I decided to split the Cram School Conflict into two parts, simply because otherwise you'd get really overwhelmed from the amount of words and the size of the chapter (25,700 words, that's not counting A/Ns or Chapter titles/dividers.)
Tsubaki shows more facets of her character in this chapter, just how many secrets does she hide? And more importantly just what has she done for Academy City that makes her not even hesitate to storm a building to harm or possible kill someone?
Act II Part IV-I
The Anger of a Saint
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-SOM-
Verse I
-SOM-
Kamijou stared at the expression of this girl called Index.
Her knowledge was complaining. She had photographic memory, and wouldn't forget anything she memorized. It was because of that that she was able to memorize 103,000 grimoires.
However, that ability could be a double-edged sword. If she couldn't forget, it meant that she wouldn't be able forget what she wanted to forget. All the meaningless memories, from a department store brochure three years ago to everyone's face in a peak hour, would be stored in her brain, and she couldn't 'forget' to erase them.
'I can't wait until she discovers how to use the Internet, her reactions will be beyond hilarious' Despite Tsubaki's maternal feelings for Index, she still loved to tease the serious and upstanding Nun whenever she could.
Tsubaki had just said goodbye to Stiyl and brought Index back to the dorm. But next, Kamijou must head to the battlefield called Misawa Cram School. Of course, she definitely couldn't bring Index along. If so, it was best that she better not tell Index that she was going to the Misawa Cram School.
But if she couldn't come up with a reason to get out of the house, Index may start to feel suspicious and perhaps even want to come along.
"Tsubaki?"
Tsubaki simply smiled at Index.
"I've got to go to my job, normally I can just call in and work from internet cafes and libraries, but there is a problem with the Server at work and I'm going to have to check to see if the network in under attack from a DoS or DDoS attack (A/N: DoS – Denial of Service and DDoS – Distributed DoS. These are forms of Cyber attacks A.K.A Hacking and are highly illegal, large companies often suffer these attacks, Google them for more information) and therefore I might be coming home late" You could almost see the steam coming out of Index's head from Tsubaki's short burst of technobabble and she was nodding vacantly.
"Then I'll say this first. Dinner's in the fridge, just microwave it and you can eat it. Don't put the spoon in the microwave oven, or you'll start a fire. And don't you open the freezer door to cool yourself."
"Eh? Ah, uu…I don't seem to be really capable of using a microwave oven."
Tsubaki just sighed and said "Just take the package with the word Index written on it, take off the plastic, put it in the microwave push 1, 3, 0 and then start and then wait for the machine to beep loudly before taking it out carefully as it will be hot"
Maybe one may suspect how one could misuse a microwave oven. However, Index did microwave a sauce pack of a convenience store bento, and it exploded. She also had tried to heat up a half-boiled egg, and it exploded. She had even microwaved a bento for too long, and it exploded. In the end, it seemed to her that no matter how she used the microwave oven, it would explode. Perhaps she thought that using a microwave oven was a sure-fire way for an explosion.
'…Seems like she's not suspecting anything at all'
Kamijou stared at Index, who was staring at the microwave oven and narrowing her wide eyes, giving the look that she wouldn't fail again. Tsubaki heaved a sigh of relief, she hoped she wouldn't have to clean out the microwave… again.
Then, she realized it.
"Oi! What's hidden inside your clothes? More accurately, near the stomach!"
"Eh?"
Index froze.
She turned to Kamijou and said, "No, nothing at all!? I swear to God that sisters don't tell lies!" '… Bullshit!'
The moment she said finished, the abnormally large stomach let out a 'mi—' cat cry.
"OII! SO MUCH FOR YOUR FAITH, YOU BROKE YOUR OATH! TAKE OUT THAT CAT FROM INSIDE YOUR STOMACH!" 'That sounded… wrong'
Perhaps it was because she was talking to Stiyl and was too nervous that she didn't notice it. It was likely that the reason Index had stayed in the alley for so long wasn't that she wanted to look for the source of the rune, but rather that she wanted to look for that stray cat.
"Uu! T-Tsubaki! This piece of clothing is called the Walking Church, right?" 'Oh I see where you're going with this, not bad. I'll play along just for giggles'
"So what?"
"And a Church should open its arms without any conditions to any lost sheep! Therefore, I will protect Sphynx, who was lost on the streets, Amen." 'Wow, she said that with a straight face? Impressive'
"…"
Kamijou's lips seemed to twitch as she said, "…So, you mean that you'll raise the cat inside the clothes, right? I understand! So the kitty litter and it's toilet will be shoved into the your sleeves, right?" 'That would be hilarious to see, but it would stink to the high heavens'
"…" 'She didn't think about that did she?'
"…"
"Whatever! I've decided that Sphynx will be protected by the Church!" 'You're not an actually a Sister, so you can't say that'
"Oi! The person who doesn't even think through before doing things! At least think for the one who's being taken care of!"
"It's all right as long as I treat it as a family member!"
"I DON'T WANT TO BE TREATED BY THE CAT AS ITS MOM!"
Though she really didn't want to do it, Kamijou really felt like dumping the cat while heading to Misawa Cram School…no, she actually wanted to do it, but if she really did so, Index would want to get the cat back and would keep following Kamijou all the way.
"IDIOT, TSUBAKI IS AN IDIOT! I'LL RAISE THIS CHILD!"
'I feel like a mother scolding her daughter for getting pregnant while still in Highschool'
"…Say that when you can earn money for yourself." 'I just know I'll probably have this exact conversation again in the future, either with Index or Kami willing one of my own children'
"But actually, Tsubaki doesn't need to feel sorry. I just said 'idiot' out of frustration, and don't really think that you're a real idiot!"
"Are you speaking alien?"
But on the other hand, if she agreed to it, Index would agree to her going off on her own.
'…What can I say, such misfortune, that and with my luck my own children will be just as able to maneuver me into doing what they want. If I don't spoil them rotten that is'
Kamijou sighed. Thinking about the effort needed to raise the cat, it seemed like she would have to teach Index how to cook for Sphynx. Why did Index choose to pick a cat up at this time?
"…Alright."
"Hm? Tsubaki? What did you say?"
"…Can't be helped, let's raise it. But you will be learning how to cook for both yourself and the cat"
But it was good.
It seemed like such words could make Index cry out tears of joy. It was worth it to be able to see Index show such an expression.
"Ahh, our Father in Heaven! Your warm light of love has finally reached the heartless, cruel, cold-blooded, snake-eyed Tsubaki's heart! Thank you for saving this stray cat's innocent soul, I won't forget this for the rest of my life." 'Dear Kami, she's laying it on thick… Why do I hear the faint sound of laughter?'
…Even though she thought of that, Kamijou Tsubaki was still unable to explain something.
-SOM-
Verse II
-SOM-
After exiting the dormitory room, he saw Stiyl, who he had said goodbye to a while back, scattering card-like things all over the place.
"What are you doing?"
"Can't you tell? I'm setting a barrier here to build a temple here."
Stiyl said as he continued to work.
Tsubaki sighed before she walked over and slapped him on the back of the head. Stiyl looked at her in confusion and with just a thought she activated her wards.
Stiyl's mouth dropped open in awe, Tsubaki smirked and asked "Did you really think that a Saint-Magician like myself wouldn't have defenses on her house? Index simply disabled them on instinct and I hadn't bothered to reactivate them till now"
Stiyl nodded but still left some more Rune Cards on the wall "Before we leave for Misawa Cram School, who knows who will come up with a stupid reason to come here and take Index away? Even with your powerful wards. Even though we can only use so much, at least we can be more optimistic if we leave Innocentius here, and if something happens, it can help her buy time to escape."
Innocentius.
Tsubaki nodded in appreciation, that was a humanoid-shaped ultimate weapon made of 3,000 degrees Celsius flames that had auto-tracking ability was very useful for guarding something. The weakness was—
"—It can only be used in the boundary that has runes on it, and it will be destroyed if the runes are destroyed."
"…I can tell you this."
Hearing that, Stiyl's ears twitched, and said, "I lost to you the last time not because I was weaker than you, it was just the location. If you didn't set off the sprinklers."
"Eh? Did we fight before?"
Kamijou Tsubaki inwardly smirked as she pretended to have forgotten the whole fight with Stiyl, when she thought back on it, it really wasn't all that impressive, he went down with only one hit!
"Ku…so you meant that that incident had no value in remembering?"
Almost pouting at Tsubaki's feigned forgetfulness, Stiyl continued on.
"Fine then, I won't squabble with you over that. After I stick this up, the boundary will be complete, and we can head towards Misawa Cram School…how troublesome. I have to set up a boundary to keep off magicians, but I can't make it too strong or else that child will notice it."
Stiyl continued to mutter, but it seemed like he was really happy.
Thus, Kamijou somewhat realized something.
"Do you like Index?"
"Eh?"
"EH!?"
Stiyl blushed as if his heart got flipped over, and said, "W-w-wh-why are you saying such ridiculous words out of a sudden!? She's…she's a target that needs to be protected, not a target for romance—!" 'Yep, he's interested in her. I wonder how much he'll reveal by accident if I keep pushing? But I'll leave that for a later date'
Kamijou chuckled and ended the conversation.
That was because Kamijou felt that if she continued to delve deeper into that, she would end up leaving Stiyl too flustered to concentrate on the mission.
"Before we charge into Misawa Cram School, let's talk about our enemy." 'Good idea and good distraction you Lolicon'
Stiyl said this, perhaps trying to prevent Kamijou from asking on.
As they exited the student dormitory and walked on the night street, Kamijou listened to Stiyl's description.
"The enemy's name is Aureolus Izzard." 'Record Search, inconclusive. Subject Aureolus Izzard not found'
Stiyl first introduced the enemy's name.
"Speaking of Aureolus, there's one person you'll think of…hm? Are you shocked that he's such a famous person? Don't worry, he's just the descendant of that guy, he's not as strong as the legend goes."
"? Who is this Aureolus?"
"…Oh yeah, you don't know much of the history of the magic world. But at least you should have heard of Paracelsus, right?"
"Mentions of him, but nothing much"
"Ku…! He's the most famous alchemist in the world!"
Stiyl said impatiently.
While walking down the evening street, Kamijou asked, "So, is this guy really amazing?"
The August sunset was burning. The large number of windows, windmill turbines, everything was dyed orange red. Kamijou thought that it looked just like a faded photograph. Perhaps that was because their conversation didn't seem so realistic.
"He shouldn't be strong…but what's worrying is that he must have some sort of secret weapon to force Deep Blood to follow him. Also, the worst case scenario is that he may have used the Deep Blood to let this certain creature submit to him."
More than Aureolus Izzard, it seemed like Stiyl was more mindful about that.
But Kamijou couldn't really understand. Even if the conditions were unique, she shouldn't be treating the enemy's ability as second priority.
"Oi, that's not right, isn't it? I don't know how powerful vampires are, but our primary concern should be the enemy boss? It's like fighting in a fire, we'll be beaten badly if we are concerned only on the flames." 'Goddamn Mugino, I got so caught up in fighting her henchwomen that she almost roasted me with her Esper ability, thank Kami for Heiligtum'
"Hm? Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Aureolus' name may be familiar, but his descendants aren't as powerful as he was. And in the magic world, there actually aren't any roles called Alchemist."
Stiyl said nonchalantly.
"Divination, alchemy, summoning, these sounds like your language, mathematics and history. Even Japanese language teachers won't stop learning mathematics completely, right? This so-called magic is to learn a part of everything and then choose a direction that's most suited for himself."
Stiyl also mentioned that the reason Aureolus Izzard had become an alchemist was because he wasn't talented enough for the other roles.
"And also, this alchemy isn't a refined knowledge."
"…"
Even if Stiyl said so, Kamijou didn't have any idea of that at all. That was because to Kamijou, alchemy was only a fraud that was widespread in the 16th century and would come up with scams to fool royalty and other sorts of knowledge similar to a history calendar, her magical texts were equally as dismissive of Alchemy.
"Alchemy—especially the late Zurich branch of alchemy can be said to be a subset of the Hermes school. Normally speaking, the main motivations are to turn lead into gold and create an elixir of immortality, and so on—"
Stiyl sounded rather unmotivated, probably because it wasn't what he specialized in. 'Which makes sense, if we were talking about runes he would probably be more open… or more guarded to prevent himself from spilling any secrets'
"But these are all experiments. It's like what you people call scientists, always looking for the…basis or…rule. They don't care about what they will get from the test tube, it wasn't their initial aim. The same theory applies here, alchemists weren't supposed to be focused on creating, but pursuing knowledge.
"…It's like how Einstein was only researching on the theory of relativity, and the atomic bomb was just a by-product of the research?" 'That makes a lot of sense as to why Stiyl is dismissive of Alchemy, it's more a Science then a Magical Art'
If one viewed it from that angle, scientists were really arrogant, never thinking of what their creations would do to society.
"Yeah. But besides researching on the formula and the principle, they have a final goal."
Stiyl paused, and then continued, "—It's like a simulation of the world in his mind."
"…"
"If one can understand all the laws of the world, one can imagine the world in the brain. Of course, if even a single law is wrong, the simulated world in the brain will have flaws." 'That sounds like a Personal Reality, is there a magic that can simulate one?'
"? What? What do you mean by that? Are you talking about abilities similar to those of Espers?"
It was said that on the primitive islands in the South Pacific like Fiji and Melanesia, one had to have the talent of 'being able to accurately predict the weather the next day with just a single glance to the sky' in order to be a leader.
Though that weather forecast ability seemed like some Esper ability, it was actually just a result of computing the window flow, cloud shapes, temperature and humidity in the brain and making a rough estimate out of the vast amount of calculations in the brain.
Those island leaders never realized that their brains were doing calculations, thinking that they just listened to the voice of the wind to accurately predict the weather. 'They're nice people to talk to and their cuisine is delicious'
What Stiyl meant was similar to that example in meaning.
It was true that in the leader's mind, they may have completely simulated tomorrow's weather. However, that imaginary world would be miles away from the actual one, if there was a tiniest error in their supposedly-perfect formula.
"…Hold on, but what can such an ability do? Are they trying to create some sort of calculator that can get everything in the future like a weather report?"
"No."
Stiyl said nonchalantly.
"What if they can bring out what they thought of into the real world?" 'Then I'm quitting and heading to some remote location, I hear Siberia has an opening for a Saint'
That was really a shocking proclamation.
"For example, spells that involve ectoplasm, or spells that uses Telesma to summon angels; it's not uncommon to see one 'pull the thoughts in the brain back to reality' in the magic world."
Stiyl folded his arms in front of his chest and said, "Thus, it's important to have an ability to use the brain to accurately imagine the real world. Basically, with this power, one can control the world. Any celestial beings or devils will bow down to that person." 'Scary'
"…Oi oi…"
"Of course, it's hard to do this. The flow of the river, clouds, humans, blood…there are an unlimited number of laws in a world. If one messes up something, he won't be able to create an accurate world. One distortion in the world is like a distorted pair of wings, even if they're summoned, they will be vanquished."
That should be similar to a computer process, Kamijou thought. No matter how perfect the process was, if someone forgot to input an extra line, there would be an error, and it couldn't be executed.
"But on the other hand, if he really managed to do it, won't anyone be unable to go up against him? If he goes against the entire world, how can the entire world win?"
Something deep inside Tsubaki shivered in fear, while another part almost seemed excited.
But he was right, humans couldn't beat 'everything in the world'. That didn't mean that the gods or devils were strong or not; no, that wasn't that case.
The point was that 'everything in the world' also included the people living in the world, including Kamijou herself.
A simplest example. There was a mysterious mirror that could reflect everything it showed into reality. In that situation, no matter how strong Kamijou was, once the opponent pulled out an identical Kamijou duplicate, the end result was that the duplicate would die off together with the real one.
But Stiyl didn't look that anxious.
"I said it before, just relax. Alchemy isn't a refined knowledge. Let me put it this way. If I want you to explain everything in the world, including every grain of sand on the beach or the stars in the night sky, how long are you going to take!? I don't think you can finish explaining after one or two hundred years, right? That's the case. Actually, the incantations were in existence for a long time, but the human life is so short that they couldn't finish incanting it." 'Actually at a base estimation it would take around nine hundred and forty two years, eight months, six days, fifteen hours, twelve minutes and eight seconds to describe every piece of natural law in relation to everything else in a comprehensive format'
Stiyl continued nonchalantly.
"Though they tried all sorts of things like removing the unnecessary parts to shorten it or like breaking it up, letting each generation say ten lines and letting each descendant say ten lines, and so on."
But even so, there hadn't been a case of success.
A complete incantation won't have any excessive points. And when each generation passes down an incantation, it will be like a telephone game, there will gradually be errors in the incantation.
"However…"
Saying up until there, Stiyl finally showed some battle intent and said, "…If those were living things that don't have any limits in lifespan, they can recite finish the super long incantation. Perhaps it's because of this, that certain creature is a rather huge threat to magicians."
'Perhaps that was also an aim of why the enemy decided to get a vampire' Kamijou thought.
To a scientist, it was painful when they knew an answer but yet couldn't prove it.
And if their bodies of flesh couldn't fulfill it…
Couldn't they just get some creature that could surpass a human's limits?
"It's true that this alchemy is still rather threatening, but right now, Aureolus Izzard shouldn't be able to do this. The most he can do is to create a few things and turn this Misawa Cram School stage into a fortress, and then set up numerous traps to prevent outsiders from entering."
"…?"
Kamijou felt that something was not right. Why was Stiyl so confident?
"Oi, do you know that Izzard guy?"
"Of course we do. We were from church organizations after all."
Stiyl casually said.
"I belong to the Anglican Church, and he belonged to the Roman Catholic Church…we did meet each other before even though our sects were different. Of course, we aren't friends."
To Kamijou, it was really hard to imagine the terms church and magician together, everything in her knowledge pointed towards a deep hatred between religion and magic.
Necessarius, the organization Stiyl and Index were affiliated to, was aimed at learning magic to counter magicians. But that was the radical among the radicals. Even if the Anglican Church had such an organization, would the Roman Catholic Church, who was of a different sect, have something like that too?
Hearing Kamijou's question, Stiyl frowned and said, "Necessarius is an exception amongst exceptions, there can't possibly be similar churches."
Stiyl sighed and continued.
"But even if we're exceptions amongst exceptions, the secret recorder he was tasked to do should be a unique example among unique examples. Basically, he writes Grimoires in place of the church. Even though it's a Grimoire, the purpose is of the complete opposite. It's like some teaching guide for 'which line in the Bible can be used to handle the spells those witches use."
Stiyl stretched his arm out and shook it about.
"Of course, it's not rare to see people of the church write grimoires as teaching guides, and those Pope Honorius III or the King James I's grimoires are rather famous."
"…I see. So that's why you said that Aureolus Izzard's power isn't really much."
"That's right. He may be knowledgeable about this, but he can't fight. It's like a quiet social club member that's not in a sports club. However, he's another tough opponent. That's because he's one of the few secret recorders of the Roman Catholic Church and had much power. The Roman Catholics are planning to fight hard against him in order to punish him for being a heretic."
"No, I don't mean that. I'm saying that that Aureolus should be something worth mentioning with the name of top religious people and kings, right? Are you jealous of him?"
"…I can treat that as a taunt, right?"
"I'm up for it if you want to fight me, but don't mistake me as your opponent now."
Kamijou stared forward and said, "We arrived at our battlefield."
Kamijou and Stiyl stopped.
Under the burning-like sunset, that building was waiting for them.
"I say."
Kamijou looked up at the building and muttered.
It could only be described as a strange building. The building itself was rectangular and nothing special. However, there were four of such twelve-story-tall buildings, each taking a corner of a cross junction and forming a 'ta' (田) word. Also, the linked pathways were actually overhead like an overhead bridge above a road as they linked the buildings.
'Such a building plan should defy the Land Area Planning Adjustment Project, right? Yes, yes it does, how did it get approved?'
Kamijou thought as she looked up at the corridors in the sky. Basically, the authority of the sky was of the land's owner until you got ten kilometers up at which point it became national airspace. In other words, the area above the roads should be a public area.
"Never mind, that's not important."
Kamijou muttered and again stared at the Misawa Cram School Academy City branch.
Looking at that building, it was really hard for people to think of this 'religious science' term that surpassed normal understanding. It really looked like a very ordinary cram school, there would be students who would walk in and out occasionally. It was nothing abnormal.
"Anyway, our initial target is the fifth level of the south building—beside the restaurant. There seems to be a secret room over there," Stiyl said casually.
The location diagram was burned after Kamijou read it. In that case, had he memorized the entire map?
"A secret room?"
"Yeah. It should be some trick that uses some illusion or distortion to make people unaware of this secret room's existence. This building's interior is like a kid's toy blocks, there are many 'spaces'."
Stiyl stared at the building and said, "…I could find seventeen secret rooms just by looking at the location diagram. And the one beside the restaurant on the south building's fifth level is the closest one to us."
"…Oh, but that doesn't look like those ninja houses that are booby-trapped."
Kamijou muttered, and Stiyl muttered viciously.
"…Yeah, sure doesn't look like it."
"Eh?"
Kamijou turned her head to look back at Stiyl. Stiyl stared at this building that looked like it penetrated the sky and the earth, and after a while, shook his head and sighed. "Nothing. In fact, as an expert, I can't find any abnormalities, nothing at all even after looking at it as an expert."
Though Stiyl had said that, he wasn't looking relaxed at all. The expression was that of a doctor who managed to spot something wrong through an X-ray, but was unable to spot the source of the illness.
"…"
It was suspicious, too suspicious. Though he didn't know what was going on inside, it was way too suspicious.
Stiyl just said that he couldn't find anything wrong inside; he never said that the building was safe. Inside that building, there may be numerous mines hidden, it was just that they never found out. Maybe there was really nothing. They couldn't even confirm that, so they were basically going in blind.
To be honest, was it really safe to enter a building that an anti-magician expert couldn't even tell whether it was safe?
"Of course we shouldn't."
Stiyl replied without even dragging this on.
"But we can only go in, right? Our aim is to save people and not to kill. I would be really grateful if I could just burn everything from the outside."
Stiyl's words must be more than half serious.
"Hold on…what do you mean we can only go in? Are we going to go in through the main entrance like that? No tactics? Like no way to avoid being detected or beating the enemy safely?"
"What, don't tell me you have some ideas?"
"…ACK! Are you kidding me!? Are you really going to charge in like that? How is that any different from charging into a building that's occupied by terrorist!? Even if it's just a low-level trick, can't you just throw in some bait!?"
"…Hm, using a knife to carve an Ansuz-Gebo rune can hide a person's presence."
"But that would leave an indication that you had just used magic, damn. I should have requested some Optical Camouflage Units from the Anti-Skill Armory" Stiyl just looked at Tsubaki with unsuppressed shock.
"But would this Aureolus guy be able to see a difference in the mana? I've never studied this sort of stuff so I'm just winging it" Tsubaki explained her unusual question at Stiyl's curious expression.
"You have no real concept of how mana works at all. Seems like I have to explain it to you." Stiyl sighed and said, "For example, what if there's a map that only has red coloring on it?"
"…Psychologically, I think that's a bad omen."
"Shut up and don't butt in. This red coloring is an indication of Aureolus' magic in the entire building. What if I color this map with blue coloring?"
"Basically you're a walking transmitter, right?"
"That's sort of correct, but it's more than you think."
Just as Kamijou was about to ask why…
"Your Imagine Breaker is like an eraser that removes the red coloring. If one's painting is being eaten into, anyone will realize that something's amiss. I won't be detected if I don't use magic, but your ability is always active."
"…Alright, so it means that we're like walking transmitters, we don't have any tactics, and we're entering a building that's filled with terrorists. Do we press the doorbell first?"
"So that's why we need your power. If you don't want to become a beehive, use your right hand to act as a shield."
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME! WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE IT DOESN'T CONCERN YOU!? IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE USELESS THAT I HAD TO DO THIS!"
"Ahahah, no need to be so nervous. It's just alchemist's magic. Your right hand that managed to block the St. George's Dragon Breath should be able to handle it. And it's useless to rely on me. I sent Innocentius to protect that child, and right now, I can only use a flame sword."
"WAAAAAHHH! YOU REALLY DIDN'T THINK THIS THROUGH!" Tsubaki was enjoying her fake theatrics, if all else failed she had her weaponry or even the weaponry of Academy City's forces at her command.
Kamijou stared at the exit—the automatic doors weren't looking abnormal.
In fact, Kamijou really didn't want to enter that place. That was to be expected. Who wanted to enter a battlefield that the enemy booby-trapped and was waiting? Besides, it was a main stronghold of a fanatical religion that nobody knew the truth about.
However…
Because of that, they had to enter.
If a man (actually a boy disguised as a man) could tremble on seeing such a place, how could they let a girl remain in there just because she was called Deep Blood?
"Let's go," The magician Stiyl Magnus said.
Without saying anything, Kamijou walked towards the automatic doors.
After entering through the glass doors, the scene inside was extremely normal.
A lot of glass was used inside the hall to bring in more sunlight. The hall was extremely wide, and the room was about three stories tall. Somewhere near the lift, there was a staircase. It seemed to be an unrenovated staircase that was meant to be used as an emergency escape.
Perhaps since it was during the evening, it would be a rest time for an ordinary school.
The length should be as long as an afternoon break, and there seemed to be a lot of students who were heading out to buy dinner.
Kamijou and Stiyl weren't really attracting attention, perhaps because the manager hadn't memorized every student's appearance. And even if they were discovered to be outsiders, since they were just in the entrance hall, others would just think that they were just transfer students who were there to settle the administration. Still in her uniform Tsubaki could easily blend in but…
'…Forget about me, does this guy even look like a student?'
Kamijou sighed. Though the person beside her could be considered a teenager, he was a priest that smelled of cologne, had red-dyed hair, earrings, rings, and such a ridiculous build. But never mind, since a cram school was a service, they wouldn't reject any customers.
Anyway, looking around, they couldn't find anything wrong.
The people who were walking about didn't seem to be anything wrong.
"Eh?"
Therefore, the only abnormality was extremely obvious.
At the four elevators, between the first and second from the right, there seemed to be some human-shaped robot lying there, or rather, placed there. The limbs were severely twisted, and it looked like a pile of scrap metal that made one think that it got into some serious traffic accident. 'Hang on a moment, what is this?'
In terms of build, it was similar to a full Western armor. However, the figure was extremely modernistic like a fighter jet. It had quite an intrinsic design, and the texture that was reflecting a silver light didn't seem to be of an ordinary metal hide.
There was an eighty centimeter long bow dropped nearby; perhaps it was a piece of equipment for the robot. 'Identify Damaged Robot in Main Lobby of School CS-21'
The robot's right wrist had a word 'Parsifal' on it. Perhaps that was the name of the unit.
But anyone could tell on first glance that this robot couldn't fulfill it's original function.
What was supposed to be limbs were severely twisted, and there was tar-like slick black oil oozing out from the broken limbs.
The rusty smell in the air caused Kamijou to frown. 'ERROR: No Robot Found'
What in the world is that?
First, where did that robot come from? Though there were security robots and cleaning robots in Academy City, they looked like large metal containers. Kamijou never heard of such a humanoid-looking robot in Academy City that didn't have much mobility.
Next, why did that robot break down? Though Kamijou didn't know how strong that robot originally was, it looked like it got hit in a car accident. There shouldn't be a need for such force, right? What happened in that cram school hall?
And finally…
'…Why hasn't anyone nearby noticed it?'
The final point made Kamijou feel that something was amiss.
Everyone there didn't even treat that robot as something that should be talked about, not even looking at it at all. That feeling didn't feel like they deliberately refused to look or remember, but something that wasn't necessary to be noticed like a stone on the road.
It was like…
That damaged robot just mixed into their everyday life.
Tsubaki frowned before she knelt down in front of the 'robot' "Something's wrong, half my senses are telling me this is a robot, but the rest. The rest are screaming it isn't"
"What? There's nothing here. Anyway, either we find Himegami or beat Izzard. Hurry up," Stiyl said casually.
"Ah, oh."
Kamijou finally managed to look away from the robot. That was because nobody other than herself noticed the robot, so Kamijou had a feeling that she just saw a phantom.
But that wasn't a phantom.
That robot really existed in front of Kamijou's eyes.
"What? Are you interested in that thing? Oh well, that's true. It may be considered rare to you."
Stiyl seemed to finally notice what Kamijou was looking at.
"W-well yeah…eh. Hold on, robots should be something from our Science side, right?"
On hearing Kamijou's words, Stiyl immediately frowned.
"What are you talking about? That's just a corpse."
That was really a shocking reply.
"Wha…?" 'Damn, a mental obfuscation spell. I didn't even notice'
Kamijou couldn't understand at all.
"A caster's incantations and a heavenly bow's duplicate—this should be the thirteen knights of the Roman Catholic Church. They should be here to execute the heretic, but it seems like they were crushed. Really, the knights were England's speciality, and these guys just loved to copy and ended up with something like this," Stiyl shook the cigarette in his mouth and said, "…Cheh, speaking of this, that guy in formalin is too sneaky. There was already another Church helping out, and yet he made us enter separately. Was he deliberately trying to make us fail…? It's true that the people who are here to settle this mess are the elite forces of the Church, and it'll be good if he can make even one die…"
Stiyl muttered angrily. But Kamijou wasn't interested in what was going on, so she basically ignored it. 'Another Magician in my City, I'm going hunting after this'
Kamijou chose to stare at the thing that was lying on the floor clearly. The limbs were twisted, it was a pile of scrap metal that looked like it got into some sort of serious accident, the silver metal body was crushed, there was a reddish-black oil oozing out from it. The wreckage of a robot.
Just as Kamijou's feeling relieved, she realized that she couldn't move that body randomly.
Just as she thought that they should call for an ambulance, a sound could be heard as the metal doors slid apart.
Many similar-aged teenagers walked out of the lift, failing to notice that person at all.
It's like they just saw a normal scene as they continued to talk about things like 'the food in the restaurant is so expensive and so bad that I get sick of it, how about we get some from a convenience store'.
Tsubaki went to move one of the students out of the way by pushing against his shoulder.
Her arm nearly got dislocated.
But what really shocked Kamijou was that the student didn't grab Kamijou's hand at all.
The hand that was placed on the shoulder felt like a balloon that was tied onto a car.
Also, the person didn't even seem to notice that Kamijou had put her hand on his shoulder.
They were just like the twisted armor in front of them.
"—What's going on?"
Kamijou remembered the feeling on the hand.
What was supposed to be a soft fabric texture of clothing felt like the hand passed through instant glue; extremely hard. She couldn't even let her fingers touch the soft fabric, let alone the student's body.
"It should be this kind of a boundary, just like a front side and back side of a coin. The people on the front side of the coin are the students who don't know anything, and can't detect us people on the back side. And as for us people on the back side, the intruders from outside, we can't interfere with the students on the front side who don't know anything. Watch."
Stiyl sounded like he was chanting as he raised his finger and pointed at a girl who walked out from the elevator.
Kamijou's eyes were following the girl's back. Her feet weren't soiled at all, and there was no reddish-black footprints. That pool of blood looked like one huge pile of hardened plastic.
"Hm."
Stiyl nonchalantly removed the chewed cigarette from his mouth and pressed the burning red tip of the cigarette against the plastic elevator button.
However, the plastic button wasn't even burned, let alone melted.
"I see, so the entire building's on the front side of the coin? I guess that's how it should be, since this is more suitable to be a fortress that protects against magic. Kamijou Tsubaki, it seems that with our power alone, we may be unable to open even the single door, even the automatic entrance doors. We're stuck."
"…"
A boundary.
Though that term was uncommon to Kamijou, who mostly resided in the Science side, since it was a type of supernatural power, wasn't that the chance for Kamijou Tsubaki to step up?
Kamijou clenched her fist tightly.
Imagine Breaker. As long as a supernatural power came into contact with her right hand, it would be negated, even if it was God's miracle. It was a unique ability among unique abilities. 'I don't think this'll work, but worth a try at least'
Kamijou clenched her fist and raised it high up into the air.
Tsubaki then slammed her fist hard onto the floor, wanting to smash the boundary into pieces—
—That's right, she hammered it down, but she just let out a dull sound.
"WOAH! AHHHHHHHHH!"
"What are you doing?"
Seeing Kamijou stare angrily at the floor like that, Stiyl seemed like he couldn't take it and sighed.
"It's probably like my Innocentius. If we don't destroy the core of the magic, we won't be able to break out of this boundary. And most likely…the core should be safely placed outside the boundary. The people who are locked inside will then be unable to get out. Hmm, we have some trouble now."
Kamijou was really somewhat puzzled about what they should do now, and said, "…Damn it, so what should we do? We got a casualty here and we can't call a doctor nor send him out…"
"We don't have to do anything. That person's dead."
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? CHECK HIS BREATHING! HE'S STILL ALIVE!"
"Yeah, he's definitely alive if we look at his heart. But his fracture ribs punctured his lungs, his liver got crushed, his pulses are all crushed…he can't be saved in this situation. This guy's name is called 'corpse'."
It was unknown whether he found that out through the rune magic, but Stiyl's words were as cold-hearted as a doctor declaring that a patient got a terminal illness.
"…!"
"What's with that expression? You knew that right from the start, right? Even if he's breathing, he won't be saved at all."
Immediately, Kamijou pulled Stiyl's chest up with both hands.
Tsubaki couldn't understand it. Kamijou couldn't understand it. How could that person in front of her remain so calm? Why could she say such words even in front of a dying person?"
"MOVE ASIDE! THIS PERSON DOESN'T HAVE MUCH—"
But Stiyl calmly pushed Kamijou aside.
"—We don't have much time. I'll let you cast what you think is pity on the dead. It's a priest's job to send the dead on the last ride. You amateur, step aside."
Releasing her hands, Kamijou finally realized. Stiyl, whose back was facing Kamijou and staring at the knight who was bordering on the edge of death, was…
'He's…angry…? No, he's truly pissed'
It was really hard to imagine that from his usual mockery, but it couldn't be mistaken.
Right now, Stiyl Magnus wasn't a magician. His back seemed to bring about some static electricity, as everything that touched his back figure seemed to be deflected away. Yes, this was the back of the priest Stiyl Magnus.
Stiyl didn't do any special ritual.
"Go with the Lord, and find peace in Heaven. Knight of the Roman Catholics"
He just said something really profound. Kamijou bowed her head in respect.
The words came out of the priest, and not a magician.
Though Kamijou didn't know how much significance it was, but the knight who wasn't able to move trembled as he raises his right hand and stretched it out at Stiyl like he wanted to capture something in the air. Tsubaki couldn't handle it, she rushed forwards and grabbed the knight's hand.
The Knight looked at her in surprise, even through his helm Tsubaki could tell. She smiled and said "Go, Find your peace. I am Calamitas000, The Saint who Bears the Misfortune of Mankind and I now send you beyond. Go to Heaven's gates and take your place there. As a martyr of the church" Tsubaki had no knowledge of where the words came from, but she knew they were correct.
"Finish… My… Mission… Please!"
Stiyl nodded his head in agreement to the Knight while Tsubaki smiled sadly. The knight's body seemed to relax from the tension. It was like he handed over what he wanted to hand over…he didn't have any worries left, relaxing as he let go in relief.
The knight's right hand dropped and Tsubaki let it go.
The metallic right hand landed on the floor. It sounded like a knell.
"…"
As a priest, Stiyl Magnus finally drew a cross in front of his chest.
At that point, there was no difference between an English Anglican and a Roman Catholic. This was the last rite of sending someone off.
And then, Kamijou finally realized something, her mind switched over from the fake persona she displayed during daylight hours and into the dark persona she wore while buried in the Darkside of the City.
This was a real battlefield.
"Let's go!"
Stiyl Magnus said in a magician like voice, and not a priest like voice.
"—Seems like we have one more reason to fight."
-SOM-
Verse III
-SOM-
Tsubaki was feeling energized.
Anyway, their initial goal was to look into the gaps all over the building—the secret rooms. And the nearest secret room was in this building—near the fifth level of the South Block. Thus, both of them were moving up the stairs.
'That poor man, he didn't deserve to die and be discarded like trash'
"My legs…"
Tsubaki looked over at Stiyl with a smirk on her face
The front and back sides of the coins—the magician who knew everything from the back side, yet couldn't interfere with the citizens on the front side. Stiyl said before that this was the rule of the game. Also, that entire building was on the front side.
That meant that the impact caused by the stepping on the floor would be reflected back onto the feet.
Basically, it was like the difference between punching people and punching a concrete wall. As they were walking on an overly hard floor, the fatigue build-up was two to three times faster.
However as a Saint Tsubaki was beyond human and as such the exertion was minor for her level of stamina.
"We… can only… pray… that the… enemy is in… the same situation…"
Stiyl seemed to be bothered by the fatigue that arrived too early. Though Stiyl was really huge, it seemed like he hadn't done much physical training and wasn't used to physical activities.
"Che… if I had known, we should have taken the lift."
"We're on the back side of the coin, how can we press the button that's on the front side of the coin? If you can, teach me."
"I can mentally command every system in this building to run"
"…Even if we did enter the lift when the students on the front side of the coin use a lift, we'll be crushed if a large number of people walk into the lift."
The people on the back side of the coin couldn't interfere with the people on the front side of the coin.
For example, even if a car on the back side of the coin slammed hard into a person on the front side of the coin, the car would be wrecked while the human would be completely alright.
If the lift was crammed full of people…
It would be like a raw egg that was in a crammed train, it would be crushed.
'…Uu, this is really getting more and more depressing. But more importantly my mental analogy made me hungry for eggs, is that wrong?'
Think about happy things, hurry up and think of something happy and not creepy—Kamijou's heart was in urgent need of rest.
"Oh yeah, where's that phone?"
"What?"
"You just mentioned the front side of the coin and the back side of the coin, right? Can't the phone work?" Kamijou said as she pulled out her phone.
Though she said it, Kamijou realized that this was just an excuse she made for herself. As too many abnormal things had happened, Kamijou Tsubaki was anxious and wanted to check on Index.
As for who to call, Kamijou didn't need to think at all.
Her room—in other words, a girl who was in her room waiting for her. Just as Kamijou intended to call, she realized something.
"…Hold on, wouldn't the enemy detect this call signal and attack us?"
"Who knows? But our existence may have been discovered. We did enter from the front door."
"If so, why weren't we attacked?"
"Heavens know. Maybe that's because they're overconfident, or maybe they intend to destroy us in one move. That alchemist's that kind of person. Right now, he should be preparing all sorts of means to prepare a counterattack."
"…"
'If so, why in the world does your God exist?' Kamijou wondered.
But since their whereabouts were most likely exposed, there was no need to fidget around. Thus, Kamijou decided to brazenly make a call.
Three call tones.
'So it can't work…?'
Six call tones.
'…Seems like I can only give up'
Nine call tones.
'HURRY UP AND PICK UP!' Tsubaki was staring to worry.
Though she was feeling impatient, Kamijou didn't want to hang up the phone. While waiting, Kamijou had another thought. What if that wasn't related to the front side of the coin or back side of the coin, but Index was unwilling to pick the phone up? Or what if it was not that she wouldn't pick it up, but she couldn't?
'Don't tell me…'
'Something happened to Index?'
'In—!'
Just as a mysterious chill rose up Kamijou's stomach.
The phone was picked up.
"Erm, hello! This is Index Libror—excuse me, I'm sorry, this is Kamijou speaking, that, hello, hello?" 'Or I forgot that Index has probably never answered a phone before'
…What came next was Index's extremely nervous voice.
"Oi, let me ask you," Kamijou lethargically asked as if she just tried a wrong method of slimming. "Is this the first time you're picking up a call?"
"Uweeh!? This, this voice is Tsubaki's. Eh? Do all the voices in the phone sound the same?"
Then, a knocking sound could be heard.
It should be a puzzled Index tilting her head and knocking the receiver against the floor.
"INDEX! STOP KNOCKING THE MACHINE WHENEVER YOU FEEL THAT A MACHINE HAS A PROBLEM! THAT'S WHAT AN OLD GRANNY WILL DO EVERY TIME SHE'S FIXING A PHONE!"
"…That's strange, the only one who should be saying such stupid words is Tsubaki."
'I will find you… and I will kill you' Kamijou retorted deep inside.
That was to be expected. It should be Index's first time picking up a phone (but it seemed that she had seen others pick up the phone before, judging from her first sentence 'hello'). It seemed like she was walking around frantically in front of the phone, but the phone continued to ring, so she had to pick up the phone.
The magic expert who had knowledge of 103,000 grimoires didn't understand anything about science at all, and that amused Kamijou. However, she remembered something else. That Index didn't have any memories since she only had one year's worth of memories.
Such a funny action was actually a deficiency caused by the loss of memories. Thinking about that, it was really heart-aching.
"Niyai? Tsubaki? Why must you deliberately use such a troublesome, exaggerated and excessive and unfriendly thing to the phone? Did something serious happen?"
"Ah, nothing—"
It seemed like to Index, the telephone wasn't something ordinary.
"Ah, is it because one of the two lasagnas in the refrigerator was Tsubaki's!?"
"You ate it? Oh well—"
"Ah!"—Before Kamijou could continue, the voice could be heard again.
"Ah, there was pudding in the fridge…!"
"YOU ATE IT!? THAT WAS MY PUDDING!"
"But there was only one!"
"CAN'T YOU SPARE ANY THOUGHTS FOR THE OWNER OF THE HOUSE! THAT'S BLACK HONEY PUDDING! ONE COSTS 700 YEN!"
Kamijou cried. 'Damn, that was good pudding, Note to self, buy a butt load of pudding'
"~~uu, oh, oh well. Never mind, I almost went out of topic. Since the phone managed to link, never mind."
"? Tsubaki, are you looking for me for something?"
"Ar. I'm just testing if I could get to you through the phone. I'm hanging up."
"?"
'Right now, Index should be tilting her head in confusion, right?' Kamijou thought.
Tsubaki then grinned evilly and said, "Ah, oh yeah. Did you know, Index? For every single minute you use the phone, your lifespan will be shortened by one day accordingly?"
"WAAHHH!"
The phone line was cut. It seemed like the entire receiver dropped onto the floor.
"…Such a simple minded person."
Having taken revenge for her pudding, she muttered to herself after hanging up the phone.
However…
"…"
The magician beside her looked like he wanted to say something.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Stiyl sighed, and continued.
"It's just that I feel that you might be too relaxed. This is a battlefield, and yet you're chatting away nonchalantly with a girl. I don't really care if you die because of carelessness; in fact, I'll be dancing in joy, but please don't drag me down." 'Wow, his acting really sucks'
"Are you jealous?"
"Ku…uuu…" 'Bingo!'
Stiyl remained silent, and it seemed like he burst about 60% of his blood vessels.
Kamijou started to understand how she should handle this person in front of him.
"…Yeah, that's right."
The shock Stiyl's words gave to Kamijou was even more than what she had expected.
Kamijou didn't know why she was so affected.
However, Stiyl continued, "…Don't be mistaken. I'm not treating that child as a target of romance." 'uhuh, right. Lolicon off the port bow!'
Without looking at Kamijou's disbelieving face, Stiyl continued.
"You should know that up until now, that child had to erase her memories once every year or else she would die. If so, you can imagine how many people were in your position."
"…"
"Many have wanted to be her father, some, her older brother, others, her good friend, and even some wanted to be her teacher." 'I'm more like Index's mother/older sister then anything else'
Stiyl continued on.
"It's just like that, just that simple. I failed in the past, and you succeed. That's the mere difference between me and you."
Stiyl stared at Kamijou's face.
He looked like he was facing a future he couldn't fulfill.
"However, I'll be lying if I say that I don't care."
Stiyl sighed and continued.
"Besides, I didn't really get abandoned by Index, it's just that she forgot. If she recovered her memories, she'll come running at me and hug me."
Kamijou couldn't say anything.
'If there's a person, a very important person to me that lost her memory, not knowing anything, and somebody just steps in and accompanies her, how would I feel? Can I still remain calm?' Kamijou asked herself.
No, this wasn't just a problem of somebody else standing beside her.
Wouldn't she feel that she got betrayed by this most important person?
But that person in front of her still believed in himself, thoroughly following his belief.
So strong.
Tsubaki smiled sadly "You've got a stronger heart then I expected. Index would have been just as happy with you as she is with me. Never forget that, Index might have forgotten. But I have no doubt you have good memories of being with her. Hold onto those memories and walk forwards into the future. You'll make new memories that will shine just as brightly eventually"
Stiyl just stared at Tsubaki in awe, Tsubaki noticed his expression and just couldn't help herself. She posed provocatively leaning against the stairwell banister while slightly lifting up her shirt and said "Oh ho, are you trying to get closer to me then Stiyl. That look on your face makes me wonder what intentions you have for me? Should I be worried about being alone with you?"
Stiyl went bright red and started to stammer and Tsubaki held back giggles, despite his disguise, Stiyl Magnus was still only a Fourteen year old boy who had only recently discovered women. Having a sixteen year old bombshell flirt with him, even jokingly was an experience he'd never had before and he had no idea how to deal with it.
-SOM-
Verse IV
-SOM-
After climbing up to the fifth level, Kamijou and Stiyl arrived onto the corridor.
The location diagram of Misawa Cram School was memorized completely in Stiyl's brain.
There was a reason why they came to that level. That was because from the parameters of the location diagram and the actual measurements done through the infrared and ultrasonic means, there were errors in the spaces.
While walking down the middle of the straight corridor, Stiyl lightly knocked on a wall that didn't look abnormal.
"…Even if we're here, if we can't open it, we have to give up, right?"
"Yeah."
Even if it wasn't a secret room, to Kamijou and Stiyl, who were on the back side of the coin, they couldn't even open a door on the front side. If they wanted to enter the room, they could still wait until a student on the front side of the coin opened the door and then slip in. However, if it was a secret room, there may not be students going in and out so often.
"But it's best to check the situation out. No matter how strong the boundary is, the caster's Aureolus. We can just force him to remove the boundary by threatening him—or by killing him."
"…"
Kamijou raised an eyebrow at Stiyl's comment 'So that Knight's passing has affected him more then he is letting on'.
This is a battlefield, and Aureolus was the enemy they must beat; Kamijou understood that. Thinking about the imprisoned Himegami Aisa and the knight Aureolus took down, one could imagine that the situation right now was really precarious.
Tsubaki nodded with a grim smile, she knew that Stiyl wouldn't hesitate if faced with a dilemma.
They headed down the closest wall closest to the secret room. Then, both of them arrived at a student cafeteria. It seemed like they were mixing the distances between the people in the wide room to hide the existence of that small secret room. That used an illusion, and there were no doors at the entrance of the student cafeteria.
Trying to prevent themselves from getting caught in the crowd, Kamijou and Stiyl walked into the cafeteria.
The people on the back side of the coin couldn't interfere with the people on the front side of the coin. The boys were fighting for the few seats available, the girls who were carrying their trays of food and chatting away as they walk on; everyone was rushing in like bulls. And unlike a corridor, everyone's movements in the wide restaurant were unpredictable. Kamijou and Stiyl were already on their toes trying to avoid the crowd. 'Something's off, I'm getting static through all of the systems in this building, there is something wrong. How is this Aureolus blocking my connection?'
Besides, since it was evening, there were many students in the cafeteria.
It was actually a refreshing experience for others to be unable to see her. That was different from moving in a traffic jam. Those who had gone through that should realize that the surrounding people would consciously try to avoid them to prevent themselves from knocking into each other.
There was a counter at the secret room, and behind it was a small kitchen. The large freeze and the utensils made the kitchen even more cramped. With that, others couldn't tell how big the space really was, so outsider couldn't tell.
"…Hm, this is the first time I actually seen some religious science, but it doesn't seem much. I thought they would put some photo of a Bishop." 'That string of Binary on the wall, why does it seem so familiar?'
"…It's true that it doesn't look dangerous."
Kamijou looked around.
In the realm of science, there was an indicator of 'fanatical religious rating'. For example, there was the 'level of taking in gold' from the believers, 'the expansion level' when they forced new believers in, 'the absolute orders level' where believers would accept all orders even if they ended up having to self-destruct, the 'dangerous items creation level' of creating poison gas or explosives', and so on. The religions with higher points would be counted as a more dangerous religious science.
From the science viewpoint, Misawa Cram School wouldn't really be a dangerous religion. As the members were students, they couldn't possibly take in too much money.
And since it was a cram school, that place wasn't suited to create any chemical weapons.
However…
"…No, this is really a deadly scientific religion."
Kamijou said with absolute certainty, everyone in this room was at least a Level 1 Esper, some where Level 2, a couple were Level 3 and according to the student roster there was a Level 4 somewhere in the building as well.
Though it was a cafeteria that had many students gathered there, the atmosphere was unexpectedly heavy as if they were taking an elevator. That was to be expected, Kamijou thought. That's because everyone there may be talking loudly, but the content of the conversations were anything but. They could only talk about things that belittled others, like 'how many people I beat in the last mock exam', 'how many marks I improved by', or 'I don't understand how there are trash who won't study even at this time', just to make themselves happy.
Kamijou looked at a poster on the wall of the cafeteria.
It was an extremely ordinary cram school poster. Written on it were two extremely different sentences, 'if you study hard now, you will get into a good school and have a great future for yourself assured', and 'if you don't study now, you'll end up at the bottom and meet misfortune'.
That was really not much different from a lucky letter, Kamijou thought. The lucky letter was a gimmick derived from an unlucky letter, some prank mail that was like those 'if you send this mail to seven people within seven days, you'll get happiness' mail. On the other hand, the person would get misfortune if he didn't do so. That threatening intent wasn't any different from a radical religion.
"Humph, the motto of this school should be something like 'those who study here should be extremely smart', right? Besides, the teachers must be brainwashing the students, telling them things like 'this is something that will definitely be tested, I'll tell you that, those who didn't study here in the summer vacation are inferior people' or something like that, right?"
How infuriating. Kamijou muttered.
Really, she felt disgusted.
Kamijou was really disgusted that she could actually slightly emphasize with them.
Besides, this thing called exams were easily associated with superstitions, Kamijou thought. No matter how hardworking the students were, they would try some 'unscientific food to increase their concentration'. There were many students who would even bring talismans to pray for top scores into the exam hall.
It was a gap called insecurity.
The scientific religion of that Misawa Cram School used a knife and stabbed it into that gap.
"Hm, seems like you got caught by the fanatical poison gas, eh? But don't forget our aim; we have to find where the secret entrance is."
"No, no I didn't get caught by any gas. I'm simply pissed at what these assholes are doing"
Kamijou took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
Then, she turned to look around the entire cafeteria.
Immediately, about eighty students in the cafeteria turned to stare at her.
At first, Kamijou thought that she spoke too loudly and ended up attracting everyone's attention, then her mind caught up and she took a battle stance.
"Well, doesn't look good here…is this the first pass?"
"First Pass?"
"I see, so the area around the secret room has such an alarm system?" Stiyl muttered
"…"
Kamijou looked around.
About eighty students were definitely looking at Kamijou and Stiyl. The human looking action disappeared, and everyone was standing around blankly and having glass-like eyes. 'They, kind of look like the Radio Noise Sisters. What, what is going on?'
"Don, don't tell me—"
Kamijou looked around. It's true. Eighty students were now on the back side of the coin.
And that meant—
"—Magician!"
Just as Kamijou shouted out meaninglessly, Stiyl abandoned Kamijou and jumped back.
However…
"The wings of the seraph shines brightly, and the bright light is a pure white color that reveals all sins—" Tsubaki's Mana and Telesma went from an unnoticeable ripple in the fabric of the world to a visible tear in reality as she summoned some of her most powerful defensive magics. A casually cast Heiligtum covered her in a golden shield.
One of the students who were standing around started to mutter something ambiguous.
"The pure white color is the proof of purity, the mark is the result of one's actions—"
Another voice overlapped the first one.
"The re'sult is the future, the future' is 'time is uni'form—"—"
A second voice, a third, a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen—!
"Uniformity is 'all, all is created by the past, the past is the ca'use, cause is one, one is 'sin, sin are humans, humans fear, fear' is gu'ilt, guilt' resides within oneself, oneself if there is something one despises within, the wings of the seraph shall reveal your sins, and remove it from within you—!"
An eighty-person chorus—no, rather, a verbal maelstrom of the battle that was created by the several thousand people in that building echoed throughout.
On every single student's forehead was a ping-pong sized blueish-white glow. Maybe the things were starting to gather as they floated about in the air and landed on the floor beside Kamijou.
Then, like a strong acid fizzing and explosives giving off white smoke.
"Oi! Strongest shield, Imagine Breaker! Time for you to step up!"
"Wha? …Oi!"
Looking back, the numerous balls were closing in, blocking Kamijou's sight. Tsubaki filled her Nodachi with power and slashed, destroying most of the orbs and using the shockwave of the slash to knock the majority of the students unconscious.
But more orbs began to appear and Tsubaki beat a quick retreat following after Stiyl.
It was like fighting with someone that had four arms. Even if she guarded against two of them flawlessly, the other two could still wave at her. An individual power wasn't going to match up to a group's.
BOOM, a large number of balls moved out of the entrance and then rushed out of the floodgates as if the cafeteria was filled completely with water. Kamijou and Stiyl could only run down the corridor.
"Che, but speaking of which, this may be a replica, but to be able to replicate the Gregorian Chant, it seems like I underestimated that Aureolus Izzard."
"What's with that Gregorian whatever?" 'I'm supremely pissed off right now!'
"Originally, it was the ultimate weapon, a grand spell that required 3,333 monks in a cathedral and gathered their prayers. It's like focusing sunlight on a magnifying glass, and can magnify that power," Stiyl gritted his teeth and said, "Though it's a replica now and they have only about two thousand students, but as the saying goes in this country, 'pile up sand and you can build a tower'. The power can't be underestimated." 'It's like the Radio Noise Network, one Sister on her own isn't too powerful, but as more and more of them work together the effect is amplified dramatically'
Kamijou was stunned and angry, she wanted a bloody retribution from Aureolus Izzard for his actions, she knew what the effect of casting magic was on Espers and she knew that the thousands of students in this building would be suffering from this action.
This was a battlefield, and he was in the midst of the enemy's camp. Tsubaki could easily understand all that in her brain. But on thinking that this meant that she was fighting against two thousand people, she started to feel a sense of despair.
"Then there's no way we can beat that head on! Though it's big here, we'll still get caught in this building if we're going to play hide-and-seek with two thousand people!?"
"Not quite," Stiyl said as he continued to look in front. "The main emphasis is the core. The Gregorian Chant requires the simultaneous control of two thousand people, or else it won't work. If we can find the core of these two thousand people and destroy it, we can destroy the Gregorian Chant."
Both of them continued to run down the long corridor, and finally arrived near the staircase. At that moment, they saw that there was a large number of blueish-white balls flooding in.
They were attacked on both sides.
"The stairs—move it!"
Kamijou and Stiyl frantically ducked into the stairs beside them. Just as Kamijou intended to ask Stiyl whether they should run up or down the stairs, she suddenly realized that something was amiss.
"You…you've been looking so calm up till now. Do you have some sort of secret move?"
That's right. To someone who had finally managed to escape from the claws of death, Stiyl was really being too calm.
"Hm, I do have a secret plan. It's just that I'm wondering whether I should use it now."
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? IF YOU HAVE IT, HURRY UP AND USE IT!"
With an 'oh', Stiyl happily looked at Kamijou's face.
Facing that abnormal smile, Kamijou inadvertently held her breath, becoming even more alert. At that moment though…
Don. Stiyl pushed Kamijou down the stairs.
He had only seconds to contemplate the stupidity of pushing a Saint down the stairs to become bait before a powerful blast of lightning struck him right in the chest blowing him back. He silently prayed that Tsubaki would get distracted by the Gregorian Chant Replica, or else his life was most likely forfeit.
Tsubaki was currently cursing in every language she knew and wanted to imagine multiple gory tortures for Stiyl, but she had other things to worry about.
For at that moment, another fresh set of footsteps interrupted Kamijou's thoughts.
And it was coming from below, blocking off her getaway.
"…!"
The flood of ball-like things continued to close in, but Kamijou couldn't possibly stop, just taking out one set of those balls had depleted her magic by ten percent.
Tsubaki dashed down and peered downstairs.
There was a girl downstairs waiting for Kamijou. A girl she had never met before, one whose uniform she didn't even have an impression on.
Perhaps she was a candidate who was older than Kamijou by one or two years. Black braids, round spectacles, the girl looked like she couldn't even fight, let alone use magic.
"The flames punish sin, Purgatory governs the flames. Purgatory was created to burn sinners, as the only violence God recognizes."
But what came from her cute lips made Tsubaki really unhappy. It was like the sound of rusted gears.
Every time she said something, the ball of blueish-white light between the girl's eyebrows would increase in size bit by bit.
It seemed like the front and back sides of the coin were flipped around. The girl who .should be on the front side of the coin was now a magician and standing on the back side of the coin. Perhaps every student in Misawa Cram School was the same now. But on the other hand, Kamijou could easily knock the girl down now.
'I can win this…!'
Kamijou clenched her right fist. Though she definitely couldn't beat numerous thousand people in her current state, one or two of those ball objects weren't much of a threat. Kamijou clenched her fist even tighter, as if she was trying to confirm the existence of her Imagine Breaker.
At this moment…
Crack!
The girl's face exploded as if firecrackers were placed underneath her skin. 'What?'
"What…?"
Just as Kamijou's shocked, the girl's fingers, nose, inside of her clothes…let out mini explosions one after another. Though the explosions were so small that they only burned holes that were a few centimeters wide on the skin, but… 'Magical Recoil!'
"Violence…is the affirmation of death. Affirmation, is—recognition. Re—cog…ni—"
Every time the girl said a single word, her body would start to crack. Her talking lips were cracking as well, and blood flowed out of her lips as it seemed like her insides were severely damaged. Even so, the girl continued to talk. No, it's more like she couldn't talk.
It felt like she was being controlled by a machine and yet also like a frog being electrocuted. Her leg muscles were twitching, ignoring the frog's will.
'Don't tell me…'
The anxiety rose up Kamijou's stomach.
Espers couldn't use magic.
Though Espers and magicians were similar in that they could use supernatural power, the concept was different.
The circuit in Espers was different from that of an ordinary person. Even if they tried to imitate a magician, they couldn't use magic. That was the whole reason her Esper Development Program had been faked.
However, this was Academy City.
All the students there should have taken some Esper development program.
Then, assuming that…
What would happen when Espers who couldn't use magic tried to use magic? Unfortunately Tsubaki knew the answer, they would die painfully if not treated.
"Stop… it—"
Kamijou muttered, forgetting her own situation now.
The circuits were different, her knowledge was telling him that. Kamijou knew a fair deal about the basis behind magic, and for an Esper to use it was like a generator that was to be powered by batteries, and forcefully charged with alternating current.
Though the current flowed and the circuit worked, such a crazy method would end up burning the circuit.
"—STOP IT! YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT YOUR OWN BODY IS IN TROUBLE!"
Tsubaki even forgot to clench her fist. Right now, even though it felt like she was being pointed at with a gun at her head, she still dashed down the stairs without any care. 'I am the guardian, I am the Bearer of Misfortune. I will save this girl and all the other Espers in this accursed school'
"…tion, re—st wit… thin. Within… refers… to—the world. Connect your inner self with the outside world."
The girl that was muttering suddenly let out a deep voice, and went silent.
The bridge between her eyebrows exploded. The blueish-white ball that she summoned disappeared, leaving behind a fresh red wound.
The voice just now many be a fatal wound. The girl's body swayed about and tumbled towards the stairs.
Kamijou's magic was already reacting and a healing spell spilled from her lips as she caught the girl.
A human body was heavy. Even a petite girl could be really heavy if she was treated as luggage. Any parent who had carried a sleeping child knew how heavy they could be, normally Tsubaki would be putting herself in danger by carrying the girl.
But Tsubaki was a Saint and her body was beyond human limitations.
Yes, that girl was an enemy. Tsubaki couldn't get any benefits even if she saved her, and she may even be attacked. If she considered her life as the biggest priority, she should just leave that enemy behind and run away.
But, while Tsubaki's logical mind screamed at her. Her Heart, Soul and Magic screamed a counterpart.
The most important thing was that a severely wounded person like her couldn't possibly be saved. Anyone could tell that her wounds were fatal. Besides, her soul got poisoned by the religious science. Tsubaki's mind argued.
Hearing the various voices in her mind from her logical mind, the computing power of Academy City and her own conscious arguing, Kamijou inadvertently gnashed her teeth.
"STOP MESSING AROUND—!"
Even so, Kamijou Tsubaki's magic poured forth, both alerting Aureolus Izzard to the presence of a powerful Magician, but also helping to save the girls life.
If forced to choose between her own safety and helping others, Kamijou Tsubaki would always choose to help others. It was who she was, it was who she would always be and it was the basis of her magic.
The Saint who Bears the Misfortunes of Mankind
Tsubaki had made her choice and her Magic, her Soul and her Heart would always make that same choice, no matter what her Mind might argue.
'Despite every reason that I should abandon this girl, the fact she is an enemy, the fact it would put me in danger to save her'
Even with all those reasons.
Even then, there was no reason to abandon a girl who was wounded, to let her get involved in the flood of balls that was coming in from behind. Even if Tsubaki looked around the entire world, she couldn't find a reason to allow that.
It was likely that this girl didn't intend for that to happen.
She probably thought that this would be just an ordinary cram school when she enrolled, and soon got brainwashed by religious science unknowingly, before being used as an abandoned pawn without knowing it.
Kamijou remembered the knight who fell in front of the lift.
Any kind person couldn't possibly leave him alone injured, even if he was an enemy.
"Guu…damn it!"
Don! The girl that collapsed on Kamijou's chest was a lot lighter than what she had expected. However, that was when she was viewed as a person. If she were viewed as luggage, she could be considered extremely heavy. Also as they were midway down the stairs, Kamijou couldn't maintain her balance as she almost fell down.
Carrying the bloodied girl, Kamijou intended to continue running down the stairs as she looked behind.
At this moment…
(…)
The flood of balls had already arrived in front of Kamijou's nose like a landslide.
Kamijou frantically used her right hand to knock away the balls in front of her, while carrying the girl with her left hand and rushing down the final steps. However, an unconscious person was a lot heavier than what Kamijou had expected. It felt like a metal ball was tied to her feet as she swam.
Tsubaki wanted to jump, but her body was tied up by the gravity.
Just that little lag caused the thousands of balls to form a vortex around Kamijou.
"…!"
Kamijou glared at the magic surrounding her and once again she filled her Nodachi with her Mana and Telesma, preparing to once again temporarily overwhelm the power of the chant. But as she prepared to use her power she noticed something.
"…Huh?"
Kamijou didn't understand what was going on.
It felt like time had stopped. That was because the phenomenon now could only be explained by a time stoppage. The numerous balls in front of her nose nearly swallowed her full. However, the vortex of balls seemed to be paused in a record as they remained in mid-air.
After a while, the seemingly impatient balls finally started to move.
However, they weren't swallowing Kamijou whole, but dropping down onto the floor like an apple in the hand being dropped slowly. The balls that landed on the floor then vanished as it they sublimed.
Then, a set of footsteps could be heard.
Kamijou didn't understand the situation. Even though she didn't, she knew that the footsteps were coming from downstairs. Looking for the answer, Kamijou stared downstairs as she looked for the source of the footsteps.
The stairs were linked downstairs to the entrance of the corridor, and the sunset sun was shining on the dark emergency stairs.
Over there…
The Deep Blood Himegami Aisa was looking up like she was watching from the bottom of a well.
-SOM-
Verse V
-SOM-
Stiyl's POV
At that moment, Stiyl Magnus was seeing the used-up flame sword vanish.
Cards of runes scattered about in the air like Sakura petals.
This was a corridor that was a level above Kamijou. It was an ordinary long corridor, but Stiyl knew that the core of the Gregorian Chant was over there.
He was a magician. To him, detecting the mana flow was his speciality, so it wasn't difficult at all. Even though the magical power of the students there was extremely weak, with the power of two thousand people being managed at a single point, it was hard not to detect the core.
"…I see. So this is considered hidden, huh?"
Smoking casually, Stiyl muttered.
The hiding on the front side of the coin was considered an absolute defense to the people on the back side of the coin.
Thus, the people on the back side of the coin couldn't even do anything to things on the front side of the coin, even if it was just removing a Christmas wrapper.
Thus, by putting a core into an ordinary wall, a strongest defense would be formed. Even if the enemy magician found the place, as long as the enemy couldn't touch the core, it should be safe.
"But first, I have to cover the core in this wall up first."
Stiyl looked bored as he puffed out smoke. His flames didn't have any shape. For example, if there were some slight distortions in the walls and windows that created a gap not even a millimeter wide, he could let his 3,000 degree Celsius flames flow through. The knowledge on the front side of the coin wasn't suited for the back side of the coin. If he wanted to create a perfect defense, the best option was to put the core into a plastic bag and tie the bag up.
Anyway, without even seeing the core, Stiyl destroyed it.
Thus, it seemed like he had managed to destroy the Gregorian Chant.
"…Speaking of which," Stiyl shook the cigarette in his mouth and said, "Looking at this bloody path, it seems like even the alchemist has fallen after we haven't met for so long. The real bloody road should be made with one's own blood, right?"
An Esper and a magician's body setup was different. If Espers even tried to use magic, the unstable mana would rip through the blood vessels and nerves in his body.
In fact, there were many fallen students on that corridor—including the area around his feet. Some were still trembling, and some couldn't move anymore. It was unknown where the thick smell of rust came from. Looking around in the rooms, there should be a hellish sight ten times worse than what he described.
Even Stiyl was amazed at himself for saying such bitter things.
It was like he still had some human feelings inside him.
'…That woman really seems to believe in me.'
Recalling that Saint, Stiyl looked like he couldn't take it anymore.
At that moment, Stiyl could hear a very clear sound of footsteps coming over from the other side.
Not anxious, not intending to suppress the volume, not intending to hide the killing intent, and yet not intending to hide and make the killer blow.
If there was a need for an illustration, it was like facing an enemy and intending to attack, and yet knocking on his door; it was extremely daring and arrogant. Absolute confidence. It was a declaration of war with a firm belief that he would win, and also like a declaration of victory.
The owner of the footsteps said, "Naturally, it's true that by using the fake Gregorian Chant, I can lure you to where the core is no matter where you're hiding."
The footsteps never stopped, and he continued.
"Certainly, there should be two intruders… where's the other one? Clearly, was that familiar of yours swallowed by the Gregorian Chant?"
Stiyl snorted "Like Tsubaki would fall to something that weak" Stiyl said. "But that woman has a longer life than what you expect. Also, she's most definitely not my familiar" Stiyl almost shuddered at the thought of what Tsubaki would do to him, for both even thinking of calling her his familiar and for his little stunt earlier, his ribs still hurt.
Stiyl chuckled and turned to face the owner of the footsteps.
His eyes were no longer smiling.
That set of footsteps came from a pair of Italian leather shoes. The long legs above the shoes and the two meter tall frame were wrapped in an expensive and white Western suit.
His name was Aureolus. Eighteen years old, male.
His hair was green. That dyed color meant that this man controlled one of the five elements 'Earth'. The slick hairstyle made that white-skinned man in white clothing all the more unique.
Perhaps others would be laughed at if they wore such a ridiculous getup, but to the middle-aged looking man, wearing such a shirt was obviously logical.
"What now? What do you intend to do luring me here when you aren't good at fighting? You should know that you alone can't stop me. Or rather, how many magical tools do you have on you? You antique salesman?"
"…"
Those words seemed to be taboo to Aureolus.
For an alchemist to step onto the front lines and fight, he had to equip himself with weapons and spiritual tools. Aureolus must use tens, even hundreds of magical tools just to match up against Stiyl.
"Idiot. Can't you tell that I don't have any magical tools on me?"
"I guess so. Besides, this entire building itself is like a sacred city—a huge magic tool in itself. Even if you don't use any magical tools to protect yourself, the surrounding environment will automatically help you. Hm, the problem is, why did you come out? If you just stayed put, the sacred city would have fought for you. And even if you come out, you're just relying on the power of the sacred city. So what are you doing here? Or rather, what can you do here?"
"You bastard—!"
Like a snake slithering out of a hole, swoosh, a cold knife shot out of Aureolus' right sleeve.
'A dart…?'
Stiyl frowned. Though it looked like a dart, it was about the size of a dagger. Just as Stiyl thought that this was a hidden throwing weapon…
"—Transmute!"
Immediately, the dart flew out like a bullet, and flew right at Stiyl's eye.
The tip of the huge dart was attached to a golden chain.
Stiyl bent his body down and saw the large golden snake-like dart fly past. The gold chain flew out of Aureolus' sleeve, ripping through the air and grazing Stiyl's face.
'Tch'.
With the sound of a fruit being sliced open, the tip of the dart stabbed into the back of one of the fallen students.
'…'
Just as Stiyl was wondering what he should say…
'…?'
BAM. Like a knife piercing a balloon, the student's body burst into bits and fluids.
It was as if someone just used a strong acid to corrode the huge body, but yet somewhat different. That was not an ordinary liquid, but shiny golden—
Pure gold that had melted due to high heat.
Swoosh, the chain rewound back, and the dart flew back into Aureolus' sleeve.
"Naturally, why would you be so shocked?"
Aureolus again raised his right hand and said, "I'm an alchemist, and I suppose, that you know how I got this name."
Stiyl couldn't reply.
The representative magic called alchemy, which could convert lead into pure gold, really existed.
However, if such a project was to be carried out using modern materials, it would take seven trillion yen and three years.
It could be said to be a spell with a hefty price.
However, the Aureolus here actually managed to use that magic in less than a second.
It was incomparably fast, and it could be said that nobody could surpass that record.
"Anyone who gets touched by this Limen Magna of mine will be forcefully converted into pure gold. It can't be defended against nor avoided. Now, show me your ace, your Innocentius. I'm really interested in seeing whether the flames that don't have shape can be converted into gold."
The gold dagger snuck out like a snake from the alchemist's right sleeve.
"…"
But Stiyl didn't say anything.
It's like he couldn't believe what was happening in front of him, completely rooted to the spot.
"Hm, Inevitably, it's to be expected that you would be shocked after seeing my Limen Magna. But don't get killed by me so easily. I'm not satisfied yet. That attitude of yours five seconds ago can't be compensated even if you die ten thousand times."
Surprised, Stiyl Magnus muttered like a child who just saw a ghost. "So, why must you do just a meaningless thing?"
"What…?"
The alchemist was shocked.
"What's so surprising about these words? The main point of magic is to experiment, and not get results, isn't it? Even if an expert can make a magic drug within five seconds, what's the difference if the drug effects are the same?" Looking like he just saw something really dumb, Stiyl sighed and said, "It's the same with what you did. Limen Magna? How stupid. How is this any different from spraying strong acid on someone?"
"…Just…"
"I know that you're really trying hard, but it's too much of an overkill to use Innocentius to beat this. Besides, it's watching a house, and I have no need to use it here."
"…JUST SHUT UP!"
Trying to shut of the mockery, Aureolus let out the Limen Magna from his right sleeve.
The dart flew out, showing the alchemist's rage. As the attack and rewinding speed were too fast, it looked like the afterimages of several gold lasers. At the barrage of ten attacks every second, the magician Stiyl's body of flesh and blood couldn't keep up to that speed at all. In the end, among ten shots, six of them stabbed through the face and the abdomen like a sewing machine head.
The runic cards on Stiyl's body were flying about in the air.
However…
"And what's with this? Haven't you realized that you're just a magic tool?"
His upper body got pierced through like a hive, and there was an arm-sized hole that could pass through the face. However, Stiyl Magnus' extremely bored and unenthusiastic tone could still be heard.
"WHAT… ARE YOU SAYING!?"
Extremely stunned, Aureolus continued to fire the Limen Magna. Stiyl's tattered upper body continued to be pierced, and the lower body that was originally unhurt was now being pierced through as well.
However…
"Using basic materials and a Germanic cross to create a soul, it really does look like what the Roman Catholic priests would do. But I just want to look for the real Aureolus Izzard. Will the Aureolus Dummy please step aside?"
Stiyl's body was swaying about in the air, gradually becoming transparent, looking as if it would disappear anytime soon. But even so, he continued to remain standing.
"What are you saying!? These words defy the basic premises! Obviously I created Limen Magna. Or else where would this power come from?"
"Of course it came from the real Aureolus Izzard. I believe you're starting to feel that something's wrong, right? Alright, let me ask you a question, Aureolus Dummy. Why did you start to learn alchemy?"
"…Do you need to ask that?" Aureolus raised the Limen Magna and said, "The aim of alchemy is only to seek the truth. And I specialize in humans. Maintaining a humane concept and seeing how high I can reach, this is the answer I seek."
By consuming a poisonous plant that caused hallucinations, it could cause the assimilation and reciting of incantations be a lot faster even though it would wreck the body. One could hibernate for thousands of years by going into the frozen land of the South Pole.
But what Aureolus wanted to know wasn't that breakthrough that was made by sacrificing oneself for humanity. What he wanted to know was how humans could maintain their form and pride, and how much it could be ascended to. That was his aim in alchemy.
Aureolus, who was the descendant of the famous so-called magician-doctor Paracelsus, had that as his goal in life. That's also what he was most proud of.
"If that's the case, why do you want to get near vampires that are said to surpasses human concept?"
But the magician's words crushed all his belief.
"…"
"Humph. See, you don't understand. You don't understand anything at all. You don't know what Aureolus Izzard is doing, and you don't know what Aureolus Izzard is thinking of doing. You're just a fake that only has his basic ideas in his mind, so you can't understand why Aureolus Izzard would go against his initial beliefs and do all that."
If he really didn't know anything, how could he be the real magician Aureolus Izzard? The magician that should be battered really badly was actually talking in an even more arrogant tone than the alchemist.
"Also, about that Limen Magna of yours, since magic exists for research, how can Aureolus Izzard be so proud that he completed such a spell? Only a kid will be happy about being cured after taking a flu medicine, right?"
"U… ah…"
There were too many points Aureolus could argue about.
However, Aureolus couldn't stop himself from listening. That's because the words the magician had said were like a jigsaw puzzle that patched up all the deficiencies in his heart. Thus, he really couldn't ignore it.
"I can say it as many times as you want. You're a fake. I'm only looking for the real Aureolus Izzard and not you. Though it's really too easy to destroy one or two of these security functions of yours, I'm not too willing since you have a familiar person's face. Get away as far as you can."
The Aureolus Dummy couldn't take it anymore.
It wasn't about whether he was a dummy. The main point was that he spent a lot of effort just to create that one and only spell. How could it originate from somebody else?
The Aureolus Dummy intended to use his full power to crush the enemy in front of him, and raised his blade.
"Also, you should understand this clearly. How can the real Aureolus Izzard lose so easily?"
The voice came from behind.
At a moment, the warm stove-like air brushed past the Aureolus Dummy's face. Then, at a place that was empty, Stiyl Magnus appeared.
'A mirage…!?'
The Aureolus Dummy immediately tried to back away.
That so-called mirage was a phenomenon that was caused by the expansion heat, causing a refraction of light. Thus, he could do things like letting his body seemingly melt into the air or let himself look like he was at a place where he really wasn't at, just like a movie screening.
It was a fake image that was speared through many times by the Limen Magna. The real Stiyl had hid himself in the air and sneaked behind Aureolus.
The Aureolus Dummy seemed to see through Stiyl's tactic thoroughly in an instant.
It was through that he could avoid his attacks by moving about.
However…
The illusion that was speared by that Limen Magna seemed to cause a false sense in the Aureolus Dummy's mind—at that less than a second moment, the image overlapped with his body, and that was the biggest mistake.
If he stopped thinking, he would show fatal holes.
Just as the Aureolus Dummy dragged his thoughts back to reality, the flame sword appeared on Stiyl's right hand. The flame sword swung directly down and hacked the Aureolus Dummy's left hand and leg away.
The cut was extremely smooth like a hot knife cutting butter.
The parts that were sliced by the 3,000 degrees Celsius flame weren't even bleeding.
"U… ah."
But what dominated the Aureolus Dummy's mind wasn't the pain of the body.
"—Also, you should understand this clearly. How can the real Aureolus Izzard lose so easily?"
The magician's words echoed in his mind, shaking his brain. That's right, Aureolus Izzard was definitely invincible and overwhelming. He had never known what failure was, what retreat was. He could only be called a perfect saint.
But what was with his ugly state now?
Right now, how is he any different from a scaredy cat that used all sorts of tools to protect himself and trembled on taking every single attack?
"A… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
-SOM-
Verse VI
-SOM-
Tsubaki's POV
"It looks bad, but the injuries aren't serious. Treatment will suffice."
Kamijou dragged the Misawa Cram School student—the girl with braids—onto the corridor, and the Deep Blood Himegami Aisa said that calmly to Kamijou.
Tsubaki nodded, she was well aware of the damage to the poor girl due to the use of her healing magic earlier, however Tsubaki's healing magic was meant for use on herself, to boost her already considerable natural regeneration, thus it was only slowing the rate at which the girl was losing blood, not stopping it or healing the wound.
"Only her skin that was damaged caused damage to the capillaries. Had her arteries ruptured, it would have been worse. The blood would gush out like a fountain."
"How… do… you—"
'You're not a doctor—and even if you're are, you need to thoroughly check this. How can you make such a prognosis like that?'Kamijou thought.
"I'm more informed about the flow of blood than others." 'That makes sense, in a totally macabre way'
Kamijou was slightly surprised, then she thought back to Himegami Aisa's ability name.
"Help me!"
However, Himegami herself didn't seem to notice Kamijou's reaction, probably because she was giving emergency treatment. She undressed the wounded in front of Tsubaki.
"Woah, hold on…" 'In the hallway! Really?'
"Don't overreact. That would be too disrespectful to the injured."
Though Kamijou was panicking about something else, but thinking about it, there was something wrong about thinking 'this is a girl's naked body', right? It was like how a doctor who would get excited on seeing a patient's naked body would get fired.
What Himegami did next could be compared to doctors and paramedics. She first used a handkerchief to stop the bleeding thoroughly, and since she couldn't stop the bleeding at the wrists with the cloth, she used some of Kamijou's shirt to tie them and stop the blood flow.
The abdomen muscles that were ruptured were sewn together by the injured girl's hair and some needles from a sewing box.
Kamijou couldn't do anything. She could only follow Himegami's directions and lift the hands higher than the heart or use the handkerchief to press the wound down. But doing that caused her hands to be stained in blood. It wasn't because she hurt others, but because she was saving others, and once again Tsubaki felt that remarkable feeling of satisfaction from helping others rise up in her heart.
"Anyway, she's alright." 'Or at the very least not about to bleed out'
Himegami, whose Miko outfit got stained in blood, said it as if it were nothing.
"We managed to stop the blood. It'll take fifteen minutes for the blood to clot, and at that time, the wounds will patch up. However, the sterilization is incomplete. Even though there won't be any danger in the next two hours, it's better to send her to the hospital just to be safe."
"…"
Kamijou again stared at the injured person on the floor. The girl was about as old as Kamijou, but her wounds were so serious that it was hard to imagine that.
Psychologically, she shouldn't be faring any better as well.
It's true that Tsubaki should be happy that they managed to save her life.
However, she lost everything, and that bothered Kamijou.
"We did what we could, now… we can only leave it to Academy City's technology."
Kamijou stared at the girl's face as she said that, As the wounds were created from the inside, the damaged skin was stuck on her flesh like damaged plastic sheets.
"Only plastic surgery will be required. She just needs the skin on the arm."
"…"
Himegami Aisa merely replied according to modern medicine knowledge. However, Kamijou still found it unbelievable that the skin from the arm could be used for the skin of the face.
"Speaking of which, you're amazing just now. Are you a certain doctor that operates without a license?"
"I'm not a doctor."
Just as Kamijou was about to ask 'what are you then', Himegami replied.
"I'm a spellcaster."
"…"
Kamijou recalled that she did say something like that, and said, "Eh, on what basis are you like a spellcaster?" 'Will she explain it more or will she simply remain enigmatic' Then Himegami pulled something out of her outfit.
"I have a magic wand."
"O…oi, hold on! That's a police baton!" 'Where the hell did she get that?'
"New material."
"STOP MESSING AROUND!" 'Funny'
Kamijou, who was arguing loudly about such ridiculous words, finally realized something.
The injured person in front of him was alright, so she could think about all of that.
Kamijou collapsed onto the floor.
Just that caused Kamijou's remaining strength to be seemingly released. It was a really comfortable feeling, and one could even find it weird that nobody was crying.
In some unknown place that couldn't be seen, lots of people were killed. Even if they saved one or two people, that hellish sight that was even worse than what she saw now should be even trivial.
But no matter what, it was still something that was worth being happy over.
"If that's the case…"
No matter what happened, they couldn't let that injured person remain there. No matter how they intended to deal with Misawa Cram School and Aureolus Izzard, they had to call for an ambulance first. 'I would do it now but my connection is shoddy and it wouldn't be safe for Paramedics to be present in this building'
"I'm going back. We can't leave the wounded here. And it's better to let the ambulance wait at the entrance."
"Mn, that's true. There's not just one casualty. We can cut down on the time it takes to take them to the hospital by calling the ambulance here first."
"…Stop talking about it like it doesn't involve you."
"?"
Himegami stared at Kamijou with an inexplicable look. Perhaps it was because she got locked up for so long that her brain didn't have the thought of running away.
"Eh, what I mean is that you don't have to be locked up over here. Let's get out of here. In fact, we came here to save you."
Himegami didn't say anything.
She just revealed a surprised look that seemed frozen, unable to move at all.
"What is it? Did I say something weird?"
"…"
Himegami said in a soft voice, "…Why?"
"What why? Do I need a reason to save others?" 'Well I do have one, it's just not one she needs to hear. As it isn't really a reason, but more of a calling'
Himegami was shocked again, remaining stiff.
And that time, it seemed like she blushed—or maybe that was just a feeling.
"But, I…"
Himegami Aisa seemed like she intended to say something.
But at that moment, there seemed to be the sound of something being dragged about as it interrupted Himegami. Then, there was a heavy breathing sound. Though Tsubaki didn't hear any talking, one could feel the negative feelings of hatred and anger in his breathing, and it seemed to echo in his mind.
"Damn it! Damn it! Absolutely, Why am I so injured! He's supposed to be material, yet he's dragging me down…kuku, hoho, dragging me down? Dragging me down? That's interesting, isn't it, Aureolus Izzard! You don't even have any rear leg for others to pull! Kuku! Kukuku! You bastards looked down on me! Inevitably, I'M GOING TO MELT YOU ALL DOWN…!"
An abnormally loud male voice could be heard, sounding like echoes that got blasted too loud. 'Is that Stiyl? Has he finally cracked?'
Then with an extremely loud swoosh, with the sound of something being dragged, the sound of something being could be heard, and the man escaped down the stairs and made it to the corridor.
Kamijou was inadvertently stunned. That was a green-haired foreigner in white Western suit. However, his left hand and leg got sliced off on the joints, and there was a slanted golden stick attached to the damaged parts, one of which was used as a crutch. It should be painful, but the man didn't look in pain at all. Perhaps he had a lot of anesthetic in him, as all the anger, hatred, happiness and craziness overwhelmed his pain. The sweaty face was obviously showing an exaggerated expression. 'Okay Stiyl's cracked, damn that is some brutal overkill'
Also, the man's right hand and the prosthetic left hand.
His hands looked like they were dragging rubbish, grabbing the collars of bloodied boys and girls. Three on each side, six altogether.
"Wha… what's going on?"
The man stared at Kamijou with bloodshot eyes, and said, "Girl, what are you doing here? Only magicians are allowed to be here! Are you an intruder? That flame magician's friend?
Three meters away, the man continued to let saliva fly, but Kamijou remained unmoved.
"You… these people."
"Naturally, these are just materials! Alchemy requires materials! Why are you looking at them? That's too strange! This Aureolus Izzard and his Limen Magna is standing before you. Why are you still looking at the materials!? I should be perfect! Why are you so unhurried!? What am I lacking!?"
The name Aureolus Izzard made Tsubaki draw her Nodachi, she had a monster to slay. A dark expression covered Tsubaki's face.
However, Himegami Aisa, who was beside her, maintained her expression.
"Poor thing… "If you didn't realize the truth, you could have continued being Aureolus Izzard."
"Ku…!? Damn you!"
As Aureolus growled, a large golden dart flew out from the remaining right sleeve. It spun around the alchemist quickly, and the gold chain looked like a boundary.
TINK
The golden dart bounced off of Tsubaki's Nodachi, which Tsubaki in the half-second in which the dart appeared had maneuvered in front of the injured students to protect them.
BZZT
A spark of magic flared from the dart only to be ruthlessly crushed by the power of Tsubaki's blade.
Aureolus then growled in anger and launched the dart straight at Tsubaki.
Only to gape moments later when she caught it with an almost negligent swipe of her right hand.
The golden dart and chain in Aureolus' hand started to disintegrate like it was made of sand.
The Imagine Breaker of Kamijou's right hand started to work.
That dart should be something that was imbued with some supernatural power, so it got destroyed after Kamijou's hand had touched it.
Tsubaki then yanked her right hand back and the disintegrating dart and chain exploded into small motes of dust.
"Naturally, What's with your right hand? Certainly, Why can't it change? Inevitably, My Limen Magna is the pinnacle of alchemy! It's a miracle that two schools of thought, Bohemia and Vienna, gave up on after thinking that it couldn't be fulfilled! This is unbelievable! Entirely, What did you use to negate my theory!?"
'Limen… Magna…? Some form of Alchemy, but what does it do?'
"Ha, how satisfying! Haha! THIS IS SATISFYING! YOU'RE REALLY INTERESTING THERE, GIRL! WHAT'S WITH THAT SECRET OF THE HUMAN BODY? LET ME, THE MAGIC DOCTOR, DISSECT YOUR BODY AND SOLVE ALL THE QUESTIONS!"
Aureolus swung his right hand across, revealing a new dart and chain. It was aimed between Kamijou's eyebrows, matching the killing intent in the alchemist's eyes.
'Fool, he's already seen me destroy his toy once and is trying again with the exact same style of attack? What utter stupidity!'
Just as Kamijou calmly used her right hand to cover her face, the dart never even got close to touching Kamijou's forehead. Tsubaki quickly used her right hand to knock it aside, and the fist felt like it got sliced as a sharp pain can be felt.
"Che!" 'Idiot, I forgot it was bladed because I caught the first one by the chain and it's moving too fast for me to use my Nodachi again'
Aureolus wanted to use the gold chain to counterattack, but it got affected by Kamijou's right hand before he could catch it, and it shattered like glass.
Tsubaki briefly thought about trying to dodge, but she realized that both Himegami and those poor students were behind her.
The golden dart continued to fire out like a machine gun from Aureolus' suit.
It was fast. The firing, the wrecking, the preparing of the next shot; All those actions took less than 0.2 seconds. That wasn't something that a human could handle anymore.
However, Tsubaki wasn't a normal human and despite it's incredible speed she could easily keep up with the dart.
Unfortunately for Aureolus, though the dart was moving fast, the trajectory was relatively simple. It would continue to shoot out in a straight line. It was a lot easier to predict the trajectory than against a boxer who could send in straight punches and hooks.
"Ku… ahh—!"
So even though Kamijou knew that her right hand would get cut, she could only choose to use her right hand to deflect them. She knew that the dart had some deadly magic in it that might breach even her formidable magical defenses.
Thus, in a while, there were remains of darts and chains all around Kamijou.
"HAHA, HAHAHAHA! SUCH AN INTERESTING HUMAN SPECIMEN! IT'S NOT USING A CHANT THAT ABSORBS THE MAGIC POWER, NOT THE LANCE OF LONGINUS! IT JUST USED A BARE HAND TO DESTROY ALL MY LIMEN MAGNA!" 'I'm not entirely sure of that, the power of my Imagine Breaker, could it in past times have been granted to weapons as well?'
Seeing that he couldn't kill the enemy no matter how many times he attacked, Aureolus still seemed really happy as he laughed. He was like an adventurer who had reached some mysterious place that no one entered before.
"IT'S NOT ENOUGH! HAHA! GIRL! THAT'S NOT ENOUGH TO TEST YOUR LIMITS!"
The golden dart destruction and regeneration speed increased more than two times. It continued to rip the air and fly at Kamijou.
Tsubaki didn't even blink, her hand moving at almost supersonic speeds to catch and negate the darts.
Aureolus then banked the shot, Tsubaki wasn't expecting it and got caught flat footed, only to watch on in horror as the golden dart buried itself in the hand of the girl she had saved with Himegami. The girl having being awoken by the dart's impact seemed to almost push herself away from Himegami.
Then, as the girl's body slowly fell to the ground it changed, changed into molten gold.
Tsubaki saw red.
CRACK
Reality seemed to shatter around Tsubaki with a sound that almost transcended mere vibrations in the air.
A truly immense wave of Mana and Telesma flared from Tsubaki. Every magical sensor withing 20 kilometers of Misawa Cram School exploded violently as they recorded the sheer power of Tsubaki's wrath.
Tsubaki almost seemed to blur with a deep rumble, before appearing behind Aureolus with her Nodachi raised. Aureolus half turned with an expression of true horror on his face, he knew that it was the end. No matter how much power his Limen Magna had, it was now faced with the inhuman power of an enraged Saint and no matter how fast his dart could fly, it couldn't outpace a Saint moving beyond the speed of sound itself.
SHICK
Tsubaki landed with a soft thump her Nodachi in the end pose of a horizontal slash, behind her Aureolus seemed frozen with his face stuck in an expression of complete and utter horror.
CLICK
Tsubaki's Nodachi found it's home in the sheath she had summoned from Nullspace to her belt.
Aureolus Izzard slowly but surely disintegrated into a fine bloody mist, having being sliced many millions of times by Tsubaki's blade within three beats of her heart. Every remaining golden dart and chain on his body disintegrating as well leaving small flakes of gold to drift downwards under the force of gravity.
In the end only a puddle of blood and gold flakes was all that remained of Aureolus Izzard.
Tsubaki seemed like she was about to continue down the corridor she was facing like nothing had happened, then on some instinct she turned around.
To see the puddle of blood and gold slowly twist and warp itself back into what looked like the remains of a cross and some strange fluid.
Tsubaki's face was quickly covered by an expression of incandescent rage.
She had been tricked, she had lost one of her protected to a magical decoy, not even the real Alchemist.
Tsubaki felt a the magical core of the Gregorian Chant falter and die and with an insane dash of speed shot off towards it. With a stunned and flushed Himegami following in her wake.
-SOM-
Verse VII
-SOM-
On another floor a second Aureolus dummy faltered, the resonate energy of Tsubaki's Nodachi and her Imagine Breaker flaring through the link between it and it's brother, followed by the memories of the fight, no the massacre.
Ever since he got hit by the power of that girl through the link, he started to feel that the strength that was supporting him seemed to be taken away. That sense of powerlessness seemed like a certain mana source was cut off from him.
Now, Aureolus Dummy realized it.
He wasn't a human. If the boundary wasn't there to provide him with energy, he couldn't even stand up.
It's like Limen Magna, a tool that was among numerous substitutes.
"Ahh…"
Aureolus sighed as the feeling in his fingers gradually faded, and yet he was feeling satisfied.
What is that? No matter whether it was Limen Magna or this body, magic would be negated on contact. What is that girl's right hand? The girl herself was obviously something special, possibly even a Saint. Thinking about both the girl's power and the girl herself, Aureolus was like a teenager who was looking through a telescope, his eyes sparkling with the thirst for knowledge.
The greatest question in his heart was: How much can a person maintain and raise her form and pride?
Aureolus seemed like he saw the answer. It wasn't just because of that girl's abnormal power. It was also because that even though the girl had such a power, she would get angry and feel sad like a human.
Thinking about it, it seemed like his tragic fate was nothing.
That's because a scholar who knew the answer didn't need to live on and think.
Footsteps.
Aureolus weakly looked up the stairs, and saw Stiyl standing there.
"Naturally, I can see… you haven't gotten sick of killing me?" The alchemist mocked himself and said, "Even if you leave me alone, I'll certainly die anyway, so why do you still want to kill me?"
"Yeah. It's true that I have no interest in killing you. Besides, that woman didn't interact with you,"
Stiyl said with an uninterested tone.
"Speaking of which, there's a member of the thirteen knights that was killed. I suppose you didn't do that, right?"
The Aureolus Dummy leaned on the wall and stared up at Stiyl.
The weapon of the Aureolus Dummies was Limen Magna. Even though it could turn everything into gold, it can't possibly turn the casted armor of the knight in a vented shape like that.
"…Humph, speaking about that. Certainly I never killed any of them."
"What?"
"Inevitably, since I lost, you can just go ahead and think of the reason." Aureolus smirked and said, "Speaking of which, since you're not interested in me, why are you here? Naturally, can't I just die alone?"
"It's the complete opposite, idiot. I'm here to send you off. Can you endure yourself dying off like that?"
"…"
For a while, the Aureolus Dummy stared blankly at Stiyl's face.
Then, he smiled.
For that man, it was really rare, but he did smile.
Though he was a fake, Aureolus was a scholar. And right now, he was extremely satisfied that he had managed to obtain the answer to a human's biggest limit.
However, there was still some time until Aureolus died off.
Less than ten minutes.
Aureolus was a scholar. In that spare time, he would think of a new question to think about. Those were research topics that were waiting for him to ponder about.
However, Aureolus didn't have time to ponder about them.
To a scholar, it was hell to have a doubt yet be unable to research it before dying. That was definitely an unhappy feeling and regret that couldn't be avoided.
That is why Stiyl had said that.
Before you find that sweet question and ponder hard into it, let me send you off while 'your mission is complete'.
"Humph."
Thus, Aureolus smiled and said, "I can't tell if you are an angel or the devil."
"These are two beings of similar natures, the difference is where they take their orders from."
Stiyl slowly walked down the stairs.
"Fortis931 – I prove why my name is the strongest here."
Stiyl's black coat flipped out, and numerous runic cards scattered out like Sakura petals.
"Magic name, huh?"
Seeing Stiyl walk down the stairs, Aureolus muttered to himself. If so, what is his magic name?
Aureolus started to recall.
"Oh, I remember."
Honos628 – My honor is for the world.
Having finally remembered his name and purpose, Aureolus narrowed his eyes.
"Do I need to make a final prayer for you as a priest? Alchemist?"
Walking down the stairs, Stiyl Magnus said as he arrived in front of the alchemist.
"Stop dragging this on. You're just a mere magician."
The moment the Aureolus Dummy replied, Stiyl's flames entered him through the mouth, quickly burning through the insides of his body. The flames burst out from all the openings. The abdomen then started to break, splitting him into two parts. Large amounts of flames continued to spur out, causing Aureolus' upper body to shoot out like a rocket.
-SOM-
Act II Supplementary II
-SOM-
Index's Adventure
At that moment, in a certain student dormitory, or rather, a certain student dormitory bathtub, the girl Index, who was watching the house, was exchanging looks with the stray cat Sphynx. That calico cat seemed like it was a domestic cat, so it didn't have a cute personality. It didn't chase after a thrown ball of yarn, it continued to nest under a table even after its name was called, it would snatch other people's food when eating.
The last point was really a serious thing. To Index, who had a voracious appetite, it was significant that Kamijou Tsubaki cooked for her.
It seemed like she had to train it. Having decided to stop giving the gentle treatment, she was now battling with the calico cat who was covered with bubbles. On a side note, Index read through Kamijou's elaborate explanation on how to use the automatic hot water supply in the bathroom, and gingerly managed to work it out.
'…But, where did Touma go?'
There were a few questions in her mind. The first was what was said during the conversation. It wasn't because Kamijou had said that she 'just wanted to test whether the phone could work', but that Kamijou actually said so easily 'forget it' even after having her pudding eaten.
Speaking of which, it was the same thing for this cat that was covered with shampoo bubbles and having its fur standing up.
Basically, Kamijou wouldn't do anything she didn't like.
Even if she knew that there was no other way, if she really didn't want to do it, she would think of another way to solve it.
Such a Kamijou didn't even pursue on those two things that she didn't agree in. That was really too weird.
Having made up her mind, Index nodded her head. She walked out of the bathroom and put on her nun habit called the Walking Church. At the corridor, before she even opened the door, she realized that even if she wanted to question Kamijou she had to know where she was. Of course, calling Kamijou was not an option.
To be honest, Index didn't know how the phone worked at all, and since the Kamijou's residence phone had a fax function, there were so many buttons that Index didn't know how to start using it.
Would she give up? Just as Index was about to return back to the room, she suddenly saw something.
There was something that looked like a tarot card stuck on the wall.
That was the runic imprint that the magician Stiyl Magnus used.
"…"
Index stared at the card without looking.
Something was definitely going on. Tsubaki had definitely left Index alone to deal with something alone.
Index recalled it. A few days ago, she met that teenager who didn't have any feelings.
The despair and anxiety Index felt caused her to be extremely restless.
Run. She could only run.
Luckily, Index had the knowledge of 103,000 grimoires in her mind. She knew the workings of Stiyl's magic. The runes required magicians to continuously provide mana and maintain it.
For example, when a soul was lost, there would be something thin string-like that linked the soul and the body. Though Index couldn't use magic, she could trace the mana, so she wouldn't get lost.
Just like that, Index ran off to the battlefield without even locking the door.
She didn't know that such an act would bring about the biggest trouble.
-SOM-
Intermission
Go take a bathroom break, restock on snacks and drinks and then come back to enjoy more Saint of Misfortune!
A short walk would also be recommended to let your legs get some action as well as your mind!
Intermission End
-SOM-
Stiyl Magnus was heading to the top level of the North Block of the four buildings.
Perhaps Kamijou, who he had sent out as bait was attracting a lot more enemies than what he had thought, as Stiyl practically faced no resistance. He hid himself completely, checking every entrance of the secret rooms, and grasped the situation inside.
It seemed like the Deep Blood Himegami Aisa wasn't imprisoned inside.
Having checked all the dirt and mana traces left behind at the entrance, it seemed like whether it was the front side of the coin or the back side of the coin, it looked like nobody entered in.
There was nobody around, subordinates, soldiers or even Aureolus himself. Such an environment was definitely not going to watch a prisoner who may escape any time.
If that happened, things were a lot more complicated. That meant that Himegami Aisa wasn't imprisoned, but because she was willing to help out Aureolus Izzard. If that was the case, it seemed like he had to face that terrifying unknown ability of Deep Blood.
'…Damn it, why are Espers so hard to handle?'
Thinking about it, Stiyl suddenly thought of the Saint who he had secretly sent out as bait.
To Stiyl, it was a terrifying thought. From the beginning, Stiyl had told her that she wasn't his ally, and he made it clear that he was using her as a shield.
But when that girl was pushed down, the look of fury on her face and the magical response to said.
It was an expression that showed that she got back-stabbed and was going to get even. Stiyl knew he would have nightmares about it, then he thought of what had happened earlier on that stairwell and he blushed. He would be dreaming of her as often as he had nightmares of her.
Kamijou Tsubaki, the Saint of Academy City.
"…"
Had he actually betrayed someone who could have become a comrade?
Though, Stiyl started to dash down the narrow emergency staircase.
Though it was a meaningless thought—since he treated Tsubaki as bait, he wouldn't be able to convince himself if she didn't have some level of accomplishment to it. What little humanity left in Stiyl was arguing.
"I don't understand at all, what are you so anxious about?"
An icy voice could be heard from behind Stiyl.
"…"
Stiyl stopped.
He was running down the narrow emergency staircase. If anyone had brushed past him, he would have surely noticed it. If so, why was there someone behind him?
The man's voice felt like somebody who had appeared out of thin air.
"…"
He slowly turned his head around. He knew what would happen if he let the enemy get behind him without him knowing.
And the person standing over there was—
-SOM-
Index POV
"Hm, so it's over here?"
As the orange sunset mixed with the purple night, Index arrived in front of Misawa Cram School. Though it looked ordinary, that made it all the more strange. Index was tracking down the owner of the runes at the student dormitory. However, after the mana trail went behind the wall of that building, it got cut off.
Basically, that building was definitely abnormal, yet it was forced to look normal. The intentions were clear.
Like how people had mana, this world had power.
Christians call that power God's Blessings, and the formation of the Golden Dawn organization that had created the blueprint of Western magic was called Telesma. But in terms of the relevant language, the closest should be the geography and astronomy of feng shui. As the name suggested, there was a pulse that formed all the forces and flows in the world like blood vessels extending out everywhere.
It was like how mana in humans was formed from life force; it was something like gasoline refined out of crude oil. Similarly, the forces all over the world weren't too powerful (but the lifespans of planetary stars couldn't be compared to a human one, so that power was much bigger than human mana). But through a temple or shine, by converting that power into a planetary force, a large amount of power would be generated.
The power that filled this world was like air, ordinary people (including magicians) couldn't feel it. Only those specially trained magicians or feng shui masters could see the force.
However, there was no such force in that stack of four buildings in front of her.
Though the power of the world was normally undetectable like air, once it became a vacuum, breathing would be impossible. It was the same there, Index felt something strange that couldn't be compared.
It was like some death tower that was diced into cubes, a largest tombstone in the world.
Perhaps that was to prevent the mana from escaping within, but that was too much.
Though Kamijou's right hand was something that could destroy the world's power, it was still not that serious. If the power reverted back to the soil like fallen leaves, it could form a part of life—a destruction that was a part of nature. Therefore, before Index had realized that the Walking Church got destroyed, she didn't realize the destruction of this harmony with nature.
But the magic tower was different.
It was like cutting apart a forest through forceful means, forming a city of stone and steel. It was an ugly sight of urbanization.
Why didn't that rune magician realize it?
Perhaps that's because the rune magician himself was a walking refining machine of vast amounts of mana. It's like people who were used to eating heavy tasting stuff, their tongues couldn't differentiate the slightest changes in taste.
But Index couldn't refine mana. Thus, she could clearly feel that light change.
"This isn't a boundary to prevent enemies from invading, but a boundary to prevent enemies from escaping. Hm, it's like those Egyptian pyramids…"
The white nun muttered as she walked past the automatic doors.
She had no reason to head back.
It was because this was such an abnormal place that she had even more reason to bring that woman back, the woman who was on her way to becoming the center of Index's entire world.
The moment she stepped in, she felt that the atmosphere was different. It felt like moving from under a hot sun to a shop with a really strong air-conditioner. The lively and peaceful street was now a cold-blooded battlefield with the ominous presence of death permeating. And that wasn't a false sense, for deep inside the wide room, at the wall near the lifts, was a dead knight who was wearing Roman Catholic tools.
Index cautiously approaches the knight and observes him.
The knight's tool 'casted armor' was imbued with magic that could absorb physical attacks. However, as the main emphasis was to focus on defenses, the weakness of that equipment was that it was even more unable to withstand the magic attacks—but that casted armor was forcefully destroyed by a powerful physical attack, thus someone obviously ignored such attribute.
'…It's either that person doesn't know anything about magic, or he's a really crazy person.'
Of course, just looking at that building that looked like a pharaoh's tomb that got flipped through, one could tell that the former couldn't be true. If that was the case, this would be troublesome. Those who could destroy the casted armor of the Roman Catholic Church through physical force alone are either those who could summon archangels or those who specialize in making metal Golems.
No matter what the possibility was, they couldn't leave Tsubaki there. Even to a Saint who knew a fair deal about magic, it was suicidal to barge into that building. At that moment, there seemed to be something clashing. Index turned around, and there was an entrance to a flight of emergency staircase beside the lift. There seemed to be the sound of something being dragged, and the sound of heavy breathing.
"Who's—"
Before she could ask who was there, 'that thing' climbed out from the emergency staircase.
'That thing' couldn't be called human, nor it could be called an object. That's because it was no longer a human. It's lower body got ripped, the left arm got blown off to nowhere, and the right side of the face got blown away. Even the remaining left side got burned to chars—such a thing that could still move couldn't possibly be called a human.
Only half of the face that was burned off was still moving.
Unbelievably, that looked like the head was tilting his head and pondering about something—just as Index was thinking about something really unimportant, 'that thing' used a hand to support itself and got ready to fly over.
"…!"
Without saying anything, the thing flew over immediately, and Index could only frantically backtrack. However, Index tipped over the knight and tumbled over. 'The thing' that immediately lost its target fell off and looked like it was about to land on Index.
At that moment…
"「Be crushed!」"
At that moment, a stern man's voice could be heard in that icy space.
Suddenly, the wall at the elevators ripped apart like a paper door, and a man's hand reached out from within. That large hand looked like it was catching a ball as it grabbed the head of that thing that was charred.
Then…
In front of Index, who was lying on the floor, that thing's body exploded like what the man had declared.
It was like ash that was gathered together being crushed. Pak! That 'thing' started to show three cracks on its body, and it started to break up into blocks. It then split up into snowflakes-like pieces, and before it landed on Index's face, it disappeared into thin air.
"「Open!」"
Another voice could be heard. The elevator doors that were ripped out from the inside opened sideways. The twisted metal elevator that shouldn't be open actually opened.
An ultimate magic that forced the surroundings to become reality based on one's own words.
"Don't tell me…"
Facing a puzzled and mumbling Index, a tall and lean man walked out of the lift, looking rather nonchalant. His green hair was combed back, and he was wearing a white Italian made Western suit and high-classed leather shoes.
"Hm, it's been a while, but I don't think you remember me. Inevitably, you can't remember the name Aureolus Izzard, but to me that should be somewhat lucky."
The man who seemed to be talking casually had numerous bite marks on his forehead that looked like mosquito bites.
Acupuncture—some Eastern healing technique that didn't look like it went with a Westerner. However, that wasn't the case. For example, the Western magical organization Golden Dawn's founder loved Buddhist ideas.
"But even if you don't remember, I should say what I have to say. It's been a while, Index. It seems like you forgot about me. I'm really happy that you haven't changed."
The man's hand reached out at the lost Index, blocking her eyes.
That hand was the hand that crushed that thing that could either be called human or monster.
Even so, Index still couldn't move.
She said, "D-don't tell me, the Golden, Ars Magna?"
The man responded with a gentle smile.
-SOM-
Verse VIII
-SOM-
Tsubaki's POV
"Let's go home."
"That dummy of the person called Aureolus was beaten. I have no idea where the real one is, but this is no time for that. I need to get you out of here. So, let's go home," Kamijou said.
There was nothing left to protect. The students of the Gregorian Chant couldn't be saved, and she had slain that dummy alchemist. There was no reason for Kamijou to remain there. She just wanted to escape from that battlefield that was filled with death and go home.
She wanted to go home, she wanted to have dinner with Index. It was alright if she could just get away from there.
However, an evil figure landed in Kamijou's heart.
First, according to Stiyl, Index had to have a memory wipe every year.
Second, according to Stiyl, Index had to find new partners every year.
Third, according to Stiyl, Index was ignorant of those facts. 'How many? How many had fallen for that child like myself and had lost her?'
That could be easily imagined. The Index who was smiling that year wasn't the Index Kamijou was familiar with.
There were too many people around Index who needed her.
Though he didn't say it, Stiyl Magnus did imply that when he said that:
"—Don't be mistaken, that child doesn't belong to you."
"...,..."
A sudden groggy feeling caused Kamijou to use her hand to support herself off the world.
Tsubaki had a feeling that if she treated that child as 'nothing different compared to others', it seemed like she wouldn't be able to return back to his ordinary world.
'…Such an ugly possessive attitude.'
Under such critical circumstances, any sense of self-defeat may become an impulse that would lead to self-sacrifice or suicidal actions. Kamijou took a deep breath to calm herself down, trying to force herself not to think about that. That was because she realized that if she continued to think on, her mind would crumble.
'Anyway, better get Himegami out of here' Kamijou sighed as she thought. 'So many lost, I will return and I will slay Aureolus'
However something made Tsubaki pause in reflection. She turned to Himegami Asia who was still shocked and flushed, but also panting from her chase after an enraged Tsubaki.
"Hold on, you're coming along with me, aren't you? Since Aureolus is aiming for you, how can he let us go?"
"Why?"
"What why?"
"The question isn't about 'why can't he let us go', but 'why must I go along with you'."
"What?"
Kamijou was shocked, unable to say anything. Right now, even if they beat the enemies, Himegami still didn't intend to escape from Misawa Cram School.
"Don't be mistaken. I have my own aim. My aim doesn't involve to escape from here. On the contrary, my goal can only be achieved here. No, I can say that without that alchemist, it is possible that it can't be fulfilled."
Himegami didn't sound lost, and one may even think that she was Aureolus' friend.
'What's going on? What am I missing? It's obvious that fakes personality wasn't the same as the originals' Kamijou wondered.
Those hostages who were imprisoned or watched may have some mysterious sympathy for the criminals. There were cases of such things in psychology. Was Himegami someone like that?
"But no matter what aims you have, that guy didn't treat you as an ally, right? If you're one, why are you imprisoned here?"
"I was imprisoned before he took control of Misawa Cram School." 'That makes sense, the scientists her probably weren't the kindest of people'
Himegami said without wavering.
"Do you really want to know how I was treated here? Do you want to know why are there so many secret rooms here? I don't think you can handle the truth."
"…" 'I already have a good idea as to what the purpose of those secret rooms is. Just like I know that one of the laboratories for the Radio Noise project is in the sub-basement of this building'
"Ever since that alchemist came here, the secret rooms were never used again. I'm just staying here, and I don't feel the need to go out. And if I randomly do so, I'll attract 'that'."
Kamijou recalled what Stiyl had said to her before they entered Misawa Cram School.
Though this looked like an ordinary building, it had a perfectly disguised boundary.
Deep Blood.
It was even treated as a legend in the magic world. A girl who was said to have the ability to instantly kill vampires. Perhaps…
"What do you mean by that? Don't tell me you hid from them to avoid meaningless battles?"
"…My blood has the power to kill them and also attract them with a sweet scent. Lure them, kill them. I'm like a carnivorous plant, colorful and deadly. That's my nature."
Kamijou's eyes widened.
Even when Stiyl had mentioned about vampires, he was filled with disgust and fear. And this Himegami Aisa actually had a powerful ability to kill vampires. However, when Himegami said that, it sounded lonely, like cold rain was pouring on her.
"Do you know what vampires are like?"
Being asked that, Kamijou couldn't possibly know the answer. What she could think of were those evil vampires in storybooks who would attack others. In fact, the term 'vampire' didn't feel realistic to Kamijou.
"Nothing, I have never encountered one"
However, Himegami actually replied like that.
"They're no different from us. They can cry, smile, get angry, be happy, laugh for others, act for others, all these people, without exception—were killed."
Himegami sounded like she was bleeding.
All her happy memories were shattered in front of her. Only those people who had experienced such hell could say such words, Tsubaki knew that very well.
"Academy City is a place to research on powers. I thought that I could come here to analyze the secrets of my powers. If I know the source of that power, I can get rid of it. However, I can't find a way to remove it."
Himegami said.
"I don't want to kill anyone. I decided that I'd rather kill myself than to kill others."
That was why…
The girl called Deep Blood complained in a lonely manner.
"But that…"
"Please don't try and convince me. And it's not a bad thing. Aureolus said before that he can create an even simpler boundary. It's a boundary that takes the appearance of clothes, called a Walking Church. If I put it on, I can go about on the road and not be afraid of luring that creature."
"It is not that simple, a Walking Church cannot be made by one person. They are the personification of the Faith of a religion and require at least three high level ministers of that religion to create"
Himegami almost seemed like she had been physically struck by that announcement, but she continued regardless.
"I have my goals, Aureolus has his own goals. We need each other to fulfill our own goals. So it's alright. Aureolus will fulfill his side of the bargain and not hurt me. I'll explain it to Aureolus for you if you want to leave the battlefield alone."
Kamijou couldn't agree with it.
Tsubaki couldn't understand the burden on that girl. She didn't know how to save the girl in front of her. For the first time in years she didn't know what to do.
"…Tell me something."
Because she didn't know, she asked.
"Since you don't want to attract vampires, why was it that you were eating outside when we first met?"
"It's simple. Aureolus needs me because he wants a vampire. If I continue to stay inside the boundary, I can't get one."
"But isn't that completely different from what you wanted? Don't you not want to hurt vampires? If so, why would you accept that order—"
"Nn, but Aureolus promised me that he won't hurt them even after he gets them. He just wanted their help."
"…What. I thought that you worked so hard just to escape from Misawa Cram School."
"…But even if I intended to escape, why are you here?"
"Of course I'm here to save you. Do I need a reason?"
Seeing Kamijou arguing like that, Himegami's eyes widened.
It looked like she forgot that her birthday was today, yet she got a birthday present.
"Unbelievable. But don't worry, I wasn't imprisoned. You can relax and go back, there won't be any problems."
Himegami smiled.
"Aureolus said that he wanted to save someone, but he can't do it with his own power, so he needs the power of a vampire, so I agreed to help him. This is the first time I agreed to use this power not to kill, but to save others." 'Who? Who would need the power of a Vampire so save? Who…' Tsubaki froze as a terrible thought occurred to her.
"…"
Were those words true? Even if Himegami wasn't lying, it's unknown if Aureolus was lying to her. Besides, Aureolus was a killer, the mastermind who created that battlefield of killing. What Himegami had said was really too different from the current situation.
And even so—
Even if Aureolus Izzard was like what Himegami Aisa had said.
"…That won't do."
"?"
"If Aureolus Izzard is just as what you said, that he hasn't become a monster, that he's still barely a human, you can't let him continue on doing these wrong things. Though I don't think that people can't be saved when they do the wrong things, if Aureolus is to continue on like this, he'll reach a point where he can't turn back. Trust me on this Himegami, I've seen it happen time and time again" Tsubaki almost seemed to physically age as she murmured that last line as remembered the faces of various scientists who had begun their research with the best of intentions, but like the old saying went, they quickly found themselves on the road to hell.
Himegami remained silent, Tsubaki's last murmured comment had been too personal, too real, she wasn't lying.
Actually, she should have realized it. What Aureolus wanted was starting to be different from what ensued in reality. Just looking at that battlefield alone, it was a whole lot different from 'not hurting anyone'.
"Necessarily, on what basis do you refute my ideas?"
A man's voice could be heard, interrupting Kamijou's thoughts.
The inexplicable ringing-like sound immediately interrupted Kamijou and Himegami's conversation, causing everyone to become silent.
It sounded like a whisper to the ear, but the owner of the voice didn't seem to have transferred that 'voice' through physical means, not through air.
Clak. The footsteps could be heard from behind Himegami.
But that was a long corridor that was more than thirty meters away.
There shouldn't be anyone there.
There shouldn't be anyone there at all, but in the blink of an eye, Kamijou saw someone appear right in front of her, even her Saintly senses not picking up his movement.
There couldn't possibly be any hiding spaces and an ordinary Alchemist couldn't possibly move that fast.
Also the man seemed like he had never even considered hiding in the first place.
"You." A simple word, but the sheer amount of malice that Tsubaki put into it almost made both the man and Himegami step back.
'This couldn't possibly be another decoy' Though the person in front of her looked the same, the atmosphere was completely different—like a twin brother with a completely different personality.
And the pressure.
Aureolus was definitely thirty meters away from her, and yet Kamijou could already feel such an incredible pressure. To a weaker person it would probably be painful, to her it was just a feeling of rough fabric over her skin.
Tsubaki was about to draw her Nodachi to strike.
However…
"Calmly, don't interfere. 「I will come to you now.」"
Before Kamijou could even step forward, Aureolus had already covered the thirty meter distance and appeared between Kamijou and Himegami.
Only to stagger away an instant later with a broken nose from Tsubaki's inhumanly quick battle-hardened reflexes.
"Naturally, you may be wondering about what just happened, but I have no obligation to answer."
The alchemist said calmly, despite the blood streaming down onto his suit and the gleam on interest in his eyes over Tsubaki's reflexes
"Himegami's blood is something that's very important, so I can't hand her over to you. I'm here to reclaim her."
The word 'reclaim' started to spin around in Kamijou's blank mind.
"…You bastard!" Tsubaki hissed with a great deal of venom.
Kamijou then started to rush forward, and his distance to Aureolus was about two meters.
However…
"In any event, 「You—"
The alchemist calmly stated.
"—shall not touch me」."
Immediately, there was a drastic change.
At first, it looked like nothing changed. But it was because nothing seemed to change that something didn't feel right. Kamijou was running at Aureolus with full force.
However, the distance didn't close up, and it felt like she was running at a setting sun at full speed. No matter how much she ran, she couldn't close in on the distance in front of her.
It's like a corridor that was expanding infinitely, as Aureolus and Himegami seemed to be backtracking from her.
However the look in Aureolus' eyes revealed a new dimension to this conundrum, in the split second between his magic activating and Tsubaki's head long charge at him, she had covered almost two meters. Forcing Aureolus to step back out of fear that Tsubaki might actually reach him.
"Certainly, Tell me."
Aureolus said with an emotionless voice.
"Why would I be unable to turn back?"
"Because you have already lost a part of your soul! The person you are trying to save, when they see what you have done. The Students you and your decoy's mercilessly sacrificed to slow myself and Stiyl. Will they be proud of you? Or will they recoil in disgust from the monster you have become" Tsubaki screamed at Aureolus as she strained against the magic of the Ars Magna, the air around her shimmering through every color in existence as reality itself was torn between two incredibly powerful magics.
The sheer physical, spiritual and magical power of a Saint combined with the negation of the supernatural possessed by the Imagine Breaker
And the Reality altering power of the Ars Magna.
Reality itself was warping as it was caught between two inexorable powers, both clamoring to change it to their master's preference.
Aureolus stared at Kamijou's face seemingly without any emotion, but with a great deal of fear hidden behind those emotionless eyes. That looked like a stuffed insect staring pins right at Tsubaki.
Suddenly, Aureolus pulled out a thin needle that was as thick as a hair from his white Western suit. There was a faint smell of antiseptic from it. Aureolus used the needle to stab it into his neck, as if he was hypnotizing himself.
Such an action seemed to be declaring Kamijou's death, causing her to redouble her efforts at getting closer with the contest between the Ars Magna and Tsubaki's power shifting inexorably in Tsubaki's favor.
But Aureolus pulled out the needle and threw it away, saying, "Unfortunately, you're such an uninteresting girl."
Suddenly, Kamijou was shocked that she couldn't move at all how she tried. In such a mysterious situation, it seemed like she couldn't go forward or backwards.
Kamijou was unable to react to the enemy in front of her, causing her heart to almost burst with rage. Aureolus silently reached his hand out at some place far away from Kamijou's heart and looked like he was about to grab something. It's like he was about to dig the heart out.
"「Diss—"
Just as the stern alchemist was about to say something.
"—Hold on a minute!"
Himegami suddenly appeared between both of them and called out, interrupting them.
Kamijou was stunned. Himegami actually dared to stand in front of Kamijou to protect her from the real alchemist who had such an overwhelming power.
'Idiot…! Don't do it!'
Kamijou frantically reached out with her hand to push Himegami away, but she couldn't even close up a centimeter of distance. It was like watching a child who didn't know anything confront a robber armed with a machine gun. Kamijou was starting to tremble due to her anger.
However, Kamijou suddenly realized something, and that was Himegami Aisa's title.
Deep Blood.
The vampires that even Stiyl so feared were killed by her. The legendary mysterious power. Over there, she could be called the biggest ace. With her power, perhaps they could turn the situation around.
'Clever girl!'
Did she have a chance? If she didn't, she shouldn't be doing that.
However, Aureolus was merely looking uninterested at Kamijou, who was thinking.
He didn't seem to care about the biggest ace, Deep Blood.
"Obviously, at this point, you may be harboring a sense of hope. That's to be expected. However, Deep Blood isn't a match for me."
Aureolus said without any feelings.
"Naturally, you may be wondering, how the name Deep Blood came about. Hm, that's right. She does have the ability to kill vampires. But have you ever wondered, since it's so powerful, why is it only limited to vampires? Why can't they call her Annihilator?"
'Because her power is bound to her blood, I am not an idiot you puffed up miserable little…' The rest of Tsubaki's rant has been cut off to prevent the rating of this fic from being raised.
"Necessarily, the Deep Blood ability is just one that only works on vampires. And the truth behind this ability is that it's not really large, but just a unique type of blood. Her blood is sweet-smelling, and lures vampires in, and whenever vampires consume just a drop of her blood, they will be reduced to ash. The most terrifying thing about it is that it lures every one of those vampires, making them want to drink her blood even though they know that they will die. Of course, this has no effects on humans. The only ones who will be affected are Cain's descendants, vampires."
Aureolus said as he pulled out another needle and stabbed it into his neck. What effect did that have? The alchemist that wasn't showing any emotion was seemingly overly excited.
"Hm, are you going to argue by attacking me? But how are you any different from me? In the end, you're still like me, you need the power of Deep Blood."
Aureolus' words tried to etch themselves mercilessly into Kamijou's heart.
Only to be rebuffed by a simple.
"No, I have no need of the power of Deep Blood. If I truly wanted to find and confront a Vampire, my own power and connections are easily sufficient for such a task" Tsubaki boldly declared causing both Himegami and Aureolus to stare at her, one in shock, the other with undisguised surprise.
Tsubaki grinned evilly "You might not have known this, Aureolus Izzard. But I am the Central Command of Academy City's network and database. In other words, if I am slain the full power of the Science Side will rain hell down upon this building and even your fancy little magic will fall before it. After all, if you are scattered across the room before you can even blink, how will your magic save you?" Aureolus almost seemed to recoil from Tsubaki and Himegami's shocked expression grew deeper.
Aureolus again pulled out another needle and stabbed it into his neck.
"Necessarily. We can't waste time on such things," The alchemist said with a casual tone. "There's a lot of things we need to deal with. What's more troublesome than the intruder is how to deal with Index. It's easy to beat others, but to be honest, I still can't handle it well."
Hearing Aureolus say that nonchalantly, Tsubaki nearly stopped breathing.
'…Hold, hold it. Index? Don't tell me, she came here—!?' Despair and Fury melded together in Tsubaki's psyche.
Kamijou wanted to grab Aureolus, she must change the situation no matter what.
However, the distance between both of them couldn't be closed up. The alchemist's hand that was put down raised Kamijou again.
Himegami stepped forward at Aureolus, showing a defiant look.
However, the alchemist casually said, "Don't worry, I won't kill her."
He pulled out the needle from his neck, and said, "Young woman, as for what happens here—"
'Damn it, what kind of a sick joke is this! How can I back away now!'
The alchemist seemed to have seen through Kamijou's heart and smiled.
He then said, "—「Forget about everything that happened here」."
Tsubaki's head was flung back and blood exploded out of both her ears and nostrils as the Reality altering power of the Ars Magna fought with her innate magical resistance. Before overwhelming her, making her collapse into unconsciousness.
-SOM-
Aleister frowned as he started at the screens before him.
This was not how things were supposed to go.
-SOM-
Some of the differences are beginning to show, the climax to this will be interesting and after that is the Sisters Arc and the Battle against Accelerator.
But, could Tsubaki's secrets prevent the Radio Noise Project from being shut down and just as important, are there only 20,000 Sisters in existence? (ignoring Misaka Worst and 20,001)
dragonsong2795 out.
Leaving more cliffhangers and hints for the future!
