Like I said, we don’t know the exact conditions. My guess would be that it takes time to establish the cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide. It might take as long as three or four days. A week would match perfectly with the creation of the world, but I doubt it’s that long. If it took that long, the magician wouldn’t actually go there. Anyway, that would be why we haven’t seen any effects after being here for less than a day.”
“So if the target leaves that enclave before the three or four days, the spell can’t be completed… And an enclave might be as small as a neighborhood park.”
“If she knew the schedule of her target, she could probably create small enclaves at each place he or she would go in order to build up the necessary time.”
That might be linked to the means of controlling animals and people.
But then Kamijou looked down at his unmoving left arm.
“If those are the conditions, I doubt Saronia would come to the front lines. She can’t carry that out without three or four days, so she must have a spell prepared that gives her some kind of immediate power.”
“I agree, but I have no idea what that could be.”
“I see.” Kamijou lightly rubbed his left arm. “Looks like I’ll just have to charge in and figure it out as I go.”
“Finished!!” shouted Kuroyoru as she attached the “arm” wrapped in duct tape to the joint on her right side.
It was basically a number of metal pipes forcibly held together in the shape of an arm. It did not even have a full complement of fingers.
Dumbfounded, Kamijou stared at the creakily moving arm for a bit, but he finally came back to his senses.
“You only made one? Counting your normal hands, that only gives you three nitrogen spears!”
Even then, the combined force of Trident and Gremlin was slowly approaching.
Likely, they were being extra careful with their approach and continually firing to seal Kamijou and Kuroyoru’s movements because those two were from Academy City. Trident and Gremlin were afraid they had a hidden trump card. They were cornering Kamijou and Kuroyoru with bullets so they would reveal what they could do. The soldiers would press farther in once they were sure of their safety.
Kamijou himself was planning to charge in and gather information on Saronia’s spell and only then try to find a way past it.
For those that relied on supernatural powers, the amount of information one had could be the difference between life and death.
They were likely more worried about Kuroyoru than Kamijou, but Kamijou had no idea how long their caution would last. If the soldiers saw their lack of movements as an “eerie silence” that would work in their favor, but if the soldiers decided they could not do anything, the soldiers and magicians would pour in like an avalanche.
And amid that hopeless situation…
“I was never intending to rely on Bomber Lance.”
“Why not?”
“An Academy City-made arm can move on its own and I could use it as an independent weapon, but we just won’t get that kind of functionality out of materials we found lying around. When I realized that, I changed my plan.” Kuroyoru grinned. “When you were given that lecture on magic back in Academy City, I was there too. I seem to remember hearing that magic is meant for people with no talent and that, other than a few exceptions, no special disposition is needed.”
“No, you idiot. I’m no expert, but magic isn’t what you’re thinking it is! Unless you’re some kind of genius, you aren’t going to be able to pull of some amazing technique by adlibbing all of a sudden. Not to mention that espers like us experience a side effect if we use magic!!”
“That’s fine,” said Kuroyoru. “It doesn’t matter what kind of magic it is. It doesn’t have to have any real destructive power to it and I doubt I can perfectly pull it off from the little I overheard. That would be like watching someone perform heart surgery and then trying to do the same thing on your own. I’ll fail, but that’s not a problem. If failing leads to success, that’s not a problem at all.”
“What are you saying…?”
“I’m saying that I will be intentionally causing this side effect or rejection or whatever it is.” With a heavy thunk, Kuroyoru Umidori lowered the duct tape-wrapped arm to the ground. “I’m a cyborg. The extent of what counts as my body is extremely vague. Now, what if I could completely think of the objects I connect to my body as parts of my body?”
Kamijou heard a sound like a hard object creaking under stress.
At first he thought it was coming from Kuroyoru’s “arm”, but it was not.
“Wouldn’t that mean I could force that side effect on whatever object—whatever target—I wanted and destroy it?”