Volume 30 - CH 9(3/4)
“Why...?“
Minoru asked in a pained voice, holding onto his chest and bending over.
“Kudou Minoru. Raymond Clark. If the Japanese get evidence that our army has harbored you – who are Parasites, then this will become an unfavorable diplomatic compromising evidence against the States.“
“... Minami-san still needs a break. And this happened to her because of your battle.“
“If you had not come here, this wouldn't have happened at all.”
Spica rejected Minoru’s protest. Then she signaled to the soldiers waiting behind her.
Four soldiers burst into the room of the medical room. They aimed their weapons at Minoru, Raymond, and Minami.
“We won't kill you if you obediently follow us.”
“... We will leave, but we will do it ourselves.”
Minoru straightened up. His voice was no longer painful, and there was no trace of a wound on his chest when he removed his hand.
“You...!?“
Noticing the disappearance of the wound, Spica in a hurry tried to activate magic.
However, she was unable to do anything.
She couldn't even scream.
Spica's body burst into flames.
The soldier's bodies bursting into the room also ignited.
The magic "Jintai Hakka" from the release system.
It neutralizes the magical protection of the human body, forcibly extracts electrons from the molecules of the cells of the body, and releases them from the body. It is called "Jintai Hakka," because an electric discharge passing through the skin looks like a phenomenon of spontaneous combustion of the human body. However, in fact, this is terrible magic, destroying cells at the molecular level, depriving them of the electrons used in inter-molecular bonds.
Minoru’s magic activation speed was higher than Spica’s activation speed and the speed at which well-trained soldiers would pull the trigger.
The fire didn't spread throughout the room. He didn’t hurt either Minami’s bed or Minami herself.
Minoru skillfully controlled the electrical discharge created by his “Jintai Hakka.”
Spica and four soldiers disappeared from this world in just a few moments.
From the "ashes" arouse the "parasite." The true body of the "parasite" that lived in Spica.
Minoru easily caught it and placed it inside himself.
“... Raymond.“
Minoru spoke to Raymond in a emotionless voice.
“Y-yes?“
“Apparently, I too can no longer stay here. Let's run away together.“
“...Good.”
Raymond answered with such a face, as if he had just comprehended what had happened.
“Can you wait a bit in the hallway?”
“...Okay.”
Said Raymond, and left the room.
Closing the door, Raymond turned anxiously, and before the door closed, he managed to see Minoru, with a sad face standing next to Minami's bed.
This evening, at Pearl & Hermes Base, there were many fiery flashes that resembled fireworks.
The number of these outbreaks was equal to the number of human lives.
Minoru and Raymond left the Pearl & Hermes base on the Coral transport ship, fearfully subjugating the survivors from the base.
Major Antares and First Lieutenant Sargas, who went to sea on the Chevalier destroyer, learned about the death of First Lieutenant Spica in almost real time.
“Commander...“
“Useless. Yes and pointless.“
Antares answered the unsaid question of Sargas.
Sargas didn't argue with this decision. He himself knew that it was useless and pointless, and therefore didn't say the rest of the phrase “let's go back?”.
The attacker on Midway also could not be ignored. And it wasn't just the honor of the army at stake. The combat magician, who alone stormed Midway by storm, even by his already demonstrated abilities, can be considered a threat that must be dealt with immediately. And if we assume that this is the same Strategic-Class Magician that caused "Scorched Halloween," then he should be dealt with all the more. In such a situation, their language didn't turn to say that you need to cancel the operation and return to the Pearl & Hermes base.
Plus, First Lieutenant Spica is already dead. The true body that dwelt in her was supposed to escape and itself would soon follow them. That is how the parasites nature. And they can’t do anything now.
... If they knew that Spica wasn't the only victim, then they would immediately ask the
captain to turn around and move back. They would undoubtedly have tried to stop the catastrophe that had struck Pearl & Hermes Base.
However, neither Antares nor Sargas had the same “vision” as Tatsuya or Minoru.
Perhaps they would have noticed the death-spreading magic of Minoru if they concentrated their magical perceptions in the direction behind them, but all their attention was directed west - towards Midway.
But disaster awaited them not only from behind.
About 8 minutes after re-deploying from the Virginia.
Tatsuya encountered the enemy about 100 kilometers west of the Pearl and Hermes Atoll.
Fighters merging with darkness flew by. If these were ordinary aircraft, then the distance over which they flew would be considered abnormal approach.
They were not displayed on the air-car radar. It looks like the adversary also had an excellent stealth system.
Masking the electromagnetic waves of the air-car also worked with visible light, but it didn't provide perfect transparency. From the point of view of an outside observer, the car was visible as flying in a kind of smokescreen, depending on the weather and light.
For example, in the current clear night sky it should have been seen as a kind of foggy cloud of ultramarine color. If the pilots were sufficiently big-eyed, then with such an approach, they should have noticed something.
Tatsuya turned on a radio transmitter he borrowed from the Virginia. It showed the frequencies used by the USNA Navy. Tatsuya found the frequency at which the pilots spoke to each other.
"UFO?"
From the speaker phrases with the word "UFO" were heard. Tatsuya inclined his head mentally, but then realized that it was a question of the air-car driven by him. Shrouded in fog and not emitting heat waves (more precisely, it emitted infrared rays, but their
frequency coincided with the frequency of the atmospheric air temperature), the air-car could really be called a UFO - an Unidentified Flying Object.
However, this wasn't the case when one could happily admire. If the aircraft of the American army associated the car with the expression "UFO", then this meant only one thing - it was discovered.
On the dashboard monitor, several windows with different data were displayed. One of these windows displayed the results of the reconciliation of fighters.
"F-141 Horned Owl?"
Although in terms of generalized characteristics they are inferior to the “Crowned Hawk” [Crowned Hawk Eagle], which is currently the main combat force of the Air Force of America, but as devices that combine stealth and good characteristics for operation at low speeds, they were preferred as airborne fighters on aircraft carriers .
"In that case, with a high probability there is an aircraft carrier nearby."
In his heart, he wanted to ignore the aircraft carrier and just save Minami. But considering the difference in speed between the air-car and fighter jets, he decided that he needed to get rid of this interference now. The air-car was as maneuverable as the fighter jets, but it could not accelerate above the speed of sound. Therefore, it is easy to catch up to when driving in a straight line.
"I wouldn't like to cause serious damage to the USNA army, but..."
Completely disregarding the likelihood that he could be shot down, Tatsuya turned on the onboard CAD, which is completely separate from the flight device.
He completed the capture of the target with the help of his “sight”. Two "Horned Owls"
approached the air-car from different directions, as if trying to "take him in their pincers."
Tatsuya abruptly steered the car down vertically.
The after image of the air-car was pierced by machine gun fire.
Tatsuya became a little easier after the fact that the opponents shot at him first.... But what he was going to do, didn't change.
In addition to the two planes flying over him now, he “saw” eight more “Horned Owls”
approaching in pairs from four different sides. He, in principle, could bring them all down at the same time, but he preferred to do it consistently.
Tatsuya activated Mist Dispersion on two Owls.
The fighters (excluding the pilot and the ejection seat) turned to dust and disappeared, becoming a misty cloud.
Tatsuya feared that the ejection mechanism might not work properly and the parachutes wouldn't open, however, it seemed that his fears were in vain. He saw the pilots smoothly descend into the night sea by parachute. And at the current time of the year in this latitude, one didn't fear for their lives.
One of the recently approached “Horned Owls” launched a rocket at the air-car. The air-car wasn't supposed to be detected either by thermal, by electric, or by magnetic trails.
“Radio-controlled missile? Reckless behavior when their comrades are down in the sea,” thought Tatsuya.
He simultaneously laid out this rocket and all the remaining eight fighters.
From the radio came the devil-cursing screams. Listening to the selective swearing of downed pilots, Tatsuya set off toward the Pearl and Hermes Atoll in search of the aircraft carrier and the accompanying warships.
Major Antares and First Lieutenant Sargas were summoned to the combat information post of the destroyer.
“It seems like... an aircraft driven by the magic of flight.”
Sargas answered in a rather confident tone to the question of the captain, the commander of the operation, not from the bridge, but from this BEEP. The monitor just finished playing a short video sent from one of the Shangri-La fighters.
“Lieutenant. Is something like that already applied in practice?“
“As far as I know, this is not yet applied by our army in practice.“
“What do you think, Major Antares?”
The captain looked from Sargas to Antares.
“I have nothing to add, captain.”
“In that case, is this UFO from Japan?”
“I think so.“
The magic of flight was invented by the Japanese company FLT. In this case, it is quite reasonable to consider that this unidentified aircraft using magic of flight is a kind of Japanese experimental prototype.
“But why would the Japanese army attack a USNA owned base...?”
“The enemy is not necessarily related to the Japanese army.”
Antares objected, in response to the mutter of the captain.
“The inventor of flight magic is Taurus Silver... Shiba Tatsuya. He is one of the central figures of the same "Yotsuba." I think, with a high probability, this may be the apparatus of the original development of the Yotsuba.”
“All sent F-141's have stopped responding.“
In the oppressive silence that followed, the voice of the AI assistant was heard, responsible for observing the sky.
“The radars still don't record the enemy aircraft's position.“
“Increase the sensitivity of observation in the visible light range!“
The captain in an irritated voice gave the order to the AI.
All sensors were already trying to detect UFOs with maximum sensitivity. The captain’s order meant exceeding the maximum permissible load on the observation equipment in the visible light range. But the warning didn’t come back, like "there is a risk of sensors burning." Still, the military AI was trained to obey orders.
“... UFO detected. Distance 2 nautical miles.“
“What!?“
Distance 2 nautical miles. Approximately 3.7 kilometers. Immediately after the captain's scream, the piercing wail of a siren sounded.
The screen displays the damage status. All guns located from the bow to the center of the ship were destroyed. The automatic guns, anti-aircraft laser guns, and anti-aircraft/anti-submarine rocket launchers.
“Display the image from the forward deck!“
The cameras didn't seem to be affected, as a large window appeared on the main screen with a view from the center towards the bow of the ship.
There was no visible fire engulfing the guns and launchers.
The automatic and laser guns simply disappeared without a trace, and the rocket launchers disappeared as if they were uprooted.
“What is it...“
As if interrupting the captain, the siren sounded again.
“The ship has completely lost its ability to engage in air defense.“
The voice of the onboard AI responsible for counting the damage sounded out.
A report on the screen reported that all stationary guns mounted on the deck and sides of the ship were lost.
“Impossible... In an instant, to completely neutralize the whole ship...!?“
At the moment, they only have torpedoes left for armament. So the shout of the captain wasn't an exaggeration.
As if responding to his cry, the image of the deck disappeared from the screen.
“What happened!?“
“Signs of destruction of optical surveillance equipment are recorded.“
The onboard AI said in an unemotional voice.
The AI is just a program. The emotions of its voice are programmed so as not to undermine the psychological state of the crew. But in this situation, such a calm tone, on the contrary, only got on the nerves of the captain.
“Someone! Get on deck and report on the situation!“
Such an order made it clear that the captain was mad.
“Captain, we can go.“
Antares responded to the order.
“... May I ask you this?”
The captain asked Antares in a slightly calmed tone.
“Yes, sir.“
Antares and Sargas saluted the captain with a gesture accepted from the sailors.
The first ship Tatsuya discovered was the Chevalier destroyer. At first he wanted to flood it with one attack.
But this ship is most likely followed by an aircraft carrier and its escort ships. If you spend time on each of them, then the likelihood that Minami will be taken away again will only increase.
Minami's information was still marked with a marker, so there was no fear of losing sight of it, even if they escaped again. However, through the information dimension, Tatsuya already knew that Minami's health condition had worsened. True, recently, when he checked her condition before re-departing from Virginia, it suddenly for some reason improved. But vigilance still shouldn't be relaxed. Because the condition can worsen if she is dragged along by force. It was necessary to hurry.
However, Tatsuya changed his plans. Instead of sinking the ship, he neutralized all the ways in which this ship could harm his air-car.
He landed the air-car on a deck which there were no guns or launchers, and left it.
Two figures approached Tatsuya standing under the night sky.
“I was waiting for you, Parasites.”
The reason Tatsuya changed his plans was the Parasites "seen" by him on this destroyer.
If he sank the destroyer, then their discovery would take extra time. And that was undesirable.
Tatsuya's words made his purpose clear - the destruction of the Parasites.
Antares suddenly and without warning released magic.
When a person becomes a Parasite, then he has a decrease in the variety of magic used, but this is offset by a sharp jump in the speed of activation of the magic that he has left.
The “Nyx” of Antares was activated earlier than Tatsuya’s counter-magic, covering him with a thick layer of mental interference that impedes magical perception.
However, the next moment...
The darkness of Nyx silently shattered into pieces.
“...How!?“
Antares's voice complained about the absurdity of what was happening.
When magical perception is blocked, it is impossible to "see" neither the sequence of activation, nor the sequence of magic. If you cannot “discover” the magic that you need to resist, then you cannot aim with counter-magic.
"Nyx. Pretty problematic magic."
Tatsuya didn't answer Antares's question. But mentally, he acknowledged that Antares's magic was quite dangerous.
"Even if I don’t see the target visually, then I can "decompose" it, if I know what I'm dealing with."
The activated Nyx really interfered with the formation of visual images. But the processes that were carried out before the activation of Nyx could be "seen." Tatsuya can get current “information” from “information” seen in the past. And he can
decompose this information with "Gram Dispersion".
If you try to seal Tatsuya’s powers with Nyx, you shouldn’t even let him suspect the activation of magic. In other words, “Nyx” will work on Tatsuya only if it will be a complete surprise.
The destruction of Antares's magic served as this incentive, or so it was planned, but Sargas just now launched a magical attack at Tatsuya.
And again, Sargas' magic attacked Tatsuya's mind faster than he could neutralize it.
It was a pack of wolves that looked like shadows, with no details. More precisely, these were not wolves, but coyotes.
Countless all-black coyotes turned their fangs to Tatsuya's heart.
It was the magic “Ikel," classified as the mental interference magic in which Sargas was strong.
In Greek mythology, the children of the night goddess Nyx were called “Oneiroi,” the deities that control dreams. The name of this magic is "Ikel" - it was another (real) name of the so-called "Phobetor", one of such deities, which takes the images of animals in dreams. This magic damages the mind of the enemy with the help of animal illusions. An illusion in which nightmare fangs bite the victim’s heart leads to a weakening of the opponent’s mind.
But unfortunately for Sargas, Ikel was waiting for the same end as Nyx.
In terms of speed of completion of magic, Sargas was ahead of Tatsuya. But before Sargas' Ikel's effects could work, this magic was neutralized by Tatsuya's “Gram Dispersion” erasure.
Tatsuya pulled "Trident" out of his holster with his right hand.
Antares and Sargas, not giving up, continued to try to attack Tatsuya with magic of mental interference, but Tatsuya neutralized each of these attacks by decomposing their magic sequences.
Tatsuya continued to activate “Gram Dispersion” using the built-in CAD in his combat suit.
“It's impossible!“
“How!?“
There were lamentations and anger in the voices of the Parasites. What was happening caused a mess in their heads, and as a result a small gap formed in their ongoing magical attacks.
Tatsuya didn't miss this moment, and pulled the trigger of "Trident."
""Mist dispersion,” activation."
The bodies of Antares and Sargas trembled and began to blur.
The sea breeze picked up the remnants of their bodies and scattered them across the sky and the surface of the sea.
All that remains of them is two "Parasites."
The true bodies of the "demons" that turn people into Parasites.
"Recognition of the structure supporting pushion information bodies."
The true body of the Parasite is a Pushion informational body wrapped in a psionic cocoon. Or is it better to call jelly not a cocoon?
The psionic mass itself, which protects the "core" (the Pushion informational body), is formless, and besides it there is another psionic informational body - a kind of foundational support that ensures the existence of the Pushionic informational body in this world.
This psionic informational body, which has become a supporting pillar, must first be found among all this formless mass of psions.
Having set the search condition as the “Pushion informational body existing in this world” as a search condition, Tatsuya indirectly considered the desired structure.
"The magic of decomposition of the structure supporting Psionic informational bodies,
"Astral Dispersion,” activation.”
The destruction of the support necessary for the existence in this world the pushion information body - the Parasite.
Having lost the "foundation of existence", the Pushion informational bodies leave this world.
Expelled from this world.
Two Parasites disappeared, leaving for the "other world."
After destroying the Parasites, Tatsuya no longer took any action against the destroyer, Chevalier.
Not wanting to waste extra time, he lost all interest in them.
Climbing into the air-car, he took off from the deck of the Chevalier.
On the way, he found an aircraft carrier and two escort ships, but he was going to ignore them.
But unfortunately, the enemy wasn't going to let him through just like that.
Mobile rocket launchers on the decks of the escort destroyers aimed at the air-car. The direction of their aiming was slightly shifted, as the radars were useless. Short-range laser guns were not used, probably for the same reason.
If you just fly by at full speed, you can avoid the attacks from the destroyers. Although it could not accelerate above the speed of sound, aiming in the visible light range at a high-speed flying object would still be extremely problematic.
However, new fighter aircrafts were preparing to take off from the aircraft carrier. This time, there was obviously more than the last ten. If this turns into an air battle again, then we can safely say that the probability of this fight coming to an end in a short time is extremely small.
Performing various erratic (left, right, up, down) maneuvers, Tatsuya directed his "sight"
at the escort destroyer, which was going in front of the aircraft carrier. These movements, by the way, really created the impression that this is a real "alien ship,"
which is usually meant when they say "UFO."
"The name of the ship is Mila Davis."
"No parasites on board detected."
"ABC weapons* on board not found."
[Special abbreviation for weapons that fall under all kinds of prohibitions. A (atomic), B
(biological), C (chemical).]
To begin with, he was convinced that sinking it wouldn't cause any problems.
"The goal is Mila Davis."
The target was the entire ship called Mila Davis. Instead of recognizing the destroyer as a set of separate parts, he recognized the entire ship as a whole, using the name of the ship as a key.
"Obtaining information on the materials forming "Mila Davis."
He didn't read the structure of the object associated with this name, but information about its materials, or rather information about the chemical elements that form these materials.
""Mist Dispersion"- activation."
Tatsuya activated "Mist Dispersion," aiming only at the general concept of the Mila Davis ship, that is, at the ship’s hull, its internal equipment, and the fuel it uses.
The magic that breaks down substances at the level of chemical elements has been activated.
The shape of the destroyer blurred and swam.
And its majestic image disappeared, turning into dust and smoke.
Only crew members who fell into the sea remained.
Having fallen into the sea with strong splashes, they hastily surfaced one by one. There was no longer any difference in rank between them. And the senior and junior officers, and the captain, and sailors - all in desperation looked around with faces expressing a complete incomprehension on what had happened.
Tatsuya turned on the transmitter, taken from the Virginia nuclear submarine carrier.
“This is the UFO pilot.“
Tatsuya involuntarily grinned at such a "title." However, these were serious negotiations. If the enemy thinks he’s fooling them, then he won’t be able to turn everything as smoothly as he wanted.
“We do not wish to continue military operations.”
Having made the most serious voice, Tatsuya said into the microphone of the transmitter.
“This is the USNA Navy aircraft carrier, "Shangri-La."“
They answered him. Although it was known in advance that this transmitter could provide communication, he was relieved when it was actually confirmed in practice.
Even Tatsuya was embarrassed by the realization that his “solo performance” could go unanswered, unnoticed.
“UFO pilot. State your demands.“
“My aircraft is currently heading toward Pearl & Hermes Base. I am not going to cause damage to the base until I myself am attacked. My enemies are Parasites.“
“...So, what is next?“
This was probably a question from the captain of the aircraft carrier. Tatsuya decided that this man was apparently aware of the Parasites.
“Focus on saving your comrades who have fallen in the water. Pilots of aircrafts sent earlier are also now in the water. I repeat, for my part there is no longer any intention to attack. I promise not to interfere with the rescue operation.“
“Accepted.“
The captain of the aircraft carrier quickly agreed.
“Thank you for giving us the opportunity to focus on the rescue operation.”
“Thank you for understanding.“
“... If you destroy the Parasites, then I will only be glad. True, this is just my personal opinion...“
“... Was it worth saying now something like that?“
This communication channel has not been encrypted. Both the crew of the aircraft carrier and the crew of the second destroyer could easily hear this conversation.
“I don't care. The fleet won't bow to these non-human monsters.“
“I see.“
This captain, one way or another, turned out to be to Tatsuya's liking. If not for this situation, he would want to meet him face to face.
“Then, all the best.“
However, Tatsuya was now a terrorist who attacked the regular army. His voice was changed by the function built into the suit, as it was undesirable for anyone to hear his real voice.
“May God's blessing be with you.”
Tatsuya abruptly said goodbye in a slightly rude manner, and the captain answered him with words that made it difficult to understand whether he said this seriously, or with sarcasm.
After avoiding a battle with the aircraft carrier, Tatsuya now secured for himself an unhindered path to the base of Pearl and Hermes.
As the Mitsuya family told him, he saw a semi-floating artificial island. Based on its shape and size, it could be concluded that a floating pontoon mega-platform, originally intended for a surface airport, was converted into this base.
"But how is this to be understood...?"
Circling in the sky above the base, Tatsuya bowed his head inquiringly.
At first he thought that he hadn’t been attacked from the base because he received a warning from the captain of the Shangri-La aircraft carrier. But when Tatsuya approached the base, a sense of the demeanor of what was happening began to arise
in him.
... There were no signs of people at the base.
Even after reaching normal viewing distance, he didn't find human figures.
"There is only one person at the base - Minami...?"
The search with "Elemental Sight" yielded a shocking result.
Of the people there was only one, Minami. There were no signs of parasites.
"Are they using some kind of advanced concealment magic...?"
Tatsuya suspected the existence of magic unknown to him, capable of completely hiding the target from his "Elemental Sight".
He thought that Minoru had created concealment magic that completely hid even traces of the use of magic, or that the Stars had a user of such magic.
However, his intuition denied this. Tatsuya could not explain what this opinion was based on, but he came to the conclusion that there was nobody using magic on this base except him. Apart from Minami, this base really was completely deserted.
"The captain of the aircraft carrier clearly didn't know that such an unusual situation was at this base."
Despite the fact that the conversation with him took place on the radio, one could find out about such an abnormal situation by a nervous or excited voice. But Tatsuya didn't feel anything like that in his voice.
"... Anyone would be baffled."
If you land and see for yourself, you may be able to understand what is happening there. Or happened there.
"And even if nothing is clear, then you can just pick up Minami and get out of there."
Tatsuya came to this decision when he was already making his third round around the base.
Landing at the Pearl & Hermes base, Tatsuya stepped out of the air-car.
Standing on the surface of the artificial island, he discovered traces of magic that he didn't notice from the air.
"About 30... no, 40 minutes ago?"
In dozens, not, probably,-->>