The distance between Kamijou and Oriana is only 10 metres.

But Kamijou’s fist can’t reach her.

Oriana’s left hand moves, as she tears out a flashcard.

The green words written on this thick piece of paper are ‘Wind Symbol’.

An ice wall about 50cm thick appears on the road, separating Kamijou and Oriana.

Kamijou and Oriana exchange glances through this transparent ice wall.

Not looking at the 3m tall ice wall in front of him, Kamijou hits it with his right fist.

Piang!!

The sound of glass breaking can be heard.

As if there’s gunpowder inside, the ice wall shatters the instant it was hit.

But Kamijou can’t see Oriana in front of him.

Like a portrait drawn on a piece of glass shattering, her figure shatters together with the shattered ice.

Kamijou gasps, wondering what is going on.

(The function of ice is—)

Suddenly, he feels a chill.

(—light…refraction!?)

Besides him, something started to bounce.

Just as his eyes narrow due to the approaching gust of wind.

Pow!

He feels that his cheeks were cut by something.

A thick liquid flows down his wounded face before feeling this pain.

“Hm. This sharpness is rather stimulating, isn’t it?”

From the far end of Kamijou’s vision, Oriana immediately tears up another flashcard with her mouth, activating a new spell.

The super-thin stone blades fly over, cutting deeply into Kamijou’s face.

“Hoho, I felt it the first time I held your hand. To think that there are so many strange kids gathered in Academy City.”

The lady must be referring to Kamijou’s right hand.

But Kamijou doesn’t have time to reply right now.

There’s no need to touch the wounds in order to know how deep they are.

To think that Oriana can use this spell to knock out any enemy who’s injured to some extent by using the sound created by the thick piece of paper!

(Damn, damn it…!)

Kamijou feels a chill flow down his body, and inadvertently covers his ears.

Seeing him like this, Oriana puts another thick piece of paper between her lips.

“The next one will be a shadow sword. This nee-chan won’t let you get tired of this, okay?”

As she tears the card, swinging her left hand about, a dark sword appears in her hand. The sword, which can be reshaped to any length, extends to 7m long, and stabs onto Kamijou’s shadow that’s on the ground. At this moment,

POM! The shadow near Kamijou’s feet exploded.

Like someone stepping on a land mine, Kamijou’s body is blown up into the air. He spins in the air like a dragonfly, getting into a protective posture before he lands onto the ground.

The arm that smacked onto the asphalt pavement hurts, but compared to this,

(Why? Why didn’t she use that technique that knocked out others like Tsuchimikado!?)

Compared to being relieved over being saved, Kamijou is even more troubled now that he can’t understand what the enemy is thinking. Since the enemy has a trump card that can beat the opponent, she can’t possibly have forgotten this.

Oriana, who’s in an advantageous position now, jumps away from Kamijou, pulling the distance apart.

Seeing Kamijou’s puzzled look, Oriana subtly giggles,

“Humph, this nee-chan has no interest in using the same spell over and over again.”

With a relaxed expression, she says,

“The five elements form the basis of modern Western Magic. From an alchemist’s viewpoint, anyone can have them, but this is just a prelude. Though it’s easy to use, on the other hand, it’s easy for the enemy to read one’s own attacks, and come up with a defensive spell to counter it. Wouldn’t anyone be worried about being too simple if one keeps using this in an actual battle? This nee-chan doesn’t want to make my enemy feel bored, so she prepared a lot of these cards, so these magic texts that I prepared must be torn away like a calendar. This—is—how—it—is.”

Kamijou ignores Oriana’s words, and intends to close the distance.

Seeing Kamijou act like this, Oriana tears another piece of flashcard.

After that, a huge gust of wind appears behind Kamijou. Being pushed by the wind behind, Kamijou’s speed continues to increase, as he continues to stumble. Now that the distance is shortened, Oriana raises the billboard on her right side, and smashes it into Kamijou’s jaw with a hook-like manner.

With a blunt sound, Kamijou’s body bends into a ‘<’ shape, falling backwards.

“Ke…AHHH…!!”

Kamijou’s thought process and breathing process stop at the same time, and he can’t even tell which side is the right side up. To him, the four directions are all messed up now, rotating all over the place. Even so, Kamijou still places his hand on the ground to support himself, trying to get up.

“Hm.”

Oriana tears another piece of flashcard.

“So useless, we’re only in the prelude, and yet your legs have no strength left?”

A certain power is activated.

Between Kamijou’s back and the ground, something that’s like steam erupts, tossing Kamijou into the air. This time, Kamijou doesn’t have enough time to defend himself as he rolls on the floor.

Kamijou tries his hardest to gather his consciousness that’s about to fail at any moment, as he considers the situation that’s right in front of him.

“Ugh…”

Now even his thought process is painfully cut off.

Kamijou grits his teeth, enduring the extremely sharp pain that’s spreading throughout his body.

“Damn it…why?”

Kamijou continues to think, only doubts appear in his mind.

“…She did say that she won’t use the same spell a second time. So why are there so many different…”

He doesn’t know what the four main or five main things are that she’s talking about. All he knows about is mixing the colour and the name together. In this situation, by continuously using magic like that over and over again, all the combinations will be used up in an instant.

“Hohoho. Combinations don’t just work like that. You should be able to tell from this nee-chan, right?”

Oriana puts another flashcard into her mouth with her left hand.

“!”

Kamijou inadvertently prepares himself, but he is unable to transfer his strength throughout his body.

Seeing the boy in front moving rather slowly, Oriana doesn’t attack, only choosing to lick the thick piece of paper with her tongue, from the short rectangular side, then the corner, then the long side.

Stunned, Kamijou stares at what Oriana is doing, and finally says with much difficulty,

“…The edge? It got something to do with the edge when you held the thick piece of paper in your mouth…?”

“Un. That’s also one requirement. This is the basis of Western Astrology. From zero degrees to 9 degrees, 171 degrees to 189 degrees, 81 degrees to 99 degrees, 111 degrees to 129 degrees, 54 degrees to 66 degrees, 0 to 1 degree, and there are more laws for these coordinates. The theory is that ‘the relationship between the planets and the constellations will have different functions due to different angles. Do you need me to give you a lesson on the relationship between stars, colours, and elements?”

Oriana grins.

“Because this nee-chan added in page numbers to identify them, so strictly speaking, I can’t re-use the same spell again. Like how lost time can’t be retrieved again, the pages that were flipped can never be retrieved again.”

She moves the flashcard, now slightly damp on the edges, and moves it along her upper lip.

“This is the limit of nee-chan. No matter how hard I continue write magic books, the ‘original’ won’t stabilise, and will continue to lose control and self-destruct. Also, my words are too messy to be understood. Whether as a magician or a mage, my strength is only half-baked.”

Oriana slightly narrows her eyes.

“However, because of this, this nee-chan continues to write magic books to create new spells. Since nee-chan knows she’s using a half-baked original, the most each book can last is one hour, if it’s fast, it’ll self-destruct in several seconds. Because I’m aware that I’ll lose if I ever stopped to compromise, this nee-chan wants to continue improving—this is called ‘not forgetting one’s original intention,’ right?”

After saying this, Oriana uses her teeth to bite the damp piece of paper.

But she didn’t tear it off this time.

She places the thick piece of paper on her tongue, and without moving her mouth too much, she says in an obscure voice,

“Right now, I’m going to use the symbol of wind that’s in red. The angle is at 0 degree conjunction, total number of pages, 575, disposable-type spell, ‘Light coloured severing axe’. You’ve been warned.”

She pauses,

“You’ll die if you move.”

She declares,

“But if you don’t move, you’ll surrender on the next move. You’re not a kid anymore, so decide what you should choose — pick your poison.”

—Oriana pulls the thick piece of paper aside. On the thick piece of paper, pulled from the metal ring, are the red words ‘Wind Symbol’.

(…)

Kamijou places his hand on the ground, supporting himself as he tries to get up, but his body, which is still shaking, is unable to respond immediately. Just trying to put a knee on the ground is difficult for him.

He thought, it’s good that no one else is around. If anyone is to see this, it’ll cause a commotion.

(Don’t move…huh?)

—Remembering what Oriana said, Kamijou feels something crawling below the ground. With Oriana as the centre, there’s a circle on the ground of a metre radius. Outside the circle, there are patterns similar to those of tree branches. It looks like those capillaries around the eyeballs that are filled with blood. The patterns pass by Kamijou, through the roads, below the bicycles, the vehicles and the billboards, all the way in front of Tsuchimikado, who’s lying on the ground.

“—You’ll die if you move.”

—The patterns on the ground give off an irritating vibrating sound.

I might as well admit defeat, Kamijou thought weakly. He’s totally unable to predict what kind of attack will Oriana use next, and thus he can’t think of any counter-strategies. Also, she did say that the damage will be enough to stop his own heart if he takes the next attack directly.

(If I don’t move, the next move will be checkmate…)

The difference between the two choices is, the latter ‘will solve this without killing him’. He’ll probably be knocked unconscious like Tsuchimikado. Just like this.

After this, Oriana will run away, but Stiyl will still chase after her. Victory won’t be decided just because Kamijou falls. Even if the amateur falls, no one will blame him. Didn’t the specialist, Tsuchimikado, suffer defeat as well? It’s unreasonable for him to continue to resist.

(Then, what should I do next…)

But, Kamijou continues to clench his right fist.

He clenches it tightly, till his fingernails sink into his palm. The sudden influx of willpower fills his hand with strength.

He then gives the order to his weak legs, and steadily stands on the ground.

The feelings of fear and resistance continues to swirl about inside him, but he is thinking, (Can I forget about Fukiyose Seiri’s “Do you have any plan on letting Daihaseisai succeed? You useless fellow.”—)

(—No matter whether the enemy is a professional magician, or whether it involves some important deal, I don’t care about these! Fukiyose-san herself chose to be member of Daihaseisai’s Organising Committee, and continued to work hard till this day. Right now, her efforts are about to go to waste! Should I sit here and do nothing!? Will this Kamijou Touma settle down with ease just like that?)

“WO………AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Kamijou roars, using his entire strength to run forward. He hasn’t regained his balance, and he looks like he’s standing in a plane that’s in the midst of turbulence, but he is definitely running forward though.

At this moment, Oriana spits out the piece of paper that she’s biting on.

The spell is instantly activated completely.

‘Light coloured severing axe’.

With Oriana as the centre, the power is transferred to the patterns, like bricks engraved on the wall, or like capillaries around the eyeballs that are filled with blood.

The vacuum blades start to swing about wildly.

On the ground, there are numerous patterns depicted on the ground. The grooves are facing upwards like a pickaxe facing upwards. The blades sway from down to up, and the total number of strikes is 208. Like a spider web extending outwards, the world of blades slice through anything that’s above it.

(…! You little idiot!!)

Oriana Thompson gnashes her teeth.

On first glance, it looks like an attack that’s randomly set up, but she actually intended for the blades to avoid where Kamijou is standing. However, Kamijou ignores this, and steps outside.

Oriana originally intended to use the vacuum blades that are coming out of the ground to surround Kamijou, making him unable to move before rendering him unconscious. Like how she didn’t kill off the professional magician, Tsuchimikado, in the first place, Oriana finds that having someone dead will affect her own ‘work’.

At the same time Kamijou stepped out, the spell starts to activate.

The vacuum blades shooting out from the ground avoid the safety zone that doesn’t have anyone in it. The 208 vacuum blades start to cut the billboards and bicycles that are above the patterns mercilessly.

However, he ran out of the safety zone, and jumps into the vortex of blades. Besides getting cut, blood spilling out, and death, there’s nothing else waiting for him.

However.

“!!”

Kamijuo’s body isn’t cut.

The numerous blades shoot upwards from below the ground, and the 208 guillotine blades slice the surrounding air—yet it’s ineffective on him. He just so happened to jump into the area where there are less blades shooting out. Where Kamijou is standing now can be considered as a second safety area that Oriana prepared. Oriana doesn’t know how he figured it out, or whether it’s all a coincidence.

(If so!!)

Oriana uses a standby spell. To be able to escape this field of blades, whether she actually prepared it or not, the entire area is separated by the blades, so what Kamijou did is to just run from a hole in the hive nest to another hole.

He won’t be able to escape.

However, Oriana’s predictions are wrong again.

“WOOOHH!!”

Kamijou, who’s roaring, waves his right hand at the vacuum blades in front of him. On first glance, it looks like a stupid act that will get his arm sliced off, yet the vacuum blades were shattered.

Not only are the blades in front of him shattered, all the blades that Oriana released are shattered.

Crack! A moment later, the sound of something breaking can be heard.

At this moment, Kamijou has already taken a step forward.

Three steps left. The distance between them is about to become zero.

(What…!? To think that that right hand is able to negate it to this extent…!!)

Oriana, who’s unable to understand what’s going on, focuses on the enemy in front anyway. She bites on the flashcard that has yellow command text written on it.

This time, the spell to be used is called ‘Sleeping Wind’. It looks like a compressed air gun, and went it hits directly, will turn the target’s consciousness inside out. This is an attack that will knock out others without hurting them. She originally intended to let the airgun pass through the blades and hit the target that is surrounded by the blades. This can be said to be something completely unexpected.

Even if it’s completely unexpected, Oriana fires it without any hesitation.

“Take this—!!”

Before she finished speaking, Kamijou’s right fist has already punched away the front of the ‘Sleeping Wind’. The destroyed gun flies around pointlessly and vanishes into thin air.

(Wh…why…!?)

While she’s still shocked, Kamijou takes another step forward. Two more steps left. Oriana is in a situation where she’s unable to understand what’s going on. The enemy is in front of her, yet she doesn’t know how to react.

(How is he able to respond!? Even if he has a special right hand, how can an amateur predict my attacks!? There must be some sort of reference material, that’s…)

The enemy steps forward. One more step.

In Oriana’s mind, an answer appears like an electric shock.

(Oh yeah. I’m unable to use the same magic over and over again! In other words, there won’t be a similar attack coming from the same direction! So he knows the answer…)

Oriana Thompson cannot re-use the same spells that she used before.

In other words, each place that is attacked won’t be attacked the same way.

Of course, a place that was attacked by a flame sword can be attacked with ice bullets. But the scope of attack for both the sword and the bullets are different, and so such a difference will create a ‘loophole’.

What Kamijou did is to move along those places that were attacked. Since there won’t be similar attacks, in other words, he just needs to worry about attacks other than it, and responding to attacks will be much easier. It seems like somebody taught him that while the next attack will contain, there are ‘escape channels’ to be taken advantage of.

(What? I originally continued to use the same spells in order to seal off all the dead ends and let the enemy be unable to think of a countermeasure. In the end, this…)

Oriana’s lip twists inadvertently.

She doesn’t know what kind of smile that is, but she knows that it’s a smile.

(…ends up being a dead end instead, and I ended up giving the enemy a hint on how to counter it! Haha, such a good boy. This nee-chan loves this kind of creativity the most!!)

In an instant, both of them are within range of each other.

Right now, Oriana doesn’t have the luxury to use those flashcards. She swings the billboard that she’s holding on the right side downwards, and this time, she’s aiming for Kamijou’s head.

However, Kamijou Touma dodges to one side. With one foot as the axis, Kamijou dodges aside. The billboard grazes Kamijou’s nose, creating a ‘whoosh’ sound that can be heard, and slams onto the asphalt floor.

(…!!)

Oriana Thompson is speechless, as she just looks in front.

At the same time, the boy’s right fist fires in from point blank range.

“WO—”

Kamijou roars, exhaling all the air in his lungs.

“—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Gathering all the strength and speed of his body into his right fist, Kamijou aims for the centre of Oriana Thompson’s face. The shock from the impact reverberates from his tightly-clenched fist to his wrist, hand, and shoulder.

Crack!!

With this loud and heroic sound, Oriana’s body flies backwards.

Just like that, Oriana, who’s surrounded by this force that’s aided by Kamijou’s momentum, falls on the ground, and rolls on the floor.

With the wind, the billboard falls out of Oriana’s loose hand and lands beside Kamijou.

Kamijou feels that his right fist is somewhat numb.

(I succeeded…? Did I manage to prevent the deal of this ‘Stab Sword’ magic tool from taking place?)

Anyway, what Oriana is carrying about is in his hands. Though he’s still worrying about the unconscious Tsuchimikado, and the trading partner who snuck into Academy City, it seems like they have averted this greatest danger, no?

“Ho…”

Just as Kamijou is thinking about all these, he hears this laughter that moves with the wind.

Kamijou frantically turns back and look.

“Hoho, you’re really rude. See, my button came off!”

Oriana, who’s lying on the ground, raises her upper body like how someone finishes taking a nap. Her right hand, which was originally holding onto the billboard, is now pressing down near her breasts, since her work clothes are wide open now.

(No…no effect!?)

Kamijou is somewhat stunned. In contrast, Oriana doesn’t seem to mind.

“Ugn. This nee-chan isn’t a fighting queen that’s full of muscles, but your movement isn’t straight, and the trajectory is somewhat off. You’re hurt, so your sense of balance is somewhat off as well, so the impact isn’t as big. Oh yeah, overall—”

She pauses, and then proceeds on,

“—considering that it’s a punch from an amateur, it’s not too bad. But to nee-chan, who’s used to facing off against others who’ll read these attacks and counter, this standard is somewhat unsatisfactory.”

After saying this, she pulls the flashcard in her left hand near her mouth.

Kamijou places his entire body on alert, but the physical pain of these bruises work up out of a sudden. The gathering of this pain prevents his body from moving momentarily.

“!!”

Seeing Kamijou’s face getting distorted due to the pain, Oriana happily tears off another page.

Unexpectedly however, she doesn’t launch another attack.

A gust of wind surrounds Oriana, and in an instant, she’s taken away by the mini-tornado.

In a second, Oriana passes through the gap between the ceiling of the arcade and the buildings, and reaches the top of the building.

Even though the billboard that she left behind is at Kamijou’s feet.

On the other hand, the ‘Stab Sword’ is an important trading item.

Oriana is standing at the edge of the roof, as she turns around and tears off a flashcard with her mouth.

“I’ll leave that thing to you. However, don’t think that this is over yo? The real action will heat up later.”

The whisper-like voice clearly reaches Kamijou as if it’s conducted through the air. He looks at the ‘Stab Sword’ on the ground, then turns to look at Oriana, who’s on the roof.

“…Why?”

He raises a doubt, and though it’s soft, the voice seems to reach Oriana’s ears.

“Why ask why?”

“The ‘Stab Sword’ is in my hands. And yet you’re not forced into a tight corner, so why are you pulling back so easily…?”

Oriana softly laughs,

“Why, huh? Isn’t guessing the reason somewhat interesting?”

She jumps towards the centre of the building, such that Kamijou, who’s looking up, is unable to see her due to the angle.

Oriana’s figures vanishes from the gap between the ceiling of the arcade and the wall of the buildings.

“Wait a sec! The spell that you set on Tsuchimikado—!!”

Kamijou suddenly shouts out, but Oriana has already vanished. The ceiling of the arcade covers the sky completely. She may be hiding inside the buildings, or she might have jumped off to another building.

All he hears is a voice,

“The spell only lasts for 20 minutes, and will stop working after that. You’re really an ESPer who likes to worry.”

After she said this, nothing else can be heard.

Kamijou looks around. Oriana’s figure and voice is completely gone.

“Oh yeah, Conder. I have something that I would really like to ask you…”

Yes.

The other person who’s in the darkness gives such a reply.

It’s not an immediate answer, but rather, one that comes after a pause. Only those who can immediately sense the atmosphere in this situation can tell that this is an opportune time.

Un, Laura seem satisfied as she looks at the darkness in front.

“…Conder, you’ve heard my choice of words, so have you ever laughed at me before?”

“What?”

“Are you hiding in the dark corner in order to hide it?”

“No…no…I would never do such a thing as…”

“Then why must your voice be trembling, you idiot!? Everyone’s laughing at my choice of words! Basically, this is all that Tsuchimikado Motoharu’s fault for teaching me these odd choice of words…”

“Dear Archbishop, I’ve heard that you seem rather uncomfortable speaking in Japanese.”

“DON’T TELL ME THAT THE ENTIRETY OF LONDON HAS HEARD ABOUT THIS!!??”

“Please calm down. Right now, we’re communicating in English. Even if you really can’t speak Japanese fluently, it has nothing to do with this situation.”

“…”

Ahem. Laura purposely coughs to conceal her embarrassment.

Seems like Charles Conder has tried his best to calm her down, but why is Laura still feeling so bitter?

“Excuse me…may we get down to the proper issue at hand?”

“Of course.”

Laura tries hard to concentrate, and intends to continue on with the topic.

Charles smoothly proceeds on,

“In the report, it is also written that though we have a duplicate of the ‘Stab Sword’ in our museum, we can deduce that the actual item doesn’t exist. This is something that may occur during Archaeology, and thus a mistake in the heritage.”

“So what’s this mistake about?”

Laura slowly asked.

The British Museum has an Archaeological point of view that can give the British Puritans, who are magical based, a completely different input, so it’s considered an extremely valuable mind.

“Yes, you've received this kind of report before, right? Like say…yes, the Nazca Lines ( Note: the Nazca lines are located 250 miles south of Lima, Peru’s capital. There’s a variety of about 300 of them, and they’re built during the Nazca culture that’s from B.C. 509 to A.D. 1500. Some pictures are inexplicable, while others are obviously shaped like plants and animals, like hummingbird, monkey, heron, whale, spider and flowers etc.), the Moai figures on Easter Island, and a local example would be the Stonehenge…there are numerous things in history that we discover, yet we don’t know their purpose.”

Charles bends his body in the darkness.

“After this, strange things begin to happen, people will randomly add in reasons as to why these things are made. Legends and stories without evidence that are passed down will accumulate like a snowball. One example that’s easy to understand would be the portrait of the Virgin.”

“Um.”

Laura replies.

The portrait of the Virgin Mary (though a restraint order was issued during a monotheistic Christian occasion, it’s rather popular) is hailed by her worshipers to be a ‘miracle item’. At first, there was the rumour that ‘the Virgin in the portrait would weep.’ After a while, it became ‘whoever touches it can heal their wounds,’ ‘whoever hangs it can dispel evil spirits,’ as new ‘heritages’ continue to be formed, such that it’s on a scale that even the ‘Idol Theory’ can’t explain it. Notwithstanding religious issues, just based on facts alone, it’s unbelievable.

“So, it’s like this? The Roman Catholics do have a magical sword that’s made of marble. But the Roman Catholics don’t know for what reason was it created, so they add their own ‘definite reason’ anyway, and thus it continued to spread around, and it ended up being part of their heritage?”

“Yes. But from an Archaeological viewpoint, this isn’t of ill intentions. Besides using theory, humans are creatures who’ll use their imagination. Besides the ‘Stab Sword’ this time, there are similar reports around the world. So we can’t blame the Roman Catholics entirely…”

Laura thought, what Charles said is true.

Actually, Christianity itself is like that. At first, the content of the ‘Son of God’ was recorded through the hands of the apostles, and compiled into the Bible. And because of different interpretations, people have disagreements over their view of the Bible. In the end, this ended up meeting the tastes of the countries and their people, creating new religions in the process. This is the actual situation of how today’s Christianity is like, no matter whether it’s Catholicism, Protestantism, British Puritanism, Roman Catholicism, Russian Orthodox etc, the centre of their faith is definitely the ‘Bible’. The language will differ according to different countries, and ‘a Bible which has content that suits the British Puritans’ doesn’t exist at all.

Even so, it led to a generation of different ideas, which led to the differentiation of faith.

So, such a thing isn’t abnormal in history.

(…Or maybe, the Roman Catholics intended to hide the truth about how the ‘Stab Sword’ was passed down. No, maybe this is just pure speculation?)

Laura shakes her head to both sides.

Anyway, she can confirm that the legend of this spiritual weapon called the ‘Stab Sword’ was just a rumour that people passed around, and that it doesn’t exist in the first place.

She doesn’t know why the marble sword was made, but at least it doesn’t have the ridiculous effect of ‘killing all the Saints by pointing the tip of the blade at them.’

Thus, the importance of the deal that’s to be done in Academy City is lessened. This made Laura heave a sigh of relief.

“Then, did you manage to find out the original heritage behind this marble sword?”

“Yes madam. As this heritage continued to snowball, we don’t have enough evidence to support this. But I’m afraid that this record seems to be correct.”

Eh? Laura tilts her head sideways. That was information that’s not on the report.

It seems that I really can’t just rely on magic’s point of view. An ‘ordinary’ viewpoint from Archaeology is important as well. Laura’s thoughts go wild.

“To be honest, this item isn’t a ‘sword’?”

“What?”

Laura suspiciously frowns. She sees the keeper of the British Museum holding the duplicate ‘Stab Sword’ in the dark. In the darkness, he turns the white marble sword around.

“It’s a cross. The locals seem to call it the ‘Apostle’s Cross.’”

“ST PET…!?”

At that moment, Laura Stuart nearly stopped breathing.

“You’re saying that that’s the Cross of St Peter?”

Pietro is another name for Peter, one of the twelve Apostles. Even for those who aren’t familiar with Christianity, they should have at least heard of the ‘St Peter’s Basilica’ that’s inside the Vatican. It’s truly famed for being the largest Church in the heart of Roman Catholicism, the largest religious sect in the world.

St Peter’s cross has a huge historical link with the St Peter’s Basilica, and even the entire Rome and Vatican. It’s the highest level of a spiritual weapon of all Christianity.

Its danger is such that even the ‘Stab Sword’—a spiritual weapon that can kill any Saints no matter the obstacles or distance—can’t match up to this.

Hearing the Archbishop exclaim loudly, the keeper of the British Museum must be shocked. This isn’t surprising, as from the beginning, Charles is just the authority on Archaeology, and has absolutely no idea about magic. Even if he doesn’t know how dangerous the name of this item that he said is, it can’t be helped.

However, Laura is different.

Because she knows all about the magical world and the Christian world, she can understand the seriousness of this issue. She’s not looking at Charles, who’s standing in the darkness, as she’s immersed in her own thoughts.

(This is bad. If so, then the meaning of this ‘deal’ that those people are planning is completely different now. If they really want to carry out this ‘deal’ in ‘Academy City’—)

The ‘Apostle’s Cross.’

It truly exists in history, but up till now, the Roman Catholics had never revealed it. It can be said to be the highest level of a spiritual tool in historical ‘legends’ that can be compared to the holy items that the ‘Son of God’ left behind. If it really has the effect that the book recorded…

(With the end of this ‘deal’, Academy City will collapse. No, something worse than that will happen.)

Laura murmurs, swallowing her own saliva.

Her face reveals a heroic smile.

Laura thought, in this extremely complicated situation, what should she do to get the best benefits?

“This name, the ‘Vatican City State,’ was decided in 1929 under the Lateran Treaty. In the past, it was called the land of the ‘Vatican.’ Also, that place wasn’t that small to begin with. The land differs in size according to time, and at its peak, occupies even Rome, in the centre of Italy, a land that’s 47,000 square kilometres in size. Italy was like the Sengoku era in Japan, because of internal strife, the Vatican shrunk as the unity of Italy became weaker.”

“The question is, how did they establish the Vatican. On the land that Peter left behind, what were the Roman Catholics doing in the first place?”

Kamijou raises a voice of doubt.

Maybe everyone was farming on the wasteland, he wildly thought.

“They built a tomb. By burying Peter’s corpse, and erecting a Cross.”

Kamijou is shocked.

The St Peter’s Cross refers to the Cross that’s set up on Peter’s grave.

Kamijou doesn’t look so good, but Tsuchimikado just ignores him and continues,

“The view of the Roman Catholics is that since that place is where Peter’s buried, the Church didn’t want anyone to disturb him, so they wanted to do their best in maintaining his heritage. At first, it was Emperor Augustine who paid his respects and built a Church. During the Renaissance, there was a pleasant large scale revolution. The St Peter’s Basilica that’s designed by Michelangelo—truly the world’s largest Church—is built on the domain of this dead Saint.”

Peter died in A.D. 1st century, and the Old St Peter‘s Basilica was built in the 4th century, while the king of the Lombards handed over power to the Vatican in the 8th century. Actually, there’s quite a bit of time difference, but the first turning point was Peter’s death and the building of his tomb.

Hearing this explanation, Kamijou is still unclear of what’s going on.

“Ugh…is it that…kind of place where you offer sacrifices to those great people?”

“Well, you can say that nya. However, if you think of it another way, it’s like ‘building one’s authority by using the dead body of a Saint.’”

If so, are they really trying to let the deceased rest, or are they using the tomb as a tourist attraction? One can’t really decide.

“I always felt that…though I don’t still know after hearing about this. Are the Roman Catholics a bunch of people who’ll do something like this?”

“What? There are people who’ll do all these sorts of things. Like in England, there’s an Archbishop named Thomas Becket (Note: Thomas Becket was appointed to be the Archbishop of Canterbury Cathedral by King Henry II, and for he went against King Henry II, he was assassinated. His exploits were documented in a film ‘Becket’ made in 1964). This man was assassinated in 29th December 1170 in a certain Church by the ‘Royal Family’. This Church is Canterbury Cathedral, the main base of the British Puritans.” Tsuchimikado finished speaking, and pauses for a while.

Then he smiles,

“The Canterbury Cathedral was a Cathedral that’s located far away from the capital, London…but because of the death of a great person, it became the main base straight away. The situation when Archbishop Becket got assassinated ended up triggering an offense against the ‘Royal Family’, resulting in the ‘Royal Family’ having to recognise the independence of the Church — this place is also known as the birthplace of British Puritanism. Just having ‘the land of a sleeping Saint’ has a large effect, Kami-yan.”

Though Kamijou doesn’t understand, he knows that no matter what, any Church that has any link with a Great will have its value multiplied exponentially.

“…Also, the thing that Oriana’s carrying around isn’t the ‘Stab Sword’, but rather that ‘Apostle’s whatever,’ huh? Is that a dangerous thing as well? Or is it like an art piece that has a strange and rare value?”

“Both. But we’re focusing on the former.”

Stiyl impatiently puffs out some smoke.

“Didn’t I say this before? This huge piece of land inside the Vatican — or strictly speaking, the place where ‘Christianity’ was established. If so, on the other hand…”

“In other words?”

Kamijou asks.

“Yes, any place that has the ‘Apostle’s Cross’ will be under the Roman Catholic Church’s dominion. Even Academy City isn’t exempted.”

Wait wait…!? Kamijou’s at a loss of words.

Tsuchimikado says in a bitter tone,

“The ‘Stab Sword’ was rumoured to be ‘a sword that can pierce a dragon and pin it onto the ground.’”

He pauses, holds his breath for a while, and continues,

“This large existence that has huge wings, that will either guard a sleeping treasure or desire for a massacre, such a ‘dragon’ has the hidden meaning of serving God’s ‘Angels’ or the fallen ‘Devil’ nya. ‘Pinning the dragon’ has the meaning of ‘turning this place to Holy grounds by letting the Angels protect this place’ hidden in it…those bastards.”

Kamijou sighs.

There are many doubts he wanted to ask, but speech isn’t going to convey them properly.

“Wait a sec! What do you mean by ‘dominion’? What are those guys intending to do here!?”

“This country called the Vatican is like a large Church inside. Kami-yan, that interior is rather strange. Over there, the balance between fortune and misfortune is distorted, no matter what one does, it’ll be beneficial to the Roman Catholics.”

Kamijou is still unable to understand Tsuchimikado’s explanation.

Stiyl continues,

“Specifically, the area inside the Vatican is filled with magic that biased. Things that normally happen will turn out to be of the Roman Catholics’ benefit. For example, it’s like using a magnet to control a roulette in a casino, ignoring the original action of the bead to make it land inside the number that one wants.”

Hearing this, Kamijou still doesn’t understand.

But, he knows that ‘there’s a magic spell that allows the circumstances to be beneficial to some people.’

“So, it’s like that guy, huh? Like that alchemist, who can materialise anything that he wishes for?”

The man named Aureolus Izzard.

The result of him developing his alchemist skills to the extreme, and created his own spell of ‘turning anything he wishes for into reality’ is that because of it, he was defeated by his own ‘doubt’…

“No, it’s not like using human willpower to ‘form gold.’ This is about ‘making things advantageous for the Roman Catholics.’ But, if such a thing is to be set up in Academy City, then what?”

“Now that you mention it…”

Will Academy City end up being beneficial to the Roman Catholics?

It’s a blurry image, as Kamijou can’t think of any specific thought. He just says out the thought that’s on his mind.

“About that…it’ll be beneficial to the Roman Catholics. Then if the Roman Catholics are to come over to Academy City, wouldn’t they become very lucky?”

“That’s right; you may regard it as such. What will happen if the effect of the ‘Apostle’s Cross’ acts like a document? It’s not a bad thing, as any Roman Catholic who enters Academy City may lose a large sum of money when they gamble, but will end up winning money in the long run. Even if the building’s bombed, there won’t be any injury at all. This is unnatural. Also…”

Stiyl cynically twists his lips.

“The ‘Apostle’s Cross’ will help anyone who isn’t a Roman Catholic as well. If the Roman Catholics are to continue winning money through gambling, normally there would be losers as well. But the ‘Apostle’s Cross’ would create a nice losing situation. Even if a building is bombed and destroyed, nobody would be hurt. It creates a ‘oh, nobody’s hurt, that’s good’ kind of situation.”

“???”

Kamijou tilts his neck.

If what Stiyl says is true,

“If so, wouldn’t everyone be happy? This shouldn’t be a problem.”

“This is where the problem is.”

Stiyl mentions this,

“Listen, if one doesn’t set up this thing known as the ‘Apostle’s Cross’ from the start, nobody would be losing money through gambling, and nobody will target Roman Catholics in their bombing attempts. On first glance, everyone’s happy. But in actuality, the ‘Apostle’s Cross’ brings a huge burden to anyone around, and normally in situations where one cannot see.”

Tsuchimikado, who has no strength left in his upper body, is sprawled on the table. He continues,

“Actually, in Christian history, the number of times this happiness was ‘switched’ is unexpectedly frequent. Like San Matorras, or as the British Puritans call him, San Martin. This guy has a very interesting story. When he went to evangelise Christianity, he once broke an ancient pagan temple, and even intended to cut a holy tree down. The non-believing farmers who didn’t want to become Christians resisted till the end, and said, “If there’s a God protecting you, go ahead and cut down this tree. If you’re really protected by God, you won’t die.””

To think that Tsuchimikado, who’s normally just messing around, is able to say this Christian fairy tale so smoothly. To his classmate Kamijou, this is truly not a familiar sight.

“Hearing this, San Martin faced the holy tree that’s falling on him, and draws a cross on his chest. Then, the unthinkable happened. The holy tree falls to the other side, and nearly crushed the farmers. The farmers were touched that there was really a miracle from God, and promptly accepted Christianity… Don’t you find this strange nya? The one who used this inexplicable force to cause this holy tree to fall towards the farmers was San Martin himself. He could have allowed that tree to fall somewhere that’s even safer. Come to think about it, he could have just cut the tree down easily nya? Why can he still receive this amount of thanks…?”

“Anyway, the result is that, the holy tree that fell the other way didn’t kill the non-believers. Because this is the mercy that God gave, every farmer rejoiced at having the chance to change their religion. No matter whether this outcome is good or bad, their history, traditions and spiritual culture were completely erased.”

Kamijou thought, so what.

This indeed can bring about happiness, but not because of ‘something that happened that brings about happiness,’ but rather ‘happiness that’s brought about no matter what happens.’

Tsuchimikado lifts his head, and says,

“The effects of this method had gotten some recognition in psychology nya. First, satisfy a condition ‘A’ that cannot be fulfilled. When the other party begs and cry, saying that he can’t do it, force him to do the original condition ‘B’ that one wants. In this case, it’ll be easier to succeed than to offer condition ‘B’ right from the start. Just like how ‘Compared to ‘A’, ‘B’ is so much better, we’re really lucky’ nya. By manipulating the specific order, manipulating the balance between one negative effect versus another, one can reduce the relative value required for happiness.”

Stiyl twitches the cigarette in his mouth up and down, and continues,

“The ‘Apostle’s Cross’ uses the psychological effects of this myth. No matter what happens, the situation will end up benefiting the Roman Catholics. When people are given unrealistic proposals, they’ll agree for some unknown reason…to the Roman Catholics, wouldn’t this place be the most comfortable and enjoyable ‘Holy Land’?”

The magicians’ words gradually sinks into Kamijou’s head.

A long time is needed for one to slowly understand such a large scale issue.

“Wait a sec, Stiyl. About the deal of that ‘Apostle’s Cross,’ what is Oriana and company going to do exactly?”

“If this world is split into two, one can classify them as the science side and the magic side. Right now, it’s on a delicate balance.”

Stiyl simply replies.

“Among them, the leader of the science side is Academy City. If this Academy City is to end up being under the dominion of the Roman Catholics, what do you think will happen to the balance of this world?”

Ah! Kamijou finally realises it.

If the science side, which occupies half of the world, ends up being ‘some random group’ of a magic sect, then with ‘the science side that occupies the world + one’s own magic sect,’ that sect can control more than 50% of the world. Then, they just need to do the simple thing of a majority resolution in order to control the world at will.

Moreover.

If that sect is the Roman Catholics, the largest Christian sect in the world.

“If any sect is attacked by both the magic side and science side, organisations that are of a ‘single world’ will be unable to resist; it’s like being attacked in front and behind. The balance of world power will be entirely concentrated on the Roman Catholics.”

The Roman Catholics don’t need to consider about ‘what they must do in order to conquer Academy City.’ By planting the ‘Apostle’s Cross’ in Academy City, Academy City will do anything that’ll be ‘beneficial to the Roman Catholics’ after that.

Specifically, what will happen?

Will the Board of Directors suddenly decide to seek asylum under the Roman Catholics?

Or will Academy City sink into bad management, and end up funding the Roman Catholics?

Or will Academy City itself be reduced to ash, and end up being rebuilt by the high-ranking Roman Catholics, and not the Japanese government?

Though he doesn’t know how, Kamijou knows that no matter what, the situation will end up being ‘most beneficial’ to the Roman Catholics.

And the people of Academy City, nobody will question the outcome.

No matter whether that’s an unreasonable request, no matter how heavy the burden that they have to carry.

It’s a world where everyone has happiness.

“Then the deal that Oriana…”

“Yeah. It’s not a simple deal of the spiritual tool ‘Stab Sword’ or ‘Apostle’s Cross,’ but rather, the deal is about the ‘benefit to the Roman Catholics’ dominance’ — Academy City, and the world.”

Stiyl Magnus inhales deeply.

As the cigarette in his mouth receives oxygen, it starts to give an orangish-red glow.

“The courier, Oriana Thompson, and the trader, Lidvia Lorenzetti. Besides them, there’s no receiver on the other end — this deal just doesn’t involve anyone else at all. The suspicion that it’s the Russian Orthodox Church is a fake, because this is something that the Roman Catholics want to send to themselves.”

He pauses, and says a last sentence,

“We have to prevent this deal from taking place. Otherwise, it’ll end up being even worse than the destruction of the world.”

Kamijou Touma and Tsuchimikado Motoharu nod their heads.

But nobody knows what the three of them can do.

There’s no guarantee that they can beat Oriana Thompson and the person behind her, Lidvia Lorenzetti.

Even so.

Those two thought that by forcing thoughts that are beneficial to themselves onto the people of Academy City, the Roman Catholics will gain world domination.

—He has to use this hand of his to destroy this illusion.

“Okaa-san, this should be alright—why are you revealing such a terrifying expression?”

Seeing Shiina reveal this lost expression from the bottom of her heart, the shadow of her face being able to be on a 1000-yen note or a 5000-yen note, Touya inadvertently backs off. Shiina’s lips aren’t moving at all, but one can hear a clear voice,

“Really, Touya, you’re always like this. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to throw the entire basket of bentos at you? Ara ara ara ara ara ara ara ara, this is too bad, the completely innocent Touma will have to remain hungry now?”

Why must she be angry!? Touya backs away. Shiina’s not joking. She’s the type of lady where during a quarrel between husband and wife, whether it’s a plate or a DVD player, she’ll throw anything that she can get her hands on.

Thus, Touya quickly backs off, keeping a safe distance.

Unexpectedly, he knocks into another person behind.

“Wa!!I…I’m sorry!!”

Kamijou Touya turns around, quickly lowers his head, and apologises, but instead, he’s staring at her huge breasts. As they’re too close to each other, he intended to bend down and apologise, but it ends up looking like he’s peeking at her.

The woman’s breasts are just 4mm away from the tip of his nose.

Touya quickly looks up at twice the speed.

“I…I’m sorry, I’m really sorry! WAAHHH…okaa-san glare from behind is really piercing me…!!”

The situation has gotten out of hand, but Touya doesn’t have to courage to look back and confirm Shiina’s expression. Touya looks at the woman in front of him.

“It’s alright, are you hurt? Sorry, I’m not used to having so many people around.”

The woman in front has blond hair that’s curled in a complicated way.

White skin and blue pupils, a Westerner with such stunning looks.

Her homogeneous body gives off a seductive atmosphere.

A metal sound can be heard.

On her long index finger, there’s a metal ring that’s about 2cm in diameter. Wrapped by the ring are rectangular pieces of paper that are as big as a chewing gum wrapper. They seem to be flashcards that are used to memorise individual words.

She plays around with this stack of flashcards like a keychain.

“This nee-chan doesn’t mind at all — I really want to say this, but I’m really younger than you, so I can’t really call myself ‘nee-chan.’ Bye bye.”

After saying this, she turns her back on Touya, and walks away.

She then naturally mixes into the crowd, and soon, she’s gone. She has such an outstanding appearance, and she does give off a rather seductive atmosphere, but it seems that nobody noticed her.

Touya stares at the blond lady through the corner of his eyes.

“Ara ara, ara ara ara. Touya? You’re rather awake now, huh? Would breaking your joints would be letting you off too lightly? Ara ara, how irritating, what should I do? Should I just let you be one of the stars in the night sky?”

“Eh…it’s not that, okaa-san, you’re mistaken. I didn’t stare at that woman’s attractive face and breasts and waists and legs, so that’s…this is all my fault!!”