“Hah! I’m the specialist at musical instrument magic! Now you’ll see the true terror of the Musical Instrument Hero!” Miyaji clicked his fingers and the room filled up with more of his allies, including more soldiers. So he planned to just overwhelm us with numbers now?

“Listen to me, you’re trash! This is the ultimate support magic! Tremble before the might of my enhanced allies!” Miyaji crowed. He placed his bow on the strings of his violin-like musical instrument and started to play. Itsuki immediately started to resist him.

“. . . I’ve captured the flow of the piece. Now I’ll put into action something Filo and the others taught me,” he said. He blew on the leaf again. All of a sudden, the music Miyaji was playing turned into a horrible cacophony. The barrier of thickened air that had been surrounding his allies scattered, and the magic spheres that had been hovering around Miyaji were also all dispelled.

“Hey, scumbag! Stop interrupting my playing!” he shouted at Itsuki.

“This is the art of dissonance. Can you perform your magic under these conditions?” Itsuki asked. So it wasn’t incantation interference, but more performance interference? I didn’t know much about dissonance, just that it involved making a sound at odds with the others being produced.

Just like in cooking, the right additions could be used to bring out a pleasant flavor, but persistently adding the opposite could ruin the taste. The same was true here, which clearly prevented magic from being used in this world. Miyaji was glaring in anger and disgust at Itsuki.

“I’ll keep trying to block his performance magic. Naofumi, please try to turn this situation around,” he told me.

“I’m on it!” I quickly responded. Even without his weapon, Itsuki was still more than pulling his weight, and without making use of his Accuracy ability.

“Raphtalia, Glass, are you both okay?” I shouted.

“This is . . . not going too well,” Raphtalia managed, clutching her chest with one hand. She was still on the receiving end of an enemy curse skill. The same was true for Glass, but she was up and fighting Miyaji’s women; she was also clearly at a disadvantage.

“Oh, baby S’yne! Aren’t you a clever little baby!” the moron woman taunted. S’yne broke free of her hold and fought back, but she didn’t have the time to worry about us.

“We’ll aid you!” someone cackled. Miyaji’s women rushed to help the moron woman. This was bad! The rest of us had our hands full dealing with Armor and Miyaji already!

“I do so appreciate the offer, but you deal with Hidemasa’s enemies. I am enjoying myself too much to let anyone else interfere,” the moron said. Then she plunged her chain into the ground, creating a cage of chains and shutting out those trying to help her.

She really was enjoying messing with S’yne. That was one twisted sister.