Aand here's the last one of batch, just please don't ask me about when the next release will be.

Also, really sorry that I didn't read the reviews in quite a while. Some people asked questions and I didn't answer them... I used to received notifications about reviews and the like but for some reason the notifications stopped. I was under the impression that nobody was reviewing this entire time.

"Mahouka" - speech

Mahouka - time, place

{Mahouka} - my comments

(Mahouka) - thoughts, short explanations

[Mahouka] - calls

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING.

~~~Kuroba & Erika side~~~

"Seems like we are almost done here." said Ayako.

The floor the twins went to had a small number of enemies so they went back after clearing the lower floor. Up to this point there was nothing noteworthy. However, one of the soldiers who tried to charge at Ayako, but was stopped in his tracks by a Move type magic, suddenly exploded. The Kuroba twins then realized that a portion of the soldiers had already been turned into puppets. They were either holding grenades in their hands or hiding bombs in their clothes.

"So obnoxious…" Ayako remarked.

"Something like this can't be forgiven…!" Fumiya agreed.

The sound of gunshots coming from the window attracted them and Fumiya went to take a look. Erika was in an open area used for training, she was engaged in combat against some soldiers. Using magic to accelerate, Erika easily dodged the bullets and closed the distance.

"Chi-, not, Kiri-san is really incredible." Fumiya spoke.

"She seems very used to combat too."

Erika had just cut down the last soldier when a bad premonition assaulted her. The soldiers she had just defeated got back up. She just had to defeat them again but her guts were telling her to keep her distance. The problem was that she was surrounded and had nowhere to run. With her speed running while dodging them wouldn't be a problem but she had a real bad feeling about taking even one step closer to them.

Sure enough, Fumiya and Ayako immediately understood the former soldiers', now just puppets, intent.

"Get out of there!" Fumiya screamed as loud as he could.

Ayako knew Erika wasn't going to make it and focused on her magic instead. She activated Mock Teleportation as fast as she could and moved to Erika's side. She grabbed Erika's hand without waiting for an answer and used Mock Teleportation again. The next second, there were explosions in every direction.

"Nee-san!"

Although Fumiya saw Ayako and Erika safely teleporting before the explosions happened, it was so close that he couldn't help but scream. Looking again, he could see that Ayako moved with Erika to another room.

"Phew." Fumiya whipped sweat from his forehead.

Fumiya could detect the presence of more hostiles. It seemed that their work there was done.

"...Thanks, you saved me, Yoru." Erika said, still a little surprised.

"...It was nothing, Kiri-san. Just, it would be better to avoid getting close to the next enemies." Ayako said also a little shaken over almost exploding.

"Ehh… I don't really have long-range attacks though." Erika complained.

"...It should still be possible to take them out if you aim for the heart before they have a chance to detonate themselves."

"Piece of cake."

"Also, that Yami-chan. She is supposed to call me Yoru. Well, since he was just worried about me, I guess I can forgive her." Ayako looked like she was complaining but she was smiling.

~~~Ichijou side~~~

"Seems like we are done here."

The warehouse's interior was stained with blood, red all over the walls and the floor. The enemies couldn't be called strong but were definitely persistent. Unless Shinkuro hit them in the head or the heart, they simply wouldn't give up, as such, Masaki ended up turning most of them into a bloody mess to stop them for good.

"What's wrong?" Shinkuro asked.

"Wait a second… What?!" Masaki had just received a message from Kyouko.

"Masaki?"

"We have to go, Jouji! The other locations need our help!" Masaki said as he started to run.

"W-What happened?!" Shinkuro was puzzled but followed Masaki nonetheless.

"It was a trap! Everytime one enemy dies, he comes back to life as a puppet!"

"What?!"

"It seems there are magic sequences with a delayed effect in their bodies." Masaki explained what he heard from Kyouko.

"So it activates when they die…?"

"And most of them… are exploding themselves with bombs." Masaki said with disgust.

"Something like that… But why did they not explode against us?" Shinkuro couldn't believe what he was hearing.

In order for Gu Jie's magic to work, there needs to be a corpse. Since most were left as just pools of blood, there was nothing to zombify. Even the ones that weren't reduced to such a state, were still too damaged by Air Bullets and Invisible Bullets. It's not like the puppets controlled by Gu Jie were immortal, they just had to be killed again by damaging vital spots, precisely the head and the heart.

Connecting the dots, Masaki and Shinkuro rushed to the closest location, the one where the Saegusas were.

~~~Saegusa side~~~

"Kasumi-chan! Stay with me!" Izumi screamed amidst tears.

"I-I'm fine, Izumi…" Kasumi murmured weakly.

"Izumi-chan, get Kasumi-chan out of here!" Mayumi said.

Just a few minutes ago, one of the magicians they defeated managed to recover consciousness for a brief moment. And he used that moment to stab himself with a knife, commiting suicide. For a moment, Kasumi couldn't understand what happened but then, the corpse started to move and stabbed his unconscious allies as well. In response, these new corpses started to move as well. Though everyone involved in the mission received the intel about Gu Jie's magic, seeing it in person was something different altogether. Seeing a person that couldn't fight anymore, kill themselves to fight again overwhelmed Kasumi, delaying her reaction.

Izumi ran to Kasumi and grabbed her hand, signaling for her to use magic again. They tried to do the same as before and used Suffocating Turbulence. That was a mistake, Suffocating Turbulence was a magic they used mostly to defeat their opponents out without killing them, but their opponents were puppets that couldn't be knocked out unless you killed them again. The magic proved ineffective, the corpses charged at the sisters but were hindered by Mayumi's Dry Meteor. While Dry Meteor worked in tearing the corpses to pieces, one of them managed to get close enough and self-destructed. Kasumi pushed Izumi behind her and took the hit, of course, if it was a point blank explosion, Kasumi would have died but she was barely within the explosion radius so the damage came just from her being thrown against the wall with excessive force. Her head was bleeding and she was dizzy but overall fine, Izumi was panicking due to seeing her twin covered in blood. Which brings us to the current predicament.

"Kuh! At a time like this…!" Mayumi cursed.

As if waiting for this to happen, the remaining enemies within the building came from the direction Mayumi was headed to before. There weren't many but right now, more enemies were exactly what Mayumi didn't need.

"Hurry, Izumi-chan! I will hold them off!" Mayumi prepared her CAD.

"L-Let's go, Kasumi-chan!" Izumi had Kasumi's arm around her shoulder.

They were limping away while Mayumi covered them. Mayumi was confident in beating them even with the difference in numbers but if they kept pulling more suicide tactics, things could get ugly. This kind of opponent was nasty since they didn't fight to live, survive or even to just win, but simply to kill the enemy.

~~~Juumonji side~~~

"As expected of a 'puppeteer', huh?"

Katsuto wasn't fazed by the sneak suicide attack they pulled on him. The explosion couldn't damage his barrier. What happened soon after is what surprised him. More enemies came and they shot their own unconscious companions. These same companions then stood up again and attacked Katsuto, even the ones with broken bones.

"So this is Zombification." Katsuto readied his attack barriers again

Katsuto quickly realized that simply hitting them with Phalanx wasn't enough to stop them as, while he could break their bones, it wasn't enough to stop "corpses" that were already dead. He clenched his fist seeing that a magician who held life and death in such little contempt could exist. He resolved himself to use Phalanx with more force and effectively crush the puppets until they couldn't move anymore.

"Hah!"

Katsuto released a twelve layered Phalanx at the walking corpses, smashing them against the wall. Against the new enemies who were not corpses, he used one single layered barrier on each, crushing them from above. His aim was to incapacitate them without killing them. He would destroy the puppets before they could kill their companions or explode and knock out the non-puppets to avoid creating more corpses.

~~~Toshikazu side~~~

"This is getting annoying!" Toshikazu screamed.

Inagaki shot the puppets using his revolver CAD before they got close, always aiming for the heart and the head. Using Move and Weight type magic, he could accurately aim for the vitals, avoiding misfires. Toshikazu as well, was using his Ikazuchimaru to cut the puppets before they had a chance to explode themselves. The problem was Oumi Kazukiyo, he was using his magic to try to turn them into puppets as well. It didn't have an instantaneous effect but it was giving them a headache, literally. They all knew it would take a lot of time for Oumi Kazukiyo to deal any real damage but right now he was just trying to break their concentration so that, just maybe, they would get caught off guard.

"Inagaki! I will give you an opening so make it count!" Toshikazu signaled to Inagaki.

"Understood!"

Toshikazu jumped and sliced the ceiling using Tetsuzan. He did the same thing the puppets did to him, he made the ceiling collapse on them. Inagaki used that chance to jump to the second floor and rushed to the room on the east side. As soon as he opened the door he was greeted by Oumi Kazukiyo's astonished face. Oumi Kazukiyo tried to take something out of his pocket but Inagaki shot him in between the eyes before that. Just like that, the puppets in the mansion stopped moving and fell to the ground. Toshikazu's and Inagaki headache diminished as well.

"Everything all right up there?" Toshikazu asked from the floor below.

"Yes, we are done here…"

Inagaki was not very happy as he would normally try to apprehend the culprit but on this operation he just kept killing and killing. He knew it was inevitable given the circumstances but he still felt bitter.

"Sorry to say but you have to rest later. We still need to go help Shiba-kun."

"Yes!"

The duo left the mansion and swiftly checked if the police outside needed help. After confirming that they could handle it, the two took off in a car to follow Tatsuya.

~~~Tatsuya side~~~

Tatsuya was getting closer and closer to the police car containing Gu Jie. As part of the plan, the TMC had closed off access to this road so there were no cars or people at all around. And yet, Gu Jie didn't seem disheartened by the lack of hostages to use. It's not like he was confident either, he could feel "death" approaching his car and instinctively knew that he couldn't win against his pursuer. He was just trying to keep his cool. He ordered the three puppets to hinder the pursuer so they broke the glass from the back of the car and started bombarding Tatsuya with bullets and magic.

(I don't understand… Why am I struggling so much, when my plan hasn't even truly started…? I can understand that the TMC deemed me dangerous and decided to hunt me down but why have they mobilized such manpower? All the hideouts and traps I prepared so meticulously, used up in one go… Was it their fault? The Untouchables… That ridiculous engagement between multiple clans gave them the cooperation necessary to ruin all my efforts so easily. I can't allow such a stupid thing to be my undoing! I swear I will take at least one of them down!) Gu Jie thought inside the car.

Tatsuya dodged a few bullets while he used Gram Demolition to stop the magic before it was used. Then, he used Decomposition to disassemble their guns. Seeing as he needed to take those three out to get to Gu Jie, he aimed his Decomposition at their hearts but then…

"This is…" Tatsuya murmured unpleasantly.

Tatsuya tried to use Decomposition but his magic was interrupted. The puppets inside the car were using Gram Demolition too. More specifically, it was a "forced" Gram Demolition, one that was used by people who couldn't use it normally and required their life force as fuel. These "corpses" were dying just by doing that. They were shortening their duration even more. If this kept up, they would die before Tatsuya got to kill them himself.

Tatsuya got even more enraged seeing that. He knew he should avoid using Decomposition out in the open but he believed that Kyouko would be able to do something about the cameras. He used Decomposition faster than the puppets could gather the psions needed for Gram Demolition and turned the car to dust. Gu Jie was shocked but his shock was interrupted by the impact of his body against the road at high speed. Tatsuya wasted no time and decomposed the puppets' hearts as well. Now all that remained was the mastermind on the ground, he wasn't unconscious but wasn't standing either. It seemed he took some damage from the fall.

Tatsuya looked down on him and almost pulled the trigger one more time to erase Gu Jie but recalled the collateral damage from the previous explosions. The damage itself was kept to a minimum but anti-magic extremists were definitely going to create a case because of this. They needed to give the public a culprit to blame and condemn. Resisting the temptation, Tatsuya used Move type magic and kicked Gu Ji in the face, knocking him out instantly. He could have used Phantom Blow but chose the most satisfying method.

Suddenly…

[Can you hear me, Tatsuya-kun?] a voice came from his communication device.

"Loud and clear, Kyouko-san." Tatsuya answered.

[How is the situation with Gu Jie?]

"Suspect in custody."

[You did it! Congratulations, Tatsuya-kun.]

"It was only possible with everybody's cooperation. Speaking of which, what is everybody's status?"

[Done for the most part. Ayako-san, Ichijou-san and Inspector Chiba are already done. Juumonji was almost done but since taking down Gu Jie stopped the puppets, he must be done too.] Kyouko reported.

"And Mayumi-san?"

[...Well, she told me she was almost done as well. Only, Kasumi-chan hit her head but it doesn't seem to be serious.]

"...If needed, I could use Regrowth."

[You should say that to Mayumi personally. I'm sure she will be happy. But I don't think you will need to use it.]

"I see."

[We will send a transport to take Gu Jie. Just wait for a little bit.]

"Understood." said Tatsuya ending the call.

Tatsuya leaned against his bike and looked to the sky, thinking about Miyuki. After this mission, where he saw the very personification of something disliked to the extreme, he really needed to see Miyuki. He wanted nothing more than to erase Gu Jie and go back to Miyuki right now.

(Gu Jie has been dealt with, now to worry about Edward Clark… no, I should be thinking about school as well.)

Tatsuya still needed to worry about his classmates' reactions when he returned to First High. He didn't care that much but it could affect Miyuki.

(Somehow, the troubles never seem to end…)

~~~Mayumi side~~~

"They stopped…?" Mayumi cautiously looked at her opponents.

After her sisters left, she took down half of the enemies but some of them came back to life. Even the ones who were not in a good shape but still had their heads and hearts intact. It was a gruesome sight, like a zombie movie. Even in that decaying state, they could still use magic to attack so Mayumi had to use Psion Bullet to stop their magic. To her surprise, some of the puppets were using Gram Demolition to stop her magic, forcing her to retreat back to the intersection. And back to the present…

Just as Mayumi was wondering what to do, the corpses fell back dead. She used the chance, while her still living enemies were startled and shot her Dry Meteor again, only this time she was doing the same she did to Lu Ganghu. Right at the moment of impact, the block of dry ice vaporized and suffocated the enemy. She knocked them out without wounding or killing them and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You did it, Tatsuya-kun." Mayumi could guess what happened.

(But really, your timing ability is quite convenient. You weren't waiting for the darkest hour to save me, right?)

Mayumi laughed a little at her own thoughts and walked back to the entrance. She had already verified with her Multi-Scope that there were no hostels left. Now, the clean up team was going to double check the building. Her work was done and she needed to see how Kasumi was doing.

~~~Juumonji side~~~

"So it's over." Katsuto commented.

The only enemies left were the puppets that were still moving despite their broken state. Katsuto had already knocked out all living enemies, while making sure the puppets couldn't kill them. It had turned into a simple battle of endurance. Phalanx is great defense but lacks offensive power compared to many other magics. Katsuto couldn't see himself losing this fight but it was going to take a little while, or so the thought, till the puppets fell to the ground.

"It's me. Get inside and take them into custody." Katsuto said over the communicator.

His subordinates and clansmen divided themselves into two groups, one to keep surrounding the building and another to get inside. As for Katsuto, he left to report the end of the operation.

~~~Ten Master Clan video conference~~~

"I've come to report." Katsuto curtly said.

[Status?] Saegusa Koichi asked.

"The operation was a success. Shiba Tatsuya has apprehended the Black Sage, Jiedo Heigu, and is escorting him to a special establishment where he will remain detained for an unspecified amount of time."

The unspoken part was "unspecified amount of time till we decided to end him".

[As expected of Tatsuya-san.] Yotsuba Maya said, pleased.

[As for the other locations?] Ichijou Gouki asked.

"As we feared, all locations had Gu Jie's influence. In every base there were corpses being controlled by Gu Jie."

[Despicable.] Mutsuzuka Atsuko commented.

[To think a magician like that infiltrated our country.] Yatsushiro Raizou agreed.

[Thankfully he was taken care of before he could do any damage.] Juumonji Kazuki added.

"Unfortunately, there was some damage." Katsuto disagreed.

[Do tell us, what happened, Juumonji Katsuto-san?] Futatsugi Mai asked.

"Gu Jie was using his controlled corpses for suicides bombings and some of the explosions caused minor damage to neighboring residences. We believe that was his intention from the moment he stole the bombs from the USNA."

[Hm… But we had already evacuated the civilians before the operation so it was just property damage.] Kudou Makoto said.

"The damage itself was minimal but there are also the victims who were used as puppets."

[This will get tricky. There's no way the anti-magician movement will stay quiet.] Mitsuya Gen commented.

"Which is why we captured Gu Jie alive, so we could present him as the mastermind."

[That is good but we should still watch our backs.] Itsuwa Isami said.

[Indeed. After all, Gu Jie was not the only one plotting against Japan.] Maya agreed.

"Understood." Katsuto bowed.

[Good work, Juumonji Katsuto-san. Please extend our thanks to all who took part in this operation.] Makoto concluded.

"As you wish."

~~~Close to Tatsuya's location~~~

"Seems like everything worked out just fine." a certain bald ninja spoke.

Kokonoe Yakumo had begun expectating since the moment Tatsuya stopped Gu Jie's car. Yakumo was, after all, one of the few who could escape Tatsuya's eyes. Though he was watching, he had no intention of involving himself even if things went badly for Tatsuya. Yakumo intended on remaining as an spectator to the end, unless of course, Miyuki was in danger. If something happened to her Tatsuya would definitely destroy the world, that was the only scenario that could make Yakumo involve himself out of his own will. If he was ordered to intervene by a certain group, he would do so too but if he wasn't…

"Well, everything is well when it ends well." Yakumo said while silently leaving that place.

~~~Yotsuba Villa~~~

"Everybody, Kyouko-san just contacted me. The operation was a success!" Miyuki happily announced.

"They did it!" Honoka also celebrated.

"Of course they did!" Lina joined in.

"Hm… are they ok?" Shizuku asked.

""Ah…"" Honoka and Lina didn't think for a moment that anybody could have gotten hurt.

"Kasumi-chan hit her head but she is fine. Everyone else is unscathed." Miyuki answered.

"What a relief." Honoka let out a breath.

"They are finishing their reports and they will get some rest, but tomorrow they will come back here."

"Then we will celebrate!" Lina exclaimed.

"Hm, sounds good." Shizuku agreed.

"Is Lina going to sing again then?" Honoka asked excitedly.

"W-Wait! I never said I would!" Lina said with a blush.

"But you seemed so fired up just now, just like when you sang at school." Honoka reminded.

"C-Come on!" Lina protested.

"I didn't get to see it…" Shizuku pouted a little.

"It's fine, Shizuku. Tatsuya-sama also didn't see it last time. You can watch Lina together." Miyuki assured.

"Why are you acting as if I already agreed?!" Lina protested again.

"Of course, no one is going to force you, Lina. But Tatsuya-sama was looking forward to it so much." Miyuki innocently lied.

"Urg… If you are going that far…" Lina reluctantly agreed.

"Then, it's decided!" Honoka exclaimed.

"Let's give everybody a surprise when they return." Miyuki clapped her hands together.

~~~Following day, in the middle of the road~~~

"..."

"..."

Tatsuya was riding his bike back home, with Erika sitting behind him. After a good night of rest, everybody recovered a little of their mood. Yesterday's mission took a toll on everybody, not physically but mentally. The things they saw, the things they never ever imagined someone was capable of doing. Some were shocked, others were pissed. In the end, the girls all decided to get together at the villa in Izu. In the end, Tatsuya stealthily used his Regrowth on Kasumi while she was asleep and no one was watching. Thanks to Kasumi's sudden recovery, Mayumi too could take part in the celebration party at Tatsuya's house.

There was a short battle over who was going to ride with Tatsuya. Kyouko and Mayumi didn't get to participate in the competition as they had their own cars to use. It was clear who won. Despite that, Erika didn't seem that thrilled, as if something was occupying her mind.

"...Tatsuya-kun." Erika suddenly said.

"What is it, Erika?"

"Have you heard about what happened during the mission?"

"Ayako mentioned that the soldiers almost caught you in a trap."

"Yeah, about that… I was never really bothered about my lack of… variety."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, I pretty much can't use long-ranged attacks and I also have no ways to counter magic. I just swing my sword and hope for the best."

"It's not that simple, is it? Most people can't do what you can, Erika."

"I get that, it's just… Ayako saved me but one wrong step and she could have died." Erika said as she tightened her hold on Tatsuya, pressing her face against his back more strongly.

"Erika…"

"Obviously I don't want to die but more than that, I don't want to die knowing that I dragged a friend with me."

"...Erika, Ayako did that because she believed she could save both of you."

"I know… but I wonder if I couldn't have done better. If I couldn't have solved that without help."

"..."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to nag you."

"..."

Tatsuya kept silent for a little while. What was going through his head, Erika had no idea. His back was facing her, not to mention he was wearing a helmet so she also couldn't see his face. He then finally spoke.

"Erika."

"Hm?"

"I don't know about long range but I believe we can do something about countering magic."

"Eh…?" Erika was definitely not expecting this.

"For example, you could cut the magic sequences to stop the magic from activating."

"W-Wait a-! Is that for real?!" Erika gasped.

"Gram Demolition is like a cannonball of psions that destroys magic sequences. In your case, you could use a blade made of psions, though you will have to use your intuition to find out the position of the enemy's magic." Tatsuya explained

"That… could actually work…" Erika contemplated.

"Of course, you will need to practice first."

"...You ARE going to help me, right? It was your idea after all." Erika was drilling holes on his back with her stare.

"It would be better to ask someone who is better at magic. You do remember my practical skills are lacking, right?"

Tatsuya wasn't trying to escape, he really was just saying the most practical way. But then again, this was a matter of feelings.

"Ta-tsu-ya-kun? I just happened to remember that you tuned some CADs recently and, oh my, mine was not included." Erika copied Mayumi's teasing with a mischievous smile.

Considering Erika was particularly fond of Mayumi, this was certainly a surprise.

"...I understand."

"Perfect! I knew I could count on you!" Erika raised her arms up in the air.

Tatsuya and Erika were unaware but three pairs of eyes were staring at them. Kyouko, Mayumi and Ayako were staring at them from inside their cars, in jealousy. Comments such as "they seem to be having fun" ressounded inside the cars.

"Anyway, about the name, why don't we call it… Gram-Cut?" Tatsuya suggested.