Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume3 Phase03 (section)

===Part 4===

Ayato Criminaltrophy stood alone on the tallest tower’s roof, a hand on his hip and a sigh on his lips. Ganging up on the enemy 4-against-1 was a plan Ayato himself had considered.

President Umihiko Darkavenue.

Vice President Surace Bran Zorca Totalinus.

Secretary Sibell Wildcat.

Treasurer Gark Bryan.

They were fanned out to surround Ayato from a distance of about 20 esoule<ref>Approximately 24 meters.</ref>. They had broken their own rules for the duels and gathered all four members to make sure they could crush just one opponent.

The President’s intellect was obvious enough just from his continental championship trophy for online chess.

The chestnut-haired glasses boy chuckled.

White breath flowed from the corners of his mouth and he identified the truth right away.

“''You knew about the trap but sprung it anyway, didn’t you?''”

“''You could say that.''”

Mamilis Coster had found Ayato’s decision odd. He would never send those girls to their possible deaths based on a rough estimate that “surely they can win”. He would not allow even one of them to be lost for any reason, intentional or accidental. So he would never leave things in their hands until he had set things up so they had a 100% chance of survival.

He hadn’t actually broken those rules.

By agreeing to the duels and sending the girls to other towers, he knew he could at least distance them from the fighting. Even if they caught on and tried to return to the gem tower’s roof, the roundabout route wouldn’t let them arrive in time. Ayato had made a point of waiting just long enough that the girls wouldn’t hear any battle noises before heading up to the roof.

He had known Umihiko would keep his forces close at hand to protect himself. And Ayato had given the girls parachutes. In the off chance he had misread the situation and one of the girls was the target of the 4-against-1 attack, they could immediately jump from the roof. There was no other use for the parachutes. They wouldn’t provide a shortcut from one tower to another.

All alone just like he had chosen, Ayato silently drew his Linkage Plug sword.

The glasses President responded with a slight smile.

Resting on his shoulder was a scythe like Death used to reap souls.

“Outnumbered and still no reaction at all? Interesting.”

A high-pitched sound like a purifying bell rang out.

The President had used his other hand’s thumb to flick a large crystal coin straight up. Gravity failed to pull it back down, so it stopped at his face height.

It endlessly rotated there, creating his Linkage Monitor.

The clear coin’s afterimage displayed a wildly fluctuating array of information.

“Now, then.” Umihiko tapped the crystal coin with his finger. “This is an empty rooftop. This thing has no role to play here.”

Since the crystal coin was constantly spinning, a slight touch was enough to send it flying. But like a fly returning no matter how many times it was shooed away, the Linkage Monitor always returned to its designated spot.

A coin toss had even odds. That gave them value in testing one’s luck – and thus in fortune telling. But the President introduced external interference that let him determine the fortune that was told. He created an inconsistency in the odds, letting him manipulate the values. That was how his Linkage Monitor worked.

It was an ideal monitor.

Ayato’s crystal tarot looked more advance and complicated, so it seemed more like a specialist tool. Mamilis or Henrietta would have a hard time moving the cards lined up in the air. In fact, they wouldn’t even be able to read the arcana of each card.

But generally, pros disliked complexity.

Sorcery Hackers in particular liked to create highly compressed shortcuts to let them complete processes in the blink of an eye.

In that sense, the way Umihiko had cut away every last piece of fat to display everything on a single crystal coin proved he was the best of the best. Seeing it made Ayato painfully aware how much excess fat he still had in his method of ''merely'' complexly moving around a deck of tarot cards.

The President was clearly several steps above him as a Sorcery Hacker. And that trickster of a Sorcery Hacker wasn’t Ayato’s only opponent here. He was just one member of a party where each member was a master of a separate field.


''But.

''What did that matter?


Ayato Criminaltrophy took a step forward himself.

It didn’t bother him if it was 1-against-4.

Why should he care if that boy was a better Sorcery Hacker?

None of that was a problem. An entirely different problem was occupying his mind.

Yes…

“''I believe it is time you told me about Miss Teleria. You will tell me everything you know even if I have to break your ribs one at a time to get it out of you.''”

“Oh? You noticed that?”

“She is a culinary genius, but her cooking has been in a rut since we arrived here. She has given up on creativity and adlibbing and simply modifies a well-received dish as requested. She ordinarily enjoys the act of cooking itself, yet she has begun going through the motions like it is no more than work. That means something is distracting her.”

Ayato had known Umihiko was much more skilled than him, but this meant he had discovered even the original trailer they had hidden in. That was the only explanation. It all came down to Ayato’s failure.

“You must have contacted her on our first night after arriving at the Academy Towers. And you found something you could use to threaten her. Am I right so far?”

Umihiko simply shrugged.

“I doubt she would want us discussing her secret.”

He reeked of the rotten superiority that came from someone using a secret for blackmail.

Did people like this find their way into power, or did power turn people into this?

“You are a fool. The key to combat is not physical strength or superior weapons – it is information. If the Sorcery Hacker is defeated first, the rest will be helpless to stop me. But don’t you worry. I will thoroughly indulge myself in the ‘presents’ you have brought me. Not just Miss Teleria, either. I will find unique ways to enjoy all three of them.”

Ayato had heard enough.

A static-like pain raced through his brow.

The Student Council had set up this extreme trap and Ayato had come to tear it apart. Both sides took a step forward.

“''You are not leaving this roof alive.''”

“''If you meant that, you would have brought your revolver, Hexajinx.''”

A group of four had ganged up on just one boy.

A highly broken duel had begun.