Chapter 26: Chapter 20
Tatsuya saw Sanada place a glowing cylindrical device on the ground,it snapped on the ground with self drilling mechanism.
Sanada switched it on as whinning noice was heard then an electromagnetic pulse ripped across the structure. Apparently it was just getting warmed up.The panels that ran along its height were starting to glow, and there was a building cascade of electronic noise. Most bizarrely, from high overhead in what had been a previously clear sky, dark and fearsome clouds were rolling in and lightning bolts were ripping through the heavens.
It then formed a dome around okinawa,while Tatsuya was shocked and seeing this Sanda spoke up"This is the defense shield, it creates a large force field dome complete with artificial storm clouds that can seal off a region keeping anyone or anything from entering the region.This is a prototype.It will keep the fleet at bay for sometime,but it won't last forever as those flemming lauchers will cause it to be disrupted with huge damage."
Tatsuya nodded and saw the Uchiha Technologies symbol on it,so he asked"This is made by Itachi"
Sanada nodded and said"We can talk more about it later."
Tatsuya, too, knew that this was a battle against time. He pulled the magazine from the large sniper rifle loaded with a specialized CAD—the armament device with a range-extension spell equipped—that had arrived, and further, he took the bullets out from inside it. He held the bullets in both hands in turn, forming a prayerlike pose, and again fit the magazine back in.
Kazama and the others who were watching had be warned by Ayato that Tatsuya magic is very destructive.
All they could sense—and barely—was that he was using a powerful spell, but they couldn't even speculate as to what kind of spell was at work. Probably, even if it wasn't Kazama and the others, no one would have known. If there was a magicrafter who could tell what Tatsuya was doing now without advance knowledge, that would be even more extraordinary. What Tatsuya was doing was the work of dismantling the bullets temporarily into atoms and then reassembling them back to normal. It took two minutes before he finished reloading all five bullets.
Sanada watched as defense shield over Okinawa destroys one of the vessels when it slams into the field at full attack acceleration.
This causing the remaining fleet to stop, while finished reloading all five bullets
Sanada announced their remaining time to Tatsuya"Approximately ten minutes until enemy fleet enters effective firing range.",who had finished preparing the device.
"The enemy fleet is cruising at nineteen miles due west… Will it reach?"
"I'll just have to try." Tatsuya answered as such to Sanada's question and brought the armament device up to an elevation of forty-five degrees. Taking no account for the wind's effects, just aiming as far as he could. In that posture, he expanded a magic program. A pipe-shaped virtual area was expanded in front of the muzzle. It was a magic that accelerated the speed of objects passing through it. Despite the virtual region's creation taking some time, Sanada ended up nodding, satisfied with the constructed region's size.
The longer the virtual region that held the accelerating effects, the more range extension it offered. At this length, it could perhaps reach nineteen miles. But the spell Tatsuya was expanding didn't end there. In front of that object-accelerating magic region, a second virtual region appeared. "What…?!" The object-accelerating virtual region had three processes. It would pull down the apparent inertial mass of an object penetrating the region. It would pull up its speed. It would return its apparent inertial mass to normal. The magnification of this inertial mass and manipulation of speed were variables the magicrafter would input.
The properties of the virtual region Tatsuya added now were basically the same. However, the magnification of inertial mass control was designated positive, the speed magnification kept the same, and the inertial mass restoration canceled. In other words, the virtual region Tatsuya had added was an arrangement of the virtual region spell for accelerating, which Sanada had designed, into a similar spell for maximizing inertial mass. He had accomplished this through improvisation.
Sanada's muttered"This kid does some unbelievable stuff…"but it was drowned out by the sound of the sniper rifle firing.
Tatsuya gazed out at the open sea, as if following with his eyes the supersonic bullet he couldn't have seen. Finally, he shook his head in disappointment and said"…No good, sir. It reached only twelve miles." How had he followed the bullet's path? It was a detached tone of voice, but he was probably still disappointed. Maybe he felt himself worthless. "The only thing I can do is wait until their fleet gets within twelve miles."
A column of water rose in the open sea. The enemy's test firing for its naval bombardment. Neither Tatsuya, nor Kazama, nor Sanada spoke any longer. Tatsuya saw the enemy's precise position displayed on his visor. The wind direction, wind speed, and other specifications that would impact the shot were listed off in a stream of numbers. Tatsuya brought the armament device up. A projectile shot—an angling that prioritized distance above all else, relying on coincidence to hit. Considering the bullet's flight time and falling arc, the enemy was already within range. Tatsuya activated the virtual region spells, then pulled the trigger four times in succession. Each time he did, he nudged the barrel one way or another, compensating for the effects of the wind on his aim. The projectile shots had no real aim to begin with, of course. Even with luck on his side, he'd do no better than landing one somewhere vaguely near the enemy ships—and he didn't mind that from the start. Tatsuya followed the motion of the four bullets in his head. To be more precise, he followed the bullets' data, which he could see in the information dimension, via his conscious and unconscious brain regions.
By his hand, by his one-of-akind spell, he had dismantled and reassembled the bullets earlier. However far away their constructional information got, he would never lose sight of them. And then he saw the information of one of those four shots land right in the middle of the enemy fleet. Tatsuya had his hands full simply following where the bullet went. Kazama and Sanada stood back in order to leave him undisturbed as he attempted whatever large-scale magic it was. And so, when the thing they'd predicted—and that nature had predicted—had come, they had no choice other than to deal with it using with their own magic. The enemy had already finished its test shots. Next to come would be trajectory-corrected artillery fire. The explosive shells fired, their path lower than Tatsuya's shots, and closed in on them faster than Tatsuya's bullet reached.
But none of the heavy fire went through,but thr shield was taking heavy damage and wouldn't hold to many of thosr artillery back.
When Tatsuya, who had been focusing his mind on the spell to annihilate the enemy fleet, heard her voice, he felt, in a corner of his mind, surprise and relief. The surprise was because Sakurai had left his mother's side. The relief was because under her protection, he could concentrate fully on his spell.
The Sakura series of engineered magicians: Their special trait was strong anti-physical and heat-resistant defensive magic. They couldn't use technical spells as high level as the legendary Phalanx of the Juumonji, but the pure defensive ability of each of their anti-object and antiheat spells ranked them as topclass magicians in all of Japan. And ever since she was a child, Honami Sakurai had exhibited excellent abilities that were even a cut above the rest. That was why she'd been chosen as the bodyguard for a valuable magician—that magician being the only user of mental construction interference magic.
The artillery shells, on their direct course, were beaten down into the water. The fire stopped reaching land. One after another, she activated spells to offset their momentum, each hundreds of miles in front of her. As he watched her with his physical eyes, with his mind's eye Tatsuya noticed one bullet reach a spot directly above the enemy fleet.
He held out his right hand, pointed his index finger west, then flipped his hand open. The bullet dissolved into energy.
The mass-dismantling spell Material Burst had just been used for the first time in actual combat. There was a flash over the horizon. The clouds covering the sky lit up with reflected white light. Although sunset was a distant prospect, the western horizon glittered brilliantly. An explosion rumbled. Nobody here could mistake it for a distant clap of thunder. It was the sound of all the fuel and gunpowder bursting at once, without any secondary explosions.
The artillery fire ceased. An eerie rumble came to them. Kazama yelled"Tsunami! Retreat!" hastily picking up Sakurai—who had suddenly fallen to the ground, limp—and running. Sanada got onto the motorcycle and brought it next to Kazama, who ran as though he were flying. Tatsuya had gotten into the tandem seat. Kazama jumped, Sakurai in his arms. With an acrobatic nimbleness, he landed standing on the handlebars—though it was more than simple acrobatics. Taking full advantage of the military motorcycle's great horsepower, they dashed off at a quick pace, despite clearly having the weight of too many people on it.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone