However, recalling that decisive move just now.
That Yotsuba junior might be even stronger than they had imagined...
At magic high schools, magicians were stationed as teachers to instruct students in practical magic.
First High School was recognized as the highest-ranked magic high school, and its faculty was likewise composed of first-rate magicians.
This school's fighting strength was enough to repel the army of a small nation on its own.
But if it faced a sudden attack without any preparation, it would still be forced into a disadvantageous position.
That was precisely the situation now.
The campus had already been engulfed in battle.
Broken trees and deep craters littered the ground everywhere.
The terrorists had rammed through the school gates in trucks and stormed into the campus.
Museum-worthy RPG rockets streaked wildly through the sky, while homemade firebombs blackened the walls of the school buildings.
Two teachers were working together to deal with the continuously burning flammable gel.
Meanwhile, the other students and teachers were fighting the invading terrorists.
"There's a lone magician here! Take him out!!!"
The moment he arrived at the courtyard, several terrorists spotted him.
They raised their guns, aimed, and fired in one seamless motion, without the slightest hesitation.
Even by the end of the twenty-first century, firearms remained infantry's primary weapons.
"Pretty good shooting. It looks like these Blanche people aren't so simple after all."
Facing a barrage dense enough to seal off his movements, Mahiro remained completely calm. He merely raised a hand, and Psion Light immediately swirled around him.
Like a protective barrier, every bullet that came within a meter of him was decomposed into molecular form.
No matter how many bullets came flying at him, the result was always the same.
They could not harm him in the slightest.
"Nihility."
Psion Light flashed again.
The terrorists' bodies immediately twisted, and they were decomposed into dust along with their weapons.
"The library, huh? Their objective really couldn't be more obvious."
A faint glint flashed through Mahiro's eyes as his gaze turned toward the already-invaded library.
Naturally. Other than the students themselves, the only valuable things at First High School were the materials on modern magic.
When he moved again,
he casually dealt with the rockets streaking across the sky overhead as well—
Several dry ice bullets appeared out of nowhere and shot out like projectiles, striking the rockets scattered through the air one after another.
"Was that... my Bala?"
After maintaining order in the auditorium, Mayumi and the others came out and froze at the sight of the fireworks blooming in the sky.
"This is just too unbelievable..."
Mari Watanabe's voice was thick with shock, while Mayumi had already gone blank.
Bala was the Saegusa Family's exclusive secret technique!
It was the composite magic Meteor Stream, which slowed the movement of air molecules to create dry ice before accelerating it to subsonic speed, combined with the sensory magic Multiple Observation for sniping!
Apart from Mayumi, who could use it alone, it normally required two people working together, like her two younger sisters, Kasumi Saegusa and Izumi Saegusa.
Yet Mahiro, her junior, had somehow mastered it!
Not only could he use it, he did so with such clean, decisive precision that his proficiency was no worse than hers!
And facing enemies with such composure, perhaps only the Bloody Prince of the Ichijo Family, Masaki Ichijo, could do the same?
Mayumi's gaze toward Yotsuba Mahiro grew somewhat complicated.
After all, neither that decomposition magic nor Bala was a magical specialty of the Yotsuba Family.
And among those present, only Shiba Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba knew the reason.
That was the unreasonable power of Alpha Stigma.
The sight Yotsuba Mahiro displayed at that moment also felt especially familiar to Shiba Tatsuya.
That terrifying power that could erase enemies every time Psion Light flashed.
It was just like himself when he had embarked on his campaign of vengeance—
Mahesvara, the demon of Okinawa!
Entrusted by Another, Faithful to the Task
The library was silent.
Normally, aside from staff, a large number of guards should have been stationed here around the clock, but there was not a single person in sight.
They had most likely all been captured.
To subdue so many magicians, these people had clearly come prepared.
Mahiro hid beneath the shadow of the counter at the entrance. Using the sensory magic Eidos Eye, he spread out his consciousness to probe the defensive forces on the first floor.
There were seven people in total.
Four of them were fully armed and hiding behind pillars.
There was one student keeping watch in the second-floor corridor, while three more were inside the Special Reading Room at the end of the hall.
However, during his scan, he noticed that every one of them wore a brass ring, and the gemstone set at the top of each ring...
"Crystal Sun Stone?"
Crystal Sun Stone was a military resource with an extremely limited place of origin. Only prosperous regions of ancient civilizations at high altitudes produced it.
And Crystal Sun Stone had only one use.
It released interference waves that disrupted calculations and hindered the activation of magic sequences.
For a magician like Yotsuba Mahiro, who could directly read activation sequences, it was nothing more than a bunch of irritating noise.
But for the school's guards and teachers, it could prevent them from casting magic. That was why they had been defeated by these terrorists.
"Forget it. Calling them out one by one is too troublesome. I'll just take them all out at once."
After withdrawing his consciousness, Mahiro gave up on using "Nihility."
As intense Psions were released, the first floor of the library was immediately covered in magical radiance.
Then, thick white mist formed from freezing nitrogen gas surged forth, spreading across the entire floor.
The snow-white mist stirred up whirlwinds, and frost covered everything it touched.
It was as though liquid nitrogen had been poured across the ground!
By the time the terrorists guarding the area noticed, it was already too late.
"W-What the hell is this?!"
They had never seen magic like this before!
It was already too late to evade. They could not even take a single step.
Their frozen feet could neither carry them forward nor allow them to retreat.
The bone-chilling white mist gradually crawled up and wrapped around their torsos, invading the deepest parts of their bodies.
It was not merely their flesh. It felt as though even their souls had been frozen.
In an instant, they had become ice statues!
The entire first floor of the library had turned into a silent, deathly Crimson Lotus hell!
"Whoa, that's some seriously outrageous magic. Could this be the wide-area vibration deceleration magic—Ice Fog Domain?"
"Hey, Yotsuba, is there any magic you can't use?"
Erika, who was also peeking out from behind the counter, chattered away as she expressed her shock, each breath sending out another cloud of white mist.
There had been that magic that directly erased enemies, then the Saegusa Family's secret technique Bala, and now he had demonstrated vibration magic.
Not a single one of them was below A-rank.
"Erika, this is only the tip of what Mahiro can do."
Miyuki smiled as she answered on Mahiro's behalf.
As a member of the Yotsuba Family herself, she knew very well just how absurd her brother truly was.
He could perfectly reproduce any magic he had seen. Even strategic-class magic was no exception. By now, he had learned at least a hundred types!
They covered the four major systems and eight major categories, as well as system-external and non-systematic magic.
"All right, we can talk later."
Mahiro spoke up, interrupting the conversation between the two girls.
The reason they were here was naturally because they had followed him.
On the way, he had happened to rescue Erika, who had been entangled by enemies. Then, when he reached the library's front entrance, he had run into the Shiba siblings.
"There are still several enemies in the Special Reading Room upstairs, so I'll go up alone next..."
"Huh? Mahiro, you're going up by yourself?"
Miyuki said in surprise, "Please let Miyuki accompany you. Miyuki knows she might not be able to help much, but it would still be better than facing the enemy alone..."
"All right, Miyuki. Stay here with Tatsuya and help me guard the library entrance. That would be the greatest help you could give me."
Mahiro reached out and stroked the girl's long hair, and Miyuki immediately fell silent.
Although his words carried a hint of dismissal, with things already said this far, Miyuki could only nod and agree.
"Then Erika, if any hidden enemies upstairs slip through and come down, I'll leave them to you."
"Hidden enemies?"
Erika looked at him strangely, then teasingly jabbed him a few times with her elbow.
"Don't tell me it's Mibu-senpai? You really are something else~ You're strangely kind, aren't you~"
"Well, I wouldn't call it kindness. After all, when someone entrusts you with something, you must see it through."
He had not forgotten Mayumi's request before leaving, nor the request from that perverted teacher who had been tailing a student.
"Physical persuasion is fine too, right?"
"Of course."
"Hehe, then I'll take the job~"
Erika accepted the task as if she were singing.
Meanwhile, Yotsuba Mahiro quietly climbed the stairs.
Perhaps because the first-floor guards had died too quickly to make even a sound, the Kendo Department member keeping watch in the second-floor corridor had noticed nothing unusual.
Mahiro knocked him out on the spot and tossed him aside.
At the end of the corridor ahead, behind the tightly shut door, was First High School's Special Reading Room.
It contained records of various precious magic formula compositions and experimental data.
Though it could not compare to the records at Magic Association headquarters or the volume stored at Magic University, it was still absolutely invaluable to a small organization like Blanche.
Before you continue