episode_0132

Wizard.

At Eclipse Point, he is a figure who belongs to the Seven High, the seven most dangerous individuals not affiliated with corporations, and also holds a corner of the mercenary industry’s legends.

The equipment he uses incorporates technologies so bizarre that even megacorps can’t trace their origin, leading to constant chatter among enthusiasts about whether he truly wields magic.

Every single person who has witnessed him moving with murderous intent has been utterly terrified, insisting he must be called a god of death.

Setting aside such military and technological risks, many organizations desire him, or more precisely, his technology, but no one has dared to attack the Wizard.

[Railgun fully charged. Awaiting target confirmation.]

However, as if to declare an end to such common sense today, the muzzle of an electromagnetic railgun was aimed at the interior of the bunker.

The ‘Huanglong Shenci VX-72’, an electromagnetic accelerated projectile optimized for penetration, capable of piercing steel plates over 20cm thick, waited for launch readiness, and soon, as if the internal scan was complete, the muzzle pointed at a single spot.

The target was likely at that location.

“Under that flag of stars, make America great again!”

The sight of the Fifty Star using a model from Huanglong, China’s dominant megacorp, and spouting such words, as if that great America couldn’t produce electromagnetic railguns, was enough to make one scoff, but the destructive power of the weapon was no joke.

The projectile, super-accelerated from the weapon charged to maximum output, became a spear that pierced everything in its path, embedding itself in the top of the steel bunker and penetrating the metal ceiling.

Thanks to the projectile’s immense heat generation as it pushed through, the path it forged became a glowing red hole, and the target hidden inside, though not hit in a vital spot, would have suffered fatal physical damage, severely reducing their combat capability.

This continued five more times.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Compared to firearms using gunpowder, there was no loud noise, but this made the surprise attack even more lethal.

The Fifty Star’s grand plan had succeeded splendidly, and with a little more time to open the door of that clam-shell-like bunker, the Wizard’s apprehension would be complete.

“Ughh…!! Argh..! My, my arm..! My leg!!”

Hiss— A pained groan was heard from within the hot, smoke-billowing holes.

As proof that they had subdued the target without issue, the Fifty Star members looked at each other, cheering for their mission’s completion, and grinning.

“With this, we can bring the anomalous force field, which was absurdly called ‘magic’ under the Stars and Stripes, into our possession.”

“That’s a bonus; the auction’s hosting code is the most important thing. Those megacorps go wild for rare items, to the point of attending auctions held by mercenaries whose identities they don’t even know.”

That’s right.

The biggest reason megacorps didn’t touch the Wizard was because he was the operator of ‘The Auction’, a members-only secret auction he ran while traveling the world.

Hoping for the continuation of an auction that consistently gathered high-quality items whose origins were utterly unknown, they had implicitly agreed not to harm the Wizard.

Of course, it was another matter entirely when individuals appeared who, conversely, aimed to exploit this, kidnapping the auction operator to plan a fiery and mischievous prank against the key megacorp figures who would gather at the auction.

The members of Fifty Star, who literally bled, sweated, and cried to make America great again, an America unbeatable by anyone under the grand blue Stars and Stripes, tore open the bunker door so simply and skillfully, one might wonder why they’d spent so much time on defensive doors until now, all to retrieve the Wizard, who had been incapacitated with all his limbs detached.

“We’ve come for you, Wizard. Quietly…?”

Thump, with a heavy sound, the lead member who had jumped down without a ladder and landed on the floor, found their face under the visor strangely distorted by the sight inside the bunker.

True to its original purpose, the electromagnetic projectile had perfectly pierced the individual hiding beneath the bunker, incapacitating them.

“You motherfucker..!! That fucking hurts..!!!”

“Did the Black Market owner sign up for Trauma Team Platinum?”

“Goddamnit..!!”

However, the fact that there was more than one person inside the bunker was an unexpected situation.

A gloomy, skinny man who looked like he spent 18 hours a day coding, his penetrated limbs limp and dangling with a sizzling sound.

And in front of him stood a gentleman wearing a monocle and a fedora, indifferently looking down at him.

“I didn’t hear there were two people inside. What trick did you pull?”

The lead member, unfazed by the sudden situation, raised their gun.

Even if the plan had gone slightly awry, if they put bullets in his limbs right here, he wouldn’t be able to maintain such a relaxed attitude.

“Do you know the commonality between illusion and magic?”

His finger moved to the trigger─

“You started the conversation, yet you won’t answer? How cold.”

Tap.

Before that, the tip of the slender cane held by the gentleman tapped the bunker floor.

Simultaneously, a violently rushing dizziness and light scattering, as if several bottles of high-proof alcohol had been poured down one’s throat, along with an inexplicable burst of laughter and surging confidence.

“H-hahaha! Uhaha! This feels weird!! What the hell is this sudden bullshit!”

Buzzing— Bang!

With uncontrollable laughter, the fully charged projectile, triggered by the pulled trigger, shot through the air.

And naturally, the projectile, having lost its aim, missed the target gentleman by a large margin and pierced the leg of the gloomy man nearby once again.

“Arghhhhhh!!! You son of a bitchhhh!!!”

“Oh, my apologies. Isn’t where to shoot up to that fellow? If I could see the future, I’d be called a prophet, not a Wizard.”

Thump.

Leaving the terribly unlucky man behind, the lead member, suffering from maddening dizziness, finally lost all sense of balance and smacked their head on the floor.

Even in that state, the Fifty Star member twitched, emitting strange laughter as if not feeling any pain, while the gentleman passed by with slow, tapping steps.

“Hmm. To continue our earlier discussion, the commonality between illusion and magic is that if one attempts to explain their principles, it becomes utterly pedantic and tedious. Isn’t it true that mystery should remain a mystery for life to be enjoyable?”

He stopped.

The gentleman’s steps halted at the entrance ladder of the bunker.

Five red dots aimed at him.

“You gentlemen should learn to respond when someone is speaking.”

Thump.

As his slender cane tapped the floor, all five red dots scattered erratically, and five more strange laughs, identical to the one heard from behind, joined the chorus.

* * *

“Uh… uh… What the hell.”

At the unfolding scene, I unknowingly cursed, even forgetting I was in camouflage.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one surprised, as I heard Yuki, who was on my back, gasp sharply.

And no wonder… I thought for a moment those blue-clad guys had actually succeeded. One went through the bunker door, then about 10 seconds later, laughter erupted, and the guys waiting outside, who had just aimed their guns at the bunker again, suddenly collapsed, convulsing with laughter, without any warning.

“They don’t seem dead, but what on earth happened?!”

“I have no idea either…”

Martina tried to deck into and analyze their cyberware, but the report came back that they didn’t seem to have been attacked by any viruses or malicious firmware.

If so, it means they were physically subdued, but does that make any sense?

Could that also be one of the Wizard’s unknown abilities?

“So many visitors have come. Does having many visitors mean one is famous, and should I be pleased?”

“Gasp!”

“Gasp!”

As Yuki and I covered each other’s mouths and watched, a moment later, a person slowly climbed out of the bunker entrance and looked down at the Fifty Star idiots squirming like slugs.

A suit that seemed to have been styled to the fullest, a fedora, a monocle, and finally, a cane about an arm’s length.

A dapper gentleman, who wouldn’t look out of place in a silent film, lowered his somber eyes and placed both hands on his cane.

“Is that the Wizard!”

“Probably, right? It seems those fools messed something up again, and things got tangled.”

“That’s strange… Fifty Star… I heard from the news that they were a really scary gang~”

They probably are scary, in reality.

They’re quite radical; when the EPSB comes after them after a major incident, they don’t flee, they pull out anti-tank weapons first.

“Exactly. For things like that to be openly roaming around, isn’t the world truly a dangerous place?”

“I know. Last time, if there was anything even slightly valuable, they’d insist it was theirs and immediately shove a gun in your face. Plus, there’s that crazy woman who keeps coming back no matter how many times you kill her, and it’s driving me insane.”

“That’s a real problem. Everyone’s full of greed, but those guys are on another level.”

Should I just crush Fifty Star and whatever else to the point they can’t function so they never mess around again?

But doing it myself feels quite awkward.

They’re just a mere gang, yet they have enough firepower and sheer audacity to be a bother, which is probably why they’re still alive.

In this era, it’s hard to survive with an ordinarily troublesome personality, but if you’re troublesome enough that no one can keep up, you can survive because no one dares to touch you!

As I was grumbling about Fifty Star and undergoing my empathy training, I felt fingers tapping my shoulder.

“Jyu… Jun? Th-that… Um… Look ahead…”

“Hmm? Ahead?”

Blinking at Yuki’s cautionary advice that brought me back to my senses, I looked ahead…

…and saw the Wizard’s face.

“Ah, goddamnit!”

“To curse right upon seeing someone’s face, what an excessive young man.”

With a thump—suddenly my vision spun, and the floor rushed closer.

My body felt as if I were drunk, unable to exert proper strength, and as my mind drifted away, I faintly heard Martina’s voice.

‘Blood nitrogen concentration rapidly increasing—’

I lost consciousness.