Hello internet. Sure has been a while since I last update. Only *checks date of last update* nearly a year. Not one of my prouder moments. Had a lot of distractions and multiple cases of writer's block, but I finally have the chapter written and now I'm posting it to share with all of you! This has been a long time coming, so hopefully the wait will have been worth it. Lots of seeds being planted in this one, so ya'll better start theorizing once you're done with the chapter.
Since it's been so long, I'm going to be skipping the review responses this time around as most of the reviews on the last chapter are nearly a year old at this point, or are just pestering me to get this chapter finished. And I mean that in a good way, because this chapter may have taken longer if I wasn't constantly reminded that I have a fanbase waiting for my latest work.
As usual, special thanks to Marisandini for being the beta
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 74: Faith
To say things looked bleak was an understatement. Having been utterly duped by the Roman Orthodox Church, the alliance of the English Puritan Church and the would-be Kamijou Faction had handed over an innocent nun to them who was now on death's row. On top of that, they had collaborated with the Roman Orthodox Church to completely dismantle the Amakusa, a sect of the Church of the Cross that had been aiding said nun, leaving only their leader free from captivity. Things certainly looked grim for the unfortunate group of misfits.
"If everything the Amakusa has said is true, it's likely his last point is as well." Stiyl noted, "The Roman Orthodox Church will likely not kill Orsola right away. There are restrictions that would make it difficult to do so."
"What could restrict the largest sect of Christianity in the world?" Kuroko inquired.
Stiyl answered, "Someone deciphering the Book of the Law is a threat to them, but even the Roman Orthodox Church can't punish an innocent like Orsola."
"Thou shall not kill those who believe the teachings of God and of the Church." Index recited for clarity.
"So if Orsola was in no danger from them, why were the Amakusa so concerned for her safety?" Touma asked.
"Because there is an obvious exception to that rule." Stiyl explained, "They cannot kill those who believe in the teachings of God and of the Church, but that gives them plenty of latitude. It means they can easily kill someone who has been excommunicated from the Church for not following their teachings and honoring God."
"Basically, they are going to label her an enemy of God and the Church so they can justify killing her." Tatemiya simplified.
Touma thought back to the brief conversation he had with Orsola during the recovery mission and how she spelled out how she felt regarding the Book of the Law. She sincerely believed that no good could come from a Grimoire of any kind, and wished nothing more than to decipher the Book of the Law so that she could destroy it. Despite her good intentions for trying to decipher the Grimoire, she was targeted by her own faction and made an enemy by those she wanted to help.
The very thought made Touma seethe with righteous rage, like a caged dragon struggling to break free from its bonds.
"Yeah? Well screw that!" Touma growled.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't matter now." Stiyl sighed, "There's nothing more we can do to help her now."
"Doesn't matter!?" Touma screamed, grabbing Stiyl by his collar, "This is a human life we're talking about here!"
"No, what we're talking about is the Roman Orthodox Church applying their own rules to their own people." Stiyl replied calmly, "If we get any more involved than we already are, we'll start a religious war. Is that what you want? In case you forgot, the only reason we called upon you and your Science Side allies was because the perceived threat could shift the power balance and start a war between Science and Magic. I doubt you want to start a completely different war."
"…Of course not." Touma sighed, releasing his grip.
"Don't worry so much, young man. Everything will be just fine." Tatemiya cut in reassuringly, casually tapping his sword over his shoulder, "The English Puritans may not have a reason to fight the Roman Orthodox Church, but the Amakusa most certainly do. I already had plans to visit their base, and while I'm there saving my own lost children, I'll rescue Sister Orsola as well."
"That's crazy! You're not going against that whole army of battle nuns by yourself, are you? Don't tell me you're one of those fanatically religious types!" Kuroko cried in outrage.
"If anyone is like that, it's those very same battle nuns. Plus, a fanatic would never admit to being such. And yes, I'll go by myself if I have to."
With his goals made clear, Tatemiya picked up his pace and continued down the street, leaving the Puritan/Kamijou alliance behind with nothing but a wave goodbye over his shoulder.
"…You two would definitely become fast friends if you met any other way, Kamijou." Kuroko noted.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Touma asked indignantly.
"Well, I suppose that sorts everything out." Stiyl mused, "We should split up and lay low for a while to be on the safe side. Once we get back to Academy City, Index will go with you two."
"We're really going to just leave it at this?" Kuroko asked, not liking the fact that they were leaving Orsola to her fate despite her nature as a law abiding enforcer.
"Not like we have much choice." Touma sighed, defeated.
"Better than provoking a war between your tiny Faction with the Roman Catholic." At this moment, Stiyl lit a cigarette. "Unless the British Puritans can come up with a valid reason for saving Orsola, we won't step in."
Stiyl made a long drag of puff white smoke, seemingly uninterested before remembering.
"Oh, one more thing. There's something I need to ask you before we part ways, Kamijou."
"What's up?"
"The crucifix that I gave you earlier during the fight. You don't seem to have it anymore." Stiyl noted.
"Crucifix?" Kuroko inquired, this being the first she heard of it.
Touma thought for a moment before recalling the article of jewelry Stiyl was referring to.
"Oh, sorry! I gave it to Orsola and she still has it." Touma admitted, scratching his head in embarrassment, "I… hope it wasn't too expensive."
"No. With something like that, the value lies in having it with you." Stiyl said reassuringly, "It's okay. Our work is done for the night, so it's nothing you necessarily need right now. Let's go."
As the alliance made their way back to Academy City, Touma couldn't help but think about what could be happening to Orsola. The ditzy but kindhearted nun turned to him for help, yet he ended up handing her over to those who would sought to do her harm. Despite everyone telling him not to even think about trying to help her, the thought of leaving Orsola to her fate when he had even the tiniest bit of help to offer didn't sit well with Touma.
But try as he might, he couldn't think of a way to change the outcome; whether to bring Orsola straight to the Academy City or allow the Amakusa to escape in the first place. Something… anything an Outsider like himself could bring that could make a difference.
Anything to prevent that cry full of despair that had come out of nowhere.
"Poor Orsola." Touma moaned, "There has to have been something more I could have done for her."
"It's an issue for the Magicians to sort out. You shouldn't feel responsible for a case like this." Index said in an attempt to reassure her surrogate brother.
"In the end, we have no jurisdiction in the matter." Kuroko added, "You can't keep acting like the weight of the world is on your shoulders."
"Maybe." Touma begrudgingly agreed.
'Of course, you wouldn't think that if you knew about half the visions and dreams I've been having.' Touma thought to himself privately.
"You've really done all what you needed to do. Now it's somebody else's turn." Index concluded, "You can't expect to solve every problem in the world, you know."
'That's not what The Door said.' Touma thought to himself.
"I guess." the Level 0 agreed passively.
Index nodded as she tried to continue persuading Touma. "Yeah, not every last fight has to have you settle the problem. It's honestly abnormal how much trouble you get involve in. But Touma, if you can't solve it on your own, then you should rely on others more. After all, it's not a shameful thing to ask others for help."
Despite being presented with several reasons as to why Touma should leave the issue of Orsola to someone else, he could not bring himself to just stand idly by. Even if the rest of the world condemned him for taking such reckless action, he wanted to do so regardless. That is just how Touma Kamijou operated. However, if was going to act on his own, Touma would need to get away from anyone who would stop him.
"Oh, I completely forgot." Touma lied, "My refrigerator at home is almost completely empty. I need to head to a convenience store and pick up something for breakfast for me and Shizuri tomorrow morning."
"If you're going to the store, maybe we should all go together." Index suggested.
"Do you even know where the nearest store is?" Stiyl asked with a huff.
"Not really. Finding it might take a while, so you guys go on without me." Touma replied.
"Hang on! Your sister is expecting me to bring you back to Academy City in once piece." Kuroko interjected, "If I return to Academy City without you, she'll want my head. And from how Sissy describes her, I'm worried that will be very literal."
"I'm sure she'll be cool with it." Touma brushed off the issue, "At worse, she'll knock you out and leave your body on the side of the road in front of your dorm."
"That doesn't make me feel any better!"
Before Kuroko could protest further, Touma was already off running on a supposed search for a convenience store.
"… Does he really think anyone actually bought that?" Index asked once Touma was out of sight.
"Honestly, I thought he was a better liar than that." Kuroko sighed, knowing full well Touma had been maintaining a lie to most of the people he knew since July 28 of that year, "Guess I better go stop him before he does something stupid."
"Don't bother. This will actually work in our favor." Stiyl interrupted, picking up his pace to take the lead, "If you really want to help Imagine Breaker, it would be best if you stay with us for a bit longer."
Kuroko asked, "Wait, where are we going?"
"We're going to rescue Orsola." Stiyl answered without missing a beat.
While working with the Roman Orthodox Church, Touma had learned that Orsola had been awarded for her work in spreading religious teachings with special permission to oversee the construction of a church that would bear her name. A quickly look at his phone's map app told Touma when the church building was currently being constructed, as well as his best lead to where the Agnese Forces were holding Orsola.
As Touma approached the location marked on his phone's map, his right eye transformed without him realizing it. Much like when he struggled to track down Esther just a few days ago, his newly transformed eye allowed Touma to see rainbow auroras he could not explain. These auroras were most dense around a church building surrounded with scaffolding, the same building marked on his map, which told Touma his hunch about Orsola's church was on the right track. As soon as Touma's right hand made contact with the aurora, the sound of shattering glass rang out and the aurora surrounding the building shattered in a similar fashion.
'A magical barrier, huh?' Touma thought to himself as his eye passively returned to normal, his suspicions confirmed.
With nothing else standing in his way, Touma opened the church's double door to the sight of two hundred fifty battle nuns crowding in the darkness during a hot summer night, chief of which was Agnese, surrounding a battered and beaten Orsola.
"Huph. You expect me to wonder how you managed that, but I think I might have an idea. I suspect you have something in your possession with the power to neutralize our barrier." Agnese deduced, mildly impressed, "Well, did I guess correctly?"
"I don't enjoy being lied to." Touma cut to the chase, "I would suggest you don't do it again."
"What would be the point of that? It should be pretty obvious to you what's happening right now, right?" Agnese taunted with excitement, like a child who can get away with any misdemeanor, "The English Puritans have realized they have not business in these matters and have run off. So, why is it you haven't given up? Come now, this is your last chance. Your fate hangs in the balance. I think you know what you ought to do."
"You're not wrong. This is my last chance to do what I need to." Touma agreed, "I am very well aware of that."
"Well in that case…"
Agnese did not get the chance to finish her sentence before Touma started charging in swinging. With his signature right hook, Touma punched Agnese with so much force that she went flying into the arms of the battle nuns behind her. Agnese herself was more or less unscathed, having managed to block the attack by crossing her arms in front of her, but she was still very much shaken.
Finding her footing, Agnese screamed in outrage, "You filthy heathen! What exactly do you think you're doing!?"
"What I ought to be, obviously!" Touma replied, clenching his fist, "Come on! Stop playing the idiot! I came here to rescue Orsola!"
"I'll admit, I find you… fascinating." Agnese mused with a smirk, "Take a look around. How much do you think you can accomplish alone? Perhaps you'd like to give us a demonstration?"
At her command, Agnese's forces drew their weapons. Each of the battle nuns present was more than ready and willing to attack at the first chance given.
Touma Kamijou, who was alone, glared at the enemies surrounding him. Clenched his fist in determination, raised it in ready action, and…
BOOM!
An explosion went off at one of the church's second floor windows, delaying the fight and knocking away multiple battle nuns stationed at the scaffolding surrounding said window. Standing in the window frame among the flames was Stiyl, more than ready to do combat.
"How rude. You just had to start without me, huh?"
"Why are you here?" Touma asked in confusion.
"The English Puritan Church!?" Agnese asked in equal confusion, "You should leave! This is a matter for the Roman Orthodox Church alone. You don't want to interfere in our internal affairs, do you?"
"No, I do not. However, it turns out this situation isn't actually so internal. Look at Orsola Aquinas's chest." Stiyl instructed.
Doing as they were told, Touma and Agnese turned to Orsola to see the crucifix neckless that Touma had placed on her earlier that night.
"You do see that English Puritan crucifix that's hanging there, don't you? She has asked someone to place it around her neck. That qualifies her as having accepted English Puritan protection." Stiyl explained, "Orsola Aquinas is no longer a Roman Catholic. In fact, she is now a member of the English Puritan Church."
"I get it!" Touma exclaimed in realization, "As a member of the English Puritan Church, Orsola's inquisition at the hands of the Roman Orthodox Church is now a matter that concerns the English Puritan Church."
"Glad to see you catch on so quickly, Imagine Breaker." Stiyl said as he jumped down to the ground floor, "Off course, it's a really weak base since it wasn't done in an English Puritan Church nor by a English Puritan Priest. But at least Orsola's identity right now is delicate enough to warrant a negotiation for which organization she belongs to. That being said, I hope you reconsider turning your blades against her because the English Puritans will not sit back and watch."
Next, he pointed the tip of his flame sword at Agnese as Stiyl bared his fangs with a look of loathing. "And most importantly, you dare attack that child! Do you mistake me for a man so chivalrous as to not fight a woman when the situation calls for it? I'm not so kind!"
Agnese scoffed, "Fine! Then we fight two instead of one!"
"It would be unwise to assume it's just the two of them." a familiar voice rang out from the side of the church opposite Stiyl.
Suddenly, the wall from which the voice called out burst into rubble, revealing Tatemiya and around fifty members of the Amakusa who had found their freedom.
"I get that you're not the smartest kid in the world, but you don't have to ask what I'm doing here, do you." Tatemiya joked, looking straight at Touma.
"I'll have you know I do detective work as a volunteer job, Tatemiya." Touma replied with a chuckle.
"And here I thought we arranged our plans with the Puritans so carefully, acting quickly so we could get here before you decided to make a move on your own and play the hero." Tatemiya mused with a laugh, "Looks like you're a bigger fool than I gave you credit for. But at least you're the entertaining kind of fool."
"You know Touma, when I said this wasn't your responsibility, I was hoping you'd take the hint and butt out for once in your life." Index said as she casually walked through the front door Touma himself had previously opened.
"Good to see you too, Index." Touma greeted, not even acknowledging the insult.
"Don't forget me." Kuroko greeted as she teleported behind Touma, "As a high ranking member of the Kamijou Faction, it is my duty to support you whenever you decide to get involved in a conflict in whatever way I can."
"Your devotion to the cause is noted." Touma nodded, playing along with their whole Kamijou Faction act.
"Well, we're all here. What do you say we all save Sister Orsola together?" Index suggested.
Touma did not need to give a verbal response to that question. The answer was obvious.
Looking on from the rooftop of the building just across the street from the church was a man in a brown, ten gallon hat, the same one who watched the previous fight for custody over Orsola.
"You've gathered quite a few allies, Guardian." the man mused to himself, "Let's see how far you get with them with the power you have now."
"Attack the heathens!" Agnese ordered with a mighty scream.
Doing as they were commanded, the many battle nuns charged at those who would defend Orsola. Despite being severely outnumbered, The Amakusa were more than capable of going blade for blade with the Roman Catholics. With the Amakusa handling the bulk of the combat, the members of the would-be Kamijou Faction made getting Orsola to safety their top priority.
"Are you alright?" Touma asked as he helped Orsola to her feet.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. She didn't do too much." Orsola said reassuringly, despite her battered form saying otherwise.
"Shirai, you take Orsola and get her to safety. Your Teleportation should make it easy for you." Touma ordered.
"What about you?" Kuroko asked, "You're not actually planning to try to fight all of these nuns barehanded, are you?"
"… No?" Touma lied unconvincingly.
Seeing as her partner's plan was half baked, Kuroko quickly teleported to the top level of a nearby scaffolding tower. When she came back, she had used her teleportation to cleanly cut loose a pool from the scaffolding's support and offered it to Touma.
"You might need this."
Taking the pool in his hands, Touma gave the improvised staff a few practice swings and spins to get a feel for it.
"The balance is a bit off, but I can work with this." Touma nodded, "Alright. You get Orsola to safety, I'll tail behind and help cover you."
"Slight problem with that plan." Kuroko pointed out, nodding towards the front door of the church building which was now blockaded with Agnese Forces battle nuns.
Despite how oppressive the battle nuns appeared, they proved to be little threat thanks to the Amakusa Magician named Itsuwa. Armed with nothing but a spear, she quickly dispatched the well over dozen battle nuns blocking the way. She moved swiftly and elegantly with trained precision, striking down each of her opponents without wasting a single movement. With the path clear, she gave Touma and Kuroko a silent nod, giving them the all clear to make their exit.
"Impressive. You could learn a thing or two from her, Kamijou." Kuroko mused.
"Just get Orsola out of here." Touma ordered, ignoring the jab at his less refined, self-taught polearm fighting style.
Putting their plan into action, Kuroko slung Orsola's arm over her shoulders and started teleport jumping her to safety. Using her unparalleled mobility, the Level 4 Teleporter took Orsola high into the air out of the reach of her pursuers and out the front door. When several battle nuns tried to give chase, Touma rushed in behind them, quickly tripping them up with his makeshift staff before running after the fleeing Kuroko.
Unfortunately, leaving the church grounds proved to be harder than expected. Battle nuns had been positioned around the entire perimeter and they were all equipped with long range, fire magic, lobbing fire balls at Kuroko as she tried to get Orsola out. With such a heavy curtain of fire, Kuroko could not hope to find a safe path to make her teleportation jumps through. She could only teleport so far while carrying someone, and there was a delay of 0.4 to 1 seconds between consecutive jumps. That second long delay could prove deadly if she tried to push through the literal curtain of fire. Instead, she was forced to keep running, doing whatever she could to keep Orsola out of the enemies hands
Seeing that Kuroko was unable to leave the church grounds, Touma gave chase, only to be intercepted by multiple battle nuns clearly out for blood. Not one to be deterred, Touma charged at them head-on, using his makeshift staff to trip his opponents, knock them aside, or parry their attacks so he could counter with a swift punch from Imagine Breaker.
The first nun Touma encountered tried to bring a sword down on his head, but he simply redirected the blade with his staff and let the nun slip right past him before he smacked her over the head with the opposite end of his staff. Another nun tried blasting him with fire balls as he charged, but Touma simply lead with his right hand and negated the blasts, eventually grabbing her weapon with Imagine Breaker and jamming his staff into her gut. Two more nuns tried to double team him, and this time Touma managed to catch both their weapons with his staff. He then pushed the both away, spinning his staff as he advanced to disarm and trip them.
These confrontations kept coming as Touma closed in on Kuroko.
Despite their best efforts, Touma and Kuroko could not keep running forever. Before long, the pair of Judgement Officers found themselves and Orsola surrounded by dozens of Roman Orthodox battle nuns, none of which looked merciful. Even if Kuroko tried to teleport Orsola out of there, the first jump she made would put her directly above a mob of hostile nuns, all of whom would gladly take a stab at striking her down before she could make another jump.
"Well, isn't this just a fine mess." Kuroko said as she pulled out several of her very limited pins.
"Rotten luck." Touma grumbled as the two of them took a defensive stance around Orsola.
However, they did not need to engage with the dozens of nuns surrounding them. For reasons Touma and Kuroko did not understand, all the nuns preparing to attack them suddenly collapsed on the ground clutching their heads. They all wailed in pain as if experiencing the most skull splittingly agonizing migraine in human history.
"What the hell just happened?" Touma asked, baffled.
"Wait, do you hear singing?" Kuroko asked in turn, scanning the church courtyard for the source of the supposed song.
Sweeping the area, Touma and Kuroko eventually spotted Index standing in the open, singing a whole choir by herself.
"What is she doing?" Touma mused.
"That is Sheol Fear." Stiyl answered from a nearby rooftop on which he was fighting, "It's a song that makes use of her collective knowledge of the Grimoire library and denounces the contradictions within them. Upon hearing this, their personalities will completely dissolve within a short time. Quite effective against those who blindly follow the teachings of such doctrines without question."
"Impressive." Tatemiya noted from Stiyl's side, "If she had this trick up her sleeve, why wait until now to use it?"
"The technique works on what is referred to as the 'group mind' and is dependent on that group mind's purity." Stiyl explained, "For example, the effect would be weakened if she used it on an opposing side made of multiple factions, or if her allies are in close proximity to her. But given how outnumbered we are and how thinly dispersed our allies are within the battle-field, the group mind is mostly Roman Orthodox and thus has a greater effect."
"Way to go, Index!" Touma cheered, "Come on, Shirai! This may be our only opportunity to get Orsola out of here!"
"Right!" Kuroko agreed, moving to pick Orsola up off the ground.
However, before the trio could make a break for the exit, a new group of Sisters led by Lucia appeared just outside of Sheol Fear's effective range and blocked their path. While their exit strategy was once again obstructed, Touma and Kuroko at least had the reassurance that their opponents could not come any closer without succumbing to Index's attack. Despite that, Lucia appeared fully prepared to charge at them despite the obvious danger.
"Forget about defense!" Lucia ordered, "Sisters, we must stay on the offensive! We must do everything in our power to defeat the enemies of the Church, no matter the cost!"
Following Lucia's command, each and every one of the Sisters behind her pulled out a pair of fountain pens. To the horror of their enemies, the Sisters all jammed the fountain pens in their ears, rupturing their eardrums and rendering themselves deaf. Now that they could not hear, Sheol Fear had no effect on them and they could continue their assault with no hindrances from their enemies. However, this did not mean that they were not without obstacles, as their act of destroying their eardrums also did considerable damage to their semicircular canals, throwing off their sense of balance. This resulted in their charge actually being slower than if they tried powering through Sheol Fear.
Taking advantage of this self-inflicted handicap, Touma took the opportunity to scour the church grounds for some other way to get Orsola to safety. While he could not find another exit route, he did spot a chapel building currently unoccupied by any of the Roman Orthodox Sisters.
"Everyone, this way!" Touma cried out, booking it for the chapel.
Following Touma's lead, Kuroko grabbed Orsola and teleported ahead of him into the chapel. Meanwhile, Stiyl and Tatemiya assisted Index in getting away from the nuns surrounding her before escorting her through the open chapel door. Touma would have wanted to get all of the Amakusa inside to regroup, but the handicapped but still very dangerous nuns were approaching, forcing him to lock the door and hope the remaining Amakusa could hold off the Agnese Forces while they rethink their strategy. Once the door was locked, Touma reinforced it by sliding his makeshift staff through the door handles. Now in relative safety, Touma let out a sigh of relief, only to immediately tense up again when an axe blade pierced through the door centimeters from his head.
"That should hold them at bay for at least a little while." Touma sighed, "Can you walk alright, Orsola?"
"I take it you're the worrying type." Orsola said with a warm smile, "I'm fine. My injuries aren't too severe."
"Sorry to interrupt this touching moment, but that door isn't going to hold forever." Kuroko pointed out.
As would be expected, the nuns outside the building were not going to give up so easily, slowly but surely whittling away at the door with repeated axe attacks.
"True that. I bought us some time, but we need a new strategy. Any bright ideas?" Touma asked.
"With their eardrums punctured, Sheol Fear isn't going to work on them." Index noted, the reminder seemingly caused her blood to drain from her face, "And even with Spell Intercept, I can only use it on one person at a time. Against this many people, it's practically worthless."
"My people are holding out well enough so far, but against these numbers and with how relentless our opponents are, we aren't going to win a war of attrition." Tatemiya added, "Those nuns don't care what happens to themselves at this point. It's a suicide attack and nothing is harder to counter than that."
"If only we had the Book of the Law here." Orsola mused, "I could have used it to find us a way out of this mess."
"Very true. It could have allowed us to open negotiations." Stiyl noted, "If we claim that the seal on the book had been broken, we may be able to get the Roman Orthodox Church to back down."
"Except that's the point. The book being stolen was a fiction circulated by the Church so they could make an example of Orsola." Tatemiya countered, "It's nowhere near here and there's no way we can access it, especially while cornered in this chapel."
"I wouldn't say that." Kuroko said slyly, looking at Index.
"That's right!" Touma cheered, "Index's memory! Even if the Book of the Law has never been deciphered, the Church had to have had you at least read through the encoded text. You wouldn't be the List of Prohibited Books if you were missing what is just about the most prohibited book in existence."
"That's right, it's definitely in there." Index confirmed, "I've never been able to decipher it so-"
"Unacceptable!" Stiyl cut in, "If she deciphers that text, she's be stuck with the memory, meaning even more Magicians will come after her!"
"…You sound almost concerned for me." Index noted suspiciously.
Realizing he said too much, Stiyl held his tongue. Rather than continue his triad and make his concern for his old friend even more apparent, he instead turned to her current caretaker and directed his fury at Touma.
"You listen to me!" Stiyl demanded, "You better make sure nothing happens to her! If you don't, I'll burn you until they won't even be able to find your bones!"
"You do that, and three of Academy City's strongest will hunt you down until there's no trace of you on this Earth." Touma replied unflinchingly.
After everything he's dealt with in the last few months, Stiyl's threats didn't scare him in the slightest. His sister, best friend, and potential girlfriend were all infinitely more threatening. Besides, he did not need to be threatened to protect Index. He would protect her on principle even if she was a complete stranger to him. That's just how Touma Kamijou operated.
Having effectively been outclassed in the threatening game, Stiyl turned away with a scoff and held his tongue, letting the rest of their little rag-tag group hash out the details of their potential plan.
Index was bewildered by his anger, but puzzled as she was, she decided it was more important to ask Orsola, "How do you decipher the Book of the Law? Can you explain the process?"
"Of course. I don't mind disclosing my method because I trust all of you now." Orsola obliged, "Fortunately, we should not need to actually use the power of the book. All we really need is to demonstrate our willingness to do so, which should be enough to open a path for negotiation."
Kamijou gaped at the battered nun. It was very clear that the "Angelic Spells" were simply speculations, but he had witnessed firsthand one of the four great angels, the "Power of God". It was that very knowledge inside the book that Orsola wished to destroy, and yet right now she decided to use it.
To save all of them from danger, so no more people will get hurt for her sake, Orsola is willing to go against her ideal.
And once they made this choice, they can never go back.
Kamijou gulped, sweat pouring down his back, hoping this wasn't a mistake.
"The method is based on Temurah, a form of letter substitution, but in this case, there is an irregular rule involving the number of lines."
"This method involves placing the twenty-two Hebrew letters into two lines, being sure to take not of the line number above them." Index finished what Orsola was about to say as if reading her mind, having already determined the method based on Orsola's brief summary, "That's plenty. I understand the situation now."
"I'm sorry. I don't quite understand what you mean." Orsola apologized, not fully grasping Index's words.
"This method isn't the correct method to decipher the Book of the Law. It's actually a dummy solution set up as a trap." Index explained, much to Orsola's surprise, "That's the crazy part of the book. There are over a hundred different ways to decipher it, all of which result in different sentences, all also dummy text. It's not that nobody can read the Book of the Law. Quite the opposite, really. But everyone who does read it gets tricked by the Grimoire to read its text differently."
"That's… impossible…" Orsola hoarsely croaked, feeling numb at the revelation that all her research, all the pain she went through, and the only hope to save her newfound friends might just be for nothing.
"That's insane! I don't even think it's mathematically possible to write text that can be deciphered multiple ways and still produce coherent text!" Kuroko exclaimed, "Whoever wrote this thing must have been a master mathematician!"
"Yes and no. In all likelihood, you're probably right, Kuroko. Such text would be impossible." Index agreed, "However, the power of the Grimoire itself makes it possible. In English, there is text in it that reads ,'Desire, and it'll be thy magic'. Basically, if the reader believes they found the correct decryption method, the book's text will act as so, providing working text that is no less a trap."
"If that's the case, for all we know, the book itself is just a bunch of gibberish and the real terrifying part of it is that the supposed threat it poses causes messes like this!" Touma pointed out, his frustration apparent in his voice.
"I'll admit, there's a very real chance your theory is true, Touma."
"Heh. We could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we knew that sooner." Tatemiya chuckled, more amused by the irony than annoyed, "You think the Roman Orthodox Church will let this whole mess slide if we tell them that Orsola doesn't actually know how to decipher the book?"
"I doubt it." Stiyl replied, "They've strayed too far into darkness to turn back now. They have to see this through."
As if by divine intervention, the nuns trying to break down the door to the chapel were starting to break through. They're blades pierced through the solid wood door, leaving behind holes big enough to see the clear night sky from a distance. Desperate to buy their group more time, Kuroko started teleporting around the building, grabbing pews and teleporting them to the front door to reinforce the barricade.
"We're out of time!" Kuroko cried out between jumps, "This barricade won't last forever, and I only have so many pews to work with!"
"There's got to be a back door!" Touma yelled as he started running to search, only for him to accidentally bump into Stiyl and knock a deck of rune cards out of his robes.
Upon seeing the cards, the neurons in Touma's brain started firing on all cylinders. If a certain pair of Level 5's from Tokiwodai were present, both would have immediately felt the increased activity happening in Touma's mind. The Level 0's limited knowledge of Magic and his rudimentary understanding of human psychology coalesced, forming a master plan that was equal parts grand, reckless, genius, and stupid.
"That's it! I know how we can turn this around!" Touma cried triumphantly.
"Really? You do?" Orsola asked curiously.
"Kuroko! Touma has an idea!" Index called out to the frantic Teleporter.
"Oh, geez." Kuroko lamented, being very familiar with how crazy her partner's plans can get.
"Well, let's hear it then." Tatemiya encouraged eagerly, ready to see what the Level 0 had in store.
"Alright. Right now, the enemy is betting on winning this battle by brute force, overwhelming use with pure numbers, not caring for how many of them fall in battle, right? They assume that no matter how much we throw at them, their numbers and their willingness to go to extremes will win out as we exhaust ourselves." Touma explained, "So, we just need to confront them with more power than their numbers could hope to overcome. Do that, and they'll give up the fight."
"And how do you propose to do that?" Stiyl scoffed, "We already established that the Book of the Law is still safely locked away and we have no means of using its power. Are you planning on cutting your arm off and hoping that dragon pops out again?"
Touma and Kuroko both flinched at the suggestion while Index, Tatemiya, and Orsola simply crooked their heads in confusion.
Not to be deterred, Touma continued, picking up Stiyl's deck of rune cards off the ground with his left hand, "That's where you come in, Stiyl! The strength of your Magic is proportional the number and size of the runes you have deployed. If we can spread your cards around the church grounds and arrange them in the shape of a giant rune, you could conjure Innocentius on such a scale that the Roman Orthodox Church forces here will surely stand down!"
"Such a large scale spell takes time to prepare. How do you propose I get a spell prepared with their superior numbers doing everything they can to kill us all?" Stiyl inquired.
"Hello? Shirai is a Level 4 Teleporter! She can lay down you runes in no time! Not to mention the additional help the Amakusa could provide in setting up the runes!"
"Even so, the enemy will surely notice us preparing the spell! They'd interfere with the rune cards before I got the chance to activate it!"
"Honestly, I don't think that will be a problem!" Kuroko called out as she teleported the last pew on to the barricade, "These nuns are so laser focused on killing us they probably aren't going to notice!"
"I agree." Tatemiya added, "The only one among them with enough sense to make a proper tactical decision at this point is Agnese."
"Then it's decided! Shirai and Stiyl will set up the runes, Tatemiya and Index will keep Orsola safe, and the Amakusa will keep the rest of the Roman Catholics occupied until the spell is ready!" Touma declared.
"What about you?' Index inquired, noticing that Touma had yet to give himself a role.
"I'm going to deal with Agnese!"
Upon making this declaration, the Roman Orthodox forces broke through the barricade.
With the battle raging outside, Agnese found herself alone in the main church building with only her own thoughts to keep her company. However, she would find herself with some rather unexpected company when Touma Kamijou burst through the front door, panting heavily.
Agnese laughed, "There's no way you could have defeated all of my troops, and they wouldn't have let you get away unless they were distracted. You must be playing a different game then, right?"
"Not exactly. Same game, different strategy. One of my designs, actually." Touma replied, wearing a confident smirk.
"Strategy?" Agnese scoffed, "Is that what you call it? And they actually believed you? Looks to me like you're letting your friends take all the heat while you try to take me down personally and claim all the glory of being the big hero. And to think Orsola made you sound so noble. She kept going on and on about the beauty of belief and trust. How laughable. I think we both know you didn't get here through trust. You got here because you tricked your friends to be the decoy while you slipped away. Am I right?"
"Not even close." Touma denied with conviction, "I do have trust in my friends. I put my faith in them and in turn I asked them to put their faith in me."
"I see now. You think that by eliminating me as the commander, you can end the whole battle." Agnese deduced, "Well, that's fine by me. I was getting bored being cooped up in here with nothing to do. I'll be happy to keep myself occupied beating you to a pulp and shattering your naïve illusions once and for all!"
"Hey, that's my line!" Touma protested, taking a fighting stance.
"All things in harmony! Fifth of the five elements! Symbolizing peace and order! Deploy this treasure!" Agnese chanted, holding out her staff.
Responding to her words, the seraph shaped ornament on the tip of the staff sprung to life. The six wings of the angel unfurled, spreading outward like the petals of a lotus in full bloom. This was Agnese's personal weapon, the Lotus Wand.
'Better be careful.' Touma thought to himself, 'That staff is clearly Magic, but I have no idea what it could be capable of. I don't need to win, I just need to keep her occupied long enough that she doesn't realize what the others are setting up. If I'm going to do that, I need to learn how to defend against her.'
"In accordance with the Church, defend against that which is heathen and unclean! Stand strong against the heretic! Lend me your power!" the nun cried as she swung her staff, striking the bottom end of it against a pillar.
The metal rod striking solid concrete let out a resonating ring that echoed through the church. The sound was so piercing that Touma almost did not notice the air to the right of his head shifting and getting denser. By the time he noticed, it was too late for him to dodge or block, resulting in the high school boy getting struck in the head so hard he was sent sprawling on his back to the floor. Shaken by the suddenness of the attack, Touma struggled to lift himself off the ground, only barely able to glimpse Agnese swing her staff again and stab her staff into floor. Recognizing the pattern, Touma immediately rolled to his right onto his stomach, barely managing to dodge the remote attack that left a rather large crater in the hardwood floor where his head used to be.
'A coordinated attack? Teleportation maybe?' Touma thought to himself, 'No, can't be. There was no medium being teleported, just the air being dense enough to be used as a blunt force weapon.'
Before Touma could think more about it, he heard a scratching sound like nails on a chalkboard. Looking over to Agnese, he saw her scraping the blade of a pocket knife along the shaft of her staff. It was only thanks to Touma's keen senses that he managed to jump out of the way of the several blades of wind that would have torn him to shreds.
"So it's transference!" Touma deduced.
"So you figured it out, and in short order too. Impressive." Agnese smirked, "When you do harm to this staff, it in turn does harm to something else. In this case, you. Want another look!?"
The nun spun her staff overhead before once again driving the bottom tip into the floor. Half a second later, the air over Touma's left shoulder condensed before shooting down into the high school boy's back.
'Damnit!' Touma though as he gritted his teeth and held his shoulder, 'There's got to be a way I can predict where the attacks are coming from. I can see there is a slight delay between when she strikes her staff and when the attack connects, but that window is going to be hard to exploit if I can't anticipate where it will come from.'
Not about to let up, Agnese swung the Lotus Wand to her side, striking the head against one of the church's support pillars. Knowing the attack was coming, Touma attempted to dodge, only for him to literally run into a magically induced punch to the gut. Agnese continued her assault, striking her Lotus Wand repeatedly to pummel Touma.
Each strike to the staff took half a second to make, with each blow being delivered to Touma a half second afterwards. The barrage of strikes was so bad that the high school boy thrown against a wall, creating the perfect opportunity for Agnese to transfer several slashes to Touma's back.
The slashes cut deep, causing Touma to draw blood. His mouth filled with the taste of iron as several blows to his head ruptured several blood vessels in his jaws.
With such grievous wounds, Touma knew it would only be a matter of time before he passed out from the blood loss. If that happened, he would be as good as dead, and Agnese could catch on to their true plan. While he had the resilience and adrenaline to stave off the effects of the bleeding, Touma would need to figure out a way to minimize the number of hits he took going forward. Any more attacks taken will weaken his constitution and bring him one step closer to succumbing to his accumulated wounds.
"Now do you see how foolish it was to think you could defeat me?" Agnese gloated, "I only need to anticipate your next move and set up an attack. You do the rest of the work by walking right into it."
'That's it!' Touma thought to himself, a lightbulb going off in his head, 'I can't predict her moves, but she can predict mine. However, that doesn't mean all of her predictions will be correct. If I can just throw her off, I can use the split second delay in her attacks to counter. An additional distraction might help.'
"I thought you said the use of force for personal gain is not the way of the Church." Touma called out, wiping the blood dripping from his mouth.
"You think my use of this staff is against the Church?" Agnese laughed, finding his assessment blasphemous, "The bishop's crosier is an adaptation of the mace, a weapon once used in battle to smash through an opponent's armor. What could be objectionable about me using a weapon used to beat people to beat you with? Modern magic practitioners use deception as a means to an end when necessary, just as the Church of the Cross does from time to time. The difference is when we do it, it's justified. When anyone else does it, it's unacceptable. Ultimately, dogma outside of the Roman Orthodoxy is no dogma at all."
"So that's how you feel, huh?" Touma growled, "You know, faith is a dangerous thing when it is invested in something with so much power and such a one-sided sense of justice."
"What are you getting at? Don't tell me you're secretly hiding some hidden power that you're only going to awaken to now because of the faith your friends have placed in you." Agnese mocked.
'Well, at this point I'm not entirely sure of that myself,' Touma thought to himself.
"Not at all. I'm talking about you." Touma replied, "You talk about how the Roman Orthodox Church can do no wrong, but have you stopped to look at what it's doing now? They put a death warrant on one of their own when all she was trying to do was discover a means of destroying something before it could destroy them, all while fabricating a story to cover it up from the rest of the world."
"You think I care what you have to say?" Agnese scoffed, "I was ordered to kill Orsola, so that's exactly what I'm going to do once I'm through with you!"
"Then let me ask you this. If the Church ordered you to take your own life, would you do it?" Touma challenged.
Agnese could only click her tongue in response.
"You've got it all wrong, Agnese!" Touma shouted, "Orsola is good and has done nothing wrong, yet she is being sentenced to death! Don't you think there might be something wrong with that!?"
"No I don't, because there isn't!" Agnese screamed, "Everything the Roman Orthodox Church does and stands for is right and true! The other sects are heathen in comparison!"
"Your faith is misplaced. Your image of the Roman Orthodox Church is nothing but an illusion." Touma growled, clinching his fist, "Mark my words, I'm shatter that twisted illusion with my own hand!"
"I've had just about enough of you! Why don't you just give up and die already!?" Agnese demanded, preparing her Lotus Wand.
"Let's see you try and kill me!" Touma challenged, prepping his legs to run.
'This is going to be close.' Touma thought to himself, 'I'm losing blood fast, I can't predict her moves, and my only opportunity to counter is the split second between when she strikes her staff and when the attack actually fires. That's not a lot of time to react. It will take a miracle to pull this off. But if that's what it will take, I'll make it happen.'
Steeling his resolve, Touma charged at Agnese for one final push to take her down. However, his approach was anything but straight forward. Rather than his usual tactic of attacking head on, the Level 0 bobbed and weaved his way towards his target. Staying light on his feet, Touma took several sharp, last minute turns as he made his approach, even occasionally backpedaling at unexpected times. His movements were so fast and erratic that Agnese could barely keep track of him, let alone anticipate his movements to launch an attack.
The way Touma moved felt unreal. He moved in such a way that seemed impossible for someone who had sustained as many injuries as he did. Had someone familiar with how Touma fought been present to see, they would have noticed that he was actually moving slightly faster than what he could normally manage, even at peak health. Additionally, even though the wounds on Touma back ran deep and only got worse as he exerted himself, no blood seeped through. By some miracle, the blood that would have been lost instead bridged the gap between the broken vessels as if they were not broken at all.
With Agnese thoroughly confused by his movements and the distance between then reduced to a meter, Touma committed himself to one final push and lunged forward, his right fist chambered for a right hook.
As the move was extremely telegraphed, Agnese took the opportunity to strike, slamming the bottom of her Lotus Wand on to the hardwood floor. However, by some miracle, Touma reacted faster. The moment he heard the sound of metal striking wood, he immediately pulled back his lunge, dodging out of the way of the blunt force attack that Agnese committed to a split second beforehand.
With the attack successfully dodged, Touma committed to his own counterattack. Firing his chambered fist, the Level 0 threw out his signature right hook. The right hand that was Imagine Breaker easily plowed through the compressed air that comprised Agnese's remote attack, ringing out with its signature sound of shattering glass.
Less than a split second later, the fist connected with Agnese's face, sending her flying and leaving her flat on her back.
When she hit the ground, Agnese found her head being flooded with memory she thought she had long since buried.
She recalled how long ago, she had been nothing more than a helpless orphan street urchin in the alleys of Malin, Italy. It was only through the mercy of the Roman Orthodox Church that she was about to get out of such a predicament.
They gave her food, shelter, and a place to belong, but most importantly, they gave her power. The power and means to control and stand above others so that she may never be helpless again. She owed everything to the Roman Orthodox Church, so she would not stand by helplessly while some heathen made a mockery of her and everything she believed in.
She would not!
"I won't… be helpless… again!" Agnese growled as she steadily picked herself up, prompting Touma to raise his fists in anticipation of the continued fight.
However, the fight did not continue. Rather than launch another attack, Agnese lowered her staff and let out a mocking chuckle, much to Touma's confusion.
"You know, I almost feel bad for you. You tried so hard." Agnese said with a smirk, "Looks like it's all over now."
Taking a second to give what he just heard his opponent say, a realization quickly dawned on Touma when he noticed that her voice was the only thing he heard.
"It's quiet outside!" Touma exclaimed.
"Looks like that brilliant plan of yours failed." Agnese deduced, "I'm sure your allies put up a good fight, but in the end they couldn't cut it. And just like that, the fantasy crumbles into tiny little pieces."
"You're right, it is all over." Touma admitted, though his eyes showed no hint of disappointment, "Over for you that is, Agnese! Your fantasy is finished!"
Right on cue, the doors behind Touma swung open, letting a torrent of fire pour in, along with Stiyl, Index, Kuroko, Tatemiya, and Orsola. The flames that entered the church building coalesced into a massive giant of flames, the King of the Witch Hunters, Innocentius.
"This spell required three hundred rune cards." Stiyl explained, "The Amakusa don't compare to you in numbers, but they're not the kind of people you want to cross. Thanks to the combined efforts of them and the Academy City Teleporter, they were able to arrange my cards into a giant figure, transforming the entire church into a magic array. Hard to believe Imagine Breaker was the one to come up with it. Credit where credit is due, he manages to outsmart me whenever it counts."
"About time you admitted it." Kuroko scoffed, "Kamijou can be an idiot, but when the chips are down, he brings about miracles."
"Like I said, we had a strategy. These guys weren't being decoys; they were setting up rune cards. If anything, I was the decoy keeping you distracted so they could do so unnoticed." Touma clarified.
"Oh yeah!? Well I don't care how clever you are! Have you forgotten that we outnumber you!?" Agnese yelled defiantly, "If we come at out all at once, your little flame monster won't be able to help you!"
However, none of Agnese's troops seemed to be responding. Being met with such an imposing force like the giant Innocentius shook the faith of each individual who gazed upon it. What Agnese said was true, using pure numbers, the Agnese Forces would easily win the battle even now. But with the faith of the individual members shaken, no one could bring themselves to act, something that Agnese quickly realized when she saw her troops not respond to her commands.
Suddenly, she remembered what Orsola Aquinas has said before.
'Their actions are based on trust… compared to them, we are ugly.'
Before long, Agnese herself became unsure of what she should do next.
"Come on, time to give up Agnese." Touma declared, snapping the nun from her thoughts, "Even you must have realized it by now. Your self-confidence is just an illusion!"
Taking matters into his own hands, Touma lunged forward, quickly closing the gap between him and Agnese. Her own faith shaken, the leader of the Agnese Forces could only overthink. Whether to maintain distance or not. To dodge or attack. To gamble or play safe. To push through or stand her ground.
But Touma Kamijou held no doubts.
Agnese watched helplessly as the Level 0 concentrated his iron fist for his signature right hook.
And while he was tired, bruised, and bloodied.
Touma believed.
In the brief moment before the punch was throw, Agnese could have sworn she saw something peculiar about the boy's fist. For the briefest moment, she thought she saw a dragon's head where the boy's fist should have been.
When the punch connected with Agense's face, the nun was sent spinning though the air, tumbling on the ground and losing her grip on her Lotus Wand before slamming against a support pillar, where she promptly passed out.
With the faith of the battle nuns completely shattered by the defeat of their leader, the remaining Roman Orthodox battle nuns throughout the church grounds dropped their weapons, accepting their defeat.
The battle was over.
Touma turned around to see Orsola safe and sound, her smile firmly protected. Satisfied with the result, Touma let himself succumb to his exhaustion and blood loss, collapsing on the church floor on the spot, much to the concern of those closest to him.
Outside the church grounds on a nearby rooftop, the man in the ten-gallon hat watched intensely as things came to a close. Having seen everything that had transpired involving Touma, the turned to take his leave and contemplate what he saw.
"The balance continues to waver, and the Guardian has shown signs of awakening to his true power." the man mused to himself, "Only time will tell if he fully awakens. Let us hope it is not too late when he does."
The next morning, Touma woke up to the sight of the oh so familiar ceiling of his regular hospital room. No real surprise there considering how much he was bleeding last night. It was a miracle he lasted as long as he did. What was a surprise, however, was the sight of Kaori Kanzaki sitting at his bedside when he woke up.
"Oh, you finally decided to wake up." Kanzaki mused.
"That you, Kanzaki?" Touma asked, lifting himself out of bed and getting his bearings
"I had planned on being gone by now, so…" Kanzaki explained, though she seemed to have trouble finding the words.
Looking to his left, Touma noticed a wrapped up gift basket and an envelope on his nightstand.
"So what? You left me a note?" Touma noted as he reached for the envelope.
However, Kanzaki was much faster, quickly grabbing the envelope and crumpling it up, ensuring whatever she wrote in that note would never be revealed.
"No, this is nothing! Just forget about it!" Kanzaki hastily insisted, "Doesn't matter anyway. Now that you're awake, I can tell you directly. There's no need for this."
For reasons Touma did not fully understand, the older girl in front of him was blushing profusely.
'Could what she has written really been so embarrassing?' Touma wondered to himself.
"Call it an after action report. I thought you would have liked a update on Orsola Aquinas' status." Kanzaki explained, immediately catching Touma's attention, "Maybe I should have let you keep resting though."
"No, going!" Touma insisted, "Please, tell me everything!"
"Orsola Aquinas, along with the Amakusa, did what was necessary and aligned themselves with the English Puritan Church." the Saint revealed, "This decision seems to have been influenced by a desire to avoid Roman Orthodox retaliation."
"So after all that, nothing has really changed? Orsola's life is still in danger?" Touma inquired.
"It shouldn't be. The English Puritans disclosed the fact that Orsola was using an incorrect encryption method the whole time." Kanzaki said reassuringly, "They figure that if it's known that her interpretation was erroneous, concern regarding her and the Book of the Law will fade quickly."
"Okay, so that accounts for Orsola, but what about the Amakusa?" Touma inquired.
"It seems a segment of them have been hoping for a change to affiliate with English Puritans for some time." Kanzaki explained, "I gave them strict instructions not to follow me, but I guess they didn't feel like listening.
"That's right. You were of the Amakusa and affiliated yourself with the English Puritans too." Touma recalled.
"Those idiots." Kanzaki grumbled, frustrated by her subordinates' stubborn devotion to her.
The pair sat in silence for a moment before Kanzaki remembered there was one more thing she needed to take care of what she was there. Hastily standing up, she firmly straightened her back before dropping into a deep bow before the hospitalized Level 0.
"Anyway, I wanted to apologize for all the trouble I've put you through!" Kanzaki announced, much to Touma's confusion.
"What for?"
"Well, for… um… my own personal reasons." Kanzaki stammered, still bowing, "I've put you through a lot by having you resolve all these issues for me. So…"
"Yo, Kami! I came to visit you!" the familiar and somewhat irritating voice of Motoharu Tsuchimikado rang out as the multifaced spy barged into the room, "I brought you some deluxe convenience store pudding topped with melon to snack on!"
As soon as the blond saw that Kanzaki was also in the room, his focus immediately shifted to her. Something told Touma that Kanzaki's presence was the real reason Tsuchimikado showed up.
"Huh? What's up missy?" Tsuchimikado greeted the Saint, "So you final decided to bite the bullet and apologize to Kami, huh? Doing it all cliched and formal, like, 'I will repay you for all the trouble I caused you', or, 'please, ask anything you want of me', I bet with you offering suggestions, right? It's like 'The Grateful Yet Horny Crane'!"
"It's not like that at all!" Kanzaki denied, not appreciating her compatriot's jabs at making her out to be some debaucherous woman.
"Then again, missy, you were going to strip down eventually, right?" Tsuchimikado insinuated between laughs.
"I was not! And what do you mean by 'eventually'!?" Kanzaki cried out, her embarrassment for apologizing nearly all but replaced with rage for having said apology made fun of.
"What? Does that mean you were going to apologize by wearing whatever he asked of you!?" Tsuchimikado suggested instead, "I got to admit, that's pretty bold of you!"
"Just shut up and get out of here!" Kanzaki demanded, her rage finally reaching a breaking point.
Having had his fun, Tsuchimikado left his shopping bag of deluxe convenience store pudding on a table and turned to leave.
"Alright, alright. Since I'm obviously being a third wheel, I'll leave." the untrustworthy spy said as he exited the room.
"What are you implying by 'third wheel'!?" Kanzaki screamed even though the target of her anger was long gone.
"Um, I don't want to get the wrong idea." Touma interrupted, snapping Kanzaki out of her anger, "But all that outlandish stuff about owing me and wanting to pay me back, that was just Tsuchimikado joking around, right?"
"Well, what else would you have me do?" Kanzaki asked in turn, "I am always putting such heavy burdens on you. Not only that, this time the matter was a problem for the Magic Side to deal with, and you still ended up resolving everything. We're way past the point where me bowing down and begging for forgiveness would suffice."
"I mean, there's nothing really to worry about, is there?" Touma replied, "We took care of everything pretty neatly for the time being. That's all that really matters."
"'We'?" Kanzaki asked, confused by Touma's choice of words.
"Hm? Yeah. Me, the Amakusa, the English Puritans, Orsola, Index, Stiyl, Shirai, and you too." Touma clarified, "That's who 'we' are at the moment. As for the English and Romans, things must be pretty messy for you, but for an amateur outsider like me, I don't really see a difference. It's not that I'm necessarily on the side of the English Puritans, but more that I'm on Index's side, and she happens to be an English Puritan so I help them when they need her. In all honest, if Agnese were to ask me for help, I would help her. And if I get tricked again? I'll role with the punches and clean up whatever mistake I made. She was on the wrong side this time, but that doesn't mean things have to stay that way."
Hearing this explanation, Kanzaki could not help but smile at the sentiment.
Touma Kamijou was equal parts simple and complex. He had a simple world view but went about it in a way that many people would find hard to grasp. If someone needed help in front of him, he would do whatever he could to help. He was not some champion of justice, and he was not being self-righteous. He was simple following his own judgement and doing what he though was truly right, no matter what the rest of the world might say. That was just the kind of person Touma Kamijou was.
Before long, the rest of Touma's closest circle of friends arrived to visit him in the hospital. Seeing that the hospital room was getting much more crowded, Kanzaki took their arrival as her signal to excuse herself and take her leave. Promising to keep Touma updated on Orsola's situation until it properly calmed down, she left the group of Academy city residents to their devices. However, the Saint would quickly find herself encountering another person she was quite familiar with, even if she did not immediately realize it.
A chance encounter in the halls of the hospital led to Kanzaki coming face to face once again, this time with both of them having their proper faces. One would think that with them both not recognizing the other's face, they would have no reason to speak to each other. However, there were other tells that gave away their identities.
"You're an acquaintance of Touma's right?" Shizuri asked just before they passed each other.
"How did you…"
"You were coming from where Touma's usual room is. Plus, he has a tendency to draw in unique individuals, so your style of dress stuck out." Shizuri explained. "I'm Touma's older sister, Shizuri. Care to tell me what your relationship to my brother is?"
'So this is what she actually looks like.' Kanzaki thought to herself.
"I'm just someone who owes him a great debt." Kanzaki replied, giving a bow, "I visited him today to give my thanks and apologizes for having him take on so many heavy burdens on my behalf. As his older sister, I extend those same feels of thanks and repentance to you."
"I take it Touma was being too humble again said something about how thanks weren't necessary?" Shizuri deduced.
"Along those lines, yes."
"You have a name?"
"…Kaori Kanzaki." the Saint hesitantly replied, hoping the young woman in front of her would not recognize her name.
"So this is what you really like." Shizuri mused, much to Kanzaki's shock, "Touma explained the who situation to me, how everyone had their appearances shuffled around because of a spell our old man accidently cast. I guess you're a Magician considering you all showed up during our vacation during that time."
"T-that's right." Kanzaki stammered, baffled by how quickly the conversation was moving, "How did you get your brother to tell you about the existence of Magic?"
"That nun friend of his isn't exactly the most tight lipped." Shizuri replied, "All I did was ask and she told me the basics, at which point Touma had no choice but to explain everything to me."
"I see…" the Saint trailed, mildly miffed that Index exposed the truth so easily, "In that case, I must further extend my apologizes to you for having put your brother through so much, since you know the full extent of what he has done for myself and those I hold dear."
"Just do me a favor and try not to pull anything with my brother. Be it dragging him into more trouble or pursuing him romantically, I'd rather you and your people not ask too much more from him." Shizuri demanded, her eyes deadly serious.
"O-of course." Kanzaki stammered, partly because of how shockingly intense the elder sister in front of her was being, partly because she was flustered by further insinuations that she would want to pursue Touma romantically.
Having made her point clear, Shizuri nodded goodbye to Kanzaki and continued her trek to Touma's usual hospital room. Meanwhile, Kanzaki was left stunted by the unique character that was Shizuri Mugino Kamijou.
"And that's the situation." Touma said, finishing his explanation of his latest misadventure.
"Man, that's crazy." Mikoto gasped, "I've heard of religious fanatics, but this is a whole other level."
"To think the Roman Orthodox Church would turn on one of their own members just to make a point." Uiharu said in a low voice.
"I don't know. I've heard some pretty sketchy stuff on that particular branch of Christianity." Saten mused, "They go through more scandals than some celebrities."
"Either way, everything wrapped up rather nicely." Index summarized, "Orsola is under the protection of the English Puritans, the Amakusa had aligned themselves with the English Puritans and bolstered their fighting force, and everyone managed to get home in once piece, Touma's injuries notwithstanding. Honestly, it's a miracle he lasted so long in a fight with such deep cuts and serious bleeding."
"How did you keep fighting despite those injuries?" Kuroko asked, "With how big those cuts were, you should have passed out from blood loss much sooner than you did."
"I'm not sure…" Touma admitted, clinching his right fist.
'Not to mention how much faster I moving during that last stretch of the fight.' Touma noted to himself, 'This never happened before, at least not before I started having those dreams. Something else for the journal, I guess.'
"I guess it doesn't really matter." Kuroko brushed off the topic, "We got you back home alive, and that's what counts. Everything is wrapped up nicely."
"Then why do I get the sense we forgot something?" Uiharu mused in thought.
"I see you all are as lively as ever." A familiar voice announced as the owner entered the room.
Upon hearing the voice, Makoto, Uiharu, and Saten all immediately tensed up.
"Oh, hey Sis." Touma greeted his sister, "What are you doing here?"
"Visiting you, obviously, seeing as you landed yourself in the hospital. Again." Shizuri replied, "I take it you three delivered my message."
"Message?" Touma asked.
"R-right." Makoto stammered, "You see, after we delivered Touma's message, Shizuri had a message she wanted us to relay to Kuroko."
"But with so much going on, we kind of forgot to tell you before now." Saten added.
"What was the message?" Kuroko inquired.
"That if Kamijou ended up in the hospital again after your excursion outside of Academy City, she would hold you personally responsible, Shirai." Uiharu explained apologetically.
Now aware of the gravity of the situation, Touma immediately straightened up in his bed and bowed to his sister as deeply as he could while in his seated position.
"Please don't kill Shirai!" Touma begged, "I'm injured because I got reckless! She had nothing to do with it!"
"Relax, I'm not going to kill her." Shizuri scoffed, offended that her brother would think so lowly of her.
"You're not?" Touma asked.
"Of course not. I've been visiting Asunaro Park lately, and one of the volunteers there taught me a very interesting technique for disciplining spoiled little princesses." Shizuri explained, placing a hand on Kuroko's shoulder.
As soon as she did so, Kuroko paled. From Shizuri touch, she could feel her murderous aura, one that she was all too familiar with.
"Wai—" was all Kuroko managed to say before Shizuri wrapped both hands around Kuroko's head and snapped her neck in such a way that she was left in a death-like state, keeping her alive to be resuscitated.
Having seen Kuroko suffer this fate at least once before, the middle school girls still conscious in the room had to hold in their screams of terror as to not disturb the other patients in the hospital. Index was more baffled than anything at the sight.
And Touma? He could only let out a sigh of resignation.
"Rotten luck." the Level 0 sighed.
Special End Card Segment: Trivia Corner
1) The man wearing the ten gallon hat introduced in the arc is based on the Watcher from Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja. Naturally, he will be playing a similar role in this story to the Watcher of that show.
2) Touma's various speeches to Agnese about misplaced faith pull from various sources. The first part is pulled from the Ultraman anime on Netflix, specifically from Alien Zetton Edo's speech regarding his belief that the Ultramen are dangerously powerful vigilantes. The second part is pulled from Gurren Lagann, specifically from the exchange between Nia and Adiane regarding Adiane blindly following Lordgenome's orders.