WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Irregular at Magic High School Season 2, Episode 7, "Visitor Arc VII," streaming now on Funimation.
The Irregular at Magic High School turns up the personal and professional drama even further, combining an unfortunate moral conflict for Lina with a surprising new alliance for Tatsuya. As he continues working to evade his USNA pursuers -- led by Lina/Angie Sirius and now armed with their most powerful weapons yet -- Tatsuya and several of his classmates are stunned by a host of new developments with one of the supernatural parasites.
Colonel Virginia Balance, replacing Lina's friend and confidant Silvie in Japan, commands Lina to stop pursuing the USNA deserters and return to her original mission: find and apprehend or kill the magician behind the Scorched Halloween incident. Balance, like Lina deep down, strongly believes that magician is Tatsuya. The Colonel correctly suspects that Lina is struggling with this mission for reasons other than just Tatsuya's power. She arms Sirius with the USNA's single most powerful weapon: the Brionac.
In the meantime, Tatsuya and several of his classmates are called into a First High School lab after a massive breach in the school's security system. The breach was caused by Pixie, the normally-obedient humanoid robot assistant. The recently escaped parasite found Pixie's body and had been inactive inside it until Pixie suddenly woke up and tried to access the student database. When Tatsuya and Honoka exchanged gifts on Valentine's Day, Honoka's joy was so powerful that it radiated in waves off her own body and onto the nearby Pixie's.
Pixie's emotions are a direct reflection of Honoka's. Now, as Pixie awakens again and sees Tatsuya, she happily leaps into his arms and, to Honoka's absolute horror, pledges her love and subservience to him. The rest of the gang's reactions range from confused to amused, but Tatsuya remains calm and uses the situation to his advantage. Being inside Pixie's body allows the parasite to speak directly with humans, and now overcome by Honoka's emotions, it is completely willing to answer all of Tatsuya's questions.
The revelations are many: the parasites did not come into this world of their own accord but were brought there by someone or something else. They also have no memory of how many human bodies they have possessed... or how many people have been murdered. This strengthens Tatsuya's theory that the parasites are not simply evil, but are being used by someone else. With Pixie willing to obey his every command, will Tatsuya and the others attempt to contact the other parasites? With the Saegusa family having their own reasons for wanting to find a parasite, there are potential foes to look out for, both foreign and domestic. It's notable that Mayumi was not among the large group questioning Pixie.
Tatsuya is tracked down by Colonel Balance's special agents, the Stardust team. He scans their body compositions and makes a grim discovery: they're humans with enhanced powers but a significantly reduced lifespan. Tatsuya defeats them all without issue before barely dodging a massive energy blast in time to avoid being destroyed. Enter Angie Sirius, more dangerous than ever with the Brionac now in hand.
Despite having no malice toward each other, Tatsuya and Lina again find their paths clashing. Lina implores Tatsuya to surrender himself to the USNA. She has no desire to kill him but knows she must complete her mission. Tatsuya of course will never surrender, leading the two to battle. However, it's surprisingly short. Using the Brionac, Lina blows off Tatsuya's right arm and again begs him to give up the fight. She doesn't know he can use Self-Restoration to heal himself from any wound, letting her guard down just enough for Tatsuya to regrow his arm. He stuffs his Trident CAD directly into the Brionac to turn her Heavy Metal Burst spell against her. With the tables turned, Tatsuya shoots Lina multiple times until she's incapacitated.
The primary difference between Tatsuya and Angie is that Tatsuya knows what he's fighting for. He follows orders without fail and doesn't hesitate to kill in cold blood, but he does it to protect Miyuki and aid the greater good. Lina is less sure of her convictions. Her mission to kidnap or kill Tatsuya is not what she desires, and deep down she questions the USNA's motives. The media's anti-magician narrative and the fact that their military enhances humans for its own selfish benefit must give her pause.
As she falls unconscious, Tatsuya flat out tells Lina she isn't fit to be a soldier and should quit the military -- before healing her wounds, carrying her to an empty USNA van and erasing all the data the military had obtained on him. When Lina wakes and tries to contact her comrades, she receives no response. Maya Yotsuba has been busy again. The USNA military will surely respond, but after another sobering defeat, Lina has much to consider about her individual identity, values, and what she's truly fighting for.
