The Irregular at Magic High School: Mayumi Route

Volume 34: Assimilation: Part 1

"Assimilate."

Those words rang through the mental space which Tetsu and Tatsuya had been in.

And suddenly, Tatsuya was in his own body, free to move around. But Tetsu? Tetsu was nowhere to be found.

"Tatsuya!"

The voice from before came behind him, and instantly, he knew who it was: Kira.

It was so obvious that someone so bloodthirsty and insane would have betrayed him. He should've foreseen it all, yet it seemed he was becoming soft. But it was no time to think about the past and what he should have done.

Tatsuya's body boosted itself forwards, lunging at Maya as he turned around to face the voice.

"You!"

Three differently coloured orbs of psions floated about in the air, seemingly at random, until one of them approached another. A bright light appeared at their point of interaction, and all three had merged.

"Yes, me."

And in the place of those came a physical body.

"Thanks to you and the incident before, both Mao and Tetsu were weak enough for me to assimilate them into this body: a body with the strength of all three of us combined."

Tatsuya took a step back, glaring at the eyes of this new Kira.

But at the same time, he was forced to realise his situation, falling in the sky above the decimated city of Yokohama.

But then he wasn't.

"With all three of us combined, assimilated as one, do you really think that you can beat me? Tatsuya?"

In the confines of the open battleground, Tatsuya faced a complete defeat to Kira. Punch over punch over punch. Kira's attacks couldn't be read; his attacks couldn't be blocked.

Blood spilt left and right, covering the stone-cold floor in Tatsuya's warm, red blood. Cuts emerged quickly on his body, forcing him into a completely defensive approach, yet even his pseudo-phalanx wasn't enough.

It was as though this new Kira was able to completely mitigate any magic, any psions that he touched, making any magician who faced him simply a human.

He was truly the ultimate human at this point. Stronger than Tatsuya and stronger than the world.

Masses of psions spewed into his body. He was absorbing the power of anybody nearby, and of course, that meant Tatsuya too. His body felt stiff. He couldn't move anymore, and without enough energy for his body, even if it could have been repaired by Regrowth, he couldn't do a thing.

Suddenly, a voice appeared in his head, "Tatsuya, prepare yourself!"

It was Maya.

"Tatsuya, get ready to say your goodbyes."

The ground suddenly split apart, and flames blew upwards, sending Tatsuya flying high into the sky. But this was what Maya had wanted.

One second he saw the free air.

And the next, he saw the metallic walls of a small jet flying off.

"Tatsuya!"

On board, Miyuki and Mayumi quickly rushed to his side within this cramped aircraft, both clinging to his body, "Tatsuya, wake up!"

Unlike the other times, Mayumi now wanted to be of help to Tatsuya. She leaned down close to his head and pressed her hand on his chest.

Tatsuya's vision faded out, and soon he woke up to see the blank metal ceiling in an isolated room.