https://blogs.emory.edu/animec/files...x-ii-15-36.jpg

“—eh!?”

Once Kamijou reached the corner, his thoughts got interrupted. He pulls Orsola’s hand as he leans his body against the wall.

He timidly reveals his head out from the wall.

The room that Agnese told them about is ten metres ahead.

There’s someone guarding the room.

No, is that really human? That giant rock-like ‘thing’ that’s blocking the door is a 3-metre tall golem made of ice. The sculpture is giving off a light-bulb like colour, and the transparency level is rather low. The entire thing looks like it’s some kind of heavy equipment. Wielding a pole…it should be some kind of rod or stick, right? But it looks more like it’s wielding a rectangular steel frame that was cut off.

Kamijou retracts his face, his back leaning on the edge of this slightly shining wall.

Damn it, that thing can’t be taken down in a hit… it’ll be bad if there’s help when we’re fighting it.

The walkway is extremely narrow, there’s no real way to escape. If there are ten or more people rushing in from the back, it’ll be hard to even graze past them. After that, the ending would be that they’ll lose under the condition that they’re outnumbered.

“Damn it…”

Kamijou curses. Just as he’s trying to confirm how narrow is the corridor—

DONG!!

With this sound, his vision is blocked by the light-bulb coloured ice.

At first, Kamijou doesn’t know what the thing in front of him is.

The ice statue that was just guarding the door around the corner passes through the corridor in an instant, turning past the corridor… it took him quite some time to realise this.

The feet of the golem glide to the side.

When the melting point is changed, ice won’t melt, so it can’t glide. But on a closer look, the tips of the toes of the golem are touching the floor, as if it’s swimming on water.

But Kamijou is unable to calm down and check it.

Wha…!?

Kamijou’s eyes widen in surprise as the ice sculpture’s wrists move before his eyes. It’s a strike from below to above. The steel frame-like stick easily pries the thick floor, moving towards Kamijou’s body without a loss in momentum.

The weight and speed is enough to smash this place like an empty container.

“Eh!—YAAAAHHHH!!”

The wind pressure touches Kamijou’s cheek just as he’s avoiding. While he’s knocked aside, Kamijou knows that he can’t avoid it. He swings his right hand in reflex, not caring as he slams his palm down to take on the incoming attack.

PIANG!! The sharp sound echoes throughout the ship.

Irritatingly cold sweat emerges from Kamijou’s palm to the shoulder and elbow.

“…Ugh”

Kamijou can’t help but let out a groan.

The huge piece of golem in front is not moving either.

Pachang! The rod that the ice golem is holding onto breaks into half. The shoulder holding the pole then starts to break, and there’s a crack down from the chest to the abdomen. The thighs and kneecaps also start to crack, before the entire thing collapses sideways.

Crack.

As the ice breaks apart, the degree of refraction changes, the glow surrounding the golem disappears.

Orsola, who was holding her breath till now, finally makes a sound.

“Are… are you alright?”

“Sort of.”

Maybe he’s thinking too much, but Kamijou feels that his wrist hurts.

“Broken…this, is kind of like a magical robot, right?”

“Hm…this isn’t a stone golem. Instead of it, it’s more like a part of the ship has changed shape. In terms of a fleet’s attack, it’s more like a cannon aimed inside…or something like that.”

Orsola touches the ice statue that’s rolling on the floor, slowly reading every single word and sentence slowly.

“A part of the ship…?”

Kamijou touches the wall nearby gently with his right hand, but the thick ice doesn’t break.

…This is golem that uses magic to maintain it, so does it have any difference as compared to the ship’s wall which has transformed completely?

He ponders, but there’s no time to verify his doubts.

(Even though…)

Luckily, that golem is made of magic, Kamijou thinks as he feels really relieved. If it’s just a head-on fight, he doesn’t know whether they’ll win even if they have a modern-era tank; Kamijou could have been beaten in an instant.

Anyway, he didn’t win by his ability, but by the special characteristics.

Kamijou now walks out of this corner and onto the path that is empty.

“Then, we’ll go and save Lucia and Angelene. Though it’s somewhat troublesome.”

“Regarding this,”

Orsola says worriedly,

“Is it possible that the room has only Lucia and Angelene inside? There should be some mages torturing them using magic. If we open the door like that, we might start a battle.”

Orsola picks up an ice block that’s on the floor. It’s the one the ice golem was holding, the rod that was cut in half. She looks like she’s holding onto a musical instrument with both hands.

“This will be my weapon.”

She reveals a smile that definitely doesn’t fit the atmosphere.

And,

“This and… that, hm, that looks strong.”

After saying this, she picks up the leg of the ice golem. It’s attack power should be equivalent to that of a large rock that’s used to crush things, right?

“…Really?” ‘‘But it sure looks useless’’.

Kamijou swallows his words.

“The rest is up to fate. We can only pray that this kind of thing doesn’t happen consecutively.”

“Alright, I’m done. Let’s go.”

Kamijou and Orsola nod to each other and begin running down the corridor. Their pessimistic view of wanting to avoid being seen on the corridor is much stronger than their enthusiasm to fight on.

Both of them reach the door.

While grabbing the handle of the door, Kamijou notices that the door isn’t locked.

To be honest, they’re afraid, but continuing to hesitate isn’t a solution. They open the door without hesitation.

A loud sound echoes throughout.

“Eh!?”

This is a neat room, it looks like... it looks like a doctor’s clinic. Even so, the beds are made of ice as well. To be honest, Kamijou doesn’t know what it does.

There are about 7 men and women inside the room. Among them, two of them are wearing habits with yellow sleeves and skirts. They’re Lucia and Angelene. Both of them are wearing gold rings that are secured tightly on their cloth headpiece. The remaining five people are unhealthy men that are skinny like needles. They seem to be researchers, and they have pitch-black habits on. On the ice table nearby, there are many metal rods that are for some unknown purpose, and these are the only things that aren’t made of ice. The tips of the metal rods are as sharp as a pencil. The unique shininess that’s like a cinema makes them even more mystifying.

They can’t see an ice golem anywhere.

But in terms of numbers, 1 on 5 is still disadvantageous to Kamijou.

Cheh…!!

They’ll lose if they take them head on, Kamijou thinks, ‘‘we have to take them down while they’re still shocked’’ as he takes a huge step to the middle of the room.

But.

A person suddenly steps in front of him.

“Don’t move.”

The one saying this is Orsola Aquinas. She tosses the ice block that she’s holding onto the floor. The remains of the rod land the floor together with a heavy sound. Instead of saying that she threw them, it’s more like the ice block slipped out of her hands.

The Roman Catholic men, who heavily outnumber them, stopped in unison.

“How do you think we broke this?”

Orsola reaches her hand into her sleeve, saying confidently.

Kamijou stares at his right hand, still wondering what Orsola wants to do.

The enemy doesn’t know anything about the Imagine Breaker.

“Oh my, I casually spoke some Japanese unknowingly, can you people understand? It’s alright if you don’t. If you don’t listen to my warning, I’ll use this.”

After saying this, Orsola reaches her hand into her sleeve.

“Wait…”

One of the men spoke in Japanese.

Once the other party makes a response, it means that they are starting to concede.

“…What kind of spiritual tool are you hiding inside?”

Before Orsola can reply, the other man says,

“If it’s just ice, you can break some of them and take them in.”

“Oh my, then does this ship have this kind of thing?”

Orsola tosses another ice block.

This time, it’s the leg of the golem. The shape is a lot more intricate than the rod, as it’s part of the kneecap that was smashed.

“—”

The men back away.

In contrast, Orsola forcefully moves forward by one step.

“As for your problem just now, if you want to know how I did it, then it’ll be alright to let you see it. However, you’ll be turned to ash before you can see it clearly. Oh my, since you still need a bodyguard, I really wonder if you can take it?”

As she shakes her sleeve gently, the men are terrified to death. Even Lucia and Angelene, who aren’t involved, are looking slightly fearful.

Kamijou is marvelling at this.

To use this technique of bluffing on them, one has to first accurately predict the enemy’s capabilities before using it.

“Then, please tie their hands and feet up.”

Orsola smiles to Kamijou as she says this.

Now completely wet, Kamijou’s lying on a wooden floor.

The one looking down on him is Index, the rectangular suitcase and Kamijou’s luggage bag are placed on each side.

It’s a long dim space. The height is about 8 metres and the length is 30 metres. The walls and ceiling aren’t rectangular, but arched like a tunnel.

It’s made of old black wood, and seem to be intricately made as if it’s a wooden roller coaster.

“Don’t look so worried, he’ll wake up soon.”

A man’s voice can be heard.

“I was shocked when the entire ship got bombed without mercy. Alright, in terms of results, this is truly a miracle.”

That’s not the problem, right? Index thinks.

The owner of the voice should also know this, that’s why he said that on purpose.

“You see, he’s awake.”

Index quickly turns her head and stares at Kamijou, who’s on the floor.

The wet eyelids open slightly.

“Index…”

Kamijou calls her name as he slowly gets up from the floor.

“Touma, Are you alright?”

The one saying this is the silver-haired green-eyed girl. After seeing Kamijou’s face, she seems rather relieved, though she quickly reverts back to her sulking expression.

The one standing beside her is—

“Ta…Tatemiya…Saiji?”

“Yo, long time no see. I’m the substitute Supreme Pontiff of the Amakusa Christian Catholics, and we’re now affiliated with the English Anglicans.”

His black hair is now even darker, and the fizzy afro is shining like a beetle. He’s wearing a loose shirt and jeans, and is extremely tall, but his body size doesn’t match his clothes size, making him look extremely skinny. There are four mini-electric fans attached together by a rope, which is hung on his neck. For some reason, his shoelaces are more than 1 metre long.

Kamijou can’t help but sigh.

Like Agnese and Orsola, he met this guy during ‘The Book of the Law’ incident.

“This means…it’s the Amakusa?”

They did come to Chioggia to help Orsola move house. After Index got separated from Kamijou, she ran around looking for Amakusa members.

Kamijou wants to wipe away the sweat on his forehead, but his limbs and even his pockets were drenched by seawater. Just as he’s wondering what to do, someone pops up beside him to give him a white wet handkerchief.

Looking closely, the double-eyelid girl is beside him.

“Please use it.”

“Ah, thanks.”

After Kamijou receives it, the girl replies ‘no problem’ before running off.

“Why are…you guys here…? And, where is this place…?”

Looking around, in the midst of the dark space, he can see and sense the presence of numerous people. Seems like the entire Amakusa group is gathered within this wooden tunnel. They’re gossiping about,

“How was it, Itsuwa?”

“You should have stayed beside him a bit longer.”

What’s going on?

“Oh ya…eh? Where’s Orsola and the others!?”

“Anyway, we got everyone. The known identities are Orsola, Lucia and Angelene. There are also the tied-up men and some Roman Catholic nuns, and we’re currently interrogating them.”

Though he doesn’t know how many people there are on the ship, Kamijou finally relaxes on hearing Tatemiya’s words. He looks around, and says,

“Is this the secret base of the Amakusa? In that situation, how did you save us when we dropped into the sea?”

Tatemiya laughs,

“It is really hard to imagine this. Let me tell you, this isn’t a construct, it’s a vehicle.”

“What?”

Before Kamijou can let out this voice, he habitually jolts, and his body sways backwards. It’s as if the facilities in the tunnel are moving. Being shocked, Kamijou freezes.

“Is…is this—!?”

“I wanted to say submarine, but this isn’t so high-tech. At most, it’s just a wooden ship that has submarine capabilities.”

“In other words…”

Tatemiya lowers his voice as he says,

“It’s a ship that can float and sink.”

POW!! The sound of the water surface breaking can be heard from outside the tunnel. Kamijou’s vision is tilted according to the jerks. While he still can’t believe this, the tunnel shaped roof breaks open from the middle. With the sound of wood clattering, it’s like a set of double doors being opened.

One can see the moon that is glowing like a light bulb in the night sky.

The smell of the sea whiffs into his nose. The footing is a bit unstable as if he’s on a boat.

“It may be a bit hard to understand. I suppose you can believe it now?”

Tatemiya rubs against the wooden wall that doesn’t have any weird shapes on it.

With a creaking sound, the floor that’s about 30 metres long suddenly rises. The sound of gears rubbing against each other can be heard, and 40 seconds later, they’re already at the ceiling. It’s like a blueprint when one can see the layout from the top.

What’s in front of him is the night sea.

The place which Kamijou is standing on is 30 metres long and 8 metres wide, and it looks something like a rugby ball. The opened ceiling extends to the left and right like wings, and on the sea, there are many artificial islands made of a large amount of wood.

“Are you kidding me…”

Kamijou can’t help but mutter.

This definitely looks like a ship, but there’s no control room, cabins or communication rooms. It’s just the middle of the tunnel that is called a ‘ship’. Just this being made of wood doesn’t make any common sense. It’s like a cardboard prop springing to life.

“…You guys actually brought these things for moving houses?”

“What? We’re basically hidden Christians in the first place. It’s expected that we’ll hide weapons. Also, we specialise in island combat.”

Tatemiya smirks, and says,

“Paper is made from wood, and then, ships are made from wood. By using this little relationship, we can make them this small.”

Tatemiya says this as he pulls out something like paper notes from his pockets. They’re tied up with rubber bands. Are they all ships? Kamijou thinks that there’s some incantation written on it, but it’s just plain white paper.

(Magic…it’s really exaggerating.)

Kamijou shakes his head as he exhales, turning to look at the surroundings below him.

He can barely see the land near the surface of the water. The streets of Chioggia…or maybe not. There seem to be many more lights.

On the other hand, one can see a white light bulb-like glow on the dark sea on the other side. If one’s not careful, it may be brighter than the streets of Chioggia…it should be the ‘Queen’s Fleet’. From far away, the difference in scale is even more obvious. To Kamijou, who’s unfamiliar with the magic world and marine warfare basics, he’s unable to tell whether this place is safe.

Up till now, though he has stepped into the enemy’s territory numerous times, no matter the place, facility or building, it’s basically a piece of land.

However, this time is different. There are about a hundred of these places to fight on.

(…Agnese.)

Thinking about the face of the girl that said that she wanted to stay behind, Kamijou can’t help but frown.

Seeing his expression like this, Index says,

“No matter what we do next, we have to confirm what’s going on. I want to know how far away we are from the safety zone, how far we should retreat…more importantly, Touma looks like he has something to say.”

“Nothing…”

Kamijou seems to be a bit short of words,

“Actually, I’m not so sure about that destroyed ship. Guess maybe Lucia and Angelene are more suited to explain it.”

“…”

“Wha…what now?”

“Nothing. I’m just thinking that even when we’re in the enemy’s territory, Touma’s still Touma.”

“WHAT’S WITH THAT?”

Kamijou shouts again, but is responded with an unhappy look on her face. As Kamijou wants to continue talking about this topic, he starts to look around. By the way, where’re the two people he mentioned?

At this moment, the human wall formed by the Amakusa teenagers split apart.

Lucia and Angelene walk out from behind the human wall. However, both of them look like they want to run away. Orsola continues to smile as she pushes the girls’ backs from behind.

“Oh, so you’re alright…seems like it. In other words, we’re all alive. Though the cannons didn’t hit us, we did fall from a five to seven storey height.”

Kamijou casually converses with them, but Lucia and Angelene are both blushing as they silently turn their heads aside. Eh? Kamijou can’t help but make a stiff face when he doesn’t get a reply.

Orsola smiles as she says to the Roman Catholic nuns,

“Really, there’s no need to be shy about it.”

“No…we mustn’t say these kind of words so easily!!”

Gritting her teeth as she says this, Angelene swings her large sleeves as she looks like she’s about to cry. Lucia doesn’t shout around or cry, but she’s closing her eyes, muttering as she draws a Cross. Maybe it’s to help her stabilise her emotions.

“??????”

Unable to understand what’s going on, Kamijou frowns.

“Hahaha.”

Seeing this, Tatemiya laughs.

“About this…because it was dark, I’m not so sure what happened over there.”

“…These words aren’t exactly making me comfortable, you know.”

“It’s that. Lucia and Angelene’s nun robes are different from Orsola. You see, their sleeves and skirts are yellow. That’s a restraining equipment that the Roman Catholics prepared. With that, they have a similar effect of ‘being unable to escape a certain distance from a certain point’.”

“What does that mean?”

“In, other, words, you’re a slow guy. If you don’t destroy it, those two will collapse due to the restraining effects. This would be troublesome. Thus…I don’t know how to say this, but you seemed to have accidentally used your right hand when you were unconscious.”

WHAT? Kamijou widens his eyes.

“In simpler terms, those nun robes—”

Tatemiya twist his lips and gives a smirk, and then points at Lucia’s face. To the tall nun who reveals a surprised look, the substitute Supreme Pontiff says sternly,

“Dropped off cleanly.”

With those short-sleeved arms of hers, Lucia blushes as she hugs Angelene, and looks away. She’s like a mother protecting her child, using her body as a shield.

Looking closely, their nun robes are like Index’s; there are safety pins all over the place. The gold rings on their heads are also gone.

Thinking about what might had happened, Kamijou suddenly reveals a surprised look.

“WAIT… WHEN I WAS UNCONSCIOUS, SOMETHING WONDERFUL… NO, SOMETHING RIDICULOUS HAPPENED!? BESIDES, HOW DO I DEAL WITH THIS INDEX WHO’S ANGRY UPON THINKING ABOUT THAT? I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING AND THIS WAS ALL CAUSED BY YOU!! IT’S UNREASONABLE TO BE ANGRY OVER THIS!”

Though Kamijou is refuting this, he’s in a begging position. Regarding Kamijou, who’s shouting about, Index doesn’t say anything, but her slightly trembling lips reveal white teeth, making it look even scarier. Killing intent envelops her heart, and even the battle-experienced Amakusa members are frantically yelling and escaping. The entire ship’s in a mess.

On the other hand, Angelene, who got away from Lucia’s chest, suddenly remembers something.

“Oh…oh yes. Now’s not the time to say this… Sister Agnese’s still…! Erm…everyone, thank you for saving us, please let us explain the situation…!”

But with that whispering voice of hers, she’s completely unable to reach out to Kamijou, who’s busy trying to explain himself, and the people surrounding them.

“Touma’s like this all the time!”

“Aren’t you like that as well, Index? Anyone would get angry and start lecturing, but what’s with that bite that can bite through cuttlefish floss?”

“That, about that…”

Seeing the crowd that continues to ignore her, a panicking Angelene frantically waves her hands. The entire scene is like an out-of-control class.

“Erm…about that, we still have something to do. If possible, I want to talk about Sister Agnese’s situation…wa—”

“THAT IS WEIRD! IF THERE’S SUCH A POWERFUL BITE ATTACK, CAN’T YOU USE THAT TO DEFEND YOURSELF AGAINST OTHER MAGICIANS!? 103,000 MAGICAL BOOKS? THIS IS EASIER TO POSE A THREAT!”

“Touma, Touma. Do you think that you can win by trying to open my eyes?”

In a rare moment, Kamijou turns around, trying to avoid Index, who leaps over. The white nun leaps onto his back, and both of them roll on the floor. “WAAAAAAHHHH!!” The double-eyelid girl gets caught in it, and falls onto the deck. The wet white handkerchiefs that she was holding onto scatter all over the place, and the surrounding Amakusa members are all shouting,

“ITSUWA, NOW’S THE CHANCE! GO!”

“USE THIS CHANCE TO KISS HIM ON THE EARLOBE!”

“AT LEAST GET ONTO HIS CHEST!”

“SO NOISY, AT LEAST YOU SHOULD GET RID OF YOUR STRONGEST RIVAL INDEX FIRST! ITSUWA, IF YOU’RE A WOMAN, FLING HER AWAY!!!”

Seeing this scene, Tatemiya laughs while Orsola places a hand on her face and says “Okay, okay”. Lucia, however, can’t stand this as she sighs.

In other words, nobody’s listening to Angelene.

“That’s, that is…!!”

Angelene’s getting even more panicky.

Just as her franticness is at her limit, her eyes suddenly widen.

Deciding on this, Angelene grabs onto Lucia’s skirt with both hands—

“Look…look here! Everyone, notice this!!”

Whop, Lucia’s nun skirt is pulled up.

At this moment.

All the conversations ceased.

At first, Lucia was shocked by this sudden silence that would have killed the ears and frowns of all the people staring at her. The emotion is high, as if the Pope was waving his hand from outside the palace. Just as she’s incredulous about this silence, she feels a chill around her legs. Just as she looks down in surprise—

“!?”

2 seconds later, she blushes as if she just exploded, and quickly uses her hands to slap down the skirt that’s in the air.

Lucia silently turns towards the petite nun beside her.

“…Sis…Sister Angelene?”

“No, it’s not that! Our group often gave the same feeling! So, that…I carelessly did it on habit!!”

Most likely, Angelene’s trying to explain her actions. Tatemiya and Lucia, together with the Amakusa teenagers, start to blush and look away. As for Kamijou, who’s frozen at the spot, he’s bitten on the back of the head by Index.

Lucia is holding a large wooden carriage wheel in her hand. This heavy object is made from the Amakusa paper bundle.

“I can sense a unique ‘smell’…”

She’s holding onto the wheel, slowly spinning it about, touching the wheel to feel it.

“…This will do. I should be able to use the attack spell based on St. Catherine’s ‘Wheel Legend’.”

In Kamijou’s memory, she specialises in destroying a large wheel, and uses the rain of shrapnel to attack the enemy.

On the other hand, Angelene places some gold or silver coins into coin bags. She specialises in letting blunt weapons fly about, using them as a weapon to fight with the enemy.

“Ah…I can still put in some of them. But it’ll hurt if I put in too many…then…then maybe a bit less…”

Hearing her being preoccupied with stuffing the coins inside the coin bags, and taking them out, Lucia looks panicky as she gets closer.

“Sister Angelene, what’s are you fussing about with your weapons!? FILL THEM UP, YOU HEAR ME? FILL THEM UP!!”

“WAH! Won’t it hurt if we hit them, then?”

“Even if we want to communicate, we have to create a suitable environment for it. If we could have talked it out without fighting, then we wouldn’t need to work so hard for it!”

From afar, Kamijou stares at the two nuns chattering about. As if he can’t stand them, he says,

“Seems like…I misunderstood the Roman Catholics.”

“Though they’re the Roman Catholics, there are all sorts of people in it…isn’t that right?”

Orsola, who’s standing beside him, silently says.

“It’s not about eliminating who’s bad; everyone has their own characteristics. You have a bad impression of the Roman Catholics, and actually, I also had…I didn’t believe in my Amakusa friends in the past, thus I caused quite a lot of trouble for everyone.”

“Is that so?”

Kamijou thinks.

“I really can’t associate you with bad people.”

“About this…actually, women have a lot of sides to them.”

After Orsola says these somewhat sensational words, she reveals a smile. No matter whether because of her clothing or her speech, this nun doesn’t know it herself, yet they emphasize a lot more on the feminism that she’s born with.

At this moment, Index suddenly pops in-between them.

She’s holding onto a staff.

“Here, take it. The Amakusa people lent it to me, but I can’t use a spiritual tool that requires the processing of magical energy. You might be more suited to take it.”

“Oh my.”

Orsola receives the staff. It’s made of silver.

On the tip of the staff, there’s a little squatting Angel there. There are six wings on the Angel, surrounding it like a cage.

That’s the weapon that Agnese used before. The Amakusa once detained the ‘Agnese Forces’ that surrendered in ‘The Book of the Law’ affair. Maybe that was confiscated then.

At this moment, Kamijou suddenly notices Index staring intently at him.

“Wha…what now, Index?”

“…”

Index remains silent for a while.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Eh? WHY ARE YOU TURNING YOUR HEAD AWAY SO UNHAPPILY!!? THOUGH IT’S TIRING WHEN YOU REACT SO VIOLENTLY BY BITING ON OTHER PEOPLE’S HEAD, THIS COMPLETELY COLD REACTION OF YOURS IS REALLY TROUBLESOME, YOU KNOW!?”

Index completely ignores Kamijou’s roar as she runs away. Seeing this, Orsola sighs,

“That’s because you didn’t take care of her properly.”

Hearing her say this, right now, Index should be eating spaghetti, happily touring around all sorts of tourist attractions, busy creating wonderful memories. She didn’t expect things to become like this all of a sudden. In actual fact, the one who was most looking forward to the trip may be Index.

“Though you always complain that you’re unlucky, you don’t have the intent of stopping, right?”

“…Like a workaholic father who’s unqualified to be a parent.”

The ship continues forward.

It feels like the white bulb-like glow of the ‘Queen’s Fleet’ is a bit stronger as compared to before.

“Are you guys done? If so, let’s start.”

Tatemiya pulls out a rubber band-tied paper bundle from his jeans pocket.

Kamijou frowns.

“What do you mean by ‘let’s start’?”

“We can’t just attack the ‘Queen’s Fleet’ with this ship alone. Thus we need to increase our fighting force, like this.”

Tatemiya takes off the rubber band as he says this. Shua! He tosses the paper from the ship into the sea. The large number of paper gently sways about in the air like confetti balls letting out confetti before landing on the dark surface of the sea, silently absorbing seawater.

Thomp!

The papers that expanded because of water absorption create a large number of boats. Different from the ‘Queen’s Fleet’, the slick design makes one feel that it’s a bit Japanese–styled. Each ship is about 30m long and 7m wide. As for height, it’s about maybe 20m. however, compared to the 100m ships of the ‘Queen’s Fleet’, it seems a lot weaker.

There aren’t just one or two ships; there are tens of ships that appeared. The expanded ships suddenly appear, squeezing against each other. The fleet of ships squeezes against the one that Kamijou is on, and the hull starts to shake.

In surprise, Kamijou stares at the scene in front of him,

“…Isn’t this a large fleet as well? If so, it’ll be one heck of a battle. Even if the enemy is the ‘Queen’s Fleet’, we can fight them head on, can’t we?”

“You’re overestimating us, aren’t you? Look closely, this is a fleet completely different from the ‘Queen’s Fleet’. There aren’t any cannons on them.”

“…?”

Hearing him say this, there aren’t any cannons on the ships. The walls and decorations on the ships’ hulls should be considered slim, and it doesn’t seem able to withstand damage. If so, are these just ordinary ships?

“Then why did you prepare these?”

“You don’t really need to use a navy ship for marine combat. The Amakusa is a secular sect that hides itself in the local culture. Of course, we learnt some English history.”

Tatemiya smirks,

“Do you know how the English Navy beat the so-called invincible Spanish Navy in the past?”


Ship number 43 of the ‘Queen’s Fleet’ is an intelligence ship that specialises in scouting for enemies.

The nun stationed there, Sister Agatha, exhales as she stands at the front end of the deck. There are small tables placed on both ends of the ship, and there are ice-made documents on them. On the thin ice boards that imitate ancient goatskin parchments, all sorts of information are on them, like maps, sea charts, and ship information.

On one of them,

An alarm can be heard from the ice document that shows a sea chart of the nearby areas of the Adriatic Sea. Below the indicators of the ‘Queen’s Fleet’ that look like International Chess pieces, there are many more new chess pieces that are quickly approaching the fleet.

“BISHOP BIAGIO!!”

“I see it. Give me the details.”

After the nun shouted, the voice reverberates through the air in response.

“Ships coming in from the south coast of Venezia on the Adriatic Sea, about 30 to 40! Speed…extremely fast! 50 seconds till they reach our fleet!!”

The distance from her to where the ships appeared is about 5km; the speed is about 360km per hour. However, there’s a basic difference between land speed and sea speed, because the resistance of air and sea are different.

Basically, this speed is impossible.

Even for a speedboat made by the Science side, the maximum is only 90km per hour.

To reach 360km per hour, a lot of horsepower is required. If the force isn’t appropriate, the ship might end up being ripped by the sea. But this ‘enemy’ has done the impossible.

“Can we sink it?”

“The ‘Queen of the Adriatic Sea’ has deployed ship numbers 25 to 38; they’re at a position where they can hit them with the cannons. Before those ships hit us, if we can switch the positions of the ships, it can prevent the enemy from escaping.”

“Hurry up and take action. Their target should be the ‘Queen of the Adriatic Sea’; we can’t let them escape.”

“Roger that!!”

Agatha says as she passes the command to all the ships and to aim. Two new documents appear on the table beside her, indicating the positioning of the ‘Queen’s Fleet’ and the firing trajectory of the cannons.

They’re about 4 to 5 km away from the ships.

“THEY’LL REACH OUR FLEET IN 50 SECONDS!! SINK THEM FIRST!!”

As she shouts this, the vibrations shake her eardrums.

The ‘Queen’s Fleet’ fire numerous cannons. Agatha summons some more ice documents. On the documents, there are quite a few water pillars on the night sea, indicating that ships are being sunk left and right.

But the ship figures don’t stop. The other boats use the sinking boats as a platform to jump over the water and head forward.

(Using the front few ships as a shield…?)

Agatha can’t help but suspect. Even so, she can’t tell whether there is any special armour or defensive spell. The enemy ships that were directly sunk didn’t look like they intended to dodge. Even if more than 10 ships were sunk, the enemy hasn’t done anything to avoid them.

The distance between both of them will be closed up soon.

The distance is about a few hundred metres, yet the enemy hasn’t fired a single cannon.

(…Wait a second.)

Agatha reexamines the enemy ships on the ice document.

She suddenly freezes. The ships indicated don’t have any cannons.

“If so…EVERYONE GET INTO DEFENSE MODE! THE ENEMY’S TARGET IS—”

Just as Agatha gives the order,

The fast approaching ships aren’t stopping, the enemy ships pierce through the hulls of the outer ships of the ‘Queen’s Fleet’. Not only that, the inside of the wooden boats start to glow, and create large explosions. It’s like the entire ship is a bomb.

The explosions ring in her ears.

The sea starts to shake, and Agatha leans on the ship’s rudder as she shouts,

“THEY’RE FIREBOATS—UNMANNED NAVAL SHIPS THAT SELF-DESTRUCT!!”


Hearing the explosions, Tatemiya silently closes his eyes.

“Fireboats were invented before torpedoes were. At first, they were just movable weapons on the sea. Normally, they’re little ships that look just like boats. At first, when the English Navy fought against the invincible Navy, they sent real large ships that were filled with gunpowder to the enemy’s territory.”

Kamijou says in shock,

“Then, you plan to sneak in when the sea’s in a mess? What a crude plan.”


“Sister Agatha.”

“It hurts…yes…I’m here!”

Hearing one explosion after another, Agatha responds to Biagio’s call.

“If the enemy’s aim is to prevent the ‘Queen of the Adriatic Sea’ from activating, I guess that the enemy won’t just attack from the outside. There must be something — hurry up and search for the enemy.”

Agatha eyes stare at the ice documents on the table. Due to the explosions, ripples and faults are formed on the sea charts and maps, so it’s hard to determine.

(If the fireboats aren’t the real targets…they should be in another fleet. However…)

She changes the scale: 5km, 10km, 20km, she checks them all, but she doesn’t find any ship that matches the requirements. There are three large civilian jets; it shouldn’t be one of them.

Agatha intends to increase the scale, only for her hand to stop.

(…What if they’re not ‘on’ the sea?)

The numerous ice boards disappear. What replace them are multiple layers of ice documents stacked on each other. The ice block that appears on the table has the length and width of the documents. What’s indicated isn’t the horizontal length and width, but the vertical depth.

In other words, it’s meant to search for enemies under the sea.

“I found it! 80m South of the ‘Queen’s Fleet’, 40m deep. One huge object is spotted—it’s the ship from earlier!!”


“We’ve been discovered…”

Tatemiya suddenly looks up.

As if responding to his actions, the Amakusa members operating the ship are giving reports.

“We have confirmed the enemy ships’ cannons. Estimated trajectory is -30 degrees. They’re obviously aiming into the sea.”

“There’s some movement on the south side of the enemy’s fleet. They seem to be making a formation against sudden attacks!”

In a cannon fight, though it’s not easy to get a gauge on the enemy’s situation, if they’re found out, it’s too late. Naval warfare isn’t like air combat, where one can move about easily. It’s almost impossible to use speed to dodge or shake away from the enemy’s attack.

Thus, the basis of naval warfare is to find a place to attack without being fired back at.

This tabletop combat has already started before the cannons were fired.

It’s expected if the enemy doesn’t have any reaction, but if there’s a reaction, it means failure. This is a mind battle full of silence.

Thus,

“Numerous lasers are locked in on the ship!”

“The co-ordinates are responding. It’s faster than we expected! If this continues…!!”

“This is the worst situation…”

Tatemiya irritatedly says in a low voice.

“Everyone, brace yourself!! Beware of the enemy’s fire! If this ship is hit by it—”

Before he can finish, the explosions cover all the noise.


“A confirmed hit on the ship! The enemy’s now moving extremely slowly!!”

“Very good.”

Hearing Agatha’s words, Biagio is somewhat relaxed.

“How can the same trick work the third time? We have prepared some underwater cannons as well.”

What he prepared are cannons that when fired, will cause the surrounding seawater to freeze. With this, the ship that’s surrounded by the thick layers of ice will be unable to move. As ice has buoyancy, even if they don’t do anything, the ship will float to the surface together with the ice. After that, they just need to use ordinary cannon fire to actually destroy the enemy.

“There’s sixty seconds till the ship completely floats. Let’s take care of the remaining fireboats in the meantime—”

“Sister Agatha! We have an emergency!!”

There’s a voice other than Agatha’s. Another nun’s voice.

“The enemy’s forces have gone onto ship number 29! From the weapons and the spells used, it’s the Amakusa from before!!”

What!? Agatha can’t help but doubt her ears.

She turns to look at the documents on the table. The unmanned ship did collide with ship number 29…looking closely, the ship isn’t damaged. Normally, if it self-destructed, there would be a large hole on the ship…

If so…

“They prepared a boat that they didn’t intend to blow up, and the main fleet got on that boat, mixed in with the other ship…that underwater ship was actually another decoy…!?”


Kamijou Touma gets off from the wooden boat onto the ice ship. Following him, Index, Orsola, Lucia, Angelene, Tatemiya and the Amakusa members jump off of the boat.

“Forget about trying to control all the ships! No matter what, we can’t win on numbers! Just beat the core of the enemy!”

“Flagship…where’s the ‘Queen of the Adriatic Sea’?”

Kamijou looks around. Several hundred metres away, there’s a ship that’s a lot bigger than the other ships. However, there are more than ten ships at the middle.

“I’ll make a bridge from ship to ship! Anyway, you guys just go on ahead—”

Tatemiya’s voice overlaps with another.

It’s like an audio broadcast of a female voice.

“All personnel on number 29, 32 and 34, please retreat! If you can’t make it, jump into the water! We’ll remake these ships after we sink them!!”

“Damn it.”

Tatemiya curses.

“They intend to blow up the ships again!? HURRY UP!!”

Tatemiya tosses the paper bundles around. The paper bundles immediately expand, creating wooden arched bridges that are linked to the ice ships.

But before they can get on it, the cannon fire flies all over the place. Before the cannons strike, the impact from the vibrations alone is enough to cause Kamijou to almost tumble onto the floor.

“Ugh!?”

He doesn’t even have time to open his mouth. The huge ship is being blown apart like flying dirt. The cracking ship walls sink, creating large water pillars.

The water lands onto the deck.

The large pillar that he can’t grab hold of with both hands snap on being hit by the cannon.

“INDEX!”

Index is all curled up as Kamijou grabs her hand and runs over to the bottom of the fallen pillar. The fallen pillar falls aside, and the broken part just so happens to form a bridge linking to the next ship.

Without thinking, Kamijou jumps forward.

With Tatemiya leading, the Amakusa members get onto the ship they made, and move onto other ships.

Kamijou grabs Index’s hand and immediately scrambles over to the neighbouring ship. Looking back, Orsola, who’s holding the Angel staff, is moving up this pillar and onto this ship. Being hit by the second wave of cannon fire, the ice ship gradually start to tilt, and the pillar that was a bridge is dragged into the sea.

“Touma, where’re the rest?”

Though most of the Amakusa have used the wooden bridges, one can see a few of them jumping into the sea. Kamijou can’t help but grit his teeth, but Orsola, who’s beside him, says,

“They have spells to create bridges and ladders. Because they know they can win, they would choose to jump into the water.”

This suggestion brings him a little hope, and he can only believe in this. Besides, the deck is about 10m above the sea. Even if Kamijou reaches his hand out, he can’t reach it.

“Damn it! Let’s go and destroy that ‘Queen of the Adriatic Sea’!!”

Again, Kamijou wants to head to the flagship of the ‘Queen’s Fleet’.

At this moment, some new footsteps block his entry.

Several nuns are standing on the deck as if it’s a stage. Like Lucia and Angelene, they have yellow sleeves and skirts to go with their black-based nun habit. They seem to be manual workers on this ship, and they seem to be of Agnese’s Forces.

They should know why Kamijou and company are here, but without saying anything, they flash their weapons, which range from swords, axes, staffs, to things that don’t even look like weapons, like Bibles and torches.

There are only nuns here.

The people known as caretakers should be on the ship as well, but he can’t see them. Maybe they left the fighting to the labour workers while they hide. But the tactic of blasting the ships together with the enemy isn’t really an effective tactic.

“…You should know what’s happening to Agnese, right? DON’T YOU WANT TO HELP US!?”

Kamijou yells, but one of the nuns shakes her head.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t have any feelings in our work.”

She says in representation for everyone.

“Those are definitely not your true thoughts.”

Orsola says in a heavy tone,

“Maybe they themselves haven’t noticed it, but they were people who recognised Agnese’s ability and followed her. Because they believe the leader will definitely overcome these problems, they would do this. They probably wish that someone would stop them.”

“…”

Just because they can’t express it in words, they’re calling for help in a different way. Right now, they’re in a situation when they have to go against what they’re thinking and destroy each other. Thinking about this, Kamijou can’t help but clench his fist.

As if responding to his actions, several nuns step forward.

The distance to the enemy human wall is about 7m.

At this moment,

Something small flies over Kamijou and the nuns’ heads.

Looking up, flying 10m in the air is a carriage wheel.

“Sister Luc—!?”

Before the enemy can shout her name.

BAM!! The wheel explodes. The large number of wooden shrapnel avoids Kamijou, Index and Orsola, creating a magical trajectory as it attacks downwards. This can be considered a rain of destruction. The nuns try to use their weapons and spells to defend themselves, but the entire group is shaken up.

After that.

“This way!!”

Looking in the direction where the shout came from, it’s Lucia and Angelene, who came onto this ship from another way. On the edge of the deck behind them, there’s a bridge linking to the next ship.

“Number 41, retreat immediately!! If you can’t make it, jump into the sea!! This ship would be like the previous ones: we’ll remake this ship after we sink it!!”

The surrounding atmosphere is tense. Though Kamijou doesn’t know the specific number, the enemy should be aiming here.

“HURRY UP!!”

Lucia shouts for Kamijou and company to get past the bridge. At this moment, the nuns get into action.

They’re not escaping, but preventing Kamijou’s group from escaping.

Whoosh!! Numerous nuns surround Kamijou’s group like a single organism.

“These …IDIOTS! IF YOU’RE SO DARING, WHY WON’T YOU SAVE SISTER AGNESE!!?”

Lucia raises her hand, and the scattered pieces of wood gather back into the shape of a wheel. After grabbing the wheel, she rushes to the nuns.

But before a battle can begin, another explosion can be heard.

“AH!?”

Kamijou shouts as his eardrums vibrate violently. With the sound of lightning, the neighbouring ships are firing cannons. The cannons may have hit the hull, as the entire deck shakes violently.

The second wave of attack is coming over.

This time, it seems like they intend to directly destroy the deck, as loud cannon explosions rise up with a cracking down.

The cannons are aimed at Kamijou’s group, and the black hole looks like a monster glaring over.

At this moment,

“Come out, one of the twelve disciples, tax collector and lowly servant of the eradicating magician!”

The one shouting is Angelene.

The four bags of gold that she has immediately respond to her call.

Red, blue, yellow, green. The four heavy bags with wings smash into the nearby pillar like a metal punch. This is to concentrate the attack at the base of the pillar to smash it. The huge pillar severely tilts.

After that,

The large number of cannons hit the falling pillar. Just like that, the ice blocking the cannons explode and Kamijou’s group is saved by Angelene.

Because of the cannons, the pillar that has become a shield explodes into pieces on falling towards the deck.

The fragments of ice descend. Though they’re fragments, each of them are larger than a refrigerator.

“!!”

Lucia raises the large wheel and immediately detonates it. The large amount of pieces of wood hit the ice fragments, but is unable to deflect all the ice pieces.

The ice pieces that weren’t hit fly towards the Roman Catholic nuns.

Flying towards the group of nuns who were formerly called the Agnese’s Forces.

Seeing this situation, Angelene, however, runs towards the group of enemy nuns.

“WAIT…WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?”

Lucia shouts in surprise.

Angelene ignores the surprised nun and gathers the four bags of gold. She then tries to hit the huge ice blocks that are falling.

The cloth of the bags of gold breaks and the coins scatter all over the place.

As the bags smashed the pillar just now, they’re at their limits.

“STAY BACK, SISTER ANGELENE!!”

Lucia shouts at Angelene, who lost her weapon. She looks around, and can see that boy called Kamijou Touma running near Angelene. Maybe he wants to push her aside.

However,

Angelene isn’t backing away.

Not only did she not back away, she took a step forward. She bites her teeth and leaps toward the nearest nun. The nun, who’s rooted to the spot, flies backwards, landing on the deck.

After confirming the nun’s safety, as Angelene prepares to get down.

The ice block that’s as large as a refrigerator lands beside her.

The ice block that landed forcefully on the deck scatters in a rain of fragments that are as large as a rock.

BOOM!!

With the blunt sound, her petite body dances in the air.

“SIS…”

Lucia screams as if she has just seen an unbelievable thing.

“SISTER ANGELENE!!"