was a Hlieskjálf operator.

No. Gu Jie thought it over again. Even if he was detected by another operator through Hlieskjálf, it was irrelevant. He knew he had little time left regardless, and if someone in charge of intelligence control noticed an unknown operator in the system, it would be a little damaging for the Yotsuba.

But he had no time to do that at the moment. His first priority was escaping without being noticed. This hideout had been prepared in advance so that his traces would be erased to the utmost degree, and to increase the tracking difficulty, he also had minimal luggage. Gu Jie stepped out onto the snowy night road, and used his five senses on top of his extrasensory awareness to conduct a full sweep of his surroundings. Nobody else was around.

"I'll be leaving the greeting of our guests to you."

Gu Jie left those orders to his newly-created doll and headed to his next hideout.

? ? ?

USA West Coast, local time, February 8th, 07:00 A.M. Raymond Clark wolfed down his breakfast, put on his Hlieskjálf terminal, and started investigating the terrorist incident that had occurred in Hakone, Japan.

Although he was "investigating", he already knew the "truth of the incident" from the start—well actually, he knew it from the preparatory stages of the incident. What Raymond really wanted to know about was the "hero" who had led the incident to its resolution.

If there were no incidents, there were no heroes.

For that precise reason, he had given no information about how the incident could have been stopped preemptively.

There was no fun in chasing off the bad guy and ending the incident without a grand finale.

That's why, when the investigation reached a dead end, he had supported the "hero" by providing and controlling information. Dropping hints on how to resolve the incident just before the bad guy got away somehow made him feel like a big shot. This was Raymond's favorite game to play.

Raymond looked over the previous day's events and knit his eyebrows.

The present investigation was not proceeding in a direction that suited his tastes. The perpetrator had obtained info from Hlieskjálf and was using that to evade detection from the "hero's" side. This seemed like foul play to Raymond.

Of course, he understood that Jiedo Heigu had used Hlieskjálf to stop the Yotsuba from determining his exact location. As a result, it was unknown whether he had managed to escape from his hideout successfully or not. However, the fact itself that Heigu had accessed Hlieskjálf to obtain data he shouldn't know about was intolerable for Raymond.

Raymond had thought of Hlieskjálf as a tool for use by the "scenario- writer" and the "director" of the story. It had been a "behind-the-scenes" tool used for constructing the stage, and if someone in the play gained access, it would create an imbalance of information between the actors and cause his play to fall apart. This was a rule violation that he absolutely could not tolerate as a spectator, nor as a "staff" member.

As long as Heigu remained the villain, it wasn't an issue if he used Hlieskjálf. But Heigu had stepped up onto the stage like this, which meant that Raymond could not allow him to continue using Hlieskjálf as a tool to disrupt the play.

True to the name that Raymond used, "Seven Sages" there were seven Hlieskjálf operators. However, among the seven operators, Raymond was the only person who used that name. Raymond, the singular ‘Seven Sages', decided that he'd submit a request to Hlieskjálf's administrator that only he knew about to have Heigu's account deleted.

? ? ?

Saturday, February 9th, before dawn.

With more than two hours before the sun would rise, Tatsuya set out in the pitch black darkness on his motorcycle, and headed for Kamakura.

Zooming around on his favorite motorcycle, before 5 A.M., he was traversing the hilly western area of Kamakura, then arrived at the villa district where Gu Jie was hiding.

There stood a shadow that was too tall for a woman and too short for a man, wearing big sunglasses despite the sun not having risen yet, a large cap pulled down over their eyes, and a scarf wrapped all the way up to the nose.

As a result of all this outerwear, it was difficult to discern whether it was actually male or female. But for Tatsuya, he didn't care about the gender.

He took his right glove off and stuck it deep in his coat pocket, and with his left hand took out his information terminal, showing her the screen. Mirroring Tatsuya, the woman exposed her right hand to the chilly air and took out her own terminal.

At the same time, both of them used their index fingers to press on the opposite person's information terminal.

The built-in finger scanners activated and the terminals read their fingerprints.

The two nodded at each other simultaneously and put away their terminals, putting their gloves back on.

"Lead the way, if you will."

"This way."

With a nod to Tatsuya, Yoshimi took the lead and began walking. Tatsuya left his bike behind and followed behind her.

Yoshimi stopped in front of one of the villas. There were no human presences in the vicinity, but she knew it was surrounded by a Yotsuba Family task force. This method of concealment was totally different than what a Kuroba Family combatant would use. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it was certainly a member of a different family. She didn't sense the "existence" of Tsukuba Yuuka or Shibata Katsushige, so that meant that it was either a Mashiba Family, Shiiba Family, Mugura Family, or a Shizuka Family member.

Well, that didn't matter right now. She would clear up her doubts from last night right here and now.

The family that had located this hidden villa was the Kuroba Family. However, due to some circumstances, the duty of sieging it had fallen to another Branch Family.

Gu Jie was said to use corpse manipulation magic. This wasn't done by controlling an implanted Spirit Being; it was a technique that directly controlled the body after death.

Mental Interference Magic had no effect on mindless corpses, and because corpses felt no pain, Kuroba Mitsugu's subordinates' specialty, "Poisoned Bees", was useless. Thus, it was only logical that the Kuroba Family would be excluded at the combat stage of the plan.

The single Kuroba Family member included in the operation, Yoshimi, had found what she thought to be a clue when she was chasing someone.

"This, right? The house number looks wrong to me."

"Wrong number."

Under her muffler, Yoshimi grumbled restlessly. Her lack of words had been deliberate; she had been told to leave as few traces behind as possible. She did not know if that was part of her preparation as a spy, or if it was simply a taboo imposed upon those instructed in special magic's. Tatsuya wasn't particularly well-acquainted with her so he didn't pay it any mind.

Tatsuya drew his Trident and directed his Elemental Sight towards the inside of the hideout.

There were three human-shaped beings. Not corpses. Living humans.

However, they were not just mere humans—— "All hands, heat resistant, anti-magic defenses!" shouted Tatsuya as he pulled the trigger on his handgun-shaped CAD. The Magic Sequence targeting Tatsuya and Yoshimi dispersed.

At the same moment, the hideout burst into flames.

Tatsuya activated the cast for "Leap" and flew backward a large distance.

Without a moment's hesitation, he spoke in a strong tone to Yoshimi, who had leaped further back than him.

"Gu Jie isn't here. What's inside are three ‘Generators'."

Their ambush had been performed on three reinforced Magicians called "Generators." This meant that their plan had been somehow leaked.

However, Tatsuya and Yoshimi did not waste time with doubts about the operation or questioning the means by which the information was leaked.

"Leave the corpses intact, please."

This was the only request that Yoshimi made of Tatsuya. If the corpses were hit with Mist Dispersion, she wouldn't be able to get even the slightest clue about the magic involved.

At the same time, that didn't mean they had to be left alive. Which meant a drastic decrease in the difficulty of the battle. It was a happy request for Tatsuya, who made very few exceptions for murderers.

"Stay back. I'll handle this myself."

With a nod, Yoshimi jumped back even further. At the same moment the Branch Families gradually stopped their advance.

Something from within the blazing hideout was emitting magic. It was an "Ignition" Sequence. There had been no expansion of the Activation Sequence.

(Similar to a psychic, was it a generator specialized in a particular ability?)

As Tatsuya guessed at the true identity of the enemy, his allies stealthily moved towards the bushes and houses to analyze the "Ignition" Magic Sequence.

No matter how unpopular this time of the morning was, just this incident was enough to bring out the firefighters. Although there were plenty of unoccupied villas, there could be no mistake about the neighbors popping their heads out to look at the unfolding scene.

It took almost no time at all.

Tatsuya aimed his silver CAD Trident at the blazing house and activated Mist Dispersion.

He couldn't safely put the fire out using his "Decomposition."

Even if he decomposed the house, the flammable materials would all be exposed at once and result in an explosive blaze. Perhaps he could use the fire's combustion to use up all the oxygen to put it out, but if something went wrong it would create a shockwave that would inflict great damage on the nearby houses. In case of an oxygen shortage, it would probably end badly for Tatsuya as well.

So, he didn't target the whole house. The target of his decomposition was the pillar holding up the roof.

The blazing hideout collapsed in on itself as though it were being squashed.

The house had been reduced to rubble, and the flames suddenly vanished.

That wasn't surprising. It was fairly normal for magicians who excelled at fire-creation magic to also be proficient in fire-extinguishing magic as well. Whoever was emitting the ignition magic from inside the burning house had probably been wearing fireproof equipment, but even with that, it would have been impossible for them to remain in direct contact with the radial and convection heat of the flames for a long period of time.

Three human shadows pushed aside the rubble and stood.

The fireproof-armor-clad generators faced Tatsuya and fired "Ignition" at him all at once.

The Magic Sequences coiling around Tatsuya were projected in his field of vision.

Faster than the Magic Sequence could display its effectiveness, Tatsuya released Psions to counteract them.

The compression had been insufficient, but the combat-activated Psions acted in the same manner as Gram Demolition and easily blew away the Magic Sequences. It was a raw display of just how many Psions Tatsuya held.

Without so much as a pose, Tatsuya fired his Trident, which incorporated three consecutive Decomposition magic's.

The Event Interference "space" that the Generators had expanded crumbled away.

The information-reinforced armor that the Generators wore to protect themselves was blown away.

And finally, a round hole was opened in each of the Generator's chests. The blood trickling from the holes had no force behind it.

And then Tatsuya pulled the trigger a second time.

The three generators, having had their hearts blown away, collapsed facing upward.

With his CAD still raised, Tatsuya drew closer to the rubble, stopping just one step away from it.

Yoshimi came running up behind Tatsuya, who was still looking down at the corpses. Her movements were graceful and swift, despite her seemingly unwieldy clothing that did not suit her real size.

Not just Yoshimi, either; the branch families who had concealed themselves slowly came out of their hiding spots.

The wailing of a faraway fire engine grew closer. The fire had already been extinguished. But that didn't mean that the fire engine would suddenly do a U-turn. They had to handle the removal of the rubble, as well.

Going past Tatsuya, Yoshimi stepped over the rubble, which had not only been extinguished but had all the heat removed from it, drawing closer to the corpses. The other squad members also gathered to guard over the remaining corpses.

Lingering over the now-prone Generators was a faint twinkling of Psion light.

The activation of a delayed-activation Magic Sequence. The key for its activation was most likely the death of the Sequence's target.

Tatsuya immediately raised the CAD in his right hand.

The heartless Generators sprung to their feet and immediately assaulted anyone in range. Yoshimi was one of the targets.

——A technique that converted corpses into puppets, Necromancy.

Yoshimi reflexively attempted to retreat backwards but her foot caught on the rubble and she tumbled over.

Evasion-type magic would not make it in time.

Tatsuya pointed the CAD at the corpse assaulting Yoshimi and squeezed the trigger.

——Gram Demolition, the magic that erases the information body itself. The Psion light within the Generators dispersed and vanished.

The three Generators fell over onto the rubble once more, their arms still raised up overhead.

The puppets had been returned to corpses once more.

"Thank you.. very much."

As she looked back, Yoshimi's facial expression could not be seen under her sunglasses and muffler, but her shaky voice was a mix of relief and gratitude.

"It should be safe now."

Yoshimi nodded at Tatsuya, then turned to the squad members and ordered them to take the corpses away.

Tatsuya left Yoshimi and the others to do their work, then found his favorite scooter and left the area.

? ? ?

Although Gu Jie had escaped this time, Tatsuya was still in the lead among the ones who were trying to locate the perpetrator of the Hakone terrorism incident.

Officer Chiba Toshikazu, who had also been selected as part of the terrorist hunt, had yet to even find the slightest trace of those responsible, and was busy hunting for clues.

He had gone to Hakone as a matter of principle to investigate the site of the incident. Toshikazu went wide-eyed in shock as he received a call from an unexpected caller, and he placed the transmission unit against his ear.

"Hello Officer Chiba, this is Fujibayashi speaking."

The voice coming from the receiver was certainly Fujibayashi. It was unthinkable that someone had broken into the communication infrastructure and was impersonating Fujibayashi, but it was such a surprising call for Chiba that such a doubt crossed his mind.

"My apologies for interrupting you on the job."

"It's not a problem at all. I'm more than happy to take a call from you any time, Fujibayashi-san. What can I do for you?"

Inagaki was waving his hands and coming over but Toshikazu quickly chased him off; Toshikazu quickly took himself away from the group of investigators.

"Ah, no errands today, but.. I am a bit concerned about what happened yesterday."

"And is it to that concern that I owe the honor of speaking to you today?"

Paying no mind to the unpleasant circumstances, Toshikazu felt absolutely exhilarated.

"Yes. After you met the "Doll Master", did you notice anything unusual?"

"Unusual..? Well, I listened to his near-endless crazy story about necromancy that wasn't even useful for the investigation, which wore me out.."

"Ah, not about that.. Perhaps, did you get a headache, or did you have trouble sleeping last night?"

"I don't think I noticed anything like that."

In his elation, he sarcastically thought "It's not like I'm in middle or high school or something," but not a hint of this crept into his voice, laughing in the easygoing way Toshikazu always did.

"I see.."

The person on the other end of the line seemed quite relieved.

Toshikazu was grinning without even realizing it. He didn't even hear Inagaki mutter "What's with him? What a weird look."

"Were you worried about me?"

"..I was. But it seems that I was worrying over nothing."

Fujibayashi's voice sounded slightly embarrassed, and Toshikazu's lips slowly loosened.

"Well then, Inspector, I will be praying that you catch our terrorist culprit as soon as possible."

"I appreciate it. Good luck on your work as well, Second Lieutenant Fujibayashi."

Finished with his phone call, Toshikazu returned to his original spot with a big grin on his face.

"Inagaki, what's the matter? You don't look so good."

"I just started feeling tired all of a sudden. I'm fine, don't worry about it."

Inagaki felt a headache coming on, massaging his temples with his fingers.

"Don't push yourself too hard."

Toshikazu said as such with the same flashy gesture as always, and with a chuckle, he left Inagaki's side.

? ? ?

Having finished her call with Toshikazu, Fujibayashi turned her attention to the noncommissioned female officer staring at a monitor in front of her.

"There's no evidence of mental interference."

The officer raised her head and announced the results of the analysis to Kazama.

The girl was a specialist in mental analysis who was especially proficient in discovering brainwashed officers and removing brainwashing. By using responses to questions, she could detect brainwashing through changes in voice pitch, intonation, speaking speed, breathing intervals, eyeball movements, heart rate, and body temperature. Even in the current situation where she was limited to voice-only communication, by utilizing a for-military-use acoustics analysis device, she could even read heart rate. As a specialist, she was able to detect whether an individual was under suggestion or not.

"Is Oumi Kazukiyo clear?"

With a nod, Kazama stated "Good work" to the specialist. She stood up and bowed, then pushed the wagon containing the special equipment out of the room.

"This is not a job you enjoy doing, is it Fujibayashi?"

"I don't mind.. but Commander, that was rather dangerous, wasn't it? The Chiba Family are authorities on Modern magic and that technique we just used is prejudiced towards physical body manipulation. We have no idea how much resistance they have to mental interference. "

In fact, Toshikazu had been sent after the "Doll master" by direct order from the Major General, Commander Saeki. It wasn't because she was trying to harm Toshikazu. When the police were dispatched to investigate the Hakone terrorism event and the corpse manipulation specialist behind it, in order to guide them to the Magician who was suspected of having connections to the remnants of the Kunlunfang Institute, they gave lists of suspects to a number of informants so that those lists could be disseminated.

Roter Wald was one of those locations, but the manager had in fact not cooperated with Kazama or his subordinates. The informant had been completely random in who they referenced. Fujibayashi frequented Roter Wald for a few days in an effort to follow their plans, but it had been complete coincidence that the manager had introduced her to Oumi Kazukiyo.

Thus, Fujibayashi had not used Toshikazu as bait, but the feeling that she had done as such weighed on her mind.

"If they do anything that exposes the collaborators, wouldn't it be better for us to join in the terrorist incident investigation as well?"

"First Lieutenant. My squadron.. no, my battalion will have nothing to do with the Hakone terrorist incident. That is an executive decision by Commander Saeki."

"I understand.."

"The 101st Battalion must avoid being seen as supporting the Ten Master Clans."

"Yes, I understand."

The 101st Battalion, established by Commander Saeki, was starting to oppose being the civilian magical military force of the Ten Master Clans. Saeki was considered the political rival of retired Major General Kudou, and although she herself did not see it that way, the reality was that the "Anti-Ten Master Clans" and "Anti-Kudou Retsu" bases within the National Defense Force had become a cornerstone of her support base.

However, in the background, the 101st Battalion had a cooperative relationship with the Yotsuba Family, the leading figures among the Ten Master Clans. With just that relationship, they still had plenty of excuses if they were exposed, but they could not afford to be seen as colluding with the Ten Master Clans.

"Thank you for your work, First Lieutenant."

"Sir. If you'll excuse me."

Fujibayashi bowed to Kazama and exited the room.

As a battalion adjutant, Fujibayashi had her own office, even if it was a bit small. It was her personal room, located right next to the Commander's room (i.e. Kazuma's room).

Fujibayashi sat in front of the desk and pondered about the phone conversation from earlier.

The battalion had not mandated the information provided to the informants, and a high-level informant such as Roter Wald's manager had easily ignored the Defense Force's pressure. Even without her intervention, it seemed like Toshikazu had gone straight to the "Doll Master's" location. However, the matter wasn't as clear-cut as that.

When she thought calmly about the details, Fujibayashi could also be said to be covering for Toshikazu out of concern for his potential brainwashing. However, the battalion had intercepted Toshikazu's phone call, so they had certainly used him as well. She couldn't sweep away her feelings of guilt.

As she thought about the phone conversation, she wasn't able to hold back her laughter.

Toshikazu had called her "Second Lieutenant Fujibayashi." It was very clear that he hadn't heard about her promotion.

Although the military and the police force were two separate organizations, promotions were published in the official daily newspaper. If Toshikazu had an interest in Fujibayashi, it wouldn't have been unusual for him to know about it. All he had to do was enter her name in the search agent.

(When he approached me last fall, he seemed so enthusiastic, but.. maybe that was just a fluke, huh.)

(Although, back then I mislead him with my suggestive behavior as well.. We were both playing the same game, I suppose.)

Fujibayashi thought about this, then with a laugh, she put it behind her.

She dismissed the pang of loneliness she felt as a figment of her imagination.