Retsu Kudou had been leading from the front at the Old Ninth Institute since early morning, and had it not been for a prior engagement, he likely would have remained there well into the night. The engagement was a banquet—a formal affair designed to curry favor with a former military man turned politician who held significant influence over the Nine Schools Competition.
Shortly after 6:00 PM, Retsu departed for a traditional restaurant in Osaka. Makoto Kudou, who had been left in charge, had just settled into his desk when the security detail called on the internal line to announce an unscheduled visitor.
"A guest? I have no such appointment. Who is it?"
"He identifies himself as Zhou Gongjin of Yokohama's Chinatown. He claims his business must be discussed directly with the head of the household. How shall we proceed?"
"I'll be there immediately. Show him to the reception room."
The name Zhou Gongjin rang a bell. Even if the other Twenty-Eight Families had never heard of him, it was a name that those of the "Nine" families—born of the Old Ninth Institute—could not afford to ignore. True to his word, Makoto stood at once and made his way to the reception room.
After concluding his meeting with Zhou, Makoto reviewed the data he had been given. He summoned the Institute's head of security and issued a strict gag order regarding Zhou Gongjin's visit.
"Not even the Elder is to be informed of this. Am I clear?"
Makoto was meticulous in emphasizing that the secret was to be kept even from Retsu Kudou. He watched the security chief leave with a look of bewilderment, then reached out to a private informant he used for personal matters. When the informant arrived less than an hour later, Makoto tasked him with a background check to verify Zhou's proposal.
Once the arrangements were complete, Makoto leaned back in his chair and exhaled deeply.
"The Yellow Turban Warriors... how very convenient."
He muttered the words to the empty room. They referred to a specialized field of sorcery listed in the profile of the Continental sorcerer Zhou had requested be taken in as a "guest." The offer felt perfectly timed—almost too much so—coinciding exactly with the development phase of the "Parasite Doll." Despite the project's classified status, it seemed Zhou had already obtained the information.
"If there is a leak, it is a grave concern," Makoto mused.
However, in the realms of Puppetry, Soldier-Summoning, and Golem Magic—arts involving the remote manipulation of inorganic shells—Ancient Magic remained a step or two ahead of Modern Magic. While the Parasite Doll required techniques to govern a magical entity housed within a machine rather than merely pulling the strings of a mindless puppet, the overlap with Ancient Magic techniques was undeniable.
An expert in the "Yellow Turban Warriors"—a lost secret art of the Continent—was exactly the kind of talent they needed to accelerate the Parasite Doll project.
"No matter. If he turns out to be a parasite himself, I shall simply crush him."
Whether a "lion's body-worm" or a common pest, Makoto would deal with him when the time came. With that final thought, he ended his monologue.
By the weekend, First High was finally beginning to shake off the "Operational Shock" brought on by the sudden rule changes. Following the frantic re-selection process that began on July 2nd, practice officially resumed on Saturday the 7th. With term exams looming on Tuesday, the teams had decided to fit in at least one joint session with the new representatives. In particular, the new events—Roar and Gunner and Shield Down—required mock battles just to help the players grasp the basic flow of the competition.
In the women's ring, the Solo representative for Shield Down, Asako Chikura, was currently facing off against Erika.
"Ugh... she's too fast!"
Asako had been trying to use her Deviation Release magic to shove Erika out of the ring, but she couldn't keep up with Erika's movements. Using self-acceleration magic, Erika moved in a jagged, unpredictable zigzag. The moment Asako lost sight of her, a massive impact rattled her shield.
Using a customized application of the Mountain Tsunami technique, Erika slammed her own shield into Asako's. At the moment of contact, Erika maximized the inertia of her shield. The heavy blow sent Asako flying, shield and all, straight out of the ring.
Asako tumbled into the safety cushions surrounding the arena. Erika hopped down from the ring and offered a hand to pull her out of the padding. Watching from the sidelines, Hattori let out a heavy sigh. Realizing Tatsuya was watching him out of the corner of his eye, Hattori turned his attention to the men's ring.
There, the pair of Sawaki and Leo were clashing with the official representatives, Kirihara and Tomitsuka.
In the center of the ring, Leo dropped his center of gravity and caught Kirihara's thrust head-on. Leo's sturdiness was impressive, but Kirihara was equally remarkable for maintaining his balance despite the recoil of being stopped dead in his tracks.
As the two locked positions, Tomitsuka lunged at Leo to capitalize on the opening. However, just before he could connect, a sudden gust of wind hammered into him.
"Whoa!?"
Just as Tomitsuka had flanked to Kirihara's right, Sawaki had moved to Leo's left. With a buckler strapped to his left arm, Sawaki thrust out his right fist. It was his signature move: a compressed air wave generated by the sheer speed of his punch. Tomitsuka's slight frame was sent rolling across the canvas. He narrowly avoided falling out of bounds, but as a fighter with no long-range options, he was effectively neutralized for the moment.
Seeing the situation turn into a two-on-one, Kirihara—who was still locked in a shield-to-shield struggle with Leo—operated the CAD strapped to his right arm with his free hand. He needed to break the stalemate. He wove a spell designed to turn his shield into a "High-Frequency Blade" to shatter Leo's defense. High-speed vibration and anti-self-destruction sequences surged through Kirihara's shield. The vibration traveled from the vibrating edge into Leo's shield—
"Gwah!?"
—and Kirihara's shield promptly shattered.
Kirihara let out a cry of shock, and for good reason. The fact that his shield had broken from the reactionary force of its own vibration meant that his anti-self-destruction sequence had been utterly overpowered by the sheer strength of Leo's Hardening Magic.
As Kirihara stood frozen in disbelief, Leo slammed the edge of his own shield into the remains of Kirihara's defense. Reinforced by magic, Leo's shield smashed through the wreckage, bringing the mock battle to a decisive end in favor of the Sawaki-Leo pair.
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