Rebirth

She's surprised to see the person calling her is Lina, given she doesn't tend to call without setting it up prior on email, but she doesn't hesitate to pick up, “Lina?”

The other girl's voice is tense, but she doesn't bother to beat around the bush, “Raymond Clark managed to get them to reattempt the micro black hole experiment that released the Parasites last time. He and a handful of people who were there have become new Parasites.”

Her expression darkens, “Do we know why?”

Lina laughs bitterly, “Investigations say it was from an attempt to get forces capable of offing you.” She smiles darkly, “He clearly doesn't know what happened to the last Parasites.” Then her expression tenses in concern, “But… We've been trying to figure it out and the only conclusion we've been able to reach is that since you just unraveled them basically rather than destroy them, there was still…. Some sort of echo of the previous Parasites memories left behind in whatever mental link they usually have. So even without the echo of desire from the now mentally deceased driving them to view you as an enemy, they've deemed you their number one enemy since you're actually a threat to them.”(1) 

Lina ducks her head, “I… I actually thought it was just a strange dream where I was hearing voices from the woods at first to be honest. We only realized what happened when I knew before they told me that Raymond Clark and all those others had become Parasites.” She laughs bitterly, “Actually, Command was freaked out and thought they'd taken me over at first and I knew due to their hive mind or whatever. I only got cleared through… extensive testing a little while ago.”

Her brows furrow, “Are you okay Lina?” The girl waves it off as she nods, so she moves the topic along since Lina clearly doesn't want to talk about it. She purses her lips as she looks down, “If they get close, they'll follow in the footsteps of the previous Parasites. The smart thing to do would be to try to take me out from a distance far enough away that my Elemental Sight won't really be able to get a good lock, but there aren't a lot of magics capable of that.”

Lina smiles tensely, “I know. And so do they. I imagine that's why their plan is what it is.” Her brows furrow and Lina's face tightens further, “That dream was because they actually did try to take over my body, but they couldn't do it. I managed to hear some whispers as they were trying though, most of them were frustration at not being able to overcome me, but…” Lina's expression flickers with concern, “I also caught them coming to the conclusion that the reason they couldn't was because I was a Strategic Class Magician, who they decided, between the echo memories of the previous Parasites fight with you and my preventing them from taking me over, likely all have too strong of wills for them to overcome. It makes sense in a way given the control needed for Strategic Class Magics, but…”

Lina bites her bottom lip, then breathes out a shaky breath, “They did apparently manage to connect enough to get the Strategic Class Magic Heavy Metal Burst from my mind. When they were withdrawing, I heard whispers of the beginning of a plan to go around and collect the Strategic Class Magics from the known casters around the world.” Lina smiles wanly, “In that sense, I suppose it's a good thing that Igor is dead, but…” She sighs, “While the GAU has finally admitted to Liú Yúndé's death, that was only when his granddaughter Liú Lìlěi had achieved his Thunderclap Tower and was therefore ready to be announced as his replacement as their Strategic Class Magician, so Tuman Bomba is off the table of what they can snag, but Thunderclap Tower is back up for grabs for them.”

She breathes out a deep sigh, “...I need to warn those I have contact with, Asha needs to be on the lookout since while she can't cast it, she diddesign Agni Downburst, so she needs to have security around her since she's really not a combat capable magician. I can get in touch with Itsuwa Mio as well. The USNA needs to make contact with the rest. This isn't a matter of nations and loyalties or enemies.”

She shakes her head, “The Parasites have already made it clear they are enemies to humanity, if they manage to collect a decent amount of Strategic Class Magic… Well, just because they intend to start with Japan and me, does not mean it'll end with us. I actually sincerely doubt it, given the previous group killed a good chunk of people just trying to increasetheir numbers. In light of that, as well as their recent respect for me, I can probably speak to the GAU.”

Lina's face tightens again, “You aren't wrong that it's everyone's problem, that's for sure... I'll speak to Colonel Balance about reaching out.”

She nods, “Alright then. I'll speak to you later Lina, but I need to make some calls.”

Lina murmurs her goodbyes and the connection cuts. She sighs in aggravation as she scrubs at her eyes. That damned idiot Raymond couldn't just accept defeat and let it go. And now look at the mess he's made.

Edward Clark had tried to justify himself by claiming she was a threat to the entire world. Funny, well funny in a messed up way, how his son turned around and released an actual global threat.

Maya is gazing down at her desk from what she can tell on the video call, “Well… forgive my crudeness, but fuck.”

She snorts, voice turning dry, “Tell me about it.”

Maya scrubs at her face, “Damage control. Let's assume they manage to get their hands on all of the other Strategic Class Magics known. How do we deal with them?”

She hums, “Well, the ones other than my own that we know of are ten: Heavy Metal Burst, Leviathan, Tuman Bomba, Army of Terra, Thunderclap Tower, Agni-Downburst, Abyss, Synchronized Linear Fusion, Ozone Circle, and Bahamut. Tuman Bomba is likely out of play, as unless they can get their hands on the magic sequence for it from somewhere else, which I sincerely doubt given how prideful he seemed, Igor Bezobrazov would've taken it to his grave, which takes it off the table. Abyss and Leviathan are strongest in or around large bodies of water, so firstly, I'd say dock all our ships and don't go on the ocean and the like. Patrolling our waters are the least of our concerns at the moment.”

Maya nods so she continues, “Abyss can work on groundwater, but if we deploy large scale cast jammers pointed underground… that may work. Covering the air for the water particles Leviathan controls to either make defensive bubbles or drown entire bases and/or cities would be trickier, but technically doable, though it would come at the cost of having to fly planes and all that without magic. Bahamut is generally seen also as a spell that does best on the ocean, but that's because it triggers earthquakes, and doing so undersea ends up triggering a tsunami. The earthquakes aren't that big of a deal, given the vast majority of buildings have modern earthquake resistance of some form or another, so it's really just the tsunamis that are the real problem. But there isn't much we can do about that except encourage people to high ground and maybe have the Magic Association spread out magicians good at shields to try to stop them. So, that covers the ones most effective on the sea.”

Maya nods, “Thunderclap Tower isn't that big of a deal. Direct strikes from its lightning storm are rare, and its focus is on structural damage and electronic interference. The structural damage aspect… all I can think of is to rush out a lot of huge lightning rods, but it also practically acts as an EMP…”

She shakes her head, “The vast majority of tech nowadays is hardened, it's more the way it messes with signals that's the problem, but a quick modification could be made so that the information dimension sent signals aren't just dropped into the air from the towers but are directly sent to devices who also send their return signals directly. Can't do anything to the signals if they're never in the physical world. Army of Terra is honestly barely a Strategic Class Magic, given its only deemed that from the sheer number of Earthen Soldiers it brings up to be directed by the caster. Theoretically, if we could do some sort of targeted magic signal jamming, they'd be useless, but otherwise, the only option there is to fight. Which brings us to the types that are generally linked to ‘air’ rather than the watery and earthen ones.”

Maya nods, “Heavy Metal Burst, Agni-Downburst, Synchronized Linear Fusion, and Ozone Circle.” Maya looks up, “Let's see… Heavy Metal Burst functions by turning heavy metals into plasma, Synchronized Linear Fusion functions by basically throwing two clouds of hydrogen plasma at one another resulting in a thermonuclear explosion, Ozone Circle quickly generates high concentrations of ozone gas, and Agni-Downburst essentially creates a dense pocket of air high up and drops it, essentially creating a heat explosion from the heat generated by the initial compression and then increased by air friction as it drops…. How on Earth are we meant to handle those?”

She hums, “Well… I've been working on an area of effect Decomposition, for Heavy Metal Burst, I could set up denial zones for loose particles in the air and all that. Wouldn't help with an explosion set off above cities though.”

Maya jolts, “Since when have you been working on an area of effect Decomposition? And how come I didn't know?”

She shrugs, “I'm still working out some kinks, and it functions by essentially making it so rather than me having to read the Eidos of everything I want to use Decomposition on, it sets up a zone with a set of rules and automatically Decomposes anything that breaks them. Theoretically, if I could set its denial to air of a certain compression level, that could potentially take care of an over-city explosion from Heavy Metal Burst, as well as Synchronized Linear Fusion and Agni-Downburst. Wouldn't help with Ozone Circle though. And that's absolutely assuming I can get it to work. Then it'd just be a matter of hiding magic sequence storages around and having Rowena maintain them.”

She straightens, “Or better yet, just make more custom H3s that can hold Rowena and have them go around, since as an AI, it's not like she wouldn't be able to control many of them all at once. Actually, on that note… may not even need the jamming in the air or underground, since she could just use the area of effect Decomposition to deny large scale manipulations of both the water in the air and underground. Further, if we do take out the possible air jamming and switch purely to flying magic, she could deny the entry of not only the shock-waves and compressed air, but any heat over a certain limit.”

“Just as an example, if she set it to fifty and something with a temperature of one hundred tried to enter, the area of effect Decomposition would destroy the excess heat energy and only allow the fifty that's within the limit in. Similarly, if we put H3s capable of containing her on our ships, we wouldn't have to dock them. She could also deny the entry of any water over a certain height on the shore line. And also disrupt the concentration of ozone gas down here. As well as do the same for concentrating heavy metals quickly with magic. Could also just set up a denial of the lightning strikes or electrical interference from the artificially overactive storm.”

She tilts her head to the side briefly as her eyebrows raise for a moment, “I'll admit that I didn't think very highly of it, but ironically, what with said lack of high esteem, given we kind of stand on a concentration of earth, there's no real way to set up a denial zone for Army of Terra. So in a strange twist of events, it's really just Army of Terra that's a problem.” She looks back up, growing defensive as the way Maya has her face buried in her hands with shaking shoulders, even as Hayama in the background looks away and purses his twitching lips, “What?”

Maya lifts her head, a huge amused smile on her face, “Do you even realize you just told me that eight of the ten currently known Strategic Class Magics are ‘no big deal’ and it's only the weakest that's even a little problem? Nine if there is record of Tumab Bomba left, since it would fall to the same area of effect Decomposition denial. And you can take them on simultaneously. Really from what you're saying the only reason you need Rowena is because you can't be everywhere at once.”

She gives her Aunt a strange look, “Yeah, and?”

Maya shakes her head, “I will never understand how you fail to see how incredible you are.”

She rolls her eyes, “Oh, this again. I keep telling you, it only seems amazing because there's nothing quite like Decomposition in this world except for my Elemental Sight. It's more luck from having a born specialization like that than anything. Anyway, it's really just Army of Terra that's a problem, since the whole reason it's considered a Strategic Class Magic even though it really only uses a modern take on an Ancient Magic is because it doesn't just make earthen soldier golems or whatever you want to call them, it makes ten thousand that the caster can sort of control at once.”

She shakes her head, “Not with precision from my understanding mind, but vague orders like ‘kill these people’ or ‘take over this building’ but considering all of the Parasites would be able to cast it... And with Army of Terra there's really no way to just outlast how much magic they have to make more as they get destroyed nor stop them from casting unless we find their bodies, which they can just jump out of and take over a new one unless they're sealed by an Ancient Magician or I manage to destroy them. So we've still got a pretty big problem.”

Maya nods, “That we do, but it's significantly more manageable. We'll need to get in touch with the other Clans and figure out how we're going to handle the invasion.”

She nods, “About that actually…” Maya raises an eyebrow, and she sighs, “I know the Yotsuba are all for secrecy, and I get it, but we're already pretty far along on moving the main Yotsuba house to Miyaki Island, and I know you've already started eying Mars to make somewhere there either the main base of operations or our secondary one.”

Maya tiles her head, “Well yes, what about it?”

She gives Maya a deadpan look, “To effectively face them, a safe zone to fall back, somewhere that has good information collection across the country, and rapid response is going to be key. With the Teleport Gate there which has the authorization to access the ones you had installed in various businesses we own across the country and our information collection which pretty much all funnels there, the current Yotsuba village not only has all three, but is our best bet. Particularly when you take into account that basically no one but the Yotsuba and its employees know where it is, so they really won't have anywhere to acquire the intel so they can strike.”

Maya's eyes go wide, “...You want to open up the Yotsuba village to the other Clans.”

She tilts her head back and forth in a ‘so-so’ gesture, “I want the Yotsuba to take advantage of the fact we have a lot of the building on Miyaki island already done, have a Rowena H3 -or a couple depending on what's needed for full coverage- there covering it, and the Yotsuba to accelerate the plans to move to now so everything secret and the majority of people are removed. With the only things left there being the Teleport Gate, the info data collection hub, and critical staff, so we can bring the other Clans in to give us our best shot at holding the proverbial line until we can pin the bastards down.”

Maya seems to have had the wrong idea before, since she relaxes at that, gaining a thoughtful look, “Well… It goes against general Yotsuba doctrine, by which even if we already had somewhere on Mars and Miyaki island as our first and secondary base, the old village would generally be considered the tertiary base, but…”

Maya pursues her lips, “It can't be denied that the Yotsuba will be in trouble if the Parasites aren't stopped, neither can it be denied that it truly is the best base of operations for what's coming…” She sighs, then straightens her back, “Very well. We will get started on clearing out the village,” She glances to the side Hayama is on but not fully over her shoulder and he bows before quickly exiting the frame, “and I will call for an emergency Master Clans meeting so the rest can be filled in and start to prepare.”

She nods, “You may want to let them know the Yotsuba will supply the base of operations we'll be working with since we have one that has rapid response coverage of all of Japan, or they may make preparations for bases in each of their regions.”

Maya nods, then after hesitating a moment, adds to the plan a little, “There isn't room for every child in Japan obviously, but you should invite your friends at minimum.” She gives Maya a surprised look but she firmly shakes her head, “No seriously. You take the safety of all children particularly serious I know, but it's arguably a tactical decision, since even if they want to insist on doing their part, given you know and care for them personally and not just in general, it could distract you if you don't know for sure they at least have somewhere to fall back to and rest safely between whenever they insist on helping.”

She hesitates, because it feels selfish but… she can't deny what Maya is saying to be honest, “I… I'll bring it up after it's inevitably announced so the citizens can know they may have to head to shelter at a moment's notice from the Terra soldiers I guess.”

Maya tilts her head thoughtfully, but nods, “Alright. I'll reach out to the other Clan heads to get the ball rolling on preparations. I'll talk to you later Toshiko.”

She nods, “Yeah, later Maya.”

As the call ends, she feels her brows furrow in thought. She really can't deny what Maya said, but… there isn't enough room to secure all the children of Japan or anything like that in the hidden Yotsuba village, and it feels incredibly selfish to secure her friends. She can't deny that even though she knows they're too stubborn to sit by idly while something as big as this is happening, and she can't deny that there's a part of her that feels relieved at the idea of them having a safety net to fall back to and secure their rest, but she also can't deny that it feels selfish enough to make her feel uncomfortable.

She knows full well that the Ten Master Clans, as well as the Eighteen -well Seventeen since she crushed the Tooyama- Assistant Houses and Hundred Families have been preparing en masse. While there isn't enough room for them all in the hidden Yotsuba village, the outline of the plan has been that the Seventeen Assistant Houses and Hundred Families will secure each of the Ten Master Clans regions, while the Ten Master Clans themselves will fall back to the Yotsuba's offered base and be able to react to the nationwide situation in real time. Reinforcing where it's needed at the drop of a hat and not potentially wasting the crème de la crème of Japan's magician manpower in areas the Parasites may not even hit.

The funny thing is, as she's been running around placing backup magic sequence storages around big cities just in case Rowena's H3s -which Ushiyama and the rest of her division at FLT had been modifying for her use as quick as they could in the preparation phase- in that region is taken out as well as working on something using the Chain Casting Tuman Bomba had implemented on the side, and vaguely hearing some of the talk between them all, she learns from some of that chatter that Maya never told them exactly where they were pulling back to. Just that it was a Yotsuba base. Which, on another note, seems to have made them all feel odd at the idea that the Yotsuba have had something like that up their sleeve this whole time and not a single one of them knew it.

Even as she's been doing that though, she had swung by to talk to her friends, guilty and awkward. Only to find out that Maya, Sora, Miho, and Hoshi had already discussed it with them and straightened all the details out. Not because they didn't trust her not to be able to bring up something so critical with them, but because they knew the perceived selfishness of it would bother her, so they'd wanted to get it all worked out prior so the only thing left would be her getting reassurance from them directly that they absolutely intended to use the Yotsuba base Maya was offering between helping out when they could.

There also wasn't enough room for all of them either of course, but Maya had informed her when she called to talk to her about getting in touch with them for her that the command of the 101st was going to be utilizing their national coverage and assured safety as well to direct the 101st from. Which meant at minimum, Kazama and Kyouko would be there as well to serve as the 101st's command center, using the safety of the hidden Yotsuba village to secure said command center while also making it easy for them to easily work in cooperation with the Ten Master Clans and the rest.

For that matter, so was her Master, though mostly to easily make plans with the other groups and direct his disciples with the information from there. From her understanding, there were going to be higher ups from the other branches of the JSDF there too for similar reasons. They wouldn't be at the Yotsuba village for the most part, but on top of all that, reinforcements have been coming in from damn near the whole world. Which she honestly thought was overkill, but while they'd told them they had a plan, it was absolutely better to be safe and have backup then potentially be sorry if the plan doesn't work as well as they're thinking.

On the side of bad news, unsurprisingly given Lina hadn't made direct contact and had just experienced them trying to take over in her dreams, which implies not having to have a physical body nearby, the Strategic Class Magicians have been reporting one by one that they experienced the same sort of ‘dream’ Lina had, so there's a good chance the Parasites are making steady progress on collecting the Strategic Class Magics for one large assault.

There's not a whole lot they can do about that but just be grateful that though they have tried, the theory the Parasites have that just using a Strategic Class Magic requires a strength of mind that puts them firmly out of the Parasites ability to actually take over seems to be correct.

She's actually currently helping the Kudou finish getting ready to head over to the Yotsuba base, and she's not the only one, given the Kudou had a delay so they were the only ones who weren't quite ready. Which was a problem actually, given they'd received word two weeks ago that Leonid Kondrachenko, the last of the known Strategic Class Magicians the Parasites needed to raid the mind of as they made their steady way from west to east had been visited. Since the Parasites hadn't tried more than once, the assumption was that they'd gotten his Army of Terra from him.

Given the rest had been ready, others in the Ten Master Clans were helping the Kudou finish up as well, and given she was going to be there anyway and the schools had switched entirely to online for the time being since the Parasites visited Leonid Kondrachenko, her friends had even tagged along to help. Hell, even her Master was there with some of his disciples and Kazama was there with some of the 101st while they hurried through it as fast as they could without neglecting anything, since none of them want the Kudou to basically be caught with their pants down.

All of which is basically to say they're all together helping with the last bit of preparation at the Kudou main house when they start seeing the unnaturally active lightning storm that can only be Thunderclap Tower. She narrows her eyes at it, “So it's begun then.”

Mikihiko squeezes the box he'd been carrying nervously, “How confident are you in your plan?”

She shakes her head, “Ninety-five percent. We're almost done. Let's finish up quickly so we can get to the Yotsuba base.”

That definitely seems to light a fire under them all to wrap up quickly that's for sure. She keeps catching people throwing nervous glances up, but neither the Thunderclap Tower storm, nor the Agni-Downburst they seem to throw at them -either because they were just targeting the Kudou or they'd somehow found out they were basically all in one place at the moment- breaches the area of effect Decomposition denial zone.

As they finish up, load up, and the cars the Yotsuba provided start leaving, they see a Synchronized Linear Fusion going off in the distance over one of the cities. The blast wave of which is also denied. The terminal placed in the center console lights up with calls from basically all of the cars, which she accepts all together with a conference call, “Yes?”

Juumonji is the one who manages to speak first, “Miss Shiba, what in the hell did you do? Lady Yotsuba said you had a plan for the majority of the Strategic Class Magics, but this..?”

She hums, “As was revealed by the person who revealed what former Major General Saeki was doing, my Strategic Class Magic is a usage of my born specialization. It occurred to me when Maya and I were talking about how to handle them though, that since I've actually been working on an area of effect Decomposition, if I gave Rowena the magic sequence for it, then she could essentially just make an area of denial for anything over a certain level of air pressure, shock waves, or heat as well as deny large scale water manipulation or tides over a certain height, and also the concentration of ozone or heavy metals.”

“So, it's really just Army of Terra we have to deal with. It's funny actually, since I thought that one was the least threatening, but it's the only one I can't really set up a denial zone for, since it's made from the same ground we walk on, so… Not that we won't still have a fight ahead of us, given all of the Parasites can cast it now that they have the magic sequence, which means thousands of those earthen soldiers in basically a never ending stream to defend against until either Ancient Magicians can seal the Parasites or I can use Decomposition to destroy them. So it's not like it's suddenly a walk in the park or something, just not the near apocalypse we were initially expecting it to be.”

There's a heavy silence on the conference call between the vehicles, before Kyouko, who was there to assist her family in the last minute preparations, starts laughing in a sort of helpless hysteria, “Why am I not surprised Toshiko?!”

She tilts her head at the terminal, “We're still going to have a fight on our hands though, Kyouko-nee. Also, you need to shut down the cameras like we talked about if you haven't already.”

Kyouko huffs in amusement, “Already did! And yes we will have a fight, but it'll be a fight instead of a desperate struggle to find some way to beat the impossible odds.”

Juumonji makes a noise of agreement, “Quite. Why was this information not released though Miss Shiba?”

She hums vaguely, “Because I was still working out some tweaks, so I couldn't guarantee it would work right, and if everyone got their hopes up that the rest of the Strategic Class Magics would be blocked only for it to fail, it would've crushed morale.”

Juumonji hums, “Ahh. Well… you aren't wrong there.”

Mikihiko leans forward from where he's sitting behind her in the SUV, “Wouldn't that also count as a Strategic Class Magic?”

There's a beat of silence as she glances back at him thoughtfully, before turning back around, “I suppose it would.”

The new Lord Saegusa sounds utterly exhausted, “Which means Miss Shiba has two Strategic Class Magics.”

She hums, “Well… Technically I've been working on something on the side while we were preparing specifically for the Parasites, but I suppose theoretically it could be combined with my area of effect and used as a rather nasty Strategic Class Magic itself…”

Juumonji sounds like he's starting to feel Saegusa's fatigue, “So three then. You have three Strategic Class Magics.”

She shrugs, “If that other one works out, technically I would, but I wasn't kidding when I said it would be a nasty Strategic Class Magic in my opinion, so it's really not something to be used. Not in the manner of a Strategic Class Magic anyway.”

Juumonji sighs, “Even if you have zero intention of using it, it doesn't change the fact you do have a third you could pull out if you felt it necessary.”

She shrugs, “I suppose so.” There's a heavy silence for reasons she doesn't quite get, but no one says anything else, so she shrugs again, “We have a few hours drive ahead of us since you'll all need to enter the barrier the old fashioned way the first time, so get comfortable, but I'm hanging up the conference call. Keep talking or hang up yourselves, whichever you prefer.”

There are vague murmurs of understanding but no protests so she follows through and leaves the call, getting comfortable given the drive ahead of them.

They're almost at the Yotsuba village when the vehicle's dashboard terminal receives a call to join an already in progress conference call which seems to be linking the rest of the vehicles together. The moment she answers, Retsu's voice is the one to speak up, “Where precisely are we going Toshiko? We all got your message that we'd be arriving shortly, but… there's nothing out here. This section of freeway takes a bit before it comes across anything really.”

She laughs lightly, “Nothing that you know of. But we are, in fact, almost there.” As they enter the tunnel and she presses the button to send the password to authorize their entire train of vehicles, she hums, “Mind, we were already in the process of moving this base, so when I suggested it, the whole thing was cleared out. Just necessary equipment, housing necessities, and necessary staff there now. Kind of a ghost town really.”

Juumonji's voice is a bit confused, “You mean ‘kind of like an abandoned base’. Ghost town is a bit of a stretch.”

She laughs, “You'll see. Ah, the magic should activate any moment now.”

There's noises of confusion, but they turn to absolute surprise when a wave of magic washes over them. While their vehicles are keyed in so it doesn't affect them, given they're all magicians and the way magic works in this universe, they can still sense that its goal is to make everyone not keyed in pay no mind to their vehicles or the wall on the left side of the tunnel. That, of course, draws their attention to the left side of the tunnel in time to see the camouflaged door start to slide open revealing a freeway exit.

As they start through that tunnel she glances at the terminal to make sure the call is still active before speaking, “Ah, I should warn you. The Yotsuba are much more strict about security then the other Clans from what I've seen, but there's no need to be alarmed, it's standard protocol. The same would be done if it was Maya's vehicle because no one gets a free pass by Yotsuba policy.”

There's some confused murmurs of understanding, and another moment of silence before they exit the tunnel into the mountain enclosed valley. They pass through the first barrier designed to cast an illusion so any aerial view thinks it's just a solid mountain range a split second before they exit the tunnel though.

Then they approach the guard house to the side of the only gate set in the wall surrounding the village, the train of vehicles coming to a stop while guards come out to verify the identities of those within the vehicles physically, even as other guards lead a few dogs around them to sniff for explosives or anything like that.

The guards split up to check the vehicle passengers quicker, and she rolls down the driver window on hers as one of them approaches. He smiles in wordless gratitude at her cooperation and pokes his head in to check the passengers in the back, checking a list on a tablet terminal and checking them off quickly.

He smiles again as the guard with the dog clears their vehicle on his end, “Thank you for your cooperation Lady Shiba.”

She nods and rolls her window back up as he moves on to check another vehicle. Since hers is in front, she has to wait for them to check them all over, vaguely hearing brief snippets of conversation over the still active conference call before the gate is opened and they're all let in. A few moments after the vehicles start to pass the gate, someone, perhaps Saegusa given the follow up, makes a choking noise over the call, “Lady Shiba?! What on Earth is this?!”

She smiles in bemusement, “I said it was like a ghost town.”

There's a heavy silence on the call as she gazes at the empty streets lined with everything you'd expect in a town. Shops, schools, fire stations, housing, you name it there's at least one they pass by as they go down the main road in a bit of a mishmash between more modern style buildings for schools and the like and traditional Japanese buildings for homes and things like that. The thing is practically completely empty though, just a handful of people here and there.

Retsu's voice is stunned when he breaks the silence, “I always knew the Yotsuba had more than they let on, but this…”

She shrugs, “Housing and accommodations for some of our employees is all.”

Saegusa makes a choked noise, his voice an octave higher than usual, “Some?! And what the hell is with this level of secrecy anyway?!”

She hums, “I once put it into more traditional terms for someone else, and it's rather accurate. If you wanna think about the more research focused Clans as similar to blacksmiths making the weaponry, and combat oriented Clans as samurai and the like, then the Yotsuba's job was to be the Shinobi. Or as I put it in that discussion that ended up public from that video, it's our job to be the monsters in the dark that make people jump at shadows.”

Saegusa's voice is tense, “Just because that's the role the Yotsuba have taken does not mean that's what your job is.”

Kyouko pipes up there, “Oh no. As a military officer who's seen the sort of work the Yotsuba have been given, she's one hundred percent correct that it is, in fact, their job to be like that.”

The current Lord Kudou pipes up right after, “There's no valley on the maps of this area.”

She hums, “Not anymore no.”

His voice is a little snappy at that, “I'm literally looking at a map right now!”

She rolls her eyes since they don't have the video aspect on, “And I said anymore.” There's a heavy silence and she shakes her head, “You won't find it on any map nowadays, nor see it if you fly over given the barrier. You'd have to have a paper map that shows the region from before, ohh, about 2050 I'd say?”

There's another heavy silence before Lord Kudou finally manages to find his voice though it's a bit choked, “You changed the maps?”

She hums, “Of course. It makes no sense to hide this valley and not do so.”

She chooses not to mention that the Yotsuba at the time went around wiping out the knowledge of where it was from the minds of those that knew as well, since that'd just make them nervous about the same happening to them. The Yotsuba had zero intention to do it, since the location of the main house was already moved by now, even if the new village on Miyaki island was still in progress. She's heard it's kind of tight quarters there from people cramming into the buildings that were already up, but it can't be helped. Besides, all it really does is get them to focus on construction to get it done quickly rather than doing it on the side as they focus on other things.

She huffs as they approach the former main house itself, “Actually, the house was built over the Fourth Research Institute, which is now in the basement of said house.”

Juumonji pipes up at that point, “This is where the Fourth Laboratory was?” She hums in agreement, and he pushes on, the slightest tinge of desperation in his voice, “Then. Are some of these houses and facilities for the other Clans of Four?”

She's quiet a beat, but they'd already realized that the situation was too pressing for them to just… not mention it, “There aren't any others.”

Saegusa joins in at that, “Pardon?”

She shakes her head, even though they won't see it, “There aren't any other families of Four from the Fourth Laboratory. The Yotsuba were the only ones who survived its harsh environment. Why do you think there aren't any families from Four in the Assistant Houses to back us up, or potentially try to take our seat on the Ten Master Clans from us?”

There's another silence at that, but even if someone was going to reply after letting that sink in for a minute or so, her vehicle pulls around to drop her off, her door facing the former main house and she climbs out, not bothering to disconnect from the call since the moment the vehicle doesn't detect anyone inside, it'll disconnect on its own. As she steps out, having just been at the Kudou house and knowing what the other's houses look like, she can't help but be even more aware than usual of the difference.

The other Ten Master Clans’ houses were grand affairs in western style, mansions of marble and all that. In and of itself, that wasn't inherently bad, but... They were cold and impersonal, lacking character and coming across less like a home and more like someone puffing out their chest and strutting around like a pretentious peacock. Trying hard to look impressive, to be impressive to any who gaze at them.

The Yotsuba house -or former house since they've officially moved to Miyaki Island- on the other hand, was still large, certainly, but it was a traditional Japanese building that was only one story. She'll admit that it's hard to say if it's any more personal than the others, but it does come off more like a dignified general, calmly resting in seiza with no need to show off shiny armor like the others since he knows his worth, and absolutely ready and willing to draw his sword at a moment's notice if necessary. Or, that's her impression at least. She'll admit she may be biased, since regardless of the issues she has with the majority of the older generations, it is, or was rather, her Clan home.

There are servants waiting outside, both to greet them but mainly to assist in bringing in the things they brought from the Kudou house, since the rest from the other Clans had already been picked up by Yotsuba servants. They bow and greet her respectfully as she climbs out, before Misses Shirakawa informs her, “Lady Yotsuba is waiting for you and the Clan heads in the Antechamber.”

She nods, “Thank you Shirakawa.” She glances back at the group, “The staff will escort the rest of your Clans to their rooms or the command center, wherever they need to be, so just follow me.” Then she glances at her friends, “Given you don't really have a representative -unless you count me or Sora, Miho, or Hoshi- you're welcome to come.”

As she heads off, Lord Kudou quickly moves up to her side, “The Antechamber? Why not whatever main room it leads to?”

It was probably due to a mixture of the tenseness of the situation now that they know the Parasites have arrived to attack and the fact he's still a little bitter with her writing him out of Minoru's genetics that makes his tone so rude. She side eyes him, “Considering it leads to the Clan Meeting Hall, which is traditional tatami mats with a slightly raised platform at the end that generally the Clan head sits on while the rest of the Yotsuba sit on the tatami mats below, I imagine it was Maya's way of acknowledging that you're Clan heads as well and it would be rude to essentially force you to kneel below her.”

His face reddens as his jaw, which had been opened on more complaints, snaps shut with an audible click. Seemingly a bit annoyed at his son's behavior as well, Retsu steps up to her other side to add, “That's quite thoughtful of Maya.”

She hums, “Maya can be more thoughtful than people give her credit for. Often due to the fact that, again, it's the Yotsuba's job to be the scary monster in the dark. It's admittedly not the only factor, but it is one of the main ones. And due to those, it's honestly only when it suits her and assuming you haven't angered her. But really don't put yourself in a position where she feels it's necessary to flash the Yotsuba's teeth at you and be respectful to her and the Yotsuba and she's often perfectly polite and courteous. The only real reason people rarely see it is because they keep practically yanking on or stomping on the tiger's tail.”

She'd been entering the Antechamber, which has been set up with a circular table much like the Master Clans Conference, though there are chairs around the sides of the room for other people, as she said that last sentence. Maya giggles lightly at hearing it and waves her finger playfully, “Toshiko! You aren't supposed to give people advice for dealing with me! It affects negotiations, you know!”

She chuckles as she rounds the table to drop a kiss on Maya's forehead, “We were just talking about the courtesy of you not holding this in the Clan Meeting Hall and I was commenting on why it's rarer for people to experience that courtesy. Giving them a little advice on not essentially challenging you in such a way you feel you have to not be courteous to make a point doesn't affect your negotiations. There's a vast difference between acquiring basic courtesy and gaining an upper hand in negotiations.”

Maya smiles at the brushed kiss, “Oh, is that all? Never mind then. If you can educate them on not being so rude it would certainly save me some hassle.”

As the others all move to get themselves situated, she takes advantage of them having a little time, saying warmly, “We may have been in communication and I may have known you were safe here, but I'm glad to see you in good health Maya.”

Maya's smile widens, her voice turning a bit doting as she strokes her cheek softly, “Thank you darling. It's similarly good to see you doing well.”

Still having a bit more time, she comments idly, “It honestly feels a bit strange to be dressed like this here.”

Maya laughs, “Mm. I know what you mean. It's been used for other things obviously, but I'm used to being here mostly prior to our new years gatherings and those are always in traditional clothes. I may not have been out here waiting to be called in by family to greet the Clan Head and take their spot since before I became the Clan Head, but that was true even before that, so it feels a little odd to me as well.”

Everyone gets settled around that time, so she steps back to be behind Maya, catching everyone giving her odd or stupefied looks or glancing between her and Maya with baffled expressions. She can only assume they're thrown off by the fact she and Maya genuinely have a good, warm, affectionate relationship.

She settles in as the meeting starts off. She and Maya were already predicting it'd be a longer one and the Yotsuba would undoubtedly have to give up at least a couple secrets, but there were more important things, and effectively fighting off such a threat certainly qualifies. She's just glad she and Maya had the foresight to make sure all the Teleport Gates they'd deployed for getting around the country weren't spread out amongst their businesses randomly so they'd have to reveal them all or anything.

They had multiple Gates under the control of multiple different front companies, but given they'd made sure each set of Gates under each company's control had full coverage, they weren't losing a whole lot revealing the ones they are. Especially since Maya had carefully selected which front companies Gates they would reveal so that it wasn't the most profitable of the ones in charge of the Gates in case any of the other Master Clans try to drive that company out of business as a means of attacking them. That being said, since it'd be suspicious if they went for the lowest earner of the lot, they'd also selected one that pulled in enough not to raise any flags.

Yakumo sidles up to her as the discussion is going over catching them up on whatever they missed en route starts, murmuring quietly to her, “I must say, as a Shinobi, this is definitely a level of secrecy and security I can get behind.”

She chuckles lightly, “I honestly wasn't ever expecting to reveal it to you Master, since it goes against Yotsuba's secrecy policies, and I figured you of all people would respect me not telling you given the reason if you ever found out, but I always sort of suspected you would if you ever got a chance to see it.”

He chuckles as well, “Ohh, I'm not upset in the slightest. It is quite something though, I've got to give the Yotsuba that. I mean, I've heard some intel here and there, but actually seeing it is something else entirely.”

She glances over, “You mean from the Senate?”

He tilts his head, “You always are scarily well informed aren't you? Yeah, from there.”

It was purposely given a name that wasn't attention grabbing, but from her understanding, the Senate's primary goal was dealing with the very sort of otherworldly threats the Parasites fell into the category of as well as powerful rogue active magicals, though they are something of a powerful information group and they rule the darker side of Japan. Not the underworld per say, but the side that does the necessary but less savory things that need to be done.

Hayama was a member of the Senate actually. It's where she first found out about it, from observing a conversation between him and Maya before they found out she kept as much of an eye on Maya as she did her when she was physically a child and started being a little more careful about their more sensitive conversations. But by then a mention had already been made, and she had mentioned it to Rowena, who had started digging basically as soon as the decision to hack Hliðskjálf was made and filled her in.

Actually that reminds her, Edward Clark had eventually been arrested for a multitude of crimes he'd committed both while trying to force her to accept the banishment from Earth that Project Dione was, as well as some illegal nonsense it turned out he was pulling with that, and after he was, Hliðskjálf had stopped responding to the ‘Sages’. She only really knew it because Rowena had told her that she'd seen multiple attempts to log in from them that were denied, which some digging had revealed was a sort of dead man's switch Edward Clark had built in so that if Echelon III ever verified news of his death, disappearance, or incarnation, Hliðskjálf was to close off and deny any log in information but his own. She's been intending to give Maya the new log in info Rowena had added which won't be denied, since she gave it similar access levels as Edward's account.

She's listening more idly, making sure to take it in, but since other than the brief summary of what they missed en route in the beginning she knows all of it, it's more in case there's some sort of development.

Really, her first priority is people's safety obviously, but the best way to guarantee that is to get rid of the threat, so while she wouldn't neglect said safety for it, her top priority was tracking down the Parasites. Their hivemind means she just needs to get one of them. She doesn't exactly regret dealing with the last Parasites, but she does curse the fact she didn't think much of how she was destroying them and only bothered to Decompose the structure to them. It's not like she knew they'd leave behind some sort of echo for others of their kind, but… Well, she still should've been more thorough.

Lord Kudou catches her attention as he says tiredly while rubbing his temples, “No, I agree with Lord Saegusa. It's nonsense that the Yotsuba monitor all of Japan.”

And well, she can't not pipe up at that, “How many times do I have to tell you? I told you that if you put all the Clans in older roles that the Yotsuba would be Shinobi, and that it's our job to be the monsters in the dark that make people jump at shadows. We can only really properly do said job if we have good information, and given we do that job for Japan and not some small local lord, we can't limit ourselves just because of arbitrary borders of which area is under which Clan’s influence.”

Yakumo backs her up immediately, “Quite. You seem to think you're protesting them having influence in each of your areas, but they don't interfere unless it's within the expectations of their job. Arguably, you're protesting them doing said job, for the government I'll remind, because you feel like they're stepping on your toes. Which is ridiculous, given the fact you weren't even aware they were operating in your areas should tell you all you need to know about how they actually keep out of your business.”

Lord Kudou flushes slightly at being called out like that, but before he can say anything, Retsu speaks up, “Very true. We cannot be upset with them for doing the task they were given. It would be as ludicrous as being upset with the Juumonji for using Phalanx to protect a city and on orders at that.”

No one can really counter that, so the discussion moves along. Regardless, she feels like they're in for a meeting that will feel long from how tiring it is no matter the actual length.

She wants to pull her hair out in frustration. It actually hasn't been difficult to find the Parasites, the problem is in catching up to any of the bastards, in closing the distance enough to get a proper lock with her Elemental Sight.

She's actually had to start being very selective about when she heads out, since the moment they realized she was somewhere, they'd start hitting there hard. Partly to slow her pursuit by making her focus on dealing with the threat to everyone around, partly to do their main goal of trying to kill her. As much as she hates it since it feels like she's neglecting protecting people, but frankly her presence puts everyone at whatever location she's at in more danger just by being there, so she's had to hold off on going out herself. 

It's frustrating beyond belief, but what can she really do? It's funny actually. Her soulmates have been so intent on trying to distract her during what downtime they have from assisting where they can, be it in the control center, helping the Ten Master Clans members around the Yotsuba village with preparations and the like, or for Sora and Hoshi, going out on the attack, that she's found a good part of being distracted from the frustration being in hyperfocusing on making sure she doesn't repeat Alexander and Melaena's accidental pregnancies. Not because she's particularly against having a child in general, even with her physically young age, but more because she honestly can't stomach the thought of bringing a baby into the world until she's at least sure the Parasite problem has been dealt with, and they obviously have no clue how long that will take.

And that's assuming the stress doesn't interfere with her ability to carry to term and the emotional wreck of that possibly happening is the last thing she needs as some horrendous cherry on top of this mess. That, and it actually hadn't been an issue as they'd joked about when they were younger of people finding the timing of their virginity loss if they knew to be strange.

While she doesn't care in general what people think, this universe had stepped back a bit when it came to sex and the idea of chastity before marriage had taken root again apparently. She found it a bit weird herself, but it didn't exactly hurt anyone if you're not being toxic about something like that, so she didn't care. She wasn't ever going to let it stop her from enjoying a full relationship with her soulmates, but there would certainly be some talk if she got pregnant both before marriage and before she graduated.

So, they've been distracting her both intentionally and directly and unintentionally and indirectly via giving her a minor obsession over practically religiously keeping on top of her birth control.

They aren't the only ones who've been trying to distract her from her frustration either. While she wasn't a magician suitable for combat, to help with the planning and all that, Asha had joined the assistance the Indo-Persian Federation had sent. Unsurprisingly from such a brilliant woman who'd invented Agni-Downburst and was also something of a friend from their time spent working together on Green Mars, she'd easily picked up on her frustration as well. She's taken to ‘taking advantage of being face to face for an extended period’ as she puts it, to discuss Green Mars and the terraforming that's still in progress when she and Asha have some downtime during the day.

Honestly, no one was talking about it, but there was a sort of… undercurrent of insisting the Mars terraforming workers stay out on the living quarters that are available to them on the Space Station for a while so that if they failed, if Japan and then the world fell, there would still be a bastion of humanity outside the Parasites reach.

The only acknowledgments anyone has given it were from things like the fact they'd sent Ancient Magicians to live out on the Space Station, both to do more research on stopping creatures like the Parasites, but also to preserve their knowledge to try to protect Mars. She's even heard murmurs of seeing about trying to deploy some sort of barrier to cover the whole planet designed to keep Parasites out. That, and the fact she's heard murmurs of the plant seed vault creating an outpost on the Station if they can't put together a good one on the planet itself, or maybe a secondary Station dedicated to it if neither of those are good options.

She appreciates Asha trying to help keep her mind off things, and she's not wrong that it has been a wonderful opportunity to be able to speak face to face everyday in it. But even between that and her soulmates trying their hardest to distract her in a completely different way, it was still frustrating.

Enough so that she's started taking over more and more of Rowena's magic coverage just to try to get the little rats. It's hard, but she's been adapting to it better than she thought she would. In fairness, she really just needs to uphold a certain set of rules her Decomposition imposes on the regions, and that wasn't too difficult. It was the sheer area covered and the information that came in from it that she'd struggled to manage before essentially training her subconscious to filter it to only relevant data.

It still gives her headaches, but she's taken over the monitoring of half of Japan by now.

She's in the command center when it happens, alarms blaring regarding magic spiking. After they get a read on what's happening, there's an air of confusion. They seem to be gearing up to cast another Synchronized Linear Fusion, but they already know that doesn't work, so none of them can understand why they're bothering with it.

Then they start layering on speed spell after speed spell, air resistance lowering spell after air resistance lowering spell.

It's not until the projected speed they should achieve climbs high enough that it clicks and she shoots to her feet.

Her expression is horrified, “They're using it as a particle accelerator.”

People look at her in confusion before glancing at the speed and blanching as they realize it themselves. There's a mad scramble to do something, anything to stop it, but it's already too late, and the spell is set off seconds later. The micro black hole they'd undoubtedly been looking to create appears, and their only saving grace is the fact they don't seem interested in letting it do any potential harm directly, since they have it magically contained.

She feels utterly torn, on one hand, they've managed to set off another controlled micro black hole to let in more Parasites, and if she can't stop them, they will tear through the world looking for hosts and killing people to make more Parasites.

But.

But.

They've overextended themselves. They've made their presences so loud in the information dimension that she doesn't need to get closer to the physical bodies they're possessing to get a solid lock on them.

Back on the bad side of things, her reaching for them with the contained micro black hole in existence and the Parasites streaming out and Merlin knows how many more on the other side sets off what may very well be the largest Pushion storm in history. Quite possibly ensnaring the entirety of Japan given the sheer number that makes up the sea of minds, thankfully still all individuals rather than melting into their own hivemind or anything like that. Far too many for her to pull that trick she had to protect Mikihiko, Erika, and Lina from the Parasite hivemind previously.

So she does the next best thing she can in a rush, even though she's never heard of a use like this. Namely, she pulls the hivemind that's crossed to their world together around the micro black hole and encircles it all in a cage of an Occlumency shield. As strong as she can possibly make it, even letting her concentration on her own falter and let it weaken to strengthen the cage. An effort which her soulmates, sister in law, Rowena, and all the kids she's taught Occlumency to quickly throw their assistance in fortifying it towards.

She mentally squeezes the hive mind as her protective fury bubbles, <You will not touch any of them. Not a single one.>

They howl in fury and throw themselves against her walls, which tremble in the sheer onslaught of their numbers. Even without Occlumency training, more than a couple people who are quick studies, a few who's minds feel familiar like Mikihiko, Erika, Shizuku, Lina, Yakumo, and Asha hurriedly copy the others in fortifying her shields. Even one's like Leo and Watanabe(2), who may not excel at mental magic but know a thing or two about fortification throw their weight into helping.

The hivemind only seems to get angrier and angrier at being unable to break through, at sensing more and more people throwing themselves into assisting from what hair thin cracks they make for a millisecond, <You will not stop us! We will have bodies! We will multiply!>

She narrows her eyes, <Are you truly all after that?>

The hivemind howls, <Yes! We are one! We have no deviations! No differences!>

Her rage turns arctic, <Then there is no reason to hold back and show any of you mercy.>

Which means there's no reason not to use what she was working on using the Chain Casting trick she learned from observing Tuman Bomba that once. And her own Occlumency walls are definitely weaker from her focus on the Occlumency containment, given she feels a ripple of confusion and shock and hears snippets.

<Tuman Bomba?>

<-Chain Cast?>

<Sounds pretty revolutionary in the fundamental way.>

<-learned something like that from a single look while under attack?>

She ignores that though, splitting her attention between clenching the hivemind together tightly and Occlumency Casting what she's been working on.

<-Occlumency Cast?>

<Keep hearing the term Occlumency, what-?>

Namely, a self perpetuating Chain Cast of Decomposition spreading through the hivemind like a radio dialed in on one specific signal so it will only affect them, targeting their Eidos, making sure to destroy them completely this time. The self perpetuating part comes in with the fact it spreads through the hivemind like a plague. The last segment of the spell set to use their magic and cast itself again on the next in the cluster, except there's no natural immunity, and it only takes about a minute to kill. Once she's cast it, she throws her all into squeezing the mental shield tight in an instant and shoving them back through the micro black hole to deliver her self perpetuating Decomposition back to their fellows on the other side and make sure none of them survive to ever come back to kill people, physically while trying to make more or mentally when they take over.

Once they're inside but in the split second before the containment of the micro black hole can fail with them gone, she uses Decomposition to destroy it as well.

The Pushion storm starts to fade out quickly at that point, but she ignores it to double check they're all gone and there's none that could potentially kill someone before her Decomposition can get them. Only once she's satisfied that there aren't any does she withdraw to restore her own Occlumency shields another split second before the Pushion storm ends.

She runs a hand through her hair as her mind starts to shift immediately to cleanup. Damages to undo, memorials for the victims she wasn't able to save. All of that. This storm may have broken, but it wasn't over just yet, not until the after effects are dealt with. She completely misses the looks of disbelief she gets from the majority of the others in the control room when she immediately orders the Yotsuba servants to start putting together the final damage report on her way out at the fact she doesn't even take a moment to let out a relieved breath, even as Miho shoots back a tired ‘she's just like that’ smile before hurrying after her.