Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume2 Phase04 (section)

===Part 7===

The white torrent of ultracold quantum fluid was nowhere to be seen.

“What…what happened!?”

“Your biggest mistake was trying to do this all on your own. There are other people out there fighting just like I am here. And those small actions can link together.” Ayato gave her a rough smile while pouring strength into his Linkage Plug sword. “For example, if the Linkage Plug is removed from Fleurelisia, you lose that processing space. You can’t control the Fermiliquidio with just the Predator Island’s 5000. In fact, who do you think’s gonna win if it comes down to a 5000 vs. 5000 tug-of-war!?”

She was repelled.

Ayato held his sword two-handed and Jennifer held hers one-handed, so there was an unavoidable difference in strength. And he jabbed his Linkage Plug forward just as she staggered back.

He stabbed it into the prince’s sword she held.

“Oh, no.”

Several 0.1 esoule<ref>Approximately 12 centimeters.</ref> knives fell from her thighs inside her tight skirt. Were those her Linkage Plugs? He could see what looked like a trigger on the grip, so they may have been rigged to launch the blade out with a spring.

“Now, then.”

But what about this time?

Jennifer’s trick had failed and Ayato had contacted the prince’s sword with his blade’s processing space greatly expanded.

“Can you maintain control?”

A low buzz came from Jennifer’s left hand, but not because the weapon was preparing to launch its quantum fluid.

In fact…

“Normal functioning of Fermiliquidio restored. Illegal access by unauthorized user detected. Executing emergency defensive procedures in accordance with the special laws regarding protection of the Selected Kingdoms Combined Royal Family.”

A stiff feminine voice came from it.

And…

“Ugh.”

A light slicing sound followed.

“Agh!?”

If Jennifer Evening had been even a moment slower to let go, the ring of quantum fluid emitted by the sword would have frozen her shoulder and severed her arm. Her suit split open a bit and something like a crystal pendulum fell out. That was her Linkage Monitor. Without that, she could not use her Sorcery Hacking.

The rapier stabbed into the freight train’s roof and a dragonfly landed on its pommel. That unnatural insect was made of pure white silk and silverwork. 

Once Ayato blinked, it had become a little girl in a classic maid uniform whose silver hair was worn in gorgeous ringlet curls. The maid’s luxurious appearance clashed with her tiny stature and countless sorcery guns of various sizes emerged from her back.

“What is your name?” bluntly asked Ayato.

“Angela Messenger. Not that I have any obligation to answer questions from the likes of you.”

He could detect a combination of harshness and kindness in that one short response. Exactly the high quality he would expect from a royal maid. Maybe it was because they had a shared enemy and maybe she was thankful his plan had restored her to normal, but she seemed to have set the boy very low on her threat priority list despite him being as much of a Sorcery Hacker as Jennifer.

With blatant irritation on her face, Angela brushed off her maid uniform to remove the Linkage Plug blades like they were dry leaves.

Had she decided his Sorcery Hacking was more benevolent than Jennifer’s?

Perhaps the difference was his intent to eventually return control to her compared to Jennifer’s intent to keep the maid under her control forever.

Whatever the case, Angela’s top priority was Jennifer Evening.

That woman had stolen a proof of royalty, wielded its power without permission, caused needless conflict, and murdered someone on that island.

That guardian maid would very likely conclude that was worthy of the death penalty.

“Kh!!”

All of a sudden, Jennifer’s right hand hopped up while wielding that revolver that could rival a ship’s gun, but her trigger finger froze in place.

She might have been able to drive away the 5th’s guardian if she had used that devil’s revolver to its fullest. Angela was only herself and she could not use Fermiliquidio’s power. Now that the sword had left Jennifer’s control, that ultracold quantum fluid was no longer a factor, unless the prince – its rightful owner – were here. The number of guns spread out behind Angela was impressive, but the battle would remain in the realm of a sorcery gun shootout.

But Jennifer had already set Ayato Criminaltrophy as her initial target. She was done for if she used up all 6 shots and, even if she did destroy the ringlet curls maid with some shots remaining, Ayato would only have to run away and wait for her to waste the rest of her ammo.

Yes.

That teacher had hacked herself some weapons to give herself power beyond her actual skill. She was not a sorcery gun specialist like Teleria or Henrietta. Ayato himself knew how hard it was to master both skills at once. That large gun would be hard enough to use at the best of times and the roof of an unsteady freight train with lots of wind blowing through was far from being the best of times. With the fear of death thrown into the mix, a gun amateur like her would never be able to shoot straight.

In fact, she had not fired that sorcery gun even once this whole time.

If she had shot Ayato when their blades were locked earlier, she might have been able to kill him. But the fear had stopped her. If she fired that enormous revolver with just one hand, she might lose her balance atop the speeding train. And she feared the revolver’s curse as well.

“C’mon, do it.”

So Ayato provoked her.

He was injured and exhausted, but he still slowly shifted to a position that did not leave him and the silver ringlet curls maid both in Jennifer’s line of fire.

“With the Queen Astaroth Revolver, who wins is really a matter of chance, but it will let you fight well enough that it comes down to luck. I’ve used it, so I know.”

“Nonsense,” insisted the maid. “Must I prove you wrong with a personal demonstration of my ability?”

He ignored the maid’s mixture of positive and negative.

“If you’re worried about the ammo situation, then you can start with me. That lets you use all 6 shots for taking out the target you’ve set. Kill me in that time and you earn the right to reload. Then you’ll have another full set of 6 to challenge this dangerous maid. That sounds fair, don’t you think?”

“…!?”

She clenched her teeth so hard he could have sworn it was audible from where he was.

He was not exactly wrong, but it was not that simple. She had no idea if she could match that maid with 100% of her focus, so what would happen if she shifted her focus to deal with someone else? The battle would be over in the blink of an eye.

Defeating them both with three shots each was not possible, so Ayato’s logic should have been correct, but her physical body could not keep up with that.

“Maybe something happened in my past. Maybe I’ve made an enemy of the entire Student Council or even the Academy Towers as a whole. I don’t even know why that devil’s revolver is obsessed with me.”

He raised his Linkage Plug Sword which was no better than an ordinary metal pipe when not being used to hack something.

Ayato Criminaltrophy put on a vicious smile while viewing this from a different angle than when he was the Hexajinx.

“But this isn’t about you. You’re just a courier.”

She had held Level 10,000 processing power.

She had wielded the freezing blade of the Combined Royal Family.

She had wielded the devil’s revolver.

But when just one of the pieces collapsed, a dreadful domino effect was set in motion. The perfect scenario she had set up for herself was working to trap her now that she had lost her sword and had dropped her Linkage Monitor pendulum.

Ayato and Angela stepped to either side to approach poor Jennifer from both sides at once.

It really did not matter how many shots she had left.

Right now, she was at Level 0.

Jennifer Evening had never been skilled at direct combat, so she never stood a chance.

A single blow was all it took for her world to explode with a dull thud.

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