a state of panic but was already subrged in one.
At any rate, her limbs started moving first before she sprang away from the young man embracing her. Too ashad to raise her head, but at the sa ti, she was highly curious as to what he looked like.
In the end, she kept her head lowered while secretly sneaking peeks at the boy's face, but this suspicious action did not seem to dwell on the young man's mind.
"Are you OK? Then please go ahead." A voice that cared for her.
For Hirakawa, it seed like an eternity since she had heard soone say sothing like that. Between taking advantage of others and being seen as a "collaborator
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