Stars was the premiere magic combat force within the USNA. – That
being said, not all the American combat Magicians were directly a part
of Stars. In reality, of the three Strategic-Class Magicians that are
officially recognized within the USNA, only Angie Sirius is affiliated
with Stars. The other two are currently split between an Alaskan base
and a base in Gibraltar.
Even so, it remained an unshaken fact that the primary source of the
USNA’s magical prowess in the army came from the Magicians in
Stars. This was especially the case for the Magicians granted the rank
of planets, as they symbolized the “strongest magical combat force in
the world”. Precisely since Alfred Fomalhaut was also of planet rank,
his desertion inflicted a huge blow to the high command with the
USNA. In this particular desertion incidence, the USNA could not
draw the line at Fomalhaut alone. They had to execute every deserter
as a warning to the rest.
Currently, the two people who were rapidly progressing through the
Shibuya night were also hunters dispatched from the USNA army to
pursue the deserters and belonged to the unit “Stardust”. Like Stars,
they too were under the direct command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
but they were only the remnants of the stars that could not become
stars themselves. In spite of this, these magic troopers still possessed
considerable combat prowess. They had given up on being well
rounded and instead honed their specific talents to the level of the
Stars. That was what it meant to be Stardust. This time, the members
selected to hunt the deserters specialized in pursuit. They were
Magicians who had been implanted in Japan, but previously
inactivated assets, and specialized in identifying psion waves and
traces of magic.
Tonight, they finally found the psion trail of one of the deserters, Stars
Planet-Class Specialist, Charles Sullivan, call sign “Demus Second”,
and had closed to within an easy distance on foot.
“Target is in the clearing up ahead.”
One of the two came to a halt and nodded at the other’s words before
removing an information terminal from the coat they wore. After
calling up a map, they verified through the search function that there
was only one path to the park. There was one entrance to the left of
their current position as well as an entrance to the right around the
corner.
“We have detected one target. Let’s strike from both sides. I’ll go
right.”
Gone were the large coat and skirt, revealing a dazzling set of tights
and heavy boots. The outer garb was to better mingle with the young
women moving about at night while hiding their identity as American
soldiers. The only typical aspect of these female Magicians was that
they were speaking in normal tones