Chapter 49

The next day we were in the common room of the house, sorting through and creating checklists of what we needed for our upcoming assault. I was going over everything that Hikari said she would acquire for us and when we would receive them via the agency. Every so often I would feel like someone was watching me, and I would look up to see Marie smiling ever so softly at me, before quickly looking away. She was two years older than me, but she still managed to be adorable in the most unique ways. I then felt another person looking at me, the back of my head burning. I turned around and saw Tsuki staring at me. Her eyes were squinted and her mouth was shaped like a cat’s, fangs and all. I looked around to see if anyone else was looking at me but stared back at Tsuki when I realized it was just her. Her kitten-like smile grew bigger when she saw me glance over at Marie. She then slid over to me as if she was gliding frictionlessly through the air and sat next to me, pressing her face close to mine.

“Hey, Tsuki, what’s up?” I said nervously.

“I know what you did last night.” Tsuki said, not even attempting to keep her voice quiet.

Marie dropped the tablet she was working on and quickly picked it up and hid her face.

“I don’t know what you mean.” I responded with as little emotion as possible. On the inside, though, I was screaming. I wasn’t embarrassed, I was just... okay I was embarrassed that Tsuki read us so easily. I should have expected it, though. Tsuki was something like one thousand years old, she probably knows every social queue and mannerisms that indicate... well, that couples are ‘together.’

“Don’t make me spell it out.” Tsuki said, her face becoming even more feline-like. If she had a tail, it would be swaying back and forth excitedly.

“Shut up, you vixen! Nothing happened!” Marie blurted out before running out of the room.

“Marie! Dammit, Tsuki. You know how she is with this stuff.” I said, sighing.

“I know. I wanted to get back at her for what she said to me last night. I’ll drop it now. But, one last thing.” She said as she leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “Finally, man.” She licked my ear and then got up and left the room to chase after Marie. I recoiled in disgust, wiping off my ear.

“I heard you guys, by the way.” Ichiro said as he wrote down spells.

“Of course you did.”

I leaned back in my chair and let out a loud sigh.

***

Days had passed and we were nearly fully prepared to launch our assault. The agency had moved more agents to Japan in order to help distract the Secular while we planned everything out and prepared. While official news stations were scrubbed clean of our magical metal concert in Shibuya, social media had a steady stream of people still talking about and theorizing about the show. The Secular had an iron grip on a lot of things and could manipulate from the shadows, but it seemed like modern day internet was above even shadowy hivemind societies when it comes to information preservation. The independent journalist is the mightiest sword against Cleaners. Of course, the agency was helping make sure the videos spread, preserving them and protecting them against all forms of attacks that the Secular had. We didn’t accomplish our goal of fully revealing magic to the world, but at least more people are questioning things and are willing to believe now. Someday, hopefully, magic will be open to everyone in the world, and we can advance, together, without villains in the shadows guiding the world without the world’s consent.

For now, though, our focus was on destroying the Japanese branch of the Secular. Hikari had outlined everything for us. She gave us a way to enter the tower, into the real compound, and get as high as the second to top floor without being detected. Once we were there, though, we had to go through a lot of defenses to reach Kirin. The plan, as it stood now, was for Marie and Ichiro to infiltrate first and blend in with the Apostles. Hikari provided us with enough Apostle robes for all of us, and Ichiro made spell sheets for them so they could activate the shadow shroud. Tsuki and I would enter later, also dressed as Apostles. By that time Ichiro would lead Marie to the best position to hold off the entrance to Kirin’s throne room, as per Hikari’s instructions. Tsuki and I will try to sneak our way into the throne room by bringing Hikari’s Apostle robes as proof she died in the Shibuya slaughter. If only one of us could enter, it would be me, with Tsuki waiting outside as a guard.

Ichiro developed magic bullets for Marie and even managed to convince her to use them, despite her aversion to using magical weapons or enhancements. She conceded here, though, realizing that this was an all or nothing plan and any short comings could mean failure or death. The bullets, as we tested, can almost penetrate my mana shield, so they should be more than enough to remove anyone below Bishop. Ichiro made a plethora of useable spell sheets for himself to use in case of emergency. His role was to make sure that as few people as possible make their way up to the top of the tower by placing traps all over when they infiltrate before us.

Tsuki was assuredly able to handle herself. After the many fights she’s been in, she’s been displaying her full strength in training when she sparred with me. Despite living her life with her magic suppressed, she has grown into the inherited memories of her past selves and using ancient magic that doesn’t fully rely on elements. Her power, once fully trained, will exceed mine. But for now, I still hold the power level over her. Unfortunately, we need to act fast and don’t have the time to wait for her to grow strong enough to remove Kirin. As we prepare, the Secular is actively hunting us. The agency caught wind that there were more mages walking around in Shibuya and other districts of Tokyo that we had recently been to.

We had to act, and soon.

***

It was nearly the day. Less than 24 hours until we set out to take down Kirin and the Secular. Tsuki and I were going over last minute battle tactics, both of us thinking up different scenarios for each other and the other answering with our solutions. Marie had already gone to sleep as she and Ichiro had to initiate the plan earlier than us. However, Ichiro came over to me, spell sheet in hand.

“Ryuki. May I talk to you?”

“Sure, Ichiro.”

Without even needing to be told, Tsuki got up and left. She skipped off to her room, leaving Ichiro alone with me.

“Here. Take this.” Ichiro said, handing me the spell sheet. “Don’t use it unless you have to. It’s incredibly volatile. Moreso than the Abyss spell.”

I stared down at the sheet, reading the incantation over. It was a spell sheet for magic users, and a powerful one at that. The way the mana in the spell crackled proved he wasn’t lying when he said it was volatile. I didn’t protest the use or even holding on to it. I could tell the way he grimaced that he truly meant for this to be a last resort.

“Understood, Ichiro. I hope I don’t have to use it. You should get some sleep.”

He nodded before stepping out of the room, heading to bed.

I stared down at the spell sheet and felt my fingertips tremble just from holding it. After spending so long with Ichiro, I fully understood how his spell sheets worked and how to use the incantations he’s crafted. Ever since the first time I used the Abyss spell, I was wary of any new incantation he gave me, but over time came to understand how he viewed magic. I placed the spell in my pocket, making sure no one else found out about the spell. I went to my room and crawled into bed, and snuggled up next to Marie, wrapping my arm around her. She was still asleep, but she grabbed my hand tightly, and I drifted off to sleep.