Abnormal Type-Moon

Under the cover of night, a figure swiftly infiltrated the harbor district, dodging the patrolling automatons as they dashed toward a certain warehouse.

"Seriously, why did all the automatons suddenly go offline?"

To prevent anyone from discovering the truth, he had always hidden all his automatons in a warehouse within the harbor district. In a place teeming with automatons, hiding a few more was perfectly normal—no one would find it suspicious.

But just this evening, every single automaton he had stationed in the harbor district had abruptly lost connection.

He could still control them; none were missing.

Yet, the miniature cameras used to relay footage had all stopped working.

Could there be some new system installed near the warehouse, disrupting the network?

The harbor district occasionally received highly classified machinery shipments. To prevent hackers from infiltrating such equipment before its firewall was activated, network-jamming devices were sometimes deployed nearby.

Such occurrences were rare, but not impossible.

Perhaps a batch of precision machinery had been delivered near the warehouse where he stored his automatons.

As the shadowy figure approached the warehouse, though his mind entertained this possibility, his steps gradually slowed, moving soundlessly toward the building.

While network interference was the more likely explanation, it wasn't impossible that someone had set a trap inside, waiting for him to walk into it. He was a cautious man by nature and had no intention of barging in recklessly.

Spotting a nearby automaton transporting goods, he placed his hand on it, and a palm-sized magic circle materialized on its chassis.

He quickly installed a miniature camera on the automaton and, with a thought, took control of it.

The automaton, now freed from its original programming, marched into the warehouse under his command.

From the shadows, he pulled out his phone, observing the warehouse's interior through the camera feed.

As the automaton advanced, the scene inside unfolded on his screen—over a hundred automatons of three distinct designs stood exactly where he had left them.

But the moment the automaton took a few more steps, the feed cut out, the screen dissolving into static.

"It really is just network interference!"

Relieved, he let his guard down.

Only then did he stand up and walk into the warehouse.

To keep the automatons operational—or more precisely, to continue using them to attack others—he needed to relocate them as soon as possible.

CLANG!

The moment he stepped inside, a deafening noise erupted.

He jumped in fright.

Turning around, he saw the warehouse door slam shut behind him—right after he had entered!

"Well, well..."

The lights flickered on with a click, and Roy emerged from a corner.

"So, you're the one controlling these automatons to attack Julis?"

"Y-You—you…!"

The man's face drained of colour as he stared at Roy in panic, unable to form a coherent sentence.

A closer look revealed a tall, lanky figure, identical in build to the tallest of the three automaton models. But his upturned, snake-like eyes gave him a sinister air.

"What's your name?"

The man choked on his words.

Hearing Roy's question, his face darkened as his startled expression gradually returned to normal.

"My name is Silas Norman. We met just this evening, didn't we, special admission student?"

He still looked somewhat indignant.

"Now that you mention it, I suppose we did."

Roy thought back.

He vaguely remembered that Lester had two lackeys with him at the time—one tall and thin, the other short and fat. Their groveling demeanor had been utterly pathetic, and together with the burly Lester, their builds perfectly matched the three types of automatons.

"So, will you surrender quietly, or do I have to beat you into submission?"

"You've got some nerve, special admission student!"

Silas sneered, the corners of his upturned, triangular eyes lifting sharply as his expression grew increasingly vicious.

"There's no point hiding it now. I was indeed the one who attacked Julis. I didn't expect you to track me down here, but your mistake was leaving my automaton behind. Let me make this clear—I can control every single automatons in this place! How many do you think you can take on alone? Hahahaha!"

Silas stretched out his hand with a maniacal laugh.

There were over a hundred automatons here, each formidable in its own right and armed with light arrows and pistols. Even if they just swarmed him, they could pummel this brat into oblivion!

Bzzzt—!

In an instant, the hundred-plus automatons lying on the other side of the warehouse lit up with palm-sized crimson magic circles before rising in perfect unison, like assembly-line workers, and activating their Lux weapons.

Roy glanced back at the automatons standing up but showed no urgency. Instead, he muttered under his breath.

Though the network signal had been blocked, the magical barrier didn't seem to interfere with the fluctuations of mana.

While he had long adapted to handling prana, different thaumaturgical systems were fundamentally incompatible—not due to his adaptability, but because their rules clashed.

Still, witches and magicians had fascinating abilities.

Would his Mystic Eyes have any effect on the magic circles they conjured?

"Bloom, Antirrhinum Majus!"

A sharp cry rang out.

A rapier, blazing like wildfire, traced the arc of a magic circle, from which emerged a massive flaming dragon's head. It roared forth, charging recklessly into the crowd of automatons and sending over a hundred of them tumbling in disarray.

"Silas Norman, I truly underestimated you."

Julis stepped out from the shadows, her beautiful face frosty with anger.

"According to the academy's records, you were just a magician who could manipulate objects. I never imagined you were capable of this. You even deceived Lester and tried to pin the attack on me on him. What a despicable, shameless worm!"

"Julis! You're here too...?!"

Silas's cheek twitched.

He hadn't anticipated Julis's presence—what a blunder! Julis specialized in heavy firepower, the natural counter to his ability, the Malzel Corps!

"But it's fine. Many of my automatons have been treated for heat resistance...!"

"Do you take me for a fool?"

Julis let out a cold laugh.

The flaming dragon head behind her swept back and forth, using its massive jaws and scorching flames to tear all the mimetic constructs to shreds. For a moment, her figure was illuminated with such overwhelming majesty that she resembled a goddess commanding fire.

"Before you arrived, I'd already inspected these mimetic constructs. Antirrhinum Majus is my ultimate technique—even with heat-resistant treatment, they can't possibly withstand it!"

Looking around, under the onslaught of the flaming dragon head, not a single mimetic construct could endure its overwhelming destructive force, each one crushed beneath the dragon's jaws.

Taking advantage of the moment when neither of them was paying attention to him, Roy avoided their line of sight and activated his Magic Eye in a blind spot. His crimson pupils instantly transformed into black-and-white mystic eyes entwined with mystifying runes, instantly capturing the palm-sized magic circle on a mimetic construct in his gaze.

"...How intriguing."

Roy slowly curled his lips into a smile, thoroughly pleased.

***

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