[572] Reaction and Response (4)
* * *
By the time Shirone's group had rounded up their teammates, the allied team had also gathered at their hideout to discuss their next moves.
Like Shirone, the last to arrive was Kaiden.
"...What a mess."
Hershey could see Kaiden was in bad shape.
His once-clean face was bloodied, and he was caked in dirt from head to toe.
"Where is Shirone right now?"
Hershey shook his head.
"The strategy's changed. You're going to take a more active role in the match."
"I refuse. We made an agreement—I get a free roll on the first day. I still haven't settled things with Shirone."
"We know that, but Eden's plan was read too early. You know what that means—if we lose the match, you'll pay the price too."
Kaiden ground his teeth.
"We'll give Eden a free roll earlier than planned. I'll also focus on zeroing in on Iruki's location. The opponents will try to tear up our cards. We'll need someone to collect scrumbles from enemy territory while that happens."
Pisho raised his hand.
"I'll do it."
A bug mage was perfect for scooping up scattered scrumbles.
"Fine. The rest of you secure the scrumbles and then support Eden. If we can assemble the strongest hand within Day Three, the match is over."
"Damn. Could've killed him."
Kaiden muttered, and only then did Hershey show more interest.
'Hmm—he used a sword and still couldn't subdue Shirone?'
There are people at the Academy who apply schema to swordplay, but Kaiden was on another level.
A prodigy of the blade who'd graduated top of the Kaizen Sword School at fourteen.
He had the kind of skill that could lead a unit on a battlefield even now.
'Foolish. To give up a life riding the Cross family's patronage... for art...'
Seeing him turn from a life backed by the sword dynasty to the Magic Academy made Hershey wonder if fate really existed.
"So? How was it facing Shirone?"
Kaiden's grumbling faded and his expression turned serious.
The hatred remained, but honestly, he'd been impressed.
"He's pretty good. I can see why Fermi's wary."
"Oh?"
This was the first time Kaiden had acknowledged someone from a fight other than Fermi.
"But something felt off."
"Off? In what way?"
Fatigue from fighting late pulls everyone down the same, but Hershey didn't dismiss even small factors.
"How do I put it? He avoided my attacks—no, that's not quite it."
Hershey relaxed his eyelids.
"It was Shirone's movement—"
Eden interrupted.
"Shirone's specialty is light. No matter what spell he casts, light will manifest."
"That may be, but—"
"A sixth sense?"
Hershey thought Kaiden might be on to something.
If Kaiden's trademark precise instincts hadn't triggered, he wouldn't have had those doubts in the first place.
"We need to investigate more. Kaiden, keep covering Shirone. Can you handle it?"
"I was planning to already. Just tell me where he is."
Hershey made a face.
"I asked if you can do it. You struggled today—if you're outmatched..."
"It was just reconnaissance."
Kaiden said casually.
"Shirone will die by my hand soon enough."
A smile spread across Hershey's mouth.
'I'd like that.'
* * *
Scrumble Royal, Day Two.
Thanks to their efforts last night to stop Eden from collecting cards, Shirone's group managed to keep her hand tied to ○○ (Saint).
The rule that scrumbles can only be transferred by physically collecting them worked in their favor.
But there was a cost: Pisho had nimbly gathered the scrumbles Shirone's team abandoned and ended up collecting all six cards.
Still, Iruki refused to abandon the original plan.
"The core rule in the black-and-white match is: 'The winner of a Kang doesn't waste cards.' What does that mean?" Amy asked.
"It means the team that first assembles the strongest hand has an overwhelming advantage," Iruki said.
"Right. That's why we took losses to prevent Eden's collection. The enemy has read our operation, so it'll get more complicated from today."
"So that's why we're gathered here."
Shirone's group's Day Two starting point was in front of the central administrative building at the heart of the grounds.
"There are twelve scrumbles. Grab them from the nearest outward. If we erase our directional intent first, the opponents can't calculate our routes."
"Like swinging a sword blindfolded—harder to dodge."
Sabina said.
"Make it a matter of luck so they can't predict our reactions. But what if Eden takes a long detour?"
"Then we give one and rethink. Stopping her with a Saint last night helped a lot."
Ruru's message arrived: a scrumble had been summoned.
"All right, move out!"
Six flashes shot off in six different directions.
* * *
'Found a scrumble.'
Dorothy, Hickory slung over her shoulder, slipped into Training Ground Four not far from the graduation class.
She spotted a scrumble wedged between rocks on the outskirts and, as she lunged, felt a chilling cold.
'Danger.'
The moment Dorothy stopped, sharp ice flowers bloomed around the scrumble.
"Too bad. A dud."
Prins approached with a greasy smile.
"Not a dud. You're just a mutt."
Prins, who'd had his hand wrecked by Amy's Kang last night, currently held two cards.
His master card recorded ○●—a strategy openly aiming for a three-step full hand.
"Of course I'm a mutt."
Dorothy, who'd smashed the Kang with ○●○● (Democracy) last night, added one random card; her current hand was ○●○●ⓡ.
A favorable spot—but challenging Prins's full-hand status was worth considering.
'Which is more important: breaking a full hand, or revealing a five-step random card?'
Prins cut the thought off.
"Kang. Aren't you going to call it?"
"I will. If it gets dangerous."
Prins ranked third in the graduation class and was a combat mage.
'Could it really be a full hand?'
From ○●○● (Democracy), the only next-stage combination is ●○●○● (Revolution).
So if Dorothy's random card is white, it becomes a full hand and Prins would have no reason to yield.
'I'm curious. I could call Kang myself, but...'
Prins stroked his moustache with sleazy satisfaction.
'If it's Revolution, I get to wreck that hand again.'
He didn't want to be treated like a peripheral nobody any longer.
"If you won't call Kang over there... then shall we start attacking?"
'Kang is a last resort.'
Dorothy made a small whistle and Hickory slid down from her shoulder, landing on the ground.
Thud!
It resonated with a weight no doll should have.
"Whoever calls Kang—it'll be to my advantage. And I won't give up the scrumble."
Hickory's toothy mouth burst with multicolored light.
'A fourth-dimensional Hickory.'
While Hickory performed a ridiculous dance like it was moving a square ruler, Prins's expression didn't change.
After more than a year sparring in the graduation class, he knew Dorothy's manipulation-type ability well.
'Dorothy. An interesting subject.'
A frosty mist rose richly around Prins and the world glittered as if frozen.
'Deploy!'
Hickory leapt and swung its steel globe fist; Prins spun into a graceful posture.
Ice-bloom.
Frozen petals rotated and pelted Hickory's torso.
Her specialty was frost; her discipline was ice-sculpting—typical combat mage technique rather than extreme cold.
'Iron and ice. Steel has the advantage, but...'
Prins cast his spell while soaring in elegant motion.
'You do realize you picked the wrong target, don't you?'
Cracking sounds rang out as stalactites thicker than ivory bit into Hickory.
'This ends it.'
With a flourish, Prins swung his staff and a layer of surface ice formed in the air, extending horizontally to occupy the plane.
'Surface Ice Ridge can cut steel too,' he thought.
Prins targeted Hickory specifically because it was a mimesis that shared Dorothy's mind.
If Dorothy controlled Hickory, Hickory could then control Dorothy's brain, which would loop back—this two-way domination construct is called mimesis in the magic community. The school therefore treated Hickory as an embodied mimesis.
'If I just take out the can...'
As the icy cavern closed and the Surface Ice Ridge froze the horizon and advanced, Hickory accelerated Dorothy's brain.
The faster processing fed back into Hickory, and Dorothy used the gained time to input commands.
'Iron Screwdriver (←↙↓↘→ + Attack).'
The command was the only means to control Hickory.
Smashing through the ice, Hickory spun, flew at the ceiling, and forced Dorothy's body to slam into the wall.
"Ugh!"
It wasn't voluntary movement, so it hurt, but it beat having her torso ripped off.
'Hickory. Aggression mode: 85 percent.'
Even as Hickory shifted to offense and battered with its globe fist, Prins responded calmly.
'Updated martial arts, huh.'
Her posture was ridiculous, but few could withstand a punch from an eighty-five horsepower engine.
"Now!"
Dorothy's eyes flashed as she input another command.
'Super Rocket Punch (→→ + Attack, Defense).'
The moment she encoded the directional vector, Hickory extended its right arm.
"Huup!"
As the roaring fist came crashing in, Prins leaned back as if to fall and the ice barrier that had hemmed them in shattered.
'This is getting dangerous...'
Seeing the rocket punch's trajectory, Prins's eyes suddenly lit and he retreated.
'Mammoth Stamp (↓↓↓ + Attack).'
Hickory slammed its legs down; the ground split around the falling doll.
'Now for the finisher!'
Dorothy spun her thought through a complex pattern.
'Fire Blast (↓↘→ ↓↘→ + Attack, Defense, Movement).'
Hickory's chest hatch opened and a flamethrower spewed out.
Faced with a ten-meter jet of flame that sliced the air, Prins withdrew without hesitation.
'Manipulation Mode (Attack + Movement)!'
The returning rocket punch began to move with precision.
'If I do this (→→↑↘) ... and then this (↑↑←) ...'
Prins hastily wrapped himself in Ice Skin, but it couldn't fully absorb the impact.
With a bang, Prins was sent flying. Dorothy clenched her fist and reattached the rocket punch.
'Victory Pose Macro 3 (↓↑↓↑ + Defense).'
Hickory placed a hand on its waist and danced, then pressed the globe fist to its mouth like a blown kiss and sent it toward Prins.