Later on that evening, the barbecue ended. The fools who drank so much they passed out were deposited in either the men’s or women’s lodge, respectively. Cleanup had been taken care of, and everyone had gone to sleep.
One small boy staggered along on a dark path through the woods, away from the beach, away from the lodge, a wooden sword in his hand. Between the running and volleyball and water torture, he was thoroughly exhausted.
It was Okegawa Kuon. His master had summoned him for more training, despite how sleepy he was. As he reached the training ground, Kuon looked confused. “Huh?” he said.
There was a beautiful stranger standing next to his master.
She was wearing what looked like a silk kimono altered to be more cyber-chic, with long emerald green hair falling on either side of her. It was an eccentric look, to be sure, and she stared right at Kuon with a mischievous grin.
He looked at his master. “Um, who is this?”
“Check your Life Sight,” she snapped.
“Can I?”
“Yes, go ahead.” He’d been asking his master, but the new girl answered instead.
Huh, that voice sounds familiar, he thought, trying to remember where he’d heard it before. Hmm…nope, too sleepy. Can’t remember. He just did what he was told and used his Life Sight.
Kuon raised both arms in front of him, laying the wooden sword along the horizon. He focused his mind, imagining himself wrapped in magic.
Machine Fencing referred to schools of sword techniques that were designed to make use of the magic channeled through a Division Maneuver. Shichisei Kenbu was one such school. But what Kuon was currently learning were arts that used magic without a DM: Shichisei Kenbu’s Eight Hidden Forms.
Those unnatural powers were as follows:
1st Form: Reject World.
2nd Form: Bubble Wall.
3rd Form: Crystal Cannon.
4th Form: Foresight.
5th Form: Void.
6th Form: Pleiades.
7th Form: Life Sight.
8th Form: Resonate.
These Forms weren’t necessarily learned in order. As Kaede explained before, the qualities you were born with played a major role in how many you ever acquired. You needed talents unrelated to your Division.
Kaede had ordered Kuon to use one of these, the 7th Form—Life Sight. This ability allowed him to see the light of life, something the ultimate art, Mumyo Tosen, had allowed him to do. In other words, by acquiring the primary technique, he’d already learned one of the hidden arts.
The training Kuon had done so far enabled him to use Life Sight even without a DM, and he now used this sight to check out the mysterious cyber-chic beauty and see her light of life. Each person’s magic was a different color. When Kaede first saw Kuon and said his magic was actually like her former student’s, she’d been looking at the color of his magic. Kuon had only recently worked that out. But when he looked at the cyber-chic beauty…
“Mm? Huh?”
“What?” Kaede asked.
“Maybe I’m still not good at this. But she looked exactly like someone I know only too well…”
“And who would that be?” the beauty smirked.
Kuon knew he was right. “So, uh…seriously? You’re En?!”
“That’s right, Kuon-sama!” she nodded, overjoyed. “You were being so dumb about it I was actually getting worried! But it’s me, En!”
Yeah, she’s definitely my master’s former Device, all right. “What’s with the new body?”
“It’s amazing! Look at it, Kuon-sama! The Imperial Capital R&D team were developing this artificial flesh! Since we recovered the Capital, they resumed work on it!” En spun around, happily showing off her new form. He remembered hearing in his previous life that they were researching artificial flesh exactly like real bodies using a mix of cloning and magical technologies, but…
“The Imperial Research and Development Headquarters, was it?”
“Yes! The place I was born!”
“They’ve progressed this far? You’re a full-on android now.”
“If we put one on you, you would be a cyborg!”
“Thanks, I’m good,” Kuon replied.
“If you lose an arm or a leg, just give them a call!”
“Perish the thought.”
“Enough joking around,” Kaede said with perfect comedic timing. “Kuon, continue from last time. Try Resonate.”
In his master’s opinion, the Hidden Form Kuon stood the best chance of mastering was Resonate. As the name implies, this literally resonated his magic with someone else’s, allowing them to share it. As it was, it was possible to share a Witch Bubble with another person if they held hands, but he couldn’t use it like his own magic. Resonate, however, would allow Kuon to use Shichisei Kenbu with someone else’s magic.
“Once Nine-count Strike wears out, if you can use Resonate, your chance of survival increases a little. You’ll still wind up getting saved by Hanabi, but…”
“I’ll try to avoid that as much as I can.”
“For today, En will be helping. Use her as you please.”
“Kaede-sama, did you just turn me into a guinea pig?” En gave her master a shocked look.
Kaede just glared flatly back at her. It was strange hearing the two of them call each other by name. En hadn’t even had a name before Kuon gave her one and had always called Kaede “Master” before.
“Never seen a light of life in an AI before. Seems like this one’s genuinely weird.”
“Is that a compliment? Should I take it as one, Kaede-sama?”
“Hmm, suit yourself.”
“Yay! I love you, Kaede-sama!” En threw her arms around her former master, her new body far larger than Kaede’s. Despite his master’s stern expression, Kuon could tell she was secretly happy.
They were definitely close. Kuon grinned. “Here I go,” he said. He turned the tip of his sword to the ground, holding it like he was standing upside down.
He took a breath and released it. Focus. Focus. Just as Life Sight allowed him to see people’s magic, it also allowed him to see the magic flowing in the air. He imagined his own magic dispersing through that flow, as if disrupting it, and then he tapped the sword’s tip on the ground.