Training Room 2 was longer than the room where Tatsuya and Hattori had faced off a year prior. Designed for mid-to-long-range magical combat, the floor was color-coded: blue and yellow sections for the combatants, with one-meter-wide red "out-of-bounds" zones hugging the far walls. Takuma stood in the blue area, Kasumi and Izumi in the yellow.
Takuma remained in his school uniform, a thick, hardcover book tucked under his left arm. In contrast, Kasumi and Izumi had changed into practical, form-fitting athletic gear.
"This match will be conducted under Non-Contact Rules," Tatsuya declared, standing precisely on the boundary line between the two zones.
The Non-Contact Rule strictly prohibited physical touch. In mixed-gender matches, it was the standard protocol, invoked to prevent any unseemly or dangerous physical altercations.
"I assume you all know the regulations, but I will reiterate them for the record," Tatsuya continued, his voice as clinical as a manual. "You must remain within your designated zones. Entering the opponent's area or stepping into the red zone results in immediate disqualification. Physical contact, including with weapons, is prohibited. However, magically remote-controlled weapons are permitted. Finally, lethal force or attacks that cause irreparable injury are strictly forbidden. If I deem the situation life-threatening, I will forcibly terminate the match. Am I clear?"
Takuma let out a sharp, derisive scoff. Tatsuya, Miyuki, Honoka, and Shizuku all noticed the flicker of arrogance, but none of them moved to reprimand his insolence.
"Both sides—assume your positions."
Kasumi and Izumi moved to the center of their zone. Takuma stayed near the boundary, dropping his heavy book to the floor with a dull thud. Tatsuya scanned their faces; seeing the grim nod of agreement from all three, he retreated to the wall, raised his hand, and brought it down in a swift, sharp arc.
The air ignited with a flash of Psion light. The duel had begun.
The gap in raw power wasn't insurmountable, but as the minutes ticked by, the weight of Takuma's relentless assault began to crush the sisters. Kasumi and Izumi were trapped in a cycle of desperate defense, alternating their barriers just to stay standing. Yet, despite the pressure, their faces showed no sign of panic.
"I think we underestimated this guy a little, Izumi," Kasumi gritted out.
"Underestimated is one way to put it," Izumi replied, her focus unshakeable. "But yes, he is persistent."
"At this rate, we'll run out of steam."
"But you don't intend to lose, do you, Kasumi-chan?"
"Not a chance. Izumi, let's do that."
"Understood. Just like always."
"I'll be the Shoot."
"I'll be the Boost."
"Here we go. Countdown!"
"Three, two, one—"
"CAST!"
In the instant the words left Kasumi's lips, the magical pressure bearing down on Takuma didn't just double—it surged by a factor of five.
"Is that... Nitrogen Storm?" Honoka asked, her voice a mix of shock and admiration.
"It is," Tatsuya confirmed briefly.
"To command such high-level magic at their age... they truly are Saegusas," she whispered.
"They haven't mastered it yet, but it's impressive nonetheless," Tatsuya observed. "So this is Multiplicative Casting. It seems the rumors were right: the Saegusa twins only show their true worth when they act as one."
Until this moment, the sisters had relied on relatively fundamental spells. This wasn't because they had been holding back or being lazy; Nitrogen Storm—a high-level spell that creates a localized vacuum by manipulating nitrogen density—was simply too complex for Kasumi to manifest alone.
Takuma, suddenly gasping for air as the oxygen was ripped from his lungs, dropped to one knee. The pages of the book at his feet whipped violently in the artificial gale, looking as if they would tear from the binding. Suddenly, Takuma forced the hardcover open wide.
In a singular, explosive burst, every page in the book disintegrated into a blizzard of white confetti.
Kasumi, Izumi, Tatsuya, and Miyuki all knew instantly that these weren't mere scraps of paper. They were millions of microscopic blades. This was the Shippou family's trump card: Million Edge. Through advanced swarm-intelligence control, the user could command a cloud of a million razor-sharp fragments as a single, lethal entity.
The twins reacted instantly. While maintaining the Nitrogen Storm, they layered a second sequence. They drew oxygen-rich air from multiple directions, slamming it into the paper blizzard and using adiabatic compression to create a localized furnace. It was a variation of Heat Storm, designed to incinerate the paper blades before they could reach them. To cast this while maintaining a vacuum storm was a feat of staggering complexity, yet it was well within their combined capabilities.
The storm that refused to let Takuma breathe now sought to burn his weapons to ash with temperatures exceeding 500 degrees Celsius. But the Million Edge was stubborn. Even as the heat reached the ignition point, the blades were shielded by the very magic that gave them form. Guided by Takuma's sheer willpower and desperate for Saegusa blood, the cloud of razors pressed forward.
The path was set: Takuma would collapse from hypoxia, and the sisters would be shredded by the blades that refused to burn. Both sides were seconds away from sustaining life-altering injuries.
"That's enough!"
Tatsuya's right hand blurred. In his grip appeared the gleaming, silver specialized CAD—the Silver Horn.
Nitrogen Storm. Million Edge. Heat Storm.
With a single pull of the trigger, all three massive magic sequences shattered into nothingness. A violent surge of Psion waves swept through the room, washing away the remnants of the spells like a tidal wave clearing debris. Tatsuya's voice cut through the sudden, ringing silence, though it was unclear if the three combatants could even process it through their shock.
In the void where the lethal storm had been, Takuma, Kasumi, and Izumi stood frozen. They were paralyzed, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Only the freshmen were truly speechless; Juumonji looked on with wide eyes, though his expression was more of intrigued realization than pure shock. Miyuki, Honoka, and Shizuku simply wore expressions that said, As expected of Tatsuya-san.
In reality, only Miyuki truly understood the mechanics of what she had seen. To the freshman trio, even the surface-level phenomenon—that Tatsuya's counter-magic had neutralized three high-level spells in a literal heartbeat—was beyond their understanding.
"This match is a double disqualification," Tatsuya announced.
The sound of his voice finally thawed Kasumi from her state of shock. But the cheerful, innocent girl was gone; she turned on Tatsuya, her face flushed with indignant rage.
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