Prologue: Begin action (The gate is opened)

St George Cathedral.
Although it is called a cathedral, it is but one of the many churches in the heart of
London. Although it isn’t considered small, there’s a world of difference when
compared to Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral. Of course, it also cannot
be compared to the Cathedral of Canterbury, the origin of Puritanism in Britain.
In fact, the number of buildings in London with the name "St George" are numerous.
Besides the church, there are also department stores, restaurants, clothing shops,
and schools. There could be several of them downtown. Not only that, there could
be more than ten churches named "St George Cathedral". The relationship between
"St George" and Britons can be seen even from the Union Jack.
This St George Cathedral was formerly the base of "Necessarius".
However, this was no glamorous task. The duty of "Necessarius" is to eliminate all
sorts of magic associations in Britain and any magicians associated with them. In
order to achieve this objective, "Necessarius" has to use magic, which is regarded
as filthy by its members. Because of this, they were viewed rather poorly by the
Purists, and even chased out of Canterbury, the headquarters for the Puritans, into
this "St George Cathedral".
But afterward, there were some unexpected changes.
Originally considered as a peripheral organization, "Necessarius" has been making
numerous contributions behind the scenes.
These allowed "Necessarius" to build its profile and power within the British Puritan
church. Today, although it looks like the Puritan church is run by the Cathedral of
Canterbury, the actual decision-making power has in fact now been transferred to St
George Cathedral.
Thus, this cathedral, located slightly away from the center of London, is now the
nucleus of this large British Puritan church.
The red-haired priest Stiyl Magnus is walking down the streets of London in the early
morning, feeling extremely puzzled.
There’s nothing strange about the street itself. There are apartments made of stone
that are more than 300 years old lying on both sides of the street. There are office
workers with handphones in their hands rushing down the old street. The old double-
decker bus is slowly moving forward and the workers on the street are busy
dismantling a similarly-old phone booth. An integration of new and old history...
there’s nothing unusual happening.
There’s nothing wrong with the weather as well. There aren’t any clouds in the sky
this morning, but the weather changes every four hours or so; thus, there are many
people who carried their umbrellas around. It is a hot day, and as London is known
for its foggy weather, this aspect of summer- the ever-changing weather- is
something that cannot be belittled. Due to the increasing moisture caused by the
intermittent rainfall, together with the foehn and summer heat wave, it results in
amazingly high temperatures, so these rather enjoyable-looking tourist attractions
have their own shortcomings as well. But for someone like Stiyl, when he first chose
to stay in this city, he had already considered the shortcomings, and thus does not
mind it.
What makes Stiyl insecure is the girl beside him.
"Archbishop..."
"Hm? I purposely chose to wear such simple attire today; please refrain from calling
me by that lofty title."
Dressed in a beige robe, the girl, who looks 18, calmly speaks in Japanese. In fact,
according to regulations, a clergyman’s attire can only have white, red, black, green,
or purple, with threads of gold for decorations, so this girl is secretly breaking the
rules.
Unfortunately, it seems that only she feels that as long as she puts these clothes on,
she won’t be noticed in the crowd. Because of her crystal-white skin, clear blue
eyes, and shining golden hair- one wouldn’t be surprised if she were sold in a gem
shop- no matter the circumstances, she completely stands out from the surrounding
crowd.
Her hair is shockingly long. Her straight hair extends all the way to her ankles, folds
up, and goes behind the back of her head, through the large silver hairpin holding it
in place, and down to her waist. In other words, the length of her hair is almost 2.5
times her height.
During the morning in Lambeth, London, the world-famous din occurs, but around
her, the voices feel like they’ve been suppressed, as if they were in a solemn church
where noise is not tolerated.

The Archbishop of Sector Zero of the Puritan church, "Necessarius".

Laura Stuart.
The king is the highest-ranking leader of the Puritan church. Archbishop Laura is
considered to be the courier of the king, and her responsibility is to "take over for the
busy king and control the British Puritanism".
The Puritan church is like an age-old string instrument.
Besides the "owner", there is also the "caretaker". Take a violin, for example; no
matter how good a violin is, as long as it isn’t used for a while, the strings will be
relaxed and the sound post would be in a decrepit condition, causing it to not sound
beautiful. Laura’s job is to perform in place of the owner so that the violin can be
maintained in a perfect state.
But, like the situation with the Cathedral of Canterbury and St George Cathedral, the
name and actual power has now been reversed. The real power now lies with Laura.
The Archbishop, who has such a large amount of power, is now walking freely on
the streets in the early morning without even a single bodyguard near her.
Stiyl and Laura are now heading towards St George Cathedral. At first, it was Laura
who suggested that Stiyl should meet her at the cathedral at this time. She was
supposed to wait at the cathedral, and Stiyl was supposed to arrive.
"I have my own home, and I’m not always stuck in that old church all year long."
Laura continues onward, not making any noise. "Isn’t it fun to walk and talk?"
Around them, the office workers are hurrying around. Because this place is close to
Waterloo station, which is the largest station in London, for a nun or priest to be here
is not unusual for them. The number of churches in London are as big as the
number of parks, although it cannot be compared to Rome.
"Anyway, I’m okay with it. But didn't you call me to the cathedral because you
wanted to talk about something that outsiders are not supposed to hear?"
"Such a narrow-minded man; why worry too much about these minor things? Can’t
you enjoy this time with me? Although a father who hears a woman’s repentance
gives a feeling of 'relief', why doesn’t he open his heart?"
"..." Stiyl frowns, and asks, "Can I ask a question?"
"Do you have to be so cautious? Fire away."
"Why does your Japanese sound so stupid?"
"...?" (Note: In the original text, the author purposely uses something that sounds
like old Japanese for Laura’s dialogue.)
The Archbishop of the Puritan church looks like someone who has been told that her
shirt was buttoned wrongly. She initially freezes, and then her movements
completely stop. She then blushes while saying,
"Ah... Eh...? Is... is it strange? Isn’t 'Japanese' supposed to sound like this?"
"Pardon me, but I do not really understand what you’re trying to say. You’re trying to
speak the ancient language, but it just doesn’t feel right."
The people around them, clad in western clothing, are probably unable to
understand Japanese, but Laura feels that the commotion around her has now
become laughter.
"Ah... Ehm... I learned my Japanese from many sources, like literature and television
programs. I even asked a real Japanese for help before..."
"Eh, may I know who that 'real Japanese' is?"
"Uh... that guy named Tsuchimikado Motoharu..."
"Please don’t consider that dangerous guy who lustfully lets his own step-sister wear
a maid uniform an ideal Japanese. Asia is not that fascinating, you know."
"To... to think there is such a thing... I must quickly correct my Japanese... oh, no!"
"What’s wrong?"
"It’s... it’s difficult to change something that I’m so used to!"
"...Don’t tell me you used such a stupid way of speaking to negotiate with the
representatives from Academy City."
Laura’s shoulders jump as she says, "Do not... Do not worry, do not worry... No
problem, no problem..."
However, her voice is trembling as sweat appears on her face, her eyes swimming
around.
Stiyl sighs, his breath full of cigarette smoke.
"Anyway, let’s talk when we reach the cathedral."
The two round the corner. Kanzaki Kaori has secretly frequented the Japanese
restaurant located there.
"Do... do we really have to talk about this!? I can’t possibly communicate with my
Japanese!"
"Enough; let’s talk about the 'proper business', and not about this trivial stuff. If you
aren’t confident in your Japanese, we can still talk using English."
"Ri—ridiculous! Who said that I’m not confident!? It’s... it’s just that... my body
condition today is rather bad!"
Laura says, being at a loss.
"And regarding the proper business... before we start..."
From under the robe on her chest, Laura pulls something that looks like two pieces
of notebook paper out, as well as a black magic marker. As one who specializes in
using runes, Stiyl immediately knows what she is going to use it for.
"Chiu chiu chiu~"
Laura tries to imitate this strange sound made by the magic marker as she draws on
the paper. On several important ceremonies, when Archbishop Laura stands in front
of the crowd, she looks too noble to be even mortal- but now, the Archbishop is like
a girl randomly doodling on her notebook in the middle of a lesson.
If possible, I wish she could maintain that noble image.
Stiyl thinks, dangling his cigarette and frowning. He really doesn’t like this sound.
“Chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu
chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu
chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu
chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu chiu~”
"...Excuse me, may I ask what you’re doing?"
Stiyl asks, gritting his teeth and slightly trembling.
Although his temple has gone blue, Stiyl decides to remain patient.
"Just a little precaution. Here."
Laura draws the same image on the two pieces of paper, and gives one of them to
Stiyl.
"Ah—ah—can you hear me?"
Stiyl feels that this voice just came from his mind. He turns to look at Laura, whose
small mouth did not move in the slightest.
"...Is it a talisman for communication?"
"Our thoughts can be conveyed to each other without the need of speech."
"Hm."
Stiyl looks at the card. It seems like Laura created these talismans because of his
suggestion to not allow the people around them to eavesdrop.
"Why does that voice in your heart speak so stupidly as well!?"
"Eh? Wait... wait a minute, Stiyl! I’m now speaking in English!"
Although she isn’t making any sound, Laura looks panicked, scaring the cat
sprawling in front of the restaurant which isn’t open yet. Stiyl sighs. The authority
and magnanimity that an Archbishop should have is now all gone.
"Then there should be an error when the message is exchanged. Although it’s weird,
it doesn’t affect our conversation. Let’s get down to proper business."
"Ah... Uu... ahem ahem, okay, let’s start."
It seems like Laura wants to say something, but she swallows it and goes to the
main issue.
"Stiyl, have you heard of 'The Book of the Law'?"
"It’s a spellbook. If I remember correctly, the author is Edward Alexander."
Edward Alexander- also known as Crowley.
Some say that he was the most decorated magician of the 20th century, and some
say he’s the worst magician of the 20th century. As his actions and demeanour
exceeded everyone’s imaginations and common sense, he was chased out of
several countries. He managed to provoke the creative desire of several artists, but
also managed to increase the hostility on him from all the magicians. A really
legendary man. According to history, he died on December 1st, 1947. Some even
feel that the world at that time was relieved when he died. This shows the number of
controversies and problems that he caused.
When such a powerful magician dies, there will naturally be people who will declare
themselves as his disciple or heir. Up until today, the magic system that they created
continues to cause headaches for the organization that is specifically still targeting
Crowley- and like other legends, the rumors that "he’s still alive" continue to roam
about.
"However, if I remember correctly, isn't the original 'Book of the Law' still kept inside
the library of the Vatican in Rome?"
In order to allow the girl called Index to memorize the 103,000 magical texts, Stiyl
had accompanied her around the world to protect her. Although he did not see the
contents, Stiyl is still able to remember where the 100 most famous texts are.
"You're right. From 1920 to 1932, Crowley was carrying out his activities on the
island of Sicily in Italy. It is believed that 'The Book of the Law' first appeared then."
Laura speaks as if she’s reciting what she memorized in a history textbook. "Stiyl, do
you know what makes this book special?"
"..."
The characteristics of the book.
"If we first ignore the reliability of this work, there are several legends about it. Some
believe that Crowley summoned the guardian angel Aiwass, learned the 'Angelic
Technique' that no human is able to use, and recorded it in 'The Book of the Law'.
Some believe that when 'The Book of the Law' is opened, the Christian age will end,
and humanity will proceed on to a brand new age... In the former sense, an angel
who doesn’t think is unable to teach humanity anything, but we’re rather concerned
with the latter’s views. However..."
According to the British Puritan church, they assumed it to be a magical book
containing many powerful spells.
But on hearing it, one will wonder. Why is it an "assumption"?
Index should have memorized "The Book of the Law" already. So the reason is...
"I believe you know that nobody can understand this book? Although all the magical
books are written in codes, this book is still an exception. Even Index has given up
on reading it, and Sherry Cromwell, who specializes in interpreting these codes, has
failed to do so."
That’s right; no one is able to interpret "The Book of the Law". According to what
Index said, based on our current limited knowledge, nobody is able to interpret it;
thus, she could only memorize all the undeciphered codes of "The Book of the Law"
into her head.
At this moment, Laura happily smiles, saying, "Then if someone who can decipher
'The Book of the Law' were to appear, what do you think the consequences would
be?"
"What are you talking about...!?"
Stunned, Stiyl stares at Laura. She doesn’t look like she was joking.
"There is a Roman Catholic nun by the name of Ursula Aquinas. However, she only
knows how to decipher it; she has yet to read the contents."
"What is going on?"
"Ursula seems to have found a way to decode it by reading the incomplete copies.
Right now, she only has the index page, the preface, and several other pages."
The original copy of "The Book of the Law" is now strictly kept under security, so
ordinary people shouldn’t be able to get their hands on it easily. Except for people
like Index, it is dangerous for anyone else to read the original.
“Right now... the Roman Catholic church is lacking in manpower due to a power
struggle. They might try to use 'The Book of the Law' to regain a foothold. These
people probably view it as a blueprint of some new weapon..."
According to reports, although the Roman Catholic Church is still the largest
Christian sect in the world, the three thousand people who form the "Gregorian
Chant" have been defeated by the alchemist, and thus their power has weakened. In
order to protect their place at the pinnacle of the Christian sect, it is possible that
they will use the knowledge in "The Book of the Law" to design something to replace
the "Gregorian Chant" to cover the loss in their fighting power. This wouldn't be
surprising.
"No, they won’t use 'The Book of the Law' to build up their fighting capability. At least
in the short term, the Roman Catholic Church will not attack anyone for 'The Book of
the Law'. You don’t have to worry about that."
"Why?"
"Hoho, it’s a secret! I’m not leaking it out."
Seeing Laura speak with such confidence, Stiyl could not help but frown and think of
the possibilities. Has the English Puritan church signed an agreement with the
Roman Catholic church, thereby banning the use of "The Book of the Law"?
...If so, why would the Roman Catholic Church use Ursula to decode "The Book of
the Law"?
"Seeing your expression, it seems like you’re still unassured. Really, didn’t I tell you
not to worry?"
"But then..."
"Okay, okay, stop nagging. Even if the Roman Catholic Church wants to use 'The
Book of the Law' for whatever purpose, they can’t do it now."
Before Stiyl could even ask why, Laura continues on.
"Because 'The Book of the Law' has been stolen by Ursula Aquinas."
"What did you say... by whom!?"
Stiyl could not help but shout. The office workers around them that were heading
towards the train station, upon hearing him shout, turn around to look at him.
"The work I want you to do after this would be your mission. The organization which
did this criminal act should be the Amakusa Catholics in Japan."
"Amakusa..." It’s a Christian sect in Japan.
Stiyl’s colleague, Kanzaki Kaori, used to be the leader of this sect. However, Stiyl
himself does not consider it to be a Christian sect; the Amakusa Catholic Church is
infused with too many aspects of Shintoism and Buddhism, to the point that the
basis of the Christian faith is long gone now.
"The Amakusa Catholics are a lot smaller than the other religions in Rome, Britain,
Russia, and other countries. The reason why it is still able to exist is because of
Kanzaki. Now, after having lost Kanzaki, their pillar of support, it isn’t unthinkable of
them to steal 'The Book of the Law' in order to gain new power. After all, 'The Book
of the Law' is capable of destroying the balance of the Christian religion."
If Ursula Aquinas and "The Book of the Law" were to fall into the hands of the
Amakusa Catholics, they could use it anytime- in fact, it would be weird if they
wouldn't use it at all.
"But!" Stiyl rudely exclaims, "Isn’t 'The Book of the Law' hidden in the depths of the
Vatican library? For a small organization like the Amakusa Catholics who wish for
power, they can’t possibly have the capability to get inside! I was protecting Index as
I entered the Vatican library, so I’m positive that there are no blind spots down there!
The only thing that can describe it is an iron wall!"
"Actually, 'The Book of the Law' isn’t inside the Vatican library."
"What?" Stiyl’s expression is blank.
A horse carriage used for sightseeing purposes passes by Stiyl as the horse neighs,
the license plate hanging behind the carriage.
"In order to organize an international exhibition, the Roman Catholic Church sent
'The Book of the Law' to the Japanese museum. Like the Laterano Church in Rome,
it is believed that the 'Son of God' bled while walking up the 'Holy Path'. You should
know why these things are being shown to the common people, don’t you?"
Every few years, the Church will showcase important historical or biblical items to
the public.
The reason is simple. These are the "tools" to attract donations and believers. After
losing their largest fighting force, the three-thousand-strong "Gregorian Chant", the
Roman Catholic Church must be trying to strengthen itself through as many ways as
possible, including the development of new spells and training of its members.
It is most effective to recruit these "new believers" in places where there are few
Christians; because of this, Japan is the perfect target. But because there are few
believers, the support that the Church can give to Japan is much less now. Seems
like the Amakusa Catholics have timed this well.
"This is stupid... Bringing such a dangerous thing to show it to the world and even
losing it in the process- the Roman Catholic Church has really disgraced our
Christians."
"Hoho, I believe the Roman Catholics should have a deeper understanding than us.
Although they have a geographical advantage now, for an item of the Roman
Catholic Church to be stolen by a small sect in the Far East, I guess it means that
they’re discredited."
"Haiz, does this mean that they are asking us for help?"
"No, those guys want to settle this their own way. I really worked hard to get this
information. To them, this may be a sort of saving grace, but I really want to scold
those guys, and tell them to 'not dream on anymore'."
"Hm? Does this mean that we aren’t getting the 'Book of the Law' and Ursula back
for the sake of the Roman Catholics?"
"They aren’t spilling the beans, but if Ursula Aquinas can really decipher the 'Book of
the Law', we’re involved in this one way or another."
"...You’re trying to do them a favor? Do you think that those 'noble clergymen' even
understand the act of repaying a good deed?"
Stiyl says with disdain.
In Stiyl’s impression, maybe it’s because they once controlled Europe entirely that
the Roman Catholics— of course, besides the believers who never knew about
magic— are rather arrogant, especially those stubborn hard-liner priests and
bishops. Forget about going against them; even if one tries to help them, they would
snobbishly say, "We’re not so pitiful to the point that we'd accept any assistance."
"I have no intention of helping those guys who corrupt the Church and cause
splinters in it. However, we have a much bigger problem."
"What?"
"Kanzaki Kaori is missing."
After Laura speaks succinctly, Stiyl immediately turns around.
Kanzaki was originally the leader of the Amakusa sect. Now, although she has
already left the Amakusa, she still cares for it. Once she knows that they have
caused such a problem and are now in conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, the
largest Christian sect in the world with 2 billion believers, how would she respond?
Kanzaki is a Saint, one of less than 20 people in the world that possess the
"Stigma". The power that she has is almost equivalent to that of a nuclear bomb. If
she leaves the control of the British Puritan Church and directly attacks the Roman
Catholics, what consequences would there be...?
"Knowing her, she’ll do anything. It would be okay if it was an ordinary person, but
with her power..."
Laura sighs heavily.
"I hope that you can clean up the mess before Kanzaki does something seriously
bad. This is your main priority. I don’t care what you do, whether it is saving 'The
Book of the Law' or Ursula, telling the Amakusa to surrender, or forcing the
Amakusa or Kanzaki to surrender."
"You’re telling me to beat Kanzaki?"
"If there is such a need."
Laura clearly and forcefully says, "Once our members are done with their missions,
I’ll be sending them to Japan and Rome. However, I hope that you can do this on
your own. Go to Academy City first."
As if he’s spitting his doubts out, Stiyl blows the white smoke of the cigarette out of
his mouth. He’s not worried about having to do this alone, but the magician Stiyl just
isn’t suited for working in a team. Besides the character flaws, the flame magic he
uses is a huge problem; if he’s not careful and uses his full power, the comrades
around him might end up getting swallowed by flames and smoke.
His "Innocentius" becomes stronger the more runes there are. Although unreliable,
its power cannot be belittled. The 3,000-degree-Celsius fire can freely move about.
To pursue its enemies, it can even easily melt iron. To the enemies, it is like a god of
death. Besides that boy’s right hand, there is almost no other way to stop
"Innocentius". Using this terrifying magic, Stiyl has destroyed several magical
societies on his own several times.
So, working alone is not a problem.
"Isn’t this a problem on the Church’s side? Why bring in the Science side?"
"Index."
Laura says a person’s- no, a tool’s name.
"Since it concerns a magic book, especially the original 'Book of the Law', we need
all the technical knowledge we can get. I have discussed it with Academy City, so
you can bring 'that' around- but there is one condition, and that is to bring the
guardian along."
"..."
"What now? It’s rare to work together with 'that'- why are you so unhappy?"
"Nothing."
Stiyl seems to have suppressed many feelings within him, as the expression on his
face suddenly vanishes.
"...That guardian, is it that Imagine Breaker?"
"That’s right. You should be able to make use of him. Oh, don’t kill him though, since
he’s borrowed property."
"Bringing people from Academy City into a battle between magicians, wouldn't there
be a problem?"
"Regarding this, we can settle this with a few tricks. Of course, the conditions that
the other party gave us are unavoidable, and I don’t have the time to negotiate with
them."
"I... see."
Stiyl couldn't understand what the leaders of Academy City are thinking, nor could
he understand what Laura, who is standing right beside him, is thinking. Maybe they
carried out a few deals under the table. Anyway, these aren’t things that a minion
like Stiyl should interfere in.
"Oh, Stiyl, bring this along."
Laura pulls out a small cross necklace from the sleeve of her simple robe and tosses
it to Stiyl. Stiyl catches this symbol of belief with one hand, and asks,
"A tool? Although it does not seem to be enhanced by any magic."
"Just a little present for Ursula Aquinas. If you meet her, immediately find the
opportunity to give it to her."
Stiyl does not understand what this meant, and Laura has no intention of explaining.
This is a "Don’t ask, just do as I say" scenario.
At this moment, the two stop.
Walking for ten minutes from the extremely large London train station, a church
which doesn’t seem to have the right to be called a "Cathedral" is in front of them.
St George Cathedral. A dark holy city filled with a terrible history of witch hunting,
religious trials, and even the famous Frenchwoman Joan of Arc.
Walking in front of Stiyl, Laura grabs the handle of the heavy door.
"Okay."
Laura pushes the two heavy doors aside and invites the priest in.
She does not use her rune card this time, instead opening her small, peach-like
mouth, and speaks in a clear voice,
"Regarding the details, we’ll talk about it inside."

[edit] Chapter 1: Academy City, Science Worship

[edit] Part 1
"So— the second semester is rather hectic. There are so many activities during this
time that we can’t count them all: Daihaisai, Ichihanaransai, hiking, training, school
excursions, Arts Appreciation Day, Social Learning Day, Cleaning Day, end-of-term
exams, tuition, and the dreaded after-class remedial! To prepare for all these
festivals, everyone will be very busy." (Note: The curriculum in Japan for primary
and secondary school education has 3 semesters. A school year starts in April, and
the second semester starts in September, after summer vacation.)
September 8th.
In the afternoon, while walking through the corridor, Tsuchimikado Maika speaks
casually. She's about as old as Index and maybe a bit smaller than her, but she
always wears a maid uniform. What’s more amazing is that she normally sits on the
cylindrical cleaning machine. If the cleaning machine were to move according to the
instructions it gets, Maika would put a broom in front of it so that it can only shake
about gently.
“But I’m bored now. What should I do? Touma didn’t even care about me or play
with me!”
Index rattles on, shaking her body around and protesting at Maika. Her silver hair
sways together with her white nun cap. The calico cat in her slender arms seems to
be attracted to the shiny gold embroidery on her cap, raising its front paws and
swinging them around.
Index understands that Kamijou seems to be busy recently. But in Academy City,
Kamijou is the only one who talks to her.
Of course, Kamijou Touma did not confine Index to his room in the dormitory; Index
has the spare key to the room, and when Kamijou is at school, Index would go
around spending her time (but she’s powerless when it comes to the automatic ticket
gates, any fingerprint, pulse, or human nervous flow identifier, or anything related to
electronics and will run away from them).
However, Academy City is different from any other city.
Academy City was built soon after the development of west Tokyo, and 80% of its
population are students. When Kamijou goes to school, Himegami and Komoe will
also be at school. So, even if Index wants to find someone to talk to, the streets are
empty, although after spending a week exploring, Index found that the big sister at
the clothes shop will talk to her when she’s not arranging the goods. However, Index
feels that her objective is not just to talk to her only.
Only Tsuchimikado Maika can be considered an exception.
In Academy City, where everyone has to act according to time, only she is not
constrained by it. Even if it was morning or afternoon, Index will occasionally find her
on the streets. She can be found everywhere: convenience stores, department
stores, parks, bakeries, station buildings, student dormitories, streets, schools...
The robot continues to try and move forward, and as Maika smacks it with her hand,
she says,
"Kamijou Touma has his own things to do----you can’t give him too much trouble.
Anyway, it’s not like he intentionally left you behind. Studying is a really tiring thing."
"Uhm... I understand... but why does Maika not need to go to school?"
"Hoho, because I’m an exception— a maid doing practical work is a very normal
thing----!"
The home economics school that Tsuchimikado Maika attends isn’t just any ordinary
weird school that still produces maids in this age. The maids in that school are
specially trained to "assist" their masters. From cleaning up chewing gum on the
streets to having a meeting with the leaders of the world, nothing can stump them.
So, Maika has to go everywhere to do all sorts of "practical work". However, not all
the school's students can go out and do "practical work" like Maika; this is a special
privilege that is earned after the school tests the student and feels that "although
she’s an apprentice maid, she’s capable enough to not disgrace the school’s name".
Index, who does not understand the toil and tears behind all that, tilts her cute little
head and says,
"As long as I’m a maid, I could go wherever I want anytime? Not confined by school?
Even able to go to Touma’s school?"

"No, a maid isn’t really like that—"

"Then I want to be a maid! Then I can go and play with Touma!"
"Although it sounds touching, the life of a maid is really tough, especially for
someone like you who can’t do housework and waits for the boy to prepare your
lunch in the morning. Being a maid would be really tough for you."
"Then let Touma be the maid! Then I’ll call Touma to play with me!"
"This really sounds so touching that someone could cry, but for Kamijou Touma’s
sake, I advise you not to tell him that."
"Uuu—uuuu---"
The bored girl beats her cheeks, rapidly swinging her body around.
"Hm, I’m sorry; no matter whether it’s you or him, neither of you will have the time to
be maids."
A voice suddenly comes from behind the pure white girl.
"Eh?"
Index’s mind instantly goes blank. Maika, who was facing Index, sees the figure
behind her. Besides panic, there is a look of fear on her face.
Who is it...?
Before the nun could turn and ask, a large hand covers her mouth with tape.
[edit] Part 2
The ordinary high school student, Kamijou Touma is walking slowly down the street
in the evening.
The cylindrical cleaning machines pass by him. The blades of the windmills, which
have replaced electric cables, keep spinning like they’re chasing away the crows in
the city. There are many hot-air balloons floating in the orange sky, but the things
hanging below them aren’t just ordinary billboards, but the latest ultra-thin screens.
Like an electronic billboard with vertical marquees, the text reads from bottom to top:
"Be prepared! Let’s work hard for Daihaisai! –Discipline Council"
Well, Daihaisai is basically a sports carnival. But as Academy City has several
million students and all the schools are participating, the scale of the event will be
extremely large. All the students are espers, and the management committee of
Academy City will use the excuse of "collecting data when there is mutual
interference between different powers" to encourage the students to use their
powers during Daihaisai. Thus, intensive battles between different espers can be
expected. For example, during soccer or dodgeball matches, it is common to see
vanishing balls, fireballs, and iceballs.
Daihaisai lasts for one week, and during this time, Academy City is open to the
public; even television cameras are allowed. It is said that in these showdowns that
cannot be seen in normal sport matches, the viewer ratings are rather high. Because
of this, the discipline committee is putting all its efforts in preparing for Daihaisai.
Also, Academy City hopes to use these few days that are open to the public to
improve its image. Of course, Academy City did not forget about terrorists, as
guards would be deployed at several important power development facilities,
preventing them from entering these secret areas.
“This… this is so tiring…”
This is what Kamijou learned during this past week.
Because of certain circumstances, Kamijou lost his memories, and thus forgot
everything about Daihaisai. But according to what he heard, this activity is extremely
dangerous for Touma. The objective of Daihaisai isn’t just "no restraint of powers",
but rather "if you do not use your powers, you’re going to be friends with the medical
squad". In other words, even in a war horse game, there might be fireballs, lightning
strikes, and flying knives.
Kamijou looks at his hand. This hand has the Imagine Breaker ability. No matter
whether they’re magic or psychic powers, once they touch this hand, they’ll
disappear without a trace. But a power like this isn’t going to help Kamijou to survive
in a warzone between several espers.
…Why must I be tired out in preparing for this event that will send me to hell…?
Today, Kamijou set up a tent in the campus for visitors. Just after finishing, a female
PE teacher came with a wry smile and said, “Sorry, we won't be using this tent.”
Then Touma took it down again. When he finally finished, a female teacher who
looked like a primary school student angrily ran over and shouted, “Ah! What are
you doing, Kamijou!? Haven’t you heard the news? We still need this tent!” Anyway,
"Such misfortune" isn’t enough to describe Kamijou today.
After meaninglessly toiling for a long time, Kamijou could finally start dragging his
tired body back to the student dormitory.
“Oh, yeah, there doesn’t seem to be anything left in the fridge.”
The supermarket is just in front of him, but he is penniless and has to go back to his
dorm to get money first. The thought of having to go out again after returning home
makes Kamijou extremely frustrated.
The soles of his cheap basketball shoes are rather hard, making his two legs
extremely tired as he walks.
When he finally approaches the student dormitory, Kamijou hears a girl’s shout from
above.
“Ah---- Ka… Ka, Ka… Kamijou Touma, Kamijou Touma—”
“Hm?”
Kamijou looks up and sees Tsuchimikado Maika sticking her head out, and waving
her right arm from the seventh level. She’s still sitting on the top of the cleaning
robot, so it seems rather dangerous. However, she grabs onto a mop, and lays it on
the ground, seemingly to prevent the robot from advancing.
“It… it’s terrible. Why did you turn off your phone?”
“?”
Kamijou hears this, and pulls the handphone with global GPS out of his pocket. Sure
enough, the power is off. After turning on the handphone, he sees several messages
from Tsuchimikado Maika. Maika continues to speak slowly, though her expression
is pale. Although suspicious, Kamijou still runs to the elevator.
Kamijou arrives at his room on the seventh floor. Maika removes the mop and the
cleaning robot slowly moves towards the elevator. For some reason, the calico cat
that would normally be with Index is now sitting alone in the corridor. The cleaning
robot arrives in front of Kamijou, and Maika again prevents the cleaning robot from
moving forward by putting the mop in front of it.
“It’s an emergency! The silver-haired nun has been taken away.”
“What?”
Kamijou could not help but shout out. Maika’s face looks pale as she continues on.
“It’s a kidnapping, abduction. The culprit said that if I call the guards, he’ll kill her, so
I didn’t do anything. I’m sorry, Kamijou Touma.”
The silver-haired girl she’s talking about should be Index. Maika doesn’t look like
she’s joking. Also, there are too many possible reasons why Index could be
kidnapped.
She’s a magical library with 103,000 magical texts memorized in her head. All the
magicians in the world want the knowledge in her brain, and on August 31, she was
kidnapped once because of this reason.
“Wait a minute, what is going on? Could you explain?”
Being asked by Kamijou, Maika stutters as she explains the details.
Two hours ago, Maika came to the student dormitory for "practical work". While
sweeping the floor, she saw a bored Index in the corridor of the seventh floor, and
went to talk to her. In the middle of their chat, someone suddenly covered Index’s
mouth from behind and abducted her.
“When the kidnapper left, he gave me an envelope. There is something written on
the letter inside…”
Maika hands over a long, rectangular letter normally used for sending
advertisements. Her voice is trembling, likely not just because of fear, but probably
also because she is blaming herself for her uselessness.
Kamijou lowers his head, looking at the letter, and says,
“You don’t have to blame yourself; it’s better than doing something and making the
situation worse.”
Although it is intended to console Maika, this statement makes her even more
distressed. It can’t be helped, since in an ordinary school life, there are very few
chances to feel this burning tension.
“Oh, yeah, what does that bastard look like?”
Maika looks up, thinks for a while, and says,
“Uhm… His height was above 1.8 m; he was white, but his Japanese was still very
fluent; and I couldn't tell what country he was from just from his appearance…”
“Uh huh.”
“He was wearing priest’s robes.”
“Hm?”
“But he had a strong perfume smell. His hair was dyed red and hung on his
shoulders. There was a silver ring on each of his fingers, and a tattoo which looked
like a number under his right eye. He had a cigarette in his mouth, and he wore
earrings…”
“…Oi, I’m rather familiar with that bastardly British priest.”
Maika reveals a look of suspicion. Kamijou opens the envelope, and finds a letter
inside. On the letter are neat rows of words which seems to have been written with a
mechanical pencil. It looks like a ruler was used to make them neat.
"Kamijou Touma: If you want her alive, at seven tonight, go to the abandoned
theater ‘Gloaming House’ outside Academy City alone."
“…There‘re still people nowadays who would use a ruler to disguise their
handwriting?”
In this age, it’s naive to believe that using a ruler disguises someone's handwriting.
Using the technology of having a laser read the information on a CD surface,
investigators had developed a way to identify the "different characteristics when a
person’s fingers slightly tremble" through the grooves on the text. Moreover, many
people in Academy City are mind-readers.
Maybe this guy is doing everything the proper way, but to Kamijou, this is just a lame
joke.
What on earth is that idiot doing? Don’t tell me he came to play with us just because
it’s summer holidays now?
According to Maika’s testimony, the culprit who abducted Index is her colleague Stiyl
Magnus. But this guy would never do anything to endanger her; on the contrary, this
guy would rush into the enemy’s territory to protect her.
The tension vanishes in an instant.
Kamijou can’t help but sympathize with the distressed Maika.
“Erm… Maika, don’t worry. The culprit should be a friend of Index's and mine, so
don’t worry…”
“The cul… culprit is a friend? Then isn’t the motive because of twisted love?”
“Ah, erm… It isn’t really that sort of thing… though it’s true that this twisted love may
exist…”
Seeing Maika’s face become even paler, Kamijou sighs.
Flipping the envelope upside down, a stack of papers falls out. Opening and looking
at it, Kamijou realizes that they are exit permits and other related documents. All the
blanks are filled in. Kamijou couldn’t help but think, How did they do all these? It’s
true that one can leave Academy City easily with these documents, but to request
for all these would require serious examination…
The strong contrast between the stupid threatening letter and the well-preparedness
of the required documents stuns Kamijou.
What on Earth is that priest thinking?
[edit] Part 3

The abandoned ‘Gloaming House’ is located about 3 kilometers away from

Academy City.
Business stopped just about 3 weeks ago, which is why the building still doesn’t look
damaged. Furthermore all the interior equipment has been removed, so it seems
rather empty inside right now, and because no one has swept since then, everything
is covered in dust. It couldn't be considered a ‘ruin’ though. This place could be
reopened, if you would clean up and reinstall the equipment back again.
This place looks like a ‘hibernating building’. Maybe the owner does not plan to take
down this building for now, and is looking for a new buyer.
Index waits on the empty stage. It is a large hall, the auditorium and the stage are
joined together, and the hall is about as big as a sports hall. There are no windows,
and the lighting has been removed, so the only source of light comes from the
setting sun outside the five opened doors. On the dim stage, Index kneels on the
floor. She frowns, showing her displeasure.
“Despicable man.”
“I can’t deny that, nor will I do so.”
The girl’s hostile look made Stiyl Magnus look a bit fearful before he held it back. In
the dim area, the flaming tip of the cigarette twitches up and down. The white smoke
sways in the air, before grazing the ‘no smoking’ sign and disappearing.
“You should be able to understand all of this, don’t you? I won’t ask you if I need to
repeat myself, because with your memory, repeating the same thing over again is
meaningless.”
“……An official order from the British Puritan Church.”
Index remembers the explanation she was given when she first arrived here. There
is finally someone who can decode the ‘Book of the Law’ that no one was able to
decode. That person’s name is Ursula Aquinas. It is feared that once someone
successfully decodes the ‘Book of the Law’, the ‘Angelic Technique’ could be used.
The book was stolen when Ursula came to Japan, and the culprit is believed to be
the Amakusa Catholics. Thus, the Roman Catholics have begun a series of actions
to get back the ‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula.
The former leader of the Amakusa Catholics, now a member of the British Puritans,
Kanzaki Kaori is now missing, and might possibly do something she shouldn’t do.
On the surface, it looks like the British Puritans are on the side of the Roman
Catholics, but in actuality, they want to defuse this situation before Kanzaki Kaori
does anything troublesome.
“Such a formal ‘job’, and you want to get Touma involved?”
“To be honest, I also don’t see the need to get him involved, however, these are
orders from the higher-ups.”
Stiyl twitches his cigarette around and says, “Besides, our position is rather awkward
too. If we are to ask Kamijo Touma directly, who belongs to Academy City, people
may view it as ‘the science side interfering with internal affairs on the magical side’.
If this were to happen in Academy City, we could use the excuse of self-defense, but
such an excuse won’t work now. So in order to get him to participate, we need to
give him a motive.”
That’s why Stiyl kidnapped Index.
In other words, the reason Kamijo leaves Academy City will be ‘to rescue Index’, and
will not be related to Ursula or the ‘Book of the Law’. But while rescuing her, he ‘just
so happened’ to meet the Amakusa Catholics, and in order to protect Index, he has
to fight them. This is the excuse that Stiyl planned for Kamijo.
Index can, although she is from the magic side, temporarily stay in Academy City
due to a certain deal between Academy City and the British Puritans. Thus, for
Kamijo Touma, a resident of Academy City to rescue the guest, Index, is not a
strange thing.
“I understand everything up till now, but I can’t accept it.”
“Really?”
“That’s right, there’s no need to beat around the bush to do this. Just a little ‘please
help me’ will be enough to get Touma to come to my rescue. No matter how
dangerous the place is, he will always come over. This is why I don’t want his help.”
“……Really.”
Stiyl faintly smiles.
Like a father listening to a girl talking about her favourite boyfriend, Stiyl reveals a
slight smile.
“Okay, what will you do next? The ‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula Aquinas are now In
the Amakusa Catholics hands right? If so, you’re going to rush into the enemy’s
base?”
The girl asked rather seriously. Now that Kamijo is involved, she wants to get
accurate information and try to decrease the danger that Kamijo Touma is going to
face.
“No, the situation has changed.”
Distressed, Stiyl blows out white smoke as he says,
“Eleven minutes ago, in order to rescue Ursula, the Roman Catholics have begun a
fierce battle with the escaping Amakusa Catholics.” Index squints her eyes.
The method of communication is most likely that smoke from the cigarette. Several
times, Index finds that the long trails of smoke has magic in it, and though there is
no wind, the white smoke will unnaturally quiver. No matter the age, ‘smoke signals’
have been used as a tool of long-distance communication. In Index’s memory, there
are many ways to utilize smoke signals.
“There isn’t a need for me to be here, if the battle was successful, right?”
“That’s right. However, it wasn’t a complete victory as well. It seemed to have been
an intense battle. Luckily, no one was killed. But the ‘Book of the Law’ is still missing
and Ursula is reported to have escaped amidst this chaos.”
“When you said that she escaped, does this mean that she hasn’t met up with the
Roman Catholics?”
“That’s right. She’s still missing, so she might end up in the hands of the Amakusa
Catholics again.”
“……This doesn’t sound good.”
If the hostage tries to escape, the kidnapper will respond with violence. If a hostage
who escaped once were to be recaptured, the kidnapper will use whatever cruel
means to make the hostage not think of escaping again.
It seems that in this situation, time is of the essence. Right now, the Roman
Catholics and the Amakusa Catholics must be trying to find and recover Ursula, who
has escaped.
“Too bad that I can’t change the contents of the letter, or else I would call Kamijo
Touma to get here faster. If possible, I would like to meet him before my co-
combatant from the Roman Catholic Church arrives….”
Right after Stiyl finished speaking, a figure appeared at the wide open entrance of
the hall.
“……Too bad, seems like we can’t wait for him. We have to go.”
The figure belongs to the co-combatant.

[edit] Part 4

“It seems like I’ve been out quite often……if possible, I would like to do some good
sightseeing.”
Now on the ‘outside’ of Academy City, Kamijo proceeds through the perimeter wall
as he mutters to himself. The height of the wall is more than 5 metres and is about 3
metres thick.
(Come to think about it, during the preparation of Daihaisai, the security is rather
lax.)
Kamijo turns back and looks at the entrance from a distance. For a festival with an
attendance of 2.3 million, the preparations for Daihaisai are rather vast, and there
are many outsiders from different industries coming to Academy City. Normally, the
security in Academy City is rather tight, but now is a situation where they have to let
down their guard. Regarding the documents that Kamijo has, the guard inspection
has become even more relaxed.
To cut a long story short, after Kamijo had handed the calico cat over to
Tsuchimikado Maika, he left Academy City.
Looking at the watch, the time now is just past 6pm. There’s still nearly one hour to
the time indicated on the letter.
Because the GPS map in the phone did not indicate any abandoned buildings,
Kamijo had to put in a lot of effort in order to find the location of the ‘Gloaming
House’. At this point, Kamijo realized that refreshing information too fast had its own
downsides. Kamijo thought of an alternative plan, and therefore went to a
convenience store and bought one of those faded, ‘updated and slower’ Tokyo
tourist handbooks. But upon searching his pockets, he realized that he didn’t bring
his wallet along. Thinking about it, he immediately rushed out of Academy City after
talking to Maika and so forgot to get his wallet. Out of ideas now, Kamijo could only
endure the stare of the store clerk and memorise the map into his head.
(Erm……after walking through that lane, past that road……ugh! I'm forgetting just
about everything! How I really envy Index’s brain……)
Kamijo let his thoughts run wild, as he walked towards a bus stop.
There’s still one kilometer to the designated location. Tired after the day at school,
Kamijo really wanted to sit on a bus, and enjoy the air-con while heading towards
the designated location. Too bad he doesn’t even have a penny on him.
(Damn it……sigh, I don’t care if I can ride a bus, all I want is a place where there’s
an air-con.)
This bus stop was rather small. There were only two long benches and a large
plastic umbrella over them, which was so old that there were a number of cracks
covering it.
At this moment, Kamijo finds someone standing at the bus stop.
She seems like a foreigner, and is about as tall as Kamijo. Her eyes were fixated on
the timetable. However, looking at this for so long, it seemed like she was having a
hard time.
Her attire was rather unique, wearing a black nun’s robe in such hot weather. Of
course, the sleeves and dress were long. Looking closer, there were long silver
zippers on the elbows and about 20cm above the knees. It seemed like once they
were pulled, the sleeves and skirt of the nun’s robe would be short, but she didn’t do
that. Her hands were covered with thin white gloves, and her hair couldn't be seen,
for it was not only covered by a nun’s cap like what Index was wearing, but also by a
scarf covering her hair. Since her hair could be covered just like that, it seemed like
she had short hair.
From the corner of his eye, Kamijo looked at her, and thought:
(Uh, it’s a nun……could it be a killer nun related to Index?)

This thought might be considered as a severe discrimination to all the nuns in the
world, but Kamijo suffered during the summer thanks to people like Stiyl and
Tsuchimikado. Now, when Kamijo sees a girl in nun clothing, he would naturally be
cautious.

[edit] Part 5

“I’m sorry……”
The nun suddenly talked to Kamijo, speaking in rather polite Japanese.
“Sorry to take your time, may I ask, can I take this bus to get to Academy City?”
Not only is she courteous, there is a sense of awkwardness.
Kamijo stopped and looked at the nun. That attire which covered her entire body
made her large breasts and slim waist stand out even more (Some may even
suspect that she’s emphasizing these on purpose). Anyway, she’s a weird one.
“No way, there’s no bus that leads to Academy City.”
“Eh?”
“There’s no transport link between Academy City and the 'outside world', so one
can’t take a bus or tram there. Only those taxis that are registered by Academy City
can go in there, but one can save a lot by walking.”
“I see, so that’s why you chose to walk out of Academy City.”
The nun spoke nonchalantly.
Kamijo looked up. It wasn’t possible to see the entrance to Academy City from here.
He looked back at the nun, who pulled out something from her sleeve. Looking
closely, it was actually a cheap-looking mini telescope used in theatres.
“I used this to watch you leave Academy City.” She smiled as she said.
At this moment, a bus came from afar. Like the bus stop, it looked rather dilapidated.
The automatic doors of the bus opened, releasing a sound like a bottle of soft drink
being opened.
Kamijo did not intend to take the bus, so he went away from the bus stop. He turned
and said to the nun.
“Anyway, taking the bus is not going to bring you to Academy City. If you have an
entry permit, you just need to walk to the entrance. It takes only about 7 to 8 minutes
to get there.”
“Many thanks, I’m grateful that you would take some time off your busy schedule to
guide me.”
The nun dressed in black gave a brilliant smile, and bowed to Kamijo,then—
-Got on the bus.
“……Oi! Didn’t I tell you that you can’t take the bus? Like 5 seconds ago!”
“Ah, ya. You did say that alright.”
The nun grabbed the hem of her dress with both hands, and hastily got down the
bus, now parked on the road. Kamijo then went on:
“I just told you. There is no transport link between Academy City and the ‘outside
world’, so one can’t take a bus or a tram there. If you want to get there, you just
have to walk there, do you understand?”
“You did say that. I’m sorry to bother you so many times.”
The nun smiled bitterly, nodding to show her appreciation. She then stepped on the
steps of the bus, and got on the bus.
“Hey! You aren’t smiling just to let my words fall on deaf ears, are you?”
“Eh? No, I never had that intention.”
The nun again rushed down the bus. The bus driver showed a look of irritation,
closed the doors, and rudely drove off.
Kamijo feels worried upon seeing that the nun still looks confused. This lady will
most likely get lost in ten minutes if no one is looking out for her. However, the nun
didn't seem to sense Kamijo’s worries, and said,
“Aiya. Why do you look so frustrated? Would you like some candy?”
“I’m not really frustrated…… What flavor is this candy? Orange?”
Kamijo instinctively took the orange-red candy. Because he was too embarrassed to
throw it away, he put it into his mouth. After sucking on it for a while……
“So bitter! What is this? It’s definitely not orange!”
“……Erm, it seems to be of astringent persimmon flavor. I’m not sure about the
details, but I heard that it can quench thirst.”
“……Oh, that’s because it can easily stimulate the secretion of saliva. But the
weather is so hot now, all the water content in the body would have evaporated, so it
makes no sense to produce saliva.”
“Ar, you want to replenish your body fluids? Why didn’t you say so earlier? I have
some tea here.”
“Although I really want to ask why you would put the thermoflask into the sleeve of
your robe, nevermind, I just so happened to be thirsty. What tea is this?”
“Barley tea.”
“Oh, I want it, can I have some?”
Kamijo says happily. Drinking ice cold barley tea in the summer is the best, Kamijo
thought. He receives the cap of the thermoflask, now filled with barley tea.
“----So hot! Why is this barley tea so scalding?”
“Eh? I heard that drinking hot drinks during hot weather is part of your country’s
culture……”
“An old granny! You’re an old granny right? No wonder I feel that your mannerism is
too weird! Your thought process is like that of an old granny!”
Kamijo roared while the nun gives a friendly smile. At this point, she can’t just poor
away the barley tea in his cap. Thus, he trembles as he pours that barley tea, as hot
as lava, into his throat.
“……Er……thanks. Oh yeah, Miss Nun, may I ask you something? Are you going to
Academy City? Erm, I just said this, to enter Academy City, one must have an entry
permit issued by Academy City. Do you have one?”
“Entry permit……?”
Of course, the nun revealed a surprised look. Needless to say, without an entry
proof, one cannot get through the entrance gate.
After Kamijo explained the entire situation to the nun, she gave a troubled look. She
placed her hand on her head, and said,
“May I know how can I get this permit?”
“……I’m sorry, it’s impossible for any ordinary person to get one. Only a close
relative of a student or any industry workers delivering goods and materials can get
one, and they have to be vetted first.”
“Oh…… if so, then I’ll have to give up.”
The nun dropped her shoulders, looking rather sad. But for her to give up so easily,
made it look like it wasn't really important for her to get inside Academy City.
(It’s not that I didn’t want to help, but I can’t help her out now……)
A sense of guilt crept into Kamijo’s mind. The nun said to Kamijo, “Then I shall say
goodbye here.” And then walked towards Academy City.
“Stop right there! Didn’t I tell you that you can’t go into Academy City without an
entry permit……are you listening!?”
The nun revealed a look of realization, stopped and then turned around. She was
smiling happily a while ago, but now she looked rather disappointed, like a cloud of
haze hovering over her.
Kamijo saw the troubled look on the nun’s face, and did not know what to do. While
those magicians without permits are able to get past the wall easily, and whenever
they want to, the nun in front of him does not seem to have this sort of ability.
Thinking about it for a while, Kamijo couldn't think of anything that would help the
nun. No matter the situation, one has to have an entry permit to get into Academy
City. He has no time to dilly-dally at a place like this, now that he has to deal with
Index first. No matter what, he has to get to the designated location at the
designated time.
“Oh yeah, why do you want to get into Academy City?”
“Erm……”
The nun slightly tilts her head, and says,
“Actually, I’m being hunted right now.”
Upon hearing this, Kamijo felt like the surrounding temperature had decreased by
several degrees
“Being hunted……?”
“Yes. It’s a bit complicated, but right now, I’m trying my best to escape. I heard that
even with the power of many churches, they can’t enter Academy City, so I wanted
to escape to Academy City and hide there.”
“The church……hey, don’t tell me you have something to do with the magicians…”
On hearing this, the nun was somewhat surprised. She said, “Do you know about
the existence of magicians?”
“Looking at your reaction, I guess I’m right.” Kamijo sighs, and continues, “But, if
you’re really hunted, even escaping into Academy City wouldn't be completely safe.
Academy City has been invaded by magicians constantly.”
After seeing what happened to Index first hand, Kamijo understood that the
magicians will never give up just because the target has escaped into Academy City.
“Then what should I do……”
The nun looked like she was going to cry. Kamijo obviously understood how scary
the magicians are, so he did not want to abandon her.
“……Can you read the bus route map?”
“Buses are such old news now! Like several hundred years ago! Where did this
‘route map’ come out from!? Weren’t we talking about how to get to Academy City!?”
Kamijo exclaimed out.
The nun again reveals a stunned look. Kamijo is really in a fix thanks to this nun.
If this nun is really being hunted by the magicians, then he can’t just leave her alone.
But right now, Kamijo has something really urgent that he needs to take care of.
Now that Index has been ‘kidnapped’, he is worried. Although this kidnapping
sounds like a hoax, he can’t just ignore it. Kamijo, who unwillingly had to make a
choice between these two and not knowing what to do, roughly pulled his hair.
Suddenly, he thought of a good idea.
(Wait wait wait……if I bring this nun along while I find Index, wouldn’t that solve the
problem?)
It really was a good idea, except that it was clearly written in the letter that he has to
‘go there alone’.

[edit] Part 6

Stiyl and Index walked out of the theater hall of the ‘Gloaming House’, arriving at the
lobby, which seemed to be the place where originally the ticket booth was.
A girl in black nun robes is walking in front of them.
She seemed to be a year or two older than Index. Her tea hair is slightly reddish, or
red, and is tied into many braids as thin as pencils. The sleeve of her robe nearly
covers her fingers, but her skirt is so short that her thighs are exposed. Looking
closer, there seems to be something which looks like a zipper on the lower edge of
her skirt. It seems like the skirt is part of a detachable dress, but only the lower half
is removed. She looks extremely thin, so her slim waist is even slimmer than Index's,
who’s rather thin herself.
She’s about as tall as Index, but she’s wearing soft wooden sandals with the soles
about 30cm thick; when she walks, they create a sound like horseshoes tapping on
the ground. These sandals are called ‘Chopine’, and were very fashionable in Italy
during the 17th century.
She’s a nun from the Roman Catholic Church.
Her name is Anieze Sanctis.
“The situation right now is extremely chaotic. There’s so much information that we
can’t handle it all. We have no idea where Ursula is right now. Also, the ‘Book of the
Law’ is still missing. This really bothers us.”
None of the people present are Japanese. However, Anieze is speaking fluent
Japanese.
“Just now, we ambushed the Amakusa Catholics as they were deporting Ursula.
Though some of us managed to save her, before we could meet up with her, she got
taken away by them again. Then we got her back again. But then another group of
Amakusa Catholics captured her again……and this went on and on and on.
Because the area in which we encircled them was too big, it ended up with each
group having too few people despite having large numbers, and the Amakusa
Catholics getting an opportunity. Just as both sides were fighting to get Ursula, she
disappeared.” (Teh_Ping: No wonder she disappeared, she got sick of being passed
around. -.-lll)
Anieze’s Japanese is mixed with polite honorifics and rude words.
(If she learnt her Japanese while doing her mission in Japan, it seems like the
Japanese whom she talked to were mostly detectives or policemen.) Stiyl thought.
He saw Anieze turn around to look at him, her short skirt slightly lifted, revealing
even more of her snow-white thighs.
“What, got a problem? Ah, I’m sorry, it’s not that I don’t speak English, but my
English has a very heavy Italian accent. I don’t really mind if I’m talking to people of
other countries, but I don’t dare to show my inferior English to you British.” Stiyl did
not seem to mind, as he shook the cigarette in his mouth and said,
“You don’t have to worry about these trivial issues, we can even talk in Italian.”
“Please don’t speak Italian. If I were to hear anyone speak Italian with such a strong
British accent, I'd probably laugh so much that I couldn't focus on my work. In this
situation, it’s better to use another language that we can communicate with, like
Japanese. No one will argue if we use a language that we aren’t comfortable with.”
Anieze’s thick sandals continue to make that horseshoe tapping sound.
Although it sounds like she has a point, if she were to follow this logic, how would
she communicate if she were to meet someone Japanese? Stiyl unnecessarily
thought for her. Also, if she isn’t going to use the native language to speak with the
people there, what’s the point of learning their language?
Up till now, Index remained silent, not saying a single word.
Stiyl steals a glance at Index, who is still unhappy as she curls her lips, not saying a
single word. He then turns back to Anieze, and says,
“Then, does that mean that the Amakusa Catholics who stole the ‘Book of the Law’
and Ursula away from you guys are a threatening force?”
“You were trying to say that ‘the largest Christian sect in the world—the Roman
Catholics, are useless despite looking so strong’, right? To be honest, we can’t
argue about that. Just by looking at the numbers and armaments, we have the upper
hand, but they have the geographical advantage. Especially since Japan is their
territory. We’re really angry for being overwhelmed by a much smaller organization,
but I have to admit, they are really strong.”
“……So it seems that they won’t just surrender quietly.”
Stiyl’s voice hints a sense of disappointment.
‘Forcing an opponent to surrender after showing the power disparity’ is the fastest
and most peaceful way to resolve this situation. But now that the enemy has enough
ability to reject any negotiations, it seems a long fight is inevitable.
The longer the battle against the Amakusa Catholics, the more likely Kanzaki will
intervene. This means that in order to complete the mission, Stiyl has to give up all
forms of compassion and take them out quickly before Kanzaki realizes what’s going
on.
The objective of the Roman Catholics is to retrieve back the ‘Book of the Law’ and
Ursula Aquinas, and not destroy the Amakusa Catholics. Once they complete their
objective, the Roman Catholics will immediately pull out.
Now, they just have to try and make the Amakusa Catholics lose their will to fight.
“I’m quite unfamiliar with the Christian history in Japan. Do you know what kind of
techniques they use? Maybe I can make use of how the enemy fights to prepare
some searching or defensive types of magic arrays or talismans.”
Although Stiyl often fights alongside Kanzaki, who is originally a member of the
Amakusa Catholics, he did not intend to analyze the techniques she uses. This is
because Kanzaki is a saint, one of less than twenty people in the world who possess
the ‘Stigma’. Even if he were to do the analysis correctly, an ordinary man like Stiyl
would be unable to use it anyway. It’s like how no one would use a 50cm ruler to
measure the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
Regarding this question that the priest raised, Anieze seems to find it difficult to
answer.
“To be honest……we’ve not yet gathered enough information regarding the
techniques that the Amakusa Catholics use. Since they’re derived from Saint
Francisco’s (Francisco de Jaso y Azpilicueta: the first Christian Missionary to preach
to the Japanese) Society of Jesus, they should be a branch of the Roman Catholic
Church. But since they have been so greatly influenced by Japan and China, they’re
now completely different from the Roman Catholic Church.”
Hearing this, Stiyl did not blame Anieze. These people are able to sense that the
Amakusa-style is mixed with some aspects of Buddhism and Shintoism after fighting
them for just two days, which shows that their analytical abilities are rather strong.
Stiyl turns to look at Index, wanting to seek her advice.
Now is the right time for Index, who has knowledge exceeding ten thousand times
that of a normal person, to fulfill her role. The pure white nun remained calm and
composed as she said,
“The Amakusa’s speciality is ‘secrecy’, because they’re Christians whose nature is
to deceive others. They hide the teachings of Christianity inside Shintoism and
Buddhism completely, and use the rituals and techniques as part of their greetings,
diet and behaviour in their everyday life. They cover all their tracks, so others won’t
even notice their existence. Thus, they don’t use any spells or magic arrays. They
use pots, pans, kitchen knives, bathrooms, quilts, showers, humming……anything or
action that looks rather ordinary to activate their magic. So, no matter how skilled the
magician is, they’ll be fooled once they enter the ceremonial area of the Amakusa,
because it just looks like an ordinary kitchen or bathroom to them.” (Teh_ping: Talk
about improvised weapons……)
Stiyl shakes the cigarette in his mouth, and says,
“So, this is a group of experts highly skilled in the idol theory. Hm, seems like their
speciality is long-ranged sniping and not close-ranged combat. Hopefully, they don’t
have a large technique like that of the ‘Gregorian Chant’.”
“No. They’ve been learning other countries’ cultures ever since the Edo period, and
fused sword techniques of all ages to create their own unique style. They’re able to
use any weapon with ease, whether it is a Japanese sword or a Western
broadsword.”
“……They’re well-versed in both literature and martial arts? This is really
troublesome.”
Stiyl feels vexed. Anieze, who was unknowingly left out of the conversation, angrily
kicked the floor with her soles. With every kick, her extremely short miniskirt would
slightly flip up, making a rather funny ‘pop’ sound in the process.
Dangling the cigarette in his mouth, the priest turns to look at Anieze.
“Can you tell me where we’ll be looking for the ‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula
Aquinas? We can’t just idle around and do nothing. Tell me, where do we start?”
“Ah, we’ll do the searching.”
Suddenly being involved in the conversation again, Anieze was obviously flustered.
She quickly straightens herself.
“Human wave tactics are our speciality. We have about 250 of our members here, it
doesn’t matter even if we were to add one or two more, it won’t make much of a
difference. Also, a different command system will likely cause confusion.”
“……Then why bring me here?”
Stiyl frowns as he asks. Anieze smiles and says,
“Simple, there’s some place we can’t search, and we need your help.”
“Which place? Japan doesn’t have a church that’s directly governed by the British
Puritans. The only place we’re allowed to search is the British embassy.”
“No, I’m talking about Academy City.” Anieze raises her hand as she says, “Once
Ursula escapes to Academy City, the Amakusa won’t catch her. This isn’t
impossible, is it? No, maybe it might be harder to capture her. So, I hope to use you
guys to get contact with Academy City. The Roman Catholic Church has no
connections within Academy City, so it’s a bit bothersome for us."
“I see……but, since it’s for that sort of reason, you should have told me earlier. That
way, it’ll save a lot of hassle.”
Index, who is temporarily staying in Academy City, understands that there’s a certain
level of relationship between Academy City and the British Puritans. Of course, the
significance of this ‘diplomatic relationship’ isn’t large, but if the Roman Catholics,
who do not have any ‘diplomatic relations’, were to contact Academy City through
the British Puritans, who do have some link with them, there would be less of a
disturbance.
“……Anyway, if Ursula were to escape to Academy City, the situation would get
rather complicated.”
“This is just a possibility though. Hopefully, our Ursula here will not panic until she
loses her common sense. Anyway, how long would it take for you guys to contact
Academy City, and confirm whether Ursula is in there or not?”
“It’s impossible to settle all these things with just a phone call. I have to call St.
George Cathedral first, and then communicate with Academy City through them……
even if it’s an emergency situation, it’ll take about 7 to 10 minutes. If we want
permission to enter Academy City, it’ll be even more troublesome. Technically, we
can still sneak in, but being in an official position, it's better not to do this.”
“Anyway, please try and confirm it, as fast as possible.”
Speaking halfway, Anieze suddenly froze.
Following her line of sight, he realises she’s looking at the entrance on the other side
of the lobby. This theatre entrance is rather big, being made of 5 glass doors that
open outwards.
“What? What’s going on----”
Even Stiyl froze after asking halfway.
“Hm?”
On the other side of the window panes, there’s an open patch covered with asphalt,
which means it was probably the car park. Although the theatre is extremely big, the
open area is so small. The tenacious weeds have grown and emerged from the
cracks in the hard asphalt. There’s nothing else on the empty area……except for
two shadows on this abandoned car park with nothing left.
The two shadows belong to two people.
“Ah, it’s Touma.”
Index says the name of the rather familiar looking boy.
“Ur……Ursula Aquinas?”
Anieze says the name of the nun dressed in black robes beside the boy.
The two people whose names have been called did not see the magicians inside the
‘Gloaming House’.

[edit] Part 7

Let’s rewind time back for a little bit.

Although its evening now, when the weather is cooling even more, the fatigue
brought by walking 3 kilometres in the summer seems to far exceed Kamijo’s
imagination.
(Come……come to think of it, today’s Physical Education lesson and several other
things have tired me out……)
Kamijo, who left his wallet in the dormitory, could only walk on.
Notably, the slightly older nun dressed in black walking beside him is also penniless.
God knows how she was going to take the bus.
Anyway, Kamijo has already walked for 3 kilometres in this hot September, sweaty
and tired as he arrives at the entrance of the Gloaming House.
“May I ask……Sister, the weather’s so hot, and you’re wearing a long-sleeved black
robe. How can you smile so happily and not even sweat at all?”
“Ah this, compared to spiritual suffering, physical pain is almost nothing.”
“……You’re one heavily abused sister.”
“Excuse me, how long will it take for us to reach the bus stop?”
“Could you stop asking about the bus already!? Didn’t I tell you that I’m bringing you
to the British Puritans? Don’t tell me that the words I’ve just spoken went in one ear
and came out the other ear again?”
“Ah, excuse me, you’re sweating a lot.”
“Damn it! Talking to you is so hard when you keep changing the topics!”
“Don’t move. I’ll wipe it off for you.”
“Eh? What? Wait a……”
The nun suddenly pulls a handkerchief from her sleeve and wipes Kamijo’s face.
Although it’s just a handkerchief, it’s decorated with some high quality lace on the
sides. It feels warm, and it has a slight aroma of roses. Kamijo wants to escape, but
he is held back by the nun, who uses her unimaginable strength to hold onto his
head.
“Okay, I’m done.”
The nun reveals her vibrant smile as she looks at Kamijo.
“……Um, thanks.”
Kamijo drags his tired body into the abandoned Gloaming House.
The Gloaming House looks very large from afar, but the parking lot in front of them
is rather small. One might suspect that it’s for the employees. Maybe it’s because it’s
close to a bus stop, and there's already a multi-storey parking lot next to it. Although
the entire Gloaming House is surrounded by metal plates and iron bars about 2
metres tall, the entrance used by employees has been forcefully opened. (One can
see a very thick chain and a large lock on the floor.)
There’s no large machinery on the extremely small parking lot. None of the walls in
the building has been vandalised, and the glass isn’t broken. Maybe there’s already
a buyer, and because of that someone comes over to maintain this building.
Going closer, one can observe that the Gloaming House is larger than a stadium,
and is square-shaped. Maybe the designers wanted to imitate a certain famous
theatre, or maybe they were too lazy to design anything fancy.
(It’s so hot outside, so they should be inside, right?)
Kamijo looks past the entrance of the Gloaming House. It’s a rather large entrance,
with five glass doors facing outwards. The entrance isn’t sealed with anything, like
planks, so it looks like it’s just a suspension of business rather than looking like a
dump. Just as Kamijo was thinking, one of the doors opened.
“Eh?”
Kamijo could not help but shout out.
Two of the three people walking out of the building, are familiar to him. They’re Index
and Stiyl.
The last one is a girl who looks even younger than Index, one whom Kamijo never
met before. She wears a black nun robe, similar to the nun he met at the bus stop.
However, this girl has removed the lower part of her skirt below the zipper, so the
skirt has now become a tiny mini-skirt. Looking downwards, he realises that she is
wearing wooden sandals with soles 30cm thick.
The moment she sees Kamijo, Index asks.
“Hey Touma, where did you meet that nun?”
“……You’re asking that the moment we meet? Honestly, I would like to ask that evil
priest beside you. Why do you have to go to such great lengths to play this
kidnapping game with me? I want to know, why do I have to walk for 3 kilometres on
such a hot day!? I really want to know why!”
Kamijo bellows. Stiyl shows an impatient look, saying, “So, you just realised that I
tricked you? I called you here to help us find a certain person. Index is the bait to
lure you out. Oh yeah, this is the person in charge now, Anieze Sanctis of the
Roman Catholic Church.”
Stiyl nonchalantly points his cigarette at the girl wearing thick soled sandals. The girl
gives a deep bow, and says, “He…hello”. Maybe she did her research and knows
that the Japanese will habitually bow towards others. But for her to bow so low, it’s
like she’s a hotel receptionist.
Kamijo feels panicky regarding how he has to talk to a stranger now. Although his
heart is filled with rage right now, he can’t just vent his frustration on a person whom
he met for the first time.
Seems like Stiyl wants to seize the opportunity now that Kamijo is so panicked, as
he says,
“So sorry. I have no time to listen to your stupid problems. I just said, the reason I
called you here is to help me find a person. Although there are 250 people looking
for her now, there’s still no news as of yet. This mission is rather urgent as it
concerns a person’s life, so I hope that you can give us your fullest attention.
“No time to listen to my stupid problems? You bastard, called me all the way here,
and you give that smug look! Damn it, what is going on? How does it concern a
person’s life? Tell me everything! And to be honest, what kind of searching ability
does an outsider of the magic world like me have! Is it alright to leave such an
important task to a high school student!?”
“Hm, well, you don’t have to worry so much. You just need to hand over the nun
beside you.”
“What?”
Kamijo widens his eyes. Irritated, Stiyl blows the smoke from the cigarette out of his
mouth, and says, “The sister beside you is who we’re looking for. Her name is
Ursula Aquinas. Thanks for your help, Kamijo Touma, you can go back now.”
“……Oi oi. Using a kidnap as an excuse to lure me out, forcing me to use these
documents that came from who knows where to leave Academy City, then I have to
walk 3 kilometres under the big, hot Sun when the temperature is around 40
degrees Celsius, and now you’re telling me to go back?”
Kamijo mutters.
“Didn’t I thank you already? What, you expect me to treat you to some shaved ice?”
Kamijo Touma lowers his head, gritting his teeth. Index stood near him, her face
looking pale, not knowing what to do.
“Pow!” Something broke near Kamijo’s temple, creating this sound.
“Up till now, I thought that even though our personalities don’t match, at least I could
make a friend. Really! This is what I thought at first! But now, I changed my mind!”
“Stop saying all this nonsense and hand Ursula over to Anieze. Don’t tell me you
want me to remove that loneliness? Such a pity, I can’t do it, and neither do I want to
do it, because that’s too gross.”
Even the words he said in anger have been emotionlessly dismissed. Kamijo Touma
looks like he used up all his energy, as he lies on the ground.
“Ahhh….huuuuu! I have no more energy to cook dinner today! Index, our dinner
tonight will be a simple takeaway pork bento.”
“No way! Touma!”
The girl with such a large appetite desperately shouts.
Kamijo didn’t care as he says to the nun dressed in black, Ursula Aquinas.
“……Oh yeah, didn’t you say that you’re being hunted? Does that situation have to
do with these people looking for you? Anyway, now that you’re reunited with your
comrades, you should be fine, right?”
For some reason, after hearing Kamijo’s words, Ursula trembled. It seems like she
wants to suppress her shock, but failed, causing her to slightly tremble.
Upon seeing this, Kamijo felt suspicious. But Ursula isn’t looking at Kamijo, but Stiyl
and the rest.
At this point, Stiyl closes one eye, and slowly says.
“Mm, you don’t have to feel insecure. Once the mission is over, the British Puritans
will pull back. Of course, for someone of a different sect like you, to be wary of us is
alright.”
To an outsider like Kamijo, these people are either ‘church members’ or ‘residents of
the magical world.’
But in fact, these people are divided into different sects, like Roman or British. They
may even turn on each other. Just as Kamijo thought about this, a loud yet deep
voice rang.
“No way. It won't be so easy to take Ursula back.”
This voice came from above Kamijo. Everyone looked upwards, and saw that a
softball-sized paper balloon floated about 7 metres above them.
The thin paper surface of the balloon continues to vibrate, as that man’s voice came
out of it.
“Ursula Aquinas, I believe you know this well yourself. Instead of returning to the
Roman Catholics, how about you join us, and enjoy a much more meaningful life?”
The next instant.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing sound could be heard, as the blade of a longsword sprang
out from the ground between Kamijo and Ursula. As everyone’s attention has been
taken by the object above, the sudden change below their feet scared them.
Then, the same sound could be heard another two times, and two more blades
came out from the ground. The three blades surround Ursula.
The swords which came out were like sharks swimming near the surface of the
water, revealing its fins. With Ursula at the centre, the three blades cut an equilateral
triangle about 2 metres on each side.
“AHHHHH----”
Ursula, who feels that her feet have lost support, screamed out, 30% in fear and
70% in confusion. But before her voice could properly converte into a scream, her
body, together with the triangular asphalt ground, fell down into a deep abyss.
“Amakusa!”
Anieze shouts as she stretches her hand out, but it was already too late. Ursula’s
body has been swallowed by the darkness. Kamijo rushes to the side of the
triangular hole, and regretfully covers his mouth.

“Sewers……?”
The paper balloon above them gives a slightly delighted yet clear and powerful
voice.”
“I knew that if I were to follow the commander of the Roman Catholics, no matter
where Ursula Aquinas would run to, or who would capture her, she would always be
brought here. Hiding underground for so long, my efforts have finally paid off!”
Kamijo completely did not understand the situation.
He did not know who’s in the sewers, and why Ursula is taken away.
But he knows something.
This guy suddenly appeared and used sharp swords to take a person away. And by
listening to what that guy said, this isn’t a sudden event, but rather a premeditated
plan, and so he must have been waiting for this chance all this time.
“Damn it!”
Kamijo looks down the triangular hole. It’s too dark inside to estimate the depth,
though it doesn’t look so deep. Kamijo decided to jump into the hole.
“Wait! Don’t go! Touma!”
Just as Index frantically shouts out.
Suddenly, several swords start flashing in the darkness.
The numerous swords flashing in the darkness reflect the weak sunlight and this dim
orange light faintly shows the figure of the person in the sewers. This is like a scene
where bandits will wield rusted axes or knives, hide in the tall grass along the road,
hold their breaths and patiently wait for their prey.
The thick killing intent gathers to form hot wind, which blows out from the hole into
Kamijo’s face. Instantly, Kamijo’s body went numb, he couldn’t move. Stiyl steps
beside Kamijo, pulls out four talismans with runes on them and throws them on the
ground around him.
“My hand brings fire, shape into a blade, and bring forth thy judgment!”
Stiyl shouts, and using his fingers, points the cigarette upwards.
The trail of cigarette smoke changes into orange lines. After that, the trails of orange
lines converges into a flaming sword.
The newly created strong glow now lights the sewer clearly.
Stiyl grabs the flaming sword, and swings it downwards……but halfway through, he
stopped.
Under the glow of the flames, there is no one in the sewer.
The black figure in the sewer seemed to have vanished like the darkness. One
cannot see the figure wielding the sharp swords nor Ursula, who fell into the hole.
Like ligiidae scattering from the banks of a sea cave, they dispersed, leaving nothing
behind.
The paper balloon floating above them slowly descends.
It floated into the triangular hole, and no one bothered to stop it.
“Damn it, what’s going on?”
Kamijo bitterly said.
“Hey, you better give me a proper explanation!”
“If I were to explain it to you, then who’s going to explain it to me?”
Stiyl Magnus says in disdain.

[edit] Between the lines 1

Meanwhile—
On the artificial coast, one finally cannot see the setting sun as night approaches.
This is a shore located several hundred metres away from a beach, and near this
shoreline is a tall cliff about 10 metres tall. In order to prevent the base of the cliff
from being eroded, the ground is laid with wavestones.
After the sun had completely set, the sea became a deep black colour.
As if waiting for night-time to arrive, a ‘hand’ quickly stretched out from the black
sea.
It is a hand with a bracelet on it. The heavy hand with this shiny silver bracelet grabs
onto a wavestone. Then, a full set of western armour leaves the sea and gets on the
wavestones. From top to bottom, every inch of skin is covered by metal armour,
making them look inhuman.
Once the first one lands, the other 20 ‘knights’ also followed suit, appearing on the
sea and climbing up the wavestones. Every single one of the bracelets, which the
knights are wearing, has the words ‘United Kingdom’ engraved on it. This meant
England.
These knights swam all the way here. This is not an analogy or a figurative way of
speech, but rather a fact. They started swimming from England, past the Cape of
Good Hope in South Africa, past the Indian Ocean and came to Japan.
They use a sea current manipulation magic spell handed down by St. Blaise—
Simpley put, this is a high-speed swimming spell that allows humans to swim around
the world in only three days—however, this spell isn’t cast on the armour, but rather,
every knight has to use his own body to activate this magic spell. Right now, the
armour that the knights wear does not have any magical capabilities. This is
because the power of the knights is too strong, and that any effects from any
artefact would however make it cumbersome. All these knights are far stronger than
any of the artefacts could make them possibly be, so if a knight wears a magical
armour, it would very likely just be destroyed by their strong powers.
The organisation that these knights belong to doesn’t have a special name, they’re
just called the ‘Knights of England’.
In the past, the British used names like ‘Rod knights’, ‘Dual-axe knights’, but these
names have been abandoned 7 years ago. This isn’t because the knights today
have lost their original expertise, but because they have learnt every technique,
allowing the knights to enter a whole new realm.
The knights want this power because of the internal worries in England, and these
worries are also the reason why the ‘Knights of England’ were originally formed.
The command system in England rests on three equal powers.
The ‘British Royal Family’ composed of the Queen and her committee.
The ‘Knights of England’ made up of its leader and his fellow knights.
The ‘Puritans’ formed by the Archbishop and the believers.
The relationship between these three is as follows:
The ‘British Royal Family’ controls the ‘Knights of England’ through orders;
The ‘Knights of England’ makes use of the ‘Puritans’ through political items;
The ‘Puritans’ manipulate the ‘British Royal Family’ through Holy advice.
The trinity formed by the three powers creates a sense of unparalleled beauty. Once
one of the members were to act on its own, the other two sides would create a large
commotion through several means, and prevent them from acting on it. However,
the reason why Britain has the ‘Most complicated Christian culture in the world’ isn’t
just because of this.
‘Britain’, also known as the United Kingdom, is made of England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland. Up till today, some places still use their own currency.
Even if they belong to the same ‘Puritan’ sect, there still can be quarrels among its
members, like between England and Wales. On the contrary, even if they were to
belong to the ‘Puritans’ and the ‘knights’, if they’re both Scottish, they might secretly
smuggle some money or information out. The reason why the decoder, Sherry
Cromwell betrayed the Puritans wasn’t just because she had her own motives. Her
culture also influenced her passively.
Three sects, four cultures.
The inter-connected relations between each side makes Britain so complicated. And
the mission of the ‘Knights of England’ is to maintain this status quo. However, the
United Kingdom has turned this to rubble.
Because of this, the ‘Knights’ and the ‘Puritans’ have some grudge between each
other.
The ‘Knights’ cannot accept that the British Puritans—the ‘puritan sect’ could have a
power equivalent to that of the knights.
The original purpose of the British Puritans is to counter the Roman Catholics.
Britain doesn’t want other countries to meddle in its politics, but the influence of the
Roman Catholics has spread throughout the world. If Britain wouldn't listen to the
Roman Catholics, they would be labeled with the crime of ‘disobeying the teachings
of Christianity’. So, Britain created the ‘British Puritans’ within its country, an
independent Christian sect. With this, Britain could declare to the world that ‘we’re
following the orders of the British Puritans’, and so didn’t have to be ordered around
by the Roman Catholics anymore.
In other words, the British Puritans were originally just a political tool.
If the ‘British Royal Family’ and the ‘Knights of England’ could be described as large
gears, the British Puritans could be described as lubricants.
But today, the British Puritans have gained enough power to be of equal standing
with the Royal Family and the Knights.
The knights don’t want to be restricted by a ‘tool’.
So, the knights will only listen to orders from their leader or the Queen. As for the
orders issued by the leader of the British Puritans, the knights will normally be
apathetic about it, sometimes even disobeying orders.
The Knights had their own ideas regarding the order from the Archbishop, which
was “Assist the recovery of the ‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula Aquinas”.
They just need to kill off all of the Amakusa.
The Knights had no reason to follow the orders of someone they didn’t recognize—
the Archbishop, and sacrifice their lives for her. They also didn’t care about the
relationship between the British Puritans, the Roman Catholics and the Amakusa
Catholics.
Even if the Amakusa were to disappear from this world, in terms of the welfare of
their country, there wouldn't be any loss.
With the abilities of the Knights, killing off the Amakusa would be too easy. The
techniques of the Knights—inherited from the crusaders of the tenth century which
attacked the middle east-- these techniques have buried who knows how many
believers of other religions since ancient times. Their power is even great enough to
cause an island to disappear from the map.
Destroying this weak sect, the Amakusa, in the far East won’t even take a day.
Even if the Amakusa have a hostage like Ursula, they couldn’t care less.
Even the British Puritans aren't interested in the ‘Book of the Law’, because its
contents have been memorized in Index’s brain. No matter whether Ursula lives or
dies, it doesn’t affect Britain. The Roman Catholics might try and put pressure on
Britain, but isn’t it the Archbishop’s job to ‘pacify the Roman Catholics’?
The Archbishop has already warned the Knights to be wary of Kanzaki Kaori’s
actions, the former leader of the Amakusa Catholics, but they did not take it to heart.
If Kanzaki were to attack in rage because of the destruction of the Amakusa, the
Knights would just send her into oblivion.
This was the ‘original’ plan that the Knights had.
But such a plan is completely decimated within 3 seconds.
Just when the Knights got out from the sea and climbed onto the rocks,
An explosion occurred in the area full of wavestones.
Among the explosion, every wavestone, each weighing more than one ton, was
blasted into the air like a volcanic explosion. The Knights, who were originally
standing on the wavestones, fliped in the air to regain their balance. They then look
at the ground, looking for a suitable landing spot.
At the centre of the explosion, which blew up the 21 knights and numerous pieces of
the rocks, stood a lady.
She has black hair tied behind her head in a scoop, and snow-white skin covering
her thick muscles. She wears a short-sleeved T-shirt with a knot tied below, a pair of
jeans with one side being cut off, and top-boots. A belt runs around her waist, and
under that belt is a Japanese sword more than two metres long (Seven Heaven
Seven Swords).
Kanzaki Kaori.
She did not say a single word as she attacked the 21 knights in the sky.
Now that the Knights were in the sky, they couldn’t move their bodies about freely.
Kanzaki’s way of attack is rather simple, and that’s to attack each of the Knights in
order with her Japanese sword. Kanzaki did not unsheathe the sword, and just
swung it together with the sheath.
But, she was as fast as lightning.
In actuality, they were only in the air for one second. But, they got the feeling that
their bodies were stuck in the air. Because Kanzaki was really too fast, it was like
time had stopped and only she was moving.
If one were to see this through the normal flow of time, it would be like observing an
invisible whirlwind in the midst of an explosion. After being hit by the sword, some of
them flew to the ground, some buried into the cliff, some beside the cliff, and some
jumping on the water surface like flying rocks.
After attacking the 21 knights, Kanzaki steadily lands on a wave rock.
When the moist night wind started to gently stroke her hair, the knights came falling
from the sky, and bell-like percussive sound reverberated through the entire coast
as they landed in the sea.
“I didn’t use my full strength, so this sort of attack will most likely not cause any
deaths. Good thing you all were wearing sturdy equipment, it allowed me to attack
without any worry.”
“You……”
Kanzaki’s calm voice however became the biggest mockery to the knights. One of
the knights tried to stand up, but his body couldn’t move; even moving a finger was
difficult to him.
So, the knight could only use his mouth, which was the only part of his body that
could still move.
“Do you know who we are? Such an action from you means declaring war on the
United Kingdom!”
“I’m also a citizen of the United Kingdom. This has nothing to do with the Roman
Catholics or the Russian Orthodox Church. This is an internal conflict within the
British Puritans, so I believe that it won’t bring too much trouble for the people
above……huh?”
Before Kanzaki finished speaking, she realised that the knight who was speaking a
while ago has now fainted.
“Some of them fell into the sea……but then, they haven’t removed their swimming
spells, so they probably won’t die.”
Kanzaki muttered as she faces the dark, peaceful surface of the sea.
“Saying all these with a worried expression, yet there’s not even a sense of spirit in
it.”
“!?”
Kanzaki looked mystified by this familiar voice. She turned around and saw a
teenager with messy blond hair, blue shades, an aloha shirt and shorts. (Teh_ping:
Is this guy on holiday?)
Tsuchimikado Motoharu.
Once Kanzaki noticed where he was standing, she was shocked. Kanzaki’s senses
are rather acute, and logically, no one would be able to get near her without being
discovered. But right now, the distance between the two of them is merely ten
meters, and yet Kanzaki couldn’t sense any presence from Tsuchimikado.
“So you came to stop me?”
Kanzaki grabed the sword handle. But the eyes behind Tsuchimikado’s sunglasses
were still smiling.
“Don’t bother, Kanzaki. You can’t beat me.”
Facing such a critical situation, Tsuchimikado remained calm and collected. He
didn’t have any weapon on him, neither was he in a battle pose.
“You’re strong, but you don’t kill. I’m an esper now, and if I were to cast magic on
you, I might die. In other words, no matter whether one of us wins, death is the only
option for me. Let me ask you, do you have the resolve to kill Tsuchimikado, who
doesn’t want his own life?”
Kanzaki gritted her teeth.
Her magic is supposed to save people, not to kill them. A battle where lives would
be lost no matter which side won is meaningless to her, or one may say, she’ll avoid
it at all costs.
Her fingers, now touching the sword’s handle, start to tremble slightly. At this
moment, Tsuchimikado suddenly revealed a smile like an innocent child, and said,
“You don’t have to stare at me like this, big sis. My order isn’t to stop you, but to
resolve the situation before you get into trouble. Also, I have another job to do.”
“Job……?”
“That’s right. My order is to steal the original ‘Book of the Law’ when the Roman
Catholics and Amakusa are fighting furiously against each other.”
Kanzaki squinted her eyes, and asked,
“Is this an order from the Puritan church, or from Academy City?”
“I can’t comment on this. But, if you think, you will find the answer. Think about it, the
magical side and the scientific side, which side would want the magic book more?
And, which side am I working for?”
Hearing Tsuchimikado’s words, Kanzaki remained silent.
A mysterious atmosphere surround these two, the warm air flowing between them
has been frozen.
Several seconds later, Kanzaki looked away from him.
“……I’m leaving. If you want to give a report to the higher-ups, go ahead. I don’t
mind.”
“I understand. Ah, I’ll take some time to clean up this place. It’s troublesome if we let
these guys be captured by the police.”
“Thank you.”
Kanzaki bowed towards Tsuchimikado. Tsuchimikado then went on.
“Oh yeah, big sis, what do you want to do, coming all the way back from England?”
Kanzaki, whose head was still lowered, froze up.
After ten whole seconds, Kanzaki raised her head.
“Yeah—”
Kanzaki forced a stiff smile showing her anger and her sorrow, and said,
“---What did I come here for?”

[edit] Chapter 2:The Roman Catholic Church

[edit] Part 1

The sun has set, as night arrives.

However, the night doesn’t bring about peace. Anieze, who’s dressed in black robes,
continues to issue orders to the other nuns wearing the same monastic clothes
through hand signals and foreign language. At the same time, she’s holding a quill
pen, and writing rapidly on a small notebook. “It’s like a telephone.” Index explained.
As long as one writes words on that notebook, similar words will appear on other
notebooks. “Rather than calling it a telephone, why not call it an e-mail.” Kamijo
secretly thought.
Among this black organization—they should be official nuns from the Roman
Catholic Church, some of them jumped into the triangular hole that the perpetrators
that kidnapped Ursula cut open, into the sewer. Some of them opened up their
maps, using red ink and quill pens to draw lines on the map. Kamijo cannot tell if
they’re anaylsing the enemy’s escape route, or if they’re setting up positions to
monitor the enemy and encircle him.
This is a noisy and chaotic night. Kamijo, Index and Stiyl can only stand around and
watch from afar. Kamijo can’t speak any foreign language (he doesn’t even know
what language they’re speaking), and so he can’t take part in the conversation. As
for Index and Stiyl, they’re trying not to cause any confusion with the Roman
Catholic nuns, who follow a different command structure altogether, and thus chose
to watch from afar.
Kamijo endured his ever-growing hunger, and says,
“Oi, what did Index and I come here to do? Aren’t the people from the Roman
Catholic Church supposed to do this mission? If we can only foolishly stand around,
what’s the point of coming all the way here?”
“About this, our reinforcements should have arrived by now. I don’t know why those
Knights haven’t arrived yet. Stiyl laments, puffing out white smoke. “Also, we’ll
definitely be useful in this situation. No, more accurately, she’ll definitely be useful.”
The ‘she’ that Stiyl mentioned should be referring to Index.
“She?”
“That’s right, because this concerns a magic book, the original copy of the ‘Book of
the Law’.”
For his own interests, Stiyl brought this conversation to a close (Seems like he
doesn’t intend to explain further.) So, Index continued off from where Stiyl left off,
making a simple explanation.
The ‘Book of the Law’ is rumored to be a magic book written in codes that no one in
the entire world can decode, the contents of the book is rather precious. Once
someone can interpret it, she’ll be able to gain tremendous power. And until now,
there’s finally a girl who found a way to decode it.
But, the Amakusa Catholics have stolen this ‘Book of the Law’ from the Roman
Catholics, and also the girl who knows how to decode it, Ursula Aquinas.
The girl that Kamijo met on the road was Ursula. She escaped in the midst of the
confusion in the battle between the Amakusa and the Roman Catholics. As for the
‘Book of the Law’, it’s still missing, but it may have ended up in the hands of the
Amakusa.
(Amakusa……?)
Kamijo felt that he heard this name before.
However, Kamijo decides to leave this aside for now, and asks,
“Nobody can interpret it? Not even Index?”
“No way. I tried, but its different from ordinary types of codes.”
“But, is this ‘magic book that nobody can decode’ really that valuable? Since no one
can decode it, can it possibly be just gibberish?”
“Maybe.”
Index honestly replies. However, by not refuting these claims, it makes Index seem
like an adult trying to cajole children. It’s like an expert not sharing his own views
with a layman.
Stiyl spits the cigarette that he finished smoking, putting it out by stepping on it, and
says,
“It’s said that the spells recorded in the ‘Book of the Law’ are too powerful. Once
used, the world supported by the Christian Church will be doomed. No matter
whether this legend is true or not, it is best if we can keep this book sealed forever.
One sect even believes that whoever reads this book will be able to use the Angelic
spell freely, a spell that far exceeds human limits.
On hearing this, Kamijo froze up.
“An……gel……?”
“Hm? Maybe for an atheist like you, it’s hard to imagine what an angel looks like.”
Stiyl laughed. However, he was wrong.
Kamijo understands what an angel is. He still remembers what that angel with the
so-called ‘God’s power’ did. That night, the sky above the seaside was covered by a
large vortex of magic spell instantly. One single word from the angel is enough to
turn half the Earth to ash.
Also, for all the spells that the angel has, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Such a powerful magic can be controlled freely by humans?
“But……since no one has been able to decipher the ‘Book of the Law’, how would
they know if it’s a bluff?”
Disturbed, Kamijo swallowed his saliva as his asks. Index nods her head like an
innocent boy, and replies,
“Mm. However, Touma, it is undeniable that the ‘Book of the Law’ has a tremendous
amount of power. The person who wrote this ‘Book of the Law’ is rumored to be the
most powerful magician ever. This man is even qualified to be recorded in the New
Testament. He was active about 70 years ago, but during the past 70 years, the
evolution of magicians has surpassed the progress gained throughout history these
several thousand years. Among all the magicians in the world today, about 20% of
them are his followers, and almost 50% of all the magicians are affected by him to
some extent.”
As Index looks rather serious, Kamijo couldn’t interrupt.
“I feel that the name ‘Book of the Law’ isn’t just for show. Even if the power of this
book is even larger and scarier than that of legend, I won’t be surprised.”
A group of nuns clad in black robes ran past them, making loud footsteps.
“Who……is that ‘he’ you are referring to?”
“Edward Alexander, also known as Crowley. He’s now buried in a cemetery in a
certain town in Britain.”
Stiyl lights another cigarette, and continues on,
“Anyway, according to history, this guy is the scum of humanity. During one of his
trips, in order to carry out a magical experiment, he used his wife who accompanied
him around the world as a medium to contact the guardian angel, Aiwass. And when
his daughter Lilicia died, he remained unmoved, continuing on with his research on
magic theories. In order to carry out the experiment, he even used a group of girls
as old as his daughter as sacrifices……however, he managed to define a so-called
different world—a ‘different but overlapping world’ similar to Heaven and Hell, and
manages to open new grounds in the magic rituals. Just by these points alone, his
contributions cannot be denied.”
At this moment, the wind changes direction. Stiyl moved away, not wanting Index to
breathe in the second hand smoke. However, the second-hand smoke floats in
Kamijo’s direction, making him cough really badly. Seeing this, Stiyl however reveals
an evil smile, puffing out white smoke even harder like a wild beast.
“Anyway, there are too many legends about this guy. It’s the same with the ‘Book of
the Law’. Rumors has it that every time there seems a situation where there’s no
way out, he’ll use the ‘Book of the Law’ to carry out divinations, and decide on what
to do according to its contents. In other words, this is a magic book that can decide
the fate of the strongest magician in the world. It’s almost equivalent to mastering
the entire history of the modern Western. So, one shouldn’t view the ‘Book of the
Law’ too lightly.”
Stiyl seems rather irritated as he twists his mouth.
The three Roman Catholic nuns who ran past them just now sprinted back again.
One of the nuns smelled the tobacco smoke, and subtlety. Her hands are holding a
large gear with 1 metre diameter. It’s either a weapon or something else……
“If it’s such a scary book, why not destroy it as soon as possible? Since it’s a book,
won’t burning it do the job?”
“A magic book cannot be burned. Especially for the special class of original magic
books, the words, paragraphs, chapters will be converted into a magical code, using
small amounts of energy released by nature or lifeforce as its power, like an
automatically powered magic spell. So the most we can do is to seal it.”
Index reveals a smile which seems to have profound meaning, and says,
“However, if it’s an original manuscript written from my memory, such a
phenomenon won’t occur.”
“An ‘auto-powered magic array’ has to be activated by the weak magical energy
released by humans. The magic that an author possesses is like an engine’s starter.
A magician writing a magic book will unconsciously input some magic together with
the text onto the paper. No matter what type of stationery or materials used, this
phenomenon will always occur, thus it’s unavoidable. However, she’s unable to use
lifeforce to create magic, so this problem won’t occur. She can be considered to be
the ideal candidate as the keeper of the Magical Library…… It seems like everything
was planned, and it really makes me feel unhappy about it.
“Oh…… So this is how it is? Index?”
“Erm……hm……? What’s a starter? And what’s an engine?”
Stiyl’s explanation, however, made Index feel puzzled.
After that, Stiyl impatiently explains to Index what an engine and a starter is (and for
some reason, he looks rather happy). Kamijo watches Stiyl and Index as they have
their conversation, and his heart feels even heavier.
From the start, Kamijo thought that this isn’t a big deal. Up till now, he thought that
rescuing Ursula, who has been abducted, will be enough.
But looking at things now, the situation isn’t that simple.
Kamijo has seen how capable an ‘angel’ is. He saw first-hand the ‘God’s power’ that
Misha Kruezhev used, one that can turn half the Earth into ash.
And Kamijo understands this group of species known as ‘magicians’. The magicians
he met before don’t even know the meaning of the word mercy. In order to get
whatever they want, these people will give all they got.
This group of magicians……if they were to use the ‘Book of the Law’ and obtain the
angel’s magic, what will they do?
(Damn it……)
Index said that the original copy of a magic book cannot be burned.
Because the original copy is like an auto-working magic array.
But, Kamijo’s right hand has an inconceivable power.
If he were to use the power of his Imagine Breaker, maybe he can……
(Oh man! Looks like I can’t back out midway through!)

[edit] Part 2

After giving orders in a foreign language, Anieze went back to where Kamijo and the
rest are, her mini-skirt shaking around, and her sandals, with those extremely thick
soles, making a tapping sound like those of horseshoes.
This girl, who’s younger than Index, made Kamijo feel rather perturbed. After seeing
some inexplicably young nuns from the British Puritans and the Russian Orthodox
Church, Kamijo understands that there’s no such thing as an age priority in the
Magical world (However, Misha’s inner and outer appearances are completely
different). Moreover, this girl was shouting and directing orders at several
subordinates in a foreign language, and giving out the same orders to others
through other methods of communication.
However, to Kamijo, the biggest problem isn’t the ‘high position and large power’
that this little girl has, but rather her ‘foreign language’. At this moment, Kamijo
thought, ‘Since I can’t speak foreign languages, I’ll have a showdown using the most
hot-blooded and high-speed body language!” (Teh_ping: Someone please call in
Anime Tenchou, you have a disciple……)
Anieze gazes at Kamijo’s eyes, as if she’s going to use a foreign language to start a
foreign cultural exchange with him. Kamijo got ready as well, preparing to show off
his most dramatic actions.
“Ah……erm…… I really want to start explaining the situation right now, may I ask if
you guys are prepared?”
“……”
Such strange Japanese.
The surprise that Kamijo felt cannot be described by pen or ink.
No matter how mindful someone is of his or her unique culture and characteristics,
one shouldn’t be speaking this sort of Japanese.
Seeing this Roman Catholic nun in front of him all frozen up, her legs shaking, and
her face flushed red, Kamijo understands at this point, ‘Being nervous when talking
to a foreigner for the first time’ is an universal quasi-truth.
“It……it makes me nervous to show my lousy Japanese in……in front of a
Japanese. Ah, can you speak any other languages? It’s best if we can speak some
language that’s far away from our cultures, like Albanian or Berber……”
Because she was nervous, she spoke really fast. Index stood next to her and spoke
to her in a foreign language, something like ‘Calm down, calm down, take a deep
breath’. In another corner, Stiyl’s face is rather gray as he lowers his head,
muttering, “Never mind, don’t mind me, I was just thinking of another person who
speaks weird Japanese as well.”
Anieze places her hand on her almost flat chest, took a few deep breaths, and
barely kept her emotions under control. Her two feet, which are wearing those
sandals with 30cm thick soles, are swaggering around like a drunk because of
nervousness.
But in order to do her mission, she straightened herself up, and says,
“I’m sorry. Now, let me repeat myself, we should discuss about the situation now
and the actions we’re going to take later AHHHHHHHHH!”
Anieze, who ignored the fact that she’s on an unstable platform, tries to straighten
her back and hold her head high, did not manage to finish what she wants to say,
and fell backwards. “WAAAHHH!!” She screams as she swings her arms wildly.
Amidst this confusion, she grabs onto Kamijo’s arm.
“Woah!”
In the end, even Kamijo was pulled onto the ground. This sudden action made him
unable to react to protect himself, as his entire body falls flat on the asphalt. It hurts
to such an extent that he’s about to roll on the floor. Suddenly, Kamijo realizes that
there’s a piece of floating fabric covering his head.
It was Anieze’s skirt.
Kamijo looked up, and several centimeters in front of him was an entire delightful
scene of paradise.
“WAAAAA……..AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”
Panicking, Kamijo tries to move his head away. At this moment, Anieze also senses
something was amiss, gives a loud, piercing scream “AHHHHHH!!!”, and presses
her skirt down tightly using her two hands. Of course, this is a defensive action
under desperate situations, but such an action only caused Kamijo’s head to be
stuck under her skirt, making him unable to move.
Kamijo heard Index shouting at him as his entire range of vision is blocked by the
skirt and thighs.
“Tou…..toutoutoutoutouma! This sort of prank is really too much!”
“Please don’t get too sensual when we’re doing a mission, now hurry up and stand
up.”
Stiyl raises his leg to his waist before kicking Kamijo, which finally freed him from the
terrifying prison formed from Anieze’s skirt and thighs. However, Stiyl seemed to
enjoy this kick a little too much, and it seems that he felt compelled to do this after
hearing Index cry out.
Having been kicked, Kamijo coughs as he shakes his head.
At this moment, Kamijo and Anieze, who has fallen onto the asphalt, stared at each
other. Anieze is trembling throughout, her face is flushed red, and tears are forming
on her eyes. When Kamijo saw this, he became desperately pale.
“Sor……sorry……”
“Never……never mind……I fell down myself. Maybe it’s because I’m too nervous,
and then I lost balance……um, can you stand up?”
Anieze uses her feet, with those sandals with 30cm thick soles on them, to support
herself, and stands up steadily. She then stretches her hand out to Kamijo, who is
lying on the ground. Kamijo looks like he has just seen a glimmer of light in the midst
of some dark clouds, and held his hand out, grabbing Anieze’s hand. Index is rather
unhappy with how this scene went.
After calming down, Anieze’s body is still rather stiff, though she’s not nervous when
she speaks.
“Okay, now I’ll start on the ‘Book of the Law’, Ursula Aquinas, the Amakusa’s actions
and our future course of action.”
Maybe it’s because she’s afraid to fall down again, Anieze, who’s trembling terribly,
cannot help but stretch her hand out again, wanting to hold onto Kamijo’s shirt. But
she stopped halfway through. Besides, grabbing onto a boy whom she’s unfamiliar
with is inappropriate, and also, the boy just clearly saw quite a scenery under her
skirt. Anieze groped around in the air, before she gently grasp onto a corner of
Index’s nun robe.
“Right now, we can confirm that Ursula Aquinas has fallen in the hands of the
Amakusa. As for the location of the ‘Book of the Law’, I’m afraid that they may have
taken it as well. The enemy we’re facing, the Amakusa Catholics, have about slightly
less than 50 people. They use the sewer to escape in the day, but it’s unlikely that
they’ll stay in the sewer throughout the night.”
“In other words, there’s not even a single clear clue?”
Index asks. The way Anieze is pinning herself close to her seems to make her
uncomfortable.
“Yes. Although we tried to use some remaining traces of magic to find out the
Amakusa’s whereabouts, it was not successful. To be expected of the Amakusa
Catholics, a sect that specializes in enhancing stealth.”
Anieze’s body sways as she points to that equilateral triangular hole.
“But we have another group to set up a perimeter. Maybe we might get something.”
“A perimeter……how large is it anyway?”
Kamijo tilts his head as he asks. Index looks at him, her eyes seems to be telling
him to save her by pulling away Anieze, who is clinging on her. However, he
pretended not to notice her.
“With this place as the centre, a radius of about 10 kilometers, including 132 roads
and 43 sewers. With our manpower, setting such a perimeter isn’t a difficult thing.”
Anieze says as she clings onto Index. “Anyway, once the Amakusa tries to bring the
‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula Aquinas back into their base, it’ll be detected by our
network. According to the information that we gathered, the base of the Amakusa is
located in Kyuushu…… Unfortunately, we’re unable to confirm the accuracy of this
report. And if they’re not trying to get past us, but to ask Ursula the way to decode it
on the spot, the situation will be even tougher to handle.”
“You don’t have to worry about this. I believe Ursula is not that stupid that she can’t
resist those magic spells that allows people to read minds. And if they were to try
and use force, the location won’t be ideal for them.”
Stiyl blows out some white smoke, and continues,
“To them, the number of enemies near them are too many, so they can’t carry out
their work peacefully. Interrogating Ursula, getting the method to decode the ‘Book
of the Law’, and printing out manuals on how to decode it; all these cannot be
completed in one day. If they want to break through her heart’s defense and force
her to sell out information without her committing suicide, the best method of
interrogating her is to ‘make her tired’ or ‘prevent her from sleeping’ without directly
interacting with her. However, this will take at least a week. Not letting her sleep for
one or two days isn’t even a form of interrogation. By forcing her not to sleep for at
least 120 hours, her sanity will begin to deteriorate.”
Stiyl says this nonchalantly while Kamijo gets goosebumps just by hearing this.
Besides fearing this expert in witch hunting and religious trials, Kamijo is afraid of
what those guys who kidnapped Ursula will do to her. Also, from what he heard from
Anieze, there are almost 50 members of the Amakusa.
The Amakusa Catholics.
However at this point, Kamijo thought of something—he heard Kanzaki Kaori and
Tsuchimikado Motoharu mention this ‘Amakusa’ group before. What he heard at first
was that Kanzaki was originally the leader of this group, and left them in order to
protect them.
In the past, Kanzaki really wanted to protect this group of people, but now, they dare
do this sort of thing for their own selfish purposes?
(This shouldn’t be the case……)
Don’t tell me that these guys changed?
After Kanzaki Kaori left them, these guys whom she's protected have fallen?
“What’s wrong, Touma?”
Index asks suspiciously, tilting her head to one side, and knocks into Anieze, who’s
clinging onto her.
“Nothing. Oh yeah, now what do we do? Those guys from the Amakusa will be
immediately found out on the perimeter, right?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s right.”
Anieze still seems to be nervous, as her entire face is almost touching Index’s face.
She continues,
“Basically, you guys just need to be the backup……however, though the possibly
may be small, there's still some danger that they might use the spells from the ‘Book
of the Law’, so it’s best if an expert of the magic book were to settle this—”
“Ahhhh! This is unbearable! It’s really hot!”
Index swings her arms around, and after a while, says to Kamijo,
“However, will the Amakusa be found out that easily? Touma?”
“If you’re asking me, then who can I ask? Speaking of which, if 40 to 50 guys of a
mysterious organization were to walk on the streets, won’t it be rather striking?”
“Touma, the Amakusa doesn't have a fixed attire, do they? They’re a group of
people highly specialized in hiding their whereabouts and covering their own tracks.
Even if they’re to walk on the streets, outsiders won’t see them as different from
ordinary folks.”
“……”
“What’s wrong, Touma? Why are you staring at me so suspiciously?”
“Nothing.” Kamijo replies. Looking at the people around him, none of them are
dressed normally. What Index said about ‘not different from ordinary folks’ doesn’t
seem convincing to him.
“Anyway, the Amakusa specialize in ‘hiding’ and ‘escaping’. After stealing the ‘Book
of the Law’ and kidnapping Ursula Aquinas, they’ll expect the Roman Catholics to hit
back in full force. If this were a planned operation, then they might have rehearsed
this.”
Anieze, who’s still clinging onto Index, looks puzzled as she says,
“But……but then, no matter what, they can’t possibly escape our perimeter……”
“It’s possible. There’s a type of magic for this.”
Index replies without hesitation. At this moment, Anieze takes a deep breath.
“This is a spell that can only be used in Japan only. Basically speaking, there’s
special places called ‘portals’ all over Japan. One can use this ‘map magic’ to travel
from ‘portal’ to ‘portal’.”
“Is that the Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu that—Ino Tadataka created?”
Stiyl seemed to have thought of something, giving an ugly expression as he mutters.
Kamijo is extremely confused now. He asks,
“Who’s this Ino Tadataka? Is he another famous magician?”
Once this question was asked, everyone turned and gazed at Kamijo coldly.
“Erm, Touma, he’s the first person to create the first map of Japan using modern
surveying techniques. It’s even recorded on ordinary history timelines.”
“Seems like you have completely no clue about history. I believe you’ve even
forgotten who the previous five prime ministers were?”
“……Even an Italian like me also knows.”
Kamijo, who’s completely embarrassed now, is bombarded and pulverised by the
voices around him.
“Anyway, this Japanese map that’s created in the Edo period has a special
mechanism. Everyone should be clear about this ‘Idol Theory’ right? Except……for
Touma.”
There’s supposed to be only a few people who understand this magical term, but it
seems to be common knowledge to all these people around him. Kamijo feels that
he’s in a situation where he’s fighting alone.
“For Touma’s sake, I’ll give a brief explanation. This Idol Theory is a form of basic
knowledge that allows us to put the power of God and angels to good use. Following
this theory, if one were to build a duplicate of the cross when ‘Christ’ was crucified,
and put it on the roof of a church, they’ll get some Holy power from those actual
Cross wielders. Although the power of the duplicate is not even 0.000000000001%
of the original, and even the legendary strongest duplicate ‘Holy Manger’ has only a
small fraction of the power, if they were to get even 1% of the power of the original,
their power can match even those of the twelve apostles.”
All over the world, from the ones on the church to the ones hanging on the nuns’
necks, there are a lot of crosses. But even with the power split away with so many
duplicates, the power of the ‘original’ is almost limitless. Maybe it’s like how the sun
can provide solar power for electricity, Kamijo guesses wildly.
“And according to our hypothesis, this ‘Idol Theory’ can be switched around. In other
words, not only will the original cause some effect on the ‘Idol’, the ‘Idol’ can also
affect the original.”
“Hypothesis……? Do you mean that it’s still unconfirmed?”
“There’re some ‘exceptions’ that cannot be explained, so right now, it’s just a
hypothesis. But using this hypothesis, people claim that they’ll receive divine
judgment if they treat the Bible badly. This isn’t unreasonable, however. In the Bible,
there are many instances where several ‘Idols’ from different Greek religions that are
against Christians being struck down and destroyed by lightning. The ‘Stepping on
Fumie’ in Japan is a method designed to ‘affect the original badly by stepping on the
duplicate’ (Note: ‘Stepping on Fumie’ is a method to check whether the people are
Christians during the Japanese Edo period, where there was a wave of persecution
against Christians. The idea is that by drawing a picture of Jesus Christ or Saint
Mary on a piece of paper, and putting it on the floor to force the people to step on it,
the people who don’t dare to step on it will be identified as Christians.)
Index frowns as she says this. As a treasure house of knowledge, she does not
seem to like saying uncertain words like ‘what if’ or ‘according’.
“Ino Tadataka used this ‘Idol Theory’ in the opposite manner. He understands that
the real one and the idol will affect each other, so he plotted 47 ‘portals’ on the Dai
Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu that originally didn’t exist on the Japanese islands. Thus,
these entrances that allow people to come and go as they please appear in modern
Japan.”
Kamijo’s mind tries hard to arrange this extremely strange information that Index told
him.
The Japanese islands and that intricate map of Japan that the guy called Ino
Tadataka made can actually affect each other. Once one randomly draws a teleport
entrance on that map, they’ll appear on that real island as well.
In other words, everything that they draw on the map will become real?
“Hey, that’s too scary, isn’t it? If one were to use an eraser to erase that map,
wouldn’t every Japanese and city disappear as well?”
“It’s not like that, Touma. Listen to me, the condition for being an idol is being a
‘duplicate’. As long as there’s a slight difference in the level of magic used between
the idol and the original, the idol will lose it’s purpose. So the ‘Idol Theory’ can’t be
used to solve everything. Once the original ‘image’ is changed, the theory cannot be
used.”
Index solemnly explains. There was a group of magicians in the past who tried to
use a stone sculpture that look like the ‘Son of God’ to control the ‘Son of God’ in the
heavens, but it ended up in failure.
“Looking at it another way, this is where Ino Tadakata is really impressive. He added
some things on the duplicates that the original didn't have, yet he’s able to maintain
a perfect balance between the duplicate and the original. In the entire history of
Magic, he’s the only one who managed to accomplish this. If he were a sculptor,
maybe he might even be able to control the ‘Son of God’ or even an ‘angel’…… of
course, just being able to manipulate the map of Japan is pretty impressive.”
“……However, do the Amakusa know how to use this magic that uses the Japanese
map?”
“The answer should be affirmative. Ino Tadakata, who lived in the Edo period, was
very interested in the cultures of other countries. His clan even intended to sell the
Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu to Siebold (Note: Siebold was a German doctor and
biologist who came to Japan during the Edo period.) When Christians were
persecuted, he might have gained some knowledge through some Dutch knowledge
(Note: During the Japanese Edo period, the Dutch were the ones who taught the
Japanese all sorts of Western knowledge.) Even if he were to meet the Amakusa
secretly for the interest of knowledge, it isn’t strange.”
Forgetting about the minor details, basically, the Amakusa have a magic spell that
allows them to teleport themselves all over Japan. So, breaking through the
perimeter is easy work for them.
Hearing Index’s explanation, Anieze was stunned.
Kamijo rearranges this information that he heard, and says,
“Then what do we do now? The Amakusa might have escaped through the ‘portal’
right? Since there are a limited number of ‘portals’, should we just check all the
‘portals’ in one go?”
“It’s impossible. Actually, on the Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu, the people later said
that they can only find 23 of them. But when the black ships (Note: They refer to the
Western ships that came to Japan during the Bakumatsu era), the manual clearly
states that there’re 47 ‘portals’.”
The locations of more than half of the portals cannot be identified.
Thus, they can’t determine the whereabouts of the Amakusa.
“Besides using the special teleportation magic of the Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu,
the base of the Amakusa is famous for being a secret. This is understandable,
because outsiders cannot even determine their escape routes. Just now, Anieze
said that their main base is ‘reported’ to be in Kyuushu, but it’s almost impossible to
verify it. There are too many places that are suspected to be the main base of the
Amakusa. As for where the real one is, nobody knows. Maybe these reports are all
false, or maybe these places all have the capability to be a main base.”
Anieze looks pale.
Her hands, which were clinging onto Index’s body, are now grabbing Index’s
shoulders. She exclaims,
“Then……what should we do? Since you know about this, why didn’t you tell me?
We can’t determine the ‘portal’, and we can’t find their main base! In this situation, if
they were to get into the ‘portal’, it’s all over! If we are to take action before they
enter the ‘portal’, there’s still a chance that we can intercept them! Why do you still
look so calm?”
“Because there’s no need to panic.”
Index calmly replies. When Anieze heard this, she was stunned.
“The Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu is measured and mapped out using the location
of the stars. So the ‘location of the stars’ is extremely important, and this is the
condition for using this special magic. Basically, there’s a time limitation. If the time
isn’t right, the special teleportation magic cannot be used.”
Index gazes at the stars, her silver hair swaying around in the air.
“Looking at the location of the stars right now……the time now is approximately
7:30pm. The only time which they can use the special teleportation magic is a short
period of time after the date changes, which means that there’s around four and a
half hours to go. Also, the location of the ‘portal’ which they can teleport to is fixed.
Among the 23 ‘portals’ that the descendants could find, only one is located within
our vicinity…… of course, they might use other ‘portals’ that we don’t know of.”
Index says rather confidently.
Every time this kind of situation occurs, Kamijo feels that he and Index aren’t really
living in the same world.
“Where will that ‘portal’ appear?”
“Touma, do you have that thing that can allow us to see a map? Lend me lend me.”
Kamijo thought, “She must be referring to that GPS satellite function.”, and hands
his handphone over to her. Index receives the handphone, but she looks like she
doesn’t know what to do with it, so Kamijo had to use it for her. Index continues to
give him directions like ‘a bit right’ or ‘move down a bit’, and finally points her slender
white finger on a point on the map.
“It’s here.”

[edit] Part 3

“Our scouts have reported that there’re two suspicious characters there. They’re
likely from the Amakusa, but we currently haven’t ticked them off yet.”
Hearing Index’s explanation a while ago, Anieze gave the orders, and within 15
minutes, she got a report from her subordinates. (It’s really easy to do things when
there’re so many people.) Kamijo thought. The ‘Angel Fall’ situation was a whole lot
more troublesome even though both situations are rather chaotic.
“However, there’s no sign of any of the main forces of the Amakusa, the ‘Book of the
Law’, or Ursula.”
“Of course, it’ll be very obvious if they were to rush in at the same time. And it’s still
‘business mode’ over there.”
Although Kamijo doesn’t know what time it is, it’s not even 8pm now.
If the Amakusa wants to use the map magic created by Ino Tadataka to escape,
they have to head towards the location where the ‘portal’ is. Kamijo and the rest
intend to attack the Amakusa before they reached the ‘portal’, and get back the
‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula.
“Because they might use other ‘portals’ that we might not know of, or even not use
any special teleportation magic, before we find the main forces of the Amakusa, I
can’t gather all my people in one group. If we don’t maintain the perimeter and
search for them within the area, we’ll probably let them escape. However, that’s
where they’re most likely to appear." Anieze says worriedly.
However, Index does not seem to mind, and says,
“You’ve done the right thing. Besides, even I don’t have any concrete evidence.”
“Because of this, including me, the number of people that can be deployed is 74.
Right now, we’re re-arming our weapons and equipment. So with this amount of
manpower, if we’re to meet the main force of the Amakusa, we won’t have a sure
chance of winning. So you guys have to take care of yourselves, I’m sorry.”
Up till now, there are only less than 50 people in the Amakusa, and yet they’re able
to fight it out against the Roman Catholics for so long. So, Anieze isn’t just saying
this to be humble.
Stiyl lights another cigarette, and says,
“You don’t have to worry. There’s no notice from the ‘Knights’ who have agreed to
arrive, and we’re sorry about it. So we won’t burden you guys. Oh yeah, how long
does it take for the preparations to be complete before we leave?”
“Beside the weapons and equipment, we still need to bless everyone here by
pouring holy water and reading bible scriptures……” Anieze thought for a while
before saying, “Around 3 hours……we’ll likely finish by 11pm at the latest.”
“If we are to count in the time it takes for us to travel, it means that we have only 30
minutes to settle this? Oh well, at least we may end up arriving there earlier than the
Amakusa’s main force; so far we’re just waiting around aimlessly.”
Just like this, the time of operation has been set to 11pm.
Anieze claps twice, and after giving orders in a foreign language, all the nuns in
black robes got into action. The 74 strong group of nuns split into small groups
ranging from 2 to 4 per group. Each group then proceeds on to do its own job.
For someone who has seen lone striders like Stiyl, Tsuchimikado and Kanzaki — or
to put it crudely, magicians who are stubborn and lonely, the orderliness of the
Roman Catholics surprises Kamijo.
Anieze and the nuns participating in the ‘Retrieval of the ‘Book of the Law’ and
Ursula operation’ got into their preparations for war, and those who have finished
their preparations take turns to eat or sleep. Kamijo is intrigued, not understanding
why these people can still sleep before a battle. But Anieze says that when the
battle is a stalemate, nobody will even dare to wish for a good nap on a comfy bed,
so they can only dare to take 10 to 20 minutes of nap to replenish their energy. To
them, this is already basic knowledge.
(Seems like this is a specialized group of people who are really used to fighting for a
long time.)
Kamijo thought, his mind running wildly.
As for Kamijo, Index and Stiyl, as they have nothing else to do, they can enjoy their
dinner and take a little nap. Kamijo thought,
(Maybe this is the hospitality that Anieze shows to her guests.)
Notably, they have to take their dinner and sleep inside a tent. This is supposed to
be the capital of Japan, and yet they’re setting up their own tent. This is really
unexpected. However, come to think about it, if these 70+ people wearing such
strange clothes are to gather in a multi-chained restaurant or a hotel, and are
preparing for war, then that’s an even more amazing sight.
(Come to think about it, we’re starting at 11……then can I make it school tomorrow?
AH! Wait! The due date for the submission of the summer holiday homework should
be approaching soon right?)
Kamijo hastily looks in the direction of Academy City, not knowing what to do.
Because of several complicated reasons, Kamijo has not completed his summer
holidays homework. So, Komoe-sensei gave Kamijo a ‘punishment assignment’ (she
made it specially for Kamijo), and the last day of submitting this assignment is
tomorrow.
(AHHHHHHHH!) Kamijo turned gray as he screamed within his heart. To be honest,
Kamijo himself thought that he could complete it. Until today, Kamijo, who had been
working hard, had to block Index’s ‘‘Play with me’ attacks’ and fend off the calico cat,
Sphinx’s ‘‘Give me food’ attacks’ in order to complete his homework. Just with
Kamijo’s abilities alone, it may not be enough. But yesterday, Kamijo begged Misaka
Mikoto to teach him how to solve these questions (Although Mikoto was grumbling,
she still stayed with Kamijo for many hours), and thus, the rate at which Kamijo was
solving those questions went up, and thus there’s hope that he’ll be able to complete
it today. But now, the bubble of hope has burst.
(Oh man! Oh man! I’ll be scolded! What to do? What to do? It’s not just Komoe-
sensei, even Mikoto will be angry! Ahhhhhh! Haven’t said this for quite a while……
Such misfortune!)
Kamijo’s entire body is trembling as he slightly tilts his head upwards, looking up to
the night sky. He continues to tell himself that the transparent liquid flowing down
from the corner of his eyes is just sweat.
Kamijo dejectedly walks towards a corner of the campsite, got a piece of bread and
a bowl of Italian soup, which he doesn’t know the name, and ate as he looked
around.
In this abandoned car park at the ‘Gloaming House’, there are small semi-circular
tents set up everywhere. But no matter how anyone thinks, there’s no way this car
park can fit everyone in. Seems like some of them will be sleeping inside the
building. Besides, all the Roman Catholic nuns will be busy preparing, so it’s likely
that more than half of them won’t have time to sleep.
Seeing these people being so busy, Kamijo is embarrassed and does not dare to
sleep. However, according to Stiyl, people who have nothing to do and keep moving
around will cause them more trouble.
(Come to think of it, wouldn’t the police notice a group of people living in a dump? Or
did they use something like a spell that will turn away passer-by?)
Kamijo went from the campsite to his own tent, snuggled his body under the futon,
and thought about all these things. Stiyl’s sleeping just beside him, and Index seems
to be sleeping in another tent. In order to protect Index, Stiyl actually intended to
sleep with Index in the same tent, but was rejected. Later, Kamijo saw Stiyl feel
chagrin as he mutters to himself, “If Kanzaki, who is of the same gender, were
around, it'd have been alright...” as he places rune cards near her tent. It’s said that
‘Innocentius’ will become stronger the more rune cards there are, and Stiyl seems to
be grumbling because there’s a limited amount of space which he can stick inside
the small tent.
Kamijo rolls around in the tent, unable to sleep. It wasn’t because he wasn’t tired, or
wasn’t overly nervous because of the upcoming battle, but because he couldn’t
sleep alone when there’s so many people busy working outside. Even more-so,
once he tries to think of how they are dressed, he’ll only think about Ursula, who’s
dressed in the same nun robes.
“……I should just go help them.”
Kamijo got out from under the futon. Stiyl’s irritated voice rang beside him.
“Do whatever suits you, but please don’t use your mysterious right hand to destroy
their artifacts. ……If they’re broken, you have to pay them yourself, it’s none of the
British Puritan's business.”
After listening to this seemingly sarcastic reminder, Kamijo got out of the tent.
The summer night is extremely hot. The nuns are running around, busy doing their
own things. Some of them are carrying a lot of silver candlesticks, some of them are
carrying stacks of old Bibles, and some of them are carrying large wooden wheels
that seem to be used for horse carriages. Kamijo thought: "What use do these things
have?"
(Is there something which I can help in……eh?)
Kamijo suddenly realizes that something was strange, and stopped. Beside the tent
which he just walked out from, the tent filled with rune cards that Index was in, the
zipper to the entrance is open, and there’s no one inside.
(Now where did she run off to—WA!)
Seeing that Index’s tent is empty, Kamijo moved towards it before the feeling below
his feet was gone. Actually, he got careless, and has already stepped into the
equilateral triangular hole made by the Amakusa.
(Oh no! ……I’m about to fall in—!)
“Swish!”
Before Kamijo can fall entirely into the sewer, a nun grabbed Kamijo’s waving hand
in the nick of time. The nun pulled Kamijo out and told him off in a foreign language,
but Kamijo does not understand what she’s saying.
(Oh man, have I started to give them trouble already?)
A dejected Kamijo turned around again to look at that triangular hole which he nearly
fell into, and observes it carefully.
The Amakusa have been lurking in the sewers since a while ago, and launched a
sneak attack from below. Up till now, Kamijo thought that this place can be
considered to be the Roman Catholics’ base, and no matter how one moves around,
there shouldn’t be any danger.
But thinking about it carefully, the danger can still be nearby. The Amakusa could
have set something that can destroy this Roman Catholic command base before
they escaped, making their escape a lot easier.
(Come to think of it, even if they to launch a stealth attack, they wouldn’t attack a
layman like me, right? No matter how hard I think, they’ll choose an important place
to attack, like the command post.)
The problem is, Kamijo is unable to identify which tents are important, and which
ones aren’t. He sees one in front of him that’s a lot bigger than the rest. Kamijo
casually thought, “That tent looks like it’ll most likely be attacked.”
Suddenly, an extremely loud crashing sound came from within that large tent.
Then, a girl’s scream was heard.
“……!?”
Kamijo feels the water content in his throat evaporating. Those wild thoughts that he
had a while ago now comes running back into his mind.
The Amakusa can launch a direct attack from below.
To Anieze and the rest, the more important the tent is, the more likely it will be
attacked.
(No way, don’t tell me it came true……)
“Damn it!”
Luckily, that tent is rather close to Kamijo. He clenches his fist as hard as stone and
rushed forward. Although there are many nuns around, they’re too shocked by this
unexpected situation to respond. Kamijo runs to the entrance of the tent and pulls
the zipper.
“Amakusa!”
Just as Kamijo shouted, suddenly, a heavy object came rushing out of the tent and
crashes into Kamijo’s belly. It was a heavy and warm object that brought some
humidity.
(WAAAHHH……!)
An indescribable feeling flows throughout Kamijo’s entire body, his fine hairs
standing still. Kamijo quickly raises his fist, and is about to swing it down……
Before realizing that it is Anieze Sanctis, now entirely naked, who’s clinging onto his
waist.
“………………………………Eh?”
A loud voice boomed inside Kamijo’s head, and then it became blank.
Anieze, who’s completely naked, is wet, her skin is dripping wet and moist. White
steam continues to evaporate from her slightly pink and soft skin, and while clinging
onto Kamijo, she continues to tremble. She buries her face into Kamijo’s stomach,
shutting her eyes and muttering some foreign language. Seems like she's confused.
Kamijo doesn't understand a single thing that Anieze says. Anieze points her finger
at something, so Kamijo turns to look in the direction she is pointing at.
In one corner of the large tent is a small slug.
Anieze points to that small slug while speaking in that foreign language that no one
is able to understand.
“Wait……wait wait, Anieze! Let me go first, and put on some clothes! Also, I can
only understand Japanese!”
Kamijo blushes as he shouts. Once Anieze heard this, her trembling stopped.
She lifts her head in fear.
And looks at Kamijo.
The next moment……
Anieze fainted, and fell backwards.
(WAH!)
The floor is made of hard asphalt. Kamijo quickly grabs Anieze, who’s about to fall
onto the ground. An amazing sensation passes through Kamijo’s shirt, making him
feel weird. Overall, Anieze is a lot slimmer than Index, so she’s a bit skinny, but this
makes her soft parts more pronounced.
(Ugh……!?)
Kamijo, who’s still hugging Anieze, looks up, and trembles.
Actually, there’s a large golden basin in the middle of the tent, and above it, hanging
from the roof, is a metal can. Attached to the bottom of the metal can is something
that looks like a shower nozzle, and there’s a tap above it. Seems like it’s a simple
set-up for a shower, and by turning the tap, hot water from the metal can will flow out
from the nozzle. And right now, hot water is now flowing out of it.
In that large, golden basin in the middle of the tent, covered in hot water, is a silver-
haired, emerald-eyed nun.
“……Touma.”
The nun spoke in a very low voice. Of course, she’s not wearing anything. Whether
it’s her wet hair, her flat chest, or her little bellybutton that’s now filled with water,
they’re all in full view. As her skin colour is originally white, after washing it with hot
water, her skin is rather reddish.
“Wait……wait wait, wait a minute! I thought that the Amakusa attacked, and was
worried, so I rushed in, so I hope you can carefully re-evaluate this……”
“Sniff—“
“...? “Sniff?”
Startled, Kamijo observes Index’s every movement.
“—Sniff Sniff…… Sniff Sniff……”
(SHE……SHE SHE SHE SHE SHE SHE SHE’S CRYING!?)

This completely unexpected situation made Kamijo tremble mysteriously. Large

teardrops continue to flow from the corners of Index’s eyes, and she uses her hands
to wipe them away.
Suddenly, Kamijo finds that there are many people looking at him coldly.
Over a 100 nuns are labeling Kamijo as: 'This is a guy who would make a young and
naked girl cry (And even our superior is naked and has fainted beside him.)'
Kamijo went pale.
“Wait……please……please calm down, Index-hime! This isn’t like you! You aren’t
like this normally! See, Kamijo’s head is here, right? Come bite it, quickly, bite it……
eh? Wait……wait! Why do you look so serious all of the sudden? I……I’m just
joking! Please don’t give me that feeling like you’re going to chew on a thick slab of
beef—WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”
“Didn’t I tell you not to cause them trouble? Hm? Why are you holding your head
and crying?”
Stiyl, who’s lying inside the tent, coldly asks Kamijo, who is barely dragging his body
back into the tent. As the tent’s entrance is zipped up, Stiyl knows that there’s a
commotion, but he doesn’t know that this has something to do with Index. If he were
to know about it, the next scene would probably be one where a crazed priest
wielding a flame sword chases after Kamijo. Kamijo was told by Anieze, who voices
her displeasure, “We’re about to discuss battle tactics, please LEAVE.” Of course,
he doesn’t want to cause anymore trouble.
Kamijo strokes his scalp and snuggles under his futon. As long as he can get some
time, whether it’s five minutes or ten minutes, he should quickly rest and get some
sleep. It’s said that this is common knowledge for all magicians. However, before the
pain goes away, Kamijo can’t sleep.
“Hey, Stiyl.”
“What? I’m rather annoyed right now. If there’s anything, we can talk later.”
“I'd like to ask you something.”
“Their ability to handle danger is so lousy. So what if it’s the ‘Book of the Law’?
They’re already panicking like this over just a magic book. This is really unthinkable.
Compared to this, that girl who possesses 103,000 magical books in her brain —
who knows how many magicians have coveted her……”
“Which girl do you like?”
“EH?”
Hearing Kamijo ask this question, Stiyl took in a breath of cold air, his body
trembling slightly.
During nights in training or camp, this question will always be raised. This seems to
be something unique only to Japan.
“Answer quickly, I still have other questions to ask.”
“The lady whom I respect is Elizabeth the First, the lady whom I admire is St.
Martha; it’s said that she subdued a dragon with a prayer full of love and
compassion, and is really admirable. Any other questions?”
“The Amakusa Catholics, isn’t it the organization which Kanzaki was serving in?”
“……”
Stiyl squints his eyes, and remained silent. He stretched his hand, wanting to get a
cigarette stick, but realizes that smoking while lying on the ground isn’t good, and
pulls his hand back.
“Who told you this? That Kanzaki most likely won’t say where she’s from. Did
Tsuchimikado tell you this?”
“Ya. That’s when you became the owner of the seaside resort.” (Note: In volume 4,
the resort owner appeared as him, contrary to the anime which had Kanzaki appear
as him. The anime made a few other switches besides him, too.)
Stiyl looks like he doesn’t understand. Kamijo didn’t bother, and continues:
“In other words, the Amakusas are Kanzaki’s compatriots, right?”
Kamijo pauses at this point, obviously looking perplexed. “……Should we continue
to take action? Like that time against the ‘Misawa Cram School’?”
Kamijo and Stiyl once fought on the same side before.
That battle can only be described as appalling. There’re many people injured, some
even lost their lives. From that moment, Kamijo vaguely understands what a battle
between different magical organizations is all about. In the real magical world, not a
single hint of innocence is allowed. Thus, magic specialists like Index and Stiyl are
born.
But,
Since these people know how cruel a battle is between magicians, wouldn’t that
create any sense of compassion?
“Of course.”
However, Stiyl answers without hesitation.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’ll do anything to protect that kid. Even if I’m not ordered by my
superiors to do so, or even ordered not to, it’s the same to me. I can kill anyone,
whether it’s burning them alive, or burning their corpses into ashes; whether it’s in
front of that kid, or somewhere where she can’t see me.” Stiyl says in a self-
depreciative manner, “Don’t get the wrong idea, Kamijo Touma. That I’m lying now
right here, right now, it’s all for that kid. Once you have no more value to that young
child, I’ll burn you to crisp anytime.”
“……”
Kamijo can’t help but swallow his saliva.
This is the sole conviction that Stiyl Magnus has.
Being one of the British Puritans, becoming an extremely strong fighting magician,
being ordered to bring back the ‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula……all his actions are
based on his conviction.
“A long time ago, I swore: “―Sleep well, even if you forget everything, I’ll remember
it forever. I’ll live for you, and die for you.”.”
This made Kamijo tremble.
But Stiyl’s words are filled with passion.
Kamijo ponders carefully on how to answer.
If he isn’t careful, it will be disrespectful to Stiyl.
“But even so, why must you get Index involved in this?”
“The one who planned this wasn’t me. If possible, I would not have gotten her
involved as well.”
Stiyl says calmly.
“Also, I can’t settle this on my own. If I do, that child will be seen as ‘useless’ by my
superiors. As of the situation right now, if we can’t let them see the value that Index
has, it’s likely that she’ll be brought back to London. But right now, to her, not being
able to live in Academy City is much more painful to her than anything else.”
Stiyl’s voice is filled with frustration and reluctance.
They’re both members of the British Puritan Church. For Stiyl, he must be hoping to
bring Index back to Britain.
But Stiyl Magnus replies with such reluctance.
“Let’s sleep, there’s only 2 hours left before the operation starts. We’ll get
nightmares if we continue to talk.”
After saying this, the rune spellcaster shut his mouth and eyes.

In a few hours, it’s going to be a battle for keeps. In such an intense atmosphere,
Kamijo thought that he won’t be able to sleep, and didn’t expect that after getting
under his blanket and closing his eyes, he’ll fall asleep. Maybe it’s because the
preparations for Daibahoshisai took more out of him than he expected, as Kamijo
soon falls asleep.
(Uh……ah......?)
Sensing that something heavy is pressing against him, Kamijo wakes up. At this
moment, a message inside Kamijo goes: something as heavy as a human is
pressing on him, the blanket has risen for some reason, and his body feels some
warm and soft skin.
In addition, there’s subtle breathing from under the blanket.
(Wai—wait wait……oh no, no way? Oh man, I forgot that the tent doesn’t have a
lock!)
In his dormitory, Kamijo will normally hide inside the bathroom, and after locking the
door, will sleep inside the dry bathtub. The reason is simple, if he doesn’t do this,
Index will snuggle into Kamijo’s futon while she still dazed and sleepy. Because of
this, Kamijo is grateful that the bathtub is large enough.
Besides this sin—that Index keeps snuggling into his futon—which will cause a
severe adverse emotional impact to the young and healthy boy, Kamijo Touma, the
more important thing right now is that Stiyl is sleeping beside him (and he was rather
stern as he gave a relentless speech before he slept). If this continues, Kamijo will
likely die in Stiyl’s hands later.
Kamijo, who’s drenched in cold sweat, suddenly notices that the tender flesh of the
girl is constantly rubbing against him.
The rubbing of different body parts together causes Kamijo’s heart to stop beating.
“……(Wooo……wooaahhhh! Wait a second, wait a second! Index! Coming from the
side is enough, but isn’t it too much to press onto my body!?)”
Kamijo hastily whispered (Or Kamijo thought, but it’s actually very loud), voicing his
objection.
“Hm……Touma, what are you saying……?”
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the entrance of the tent. It’s Index, half asleep
and dazed, her eyes half-opened, as she unzips the entrance to the tent, preparing
to enter Kamijo’s futon.
“Eh?” A large question mark appeared inside Kamijo’s head.
“Umum… Papa… Iononpossomangiarealcunopiuqualsiasipiulungo…”
The face that is revealed from inside the futon belongs to that of Anieze Sanctis.
Anieze, who’s still sleeping soundly, does not realise that she’s less than 5 cm away
from Kamijo’s lips.
(No way? Another person who snuggles into other people’s futon when she’s sleepy
and dazed? Didn’t this girl order me to leave their bathing area a while ago?)
Kamijo panics as he pulls away from this pair of peach-like lips that are approaching
him. He then crawls while under Anieze’s body. However, the moment Kamijo
tugged at the futon, it’s lifted open.
“Wa!”
Kamijo is stunned. Anieze, whose entire body is revealed from within the futon, is
wearing only a white laced bra and a pair of panties with small bow ties on both
sides. Maybe she’s used to sleeping like this, as her nun robes are neatly stacked
and placed in one corner of the tent.
Stunned, Index stares at Kamijo and Anieze.
“……‘Papa’?”
“Wait! Index, I’ve no idea what’s going on! I don’t have a quirk of why I'm being
called this by a young girl!”
Because of the incident involving Anieze—which ended up with him having bite
marks all over his head—Kamijo is frightened, and trembles, trying to explain his
actions. Index observes Kamijo’s frightened expression closely, and says,
“Woah……this……should probably be a dream…… “
“Eh?”
“Um, even if it’s Touma, he can’t possibly have so little integrity. So this must be a
dream. Um hum.”
“Yeah……yes yes! It’s a dream, it’s a dream! How can a real man like Kamijo
Touma, who’ll forever treat nuns nicely, do such a shameless thing!?”
Kamijo continues to misguide Index, who’s sleepy right now, like a hypnotist.
“Hm, ya, since it’s a dream, there should be no problem. It’s alright no matter how
hard I bite. Since it’s a dream, it’s alright if I take this opportunity to vent all my daily
dissatisfaction. Mm mm.”
“EH? AH…… what? Wait, Index! You’re wrong! This is a real and authentic……”
Kamijo frantically tries to correct himself, but it was too late. Index bites on his head
with all her strength. The scream of the healthy high school boy, Kamijo Touma,
made Anieze, now clad in her underwear and lying beside him, wake up in shock.
As for Stiyl Magnus, who’s sleeping in the same tent and is annoyed, he takes a
glance at Kamijo and the rest, turned over to the other side and continues his sleep.

[edit] Part 4

11pm. It's nighttime now.

The substitute supreme Pontiff, Tatemiya Saiji, together with 47 members of the
main force, are gathered around the 'portal' of the special teleportation magic, the
'thumbnail tour'.
However, this isn't some mysterious forest or mountain. They're at a large snack-
theme amusement park called 'Parallel Sweets Wonderland'.
This snack-themed amusement park is built and financed by 4 large snack
manufacturers, and the area is as large as an electrical plant. There are 75 stores
from 38 different countries in the park. Throughout it, there are several donut-like
watercourses that are linked to each other like the 5 rings on the Olympic logo. On
the outside of the watercourses, there are several snack shops like those of hawkers
(but they're top quality). On the inside of the circular watercourses is a square,
where many snack manufacturers showcase their products and carry out activities.
As it is almost the end of summer, it seems like they're carrying out the promotions
for ice products and frozen deserts.
Although the location of the 'portal' that Ino Tadataka set does not change, the
development of the city is changing everyday. Some 'portals' are located within
certain rooms in certain condominiums, or even some large gold vault in a certain
bank; it's already impossible to use them for teleportation. In comparison, this 'portal'
is the most accessible.
The Amakusa members, who have infiltrated the ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’, are
holding hands as they prepare for this ‘thumbnail tour’.
The conditions for using this ‘thumbnail tour’ are that it can only be used at midnight,
but the ritual to prepare it has to be complete before that. As the timeframe which
this ‘thumbnail portal’ can be used is only 5 minutes long, so it’ll be too late if they
wait until midnight to begin the ritual. However, the ritual has to be finished exactly at
midnight, so, if necessary, they can first finish it, then activate it at midnight.
All these preparations for the ritual do not require any weird magic arrays or
chanting of spells.
Besides infiltrating a theme park that isn’t opened for service, these people aren’t
really that weird. There are young people gathered in groups of 4 to 5, talking
together; some are occasionally taking out French fries and hamburgers from the
paper wrappers to eat; some are discussing in front of the theme park’s introductory
board; others are standing and flipping through travel guidebooks. Their actions
seem so normal.
Their attire is much more normal than Index or Stiyl. One girl is wearing a cutie top
and a pair of short jeans. A boy is wearing a mixed coloured shirt and baggy black
pants, and a lady is wearing a costume with her overcoat slurry over her
shoulders…and so on. The only weird thing is that around 10 people are carrying
sports bags, containers used to store musical instruments, surfboards, all sorts of
bulky luggage. These are the ones responsible for transporting the weapons.
Only people of the same trade will understand that all their attire and actions are
carefully planned.
There’s a magical meaning behind everything.
The numbers of males and females, the age difference, the colour combinations of
the clothes, the act of having 4 to 5 people gathering together, the contents of the
discussion, the religious ritual that ‘eating’ represents, the ingredients used for the
hamburgers, what ‘eating meals’ means in magical terms, the numbers where they
stop, the act of reading, adding up all the page numbers together…
All these are classified as ‘codes’ or ‘logos’. All the actions that the organization is
doing creates a spell and a magic array. Like this, the spells of the Amakusa uses
things from everyday life which originated from several abandoned religious rituals
that are choreographed again, so people can’t tell that they ‘used magic’. Such a
trait originates from the Bakumou era, where they had to hide to avoid persecution.
(It’s about time…)
Tatemiya Saiji stands alone, and far away from everyone, swinging the sword in his
hand horizontally.
The street lights made of metal lose their light, breaking into half and leaving behind
a diagonal cut.
(Please watch carefully, this is the Christian sect that has many religious values
mixed into it — the Amakusa Catholics.)
He lifts his hands, looks into the night sky, and mutters softly.

[edit] Part 5

It’s like an abandoned ruin covered by the night sky.

This is what Kamijo thinks when he looks at ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’, 200
metres in front of him, where the special teleportation portal is. All the lights inside
have been turned off, and what originally is a bright and vibrant theme park is now
pitch black. Although it was originally designed to excite and delight people, right
now, it’s giving an opposite effect. The warm, moist and yet uncomfortable wind
blows all of Kamijo’s sweat away.
Kamijo turns his eyes away from the ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’ and looks beside
him. Several nuns dressed in black robes are gathered in a large car park of a
department store. This is another strange scene.
Then, Kamijo turns to look at Index. Index continues to write on her palm using her
thumb, likely to simulate how everything will go in her mind. Seems like she’s not
willing to let Kamijo get involved in this battle between spellcasters. As there are less
members of the Roman Catholics being involved in this, who originally have a lot
more than how many they have right now, which also means that the danger is
much larger; Index is now a lot more anxious than she was a few hours ago.
And on the other hand, Stiyl is standing behind Index, smoking a cigarette like usual.
Of course, he is most likely thinking about ways to protect Index.
Anieze walks towards Kamijo and company, her thick-soled sandals continues to
make that tapping sound.
Right now, she seems like a completely different person. That look that seems like
she’s going to cry anytime, like she was bathing or when she was sleepy inside
Kamijo’s futon, seems to befit her age. But right now, she’s like a person who will
forget all emotions when she’s working. That sense of nervousness that causes her
legs to tremble so badly that it looked like she’s going to fall is now all gone.
“We have found the Amakusa’s main forces at ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’, but
there’s no sign of the ‘Book of the Law’ or Ursula. Although the probability is low, this
may be a diversion by the enemy. So, I can’t remove the perimeter or recall our
patrol squads. Right now, we can only use all the manpower we have right now.”
Anieze says firmly, as if it’s a foregone conclusion.
Kamijo repeats her words in his head, and says,
“To us, now knowing who’s taking custody of the ‘Book of the Law’, or even where
Ursula is in this area, is a huge bother to us. Is there any way we can save her? If
we spend too much time looking for her, won’t the Amakusa take her away and
escape, or even use her as a hostage?”
‘Once the enemy is really pressured, they’ll take a hostage to shield themselves.’ To
Touma, this is almost like a golden rule.
Touma thought about Ursula. That’s a girl who lack common knowledge, ignores
what other people say, and will get lost if no one keeps an eye on her. No matter
what, Kamijo does not want to see her being threatened by the enemy with sharp
knives and guns.
However, Anieze says without hesitation,
“If they are to move out of ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’, our perimeter will pick them
up. As for the hostage……I guess the Amakusa won’t use her as a hostage.”
“Why?”
Puzzled, Kamijo asks.
“The Amakusa’s main objective is to ‘find a way to read the ‘Book of the Law’ with
Ursula’s help. If they use her as a hostage, and kill her in the process, all their plans
will go to waste. Since they want to use the power of the ‘Book of the Law’, they’ll
want to ensure Ursula safety through any means.”
Stiyl shakes the cigarette in his mouth, and says,
“My guess is that since they lost Kanzaki, the Amakusa want to use the ‘Book of the
Law’ to replenish their fighting strength. And since they’re using such tough means, I
guess that they’re really hard-pressed. In other words, if they fail in their attempt to
steal the ‘Book of the Law’, they won’t be able to make a comeback next time. So
they’ll pay extra attention regarding Ursula’s safety.”
“……In other words, this means that we have to save Ursula before the Amakusa
destroys everything indiscriminately?”
Kamijo feels that this is really a dilemma. If they pressure the Amakusa too much
before they find Ursula, the Amakusa will probably kill her in the process; but if they
take it too easy, there will be less time to look for her. Also, the difference in battle
strength between these means that there’s no room for them to make any mistake.
Anieze seems to understand this slight dilemma, and says,
“At this moment, I’d like to divide our numbers into two. 80% of our main forces will
act as bait, and attack the Amakusa head on. During this time, please act as
guerrillas and investigate the inside of ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’. Once you find
the ‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula, take them back.”
Anieze taps the soles of her sandals onto the ground, and says,
“They can only use the special teleportation magic before 12:05 am. If we can’t
retrieve her past this time, we’ll treat it as ‘Ursula is not in this area’. At that moment,
please leave this place. Once we defeat the Amakusa, we’ll do a thorough search in
this area.”
In other words, if Ursula is not found before that time, but she’s ‘really in this
compound’, she’ll be facing grave danger.
Looking at the ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’, trying to find someone isn’t going to be
easy. According to Anieze’s information, there are 75 stores inside this compound.
Kamijo nervously swallows his saliva. At this moment, Index says,
“We also can’t just leave the ‘portal’ of the special teleportation magic unattended. If
we don’t destroy it, the Amakusa might take Ursula away and escape through the
‘portal’. Although Touma can easily destroy an already opened ‘portal’, the ‘portal’
only opens at midnight. If we are to try to stop this magic, we have to destroy all the
tools used for this ritual. The problem, however, is that the Amakusa are best at
disguising things; trying to find these things won’t be easy.”
“Finding the ‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula, destroying the ‘portal’……seems like our
schedule is rather packed.”
Stiyl says as he spits the cigarette onto the ground, and steps on it to extinguish it.
Anieze sees that everyone has done their mental preparations, and raises one hand.
The nuns behind her, numbering more than 70, raise their weapons, and the ice cold
clang of metal echoes throughout the night sky.
These people have all sorts of weapons. There’re simple weapons like swords and
spears, there’re weapons that can barely be called weapons like silver rods and
giant crosses, and there’re stranger weapons for purposes unknown, like gears as
tall as humans and torches. Aneze also receives a silver rod from a nun beside her.
“……This is unforgivable.”
Anieze Sanctis places the silver rod against her shoulder, looks at the darkness in
front of her, and says viciously,
“The promotion of Christianity is originally to save humanity, and yet these guys are
using their power for such a meaningless purpose. Once they use violence for such
a trivial matter, others will use even more meaningless violence to stop them. Why
can’t they understand such a simple chain reaction?”
“……”
This is truly a simple truth; to outsiders, it’s reasonable; to insiders, it’s rather easy to
understand. Of course, Kamijo himself will agree wholeheartedly to this.
“Maybe I’m a bit disrespectful……but not just the Amakusa, I don’t have a good
impression on all magicians, especially those modern Western magic societies that
appeared at the beginning of the 20th century that twists Christianity or use some
backdoor tricks. The most notable examples are those who falsely use those magic
arrays with Archangel’s names like ‘Demi-gods’ and ‘Power of God’. Even if we’re to
ignore the 20th century, the alchemists who signed agreements with royalty during
the witch-hunting era used such a high-sounding rhetoric like ‘These are teachings
of Christianity and not witchcraft, and so I’m a loyal servant to God.’”
Anieze taps her sandals again, and says,
“These people love to memorise the Bible from the beginning to the end, sieving
through every word of God, and find loopholes in it. This is what they call ‘Black
Magic to Christianity’. These aren’t scary ‘outside enemies’, but rather, despicable
‘thieves from within’. Magicians are like those politicians who’ll exploit any loophole
within the Law, and cause the downfall of a country. Just when we are following
orders and queuing up to buy bread, these magicians will blatantly cut in line, which
will cause all sorts of ridiculous problems. What I mean is not that the magicians
cannot have their bread, but that their act of cutting queue has to be condemned.
Now that Anieze’s talking about Christianity, Kamijo has nothing to say upon hearing
this. However, what Anieze wants to emphasize is that she can’t forgive the
Amakusa for destroying (At least, this is what Anieze feels) the order that everyone
follows. However, Stiyl Magnus, a real magician, who’s stood nearby and listens to
Anieze’s emotional speech, only reveals a delirious smile and a nonchalant look. As
for Index, she looks as if she doesn’t know what to do.
(‘Necessarius’ is composed entirely of magicians, these words should be rather
harsh to them. Come to think about it, women really are creatures who’ll change
really fast. Anieze was nervously shaking around a while ago, and now she’s
completely changed. This is unbelievable.)
Kamijo looks around him, trying to find something else to talk about, and ends up
looking at the Roman Catholic nuns around him.
“To be honest, even though you humbly say that you can’t gather all the people, it’s
remarkable that you can gather this number of people on just one order.”
Kamijo says in a surprised and admiring tone. Once Anieze hears this, she smiles
and replies,
“Our specialty is that we have a lot of people. Our compatriots are in 110 countries
throughout the world, and even in Japan, so there’re many of our Church Ministries
there. Also, we’re building a new house of God, called the ‘Church of Ursula’. If I
remember correctly, it’s located near here. Once it’s complete, it’ll be the largest
Church in Japan. It’s about the size of a baseball stadium."
A soft sound came from the soles of Anieze’s sandals.
“Church of Ursula?”
“Yes. Ursula once went to 3 pagan countries to preach Christianity to them,
therefore her contributions are large, so the superiors specially allowed a Church to
be built in her name. Doesn’t she speak Japanese really well?”
Now that Anieze mentions it, this seems to be the case. But the number of
foreigners who speak Japanese so fluently around Kamijo are too many, so he didn’t
notice it too much. Of course, to Kamijo, who can only speak Japanese, this is a
good thing.
“After the Church is built, we’ll be sending invitations. However, before this, let’s
settle the problem before us, and not let this bother us.”
Anieze reveals a smile full of self-confidence. She carries the seemingly heavy silver
rod over her shoulders, and stamps her heals onto the ground, creating a danging
sound. The soles that are 30cm thick bounced off, leaving behind a pair of ordinary
sandals. Seems like the soles work like the zips on the nuns’ robes, as one can
choose to remove them any time.
“……Since it’s easier to walk like that, why won’t you normally just take them off?”
“Shut up, it’s called a sense of beauty. Wearing thick-soled sandals is my own style.”

[edit] Part 6

11:27pm
Kamijo, Index and Stiyl arrive at the metal fence near the workers’ entrance to
‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’.
Although they aren’t on the battlefield yet, Kamijo is feeling jumpy, as if the air is
filled with static electricity. Maybe the enemy is monitoring their actions from within
the darkness on the other side of the wired fence. Although the enemy is only hiding
in a corner of the compound, the entire area seems to be one large stomach of the
enemy.
(Such a scary place……)
For a girl to be left here alone, it must be really uncomfortable for her. Also, the girl
might be surrounded by several vicious criminals wielding swords or spears.
Deep inside, Kamijo cursed. If he had known that this would be the outcome, he
would have brought Ursula back to Academy City with him in the beginning. Right
now, Kamijo is really regretting it.
“Hey, Stiyl…”
“What?”
“Do you think that we can finish everything within this time limit? Destroying the
‘portal’, finding the ‘Book of the Law’, rescuing Ursula, everything?”
Hearing Kamijo’s question, Stiyl became silent. Index looks nervous as she turns
back and forth, staring at these two.
“……To be honest, it’s difficult.”
After a while, Stiyl says again,
“We have no idea where the ‘Book of the Law’ and Ursula are inside this area. Also,
in fact, we have something that the Roman Catholics don’t know about.”
Kamijo looks suspicious and puzzled.
“After this incident happened. Kanzaki Kaori, who’s originally supposed to be in
England, went missing. I’m afraid that she’s going to help her former
subordinates……by doing some drastic actions. So if we want to utterly defeat the
Amakusa, that Saint might probably attack us.”
Being stunned and tense, Kamijo feels his throat go dry.
This magician, Kanzaki Kaori, managed to contain a real Angel during the ‘Angel
Fall’ incident. Although Kamijo did not witness her entire battle against the Angel, it’s
not hard to imagine how scary she is an opponent.
And he also feels that all the predictions that Stiyl made about Kanzaki is rather
reasonable.
“So, I advise you not to think of executing this plan perfectly. There are too many
flaws in this plan, and too many risks. Our last line of defense is to prevent the ‘Book
of the Law’ from being decoded successfully.”
“If so……”
Kamijo looks at Stiyl’s and Index’s faces, and says,
“Should we put saving Ursula as our top priority?”
“I’ve no disagreements with that, since without the decoder, it’s useless even if they
have the ‘Book of the Law’. Also, the contents of the ‘Book of the Law’ is memorized
inside her head; there’s no value in the original to us. Since the ‘Book of the Law’
belongs to the Roman Catholics, even if we lost it, it won’t hurt the British Puritans
one bit.”
“I also feel that this idea is good. Anyway, even if we disagree, Touma will take
action on his own, right? Our numbers are few, so we have to work together.”
The two magicians of the British Puritans Church, Index and Stiyl, have no
disagreements.
As experts, it’s expected that they know something that Kamijo doesn’t, but right
now, they’re using an idea that he, a layman, came up with.
“Um, thanks guys.”
The two heard this, and are somewhat stunned. Index already has a lot of different
expressions, so it’s normal; but Stiyl looks somewhat embarrassed.
Stiyl smacks his mouth and says,
“Please don’t say just disgusting things that’ll lower our morale before we attack.
The battle will begin at 11:30pm, and we have to go in at the same time. Seems like
it’s about time……”
“Touma, when we go in, please be careful, alright? Stay behind me and follow my
instructions and you won’t get hurt.”
“Hm, what are you saying? My right hand is an iron wall against magicians! You
should be the one staying behind me, and give me advice when necessary.”
“……”
“……”
Having different opinions, Kamijo and Index are now silent.
“……We’re about to begin our invasion, can you guys please get serious?”
Stiyl, who’s coldly staring at the two regarding their argument, says softly. At this
moment……
BOOM! There’s an explosion at the visitors’ entrance located far away.
Looking at the flames that are rising into the sky, Kamijo is flabbergasted as he
says,
“……Oi, do we have to make such a ruckus when attacking?”
“If we don’t do this, we’ll lose in terms of momentum against the enemy. Touma,
don’t get careless.”
“They haven’t created any unrest yet. Seems like someone used a spell that repels
passers-by and creates a fixed image. However, there’s no sign of any of the
Roman Catholics’ characteristics or habits……seems like they’re of the Amakusa.
Having such ability……this is really bad news to us.”
No matter what they say, it’s time for action.
Index sticks the tip of her nose onto the wire fence, silently observing the compound.
After confirming that there aren’t any magical traps set, the trio climbs over the fence
and into the dark compound.
The lights in the compound are off, so this place forms a mass of darkness within
the entire city. One might even feel that the stars in the sky are especially bright.
The trio enters the tour route from outside, through the gap between the shaved ice
store and the almond jelly store, both of which are as large as a jeep, and got onto
the tour route.
It’s a large circular road. Right in the middle is a watercourse, and the surface of the
water is about 3 metres below them, so deep that they can’t see the bottom. Several
small stores are arranged around this watercourse and these stores are like
roadside store, only having a bar and no place for the customers to eat inside. On
the inside of the watercourse is a square, with many tables and chairs placed there.
Seems like they hope to divert the customers here.
“……”
If it’s during the day, one should be able to create some wonderful memories here.
But right now, this place is somewhat similar to that of a world in another dimension.
There’s not even any light and all the stores are now shut by icy cold shutters; it’s as
if no one in the entire compound welcomes Kamijo and company. Like someone
who holds a torchlight below his chin and shines his head, there is a sense of fear
and suspense that cannot be described. Even Index, the gluttonous girl who'll love to
come to this kind of place to eat, is now extremely tense, as she stares into the
darkness.
“Touma, Touma, there isn’t much time left, we have to first find Ursula fast.”
“Ya, there’s only 30 minutes left. If we can find the exact location of the ‘portal’,
maybe we can still stick around and wait, but right now, we can’t expect too much.”
Stiyl says. Maybe it’s because he’s afraid of giving his location away, since he’s not
smoking. There are sounds of growls, shrieks, screams, things being destroyed and
explosions. Seems like the battle between the Roman Catholics and the Amakusa
had already begun.
“Right, I got it.”
After Kamijo finished saying this, he hears some sort of metal clanking against each
other.
The sound seems to come from above him. Kamijo casually looks up, and……
Four youths come crashing in from the roof of the shaved ice store.
They’re wielding weapons that resemble western swords.
“!?”
Kamijo frantically pushes Index aside, and then Stiyl grabs Index’s collar, pulling her
beside him.
The swords carry the reflection of moonlight as they swing downwards, as they
quickly smash on the location where Index was originally at.
A boy and three girls. The four of them are about as old as Kamijo. Their attire isn't
as eye-catching as a nun’s robes, but rather, those are ordinary clothes one can find
on the streets. This however makes the western swords they wielding even more
sinister looking.
Stiyl says reluctantly,
“‘Hand and a half sword’, ‘Bastard Sword’, ‘Boar Spear Sword’, ‘Dress Sword’……
seems like the people of this country really likes Western culture!”
Kamijo often feels that he has seen these names in several fantasy RPG games.
The lengths of the four swords range between 1m to 2m, and the designs are
somewhat unique. One of the even has a small, circular-shaped thing that’s like a
bulbous plant on the tip of a thin blade. He really doesn’t have an idea regarding
what this is for.
(Damn it, has the main force who're acting as a diversion not attracted all the
enemies yet?)
The four teenagers land on the ground, separating Kamijo from Index and Stiyl. As
the road is narrow, Kamijo can’t get past the four easily and get together with both
Index and Stiyl. Stiyl places a rune on the ground, summons a flame sword, and
then puts something out from his torso, saying,
“This is for you. Don’t lose it if you don’t want to die.”
Kamijo hurriedly takes it. It’s actually a silver cross necklace.
“This is……”
Kamijo looks up. Before he can even ask “What’s this for?”, an Amakusa girl
wordlessly raises a pair of thin swords as long as brooms (it’s probably the ‘dress
blade’), as she charges towards Kamijo.
“Wa!?”
Kamijo frantically jumps back and dodge the blow. The girl again steps forward,
swinging her sword. Kamijo can’t react in time, and for a moment, didn’t know what
to do. Luckily, he tripped and fell backwards, and manages to dodge this strike.
“Danger! Touma!!”
Kamijo hears Index scream as the girl’s ‘dress sword’ swings downwards like a
guillotine. He uses the momentum as he falls to roll backwards, and barely dodges
this blow.
Up till now, the enemy hasn’t used any magic.
In this situation, the ‘Imagine Breaker’ is useless. If he were to use his right hand to
block, it’ll be cut in half.
“Index!”
Kamijo frantically shouts, but the four enemies are standing in the middle of the
road, thus Kamijo is unable to get to Index. Stiyl raises his flame sword, standing in
front of Index. Two of the enemies, who’re wielding longswords, charge forward, as
if they want to stab through Stiyl and Index, who’s behind him.
DONG! There’s a heavy collision sound.
“———!?”
Seeing this, Kamijo is scared nearly to death. But upon looking at it calmly, Stiyl isn’t
even bleeding. Also, the two enemies who’re charging at him just went past his
body.
A mirage.
Stiyl’s afterimage leaves behind a mocking smile, and vanishes in thin air. This smile
doesn’t seem to be directed to the Amakusa, their enemies, but rather, to Kamijo.
The duo then vanishes into thin air.
Right now, the four are staring at Kamijo, who’s the only one left at the scene.
(Oi……wait a minute……if you’re going to escape, at least discuss a signal and a
rendezvous? Damn it, I’m now the scapegoat again? This isn’t the first time! I
remember the same thing happened when we were fighting the alchemist!)
Kamijo, who’s left behind, quickly turns around and scampers away. The enemy
doesn’t seem to know how to react upon seeing this. Kamijo looks back as he runs,
and sees that 3 of them are running off in different directions. Seems like they’re
chasing after Index, who ran away.
There’s only one enemy left.
Only the girl who had raised her sword and swung at Kamijo continues to pursue
after him. She’s really fast. Even though she’s wielding a large and heavy Western
sword, she’s as fast as a bird.
(Oh no……! I’ll be caught if I run straight!)
Kamijo quickly gets off the circular tour route and into some space between two
stores that’s not even 70cm wide. This space shouldn’t be considered an ‘alley’, but
rather a ‘gap’.
While running through this tiny gap, Kamijo suddenly tumbles forward. The shop
here seems to be undergoing renovation, as a signboard is placed next to the wall,
and toolboxes are placed on the ground. He was tripped by these.
(Wa……! Why do they leave these things around and not pack them nicely!?)
If he were to continue to run like this, sooner or later, he’ll be hacked down on the
back by the girl. Kamijo looks at the tool boxes that were overturned, hoping to find
something that can be used as a weapon. But he immediately realizes that this won’t
work. Even if he were to swing a hammer wildly, he can’t possibly beat a real sword.
Even if he were to randomly grab and throw some stuff, they’ll likely be cut in half by
the enemy.
(……They can be cut in half? If so……!)
At this moment, the girl wielding the dress sword rubs against the ground with her
soles, arriving at the entrance of the shop like a car drifting.
Kamijo frantically grabs something that’s like a toothpaste tube and throws it behind
him.
The girl doesn’t even look at the tube-like thing as she raises her sword and slices it
in half. Then, the girl raises her sword her and rushes into the gap.
“!!”
Kamijo quickly stands up, crossing his hands on his head.
The girl’s blade didn’t stop as she cuts the air, swinging down onto Kamijo’s head. In
terms of power, it’s definitely enough to cut Kamijo’s hands and body in half.
Thunk!
Unexpectedly, the sound created when the blade hits his wrists is so dull. There’s
not even a scratch on Kamijo’s skin.
The toothpaste tube-like thing actually contains grease used for machinery.
Such a highly viscous substance will stick on the blade like blood or fat, and greatly
reduce the sharpness. If the girl were using a burning heavy sword like a Japanese
one, even if it’s not sharp enough, it’s enough to break Kamijo’s wrists. It’s too bad,
however, that the girl is using a ceremonial sword that belongs to ancient royalty.
Although it’s decorated with gold, silver, and all sorts of gems, the blade is thin and
long, so it lacks destructive power.
“!?”
The girl again frantically raises her dress sword.
“Too late!!”
But Kamijo has already swung his arms away, flinging the blade away, and slams
into the waist of the girl viciously. With his entire weight pressing on her, the blow
caused her to fall backwards. However, Kamijo is kind enough to protect the girl’s
head with his hand, so the back of her head does not hit the ground entirely.
Due to this collision, all the air ran out from the girl’s lungs, and she can’t move. This
is like someone who completely loses her body balance and being tossed out like a
judo throw. It’s expected that she’ll faint.
“……Ouch, it hurts.”
After confirming that the girl isn’t hurt, Kamijo sits on the floor with one buttock, and
looks up. Above him is a night sky cut into a square by the four walls of the
construct. Such a scene is rather common in an alley.
In Academy City, street-fighting in the alleys is a lot more different than what Japan
normally sees or imagine. Because for many students, as long as they can
manipulate their powers well enough, they’re much scarier than guns. Besides that,
several delinquents wield special weapons that aren’t inferior to esper powers. Or
maybe it’s because Kamijo’s used to these that he’s able to react accordingly when
facing off against a sword user.
Kamijo sits down and adjusts his breathing, observing the dress sword that the girl
was originally holding. Although the blade is thin, maybe it’s because of the centre of
gravity that it’s heavier than expected. After thinking about it, Kamijo feels that he
can’t use the sword because he doesn’t know any sword techniques, and therefore
can’t possibly beat an enemy with a sword. Also, if he were to hit the enemy with
this, the enemy will definitely bleed. Just thinking about it makes him shiver.
Although the sharpness has decreased by a lot, Kamijo isn’t willing to take this thing
and recklessly swing it around.
Come to think about it, if he were to put the sword here, when that Amakusa girl
wakes up, it’s likely that she’s come chasing after him. So, Kamijo can only drag that
heavy sword away from where they were.
(Damn it, what happened to Index and Stiyl? And where’s Ursula? Should I meet up
with them? Or should I find Ursula on my own?)
This is the consequence of not setting up a rendezvous. Come to think about it,
Kamijo didn’t expect to be working separately from them in the beginning. After
thinking about his next strategy, he drags the heavy sword back to the circular road.
Suddenly, a figure comes crashing from beside him.
(!?)
As that figure came rushing out from the shadows, Kamijo did not sense it at all.
Being crashed into like this, he loses his balance and quickly throws his longsword
away, trying to prevent stabbing himself accidentally as he falls.
Right now, the situation can be said to have been completely reversed. Kamijo’s the
one who got knocked onto the ground, but he got into a position to protect himself,
so the damage done isn’t as bad as what the girl suffered. To prevent the enemy
from jumping on him, he raises his fist, preparing to fight back.
“……Eh?”
However, Kamijo releases his fist immediately. Because there something strange
about the enemy in front of him. The enemy is wearing a black nun’s cap, and is
wearing black nun’s robes. It’s already so hot, and yet this nun is covered entirely,
from her palms to her toes. Not only that, her hands are tied to her back with white
duct tape, her right hand holding onto her left elbow, and her left hand holding onto
her right elbow. Even her mouth is gagged by duct tape. Looking closer, the duct
tape seems similar to some type of cloth, and there’s some ink on top, with some
distorted text that looks like kanji.
Anyone can tell that this is Ursula Aquinas.
At this moment, Kamijo heaves a sigh of relief, his entire body crashes onto the
ground.
“Mmmm! Mmmmmmmm! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!”
The moment Ursula, who’s gagged up by that weird talisman, sees Kamijo, she tries
to talk.
“What? Since you specially came all the way to Japan, you want to meet a real
sumo wrestler? You’re really like an old granny! Not all Japanese are sumo
wrestlers!”
“Mmm—!”
“Ah? Wait…..I’m only jok—!”
Before Kamijo finishes speaking, an angry headbutt meets his chest. Both he and
Ursula went crashing onto the ground. At first, Kamijo can only cough and gasp for
breath, but after a while, he realizes that his hands are touching something soft.
Actually, his hand is placed on Ursula’s voluptuous and ample breast, the heartbeat
and warmth traveling through his hands, but Ursula doesn’t seem to realize it.
(Eh? WAAA!)
Kamijo immediately went red, and quickly climbs up from under Ursula’s body, and
uses his right thumb to gently remove the talisman taped onto Ursula’s mouth. Now
that she feels someone touch her lips indirectly through the talisman stuck on her
lips, Ursula reveals a stunned expression; but upon seeing that talisman falling on its
own naturally, she’s even more shocked.
“May…may I ask…are you the mister who I met at the bus stop? Why……”
“Of course I’m here to save you! Ahhh, save the details for later, anyway, we have to
get out of here!”
Kamijo looks around him, and after confirming that no one is around, retrieves the
sword which he just threw aside.
Ursula doesn’t seem to be aware of what’s going on, as she mutters seemingly to
herself, and not to Kamijo,
”Eh? Eh? May I ask…you’re really…trying to save me? It’s does not concern…the
‘Book of the Law’?”
“I’m too lazy to bother about that kind of thing. You think that I’ll run all the way here
just for an ancient book? Do I look that carefree?”
Kamijo shakes his head as he shouts. Ursula seems scared and shocked as her
body jerked.
“Ah……um……really……thank you for your grace and kindness.”
“……Ya don’t need to thank me. Oh yeah, why are you here? Where are those
Amakusa?”
“The……the Roman Catholics and the Amakusa seem to be having a big fight. I
escaped during this mess……come to think about it, the Amakusa don’t seem to be
good at confinement and imprisonment.”
Kamijo picks up the dress sword, goes behind Ursula, and breaks the seal on her
wrists.
Ursula massages her hands which were just freed, and asks,
“Thank……thank you. However……may I ask……how did you do it……?”
“Hm……?This is my special ability…… I’m not going to explain it in order not to
confuse you. The development of esper powers on the Science side will probably
confuse you badly. Come to think about it, why are you still here strolling around?
Why didn’t you think of escaping quickly?”
“It’s not that I don’t wish to escape, but rather the two sides are fighting really hard at
the entrance. Also, my hands were tied, so I couldn't get over the fence. And just
when I’m looking for another entrance……!”
Before Ursula finishes speaking, Kamijo suddenly grabs her arm and runs back to
the gap between the shops. Ursula sees the Amakusa girl who fainted and is lying
on the ground, and nearly screams out.
“……Quiet!”
Kamijo whispers, and covers Ursula’s mouth with his right hand. He then runs to the
end of the gap, and upon arriving at the end of the alley, presses his body against
the wall.
Several footsteps can be heard from the circular road outside from there, and then
they become softer and softer.
These people do not seem to be looking for Index and Stiyl, but rather, they’re
looking for Ursula, who has escaped. Each of them are either wielding swords or
axes, giving each other orders. They really look scary.
After confirming that the footsteps are now far away, Kamijo leans his back onto the
wall and slowly sits down. Ursula follows suit, gracefully sitting down beside him.

[edit] Part 7

To the Amakusa, the place where Kamijo and Ursula are sitting at seems to be a
blind spot. They’re at the back of a shop, and there are shrubs growing around
them, so if they keep low, it’s impossible to see them from afar.
However, because of this small little safety area, Kamijo and Ursula are unable to
move. Those youths from the Amakusa are running around, as their footsteps
continue to be heard from the tour routes nearby. Anyone who hears these footsteps
can understand that the duo will be found out if they move out.
Kamijo is worried about Index and Stiyl’s safety. Since Ursula is beside him, and
they’re still inside ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’ and have not escaped, staying here
is dangerous and meaningless. However, Kamijo is unable to contact them, and he
can’t take the risk by leaving his hiding place and go look for them.
“I heard that the special magical teleportation portal can only be activated from
midnight to 12:05am. In other words, as long as I hide here, the Amakusa’s plan
won’t work either way. But is this a good idea……? “
Kamijo takes out his handphone, wanting to see the time on the display, but he’s
afraid of giving away his location in the darkness through his screen’s light, so he
stopped halfway through. He thought, it’s good if I can contact them by phone. Too
bad Index’s phone was taken by that Calico cat, and he doesn’t know Stiyl’s
number.
Kamijo sits down, his legs stretching forward, and incidentally touches the blade of
the dress sword. The sound and touch relieves Kamijo of his thoughts and
awareness, and it’s at this moment where he realizes that he’s breathing heavily. He
wipes his forehead with his hand, and finds that he’s sweating so much its abnormal.
Maybe it’s because he’s overly nervous that even a short amount of exercise will
make him sweat as if he’s running a marathon.
“Eh?” Ursula seems to realize this, as she grabs a laced handkerchief from her
sleeves. Kamijo has a bad premonition about this, and shifts his butt backwards.
“No……there’s no need for this, no need for this! A little sweat is nothing, don’t dirty
your handkerchief! Come to think about it, something similar happened at the
station……GwuaaaaHHHH!”
Before Kamijo finishes speaking, Ursula mercilessly presses the handkerchief, filled
with flower aroma, onto his face.
“If you don’t wipe the sweat off, you may catch a summer cold! Ah, yeah, did
something similar happen near the bus stop?”
“Didn’t I tell you the same thing a while back? Just eight seconds ago! You’re really
an old granny who doesn’t listen to other people’s words! This is unbearable……
really unbearable! Stop pressing against my mouth and nose!”
Kamijo, who’s in a slight state of asphyxia, tries to gather enough strength to escape
from Ursula’s handkerchief attack, but it’s useless. After Ursula continues to wipe
Kamijo’s face to her heart’s content, she reveals a dazzling smile, and asks,
“May I ask, are you from Academy City?”
“Cough cough……ugh……hm? Yeah, that’s right.”
“Since you’re from Academy City, why do you appear here of all place? Your actions
should be somewhat related to the Roman Catholics, right? But, for all I know,
there’s no Church in Academy City, right?”
Ursula’s tone is somewhat skeptical.
But Kamijo's attitude is somewhat melancholic.
“Oh, I’m special. There’s a friend of mine among the British Puritans. I’m roped into
helping in this case for some reason, and even I myself ain’t clear about what’s
going on.”
When Ursula heard this, her shoulders jerked.
It’s like she reacting to some major report.
“Hm? Are you worried? If I’m not wrong, you’re from the Roman Catholic Church,
right? Is the relationship between the Roman Catholics and the British Puritans that
bad?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Ursula silently thinks for a while, and then continues,
“May I confirm it again. You’re here to help on request from the British Puritans,
right?”
“Yeah.”
Kamijo casually nods his head.
Ursula mutters a “Mmmmm……” sound, and doesn’t respond for a while.
After a while, Ursula suddenly opens her mouth and says,
“Ah, you’re sweating quite a bit.”
“Enough, I beg you! Stop wiping my sweat away!”
“In other words, you’re here on the British Puritans instructions, and not the Roman
Catholics, right?”
“Ugh……our conversation topic jumps from one to another? Eh……it’s not really
that formal. Ah, let me clarify first, I can’t help you do anything for the British
Puritans, since I’m a resident of Academy City.”
“I……see.”
For some reason unknown, Ursula laughs, as if a burden has been put down.
“This is the case alright. For someone like you, you shouldn’t get involved with our
side.”
“……You think so? Hm……so, for me to carry this thing around is useless.”
Kamijo says this as he looks at the Cross which Stiyl threw to him before he left.
Although he has no idea what effect this thing has, the moment he caught it with his
right hand, any effect would have been nullified.
“Ah, is that the Cross that British Puritan friend of yours gave you?”
“How do you know?”
“There’re many different shapes and designs of a Cross, like a Latin Cross, a Celtic
Cross, a Maltese Cross, a Saint Andrew’s Cross, a Patriarchal Cross, and a Papal
Cross.”
“Oh, I see. However, this thing in my hand is useless to me. It feels weird for an
atheist to be holding this Cross. Why don’t I give it to you?”
Kamijo just says this casually, yet when Ursula hears this, she’s so happy that she’s
about to jump.
“Ah, is that true?”
“Yeah. Although I don’t know why Stiyl would give this thing to me, there’s probably
not too much significance. Also, that guy knows that I can’t use magic……that guy
really likes to tease people; maybe it’s a joke. Oh yeah, this Cross should be useless
now, since even though I’m clueless about magic, I’ve already touched this Cross
with my right hand.”
Kamijo hands the Cross over to Ursula as he said this.
However, Ursula grabs his hand like a handshake, and wraps it around with her
other hand, saying,
“May I ask you something?”
“Eh? Wha……what?”
Ursula’s hand is even softer than what Kamijo expected, making his voice tremble.
“I hope that you can help me put this necklace on.”
“Ah? Oh……okay.”
Kamijo replied. For his convenience, Ursula closes her eyes and raises her chin to
allow Kamijo to put the Cross around her neck. It really looks like she’s wishing for
Kamijo to kiss her. Kamijo freaks out and frantically looks down, only to look at
Ursula’s chest. The already ample chest now looks much larger thanks to her
posture now.
“WAAAAAAA!” Kamijo is so scared that he doesn’t know what to do.
“Hm? What?”
“Noth……nothing! Really nothing!”
“Oh?”
Ursula gives a skeptical look with her eyes still shut. Kamijo hastily unfasten the
necklace. Ursula’s neck is entirely covered by white cloth, so Kamijo hangs the
necklace around her neck. Up till this moment, he realizes that he should have hung
it from behind. Hanging it from in front is like reaching his hands and hugging her.
This makes him extremely nervous. Kamijo’s fingertips touch the back of Ursula’s
neck, his hands trembling continuously, not following his commands. It took him
quite a while to hang the necklace around her neck.
Ursula looks rather satisfied, as she continues to feel the Cross on her chest. Kamijo
casually looks in the direction where she’s pointing at, but his eyes are attracted by
her huge breasts, and so he quickly looks away. Once there’s an embarrassing
thought within his head, it’ll linger on for quite some time. Kamijo can’t stand the
silence any longer and decides to come up with something to talk about.
“Oh yeah, I heard you know how to read the ‘Book of the Law’.”
“It’s not exactly reading it. I would call it deciphering it……”
After Ursula slowly says this halfway through, she thought of something, and
immediately turned around rigidly.
“Ah, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not asking you how to decipher it. I’m just
curious, why do you want to analyze the ‘Book of the Law’? Isn’t that supposed to be
a dangerous book?”
Ursula stares at Kamijo for quite some time, and finally relaxes. She says,
“On a certain level of significance, it’s to gain some power.”
She shakes her head slightly, and continues,
“Do you know what kind of thing is an original magic book? Do you know that one
can’t destroy an original through any means?”
“Um. I heard of this before. The reason seems to be because the words, paragraphs
and chapters will form some sort of a spell array, right?”
“Yes. A ‘magic book’ is actually a blueprint. A magic book that records lightning
magic is also a mechanism that creates lightning. Especially for an original-class
magic book, even if it doesn’t rely on human magic, as long as there’s a little natural
energy or lifeforce, the power will be magnified exponentially, creating a semi-
permanent defense mechanism.
Ursula thinks for a while, and says,
“With our spells now, we can’t destroy any magic book. The most we can do is to
seal it and not allow others to read it.”
She then continues,
“However, ‘being unable to do so now’ doesn’t mean that it can’t be done in the
future. Since the original is also a magic book, then as long as someone adds in a
few specific words or paragraphs, it’ll be able to cause it to be ineffective. It’s like
operating switches to change where a train moves to; we can use it on the magic
book itself to destroy the magic array. In other words, it’s to allow the original to self-
destruct.”
Finally, she says firmly,
“The power of a magic book isn’t going to give anyone happiness, and it’ll only bring
about war. So I’ve been analyzing this book, hoping to destroy the original.”
Stunned, Kamijo stares at Ursula.
He originally thought that the reason why Ursula tries to decipher the ‘Book of the
Law’ is to gain power, but it’s actually the opposite. The reason why Ursula is
analyzing the ‘Book of the Law’ is to make the tremendous power disappear. Now
that he understands this, Kamijo heaves a sigh of relief deep inside.
Dong! There’s a heavy sound that came from outside.
The sound comes from the other side of the shop—from the direction where the
circular tour road is, at this moment, something came flying in from above into
Kamijo’s sight.
It seems like a person.
A priest that has red hair and is wearing a black coat.
“Sti……yl……?”
Before Kamijo finishes speaking, Stiyl has already landed heavily onto the ground,
as his back crashes into the shrub that’s originally covering Kamijo and Ursula. His
clothes are torn badly by a sharp sword, blood flowing out profusely from his
wounds.
(That sound just now came out from the other side of the shop, but he fell here?
Don’t tell me he actually flew over from there?)
Kamijo conjures a horrific image in his head.
Stiyl, who’s on the ground, shouts,
“Damn it! Kamijo……Touma……what are you doing? Hurry up and run!”
“Eh?”
Kamijo is stunned. At this moment, something that looks alive pierces through a wall
two stores away from him.
“!?”
Before understanding what’s going on, the wall of the store completely collapses. A
silhouette appears from behind the wall like a killer whale emerging out of water.
The construct which has lost its support quickly collapses behind him, as the planks
that are as wide as shoulders fall beside this silhouette. But this guy is unfazed by it,
even revealing a slight smile.
He's a male around 25 years old, with a tall and skinny figure, but he’s wearing a
large T-shirt and jeans that even a sumo wrestler can wear. The T-shirt is white in
colour, with two red stripes forming a cross on the right side of his chest. His hair is
waxed extremely messily, as if it’s deliberate. The highlight however should be his
hair. His hair is really so black that it’s likely that he used a black hair dye to dye it.
It’s not only black, it gives off a mysterious shine like a carapace. He’s wearing
basketball shoes with shoelaces so frightening long it measures about 1m. As it’s so
long, even if he were to accidentally step on it, it’s unlikely that he’ll trip. There’s a
rope made of either leather or another similar material hanging around his neck, with
four to five mini fans about 10cm big hanging on the rope around his neck.
Nobody can guess the intentions behind his get-up.
Of course, the most unbelievable thing is what he’s holding.
A Flamberge.
A 17th century dual-handed sword that originates from France that’s about 180cm
long (Teh_Ping: about 6 feet, I believe). The unique characteristic about this blade is
that the blade is as curvy as a flame. It’s said that the current design is meant to
increase its destructive power.
Stiyl’s magic emphasizes on numbers to gain strength. As long as the place is filled
entirely with rune cards, he’s able to use powerful magic. In other words, this battle
is rather disadvantageous to him. He has no time to set the field up as he fights
while moving. Also, he’s protecting Index, and there’s no other way out except to
use his own body as a shield.
“Don’t bother about these unimportant things,” Stiyl says in a tone that feels like he’s
going to vomit blood anytime. “……Very good, looks like you found Ursula Aquinas.
You’re the same as always, I don’t know whether to call it a blessing or a
misfortune……anyway, hurry up and run away! Don’t think of beating him, it’s our
victory as long as we escape!”
Stiyl attempts to support his body with his heavily trembling legs, and is unable to
succeed.
Tatemiya Saiji happily looks at Stiyl, and then turns to look at Ursula, saying,
“Oh yeah, why am I meeting you here again? Didn’t I tell you so many times? Ursula
Aquinas, we don’t intend to harm you any further.”
His tone sounds frivolous, as if he doesn’t even want anyone to agree with him.
Ursula looks at the collapsed store, and the injured Stiyl, and the Flamberge in
Tatemiya’s hand.
“The first time you said this to me, it was really full of hope. But now, I can’t trust the
peace that you bring through violence.”
“Too bad. Even if you return to the Roman Catholics, what’s the point?”
Tatemiya gently waves his hand wielding the Flamberge, as if he’s trying to confirm
that nothing strange is on his shoulder.
“……”
Kamijo silently stands in front of Ursula.
He does not have a weapon in his hand. Even if he’s to swing an unfamiliar weapon
around wildly, he can’t possibly beat this opponent in front of him. He might as well
not use a weapon which is heavy and unfamiliar to him.
Tatemiya stares at Kamijo’s face, followed by the ceremonial sword that lies beside
his feet.
“No combat stance, no artifacts, and no hidden magic code on your clothes. You’re
really ‘unarmed’. Hm, although I don’t feel like fighting against an amateur……
seems like I have no choice. That sword, did you get it from Uragami?”
Tatemiya scowls, his expression looks severely distorted, deliberately giving off a
sense of invisible pressure.
Kamijo never heard of this person called Uragami.
“If you’re referring to your subordinate, she’s lying down there. I protected the back
of her head, so it shouldn’t be life-threatening.”
There’s now no sense of frivolity in Tatemiya’s tone now.
Seeing this reaction, Kamijo can already see Tatemiya’s character. He’s not a
monster, he’s an ordinary man who’ll rage when his comrade is bullied.
“Since you’re someone who’ll fight for others, can you please put your blade away? I
don’t really want to fight with someone like you.”
“I’m thinking the same thing, but the problem can’t be solved that easily. Although
our main enemies are the Roman Catholics, since you British Puritans have joined
in, I can’t just ignore this. Moresoever, I can’t let Ursula be taken away by you guys.”
Tatemiya raises the sword that’s almost 2 metre long above his head easily,
swinging it wildly like a cheerleader captain waving her baton.
“Anyway, you have become an attack target of mine now. I’ll see less blood if you
are willing to kneel down and surrender.”
Tatemiya laughs, though he looks regretful.
Although he says it like this, he has predicted how the enemy will respond.
Of course, Kamijo is rather scared. He’s aware of what kind of people a ‘Real
Magician’ is. And among them, those ‘magicians that don’t over rely on magic’ are
the hardest to take on. For someone like the alchemist, Aureolus Izzard, as he
already has powerful a magic move, he won’t prepare for a second move. But for
people like Tsuchimikado Motoharu, he won’t rely on his spells too much, so he’ll
always use different techniques.
Tatemiya Saiji is obviously the latter. Even if he doesn’t use magic, he can use the
Flamberge in his hand to hack Kamijo’s head in an instant. Just seeing him being
able to beat Stiyl without a single scratch (Of course, another reason is that Stiyl is
distracted, having to protect Index), it shows that he’s really good.
Fighting with him is almost futile.
Kamijo’s entire body starts to tremble.
It’s like a rather fast child racing with an Olympic sprinter.
Should he surrender?
Since the enemy in front of him can’t be beaten with abilities, Kamijo is unable to
think of anything that can reverse the situation.
The problem is……
(If I surrender, what’ll happen to Stiyl?)
Stiyl bends his body, gasping heavily for breath, and glares at Tatemiya.
The reason why he decides to take part in this is because he thought that it’ll be
beneficial to Index. So, he’ll never give up. The reality of despair and Kamijo’s
advice are not going to stop this man, Stiyl Magnus.
But if he doesn’t give up, the outcome can be easily seen.
(If I surrender, what’ll happen to Index?)
Index looks like she’s going to rush in anytime and get between Kamijo and
Tatemiya.
Once Kamijo starts fighting with Tatemiya, the option of ‘surrender’ will disappear. If
so, she’ll try her best to create a chance for the outsider to the magical world, Kamijo
to escape. Even if she’s unable to fight, even if both sides have their special abilities,
even if Kamijo doesn’t wish for her to do this.
Finally……
(If I surrender, what’ll happen to Ursula?)
The Roman Catholic nun looks worriedly at Kamijo’s face, and turns to Tatemiya’s
face.
Since Tatemiya wants the knowledge, spells and power of the ‘Book of the Law,’
he’ll probably not kill Ursula straight away. On the contrary, he’ll protect her so that
she won’t get caught in the crossfire.
But, once Tatemiya Saiji gets Ursula, he’ll bring her back to the Amakusa’s main
base. Over there, if Ursula refuses to co-operate and tell them how to read the ‘Book
of the Law,’ one can guess what’ll be the outcome. And what Tatemiya Saiji and the
Amakusa want is only how to read the ‘Book of the Law,’ and not Ursula Aquinas
herself. Once they achieve their objective, it’s unthinkable what they’ll do to Ursula.
(“It’s not exactly reading it. I would call it deciphering it……”)
-What she wanted wasn't ever the power of the ‘Book of the Law’.
(“On a certain level of significance, it’s to gain some power.” )
-To prevent something like this from happening, she’s trying her very best.
(“We can use it on the magic book itself to destroy the magic array. In other words,
it’s to allow the original to self-destruct.”)
-But there are people who’ll mock and trample on her hard work, or even use her
accomplishments for their own gain. This man is smiling as he stands in front of
Kamijo.
(“The power of a magic book isn’t going to give anyone happiness, and it’ll only bring
about war. So I’ve been analyzing this book, hoping to destroy the original.”)
Kamijo stretches his leg, kicks the ceremonial sword aside, and steps forward.
No matter how sad or how awkward, the only one who can stop Tatemiya now is
Kamijo.
Even so, is there any reason for Kamijo to release his fist?
“……Don’t look down on me.”
Kamijo murmurs. The fist which is already as hard as rock is now even tighter.
When Tatemiya Saiji saw this, he sighs, as if he’s trying to find regret from deep
within the bottom of his heart.
“Seeing your eyes, that glare makes me feel so sad, really sad. Although the result
has been settled, your outspoken personality makes me not want to kill you.”
Tatemiya gently waves the wavey broadsword, the Flamberge.
“However, since it’s already settled, this day next year will be your death
anniversary!”
Just as Tatemiya says this,
Kamijo hears a loud explosion. Tatemiya stamps onto the ground with his sole, filled
with energy like that of an explosion. Kamijo is so nervous that his entire body froze,
and the opponent has already taken the first step. Just one step and the tip of
Tatemiya’s sword will touch Kamijo.
Tatemiya raises the broadsword high, and the light that’s reflected from his blade
makes Kamijo unable to move, as he feels like a frog paralysed upon seeing a
snake staring at him.
He thought of raising his hands to protect himself. But that won’t be able to block the
broadsword.
(Wu……ugh……! Don’t……don’t be afraid! Hurry up and move!)
Kamijo continues to give orders to his stiff body, and finally manages to take the first
step. It’s not backwards, or sideways, but forward. Seeing Kamijo coming forward
from slightly to the right, Tatemiya is somewhat intrigued, not understanding why an
amateur would run into his attack range.
“Ho!”
Saiji breathes out some air and swings the sword down like a lightning strike.
This critical blow can cut Kamijo in half, who’s rushing in like a cannonball.
“……!”
Next, Kamijo uses his entire body strength and jumps, not ‘slightly to the right,’ but
straight on towards Tatemiya’s right arm. Sweat sheds off into the air and is cut in
half by the giant sword. As this jump is completely different from what Kamijo would
normally do, the impact to his ankle is rather great. Kamijo does not land
successfully and loses his balance, slamming into the wall of the store beside him.
“Ha!”
Tatemiya turns his body around, swinging the sword that has landed onto the
ground. But upon seeing Kamijo leaning against the wall, he reveals a smile full of
self-confidence.
(Here’s a chance!)
Kamijo lowers his body as much as he can.
When the enemy lowers his sword, if he were to dodge sideways, the enemy will
normally cut laterally as a follow up. Because if he raises his sword and attacks
again, his movements will be slower.
Kamijo gets as low to the ground as possible and rushes in front of Tatemiya Saiji.
There’s no need to think of attacks other than a ‘horizontal cut’. If Tatemiya insists
on doing a ‘vertical cut,’ he won’t be able to react to Kamijo’s movements, who’ll
land a punch on him before the sword lands.
Of course, as Kamijo expected, Tatemiya Saiji raises his sword and cuts
horizontally.
It grazes the top of Kamijo’s head, entangling his heart in fear.
“WOO…OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
Kamijo shouts loudly, clenches his fist, and dashes in front of Tatemiya.
Even Ursula, who’s on the same side as him, is scared and stunned by his
momentum.
Even Tatemiya, who uses his entire strength to swing this two-handed sword, can’t
dodge Kamijo’s punch.
At this moment, Tatemiya Saiji disappears.
Tatemiya, who’s supposed to be in front of Kamijo, instantly backs away for about
1m, and the sword, which is swung horizontally, is now raised above his head for
some reason.
It’s like time was reversed and everything restarted.
It’s like an illusion that deliberately lures Kamijo in.
“Ah……?”
Kamijo feels a chill all over his body, and quickly rolls to the side.
DONG! The vertical strike splits the ground like paper. Maybe it’s because of too
much friction, the dirt that flew looks orange, like magma.
This seriously doesn’t look like something that can occur according to the laws of
physics.
(Magic……? If so……!)
Kamijo clenches his fist tightly. If that blade is made of magic, he can destroy it with
his right hand. He made up his mind and swings his right fist towards the blade that
flying over.
“No……Don’t! Touma!”
Hearing Index’s voice, Kamijo quickly retracts his fist. In order to protect Kamijo,
who’s now wide open, the young girl rushes forward without hesitation into Kamijo’s
vision.
(No way……that isn’t magic?)
Those actions that Tatemiya just used……
Moving backwards in a way that eyes can’t see, splitting the ground with a single
strike.
Don’t tell me those were just simple sword techniques? Kamijo feels a chill inside
him.
“No! Don’t come over! Index!”
Hearing Index’s voice, Kamijo quickly retracts his fist. In order to protect Kamijo,
who’s now wide open, the young girl rushes forward without hesistation into Kamijo’s
vision.
(No way……that isn’t magic?)
Those actions that Tatemiya just used……
Moving backwards in a way that the eyes can’t see, splitting the ground with a single
strike.
Don’t tell me those were just simple sword techniques? Kamijo feels a chill inside
him.
“No! Don’t come over! Index!”
Kamijo’s shout is unable to extinguish the girl’s determination. Tatemiya’s sword
comes swinging down again, and it’s almost like sound can be cut. Kamijo, who
originally believes that his right fist can neutralize the attack, didn’t come up with a
plan B. Thinking about it now will be too late. Kamijo can only stare widely and
watches the blade come flying towards him.
“O original flame, turn thy into light, blade of gentle protection and divine judgment!”
Stiyl suddenly shouts, creating a huge explosion. This is an explosion caused by a
fire absorbing too much oxygen. The Flame Sword in Stiyl's hands pierces through
the night and successfully attracts Tatemiya’s attention.
“Damn it!”
Taking advantage when Tatemiya turns to look right, Kamijo jumps away in the
opposite direction, trying to pull away from Tatemiya.
But, he failed.
When Kamijo made the first move, Tatemiya, who’s looking in the opposite direction,
is somehow able to catch up like a shadow. Tatemiya’ feet aren’t moving at all, and
it’s like he’s skating on ice, the movements aren’t natural at all.
(Ma……gic……?)
Kamijo feels his back go numb.
When Tatemiya turned around, the large sword came swinging around like a
tornado sweeping across. He frantically bends down to avoid this strike.
DONG! A heavy impact hits Kamijo’s waist, who should have avoided successfully.
Looking closer, a transparent snowball as big as a soccerball is buried into Kamijo’s
body. When he looks at it, the snowball vanishes, as if someone coloured it with
watercolour. Because of this blow from the snowball, Kamijo is knocked to the
ground, and continues to roll.
-Let's go back in time for a moment, to when Kamijo and Tatemiya just met each
other.
When the boy was about to be sliced by that sword, Index rushed forward without
hesitation.
(That is……Amakusa……)
Index trembles as she runs.
Besides being fearful, she’s impressed.
The magic that the Amakusa uses isn’t really special on its own. At least not as
grand, unique and powerful as Stiyl’s ‘Innocentius’ or Aureolus' ‘Alchemy’.
However, the Amakusa in turn use this point against them.
Kanzaki’s ‘Nanasen’ is probably the best example. If there’s one word that can
describe the Amakusa’s basic fighting style, it’s ‘disguise’. Most of the attacks that
looks like magic are just simple illusions, but among these illusions, there’s a real
magical fatal blow.
Index continues to run.
Kamijo and Tatemiya seem to be standing abnormally far away from her.
Defending against magical attacks is a lot different from defending against non-
magical attacks. Once you mess up, you’ll be in for some suffering.
Index’s ‘Spell Intercept’ can seal off an enemy’s magic. As a magicians needs to
think to create magic, by using words or action that’ll disrupt the magician who’s
chanting the spell, the magic will go out of control. It’s like challenging someone to a
tongue twister; saying something different to his ear will make a person mess it up.
But, the ‘Spell Intercept’ won’t work on the Amakusa.
The spells, talismans and magic arrays that they use are too special. Their spells
are made up of several religious significances in everyday business and
interactions. Especially for an enemy like Tatemiya, whose magic is composed of 10
or 20 ‘Actions that have some magical meaning behind it’. The time taken for every
single ‘action’ doesn’t last for a single second.
With Index’s voice and technique, it’s impossible to use ‘Spell Intercept’ to prevent
the ‘actions’ in one second. Just after opening his mouth, Tatemiya’s ‘actions’ have
stopped. As the conditions for activating his magic is all within his sword techniques,
if one wants to prevent his magic, they have to be able to match his sword
movements. Of course, Index is unable to imitate those highly-difficult sword
techniques.
In conclusion, even if Index were to rush in, she’s unable to beat back Tatemiya
Saiji. Besides the gulf in abilities between these two, Tatemiya’s specialities are the
kind that Index has the most trouble handling. As a magic specialist, Index is acutely
aware of this.
Kamijo takes a hit from the magical snowball and rolls on the floor.
Tatemiya Saiji raises his Flamberge high, like a worker raising a hammer to hammer
a nail in.
Index has no way to prevent this attack.
The ‘Spell Intercept’ will have no effect on the Amakusa.
“Touma!”
But, Index’s feet never stopped moving.
She’s not thinking that much either.
Seeing Index rushing in without caring for her own safety, Stiyl Magnus is frightened
to death. She does not have any combat capabilities, and if she stands in front of
Tatemiya, she’ll be hacked into two within a second.
“Ugh……!”
Stiyl only has a flame sword in his hands. If he wants to activate ‘Innocentius,’ he
has to quickly place rune cards, and there’s no time now.
If he were to rush in wildly now, he might be able to get in front of Tatemiya before
Index does. He’ll then attack Tatemiya next, and explode the flame sword when
Tatemiya blocks it with the Flamberge. This’ll likely cause a little interference.
The problem, however, is that Kamijo is now standing between Stiyl and Tatemiya.
If he were to charge towards Tatemiya, he’ll have to pierce through Kamijo first.
In an instant, the flame priest’s face becomes distorted due to frustration.
The inner conflict inside him only lasts a while. Then, a glimmer of determination
appears in the priest’s eyes.
(A long time ago, I swore—)
Stiyl Magnus tries to adjust his breathing with his dry mouth.
(“―Sleep well, even if you forget everything, I’ll remember it forever. I’ll live for you,
and die for you.”)
In order to protect the most important thing, Stiyl aims the flame sword at the
teenager’s back.
Exhaling all the oxygen inside his body and losing consciousness at the same time,
Kamijo sees Tatemiya raise the broadsword in front of him. He desperately
recollects the thoughts that he lost and tries to grasp the situation.
His two legs shaking, there’s no way Kamijo can dodge Tatemiya’s next attack.
Index is rushing here, and several seconds later, she’ll get beside Tatemiya, and be
killed.
Glancing behind, Stiyl raises his flame sword, but his own body seems to be
blocking the flame sword’s path.
Within one second, Kamijo’s thoughts are very clear.
If he doesn’t want to lose anyone, or anything, and allow everything to end with
everyone smiling……
There’s only one way.
“……Come on.”
Kamijo clenches his fist.
“Pierce me through as well, Stiyl!”
Kamijo squeezes out his last ounce of strength and dashes towards Tatemiya Saiji
without hesitation.
Upon hearing this, Tatemiya Saiji is somewhat messed up.
There’s a British Puritan nun rushing in from behind him, but killing her will be easy.
In order to protect the nun, the boy in front of him also clenches his fist, but he’ll be
alright even after killing the boy in front of him, then the nun behind him.
The problem is the priest behind the boy.
That British Puritan lowers the flame sword to his waist, and charges toward him.
“!?”
If the priest decides to stab him with the flame sword, it’ll pierce through the boy’s
body without question. But, there’s no sign of hesitation in the priest’s eyes. His eyes
are as sharp as the blade of a knife, his mouth smiling like a beast, and his mind
seems to only think about taking down the enemy.
In order to block the flame sword’s strike, Tatemiya raises the Flamberge.
But at this moment, the boy places his right fist backwards, preparing to strike like a
hammer.
“Peh……!”
If he blocks this strike, he won’t be able to defend against the flame sword. Also, the
main objective of the flame sword isn’t to hack, but to explode. He’ll probably die at
once if he’s not careful in handling this. If he does not quickly activate a spell that
defends against flames to defend against the flame sword first, he’ll be swallowed in
the flames caused by the explosion together with the boy, who’s sacrificing himself.
(I’ve already cast a basic spell that defends against impacts earlier during our battle,
a mere amateur’s punch shouldn’t be able to hurt me. What’s scary is that flame
sword — got to set up an anti-flame spell first!)
Tatemiya sways the sword that was raised like a river. By removing the flame
attribute from the ‘Flamberge,’ and by swaying the sword around like a river to
‘suppress,’ he manages to create a spell called ‘Suppress fire’.
(Good! The spell is complete! Once the sword stabs through, be prepared to taste
my counter……!)
Tatemiya Saiji sticks his large tongue out, licking his lips greedily.
The priest charges on and slams into the boy’s back. The flame sword in his hand
will pierce through the boy’s body and towards Tatemiya’s abdomen.
(I win!)
—But, things didn’t turn out as expected.
Tatemiya has already prepared an anti-flame spell, intending to send the heat and
flames caused by the explosion of the flame sword back. But nothing like this
happened.
The boy forcefully pulls his right fist back, ready to slam him like a hammer, and the
priest’s flame sword just happens to land on his fist.
Bam! A sound similar to that of a balloon bursting is heard. The priest’s flame sword
explodes into fireworks, and vanishes.
“Ah……? This is…… Wha—!?”
Tatemiya, who has already set up the anti-flame spell and thinking about a counter,
does not understand a single thing that’s going on.
BAM! A terrifying sound is heard as the boy’s fist lands brutally on Tatemiya’s face.
(Ka……aaaa……! The anti-impact spell……was broken through……?)
Tatemiya’s body flies backwards. Just when he’s about to stand upright, the boy and
the priest slam into him. Being hit by the weight of two people, Tatemiya’s body rolls
on the ground at an astonishing speed like he was being hit by a large hammer.
Just like this, Tatemiya loses his consciousness.
Twang! The Flamberge leaves his hand and rolls on the floor.
[edit] Chapter 3: Anglican Church
[edit] Part 1
The battle is over.
Kamijo thought, maybe it’s because the Amakusa are in a mess over losing
Tatemiya, their leader. No fighting can be heard from afar, and the tension in the air
is gone. These signs tell Kamijo that the battle is over. As they haven’t met up with
Anieze, they don’t know the situation, but it seems like the Roman Catholics won.
Otherwise, during that intense battle, more Amakusa members would have arrived
as reinforcements.
He’s worried about both the Roman Catholics and the Amakusa, concerned about
the number of casualties suffered. Regarding this, Stiyl’s reply is that, “There’s no
deaths on both sides. Right now, the Roman Catholics are tying up the Amakusa
members.” Actually, he’s able to transmit messages through cigarette smoke, that’s
why he can be so confident about it. There seems to be some meaning in the smoke
patterns, but of course, Kamijo is unable to understand it completely.
Slightly far away, Tatemiya Saiji is sitting on the floor. There’s rune cards on his
hands, legs, chest, back and forehead. These represent some really terrifying
magic, and once he moves, his entire body will be set ablaze.
Right now, Stiyl is bringing Ursula to meet Anieze, so there’s only Kamijo, Index and
Tatemiya.
“Touma, Touma! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Are you in pain?”
Index looks pale as she frantically takes off Kamijo’s clothes.
“Sto……stop it! Index! I’m not hurt anywhere……wah! Idi……idiot! Don’t touch that!”
“Then you better check yourself well! Is there anywhere where you’re hurt or
feverish?”
Index cries out with tears in her eyes. Kamijo finally realizes how worried she is, but
in response, he doesn’t know what to say, so he can only follow Index’s orders and
check his body.
“Um, there’s some pain on my waist, but it’s not so bad that I can’t walk.”
“Really? Are you really alright?”
“Yeah. To be honest, I’m already used to these sort of things. Fighting against
espers in the alleys is rather dangerous. Also, during this summer, I’ve been fighting
against a few magicians.”
“Um……that’s good……”
Index looks like she’s going to either smile or cry. Kamijo feels awkward and cannot
resist looking away.
“……So now, I can bite on Touma’s head to my heart’s content.”
“WHAT!?”
When these terrifying words were heard, the beast-like girl leaps towards Kamijo’s
head.
“Wo—Ahhhhhhhhh! Wait a minute! Index! Is this what a girl will do when she’s
worried about whether another person is injured? You’re creating a new wound in
the process—KYAAAAAAAAA!!!”
“Of course I must bite on! You made me so worried! Who do you think you are!
Touma! Don’t tell me you intend to beat a magician holding a large sword with a
single fist? Are you crazy? Why don't you use that weapon at your feet? And why do
you still charge on when the enemy's saying that he’ll spare the amateur when he
surrenders! What is our Touma doing?”
“Wait wait! Wait a sec! Miss Index! You’re going to kill me if you continue to bite me
like this! It hurts! I understand! Everything is Kamijo Touma’s fault, please don’t bite
with such force……!”
“Anyway……anyway……Touma, did you really think of all the possibilities? Do you
really know how long it takes for the Amakusa to set up an anti-flame spell?
Wouldn’t you be cut in half if it completes before you can even imagine?”
“Why would I think that much? Actually, I thought that Stiyl would finish me off at the
same time, it’s just that he never did so! I’m not even aware of what an anti-flame,
defense spell—KYAAAA! It hurts! I’m sorry! I’m wrong! Index-sama!”
Kamijo continues to scream an awful cry that he has never done so even on the
brink of death. After a while, Index finally lets go, feeling satisfied.
“……Humph, stupid Touma, always up to crazy business.”
Index gently says, letting her chin rest on Kamijo’s hair.
To Index, who’s tired from biting on Kamijo’s head, this isn’t any different from
sprawling on the table. But Kamijo’s heart now beats twice as fast. Besides being
able to feel the girl’s chin on his head, Kamijo feels her long silver hair stroking his
face and giving off a sweet aroma. And more importantly, Index is hugging Kamijo
from the front, so her chest is only about 2 cm from his nose. Now that Index’s
chest, which he hardly notices, is right in front of him, Kamijo realizes that there’s a
slight protrusion on Index’s chest.
(Wha……what’s with these different types of attacks? Ah, I understand! Next, she’ll
realizes that I’m looking at her chest, and continue to bite my head!)
Kamijo became wary deep inside. However, Index unexpectedly lets go of Kamijo
without a single word.
She looks at the sky, as if she’s opening her ears and listening to something.
“It’s so quiet. It’s hard to imagine that so many people were fighting just now.”
“Yeah.”
Kamijo casually agrees. Right now, silence will only give off a sense of tranquility.
There’s nobody swinging weapons around, nobody shouting about, no breakage
that can be heard.
“Oi.”
At this moment, Tatemiya Saiji, who’s sitting far away from them, called out to
Kamijo. He sounds anxious. Before Kamijo even starts to turn around, Index has
already raised her two hands and is standing in front of him, using herself as his
shield.
Tatemiya stares at the duo,
“Bastard, can you help me remove these? I know you won’t, but I’m just asking. I
can’t just leave her alone.”
“What?”
Kamijo frowns. After thinking about it for a while, he realizes that the ‘her’ Tatemiya’s
referring to is Ursula Aquinas.
“Are you an idiot? How can I just let the most dangerous person go……”
“You’re the idiot! Let me ask you something, do you really intend to hand her over to
the Roman Catholics? You know what will happen if she goes back, don’t you?”
“What?”
Kamijo is speechless.
“No, Touma.”
Index is rather calm, and says,
“This person only uses words as a weapon; you must definitely not listen to him!
Think, is there any benefit for the enemy to say the truth?”
“She’ll be killed.”
Tatemiya’s words drowns out Index’s.
“Listen well, I’ll tell you what’s going on. Don’t hand her over to the Roman
Catholics, they’re intending to kill her.”
“You’re trying to tell me that you guys are Ursula’s friends, and are trying to help her
escape? Don’t joke with me, there’s no such stupid thing! You’re the guys that
snatched Ursula away! Not only that, you’re the ones who stole the ‘Book of the
Law’! In order to get its contents, you guys launched an all-out attack, kidnapped
her, and now you have the guts to say that you are the good guys? Do you think I’m
an idiot?”
As he’s overly angry, Kamijo shouts until his throat goes hoarse, as if he’s about to
damage it.
But Tatemiya didn’t mind.
“We didn’t steal the ‘Book of the Law’.”
“Eh?”
“Think about it. Why must we steal the ‘Book of the Law’? The Roman Catholics are
the largest Christian sect in the world with more than 2 billion believers. Will we fight
against a large group for merely the ‘Book of the Law’?”
“You can’t take him seriously, Touma!”
Being anxious, Index’s body went stiff, as she says with determination,
“We know that the Amakusa have become weak as they lost their Supreme Pontiff,
so you’re trying to use the mystical and powerful magic recorded in the ‘Book of the
Law’ to make up for the loss in power, right?”
“But, what reason do we have to add on to our power?”
Tatemiya smiles.
The sweat flowing down his face reveals his anxiety to settle this as soon as
possible.
Kamijo suspiciously asks,
“If your power isn’t enough, wouldn’t you guys lose out to other factions?”
“That’ll be on the premise that others would attack us. The question is, how many
times had the Amakusa been harmed in history? Don’t tell me you didn’t think that
we have countermeasures? Outsiders don’t even know where our main base is.
Also, on the special teleportation magic ‘thumbnail tour’ that Ino Tadataka is most
proud of, there’re still many ‘portals’ out there that nobody knows of but us.”
“Ah……”
Kamijo feels that Tatemiya’s words are starting to shake him up.
That’s right. Among the many teleportation ‘portals’, there’s only 23 that they know
of.
“How is the enemy going to attack our main base when we’re the only ones who
know where it is?”
That’s true, Kamijo thought.
The objective of that battle is to save Ursula before the special teleportation magic
activates. And the reason why they have to do this is because nobody knows where
their main base is. Once the Amakusa escapes, Ursula’s whereabouts will sink to
the depths of the oceans.
In other words, nobody can attack their main base.
If so, is there any reason for them to defend themselves?
“So that means……”
The Amakusa were searching for the ‘Book of the Law’ to defend themselves — by
increasing their military strength?
Or……
‘Hey, let me ask you something……what kind of magic book is the ‘Book of the
Law’?”
Since Tatemiya asks this, Kamijo, an outsider, can only turn and look at Index. Index
then proceeds to explain reluctantly.
“The ‘Book of the Law’ is a magic book written in a special code. The code itself is
rather complicated — it can be said to be of a completely different language. In the
past, the only one whom everyone agrees can accurately decipher this book is the
author, Edward Alexander, whose other name is Crowley. The author once said that
the most important concept of the ‘Book of the Law’ is ‘to desire, and it’ll be thy
magic.’ As for the other details, no one knows.”
Index continues on,
“The ‘Book of the Law’ records details that Aiwass elaborates on. It’s still a mystery
to what Aiwass is. Some say it’s Crowley’s guardian angel, some say it’s a criminal.
As for the details, some believe it teaches humans how to use angelic spells, and as
the spells are too powerful, it’s said that once the ‘Book of the Law’ is opened, the
Christian age will end and a new era will begin.”
“Here’s the problem.”
Tatemiya smiles as if there’s some hidden meaning behind it.
“This is the crux. The power of the ‘Book of the Law’ is really frightening. If humans
can really use the angelic spells, I’m afraid that the Christian age will end within a
day. When many people have power that far exceeds the Pope, the power pyramid
that the Church so carefully built will crumble.”
Tatemiya pauses, and then continues,
“But, not everyone wants this power.”
“Why? Although I’m not a magician, and it’s unrelated to me; to you magicians,
wouldn’t getting stronger magic mean getting a higher standing?”
“What’s the point of having a higher standing? To be honest, we have no intention of
getting that power. No, I’ll say that any normal Christian won’t want this power.”
“But, didn’t the Roman Catholics protect the ‘Book of the Law’ in order to get its
power?”
Kamijo is confused now. However, Index seems to have understood what Tatemiya
is trying to say, and can’t help but look down.
“The answer is simple.”
To the boy’s naïve question, Tatemiya silently laughs, and answers,
“The Roman Catholics is the world’s largest Christian sect, right at the top of the
world. Do you think they’ll wish for ‘the Christian age to end from now on’?”
“Ah……”
Kamijo finally understands it.
In this age, a person with a higher status wouldn’t want changes to happen. This is
even more so for the people at the top.
“The Roman Catholics never wanted to have the ‘Book of the Law’ as a weapon.
They want to conquer the world, and not destroy it.” Kamijo and Index remain silent.
The night seems to get even darker.
“So, they decided to secretly eliminate Ursula Aquinas, the only one who has a
chance of getting that power. But Ursula seems to realize this and tries her best to
get to a place where the Roman Catholics have no stronghold in……Japan.
Ironically, she arrived at the same time as when the ‘Book of the Law’ was shipped
here. After arriving in Japan, she tried her best to meet up with the local Christian
group, which is us, the Amakusa. Finally, we agreed to help her.”
Tatemiya sighs heavily, and says,
“The ‘Book of the Law’ being stolen was just a bluff by the Roman Catholics? How
can we steal it? They did this to come up with some connection between Ursula’s
disappearance and the ‘Book of the Law’. When the two disappear, everyone will
agree that the kidnappers’ objective is to decipher the ‘Book of the Law’. But if she’s
the only one who disappeared, some will think of other possibilities, like ‘She’s
running away from the Roman Catholics to save herself.’”
Good and evil, attack and defend, abduct and rescue……
Everything is reversed in Kamijo’s view.
“Now, can you people say that the Roman Catholics are the good guys? Are you
able to confidently say that Ursula Aquinas will be fine the moment she’s handed
over to them? Don’t you have a single trace of suspicion?”
“……”
“If you’re still unconvinced, tell me what you base your beliefs on? Otherwise, face
that suspicion in your heart seriously! Think about it, anyone can understand who
the enemy is now!”
Hearing Tatemiya Saiji’s growls, Kamijo breaths deeply and closes his eyes.
He sorts through every single piece of information in his head, and thinks through
every argument.
He thought carefully.
Which side is saying the truth, the Roman Catholics or the Amakusa?
Is there anything amiss?
“No, I still can’t trust you.”
“……Why?”
“If what you said is true,”
Kamijo slowly says,
“Why did Ursula run away from you guys? The first time I met her, she was walking
all the way to Academy City. At that time, Stiyl said that there was a huge skirmish
between the Roman Catholics and the Amakusa, and Ursula ran away from both
sides’ control during the chaos. If what you said is true, why did she run away?”
He continues,
“Your words may be false. Even if what you say is true, the enemy of the enemy
doesn’t mean he’s my friend. So right now, you must tell me, why did Ursula run
away from you guys?”
If the Amakusa is really Ursula’s friend, why did she run?
Hearing Kamijo voice his argument, Tatemiya just smiles slightly.
It’s weak, as if he has given up on life.
“You’re all the same.”
“What same?”
“She’s the same as you right now. She was the one who first approached us……but
in the end, she’s still unable to trust us completely. She must be thinking, ‘These
people have no reason to save me and go against the world’s largest religious sect,
the Roman Catholics. They must be thinking that we’ll use the key to reading the
‘Book of the Law’ as a payment.’”
Kamijo remains silent.
Tatemiya seems to be looking at Kamijo, and yet seems to be looking at something
far away.
“That’s ridiculous. Why do we need the ‘Book of the Law’?”
“Then, why did you save Ursula?”
Kamijo cautiously asks.
Tatemiya replies without hesitation,
“Do we need a reason?”
He then continues,
“There’s no reason from the beginning. This is how the Amakusa does things,
especially for our generation. You’re asking why our Supreme Pontiff is able to be
our leader at such a young age? In order to fulfill a child’s wish, she dares to go
against a dinosaur that can swallow a mountain. In order to fulfill the dying leader’s
wish, she’s willing to protect a small village against thousands of enemies. Along the
way, we’re walking in her shadow. Although the time which she led us is short, to us,
it’s eternal.”
The way Tatemiya says this, it’s like he’s reminiscing the old days.
And it’s like he’s praising his family members.
“Because of her, we’re able to walk onto the path of righteousness; we’re not led
astray, and don’t abuse our power. While it’s easy to just say it, she teaches this
using action. She uses her actions to show that humans can be strong and
benevolent, that doing this isn’t difficult.”
For quite some time, everyone remained silent.
Finally, Tatemiya breaks the silence by gnashing his teeth.
“……But we ruined her life.”
“What?”
“It’s our deaths and immaturity that hurt the Supreme Pontiff. Everyone around her
died, and only she was alive. She thinks that it’s all her responsibility, what a joke!
Fighting alongside her on the battlefield is our wish, being beaten on the battlefield is
our incompetence, and we have to be responsible for all these. But in the end, after
this outcome, she willingly leaves her home despite it not being her fault.”
Tatemiya sounds bitter, as if there’s a knife poking through his face.
There’s touching emotions flowing from this resentful speech that’s barely squeezed
from his throat.
“Our immaturity robbed away her home, so we need to give her back a home. In this
home, we’ll fight to prevent anyone from getting hurt, pained, or lose their smile. In
this home, we can unite everyone’s strength to protect just one person’s happiness
and not be swayed. So when Ursula Aquinas came to us for help, we agreed. A
group that’ll do this willingly is a suitable home for her.”
In other words, they’re a group that won’t fight for power or profits. They fight for
themselves, without desiring any benefits.
But it’s hard for anyone to understand their motives, so Ursula misunderstood all
these.
Of course, Tatemiya’s words don’t seem to be true yet.
Kamijo really wants to trust him, but there isn’t any proof. To trust him, he has to
have proof to verify it. Kamijo gnashes his teeth. Which side is saying the truth?
Which side is saying a lie? Kamijo tries to compute this in his head.
Right at this moment, there’s a loud scream from afar.
No, a ‘scream’ simply isn’t enough to describe it.
A blood-curdling cry, a screech, a wail. If one were to call it, it can barely be called a
‘lady’s scream.’ But Kamijo isn’t certain that that’s a scream of a human. It sounds
like a sharp scratch on a piece of glass or a blackboard that makes people feel weird
when they hear this. But in this voice, there’s a shocking amount of human emotions
mixed in. Fear, rejection, despair and pain; a large amount of emotions begin to pour
out like a sponge saturated with mud water being squeezed.
Index looks at Kamijo, but Kamijo didn’t look back.
“Ur…sula?”
“Let me confirm with you guys something……did you tell her that you’re handing her
over to the Roman Catholics? I believe she trusts you, and not the Roman
Catholics?”
“……”
This reminds Kamijo of his conversation with Ursula a while back.
(“May I confirm it again. You’re here to help on request from the British Puritans,
right?”)
―Why did Ursula Aquinas ask this question so carefully?
(“Yeah.”)
―Why did she look relieved upon hearing his words?
(“In other words, you’re here on the British Puritans instructions, and not the Roman
Catholics, right?”)
―She even tried to confirm it again.
(“Eh……it’s not really that formal. Ah, let me clarify first, I can’t help you do anything
for the British Puritans, since I’m a resident of Academy City.”)
―A seemingly meaningless reply seems to make her feel relieved.
(“I……see.”)
―How many thoughts are involved in this sentence?
Up till now, she always trusted Kamijo Touma.
She always thought that Kamijo Touma is someone that can be relied on.
“……Damn it.”
Kamijo gnashes his teeth, and turns to look at the direction where that cry came
from.
Come to think about it, when Kamijo first met her, he should have risked his life to
bring her back to Academy City. She’ll be a lot safer as long as he did this.
“What the hell, what on earth is going on?”
“Don’t panic, it’s not a cry she'd make before she dies. There’re rules among the
Roman Catholics that they can’t kill Ursula Aquinas here. I can attest to that.”
“What?”
“In other words, we can still save her as long as we move quickly. But she’ll be in
danger if we continue to dilly-dally. The situation is really urgent. It doesn’t matter if
you don’t trust me, leave our grudges aside! Right now, the most important thing is
to ensure Ursula’s safety! Even if we are still enemies!”
Tatemiya shouts frantically, indicating that they can’t delay any longer.
“But you must promise me, bring Ursula Aquinas back from the Roman Catholics!
Bring her somewhere where the Roman Catholics can’t find her!”
Tatemiya looks serious.
That even made Kamijo feel uncertain.
At this moment……
Footsteps can be heard. Kamijo turns to look at where these footsteps come from.
Two nuns wearing black robes came from the darkness. They are most likely
Roman Catholics. One of them is tall while the other is short. The tall one is carrying
a large carriage wheel that’s much larger than a round table, while the short one has
four leather bags hanging on her waist belt. The bags are rattling around, and they
seem to be filled with coins or something like that. The bags are about as large as a
softball, and if coins are put in them, each will probably be as heavy as the ball used
in shot putt.
The taller nun takes out an old leather covered notebook, and flips open its contents,
checking it. She then nods and walks toward Kamijo. It seems like there’s a photo of
him inside.
“You’re the assistant that’s not affiliated with us, right? Please hand over the leader
of the heretics to us. The enemy of God…is him, right?”
Before the tall nun finishes speaking, the shorter nun is walking towards Tatemiya,
who’s now covered with rune cards all over him.
The four bags on her waists start to rattle continuously.
“Ah, wait a moment.”
Kamijo shouts, but the short girl doesn’t seem to hear. She was about to pull
Tatemiya, but froze and did not do so. She then circles around Tatemiya a few
times, examining the rune cards covering him.
And the tall nun’s eyes are now staring at Kamijo.
“Is there any problem?”
“Before you leave, I'd like to see Ursula.”
“I’m sorry, we cannot grant your request. Although Ursula is safe right now, it’s not
completely safe when the enemy’s power isn’t clear. In this situation, we’ll have to
follow the regulations and think of her safety. We’ll send a letter of invitation to you
when she returns to Rome.”
A perfect, flawless answer.
This made Kamijo even more suspicious.
“No, I can’t comply with that. What was that scream all about? That was Ursula
screaming, right? You said that she’s protected right now, so why would a person
being protected let out that kind of scream? Anyway, I want to have one last look,
just one, and say a few words. There shouldn’t be a problem, right? We won’t meet
in quite a while, so let me do this as a final farewell, okay?”
“But according to the regulations……”
“Come on! Do you have to be so fussy about the regulations? Where’s Anieze? I’ll
ask her directly.” (Teh_Ping: I was really tempted to translate this to—Screw the
Rules, we have Imagine Breaker!)
Kamijo places his hand on her shoulder, and pushes her aside.
“……”
The tall nun looks down, like she’s helpless against a guy who causes people to
worry all the time. She grabs the large wheel that’s on her back and places it in front
of her like a shield.
Suddenly, Index looks worried—
“No! Touma—!!”
Before the girl’s shout finishes, *BAM!* the carriage wheel explodes.
“……!”
In an instant, Kamijo doesn’t understand what happened. Several thousand pieces
of shrapnel fly towards him at an alarming velocity, like a shotgun. Sensing this, he
uses his arms to protect his head and chest. Then, numerous pieces of shrapnel hit
his arms, legs and stomach. Just when he feels pain, his feet leave the ground. Ping
Piang! He’s knocked back about 5 to 6 metres.
Index lets out a short scream.
From the corner of his eye, Kamijo sees Tatemiya desperately trying to stand up, but
the flames of the runes burns up several strands of hair on his head, causing him to
not dare to act rashly. He grimaces in pain like a dog being yanked on the neck by
its chain.
The shorter nun seems to panic. She looks at the taller nun and says,
“Sis-Sister Luccia! Is…is…is this really alright? Didn’t Sister Anieze say that we have
to avoid conflicts against our guests?”
“Shut up! Sister Angelene! Damn, this is why I proposed not to allow the outsiders to
act on their own, and we should chase them away quickly! All the blame will have to
go to that Anieze, giving such a naïve order to leave them alone. Now she’s really
given me quite a fix……”
Having been given a glare from the taller nun, the short nun didn’t dare to talk back.
The tall nun then mutters to herself, trying to calm herself down.
Her expression changed. Although the change is rather abstract, he can feel it. The
tall nun stares at Kamijo, her two eyes reminding him of hot, melting butter.
Kamijo is surprised. He can’t believe she’s one of the nuns who gave him bread and
soup at the camp.
“If this guy wasn’t suspicious about that scream, this'd be so much simpler…damn it,
what have I done wrong? I’ve been touched on the shoulder by a non-believer!
Sister Angelene! Quick! Get me some soap…no, some sanitiser! This is too much!
Damn it! Tell me the next time you want to talk to me! I have to wear the mud-
blocking apron!”
The tall nun is beginning to look flushed.
Her head is swaying about, but her tone is abnormally monotonous.
“Irritating things just come along one after another! This is unbearable. I’ll set it up
such that it looks like you guys were killed by the Amakusa. Hm, this should be the
easiest way to go. After that, I’ll kill them off, that’ll be perfect.” The tall nun looks like
she’s standing on a stage, saying out lines from a flawed script.
Hearing such a terrifying thing, Kamijo is unable to reply.
As the shrapnel are just numerous pieces of wood and not sharp knives, the wounds
are rather shallow.
But, those pieces of shrapnel that got under his skin suddenly vibrate.
“KWA-AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Kamijo screams. Pieces of shrapnel pop out of his flesh like an axe being pulled out
from a tree trunk. The shrapnel, now stained with blood, returns back to the nun’s
hand like they’re being pulled away with a magnet. They piece together like a jigsaw
puzzle being pieced together, forming back the carriage wheel.
“Touma!”
Index cries, and frantically tries to get back to him, but the tall nun turns and glares
at her, shouting,
“Sister Angelene!”
“Ah, yes!”
The petite nun uttered, hurriedly pulled off the four bags of coins on her waist, and
throws it above herself. The bags suddenly give off a loud sound like a large piece of
cloth being slapped onto a wall. Also, each bag sprouts out 6 sharp wings like those
of a swallow. The four bags radiate different colours; red, blue, yellow, green.
“Come out, one of the twelve disciples, tax collector and lowly servant of the
eradicating magician!”
The petite nun raises both her hands high, as if she’s hugging the sky.
In an instant, *Shua!* the green coin bag flies past Index like a bullet and slams at
her feet. It splits the ground like a sturdy root and creates a rattling sound.
“Damn it…ah?”
Index was about to retreat, but she trips. Looking closely, the rope seal of the coin
bag that slammed onto the ground unravels itself and ties Index’s legs. Just when
Index’s looking at her feet, the remaining three coin bags fly up into the air and out
of her range of vision.
Kamijo instantly went pale.
(No……! If those things hit her!)
The coin bags are likely heavier than those metal balls used in a shot putt
competition. Index, whose legs are tied up, will definitely be unable to escape, and
she can’t possibly block this attack with her hands.
“Damn it! INDEX!”
Kamijo shouts, and attempts to get back to Index. Luckily, the coin bag that’s tied to
Index’s feet must be controlled by magic. It’ll release itself the moment Kamijo hits it
with his right fist.
At this moment……
“You should worry about yourself, and try and think how to make yourself die a not
so painful death.”
Looking around, the tall nun carrying the large carriage wheel is floating above him.
The centre of the wheel is aimed at Kamijo like the barrel of a gun, as he stumbles
on his way.
(—!?)
Kamijo trembles until his throat goes dry. Punching the wheel with his right hand,
and the wheel exploding; no matter how anyone thinks, the former will definitely be
slower.
“O non-believer, have you heard of ‘The Legend of the Wheel’?”
The tall nun laughs madly, like she’s intoxicated,
“Since ancient times, many Saints are martyred or executed stupidly by those in
power. In this history full of torture and executions, the shadow of a wheel can be
seen.”
Kamijo does not want to listen to her nonsense, but the wheel in front of him is
restricting his movements. During this time, the three coin bags may be plummeting
towards Index from several metres above.
“These wheels have several nails or blades that can slice and dice Saints up. But in
many legends, the wheel mysteriously explodes the moment it touches a Saint. Like
St. George who subdued a dragon, or St. Catherine of Alexandria. Notably, when St
Catherine was executed, the shrapnel of the exploded wheel even kills the four
thousand people who were there watching her execution. The significance of this
‘Wheel Legend’ is……”
The tall nun says this rather slowly, which made Kamijo even more panicky. The
three coin bags that are aimed at Index will come flying down at the speed of a
cannonball and blow her head apart.
Seeing Kamijo being so nervous that he’s sweating, the tall nun can’t help but smirk
from behind the wheel.
“The innocent are not punished, and the guilty are—realize it now, non-believer,
your end has come. Stupid Sister Ursula will be executed once the special
‘procedures’ are complete, but killing you guys won’t require such hassle.”
“Peh……”
Kamijo thoughts are occupied on Index, who’s all tied up, wondering what he can do
to save her. At this moment, the wheel in front of him starts to crack. As if time has
slowed down, with the central axis of the wheel as the vertex, the wheel starts to
split into six equal pieces like a pizza, and rapidly expands outwards.
“Woo…OOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
Kamijo clenches his right fist, and roars. But it’s too late, he can’t make it. Before
Kamijo’s fist is raised, the wheel on the tall nun’s hand has already given off a loud
sound.
*BAM!* The wheel flew sideways.
Of course, this isn’t what the tall nun wanted, neither is it the doing of the boy’s right
fist.
It’s the coin bags.
The red six-winged coin bag that’s originally aimed at Index’s head slams onto the
executioner wheel with a stunning speed. The impact caused the wheel to fly out of
the tall nun’s hand, and after bouncing several times on the ground, it rolls into the
darkness. The bag is also damaged, as coins of different sizes end up flying out of
the bag. It’s unknown which country they’re from though.
The tall nun, who lost her weapon, frantically lands from above Kamijo’s head and
pulls her distance from him. She then glares at the petite nun.
“Sister Angelene! You—!!”
“No… It’s not me……”
The tall nun growls like a wild animal, while the petite nun, now pale with fright,
frantically explains.
“The remaining three, gather at one spot, and stick together.”
At this moment, Index’s clear voice rang out……
The next moment……
*PA!* The sound of metal bending echoed throughout the air. The rope seal of the
green coin bag that tied up Index’s feet now unravels. Together with the blue and
yellow bags, the green bag went flying towards the petite girl at a terrifying speed.
The three bags collide two centimeters in front of Angelene’s nose, and stopped.
The giant pressure causes several hundred pieces of coins to coagulate into one
large lump of metal. *Dong!* It lands near the petite nun’s feet.
The petite nun gives a stiff yet mysterious smile as she lands on her butt.
“The bags of gold represent Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles. He once beat two
fire dragons using just the Cross and prayer. Infusing Angelic power into the coin
bags can change them into aerial weapons that will automatically lock on to
enemies.”
Index calmly gives her cruel evaluation.
“But the method is too crude. The chant is too long, and it’s not really a secret code.
You don’t care about your surroundings as you focus too much on casting it, so
you’ll get stopped easily.”
Kamijo is completely unaware of what’s going on. Index should be unable to use
magic. It’s unknown how she’s able to hijack the petite girl’s spell and control it.
“……Using the enemy’s spell through a self-destruct or wrong direction?”
The tall nun looks around her, smacks her mouth and readies herself. Losing her
weapon didn’t dampen her fighting spirit. She slowly draws a Cross in front of her
chest.
At this moment, a sharp whistle sound came from afar.
*TWEET—! It’s like the cry of a bird. (Teh_Ping: Which bird? Seagull?)
The tall nun hears this and angrily turns to look at the night sky.
“It’s a retreat order! Sister Angelene!”
“Ah…eh……? But…but we…haven’t beaten the enemy yet……”
“We’ll talk after we retreat. It seems that the Remnants of the Amakusa are treated
as they’re released by the British Puritan. Working on our own will affect the entire
team’s operations, and even Ursula’s delivery. To us, that’s a much more serious
problem.”
The tall nun turns and runs into the darkness, the petite nun follows suit.
“Now you understand?”
Tatemiya Saiji looks at the night sky, and reluctantly says,
“This is what the Roman Catholics, the world’s largest Christian sect, do beneath the
surface.”

[edit] Part 2

“I see. No wonder Ursula Aquinas looked like everything was lost when she saw
Anieze Sanctis. Separating us from the Roman Catholics is because they looked
down on us from the beginning. Humph…what adding in the British Puritans will
cause the command chain to go chaotic, it’s all an excuse.”
Stiyl says this after walking out of the theme park, ‘Parallel Sweets Wonderland’. He
also heard Ursula’s scream, but didn’t turn to ask Anieze what it’s all about. Maybe
he doesn’t know of the reasons, and doesn’t want to take rash action and cause
relations between the British Puritans and the Roman Catholics to become strained.
Either way, Kamijo doesn’t understand Stiyl’s actions. Kamijo just ran to see Anieze,
but they’ve retreated, and there’s no one left. No one even picked up Tatemiya.
Maybe they thought the Amakusa was dissolved now that they’ve captured most of
them.
The fact that a group with so many people is able to retreat so cleanly makes Kamijo
freeze up. The fact that they never left the British Puritans a note shows that they
never trusted them in the first place. Maybe to the Roman Catholics, getting Ursula
back is their priority, and it won’t hurt them if they don’t take care of Tatemiya and
the rest. Or maybe the Roman Catholics are gathering their forces that are scattered
in the city, intending to use overwhelming force to wipe them out.
Right now, the quartet, Kamijo, Index, Stiyl and Tatemiya are exchanging
information. On a side note, as Kamijo was hit by the shrapnel of the wheel, he’s
covered with bandages everywhere.
“If what this man said is true, Ursula Aquinas isn’t in immediate danger. The Roman
Catholics have a set of regulations…so, Kamijo Touma, don’t immediately go in and
try to deal with them. Your meddling will make the situation get even more out of
hand.”
Being warned, Kamijo twists him mouth, and says,
“……What regulations?”
“Touma, the Roman Catholics are the world’s largest sect. Although most of the
believers have no involvement in magic, they do have 2 billion believers; led by the
Pope and 141 Cardinals, and there are parishes in 131 countries—they’re a large
group. Although big isn’t a bad thing, being too big can cause some problems.
Kamijo is still confused after hearing all these, and tilts his head. At this moment,
Tatemiya explains,
“Basically, there might be several factions. There are already 142 of these factions
in the parishes that the Pope and the Cardinals. Including the Nationals and the
local customs, there’s 207 of them. If we consider the generation gap between the
young and old, there’s 252 of them.”
Stiyl impatiently blows a puff of white smoke, and says,
“To the Roman Catholics who have so many factions, the number of enemies within
far outnumbers those from outside. So when they’re settling this, they’re extremely
careful about it. Although decoding the ‘Book of the Law’ is extremely threatening to
the Roman Catholics, Ursula Aquinas herself has done no wrong. If they were to kill
her like that, Anieze will be viewed as an enemy by all her other comrades.”
“Yeah? But we also haven’t done anything wrong, right? They’re still willing to attack
us without hesitation.” Kamijo gently prods the bandage on his arm with his fingers.
The summer night is so hot already, and its too much for him to have to put on all
these bandages.
“The situation is different for non-believers and heretics. Do you know how many
people in the past were killed based on a single sentence—‘Any sinner who
disobeys the Word of God must be judged’?”
“The two nuns that attacked us most probably have this sort of thinking as well. But
in other words, it means that they can’t anyhow execute Ursula. For ‘those who
believe the Word of God shall not kill.’”
“……”
Kamijo looks away and looks at the tree under the streetlight. A concern appears in
his head.
If the Roman Catholics have a rule that ‘one cannot kill a comrade within the Roman
Catholic Church,’ why do the Amakusa need to step up and ‘prevent Ursula from
getting killed?’
When Kamijo raised this question, Stiyl casually replies,
“The answer is simple. Because there’s an exception.”
“Exception?”
“That’s right. Although there’s the rule that ‘one cannot kill a comrade within the
Roman Catholic Church’…those that are chased out of the Church are considered
as ‘people who disobey the Word of God,’ so it’s alright to kill them.”
Tatemiya carries his extremely large sword and walks behind Stiyl. Kamijo is worried
—if that sword is seen by the police, how’re they going to explain it?”
“Sinners, witches, disillusioned believers…these people that did something wrong
will be chased out of the Church, and will be tagged as an ‘Antichrist’.”
“Setting Ursula up is actually very simple; they just need to give her a ‘test’. Like say,
force her to hold a hot metal rod. If she’s innocent, God will protect her and not let
her get hurt. But if she gets hurt, it means she’s a sinner that God feels isn’t worth
saving. Sounds funny, doesn't it? Among the British Puritans, we call this the ‘Trial of
sin’. We see it as a test, a trial that tests a person’s faith in God. It’s now banned.”
“This is ridiculous……!”
Kamijo shouts,
“It’s obvious the person will be burnt! It’s impossible not to!”
“That’s right. So even if they aren’t burnt, they’ll still be guilty, as they’ll be seen as
being protected by the devil. No matter the outcome, the victim will have the bad
luck of being labeled a witch.”
Kamijo thought that this is too much.
Using such a stupid method to decide Ursula’s future, it’s unreasonable.
“However on the other hand, while the prosecution of this religious trial……or Holy
trial is pending, the Roman Catholics cannot kill Ursula. According to proper
procedures, they have to return to Rome and spend another two to three days doing
all these. In other words, besides killing her, any other action is allowed.”
The Roman Catholics neither cared of how she thought, nor how she feels going up
against the original copy of the ‘Book of the Law’. Because it’s too tiresome,
unnecessary, bothersome, impossible to solve, and they don’t want to add on to
their bother; they decided to kill for these stupid reasons.
The beliefs of Ursula and the Roman Catholics should be the same.
Their thoughts aren’t different. Both sides feel that the ‘Book of the Law’ is
something dangerous, and decide to take action to solve this problem. Ursula tries
to decode the book in order to find a way to destroy an original-class book when
ordinary people think that it’s impossible to.
She just wanted to make some contributions.
Because she’s more aware of the potent threat of the ‘Book of the Law’, she can’t
leave it alone. It’s just that simple.
(“Do you know what kind of thing is an original magic book? Do you know that one
can’t destroy an original through any means?”)
-Is this wrong?
(“With our spells now, we can’t destroy any magic book. The most we can do is to
seal it and not allow others to read it.”)
―For what reason is Ursula Aquinas treated like this?
(“However, ‘being unable to do so now’ doesn’t mean that it can’t be done in the
future.”)
―What wrong did she do that the higher-ups have to decide on the procedures
through a unique trial, and suffer silently without anyone helping her?
(“We can use it on the magic book itself to destroy the magic array.”)
―No!
(“The power of a magic book isn’t going to give anyone happiness, and it’ll only bring
about war. So I’ve been analyzing this book, hoping to destroy the original.”)
―Definitely not!
“I can’t accept this……”
Kamijo gnashes his molars tightly, almost breaking them.
“Even if there’s a reason or difficulties, I won’t allow that to happen! What kind of a
sick joke is this! What do these people treat human lives as!? Taking away
something precious from someone one by one through procedures? WHAT DO
THESE PEOPLE TREAT OTHER PEOPLES’ LIVES AS!?”
Kamijo Touma lost his memories before.
So, what he has is very little. He only has memories of the previous month, during
the summer holidays, so what he cares about is only a small percentage of those of
an ordinary high school student. Most of his memories are built on ‘hiding his
memory loss,’ and he can break down anytime.
Even so, even if Kamijo is so empty inside, he’ll go berserk if anyone unwisely takes
away anything he cherishes.
Maybe the Roman Catholics are trying to protect what they cherish, so they had to
give this order.
But this isn’t right.
Having a group of people watch and snatch something a person cherishes in front of
him, this isn’t right.
Why can’t they try another method?
Why must they choose to do something as easy yet stupid as ‘kill’?
Kamijo clenches both his fists until they’re about to bleed. On the street under the
midnight darkness, the scattered light of the streetlights coldly shines on him.
“……Where are they? Do you know?”
“I can guess. Why do you ask this?”
Stiyl calmly asks. Kamijo can’t help but grab his collar, asking him why he can
remain so calm.
Facing that furious look on Kamijo’s face, Stiyl elegantly shakes the cigarette in his
mouth. However, Index, who’s outside Kamijo’s vision, is scared stiff.
“I understand your feelings.”
Stiyl slowly puffs out white smoke, and says,
“But you better calm down. In this city alone, they have almost 250 comrades. Can
you beat them all with just a single fist?”
“……!”
Kamijo clenches his fist tightly.
That’s right.
Kamijo is clear about it. His combat capability is about equal to that of a delinquent
fighting in the alleys. He’ll probably win if it’s one on one, but he can’t guarantee if
it’s one on two, and it’s impossible for him if it’s one on three. That nun who’s
wielding that large carriage wheel was able to beat through Kamijo’s resistance with
just one attack.
In real life, bare-handed fighting isn’t like those movies, where one man single-
handedly beats several people from the front. No matter how good the fighter is, he
can’t win if the number of enemies is more than what he can handle. This is a cruel
and harsh rule.
Except……
They’re like those real fighters depicted in manga or serial dramas……and the
magicians are like these fighters.
But the magician just stands around and laughs, puffs out white smoke, and says,
“Anyway, if the report given by the Amakusa is true, we can’t interfere by any
means. Too bad, this case is over.”
“What……did you say?”
“Think about it. To put this bluntly, isn’t Anieze Sanctis chasing Ursula Aquinas
because Ursula went against the teachings of the Roman Catholics? Since the
‘Book of the Law’ is still kept within the Vatican, the Roman Catholics can’t use it for
evil purposes; and since the Amakusa declared that they don’t intend to use the
‘Book of the Law’ for evil purposes, do the British Puritans have any reason to butt
in? Are you going to blame them for not saying goodbye to them and angrily dispute
with them?”
This time, Kamijo grabs Stiyl Magnus’ collar without hesitation.
Index tries to lower her volume as she exclaims. Tatemiya just stares at Kamijo and
whistles.
The rune magician however remains unmoved. In this lonely midnight, only his voice
echoes throughout the neighbourhood. The flashing lights seem to flicker as they
shine on his face.
“This is something among the Roman Catholics, and they can only solve it with their
own regulations. Since this situation won’t affect the outside world, the British
Puritans can’t interfere, or we’ll be seen as interfering with internal politics, and there
will be conflict between England and Rome……so, give up, Kamijo Touma. Don’t tell
me you’re willing to start a war just to save her?” (Teh_Ping: Hey, Luffy did that……)
“……This……”
“No matter whether it’s the British Puritans or the Roman Catholics, most of the
believers aren’t fighters like us. These people go to school, meet some friends, buy
a burger; these are what they feel the world is about. They don’t know that
magicians are running around in the dark, and they don’t know all these
organisations that are arranging deals with each other to prevent a magical war.
They’re like kind, harmless lambs with no power.”
The magician, who’s being grabbed on by the collar, calmly explains.
Like a devil that’s forcing someone to sign a contract.
“Let me ask you, do you want to get these people involved? These people don’t
know the truth, and only belong to the British Puritans or the Roman Catholics. You
want to get these people involved in a war, looted, killed, or even lose everything, all
for a single Ursula Aquinas?”
“……”
The hand grabbing Stiyl’s collar gradually releases. Index opens her mouth, wanting
to say something, but finally sighs.
This is the difference between a specialist and a layman.
This is the difference between a person and a group.
Stiyl indifferently spits the cigarette onto the ground, steps on it to extinguish it, and
looks at Tatemiya.
“I have no power to stop you. You’re free to rescue Ursula, your client, or your
subordinates. But you can only go on your own, don’t drag the British Puritans
along. If you do, even if I have to burn the entire island into ash, I’ll kill every single
Amakusa member.”
Hearing Stiyl’s threat, Tatemiya expression didn’t change.
“I understand this without you telling me. That boy down there, you don’t have to
despair. Although the Puritans have no reason to start a war, I do. Right now, we’re
going to their main base, save my comrades, and save Ursula at the same time.
Don’t worry, fighting against a large but weak organisation with some elites is our
speciality. Our group is established during the Bakumou era, after all.”
Hearing these words, Kamijo looks up.
Index, who’s beside Tatemiya, looks at him and asks,
“You’re going to call the Amakusa members in your base to come here as well? But
the special teleportation magic only works after one day. At that time, the Roman
Catholics would have left Japan already.”
“You’re right, although this is safe, it’s not practical.”
Tatemiya replies, swinging the white broadsword. Stiyl coldly asks,
“You’re going there alone?”
“Since that’s the only option, I can only do this. Luckily, those idiots from our clan
haven’t been executed……if they wanted to kill them, they would have done so at
the beginning and not carry them along. Maybe the Roman Catholics want them to
stand trial together with Ursula, so that the crime of ‘Ursula teaming up with the
Amakusa to steal the ‘Book of the Law’’ will be even more convincing. If so, as long
as I release them and do something behind the scenes, we might have a chance.”
(Teh_Ping: Who do you think you are, Tatemiya? Solid Snake?)
Tatemiya uses a delighted expression to hide his nervousness inside.
“I’ll choose to take action when they move.”
He swings the blade around, saying,
“We, the Amakusa, are used to being chased, so we know the might and
weaknesses of a large organisation. The weakness of a large group is when they’re
moving. There’ll definitely be one when hundreds of individuals are moving. Think
about it, the Roman Catholic members and the Amakusa number more than 300.
You can’t move that many Christians at the same time. People will think there’s a
protest when several hundred nuns dressed in black robes are walking on the
streets, and even the media will come over to interview them. So, they’ll use some
kind of disguise. Maybe they’ll split up into several groups and move on their own.
During this time, it’s impossible to retain their original fighting strength, and it’ll be
the best time to attack.”
According to Tatemiya, the Roman Catholics are not like the Amakusa, who’ll use
magic to move about. But it’s too late to arrange for a boat or a plane. So they’ll
probably wait till daylight, when the harbour or airport is open, before they move out.
“……”
The best time to strike is when they’re moving.
But in other words, this mean they can only move when the Roman Catholics move.
Stiyl once said that they have to follow a religious procedure and trial before they
can execute her.
But he also mentioned that they can do anything else besides killing her.
In a certain sense, having 250 carry out cruel violence against Ursula is even scarier
than the procedures. As there’s no clear guideline—what they can do, what they
can’t—the boundary is rather grey.
Anything goes as long as she doesn’t die?
They can do anything they want as long as she’s breathing?
Kamijo’s face darkens. Tatemiya understands his concern, and says,
“……Although you may not forgive us for this, I hope you understand that we’re
powerless in certain situations.”
Tatemiya’s voice hints at a deep frustration. Being a magician, he’s more aware than
an outsider like Kamijo on what will happen to the people caught by the Roman
Catholics.
Kamijo Touma swings a punch at an electric pole nearby.
He can imagine what is happening right now, but he can’t do anything. Kamijo feels
really useless right now.
Stiyl coldly says to Kamijo, who’s speechless right now,
“Seems like we have a common agreement. Then, we’ll disperse here and find
some place to hide. I’ll have to contact my superiors and ask them what to do. The
situation between the British Puritans and the Amakusa is settled, but I’ll have to
prepare to settle the situation with Kanzaki. Kamijo Touma, you and Index are to
head back to Academy City. The Roman Catholics should be busy dealing with their
important person, and probably won’t provoke a war with the Science side by
attacking you.”
At this moment, Stiyl lights a cigarette.
“Unless the British Puritan can come up with a valid reason to save Ursula Aquinas,
we won’t step in.”
He puffs out some white smoke, seemingly uninterested deep inside.
“Ah, yeah, Kamijo Touma, I’d like to ask you something.”
“What?”
Kamijo tiredly turns around, Stiyl reveals a mocking smile, and asks,
“That Cross I gave you, it doesn’t seem to be with you… Where did you leave it?”
“……”
Kamijo thought about it for a while, and recalls that,
“Sorry, I gave that to Ursula. When I helped her to put it on, she was rather happy. Is
that something precious?”
“No, that’s an ordinary metal Cross. It’s likely manufactured in a village that
specialises in mass producing gifts. Like that St. George Cross, it’s a common sight
in England, even the national flag has it.”
For some reason, Stiyl’s smile contains a trace of delight.
“That Cross has no decorative or antique value, and has to be useful in your
hand……never mind. It doesn’t matter since you’re not going to use it now.”
Stiyl says this with a hidden meaning, puffing out white smoke at the same time.
Kamijo is obviously confused, and can only walk back in the darkness.
Just like this, this boring event ends with a boring outcome.

[edit] Part 3
Tatemiya Saiji left.
Stiyl seems intent on escorting Index back to Academy City. Kamijo dejectedly walks
under the night sky. Index wants to comfort him, but she doesn’t know what to say.
Although this is the capital of Japan, the night away from the centre of the city is still
dark. It’s past one in the morning, most of the lights in the city are out. Lights can be
seen from the windows of the apartments, like an incomplete set of teeth. There’ll
occasionally be taxi carrying drunkards inside driving past them. The street lights
continue to shine, attracting numerous flies to them.
The days full of battle are about to be over. In a few hours, his daily life will consist
mostly of school. Kamijo will bring his tired brain along to school, listen to some
boring lessons and talk nonsense with Tsuchimikado and Aogami, get electrocuted
by Mikoto because he infuriated her by not completing his punishment—holiday
assignments.
“What should I do?”
Kamijo mutters.
Index hears this, and looks at Kamijo. But Kamijo still looks down.
He really wants to help Ursula Aquinas.
But he can’t think of any way to help her.
“As an amateur, I can’t possibly beat an expert no matter what I do, I understand
this. But an outsider should be able to turn the situation, right? Like the first time
when I met Ursula, I should have brought her to Academy City. Or not help the
Roman Catholics and allow the Amakusa to escape with the special teleportation
spell.”
“Touma……”
“I understand, I didn’t see the consequences of these options, so I was hopeful.
Even if Ursula escapes to Academy City, the Roman Catholics will invade Academy
City to hunt her down. Even if we didn’t help the Roman Catholics, they can use
human wave tactics to form a perimeter and find where the Amakusa gather. No
matter what, the result is the same. I’m clear on this.”
Kamijo Touma thought.
The first time he met Ursula Aquinas, who sounds perturbed when she asked him
how to get to Academy City. When she smiled in the theme park, it’s because she
found a friend she can trust, as she continues to talk.
Also……
That cry full of despair that came from nowhere.
“But……really. What should I really do that’ll be right?”
Kamijo understands that him thinking like this shows that he’s an amateur who lacks
a sense of danger. This situation is completely unrelated to him. A high school
student gets a rather harsh insight into the magical world, and is about to return to
his own world, it’s just that simple. Nobody can blame him. Anyone can see that the
magical world is dangerous and scary, and to see a common civilian like Kamijo
come back, it’ll be a huge relief for them.
Maybe Stiyl has already said what he wanted to say a while back, that’s why he
remained silent about Kamijo’s accusations.
In the meantime, Index turns up and looks at Kamijo’s face, and says,
“……Touma, this is an issue between magicians, you don’t have to blame yourself. I
can’t help out, so I can’t say anything much, but since Tatemiya Saiji said that he’ll
handle this on his own, we can only rely on him……”
“……Really?”
“Yeah. The law never said that you have to settle every conflict between magicians.
I have to be blamed for being unable to take on a magician. But even without
Touma, there’ll be a solution to the problem. As an outsider, Touma has already met
quite a number of magicians. But the world has many more magicians that you don’t
know of, and these people have their own problems. Even without your help, they’re
able to settle these problems on their own. It’s the same right now. This is only the
first time that you aren’t involved with the final events.”
“I see.”
Kamijo gave a machine-like answer, but he’s feeling quite surprised deep inside.
Index should be able to imagine what will happen to Ursula, so why does she tell
him not to interfere with this situation any further?
Maybe it’s because……
Besides saying something that contradicts his feelings, there’s no way to comfort
him?
“Hm, the previous situations can be considered as abnormal. Nobody can solve all
the problems in front of them. Touma, you should learn to rely on others, and let
others settle the problems. Even if there’s a house on fire in front of you, and there’s
an infant inside, you don’t have to rush in yourself. Asking others for help isn’t a
shameful thing.” Index continues on, trying to persuade Kamijo.
“Touma, you should rely more on others. ‘Necessarius’ exists for this purpose. Even
an organisation like us faces tough issues like these. If you can’t solve it on your
own, who’ll blame you?”
“……”
He’s not involved in this final scene. Maybe it’s just like this. His part is over, but it
doesn’t mean that the scenario will suddenly end like this. Next, Tatemiya Saiji will
be the lead and end this on his own.
It’s true. Seeing a mass murderer commit a crime doesn’t mean that the eyewitness
has a duty to stop him. The eyewitness won’t be condemned if the murderer is
subdued by the police.
“Will Tatemiya succeed?”
“There is some chance, since he’s a real magician, and the Amakusa, who’re used
to being suppressed, are rather skilled in doing this. He won’t be stupid enough to
try and take on an enemy when there’s no chance.”
“Un.”
Kamijo nods his head.
He might as well mention it, Kamijo thought. Since the situation can be resolved
without him getting involved, an outsider doesn’t need to get involved. This is a
logical way of thinking. If an outsider who doesn’t know anything gets involved, it’s
likely that the situation may get out of hand, so he might as well stay on the
sidelines.
The law never decreed that Kamijo has to settle everything on his own.
From a larger point of view, there’s a majority of scenarios that Kamijo isn’t involved
in.
Even if he sees one, he doesn’t need to mind.
Even if Kamijo isn’t involved, someone will settle it.
Kamijo looks at the night sky, raises his hands and stretches. The fatigue in his body
is starting to build up, at the same time, he’s starting to miss the futon in his
dormitory.
“Alright, let’s go home.”
Kamijo says.
Just this sentence alone creates a segment between what’s daily and what’s non-
daily. (Teh_Ping: Don’t look at me like that, this is how it was phrased!)
“Oh yeah, before we go home, I have to buy some things. At this time, the
supermarkets and department stores should be closed, and there’re only
convenience stores open. But there’s nothing in the fridge, got to buy some food
back……oh well, I’m interested in what the convenience stores outside Academy
City are selling. Maybe we can find bentos inside.”
“……Touma, why are you so concerned with everyday life now?”
“I’m sorry, I’m an ordinary student who recently begins to like to remember things.”
“I feel like forgetting all these, and eating a good meal.”
“It’s alright if you don’t let me go. But there’s only an empty tray and water for
breakfast. You have to think of the rest yourself.”
“Touma—!”
Index shouts out, not caring that it’s the middle of a silent night.
Kamijo laughs upon seeing this gluttonous girl turn pale so easily.
“Alright, then I’ll be looking for a convenience store, and buy tomorrow’s breakfast
along the way.”
“Hm? How about everyone go together?”
“If I bring you along, you’ll stuff everything you see into the basket, and it’ll be really
difficult for me to buy things. I’ll be leaving for a while, so Stiyl, please bring Index
back to Academy City. Since you can bring her out, you can probably bring her back
in, right? Of course……with you being so carefree, I’m somewhat troubled.”
“Since it’s beneficial for her, I can grant your request.”
Stiyl shakes the cigarette in his mouth, and says,
“However, do you know where it is?”
“……Finding a convenience store shouldn’t be too hard, right?”
“Very good.”
Stiyl gives a cynical smile, and brings Index back into the darkness of the night.
Index wants to accompany Kamijo, but he waves his hands profusely, indicating to
her not to follow.
When those two disappeared, Kamijo turns around.
And heads down the road he originally walked on.
“That guy seems to have noticed……”
Kamijo smacks his lips and mutters to himself.
(I left my wallet in the dormitory, so why would I go a convenience store?)
Kamijo pulls his handphone from his pocket. The white light from the screen
illuminates his face.
He presses several buttons, opening up the GPS satellite search map. Of course,
the target isn’t a nearby convenience store. Kamijo thought of what Anieze Sanctis
said.
(“Our specialty is that we have a lot of people. Our compatriots are in 110 countries
throughout the world, and even in Japan, so there’re many of our Church Ministries
there. Also, we’re building a new house of God, called the ‘Church of Ursula’. If I
remember correctly, it’s located near here. Once it’s complete, it’ll be the largest
Church in Japan. It’s about the size of a baseball stadium.”)
The GPS function of Academy City is extremely accurate and updates really fast.
Besides the latest buildings, it’ll accurately display buildings that are about to be
built. In contrast, old constructs that have terminated business, like the ‘Gloaming
House’, will disappear quickly from the map.
Of course, the name of the construct that’s about to be built won’t appear, as it’ll
appear as ‘to be built’ on the GPS. But it’s easy to spot by looking at the image, as
there’s only one building as big as a baseball stadium.
(“Yes. Ursula once went to 3 pagan countries to preach Christianity to them,
therefore her contributions are large, so the superiors specially allowed a Church to
be built in her name. Doesn’t she speak Japanese really well?”)
Kamijo looks at the image on her handphone, and quicken his steps. Just like
Anieze said, the ‘Church of Ursula’, the gathering point of the Roman Catholics, is in
this city. Since to a group, moving in a large group is a weakness, they’ll use the
Church of Ursula nearby to act as a deport base. Although the building isn’t
complete, this isn’t a problem to them, because they have much more magic that
Kamijo doesn’t know of.
The Roman Catholics should be there.
Including Anieze Sanctis and Ursula Aquinas.
(“After the Church is built, we’ll be sending invitations. However, before this, let’s
settle the problem before us, and not let this bother us.”)
Kamijo remembers that joke that Anieze first made, and chuckles.
“Although the party isn’t set up, and the invitations may not be finished, I can’t wait.”
Since their objective is clear, he has no need to stop.
He walks faster, and unknowingly starts to run on the pitch black road in the night.
He has no reason to get in and fight.
Even if he doesn’t interfere, others will come in to settle this.
Index has said this before, ‘Even if there’s a house on fire in front of him, and there’s
an infant inside, the law doesn’t decree him to rush in to save the infant.’
Asking others for help or letting others settle the problem isn’t a bad thing.
But……
What if the infant left behind in the fire always believes that Kamijo will save her?
The smartest way is obviously to call the fire brigade.
But no matter how stupid it is, Kamijo is not willing to let the child see his back. Even
to himself, when this is the safest method, Kamijo isn’t willing to let down the child’s
expectations.
Maybe up till now, Ursula Aquinas still believes in Kamijo Touma.
Even when Kamijo made so many bad decisions, she still believes in him like a
child.
Luckily, Kamijo isn’t affiliated to an organisation like the British Puritans and the
Roman Catholics. He’s just an ordinary student, an outsider. So there’s no burden
on him. Although he can’t ask insiders like Index or Stiyl for help, he can do what
they can’t do.
If he has a slight concern, it’ll be that he’ll be considered as a citizen of Academy
City, a member of the Science side. However, if the situation isn’t good, it’s likely
that Academy City will settle this quickly by expelling him in order to disassociate
them from him.
It’s alright even if they expel him, Kamijo thought.
Either way, Kamijo still insists on what he believes in.
Thinking about it, he laughs.
There’s no reason for him to fight, but he’s running in the night.
There’s really no compelling reason for him to interfere at all costs.
But his reason is that he wants to.

[edit] Part 4

Right now, the Church of Ursula can’t be called a church. It’s about the size of four
to five school gymnasiums. If it’s completed, it’ll likely be the first real Cathedral in
Japan. Building such a thing near Academy City, it’s likely they’re trying to suppress
the Science side. However, as it’s only built halfway, the empty space gives people
a sense of loneliness.
The outer wall was just built, and there’re many steel pedals and ladders. It seems
that they haven’t started work on the interior, like it was ravaged by greedy soldiers.
There’s a large black hole on the window that’s to be covered with coloured mosaic
glass, and the place where they’re planning to put a huge pipe organ is still rather
unnatural. The marble floors and wall continues to shine like they’re still new, but the
huge Cross that’s to be hung on the wall is leaning on the wall behind the podium.
However, just these alone isn’t going to create this bizarre sight.
There’s no artificial lights in the hall, just starlight that’s shining through the huge
black window. Several hundred nuns wearing black robes are standing in this dark
corner silently. They’re gathered in a circle. Some are wielding objects that can be
easily seen as weapons, like swords and lances. Others are wielding religious ritual
tools like gears and hooks. Every single item is reflecting light, and besides the
nuns, there’s no one else. The Amakusa members that were captured were put in
another building in the same construction site, and there’re more than ten members
guarding them.
The nuns aren’t looking outside the building.
Their eyes are fixated on the middle of the circle.
There’s the sound of beating.
And the groan of pain as the person grits her teeth and endures.
“Really, we wasted so much effort. Everyone’s rather busy, including me, and we
don’t have time to play games with you. If you understand, then behave yourself and
accept your punishment……Hey, you listening!? ARE YOU LISTENING!? Damn it!”
Dong! It sounds like a heavy bag being kicked.
At the same time, a cry that seems to come from hell echoes throughout the
darkness.
“Humph! What is this cry about? You completely forgot about the image of a lady,
and you don’t feel ashamed? Damn it, we might as well change the name of the
Church. We’ll be the laughing stock for coming up with a derogatory name like this.”
Ursula Aquinas did not reply.
She’s been beaten really badly, and is lying on the ground. Her clothes are torn
really badly, the zips are broken, and the cloth is flipped over, like she’s been
dragged on the ground by a horse.
Anieze and company weren’t using any special magic to torture Ursula, they’re just
taking turns to kick her arms, legs or stomach. But repeating such an action for a
long time will bring tremendous pain. This is a violent act involving more than 200
people, and although they’re somewhat lenient, they’re hurting her until she’s almost
dying. Ursula’s lying on the floor, unable to move.
Anieze brutally kicks Ursula legs. This terrifying power travels through the thick
soles, pressing on Ursula’s already immobile legs.
“Ugh……!”
“I don’t understand how you feel about running away. Think about your fate, actually,
dying here is much better for you. Have you seen the religious trials hosted by the
Cardinals? Hahaha, although they’re rather serious, the process is indeed appalling.
But for something like this, we really can’t match up to the British Puritans.
Compared to their trials, ours is like a game. This is the conclusion I gained upon
seeing both types of trials. Ha…haha! Those old geezers, being so old, and still love
to play these games. And your fate is to be toyed to death by these geezers, doesn’t
this sound wonderful?”
“……!?”
Maybe it’s because the pain caused by the kicks to her legs, Ursula can’t say
anything. Were she to open her mouth, she might even bite her tongue.
How did it end up like this? Ursula continues to think.
To anybody, the original copy of the magic book, the ‘Book of the Law’, is something
that’s evil and has to be removed. Everyone wants to destroy it. Everyone who gets
it will be annihilated, truly a ‘fallen magic book’. But humanity has no way to destroy
it, and can only seal and guard it.
Ursula Aquinas only wanted to solve this issue.
Her objective is the same as the Roman Catholics, to destroy the notorious ‘Book of
the Law’.
Why did it become like this?
Where did it go wrong for this to go completely different from what she expected?
Up till the final moment, she thought that she was saved.
Why did that boy hand her over to Anieze?
“Really, the number of friends that you can rely on is truly few. To think you’d ask the
Amakusa for help when you reached Japan.”
Anieze stares down on Ursula as she said.
She continues to kick Ursula’s calves, looking intoxicated, like she’s been
mesmerised by some magic. Ursula feels that every single nerve within her is torn
as the pain reverberates through her bones.
“Being so desperate that you’ll ask those foreign Eastern people from a small filthy
country? Haha…hahaha! This is really stupid; those pigs don’t even know how to
read the Bible, so how much can you expect from them? According to our law, once
someone marries a non-Roman Catholic, they’re guilty of bestiality — you should be
clear about that. Don’t tell me that you think everyone’s like you because they’re
Christians? What Amakusa? What British Puritans? These people don’t have the
right to talk about Christ? They aren’t humans, they’re pigs! They’re mules! Of
course this will happen when you hand over your life over to them. Tricking an
animal is so easy! Just appease them and they’ll automatically turn their prey over!”
“…Tri…ck?”
Ursula, who’s losing consciousness due to the pain, wakes up upon hearing this.
“You said that…those people…were tricked?”
Her cracked lips are filled with blood, making it difficult for her to speak.
But Ursula tries hard to ask the question.
“They…didn’t help you willingly…but…were tricked?”
“Isn’t this unimportant? Anyway, you’re caught by us now! Hoho, hahaha! Oh yeah, I
remember. They even said something like ‘we’ll save Ursula from those Amakusa
bastards,’ really interesting right? This is stupid! The people who are supposed to
protect you have handed you over to the enemy, what a bunch of idiots!”
“……”
“I see.”
The tension of Ursula’s face lessened.
They didn’t betray Ursula to the Roman Catholics. Those smiles and words weren’t
a pretense. They’re really concerned about Ursula’s safety, and are did something
so dangerous to save her.
Even if it ended in failure.
Even if their hard work didn’t pay off, and made Ursula so far off that she’s about to
die.
Up till the end, they’re standing on the side of Ursula Aquinas. They never gave up
or betrayed her. They continued to work hard till the end. They’re Ursula’s warmest
and most trusted friends.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Really……? I’m…laughing?”
Ursula slowly and gently says,
“I finally know…what kind of people…we Roman Catholics are.”
“Ah?”
“Their actions…are based on trust…because they trust in others, their ideals, their
feelings…they’re always willing to give their best…compared to them…we’re truly
ugly. Our actions…can only be built on lies…in order to kill me, they’re lying to the
public by using a show trial…and even lie to themselves, thinking that that’s what
God wants……”
“—”
“HoweverI have no right to……criticise you people. If I had trusted the Amakusa
right from the start…the situation wouldn’t have turned out like this. If I had followed
the Amakusa’s plan…they wouldn’t have to meet so much danger. In the end…our
principles…are based on the Roman Catholics’ nature.”
Ursula laughs.
Her devastated face reveals an expression full of sadness.
“……I can no longerrun away from you people. According to your plan……I’ll be
sentenced for a false crime…and buried in darkness…but I don’t care…I can’t lie to
myself any longer…and can’t even lie to those friends of mine who never asked for
anything in return…I don’t want to…be seen as one of you.”
“Just like what a martyr will say. You think you’re a Saint or something?”
Dong! Anieze’s thick sandals press viciously onto Ursula’s legs. Ursula still remains
calm, as if it’s only an empty can that’s stepped on.
“Since you so want to die, I’ll grant your request. Our work will be so much easier
now that you’ve given up. You just need to blame the fools who harmed you, and
carry that sense of remorse and hatred to death!”
Anieze says it like this, but she’s actually looking down on Ursula, who’s still
resisting. There’re 200 nuns beside her ready for action anytime, and there’s a
strong boundary around the church, so Ursula is unable to escape either way.
Although Ursula and Anieze are within close proximity, Ursula can only vaguely hear
Anieze’s words as she’s still groggy. She thinks using her brain that’s about to stop
moving, and says,
“Who…should I really hate?”
“What……?”
“They never…had a reason to jump into the battlefield from the very beginning. It’s
said that one teenager among them…doesn’t belong to the Roman Catholics…or
the British Puritans…a really ordinary boy. They don’t have power…or reason…but
they did so much…for an acquaintance like me. Is there a greater gift than this…in
this world? As for those friends who gave me this gift…what can I hate them for?”
That’s right, she shouldn’t hate.
Definitely not hate them.
They didn’t manage to successfully save Ursula, but they shouldn’t be blamed.
Because they’re not entitled to save her. They’re not acting under a strong sense of
‘duty’. They really want to save Ursula deep inside, and so they use their ‘authority’
to take part in a battle they shouldn’t be taking part in.
Just them coming forward without hesitation is something one should be grateful for.
So, Ursula does not resent them.
Seeing such a group of people that are willing to help a stranger is a wonderful
thing. Ursula feels proud. Knowing such people at the end is such a wonderful thing,
Ursula is thankful for God’s grace deep inside.
So satisfying.
So enriching.
The happiness up till now makes Ursula Aquinas feel that nothing can be added on.
Unexpectedly though, her fortune doesn’t end here.
Because the next instant……
Bam! Together with something breaking, the boundary covering the church
vanishes.
Anieze cannot help but look away from Ursula.
Something extraordinary forced her to.
“It’s destroyed……? Impossible!? Quick! Someone go check the St. Giles’ talisman
on the gate, and check for enemies nearby! Damn, which group is doing this? That
barrier can’t be broken by one person alone. We don’t know where the enemy’s
army will be attacking from……!”
Anieze quickly gives the orders.
But before the orders are carried out, she got the answer she wanted.
“Ah……”
Ursula Aquinas sees it.
The twin oak doors of the Cathedral’s main entrance are flung open by something
powerful. A person is standing at the door. This scene is like a crude fairy tale story,
where the prince steps up to save the princess.
But there’s only an ordinary boy standing there.
Although it’s just an ordinary teenager, he’s not running, or hiding.
For who?
For what?
The 200+ nuns standing around Ursula turn their eyes over to stare at the boy.
There’re so many nuns it’s scary, and they aren’t ordinary people. Of course the boy
is scared. He’s just an ordinary teenager, how can he not be scared?
But……?
The boy never backed away, as he steps forward.
In order to save Ursula Aquinas, he steps into the dark church hall.
This step signifies that…
Don’t worry, everything’s going to be alright.

[edit] Part 5
Kamijo Touma steps into the empty church.
He sees a terrifying thing.
On a summer night, several hundred people are gathered in this building without air-
conditioning. Although the place is big, it’s a closed room, and warm air permeates
everywhere. A strong stench of sweat spreads from a dark corner deep inside, like
he’s stepping into the lair of a large beast.
Several nuns dressed in black robes are crowding in the darkness.
In the middle of the crowd, there’s a girl lying on the ground. Kamijo sees this and
silently squints his eyes.
At this moment, Kamijo hears a laugh, as if it’s laughing at his feelings.
Turning around, it’s Anieze Sanctis. Her image is completely different from before.
“I’ve been finding this weird.”
Anieze giggles,
“How can an amateur who’s not even a magician be recruited for help? Seems
like……although I don’t know how you do it, but the ‘power’ you have can break any
boundaries. Am I right?”
“……”
“Aiya, what’s wrong? Did you forget something? Or you’re looking for payment?
Or……if you’re unwillingly to leave that woman on the floor behind, you can strip
her, I don’t mind.”
Anieze sounds very excited, as if she’s drunk, looking carried away.
“Let me ask you something. You’re not bothering to pretend now?”
“Pretend? Pretend what? Don’t you understand the situation? Can’t you tell which
side has the advantage? Don’t tell me that you think our positions are the same?
What will you do in front of so many people? I feel like hearing what you want to
say.”
That’s true, one versus 200 is too much of a difference. Kamijo can’t win if he goes
up against so many people. Or maybe it’s because Anieze understands this so well
that she smugly walks towards Kamijo. Not only does she not care about her
defense, she’s even taunting him.
Anieze believes that Kamijo won’t do anything to her. Once he does, he’ll start a
battle where there’s no chance of victory for him.
“Fool, what a fool. Seems like the British Puritans are smart enough to run away.
What’s wrong with you? Hm, even so. What can one person do? If you want to run,
do so now. This is the last chance. You should know what to do?”
Hearing Anieze say this with such confidence, Kamijo weakly smiles.
“The last chance……I should know what to do……”
His voice contains a strong, strange sense of calm.
“Yeah, this is the last chance. I understand.”
BAM! Kamijo Touma’s right fist cuts through the air.
Anieze quickly crosses her arms to protect her head. At this moment, her feet leaves
the floor.
Anieze, who blocked the attack, flies backwards. She then glares at Kamijo like a
fierce dog.
Without a second delay.
Without hesitation, the boy lets the enemy in front of him see his realizations.
“You……bastard, you dare to do this to me—!”
Anieze roars.
But Kamijo Touma is louder than her.
“What should I do? WHAT NONSENSE, OF COURSE I SHOULD SAVE HER!”
The two of them are rather emotional, almost on breaking point.
In a nutshell, it’s ‘anger’, but the reason and heat are completely different.
The muscles on Anieze’s face vibrate irregularly, as she mutters.
The nuns in black robes, who were originally standing around, all turn and face
Kamijo Touma, wielding their many different weapons in their hands. They marched
forward like an army, giving off a cold and scary sound and the same time.
“You’re really……interesting.”
Anieze’s voice and body trembles.
“Facing 200 people, what can you do in this condition? Let me witness it! Haha! With
the vast difference in numbers, we’ll beat you to dust in 60 seconds!”
After saying this, the black nuns raise their weapons.
Kamijo Touma, who’s alone and without help, doesn’t have a single weapon, as he
clenches his fists.
Just when the battle’s about to start……
Suddenly, a voice came.
“Really, we finally slipped past the hole in the barrier with great difficulty, and you
blasted it apart. At least give me some time to set up the rune cards, okay?”
“What……?”
Anieze is stunned. She turns around. Bam! As the sound of flames absorbing
oxygen echoes throughout, the church wrapped in darkness is blown apart by an
explosion and orange lights.
The light comes from inside the church, just opposite of Kamijo.
On the wall behind the podium, near the second level, there’s a large hole that’s to
be covered with stained glass. A British Puritan priest is standing at the window,
wielding a flame sword. Seems like he climbed the construction platforms at the
outside wall to get there.
“……Stiyl?”
The cigarette-smoking priest stuns Kamijo, as he inadvertently calls out his name.
“The original plan is to chase the outsider home, and let the magicians handle this. A
shame I had to say so many lies, and yet everything’s wasted.”
Before Kamijo can speak, Anieze says,
“British……Puritans? Damn it……this is an internal affair of the Roman Catholics!
Don’t you understand that you’ll be interfering with internal politics if you step in?”
“Too bad, this argument is invalid.”
Stiyl coldly, puffs out some white smoke, and says,
“Look at Ursula Aquinas’ chest, there’s a British Puritan Cross on her neck. The
outsider over there hung it on her.”
Stiyl reveals a cynical smile.
“Once someone puts a British Puritan Cross on another, it means that the person
wearing it will be protected by the British Puritan Church. This means that she’s
baptized and is now one of us. That Cross was prepared by our Archbishop, and I
was supposed to hang it on Ursula’s neck……but as this order wasn’t that important,
I delayed this and handed the Cross to that man. I thought that when that outsider is
to be captured by you guys, you’ll see the Cross and might think that he’s ‘a member
of the large British Puritan Church’, and show mercy to him……however, due to
some accidental and strange circumstances, the Cross is on Ursula’s neck. Right
now, Ursula Aquinas does not belong to the Roman Catholics, but to the British
Puritans.”
“So that’s how it is……”
Kamijo vividly remembers how happy Ursula was the moment he casually said that
he’s giving the Cross to her. So there’s such a meaning behind it.
Anieze is flushed red now, and is flabbergasted for a while before she says,
“You……you guys think that you’re able to stand firmly with such a ridiculous
argument?”
“It’s really a weak base to rely on, since it’s not done in a British Puritan Church, not
done by a British Puritan priest, and she’s not baptized according to British Puritan
regulations.”
Stiyl shakes the cigarette in his mouth, and says,
“But at least Ursula’s identity right now is rather delicate. She’s a Roman Catholic
who however accepted the British Puritan Cross, and the person who gave her this
Cross is someone from Academy City of the Science side. As for which organization
she belongs to, I believe it’s necessary to take some time to negotiate. But if you
insist on carrying out a trial on her, the British Puritans will not sit back and watch
this.”
Stiyl jumps down from the window, and silently lands in front of the podium.
Next, he points the tip of the flame sword at Anieze, who’s standing far away,
saying,
“And most importantly, you dare to attack that child!”
Stiyl bares his fangs, continuing on,
“Don’t tell me you guys think that I will ignore this? I’m not so kind!”
“Peh! Even if there’s one or two of you, what can you do……!”
Anieze angrily says this. But she’s cut off by another voice before she can end.
“It’s not just two people.”
“!?”
This rough male voice made Anieze turn around again. Suddenly, the side wall
exploded, causing a large hole. A tall man wielding a large sword walks in through
the dust.
“Tatemiya……”
The tall man is wielding a white Flamberge, whose material is unknown. Kamijo
inadvertently calls out his name.
Tatemiya Saiji.
The current substitute Supreme Pontiff of the Amakusa Catholics, a multi-religious
based Catholic organization.
Behind him are the Amakusa members who were imprisoned in the other buildings.
There’s around 50 of them, and it seems like they found their freedom.
“You don’t have to ask why I’m doing this, right?”
Stunned, Kamijo says,
“Didn’t you say……that the easiest time to strike is when they’re moving……?”
“I thought that you’d go home quietly the moment I said this. In order to settle
everything before you do anything, I talked it out with the British Puritan, and now
everything’s wasted. Seems like you’re a bigger idiot than I thought. However, I don’t
hate such an interesting idiot like you.”
Tatemiya Saiji says this reluctantly.
Finally, footsteps can be heard behind Kamijo, followed by a familiar girl’s voice.
“Really, Touma. Didn’t I tell you that someone will settle this, and that you don’t have
to worry?”
“In…d…ex……?”
Kamijo sputters. A small hand grabs onto Kamijo’s shoulder, and though small, it’s
rather forceful.
“However, seems like we can only do this……let’s save Ursula Aquinas with our
own hands, Touma.”
“Un.”
Kamijo nods his head.
Seeing this, Anieze Sanctis gives the order angrily,
“KILL THEM ALL!”
Several hundred nuns rush out from the darkness.
The final battle has begun.
In order to end something that shouldn’t have happened, they started the final battle.

[edit] Between the lines 2

In the middle of the night, Kanzaki Kaori is standing on the top of a certain building.
The night scenery in front of her includes the Church of Ursula that’s being built.
This building is so much different from what someone will expect of a church, not
quiet, filled with growls and sounds of things breaking.
Although she’s standing far away from the church, her sharp ears can hear
everything. She hears a group of people stepping forward to save a girl.
From the start, Kanzaki never intended to help her fellow Amakusa members, and
never intended to attack the Roman Catholics who the Amakusa are against now.
Although she sneaked away after this situation happened, she never thought of
using violence to settle this.
She just wants to witness this for herself.
Even when she’s gone, the Amakusa haven’t changed.
She wanted to witness that.
Right now, she’s seeing a truth that she always believed in.
She narrows her eyes.
That gentle expression seems to be reminiscing something.
It’s a place where she can no longer go to.
But because of it, to her, it’s a precious place to her.
Not trying to hide, a set of footsteps can be heard as someone approaches Kanzaki
from behind.
“Haha! What a touching scene, Kanzaki nee-chan! Very good, very good! Your
former comrades didn’t kidnap Ursula for the power of the ‘Book of the Law’.”
“Tsuchimikado!”
Kanzaki hastily pulls a long face, and turns away. But Tsuchimikado’s still grinning
as he looks at Kanzaki. Seems like Kanzaki’s feelings are written on her face.
In order to hide her embarrassment, Kanzaki coldly says,
“Is your mission over? Didn’t you say that you’re going to seize this opportunity to
steal the original ‘Book of the Law’?”
“This? Hm, do you think that I succeeded or failed?”
“……”
“I’m joking, don’t stare at me like that. Aren’t you also clear about what’s going on?
The Amakusa never stole the ‘Book of the Law’, this is all planned by the Roman
Catholics. In other words, the Roman Catholics never had the need to bring the
original ‘Book of the Law’ to Japan. Right now, the one in Japan is a fake, while the
original is still inside the Vatican.”
Tsuchimikado announces that his mission has failed, but he sounds extremely
happy. Did he think that this mission is unimportant? Or he’s saying a lie, and the
‘Book of the Law’ is already in his hands? Which is the answer? Kanzaki doesn’t
know.
Tsuchimikado walks beside Kanzaki, places his two hands on the metal handrail
used to prevent people from falling, and stares at the scene where Kanzaki was
looking at. After a while, he says,
“Are you satisfied now?”
“……Yes, and they even exceeded my expectations.”
Kanzaki again turns and looks at the church, saying,
“As long as they’re around, even without me, the Amakusa will walk on the right
path. They became stronger.”
“Un, seems like they’re in a tough battle. You’re not going to help them?”
“I have no right to stand in front of them now. And they don’t need my power now.
I’m like an auxiliary wheel of a bicycle.”
Kanzaki proudly says, but there’s some loneliness in her tone.
There’s not even the faintest sign of perplexities or hesitation.
Although Kanzaki’s saying this rather seriously, Tsuchimikado is trying really hard to
hold back his laughter.
“What are you laughing at, Tsuchimikado?”
“Nee-chan, seriously, you never expected Kamiyan to be involved in this, right? The
‘Angel Fall’ incident last time, and when you were retrieving Index, you owe him
quite a few favours, don’t you? Right now, you got him involved in your own
personal issue, and you’re thinking how to say sorry to him after this, right?”
“Noit’s nothing like that……that scenario you thought of will never happen………”
Kanzaki sternly replies.
Tsuchimikado seems to have remembered something, and let out a huge laugh. His
laughter is extremely loud, so loud that one may worry that his voice may reach the
Church of Ursula. He laughs till tears are rolling out of his eyes, and after a while,
says,
“Let me ask you, why are you holding bandages in your hand? Don’t tell me you
intend to bandage the wounds of your unconscious comrades after the battle? And
after bandaging their wounds, you’ll gently stroke their faces, give a slight smile, and
stealthily leave? Eh hehe! Nee-chan, you can do such an old-fashioned thing? Don’t
you feel ashamed doing this with such a stern face?”
“……!?”
“Ugn? Woah woah, nee-chan, what’s wrong with you? Why that deadpan look, and
your temples are still moving…wait a minute! Wait a minute! I’m unarmed! Your
Seven Heavens Seven Sword isn’t to be used for playing! I don’t want to be
bandaged earlier than them WA—!?”
[edit] Chapter 4:AMAKUSA Style: Remix of Church
[edit] Part 1
The Church of Ursula is formed by 7 chapels.
Every single chapel is to be used as a place to carry out one of the seven
sacraments. Each one isn’t of the same size, how big the construct and amount of
money spent on it will differ on the frequency and the importance.
Where Ursula and company are right now is the ‘Marriage Chapel’, the place where
marriages are held. This is the place where they spent the most money on, so the
room is the biggest. The second largest room is the ‘Fuyou Chapel’, used to carry
out funerals. Although the ‘Holy Order Chapel’ and ‘Confirmation Chapel’ are rather
significant religiously, they can’t earn money from ‘ordinary folks’ like Kamijo, so the
rooms are smaller. These smaller constructs are decorated with art pieces like
sculptures, drawings and stained glass, and it seems that they plan to open them to
the public as an art gallery or a museum, to earn extra money for the Church.
The website that Kamijo’s phone is connected to only displays this information.
However, it’s incredulous for the Church members to set up an introductory website.
Maybe they considered this place as a tourism site, as the webpage even reveals
the scheduled plans and complete map. To Kamijo and company, this is an
unexpected reward…… Of course, the website only discloses things that are
‘allowed for the public to see’.
“Peh!”
Kamijo carries an injured Ursula and runs out through the back door of the ‘Marriage
Chapel’. There’s not even a single blade of grass, as everything’s covered by the flat
stone floor. When Kamijo’s two feet stepped past the back door, the weapon-
wielding nuns start chasing after.
Taking advantage of the battle between the Amakusa and the Roman Catholic nuns,
Kamijo carries Ursula out of the ‘Marriage Chapel’. Although he’s not willing to part
with Index and company, they were separated, and thus he has to run off first.
While running, Kamijo looks at Ursula’s face.
“Sorry I’m late. Are you alright?” (Teh_Ping: SHE'S ALRIGHT!? YOU SURE SHE’S
ALRIGHT!? CAN’T YOU SEE!? TOUMA!?)
“……Don’t worry. This is a minor injury, I’m alright.”
Ursula’s clothes are tattered; the metal parts of the zips are broken. Every jerk
causes her entire body to stiffen in pain, and it’s obvious that her injuries are
serious.
But her face only shows fatigue, and not pain.
She looks like she’s going to cry, being carried by Kamijo in his arms, as she looks
at his face, like a missing child finally finding his parents.
(Damn it! Isn’t the simplest reason to fight here?)
Kamijo carries Ursula as he continues to run forward.
The ‘Marriage Chapel’ is extremely large, but to fight so many enemies inside is
suicidal. This isn’t a case of which side is stronger, just having everyone push
someone is enough to kill him. Moresoever, Kamijo is just an ordinary high school
student, he can win if it’s one on one, and it’s dangerous if it’s one on two, but he’ll
have to run if it’s one on three. Kamijo’s capabilities are just like this.
However……
Running away isn’t a sign of defeat.
“Ho……!”
Just when countless pursuers are about to grab Kamijo, several Amakusa members
jump in from the roof of the Chapel. The weapons that were about to pierce Kamijo’s
body are sliced in half by the Amakusa members. Then, one Amakusa member
viciously kicks the front most nun so hard that she flew backwards.
Shua—! The footsteps are like tides, as one group of Roman Catholic nuns surround
the Amakusa members like some giant organism.
(Thanks……!)
Kamijo runs off and kicks a can that a worker threw aside. Of course, such an attack
won’t hurt a Roman Catholic nun.
But seeing something fly by is bound to attract their attention.
“!?”
Just when the nuns are distracted, the Amakusa members break through the
perimeter, nod to Kamijo to express their appreciation, and scamper off.
Kamijo didn’t have the time to look back. Although the nuns are wielding heavy
weapons, they can’t match a person’s weight. The nuns again chased after Kamijo,
trying to whittle down this lead.
The nun behind is waving a torch, and a magma rock as large as a softball flings
from it. Kamijo grabs Ursula tightly and avoids it, and arrives at the rectangular ‘Holy
Order Chapel’ behind the ‘Marriage Chapel’. He dashes towards the step pedals
used for construction around the Chapel, and climbs up the ladder leaning against
the wall to the second level. A torch-holding nun follows, and Kamijo raises his right
leg to kick her down. Another nun is able to get from ground level to the second
through some unknown means, and Kamijo kicks her off while she’s trying to
balance on the shaking platform, causing her to fall back down.
“—”
Several nuns are standing at ground level, staring coldly and Kamijo and Ursula.
They’re beginning to realize something.
Although it’s possible to Kamijo when they’re chasing him like this, once Kamijo can
create a one on one situation, he can continue to run.
The platform that Kamijo’s standing on is made of steel pipes, so not only are they
thin and long, they’re unstable. So the nuns cannot attack Kamijo from every
direction. If the nuns climb up to the long platform, they naturally have to line up.
And not only that, if there are too many people on the platform, it won’t be able to
handle the weight and will collapse. Unless they’re thinking of dealing damage to
both sides, they can’t win with numbers.
The nuns silently think about this.
They have a common understanding without needing to talk. At the same time, they
raise their weapons.
Rods, axes, Cross, Bibles, even the giant minute hand of a giant clock, they have all
sorts of weapons. These weapons are aimed at Kamijo Touma, who’s above them.
Red, blue, yellow, green, purple, tea, white, gold……many different colours are
glowing from the front of these weapons.
(Oh……no……!?)
Kamijo holds Ursula, who’s unaware of what’s going on, and frantically runs along
the metal pipes. At this moment, numerous glowing feathers of different colours
attacked them. These feathers look like rocketheads attached to quills, hitting where
Kamijo and Ursula were one at a time. The feathers damage the outer walls and the
platform severely. DONG! Suddenly, the platform begins to shake.
In fact, the nuns weren’t aiming at Kamijo, but were aiming at the platforms below
Kamijo’s feet.
They never cared about Ursula’s safety. Besides, as long as her brain and heart are
still working, she’s defined as ‘not dead’.
The platform underneath Kamijo’s feet is shaking like a sinking ship.
Of course, once he hits the ground, he’ll be surrounded by several nuns.
“WAAAAAAAAHHH!”
Kamijo meaninglessly shouts. As the platform is becoming more slanted, the path
he’s running is even steeper. He desperately sprints up the almost vertical platform,
and the platform that was originally as high as the second level is now reaching the
third level, near the roof.
Kamijo holds Ursula tightly, and jumps.
His feet land on the marble roof, at the same time, the platform built from metal
pipes and metal parts collapses to the ground.
Hearing the platform that he was standing on collapse with such a loud sound,
Kamijo feels chilly. He hugs Ursula and finally stops, taking in a deep breath.
“Are……are you alright?”
Ursula is worried that she’s being a burden, and looks at Kamijo as she asks
uncomfortably.
“I’m alright.”
Kamijo casually answers as he scrutinizes Ursula’s condition. Ursula was treated
badly and violently, as her robes were tattered, the zips are spoilt and the fabric is all
messed up. This can be a rather seductive scene in an ordinary situation. But right
now, Ursula’s thighs are covered in blood, swollen until they’re brown. Nobody’s
going to think of anything wild.
(……Damn it.)
Kamijo didn’t say anything, as he cursed deep inside.
(No matter how big someone is, he can’t face off against so many nuns! Anieze
Sanctis! To think that you ordered them to beat her like a spineless chicken!)
Kamijo is raging inside, and really wants to rush into the enemy frontlines, but he’s
worried about Ursula’s safety. He has to find some place for her to rest, and treat
her wounds no matter what. Kamijo frantically thinks.
But he can’t stay here forever.
In order to prevent the enemy from attacking him from below, Kamijo runs from the
side of the roof to the middle. As long as he’s here, the enemy should probably be
unable to see him.
“Then……”
Kamijo places Ursula on the roof that’s under construction, and grabs a toolbox
nearby with both hands.
Thunk!
The next moment, a loud explosion occurs below, three nuns quickly jump towards
the roof.
Kamijo uses his entire strength to push the heavy toolbox away. The box hits one of
the nuns, and she loses her balance before falling down to the ground.
The remaining two nuns wordlessly land on the roof. Both of them are holding the
hour hand and the minute hand of a giant clock. The bases are wrapped in
bandages, probably to prevent them from falling off.
The nuns without jumping ability rush to the roof through the stairs inside, and there
are many footsteps below Kamijo that can be heard.
Being at a disadvantage, Kamijo doesn’t dare to turn his neck, and only rolls his
eyeballs, looking for a way out. At this moment, Kamijo, who’s standing on the
rooftop, sees a nun dressed in white robes running around inside the wide
compound of the Church of Ursula.
Like Kamijo, the girl is chased by several black-robed nuns.
But Kamijo, who’s overlooking from the last section of the roof, can’t help but break
out cold sweat. In front of the white-robed nun, there’s another group of nuns
approaching. Both sides are unaware of this, but if the white-robed nun continues to
run in the same direction, both sides will meet each other.
“INDEX!”
Kamijo can’t help but shout. At this moment, the two nuns wielding the clock hands
are rushing from both left and right.
The girl running on the ground does not hear Kamijo.

[edit] Part 2

As the positions of the ‘Baptism Chapel’ and the ‘Marriage Chapel’ are relatively
tilted to each other, there’s a triangular atrium between them. Tatemiya Saiji
continues to swing his large sword in this atrium,
Tatemiya was the last Amakusa member to retreat from the ‘Marriage Chapel’. Just
like the other Amakusa members who were fighting to create enough time for Ursula
to escape, Tatemiya was trying to create enough time for the Amakusa members to
escape. Currently, the Amakusa members have escaped and are now fighting the
Roman Catholics.
On the smooth marble floor, there’s no length of grass, and there’re stands for
placing sculptures everywhere. When the Church is finished, there will probably be
sculptures of Angels or the religious greats, Saints. Right now however, there are no
sculptures, and they’re rather empty. All the religious art pieces are blown to dust, as
if the Church is invaded by non-believers.
Tatemiya Saiji isn’t using the tactic of ‘think while I fight’ like Kamijo Touma.
Because he is able to skillfully break down the enemy’s attack rhythm. He won’t
attack fully, or defend fully, he’ll keep a balance between attack and defense.
When the nuns intend to charge in, Tatemiya will step forward.
When the nuns intend to step back and readjust their attacks, Tatemiya will step
back.
Tatemiya’s actions surprise the nuns greatly. The moment the nuns misjudged what
the enemy’s going to do, they’ll naturally panic, and normally in this situation,
Tatemiya will attack them. Even if the nuns were to carry out defensive maneuvers,
they’ll be blown away if they try to block an attack from that giant sword.
But Tatemiya won’t attack back. After attacking once, he’ll step back. He’s not
attacking all-out, or defending fully, but maintaining a balance between them. Using
this ‘stalemate’ that wasn’t supposed to happen, he built up an invisible wall.
(This is terrible, I can’t continue to play with them like this……)
Tatemiya, though, sees his comrades waving their swords at the enemy and
jumping about from the corner of his eye.
Although Tatemiya is looking rather confident and smiling, he’s very nervous deep
inside. The nuns are rational enough to analyze the attacks as they fought; this is
why Tatemiya’s tactic could work. When the nuns get impatient enough and decide
to pull out all the stops, not caring about their comrades’ safety, Tatemiya’s tactic will
fail.
Whether it’s attacking or defending, as long as there’s an imbalance, the
psychological wall will dissolve in that instant and Tatemiya will be swallowed by the
crowd charging forward.
It’s like fishing, Tatemiya thought. If he pulls the rod hard, the fish will struggle and
end up breaking the fishing line as they escape. To catch a fish easily, one has to
give it enough freedom; which is to allow the enemy to attack and let them think they
have a chance.
Suddenly, Tatemiya can hear loud footsteps nearby.
“A new enemy?”
Tatemiya panics, but upon listening carefully, he notices that the footsteps are
headed towards him.
Tatemiya is standing in the atrium between the ‘Marriage Chapel’ and the ‘Baptism
Chapel’. At this moment, he sees the British Puritan nun in white robes standing at
the apex of the triangle, which is the small gap closest to the two chapels.
She’s being chased by the Roman Catholic nuns, only to meet up with another
group of them, and is finally surrounded, unable to move. The number of people
surrounding her is twice that of the number of enemies in front of Tatemiya.
(Damn it! Don’t do something like this in front of me!)
Tatemiya frantically tries to save the white-robed nun, but the nuns who are
surrounding Tatemiya are working together flawlessly, creating a human wall like a
great creature. To them, once they take down one, there will be more comrades who
can assist them in taking him down. As they can’t beat Tatemiya, they’re wishing
that their comrades will quickly take down the other enemies.
Tatemiya and the nuns glare at each other.
In the other corner, Index is swallowed by a large crowd, her body gradually sinking
among them.
“Let me show you……”
Tatemiya adjusts his breathing and slowly raises his sword, preparing to use a killer
blow.
Suddenly, a man’s voice can be heard from above.
“Stop! Don’t get near that child!”
Tatemiya looks up, and in an instant, the second level window of the ‘Baptism
Chapel’ exploded, as a firestorm erupts from inside. Next, a Roman Catholic nun is
shot out like a cannonball. When she landed, she barely tries to let the joints in her
legs withstand the impact, but it seems that she can’t withstand it anymore, as she
collapses again and loses consciousness.
Stiyl Magnus, who’s wielding a flame sword, is standing at the window……
He says,
“In some situations, that child is much stronger when she fights on her own. We’ll
weaken her fighting capabilities if we go near her. You probably don’t want to
become like those people, huh?”
“What?”
Tatemiya is intrigued. At this moment……
BOOM! There’s an explosion around Index.
Index reappears, having been surrounded by tens, or maybe more than a hundred
nuns all around. In other words, a section of the perimeter is blown off. In that thick
perimeter, a corner is blown off by some unknown force, causing the perimeter to
form a C shape. About 10 nuns experienced the impact directly, and one of them
even lands at Tatemiya’s feet, several metres away. Seeing their comrade flying
over their heads, the nuns fighting against Tatemiya turn to look at Index.
BOOM! Another huge invisible explosion, there’re several nuns blown into the air.
“……What’s going on?”
Tatemiya looks at the nun at his feet. Her face is full of despair, and her body curls
up like a baby, her arms holding onto her head. Although she lost consciousness,
she seems to be having a nightmare, as she’s still trembling. Not only that, the
muscles on the nun’s legs are torn. Actually, that phenomenon wasn’t an explosion,
but the nun jumped back. As if her survival and defensive instincts have gone
haywire, she even does the extreme by doing something that far exceeds her
physical capabilities in order to get away from Index.
Stiyl jumps down from the second level and lands beside Tatemiya.
“You’re also a Christian, and you should know that there’re weaknesses, or
conflicting concepts in several Christian teachings. Many different Christian sects
exist in order to patch up these weaknesses and conflicting concepts, but they’ll
create their own weaknesses and conflicting concepts. This is a so-called religious
characteristic.”
“……So what?”
Tatemiya gently swings his broadsword, restricting the nuns’ movements.
“That child has the knowledge of the entire world. With the knowledge of 103,000
magic books, she can make sharp criticism into ‘conflicts’ that Christianity has. This
is the ‘Hell Fear’. To Christians, Christianity is like a function, and the paradox in the
teachings are like holes in a cover, so the ‘Hell Fear’ is their enemy. Upon hearing
this, their personalities will completely dissolve within a short time.”
Of course, this spell is useless against enemies other than Christians. As for magical
authors like Aureolus, they have set up a special magical barrier to prevent their
minds from being destroyed by their own original magic texts, so this spell is useless
to them as well. However, there are very few people in the world who can ‘write an
original magical text and not get their minds broken’ like Aureolus.
“The magical books aren’t just to only use spells. Although she has no magical
power, she can use the knowledge of the magic books to attack with ‘Spell Intercept’
and ‘Hell Fear’. There’s likely no one better to be the magical library than her.” While
the nuns are still panicking, Stiyl and Tatemiya unleash a furry of attacks. Stiyl lets
the flame blade explode, blowing the nuns away with a flame storm, followed up by
Tatemiya knocking them out swiftly and cleanly. At this moment, Index continues to
send the numerous nuns around her flying with her ‘muttering’.
Tatemiya is impressed and stunned. He says,
“Come to think about it, since she’s capable of such an impressive spell, why didn’t
she use it in the beginning? Even if it’s me, I’ll be devastated if I was hit by that
technique.”
“That spell is rather unstable and troublesome. I believe you know that it’s easier to
do a religious brainwashing to a group than to an individual. From the Science side
point of view, the ‘Hell Fear’ uses group psychology to break through their own
psychological defense.”
Stiyl again lets the flame sword explode, suppressing the nuns. The nuns were
trying to find a chance to charge forward, but their faces are burnt by the flames, and
hurried back.
“The ‘purity’ of the group’s psychology affects the effectiveness of the ‘Hell Fear’. It’s
easier to use when ‘the group’s thinking the same thing’, and much more difficult
when it’s a ‘complicated group with many different thoughts’, causing the ‘purity’ to
drop, which makes it completely useless……in other words, when I was fighting with
you, because both Kamijo Touma and I were present, the group’s ‘purity’ dropped,
and so she can’t use the ‘Hell Fear’. I was assigned to be her guard because of this
possible scenario.”
Stiyl plainly states,
“In other words, if you rush in now, the ‘Hell Fear’ will be ineffective.”
After saying this, the conversation stopped.
There are more footsteps now.
Looking up at the roofs of the chapels beside the atrium, there are several nuns
standing above them.

[edit] Part 3

In the darkness of the ‘Marriage Chapel’, Anieze rests her back on the marble
column.
Anieze is surrounded by several nuns who are protecting her to ensure her safety.
But with each explosion and crashing sound, these nuns will be so scared that their
shoulders will jerk violently and they will look around frantically. In contrast, Anieze
crosses her arms in front of her chest, as she silently closes her eyes to rest. The
position of those who are protecting and those who are protected seems to have
changed.
“Don’t look so panicky, that’s too unglamorous. Especially you, Sister Angelene.”
“But……but……Miss Anieze……”
Those seemingly mocking words seem to give the nuns a sense of relief, as they
look like they’ve seen a savior while they’re on a sinking ship. Maybe talking to them
will relieve them of their tension.
“The battle has lasted for more than 10 minutes……even……even if we add Ursula
in, we still far outnumber the enemy……don’t you feel something is wrong? Ah?
Listen! Where did that explosion come from? Maybe……the enemy has turned
defense to attack……!”
“……”
“Why……why don’t we take part in the battle as well? We can spare some
manpower anyway……”
“It’s meaningless.”
Anieze impatiently says.
“Then……what should we do? Ursula’s been taken away……if she runs away
again……”
“She can’t run.”
Anieze interrupts Angelene.
She’s so confident that she’s not willing to give an explanation.
“She’ll definitely be unable to run. In this damned world, this is predicated.”
The balance was broken in an instant.
The reason came from where Index is.
From the 103,000 magical texts, she finds the parts that are detrimental to a
Christian’s mind, creating the ‘Hell Fear’, and is attacking the Roman Catholic nuns
with it. During this situation, an accident happened. One of the nuns, Sister Luccia,
the one who attacked Kamijo in the theme park, suddenly shouts,
“Heavy attack! Light defense! Sacrifice yourselves! Destroy the enemy of God!”
In an instant, the nuns completely froze.
Their faces silently and gradually became expressionless, and like a military salute,
they neatly pull out two things from their clothes. Each of their hands is holding a
rather high-class fountain pen.
(……?)
At this moment, Index is thinking that they are planning to use some magic to fire an
attack at her.
But she was wrong.
The next instant……
Almost a 100 nuns surrounding Index insert the pens into their ears without
hesitation.
The squishy sound resembles a person squeezing grapes.
Bright red blood spurts out from their ears.
At the same time, they pull the pens that’re inserted deeply inside their ears out, and
then proceed to raise their weapons.
Although their expressions are distorted due to pain, they’re smiling bitterly like they
just destroyed their desires. There’s something white on the pens that are covered in
blood. They are the eardrums.
Index strongly feels that she’s going to vomit any moment.
“Don’t tell me……it’s to block out the ‘Hell Fear’……?”
When they’re unable to hear anything, the ‘Hell Fear’ cannot work.
Index realizes this chilling fact. At the same time, the nuns advance together.
“Damn it……!”
The one who realizes this first was Stiyl. He really wants to immediately get over and
save Index, but the great combination attack with Tatemiya will stop working.
Stiyl continues to let the flame sword explode, letting the firestorm block the nuns’
vision. But the heat cannot reach where Index is. And by using the same attack so
many times, the nuns become used to the flames and can find a way to attack them.
“Over here!”
Suddenly, a door of the ‘Fuyou Chapel’ opens, as Kamijo Touma stands at the door
that’s opened outwards. Ursula, who’s injured badly, is standing behind him, using
the bandaged minute hand of a large clock as a crutch. Maybe Kamijo feels that
carrying Ursula around while running isn’t the way to go, that’s why he’s hiding in the
‘Fuyou Chapel’.
In this critical moment, Index, Stiyl and Tatemiya rush into the ‘Fuyou Chapel’.
Kamijo hastily closes the door. Right at this moment, there are numerous blades
that’s stabbed into the 5cm thick oak door.
In a short time, the door blocked the Roman Catholic nuns attacks.
But a door like this cannot withstand for much longer. Using the story of the three
little pigs as an illustration, it’s like they are hiding in a straw house now.
“Seems like everyone’s okay……Ursula, can you walk?”
“You really like to worry, my injuries aren’t that serious.”
Ursula’s injuries are definitely serious, it’s just that they are hidden underneath her
nun robes, so nobody can see it. Even so, she still weakly smiles at Kamijo.
Although Kamijo’s feeling compassionate, he can’t do anything. So he barely
changes the subject.
“……Okay, now what?”
Nobody can answer that question. Everyone present realizes that the stalemate that
was originally there is gone now.
The Amakusa members out there are surviving through their own sneak attacks and
escapes, they’re already busy themselves, and can’t possibly help now.
Pang! Bam! Like nails being hammered into wood, the number of holes on the wall
continues to increase.
Index looks extremely pale, as she says,
“They……just……stabbed into their ears like that……my ‘Hell Fear’ cannot
work……”
Maybe Index is still thinking about how the nuns stabbed their ears with fountain
pens, because blood seems to have drained from her face.
“The ‘Spell Intercept’ can only work against one person at a time. It’s impossible to
interfere when there’re so many people chanting their spells……”
“Oh?”
Index continues to analyze her battle capabilities, and Kamijo’s all confused now. He
doesn’t even know what Index did, based on what principle.
Tatemiya then says,
“Although my subordinates are hard-working, I guess it’s hard for them to reverse
the situation. Humans are at their scariest when they’re willing to sacrifice
themselves. No matter how good an expert fighter is, he can’t handle a group of
people rushing like a flood. It’s like how an army of ants can kill any beasts.”
His tone is full of reluctance, overlapping with the sounds of blades being stabbed
into the door and being pulled out. Several eyeballs are peeking into the holes that
are dug out.
Kamijo feels chilly inside his stomach.
Once the door breaks open, several hundred armed nuns will rush in like a
landslide. If they can’t come up with an answer within these few minutes, everyone
inside will be unable to survive.
But the more suggestions everyone gave, the more they sank into despair. Although
Kamijo is as panicky as an ant on a hot pot, he’s at a loss on what to do.
“Eh……if…we have the ‘Book of the Law’, maybe we can find a spell to protect
ourselves using my code.”
Suddenly, Ursula asks.
Everyone turn and look at her.
The ‘Book of the Law’.
Although it’s the cause of everything, the magic book is long forgotten by everyone.
The forbidden book written by Edward Alexander……also known as Crowley, the
greatest magician in the world; in it contains a strong power and knowledge, said to
be able to allow humans to use the ‘Angelic Spells’. Just opening one page is said to
be able to end this Christian age.
Since the ‘Book of the Law’ is so dangerous, ‘breaking the seal of the ‘Book of the
Law’’ can be used as a negotiating tool.
“Too bad, the ‘Book of the Law’ wasn’t stolen; it’s all a ploy to frame us. In other
words, the real ‘Book of the Law’ may not even be in Japan. They only brought a
fake, the original should still be in the Vatican, we have no……”
“It’s here!”
Kamijo and Index shout out at the same time.
That’s right, the original ‘Book of the Law’ is here.
“Index, although you’re unable to decode the ‘Book of the Law’, you might have
memorized it thoroughly in order to decode it, right? You do have the original text of
the ‘Book of the Law’ in your head, right?”
“Un, I still remember those codes that aren’t decoded yet.”
Hearing this, Stiyl’s expression changed drastically.
“No way! If you do so, she’ll memorise the correct content of the ‘Book of the Law’!
That means that even more magicians will want her!”
“Are you worrying about me?”
Index, who only treated Stiyl as ‘somebody who has nothing to do with her’, asks
suspiciously. Stiyl, who treated Index as an ‘old friend’, doesn’t know how to reply,
and his face is flushed red. But Stiyl smacks his mouth again, not saying anything
more. Stiyl is clear that Index already knows that the magicians are chasing after
her, so no reason will stop her. Beside, there’s no other way out.
Stiyl thought for a while, conflicting thoughts are inside his head like angels fighting
against each other. He suddenly shouts,
“Kamijo Touma!”
“What…what now?”
“You have to be even stronger! If there’s any consequences that harms her in any
way, I’ll burn your body, heart and soul till there’s not even ash!”
Stiyl then cursed, smacks his mouth again, and turns around. Index still looks like
she doesn’t know what’s going on, as she’s somewhat bewildered by Stiyl’s anger.
Tatemiya looks at Kamijo with a profound meaning, then turns to look at Stiyl.
Kamijo thought, “Please don’t look at me like that.”
Puzzled, Index tilts her head, and asks,
“Anyway, can you tell me how to decode the ‘Book of the Law’?”
“Ah, yes, then, I’ll explain it to you.”
Being asked by Index, Ursula continues on.
At this moment, Kamijo feels sweat emerging from his forehead.
In the past, he thought that it’s only fantasy, and yet it’s about to come true now. The
danger that Kamijo never ever thought of continues to appear in his mind.
Kamijo is very clear of what the ‘Angelic Spells’, that’s only rumours and speculation
to the magicians, are (what an irony). At first, he saw one of the four large angels,
the ‘Power of God’, summon the magic spell ‘Judgment’, billions of light bombs that
nearly turned half the earth to crisp.
If they use such a spell, they can turn the tide around.
But……
Should humanity meddle with such power?
Ursula seemed to have sensed Kamijo’s worries, and says,
“We have no need to show them the power of the ‘Book of the Law’, we just need to
tell them that we have decoded it and can use it anytime. If possible, I would like to
avoid using this power as well.”
Ursula seriously says.
That’s right; the original reason why Ursula’s studying the ‘Book of the Law’ is to
cause the knowledge inside the book to disappear. Right now, her actions are going
against what she originally believes in. Also, even if they manage to get through this
crisis, they’ll get harassed by magicians all over the world for having the knowledge
of the ‘Book of the Law’.
She had already thought about all these. But yet she decides to do this.
Even if it goes against her ideals, even if it’s going to put her in danger, she still
wishes to help Kamijo and company.
Throughout history, no one was able to find a way to decode the ‘Book of the Law’.
Even Index, who’s keeping the 103,000 magical texts, can’t decode the banned
book, which is in front of her.
“The base model is Temurah, which is the switching of the location of the texts. But
there’s a special rule that’s closely related to the number of lines. First, arrange the
22 lines of Hebrew text in two rows, and according to the rows—”
Kamijo feels like a duck that heard some thunder rumble, but to Index, it’s very
important. Kamijo never saw her so serious before.
Right now, Index is processing and decoding the magic book that nobody has read
before, forming a blueprint of the strongest weapon. On one hand, Kamijo is
bewildered; on the other hand, he’s wondering if he’s taking part in a mistake that
cannot be taken back.
“—In other words, the texts with different number of lines have to be changed again
using another rule, so it sounds complicated. But even if the page changes, as long
as the number of lines don’t change, the rule of change won’t change. Then—”
“The sentences with changes done to the positions of the words have to be
rearranged according the number of pages. So then, the original content of the text
can be restored. The title is ‘End of two Eras’, and the content is written in Enochian
about the Human Angelification Spells.”
Suddenly, Index finishes what Ursula was about to say, as if she has read Ursula’s
mind. Ursula is wide-eyed now.
“It’s alright, I know what’s going on.”
Ursula is surprised that Index interrupted her while she was conveying her own way
of decoding that only she should know. She asks,
“May I ask, what do you mean by you understand?”
“Um……”
Index says with a heavy tone.
“This isn’t the way to decode it, it’s a fake answer that the author left behind.”
“What……”
Ursula went numb.
Index sadly turns to look at Ursula, and says,
“I’m sorry. I came up with this answer myself as well. Besides this answer, there’re
many more fake answers out there. The most frightening thing about the ‘Book of
the Law’ is that……”
Index sighs, and continues,
“There’s more than a hundred ways to decode it. And every single way of decoding
it can form a text, but these are all fakes. It’s not that nobody can’t decode the ‘Book
of the Law’. Actually, anyone can decode the ‘Book of the Law’, because they are
misguided.”
“This is impossible……”
Ursula hoarsely croaks.
“The wrong explanation can still create a ‘text’ that someone can read; so even
when one finds a wrong way of decoding it, everyone will think that theirs is the
correct way. It’s normal that you fell into the trap without noticing. Besides the title on
the cover of the ‘Book of the Law’, there’s also a line of English words, do you
remember?”
Index painfully conveys this cruel truth.
“‘To desire, and it’ll be thy magic,’ in other words, what one perceives to be the
correct way to decode it can create several ‘wrong answers’ for the ‘Book of the
Law’. The ‘Book of the Law’ is such a scary book.”
Ursula Aquinas’s face shows that she has lost all hope.
This can’t be helped. She gambled her life in order to interpret the ‘Book of the Law’,
thinking that it’ll bring about happiness to everyone, and destroy this magic book, the
root of all evil.
But unexpectedly, the ‘way to decode’ that she so treasured the most is unable to do
anything.
Not only is it unable to destroy the magic book, it can’t save her friends in this critical
juncture.
“Look on the bright side. If we tell them that Ursula didn’t find the way to decode it, I
wonder if they’ll be magnanimous in their actions?”
Tatemiya asks.
At the same time, a huge knocking sound came from the chapel’s doors.
“I guess it’s unlikely. Since they’ve thrown away their façade, they probably won’t
hold back.”
Stiyl replies.
In this desperate situation, he gives a faint smile.
It’s useless.
Their only hope is gone.
Kamijo frantically tries to bring Index and Ursula out of the back door, but
accidentally knocks into Stiyl, who’s wielding a flame sword. The rune cards, which
were supposed to be the killer blow, lands on the ground without response.
BAM!
There’s an impact that’s much louder than the first, the off-type doors of the ‘Fuyou
Chapel’ are knocked down. Kamijo and company only have time to say two to three
sentences. A few hundred nuns are wielding all sorts of religious weapons as they
rush into this church construct that’s built for funerals.

[edit] Part 4

Ten minutes later.

Only the commander of the nuns, Anieze Sanctis, is inside the pitch dark ‘Marriage
Chapel’. The ten nuns that were assigned to guard her were about to collapse due
to nervousness, so Anieze relieved them of their duties by ordering them to battle.
Although it’s much more dangerous on the battlefield than here, they happily
accepted the order. The fear of being unaware of the situation makes it even more
unbearable for them.
(It’s nothing big, why so nervous?)
Anieze sighs upon remembering the sight of her cowardly subordinates. Right now,
there are sounds of explosions and crashing outside the construct, but Anieze isn’t
looking uncomfortable. Once someone is experienced enough, they can understand
the situation just by hearing the sounds. Compared to a while ago, the enemy is in a
mess right now, and can only defend.
(Eh?)
Suddenly, she hears some noise that’s uncoordinated with the battle.
It’s a set of footsteps.
The owner of the footsteps opened the huge doors of the Church.
BAM!
Kamijo Touma is standing at the entrance, but Anieze isn’t fazed. She’s not
panicking, in fact, she’s smiling. For the same scene had happened before, but right
now, Kamijo looks tired, and there are many wounds on him.
“With that difference in numbers, how did you get here?”
Anieze rests her back against the marble column and asks. Though Kamijo is
breathing hard, he’s smiling.
“About this, we played some tactics.”
“Tactics? Hm……”
Anieze closes one eye.
“I see, I see. You’re able to appear here so smartly by sacrificing your comrades.
Naturally, nobody can get here if everyone gathers to fight against my subordinates.
But is this alright?”
“……”
Anieze’s statement has a mocking tone to it, but Kamijo doesn’t reply.
So now, Anieze thought that she has struck somewhere in Kamijo’s heart where it
hurts, and smiles even more happily.
“Hoho, Ursula Aquinas was praising you people just now. She said that your actions
are based on trust, that you’ll never lie to anyone. HAHAHA! This is too funny. In the
end, you still tricked your comrades, using them as a sacrifice in order to protect
your life, right?”
“No.”
Amidst this mocking, Kamijo reveals a smile that’s completely different from hers,
one that’s completely free of pretense.
“Don’t think I’m like you, I trust them very much. There’re some things they can do
and I can’t. So, I’m in charge of the other thing. It’s just that simple.”
Kamijo clenches his right fist.
“If possible, I hope that they can believe in me, feel that I can complete this mission,
and don’t have to worry.”
“……Do you think that by beating the commander, my subordinates will stop their
attacks? I’m impressed that you guys can come up with such a naïve idea. What will
happen to sheep that lost their shepherd besides going out of control?”
Anieze Sanctis’ back leaves the icy cold marble pillar.
She kicks the silver staff that’s left aside on the ground; the silver staff pops up and
lands in her hands.
“Alright, I’m bored to tears anyway. Idleness is a sin — I’ll crush your last hope and
do it as a parting gift.”
Kamijo Touma looks around, confirming the situation.
The two of them are about 15 metres apart. As the construction inside the church
isn’t complete, the interior is completely empty, and there are no obstacles. A huge
group of people are fighting outside, and there are only Kamijo and Anieze in this
closed room.
The silver staff that Anieze is holding is fine, and there’s a sculpture of an angel on
it. The angel is in a pose like that of the Thinker, an art piece of Auguste Rodin
(1840-1917, a famous French sculptor), but there are six wings enveloping the angel
like a cage.
Dang! Dang! Two clear sounds can be heard.
Anieze removes the thick soles on her sandals, kicking them backwards.
“Everything is taken care of. The fifth element of the five elements. Open up, symbol
of Peace and Order, ‘Staff of the Bishop’.”
She holds the staff with two hands and utters a chant. The angel wings that are
curled up on the silver staff open up like flower petals. The six wings are like a figure
disc of a clock, as they point outwards accurately in six different directions of equal
angles.
“One of the idols. That obeys the Son of God and the power of the Cross,
connecting to foreign bodies and people.”
Anieze chants on as she starts to swing the silver staff gently.
DANG! The front tip of the staff hits the marble pillar, creating a loud sound.
(……?)
Both of them are rather far away from each other. For Anieze to strike like this, it
really confuses Kamijo.
Bam!
Suddenly, Kamijo vision is tilted 90 degrees sideways.

“GYAAA…AAA……!”
Kamijo feels that he’s hit on the side on his head by some sort of metal, the moment
he’s aware, he’s already on the floor. He feels giddy, and looks up. Anieze again
grabs the end of the staff, spins it around twice, and slams it on the marble floor.
Kamijo feels his back go numb, and quickly does a barrel-roll. In an instant, an
invisible force hits where his head was originally at. BAM! With that heavy impact
sound, there’s a dent and some cracks on the ground, like it was hit by a hammer.
(A co-ordinated attack? Is it an attack that’s similar to manipulating the dynamics of
space?)
Kamijo understands that he can’t stay at the same area though he doesn’t know how
the attack works. At this moment, Anieze pulls out a knife from her arm, and
scratches the side of the staff like a guitar.
Kakakaka! Behind Kamijo, who’s running around frantically, an invisible force cuts
the air.
“That stick……!?”
“Haha, seems like you finally realized it. This is like that map magic that the
Amakusa used, it’s really a bother to explain it. Once I damage this staff, other
objects will be damaged as well. Like this……!”
Anieze pretends to raise her knife, only to swing the silver staff around before
slamming it to the ground. Kamijo is unable to dodge this attack from above in time,
and his left shoulder sinks downwards in an unnatural position.
Dong! At this moment, the heavy impact can be heard.
“……!”
Such an attack can be nullified by the Imagine Breaker, the problem is ‘where the
attack will come from’, so he can’t raise his right hand in time.
Kamijo stopped at this point. After Anieze raises the Angel Staff and swings it
around, she slams it into the marble pillar with her full strength.
(Oh no……!)
Kamijo hastily throws himself to the side. Luckily, there’s a slight delay from when
Anieze gives the order to when the attack actually happens. In other words, as long
as he keeps moving, he shouldn’t be hit.
Pow!
This strike that shouldn’t have hit Kamijo cuts deeply into his left wrist and left
abdomen.
“GYAAAAHHHH……!”
Kamijo is pushed to the ground by this lateral impact. He feels a sharp pain coming
out deep inside his abdomen, which is the centre of the body. Although his left wrist
is between the point of impact and his left abdomen, the impact slams his left wrist
into his abdomen. The joint of the left wrist seems to be broken, and not only is he
unable to use any strength, even the sense of pain is gone. He can only feel a
burning sensation.
Anieze taps the staff on the ground. (Teh_Ping: For some reason, Anieze’s
reminding me of Eva-Beatrice……)
Kamijo quickly rolls on the floor, but the impact still strikes his chest. All the air in his
lungs escaped. Even so, Kamijo endures the pain as he jumps backwards, wanting
to avoid the next wave of attacks.
Anieze quickly raises her knife and scratches the staff, causing a few diagonal
cracks behind Kamijo.
Papapa! The muscle fibres on Kamijo’s back seem to be torn.
For some reason, like lightning and thunder, there a second delay between the
damage and the pain.
“GYA…AA…AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Kamijo continues to roll on the ground, his back hurting like it’s burnt by fire. Anieze
swings the staff horizontally across, and Kamijo continues to bounce on the ground
like pebbles skipping on the water surface.
“Don’t think that you can dodge them so easily.”
Anieze says this with a cold expression, and swings the silver staff.
“Although there’s a delay between the command and the execution, once I calculate
and readjust the position of the attack, this can be offset. In other words, all I need to
do is to predict where you will dodge to, and by setting up the attacks in the
positions where you will dodge, you’ll run into the attack area. Anyway, this isn’t
impressive. Those times when I missed were samples to help me correct the
position errors, didn’t you realize it?”
Kamijo desperately turns his head that’s hurting and hot, trying barely to hear all
these. He stumbles as he endures the lingering pain on his back.
As if she’s confident of victory now, Anieze rubs her staff with her cheeks, saying,
“I wonder if you know that in modern Western magic, there are five elements—fire,
wind, water, earth and ether—that have their own symbolic weapons. A ‘stick’
represents fire, ‘dagger’ represents wind, ‘cup’ represents water, and ‘round table’
represents earth. These are the so called elemental weapons.”
Anieze chuckles.
“And this staff in my hands, is the ‘lotus staff’ that represents ether. It has a very
interesting characteristic, and that is, it can change into a weapon of other elements
besides ether.”
Shua! Anieze swings the staff diagonally downwards.
When the staff struck the ground, Kamijo feels chilly, and jumped backwards. But
this was predicted by Anieze. The premeditated strike hits Kamijo’s head from right
above. Kamijo’s legs went weak, and he almost knelt down. His body is swaying
about, and he can’t maintain his balance.
Kamijo tries to swing his right arm wildly, but the impact seems to be mocking his
stupid behavior, as it hits him in the stomach from a completely different direction.
Kamijo’s vision is blurred down, and his legs are trembling badly.
(Ugh……damn it, I can remove it if I can touch it! How can I touch it? How can I
predict where Anieze’s attack will come from? Right now, all I can do is to predict
when the attack will come……)
Kamijo looks rather angry, while Anieze grins happily.
“Everything is created by the five elements. By mixing this with the ‘Idol Theory’,
what will be the result? Didn’t that magical library explain the map magic of Ino
Tadataka? It’s the same idea, but that magic links the ‘map’ together with the
‘landscape’. However, this five element staff represents everything, in other words, it
can cause everything to be suitable for this rule. Like say, air itself…!”
Anieze raises her staff and slams it onto the pillar like a nail. The heavy impact hits
Kamijo, whose reaction is slow by half a beat, in the stomach. His entire body falls
backwards.
He struggles to stand up, and finds a trail of blood flowing out from the corner of his
mouth.
Kamijo spits the blood in his mouth, and says,
“Ugh…… —Peh. You said what, that you hated the ‘Book of the Law’, you hated
magic…and yet it seems that you enjoy using it—”
This meaningless conversation allows Kamijo to catch his breath. Anieze knows
about this, but doesn’t seem to mind.
“Hahaha, I know that you’re very angry after being hit so many times. But, the
Bishop staffs that the higher Clergymen use were evolved from the warhammer. The
warhammer was used to destroy enemy’s armour, so what’s wrong with me to hit
the enemy? Haha, come to think about it, it’s ironic that people view this metal rod
as a symbol of peace and order.”
Anieze sticks her tongue out and licks the side of the staff as if she’s intoxicated. A
weird tinge passes through Kamijo’s body, causing him to jump back frantically.
Upon seeing his reaction, Anieze laughs.
“Besides……”
Anieze gently continues,
“Didn’t I say this before? The basic theories behind modern Western magic that was
established in the 20th century were just some backdoor teachings of Christianity.
Or in the words of the Alchemists, ‘these are secrets of Christianity that humans
don’t know of.’”
Anieze again strikes the staff down onto the ground.
Kamijo desperately tries to escape, but his feet cannot catch up to his thoughts.
Dong! The heavy impact hits his head.
“Ugh……! What do these…got to do with me…I’m not a magician.”
“All the same. Being able to get God’s grace despite not praying to him, this is
unforgivable. Isn’t it? We worked so hard for the organization, so why do we have to
spend money on people like you who never did anything? Those radicals, the British
Puritans and the Amakusa are the same. Any teachings outside the Roman
Catholics aren’t teachings. They didn’t contribute anything, what they do end up
being are obstacles. These people are like pawns who only deserve to sacrifice
themselves on a mission.”
(It’s coming……!)
Kamijo grits his teeth.
Anieze’s attacks may not be as powerful as Stiyl’s flame sword or Tatemiya’s
strikes, but even an ordinary person won’t be able to take it after being beaten a few
times. Kamijo’s legs are trembling, indicating that his body is at its limits.
The time of attack is rather precise.
Since it’s a magical attack, it’s possible to eliminate it with his right hand.
So……
As long as he can grasp the angle and direction of the attack…
As long as he can touch Anieze’s attack with his right hand, it’s alright.
(It’s coming!)
Anieze frowns as she holds the staff around like a performer. Kamijo is unable to
dodge this ‘premeditated strike’. Before he even raises his right hand, the impact
sends him flying away, as he rolls on the ground. He quickly pushed himself off the
ground and got up straight.
Dong! Kamijo concentrated all his strength on his legs as he stepped forward.
The distance between these two is about 7 metres now.
With Kamijo’s pace, he will be able to get in front of Anieze in two or three steps.
Anieze looks rather relaxed though. It’s much easier to predict the enemy’s
movements if he is to continue running forward. She tightly grabbed onto the Angel
Staff and swung it to the ground like she’s hacking a watermelon.
BAM!
There’s a heavy sound.
If this strike lands from above, it’ll definitely smash his skull into pieces.
But……
(I’ve been waiting for this—)
Kamijo slammed his shoes onto the ground, and suddenly stopped moving forward.
As long as he doesn’t move forward, he won’t be hurt by the attack that’s set up in
front.
(—I've been waiting for quite a while!)
Then, Kamijo clenches his right fist and swings it towards the empty space in front
which he was about to ‘step into’.
BAM!
A sound that’s like a blown balloon bursting is heard. Kamijo feels his right arm
touch some giant invisible bubble. The attack that should have appeared there
vanishes into thin air just like that.
“WHAT!?”
In contrast to this amateur, Anieze the magic specialist is more aware than anyone
else that this can’t possibly happen.
Like a cannonball, Kamijo rushes into the empty space in front of him.
Anieze frantically raises the Angel Staff in front of her.
But being caught off-guard, she couldn’t use her full strength.
Kamijo has already arrived in front of Anieze.
Anieze’s staff finally hits the marble pillar.
With a resounding crash, Kamijo’s head is tilted to one side.
But……
He didn’t loosen his grip.
Bam!
A heavy sounding hit.
The back of Anieze Sanctis slams into the wall.
She became giddy.
Old fragments of her memories that were sealed away gradually start to appear
inside her heart that’s becoming empty.
(Ah…don’t tell me……)
Anieze tries desperately to seal her memories away, but like magma rising, there’s
an instinct to vomit from deep inside her stomach that’s rising up, interfering with her
thoughts.
(I’m going back……)
The scene in her memory is on a dark alley in Milan. All the sunlight had been
robbed by tourist streets outside.
Over here, there are only people lying on the red brick ground, rodents, worms and
slugs.
Over here, there is no hope.
(Am I going back there again……?)
Going deeper into the memory, this fragment pierces through her heart.
It’s the back door of a restaurant. She’s digging into the rubbish bin for scraps of
meat. She’s afraid of dropping it onto the body of the slugs, the fur of the rodents,
and the shed wings of the cockroaches, as she puts in into her mouth, continuing to
chew, and chew, and chew.
She did the same action everyday.
(No……)
The cry in her heart awakens her from her haziness.
Her wrists are numb; her weapon is on the floor; that knife that’s used to scrape the
Angel’s staff. Just like that, the symbol of her fighting spirit, the weapon that’s used
to defeat the enemy, leaves her hand, and falls onto the ground.
But……
Even though she has already let go of the knife, she’s not going to let go of the
Angel’s staff.
(No! I definitely don’t want to…go back to that kind of life……!)
Anieze holds on tightly as if she’s going to snap the silver staff.
Her consciousness is back.
Her fighting spirit is back.
“!!”
Kamijo Touma and Anieze Sanctis are glaring at each other.
Both of them are now approximately 5 metres away from each other. Whether it’s
the fist with a shorter attack range, or the staff with a longer attack range, both can
hit each other in an instant. This staring contest is like an iaido contest in an old
drama, or a quickdraw contest in Western movies.
Cold sweat flows down their faces.
Their nerves are tight.
They stopped breathing.
“Humph.”
Suddenly, Anieze dully sighs as she lowers the Angel’s staff. Not only that, she
looks away from Kamijo, and starts to look around.
Although it’s a perfect opportunity to attack, Kamijo remains cautious. He’s trying to
find a trace of possible danger in this chance.
Anieze rolled her eyes at him, and says,
“I know you’re working hard, but everything’s over.”
At this moment, Kamijo doesn’t understand what she’s talking about.
But after thinking about it for a while, he understood what she meant.
Right now, it’s quiet inside the ‘Marriage Chapel’, not even a pin drop can be heard
in this place. It’s like being locked alone inside a cinema—the terrifying silence
stimulates the ears, travelling down from the head to the heart.
This silence isn’t just caused by Anieze and Kamijo not moving about.
It also includes the outside.
There are about 250 Roman Catholic nuns, together with the allied group of more
than 50 British Puritan and Amakusa members combined.
The total should be more than 300, as they are supposed to be fighting outside the
‘Marriage Chapel’.
But right now, not a single sound can be heard.
What does this mean?
This means……
“……………………………………………………”
Kamijo feels a stinging sensation all over his skin.
As if she wants to remove this stinging sensation forever, Anieze Sanctis continues,
“Your original plan seems to be for you to beat me, the commander, while your
comrades hold up my subordinates.”
Her tone is mixed with a sense of mockery, insult, and sympathy.
“But this illusion seems to be destroyed.”
Kamijo is stunned as he heard this.
He even forgot to breathe.
He releases his fist.
There’s no reason to battle anymore.
There’s no reason to stay here.
Kamijo can only stand around, stunned.
A particular person’s face appeared inside his head.
“Yeah.”
He gathers his last ounce of confidence, and says,
“That’s right, your illusion is destroyed, Anieze Sanctis.”
“What?”
Anieze frowns.
BAM! At this moment, the Marriage Chapel’s doors behind Kamijo are forced open.
Anieze Sanctis, who’s facing off against Kamijo, slowly looks over his shoulders, at
the doors.
Her face is full of fear and anxiety.
The figures at the doors of the ‘Marriage Chapel’ aren’t her subordinates. They’re
Index and Stiyl Magnus of the British Puritans, Tatemiya Saiji of the Amakusa
Catholics, Ursula Aquinas, who’s in Tatemiya’s hands, and Tatemiya’s comrades.
Besides that……
There’s a humanoid monster covered in orange flames that’s standing beside Stiyl.
Anieze doesn’t know what that monster is.
But everyone who knows it calls it,
‘Innocentius.’
A flame monster with a temperature of more than 3,000 degrees Celsius. Once
created, it’ll continue to implode and regenerate, melting every attack of the enemy
and any obstacles, until its enemies are vanquished. A super offensive magic that
follows the principle of ‘Offense is the best Defense’ to the maximum.
But even those who saw this magic before will wonder if they’re seeing an illusion at
this moment.
Because the ‘Innocentius’ right now is completely different as compared to before.
The density of the flames is different, the momentum is different. The heat that’s
released from it distorts the air surrounding them, and there seems to be countless
invisible wings behind its giant back.
“I used 4,300 rune cards.”
The red-haired priest casually says.
“This number isn’t much…but the Amakusa are really something. They used the
position of the runes to form a large picture, setting it up such that there’s a magical
meaning throughout this entire place. Which means that the Church of Ursula has
become a giant magic array. And they even placed this construct outside the
effective area in order to prevent the boy’s right hand from destroying it…such a
multi-structured magic array that includes and uses so many things, although it’s
unorthodox, I may end up spending a lifetime studying this and yet be unable to
finish learning it.”
Stiyl proudly looks at the lump of fire in front of him.
“Thanks to them, the rune cards can be set up. Come to think about it, almost
everything was set up before the battle, and we were just touching up just now, like
filling up the missing parts of a jigsaw puzzle. Oh yeah, I haven’t introduced myself.
I’m never the type that will run around as I fight, I prefer to stand at one point and
wait. Because of some reason, I need that kind of magic.”
The doors of the church are opened, and one can see the scenery outside. On the
flat stone atrium, where there’s not even a single blade of grass, there’s burn marks
from the magical flames everywhere. The nuns in black robes are lying all over the
place. Their flesh aren’t burnt to ash, nor are they seriously burnt.
Those explosions that they heard just now were likely from this flame monster.
The shockwaves caused by the flames pushing the air away sent the nuns sprawling
onto the floor.
These nuns that couldn’t get up are just comatose.
Though there’s only a fifth of the nuns who lost their combat capabilities, the
destructive capabilities of ‘Innocentius’ scares the other nuns, causing them to grit
their teeth but not daring to rush forward.
Because they are clear that once they get near carelessly, they’ll be the next victim
of the flames and heat.
“I told you just now that we played a few tactics.”
Kamijo viciously smiles,
“They aren’t running all over the place just to be bait. They’re just setting up the
cards for Stiyl’s secret weapon…of course, not being a magician, I’m not sure of the
particulars.”
Kamijo’s right hand has the ability ‘Imagine Breaker’, and is unable to take part in
the setting up of the rune cards, so he’s the only one responsible for taking down
Anieze. All these were a ploy to ensure that Anieze will be misled in thinking that
Kamijo used the rest as bait in order to create a chance for a duel to the death with
her, so that the rune cards won’t be destroyed.
Although Kamijo didn’t explain, Anieze has almost guessed what’s going on.
At the same time, she knows what she needs to do.
She carefully raise her staff, and shouts at the nuns outside the ‘Marriage Chapel’,
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING! WE HAVE MANY MORE PEOPLE THAN THEM!
THESE PEOPLE AREN’T WORTH FEARING AS LONG AS WE FINISH THEM
ALL!”
That’s right. No matter what anyone says, there’s a huge difference in the number of
people between the Roman Catholics, and Kamijo and company. The reason why
Kamijo and company are still alive is because of their tactics and running about. The
Roman Catholics can beat them easily as long as they surround them, not giving
them a chance to escape, and attack at the same time. Although there will be
several casualties, the remaining 100+ people will step over their comrades’ dead
bodies to finish off Kamijo and company.
This is the reason why Stiyl, though a professional magician, didn’t kill a single nun.
Once he kills a few nuns, the other nuns will go berserk and commit a kamikaze
attack, causing the situation to become even more dangerous. With his magical
prowess, killing people is a lot easier for him than not killing them.
However……
The nuns, who have a huge advantage in numbers, didn’t take action.
“What are you doing……!?”
Anieze sees that her subordinates are unable to understand this simple logic, and is
about to scold them.
But at this moment, she realizes the reason behind it.
Doubts.
Although the nuns understand that Anieze’s point is correct, their hearts are unable
to completely believe. Their hearts are like an unstable balance, unable to decide
whether to fight or run. As long as one of them takes action, the group psychology
will affect the entire situation.
Anieze Sanctis remembered what Ursula Aquinas said.
“Their actions…are based on trust…”
“…compared to them…we’re truly ugly.”
Anieze lowers her head and grits her teeth, almost breaking her molars.
Since the balance is in a swing state, the problem can be solved by breaking this
balance through tough measures. In other words, all Anieze needs to do is to beat
Kamijo, who’s in front of her.
If she uses the power of the other nuns, she won’t be able to show her superiority.
However, Kamijo is in the same predicament. If his comrades were to beat Anieze,
it’ll reveal his anxiety, nervousness, and fear. At that moment, the doubts inside the
nuns’ hearts will disappear, and they rush onwards with momentum like an
avalanche.
In other words, this can only be settled with a one on one.
Kamijo Touma vs Anieze Sanctis.
Though the number of people on both sides total to more than 300, the two of them
are in a state of isolation and helplessness.
The distance between them is now about 5 metres.
This distance is still within the Angel’s staff striking distance. But Kamijo just needs
to step forward in order to say hello to Anieze’s body with his fist. The situation for
both sides is rather comparable. In other words, whoever strikes first will win.
(What—What should I do……)
Anieze carefully maintains the distance between them, as sweat flows down her
forehead.
Will my attack hit him first?
Anieze kept telling herself not to panic. The usefulness of the ‘lotus staff’ can’t be
compared to a mere fist. As long as she estimates the position and strikes with full
force, beating this ordinary man in front of her, everything’s easy.
(What…what—is the right thing to do……)
However, should she really gamble everything on just a simple hit? What will
happen if he dodges it? What if she guessed wrongly? Should she first use several
light and fast attacks to limit his movements just to be safe, before striking him down
in one hit? The problem is that if those light attacks cannot block his attack, and he
rushes forward, what will happen to her?”
But, but then, however, rather, the problem is, come to think about it…
Anieze overturns her thoughts again and again.
There’s too many tactics that she can use, but she doesn’t know which one to
choose.
(Method—time, weapon…distance…how should I attack?)
In contrast……
Kamijo Touma has no doubts over his tactics.
He concentrates all his strength into his right fist.
He’ll bet his life on this hit.
He believes.
Even though he’s tired, and one leg’s in the coffin, he believes.
He believes in his weapon, he believes in the path that his weapon creates, he
believes in the scene when his weapon brutally hits the enemy’s body, he believes
that his victory will bring about a wonderful future.
Kamijo Touma’s actions are based on trust.
“It’s over Anieze.”
There’s no hesitation in Kamijo’s voice.
“You should be clear about it yourself, your illusion is already destroyed.”
Stiyl pinches the cigarette in his mouth, and throws it to the ground.
The two see the orange flame fall onto the ground from the corner of their eyes.
At this moment, the battle started.
DONG! A strong and powerful step is heard.
Kamijo Touma clenches his iron-like fist, and swings it at Anieze.
(What should I do…what should I do—
KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)
Something seems to break inside Anieze Sanctis’ heart.
Though the enemy’s attack is in front of her, the swaying balance is unable to make
a decision. Anieze, whose mind hasn’t made a decision yet, is forced to make one.
With a low self-esteem, she swings the silver staff.
One side has already bet everything on his right fist, the other side doesn’t know
what to do.
It’s obvious which side has the advantage.
BAM!
A stunning impact sound.
Anieze’s body flies away, grazes past the large marble pillar, and viciously lands
onto the ground.
The large impact forces the Angel’s staff to fall off Anieze’s hands. After rolling on
the ground for several metres, when all the air in her lungs seems to have escaped,
she finally stopped rolling.
At this moment, she has already lost consciousness.
With this, Index, Stiyl and company, and the Roman Catholic nuns surrounding
them, the power balance between them is dissolved within an instant. A nun who
lost all hope of winning dropped her weapon, creating a sound. A second one…a
third one…finally, all the weapons drop onto the floor like a downpour.
The battle is over.
Just a single fist of a boy is able to bring down the inner mental defense of more
than 200 enemies.

[edit] Epilogue: The Page is Shut

[edit] Part 1
Kamijo’s injuries seemed to be more serious than he thought.
He can only piece together what happened after that with his fragmented memories.
He fainted in the ‘Marriage Chapel’…Index ran over, screaming…he’s sent on an
ambulance…the administrative issues took quite some time before he’s sent for
emergency treatment…he’s still sent back to Academy City in the end…the frog-
faced doctor appeared before him…the moment he’s awake, he’s on the soft bed.
(……This hospital room again. Ugh, this is terrible, to think I can even tell by the
scent.)
Kamijo keeps his eyes shut as he thought about this, before he suddenly senses
someone beside him. He can hear a gentle sigh and the sound of clothes gently
rubbing together. A warm and soft hand is stroking his fringe.
“Although I’ll be laughed at by Tsuchimikado……”
A voice rang.
“……But I really want to do this.”
There’s some sense of reluctance in this tone. The hand that was stroking his fringe
is gone, and so is the warmth from the hand.
Kamijo opens his heavy eyelids.
“Hm……Kanzaki?”
“Ah…you’re awake? I was intending to leave.”
Kamijo’s voice seem to stun Kanzaki, as her upper body went slightly backwards.
She’s sitting on the metal chair reserved for visitors, and it looks like she was staring
at Kamijo closely.
Kamijo sits up on the bed and shakes his head, trying to keep himself awake.
It’s seems to be early morning now. The lights in the room aren’t turned on, so it’s a
bit dark. The morning sun shines in through the window like it’s shining through the
gaps between the leaves on a tree. On the short table beside him, there’s a box of
seemingly high class snacks and a sheet of tissue paper. Kamijo continues to look
around.
Kanzaki has already stood up from the metal chair. It seems like she doesn’t intend
to stay here any longer.
“……Ah……”
Kamijo’s dizzy mind starts to work. Looking closer at Kanzaki, her attire’s still the
same. A short T-shirt with a knot-tied at the bottom, revealing her navel; a pair of
jeans below with one side sawed off, revealing her thigh. Because the T-shirt is tied
down, her breasts are much more noticeable. One can see her snowy white leg,
from the thigh all the way down. Although Kamijo feels that this get-up is hot, he
doesn’t dare to say it, for he’ll get a punch the moment he says this. He quickly
looked away and sees the note on the table, and reads from it,
“Since you’re still not awake, I’ll just leave a message……”
Before he even finished the first sentence, Kanzaki snatched the note on the table
with astonishing speed. It’ll be a new unbelievable record if it were a competition.
Kanzaki is flushed red now, as she gazes around, sweating all over, as she quickly
crushes the small note. (Teh Ping: A case of mundane utility of superpowers……)

“It’s…it’s nothing important! Since we have the chance to talk to each other, there’s
no need for this note!”
“Eh? But……”
“No buts! Saying the contents of a note to the writer who’s leaving is very
embarrassing.”
Kanzaki wanted to throw the note, now crushed into a ball, into the dustbin. She
thought about it, and decided keep it in her pocket. Kamijo is curious, wondering
what she wrote that cannot be seen. Kanzaki places a hand on her ample chest,
takes a deep breath, and regains her original expression.
“Is your…body fine?”
“How do I say this…the numbness isn’t completely gone, I’m not exactly sure where
I’m hurting.”
“I’m sorry. Although the Amakusa have spells that restores a person’s health
through eating, it’s useless on you.”
“Why do you have to say sorry? Now that you mentioned it, eating things like sushi
and burgers can heal wounds? The Amakusa are really amazing, isn’t that an old
element of RPG games?”
“Um……?”
Kanzaki is puzzled as she barely gives a perfunctory answer.
“Oh yeah, where’s Stiyl?”
“He already left Academy City. He doesn’t want to stay in a city where he can’t buy
cigarettes. He grumbled to me a long time ago that Academy City is very strict
regarding age when it comes to buying cigarettes.”
Kamijo muttered deep inside — this is how it should be.
“Can’t you buy it for him?”
“I’m only 18 years old, I can’t buy it for him.”
……………………………………………………
“Why a look of disbelief? What are you trying to say by digging your ear?”
“Liar! You faked your age, right? No matter how I see it, you’re already past the age
for marriage…WAAAAAA!” Before Kamijo finished speaking, Kanzaki’s supersonic
metallic punch brushes past his face. Being unable to react at all, Kamijo is scared,
but Kanzaki’s expression isn’t any different from how she normally looks.
“I’m 18 years old.”
“18! You’re a high school student who can finally do those things! Kanzaki-senpai!”
Kamijo, whose teeth are still chattering, barely squeezes a smile out. Kanzaki sighs
and retracts her fist. She seems rather tired.
“…Seems like I should have left after writing that message. We’ll never get straight
to the point if we continue on like this.”
“The point?”
“Yes. Or I should call it the closing report…I want to tell you Ursula Aquinas’ current
condition. Would you like to hear?”
“Yes! I’m very interested!”
Kamijo pulls his upper body over, answering without any hesitation. Seems like
Kanzaki sighed when she saw him being so panicky.
“Ursula Aquinas and the Amakusa are accepted as members of the British Puritans.
This is how the situation ended. The benefit of this is that they’ll be protected from
any revenge and assassination plot by the Roman Catholics.”
Kamijo thought about Anieze and the other nuns.
“In other words, Ursula is still in danger, right?”
“No, the Roman Catholics might look like they’re not going to quit, but deep down,
they’re not interested in her anymore. Because the British Puritans have declared to
the world that Ursula found ‘the wrong way to decode the book’. Once everyone
finds out that her way of decoding is wrong, nobody will bother her about the ‘Book
of the Law’.”
In other words, if Ursula really found the correct way to decode the ‘Book of the
Law’, she won’t be able to live a peaceful life. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.
Thinking about this, Kamijo broke out in cold sweat.
“Hm. However, you said that the Amakusa have become members of the British
Puritans?”
“Yes. Although the main base of the Amakusa is still rather secretive, there’s no
benefit to oppose the Roman Catholics anyway. Really, it’s like they’re hoping for
this development. For example…do you remember that white T-shirt that Tatemiya
Saiji wore? There’s a slanted red Cross on it.”
“……Is there? Now that you mentioned it, there does seem to be one.”
“That’s right. That red Cross is the logo of St. George, the symbol of the British
Puritans. Wearing that shirt to battle, it means that he wants to join the British
Puritans together with me. I ordered them that time not to follow me around.”
“That’s right…besides, you’re a British Puritan.”
Kamijo lamented. Kanzaki muttered, “Really.” She looks like a mother who’s seeing
her child being unable to stand up on his own, it’s just that she never sensed it
herself.
“However, are you alright with this? Even though the Amakusa is small, they’re still a
religious sect. Now that they’re taken in by the British Puritans, isn’t it like a small
company being absorbed by a large one?”
“Although the Amakusa are absorbed by the British Puritans, they don’t have to
abandon their codes and teachings. Like a feudal lord allowing a general to keep a
faction, the ‘Amakusa Catholics’ can still exist. Also, the Amakusa is a multi-religious
group that can hide within history itself and change according to the age. They’re
never picky on the rituals; as long as they can make their lives more convenient,
they can work under any condition.”
Come to think about it, Kanzaki originally gave up her position as the leader of this
small sect in order to protect these people. Thinking about it, she’s really an
amazing person. Even though she says that she’s 18, to Kamijo, an 18 year old is
an adult.
Just when Kamijo is casually thinking about this, Kanzaki suddenly gave a proper
bow to him.
It’s not a simple nod, but a deep bow. She says,
“Erm…that…for what happened this time…I’m really sorry.”
“Ah? Eh? What? Why are you bowing to me? What are you really sorry about?”
At this moment, Kamijo just woke up so his mind is rather hazy. He feels that it’s
really frightening for a ‘female to bow to him’, like he did something extremely evil.
Kanzaki stammered, a rare sight,
“It’s…that…what happened this time…due to some personal matters…I caused you
some trouble……”
Seems like Kanzaki is unused to saying something like this, as she looks like she
doesn’t know what to do. Kamijo, who’s still in a daze, completely doesn’t
understand what’s going on, all he knows is that Kanzaki seemed troubled, so he
said,
“Ah, sorry, Kanzaki. Did I do something that bothered you? If it is, let me apologize
to you for that.”
“No, no, it’s not that. I’ll feel even more ashamed if you apologize to me. Eh, it’s not
that, back to the original topic, anyway it’s……”
Kanzaki looks like she can’t open her mouth, as her fingers continue to play with her
fringe. She stuttered, unable to say anything.
After a while, Kanzaki finally made her decision, and is about to open her mouth. At
this moment, the door of the hospital room was rudely opened.
This tall guy, who goes into a hospital room early in the morning without knocking on
the door, is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of blue shades.
Tsuchimikado Motoharu.
He’s holding a plastic bag, swinging it around. There seems to be gifts for hospital
visits inside it.
“Hoho—hehehe—! Kamiyan, I’ve come to play with you! One entire honey dew is
too expensive, so I bought those luxury puddings in the convenience stores, there’s
honey dew topping on them! Just settle with this, won’t ya?”
Kamijo looks away from Kanzaki to Tsuchimikado.
“Hai! It’s time for school in a few hours, don’t you plan to sleep? Ah, sorry Kanzaki.
What were you trying to say?”
“Ugh……”
Being asked by Kamijo like this, Kanzaki seemed terrified. She stares at
Tsuchimikado from the corner of her eye, giving off a signal saying “Do I have to say
it in front of this guy? Why is this guy so inopportune in coming here?”
Tsuchimikado, who’s acutely sensitive, immediately sensed that the atmosphere
isn’t right, and says,
“Woah woah! Nee-chan, you’re finally planning to say thanks to Kamiyan? Let me
guess, it’s a very cliché line, isn’t it? If it’s not ‘It’s hard to forget your grace even if
my teeth are gone,’ it’s going to be ‘I won’t forget this even through death,’ right? Eh
eh! Hahahaha! You think you’re the crane that showed gratitude in a fairy tale?”
“No……no way! Who will say that sort of thing to this immature brat whom lacks
common knowledge!?”
“……Lack common knowledge…immature brat……”
Upon hearing this, Kamijo is hit really hard, and lowers his head.
Kanzaki is shocked, and quickly corrects herself,
“Ah, no! I don’t mean it, that…that statement was to make Tsuchimikado retract his
ridiculous comments…but as for that thanksgiving…erm……”
“Why bother saying so much, besides, won’t nee-chan strip herself naked?”
“What…what strip naked!? Who will do that sort of thing!?”
“Oh? Or are you planning to cosplay in any costume to show your gratitude? What a
sacrifice!”
“Shut your mouth! It’s because of your misguidance that this situation became so
complicated!”
Kamijo is uninvolved in this as he sees the two bickering (to him, they’re bickering
rather happily). At this moment, Kamijo thought of a ridiculous thing.
……She’ll wear anything to show her gratitude?
(No…no way! Kanzaki looks really serious! I can’t joke around in this situation! Stop
thinking about Kanzaki as a big sister wearing that cute swimsuit that Index wore at
the seaside! Hurry up and get rid of this idea!)
“……Are you okay? Why do I feel a strong aura from you?”
“It’s nothing! As a man, I definitely won’t buy that kind of book! I, Kamijo Touma, am
not intending to stoop so low!”
“What?”
Kanzaki is confused, tilting her head over, wondering how to answer. Tsuchimikado
however gives a cynical smile, saying,
“Hohoho! Say it, what’s your wish? Resting on nee-chan’s legs, let motherly nee-
chan clean your ear for you? Or do you want nee-chan to make a bento that’s
completely different from her character?”
“Don’t say any more! It’s not a casual talk between men now! Don’t say what I like in
front of girls!”
“Tsuchimikado, although I’m not sure what’s going on, but you staying here may
cause the patient’s condition to worsen. Can you please leave?”
“Ah, you want to be alone with him? What do you want to do? Don’t tell me it’s…!”
Tsuchimikado’s eyes glowed.
“Nee-chan wants to shape an apple into the shape of a rabbit and gently feed it to
Kamiyan? Sorry, I didn’t notice it, how slow of me!”
“It’s not! I beg you, stop making random guesses and make yourself feel ashamed!”
“Ah, or you’re going to feed him with your mouth? However, although it’s nice
thinking about it, it’s disgusting when one actually does it.”
“That’s enough, stop saying any more! Hurry up and disappear!”
Wonder what expression will Tatemiya Saiji give when he hears this? After creating
quite a ruckus inside the hospital room, Tsuchimikado ran out of the room, laughing.
In an instant, the hospital room in the morning became extremely silent.
Kanzaki is gasping due to anger. Seeing her from behind, Kamijo is trembling
throughout, thinking-Oh Tsuchimikado, Tsuchimikado, maybe you intended to
lighten the mood by saying those words, but must you run away after saying all that?
“Ar…that…Kanzaki-san? Can I say something?”
“……Why the honorifics all of the sudden?”
“That gratitude or thanks…is only a joke by Tsuchimikado, right?”
Kamijo is afraid of being scolded furiously by Kanzaki, like what happened to
Tsuchimikado, feeling really tense. But Kanzaki stammered,
“But…I have no other choice…protecting ordinary civilians like you should be our
responsibility…but we ended up letting you get hurt. I understand that this isn’t a
problem that can be settled with just one deep bow. So……”
Kanzaki got more upset the more she spoke, and her voice became even softer and
softer. She again uses her fingers to play with her fringe. Maybe this is an action
she’s used to doing when she’s frustrated. Then, it seems like she finally cannot
take it, as she roughly grabs her hair and sighs. Kamijo thought, this action is like an
author having a writer’s block crushing up a script and throwing it into the dustbin,
there’s something similar between each action.
To Kamijo, anyone who’s still bothered by the situation even after it’s over, like
Kanzaki, is a headache to him. If it’s the irresponsible Tsuchimikado, he’ll likely say
“Sorry to bother you, bye.” Kamijo really prefers this simple feeling. Too bad that
Kanzaki’s sense of morality is too strong, so he can’t do this.
At his wits end now, Kamijo sighs heavily.
Seems like he has to be more serious.
“So this is what your ‘point’ is?”
“Yes, I’m the type that will easily cause other people trouble. Especially you, who
carried quite a burden several times because of me; I feel guilty every time. Besides,
it’s not just me this time, but the entire Amakusa sect that caused you a problem.”
“Ooo…but, why do you have to bother so much? Besides, the problem between ‘us’
is settled, and there’s no one injured.”
Hearing this, Kanzaki is startled.
She blinks her eyes and asks,
“The ‘us’ you’re talking about is…”
“Um? That’s me and the Amakusa. Ah, and the British Puritans. Including Ursula,
Index and Stiyl, and you, everyone’s that’s involved.
“……”
Kanzaki is stunned.
It’s like a difficult question that seemed impossible to solve being solved in front of
her by someone.
“Do you have to be so surprised? What Britain, Rome or every problem, the way I,
as an outsider, see it, there’s nothing different. To me, who’s a stupid and ignorant
child, a group doesn’t mean anything.”
In contrast, without any hesitation, Kamijo continues on with fervor and assurance.
It’s as if he thought that this question is so simple that there’s no need to think about
it.
“I’m not helping Index for the sake of the British Puritans, but helping the British
Puritans because of Index.”
At this moment, one can hear someone running on the corridor.
Kamijo thought, maybe it’s Index.
As if he’s announcing his own stand, he continues,
“Next time, if Anieze asks me for help, I should help her. She was coincidentally the
bad guy this time. Being a bad guy once doesn’t mean she’ll be a bad guy forever.”
(Teh Ping: Cue Vol 11…)
Kamijo stops, smiling.
Kanzaki gives a surprised expression, and reveals a smile of helpless.
Maybe Kamijo Touma’s idea of doing things is too simple, too stupid.
But because of it, he’ll never be at a loss.
Never.

[edit] Part 2

There’s no difference between a rainy season and a dry season in England, as the
weather is unpredictable throughout the year. Over here, the weather will change
every four hours, this is common knowledge. Even if there’s good weather now,
many pedestrians will be carrying their umbrellas along.
Right now, it’s been raining in London since evening. But the citizens won’t cancel
their outdoor plans because of the rain. Many different coloured umbrellas are
squeezed together on the narrow street.
Stiyl Magnus and Laura Stuart are walking side by side through this drizzle that’s
like a wet fog. Stiyl is holding a black umbrella that’s like a bat, while Laura is
holding a beautiful white umbrella that’s laced with gold lines on top, like a cup of red
tea.
“If you’re just going back to Lambeth Palace, why don’t you just call a chauffeur to
fetch you?”
“Those who hate rain shouldn’t stay in this city.”
The umbrella that Laura is happily spinning about says this. This is obviously
prejudice. Someone like Stiyl won’t like this drizzle that’s like a fog. Even if he raises
the umbrella, his clothes will be wet, and there’ll even be moisture in his cigarette,
there’s no benefit at all.
Stiyl looks at the tip of the cigarette that’s unable to light up, and sighs.
Right now, Laura’s walking on her way home. Stiyl just caught up with her, intending
to use this opportunity to give a final report. The Archbishop of the British Puritans
that’s in front of him seems to enjoy her freedom a lot, as the time to go to and leave
the Cathedral is rather flexible. She doesn’t like to stay at the same spot, so even
mission reports or tactical meetings are normally held while she’s walking.
To Stiyl, he has to prevent the enemy from attacking or eavesdropping every time
Laura’s walking on the road, and it’s a truly tiring thing. Like this time, the two
umbrellas that they’re holding are specially modified such that they have the
capabilities of a telephone booth. The voices of the two can be transmitted through
the vibrations of the umbrellas, and the ‘voice’ won’t get outside any ‘area’ the
umbrella is covering.
“—So basically, this is how this mission went. The Roman Catholics seemed to treat
this as an act conducted by Anieze Sanctis and 250 militants. The Roman Catholics
are declaring that the group did this independently, and that they have no intention
to assassinate Ursula.
“Don’t they have to take responsibility for not managing their own people well?”
Laura bitterly laughs as she uses her fingers to play with her hair. Once the silky hair
that gave a sense of solemn beauty got wet, it gives of a sense of sensual beauty
like spider silk.
Stiyl glanced at Laura from beside her, saying,
“……Is there a need to do this?”
“Hoho, you’re referring to me accepting Ursula Aquinas and the Amakusa Catholics
as formal members of the British Puritan Church? Are you very uneasy with this
decision, Stiyl?”
“Since the Roman Catholics have formally declared that they ‘don’t intend to kill or
hurt Ursula or anyone involved,’ even if they’re not protected by us, the Roman
Catholics probably won’t dare to take action against them. According to the current
situation, if they die an unnatural death, it’ll cause a serious problem that’s on a
global scale.”
“But what if they die of a very natural cause?”
Laura gives a barbaric smile that’s like a pirate. The huge difference between the
appearance and the expression dumbfounds Stiyl.
“Thinking about it now, you seem to have already understood the Roman Catholics
true intentions. If so, why didn’t you order me to save Ursula Aquinas from the
Roman Catholics? Why did I have to do it in such a roundabout way?”
“I don’t understand it completely. Even I didn’t expect Ursula’s method to be wrong.”
Laura pauses for a while, and continues,
“However, these aren’t important.”
Stiyl turns to look at Laura.
Laura spins her pure white umbrella, and says,
“Let’s think of this scenario, Stiyl. If in this situation we failed to save Ursula, is there
any change to the scenario? Once she returns to the Roman Catholics, she’ll still be
executed in the end. No matter whether we succeeded in saving her, the ‘Book of
the Law’ will never be decoded.”
Laura makes her conclusion,
“So it’s the same whether we saved her or not.”
Ursula’s fate is but a trivial thing.
Stiyl sighs slightly, and says,
“If this is the case, then why did the Archbishop order me to hand the Cross over to
Ursula? The original situation is distressing enough, and yet you added on to my
workload. Although you’re not going to admit it, you planned on rescuing Ursula from
the beginning, right?”
“Uuuu……”
“It’s somewhat weird that there’s too few reinforcements. Maybe you have already
gathered most of the members of ‘Necessarius’ on standby near the Sea of Japan,
so you have no manpower to give me? If Anieze and her group brought Ursula back
to Rome by ship, the people waiting on the surface of the water will use something
related to the ‘Cross’ as an excuse to launch an attack. Is there anything
embarrassing about this that you refused to admit it? I really don’t understand you.”
“Mm mm! No such thing! No such thing! I interfered with this only for the sake of the
British Puritans’ benefit!”
Laura is so embarrassed that her face is about to puff out smoke, while she
frantically tries to deny it. Stiyl didn’t bother arguing back. Shouting alone made
Laura even more embarrassed, and now her face is flushed red.
“Alright then, what is this benefit that you’re talking about?”
“……You’re convinced by me that easily? It’s Kanzaki Kaori.”
Laura twists her mouth,
“After this incident, I believe you found out that Kanzaki has a lot of power, and her
sense of morality is too strong, so it’s easy for her to make an Arbitrary action.
Although there’s no mishap, the situation is still perilous. There’s a need to add a
chain on her for the sake of everyone’s safety.”
Stiyl’s cynical smile disappeared.
Laura’s face unknowingly became serious as well.
“We can’t use violence to stop her actions. No, we still can stop her, but a heavy
price has to be paid. I believe you saw the report about what happened to those
stupid Knights at the coastline of Japan.”
Stiyl remembered the reports of the other groups.
21 full-armoured Knights planned on their own to attack the Amakusa members, but
were attacked by someone unknown such that they’re currently unable to battle.
“So we need something other than a violent method to chain her down. In this
situation, the ‘solder’ between her and the Amakusa will be helpful to use. Also, we
don’t need a detrimental shackle like ‘We’ll kill them if you don’t obey us,’ but rather
a positive one like ‘We’ll protect them from the Roman Catholics if you obey us.’ If
we force the Amakusa to do something that’s not beneficial to them, Kanzaki will
definitely resist; but if the things we do are beneficial to the Amakusa, she won’t
resist at all. So how? Isn’t this a huge benefit?”
Now that she finished, Laura reveals a radiant smile. Yet Stiyl’s heart feels chilly.
Laura Stuart. Though at first she looks like a naïve girl, she’s still the leader of the
British Puritans, and even the cold-hearted manager who set up the lie around
Index.
She’s the one who set up the rule that ‘there’s to be a memory wipe every year.’
She’s the one who forced Index to be protected by the British Puritans at all times,
or she won’t live.
She’s the one who lied that these are the good deeds of the Church in order to
prevent Index from rebelling.
She’s the one who even told Stiyl and others that Index will die if this isn’t done,
making them unable to disobey it.
No one is better than her in manipulating human feelings, rationality, interests,
ethics, and ‘necessary values’. Stiyl can’t help but increase his guard against this
girl. The problem is that Stiyl is unable to do anything. If Stiyl takes any rash action,
Laura will punish Index without hesitation and not Stiyl. She’s this kind of person.
Dong! Stiyl’s shoulder hits a pedestrian.
It seems to be a student, who barely squeezes in between Stiyl and Laura.
Stiyl turns around, only to find that Laura disappeared!
The telecommunication magic linking the two umbrellas is now removed.
Stiyl frantically looks around before he finally notices that far away, there’s a white
umbrella laced with gold like a tea cup that’s spinning around.
He has no idea how she does this.
Thinking about it, the white umbrella is lost within the crowd.
“……”
Stiyl, who’s completely manipulated, can’t help but swallow his saliva.
The hidden dragon among magicians, she’s somehow able to get to the top, and it’s
not done cheaply.
Again, Stiyl’s back feels chilly.
At the same time however, a question popped up inside Stiyl.
The reason why the Amakusa were saved is to control Kanzaki Kaori.
He can understand this.
So what’s the reason in saving Ursula Aquinas?
He really can’t understand.
Since the method of decoding the ‘Book of the Law’ that Ursula found is wrong, why
do they accept her as a member of the British Puritans? Even if they saved Ursula,
there’s no way they can control someone like Kanzaki. Although Ursula’s track
record in evangelizing is rather impressive, such that her name’s even eligible to be
the name of the new church, she doesn’t have any charisma, and is unable to lead a
group or organization like Kanzaki. If Ursula had charisma, the Roman Catholics
wouldn’t dare to plot against her, for such an action will bring about violence or even
riots!
“……That sly woman.”
Stiyl Magnus smacked his lips reluctantly.
If he can think of the real benefit of saving Ursula Aquinas, Stiyl will think of Laura as
a bad person. But this is where Laura is most brilliant at. The basis of judging
whether she’s good or evil is too small. Or rather, she does as many good things as
she does evil things. On the balance of good and evil, she’s keeping an intricate
balance.
The balance continues without falling on either side, so of course it’s impossible to
tell whether she’s good or evil, even if there’s lead weights on both sides of the
balance.
Up till now, Stiyl is unable to make a decision, and can only continue to work for the
British Puritans.
Maybe this is her motive.
The rune magician thought as he disappears into the smoky street.