Toaru Majutsu no Index

Volume 14, Chapter 4: A Collection of Steel that Blocks out the Sky. Cruel_Troopers.

Part 1

Kamijou and Itsuwa ran along the streets of Avignon.

The dreadful rioters were gone.

Most of them had been exterminated.

Parts of the road had been upturned and buildings and walls had collapsed, so the road was difficult to travel down. There were a lot of parked cars. As Kamijou ran towards the Palace of the Popes, the air smelled of smoke and gunpowder and he occasionally had to climb over rubble or duck through holes in walls.

There were powered suits in various places throughout the city.

Some were on the roads; some were on the roofs of buildings.

(If I’m able to spot this many while just running by, there must be hundreds or thousands of them in Avignon. Just what the hell is going on...?)

Kamijou clenched his teeth as he ran through a road that was submerged due to a broken water pipe and jumped over a toppled street light.

(It was the Roman Catholic Church that started this war. Academy City should be moving in an attempt to stop it. So why is this happening!?)

There was one thing this battlefield clearly lacked.

The smell of blood.

Since the powered suits’ anti-barrier revolver shotguns used different types of shells, flesh-and-blood humans were only ever shot with blanks. But the gunshot created by the great amount of explosive used turned into a shock wave. This shell of sound was mercilessly mowing down the rioters in Avignon.

There were piles of unconscious rioters scattered around the city. And next to one, there were some powered suits inflating a giant balloon with a bulletproof fiber woven into it.

(Is that for reconnaissance...?)

Kamijou had seen something like that in an Academy City drama.

The balloon was equipped with a tiny camera and it moved around using heated air just like a hot-air balloon. Its main weakness was that the battery for the electric furnace that heated the air drained quickly, but it moved much more silently than one with a propeller and was both cheap and portable.

The one the powered suits were inflating was several times bigger than the one he had seen in the drama and it had a basket made of the same bulletproof fiber below it.

It was most likely going to be used similarly to a hot-air balloon. They would put the unconscious people on them and have them be automatically brought outside of the area of operation.

When Kamijou looked around again he noticed a number of black balloons floating in the air like dandelion seeds.

That was just how many people the powered suits had taken out.

“...”

They may have had the same idea as Tsuchimikado.

The rioters marching in the narrow streets of Avignon would be a hindrance to their mission. And the enemy using the C-Document could mix in with the rioters. So the best strategy was to quiet down the rioters first.

But...

“Tsuchimikado wouldn’t do it this way...”

“Eh?” Itsuwa turned her head toward Kamijou, but he didn’t respond.

As he ran, he looked at the exploded cars and tightly clenched his fist.

(Just because your actions take precedence is no reason to use violence to make the city yield to you!!)

Kamijou finally figured out what exactly Oyafune Monaka, one of the Board of Directors, had wanted to stop. It wasn’t that she had hated the Roman Catholic Church. And it wasn’t that she had wanted to defeat the enemy of Academy City. She had wanted to stop a situation such as this where things had devolved to a conflict where anything and everything was destroyed.

(I have to stop this.)

Kamijou grit his teeth and ran through the city that was now a battlefield.

(I can’t just ignore this spiral of destruction. If anyone tries to justify this situation to me, I’ll destroy every last bit of that illusion of theirs!!)

“W-we’re there. That’s it...!!”

And so Kamijou and Itsuwa had reached the Palace of the Popes.

The name had led Kamijou to imagine a solemn church or a gaudy palace, but the actual building was less a palace and more a medieval fort. The giant building was a collection of stones from a quarry and it gave a feeling of rejection to those who looked at it.

The outer walls looking down on Kamijou were over 10 meters tall, but he looked surprised as soon as he saw the place.

“Holes...” Itsuwa muttered while carrying her spear in one hand.

The huge double doors of the main entrance had been blown inwards and walls around some of the windows on the higher floors had been destroyed. Someone must have been inside because there were intermittent gunshots and explosions coming from within.

“It’s already started. Let’s go, Itsuwa!!”

“R-right!!”

Entering a building with gunshots coming from it wasn’t the best idea, but they had no choice.

Part 2

Tsuchimikado Motoharu was covered in blood.

It wasn’t because he had been shot by the powered suits. It was a side effect of the origami magic he had used in order to draw their attention elsewhere.

He had used the tiny opportunity from that to start running down a narrow road. He looked like he was about to fall over as he hid behind a parked car.

A number of gunshots rang through the air towards him.

Even though these gunshots were from blanks, the blasts of air were effective at suppressing the rioters. With one blast, the car’s windows shattered and the metal door bent in.

(Damn them...)

Tsuchimikado clicked his tongue as he pressed against the side of the car.

He wouldn’t die if he was hit, but he would pass out. And as he hid behind his shield, he heard a different thud.

He looked over in shock and saw that one of the powered suits had used its astounding jumping power to travel 10 meters through the air and was approaching from directly above him.

“Shit!!”

Tsuchimikado immediately jumped back and, at about the same instant, the giant powered suit landed on the car. The car was crushed beneath the great weight and exploded. The blast carried Tsuchimikado farther than he could have jumped otherwise.

As he rolled along the ground, the powered suit quietly aimed its anti-barrier shotgun at him while it was still surrounded by flames.

The area he was in simply had a line of cliff-like buildings on either side of the narrow street. Tsuchimikado tried to get behind a building at a street corner, but the powered suit was faster. The blast of air that came with the gunshot hit Tsuchimikado’s feet.

He fell as if he had been tripped.

Crawling, he somehow managed to get around the corner.

(Gh...Ahhhh!?)

When he looked at his ankle, it was badly bruised. Somehow the bone hadn’t been broken, but his movements were restricted nonetheless.

(It looked like there were 14 powered suits. Their armor looks thin, but they should be able to take an anti-tank missile straight on. Not to mention that...)

As he heard moving machinery from around the corner, Tsuchimikado pulled some first-aid medical tape out of his pocket and used it to wrap his ankle.

(They’re using the new drive correction device. That driver that studies the conditions of the battlefield and automatically regulates everything to bring out the greatest performance.)

When using the same weapons in a tropical rainforest or in Antarctica, its performance could change based on the environment. In a desert, you had to be sure that sand didn’t get in and in wetlands you had to make sure mud didn’t get in.

The easiest way to maintain a weapon and the weapon’s characteristics differed depending on the region. But these powered suits were different. They scanned the environment around them and automatically corrected for it, so they could be used in their default settings anywhere in the world.

(I’m pretty sure the automatic correction information is transmitted amongst all of them during a mission. Ha ha. They probably know the best on how to walk through Avignon right now.)

For weapons with legs, balance was the biggest problem, but that weakness was not present with the powered suits. They could walk across crumbling ground even better than a real person could.

(Damn it. How am I supposed to attack...?)

Tsuchimikado Motoharu checked his taped ankle.

And by then, they were drawing near.

Part 3

The inside of the Palace of the Popes was vast.

But Kamijou felt that vastness gave it a feeling of lonely isolation. At the very least, there was nothing inside. The walls didn’t even have wallpaper; they were bare stone. Other than the evenly spaced pillars holding up the ceiling, nothing was there. It was like a pyramid after all the treasure had been removed.

(It looks like the Roman Catholic Church really didn’t have any major force here. A select few wanted to use the C-Document without the rest of the church knowing. Or maybe Terra is acting alone using a personal squad.)

“It looks like no one’s here...” Itsuwa said while holding her spear at the ready.

The site was open to sightseers on weekdays, but no one was sightseeing at a time like this. Before, Avignon had been afraid of the rioters and now the powered suits were rampaging around the area.

The gun shots and explosions continued.

If they were continuing, that meant that an actual battle was occurring instead of a one-sided suppression.

Terra was not the only magician in the city because someone had to be operating the C-Document. The powered suits were astounding, but those Roman Catholic magicians had to be something else to take them on directly like that.

As he didn’t want to draw fire from either side, Kamijou was walking quietly.

“...Where exactly did those powered suits come from?”

“Eh?” Itsuwa looked over at Kamijou.

“Are there Academy City people piloting them? Or were they lent to an organization that cooperates with Academy City? And they can’t exactly hide what they’re doing here. What is Academy City thinking...?”

His cell phone had a television function.

Causing unnecessary noise was dangerous, but he needed information.

Kamijou checked to make sure no one was around, took out his phone, and tried to turn on the television function. However, nothing showed up. Perhaps it didn’t work with foreign stations. He thought for a second and then brought up the recorded numbers. He called one of those numbers.

“Misaka!!”

“Wh-what?”

He had called Misaka Mikoto.

“Are you busy? There’s something I want to ask you.”

“O-oh, I see. Does it have to be me? Couldn’t you ask someone else? Like my mom maybe.”

“Hm? ...Oh, I guess you’re right. I can just ask Misuzu-san or someone...”

“Non non non non!! I thought you called me because you had something to ask me!”

“??? Well, I guess someone in Academy City would be more helpful than Misuzu-san.”

Kamijou cocked his head to the side in confusion and got to the reason he had called.

“Misaka, can you check the news? It can just be from the internet. Can you see if the foreign news says anything about something happening in the city of Avignon?”

“Huh?” Misaka responded.

Perhaps his question had been a bit too sudden.

...Or so he thought. Apparently that wasn’t the case here.

“What are you talking about? If you just turn on any TV, you’ll find the special news report. Avignon is a French city, right? It seems some religious group is violating international law there by using some special kind of destructive weapon and an operation to clear them out has begun. There’s a huge uproar about it.”

“...What?”

Kamijou was completely shocked, and then Mikoto continued.

“They’re saying that normally the French government would take care of this, but they needed some experts with access to special technology, so Academy City has gotten caught up in it all. ...Actually, where are you? You would be hard pressed to find somewhere that didn’t have this information yet.”

“W-well...” Kamijou thought about how to explain this, but something distracted him.

He couldn’t hear anything else.

The gunshots and other sounds from the nearby battle had stopped at some point. This was the natural state of the Palace of the Popes, but the silence almost hurt his hears.

(...)

Mikoto was saying something on the other end of the phone, but Kamijou didn’t respond.

He stopped breathing and focused his attention, but he still couldn’t hear anything.

He exchanged glances with Itsuwa who was standing next to him and slowly moved forward.

(What’s happening here...?)

He felt like some unknown tension was seeping from the depths of the passageways, from the cracks in the walls, and from the other sides of the doors. It felt like the entire atmosphere of the area had been changed.

Kamijou was unable to figure out what had caused it.

This was because the answer showed itself before he had a chance to.

With a loud crash, the thick wall to Kamijou’s side burst open.

A powered suit came crashing through.

It slammed into Kamijou and knocked him to the ground. The phone in his hand fell to the ground and the LCD screen shattered.

“!?”

Itsuwa hurriedly thrust the tip of her spear at the powered suit, but she stopped partway.

This was because the powered suit had its arms and legs dangling down showing that it had lost all functionality. It must have been hurled in there by someone.

A number of cylindrical objects were scattered about the powered suit. The 350-milliliter drink can-sized cylinders were the shells for the anti-barrier shotgun the powered suit used. The giant revolver shotgun was lying on the ground nearby.

“Kh...” Shaking his head, Kamijou stood up and heard footsteps.

He raised his head.

Itsuwa was wielding her spear so as to cover him.

And beyond her...

Through the destroyed wall, a magician stood holding a giant white blade.

It was Terra of the Left.

The man had destroyed the powered suit without breaking a sweat by using his “precedence” magic.

“They’ve really done it now...” He said in a slow voice with an intentional hint of irritation mixed in. “I didn’t expect for them to quiet down the chaos of the riots by creating an even greater chaos that I could get wrapped up in. It just goes to show how serious Academy City is. They felt they had to do something about this even if it brought them a certain amount of international criticism.”

In his left hand, the opposite of the hand holding the white guillotine, he held a rolled up piece of parchment. It was small. It was only about 15 cm long and 3 cm across. That parchment that had been sealed with wax was...

“The C-Document...” Itsuwa muttered in complete shock.

It was that powerful spiritual item that made a speaker’s words thought to be “completely correct” for the Roman Catholic Church. And if Terra was holding it instead of the magicians that had actually been using it...

“This really is a pain. I could easily defeat them on my own, but they focused their attack on the magicians using this. And that will clearly have an effect on the spell. Really now, not being able to use human spells can be a real problem sometimes. Now I’ve had victory snatched from my grasp thanks to those mediocre magicians. It seems calling it quits here and leaving would be the best plan now.”

“Do you really think we’re just going to let you leave?” Kamijou said as he slowly lifted up his right hand. “You people can use the C-Document when you get back to the Vatican. Do you really think we’re going to let you go knowing that?”

“But what can you do about it? Not even that Academy City unit attacking Avignon can stop me. Or do you think you’re more powerful than all of them with that right hand of yours? Do you have any proof of that?”

“...”

As there were no more gunshots coming from anywhere in the Palace of the Popes, it was best to assume that all of the powered suits had been defeated by Terra.

With that much power at his disposal, Terra mockingly smiled towards Kamijou and Itsuwa.

“Although, I suppose it will be difficult to convince you if I don’t do anything.” He put the C-Document into his pocket with his left hand and lifted the white guillotine with his right. “Challenge me to your heart’s content and then give up to your heart’s content. I find it much more enjoyable that way.”

Part 4

The cityscape of Avignon was being destroyed more and more.

The rioters were being knocked unconscious by the shockwave-like blanks, dragged into piles by the powered suits, and then carried away by the balloons woven with bulletproof fiber.

And among it all, Tsuchimikado Motoharu ran.

He moved from hiding behind rubble to hiding behind cars only staying out in the open for as short a time as possible. He was fleeing the pursuing powered suits. Even though he was staying behind cover as much as possible, the blasts continued. He avoided level ground as much as he could and continued along paths with toppled street lights and destroyed roads.

But...

(Tch. So they really aren’t going to fall over from just that. Their drive correction devices are working...!!)

Even though the powered suits walked on two legs which was difficult to balance and were actually quite heavy, they moved without showing any signs of wobbling. They weren’t walking one step at a time like on level ground; they were moving smoothly like a cockroach.

The powered suits scanned the environment and automatically made the most optimal corrections for the situation. They pursued Tsuchimikado while traveling as fast as an automobile and crossing the terrain more smoothly than a human could.

It was only a matter of time until checkmate.

Tsuchimikado stopped in the middle of the road. The tall buildings on the left and right were destroyed and had blocked the road like a rockslide. It wasn’t too much to climb over, but the powered suits wouldn’t give him enough time to do so. It would end with him getting shot in the back while pressing up against the wall.

He heard a metallic noise from behind him.

It sounded like a gear turning.

He felt a chill run up his spine. It was a sound he had not yet heard that signified that something had been changed.

He had a pretty good idea of what.

(...The anti-barrier shotgun.)

It was the sound of the blanks for suppressing the rioters being changed to the live shells that were intended to open the gates to nuclear shelters.

(Here it comes!!)

Tsuchimikado leapt with all his strength to the side without bothering to turn around. Directly afterwards, the sound of an explosion hit him like a physical blow. The mountain of rubble that had blocked his way was blown into nothingness. In a single blast, a hole a few meters in diameter had been created.

“...!!”

Covering his ears, Tsuchimikado looked behind him.

The powered suit pointed the gun barrel that was big enough to put a fist in towards him and placed its finger on the trigger.

The streets of Avignon were narrow.

He couldn’t jump to the side to avoid it this time.

“!? Hey, wooden sticks. Be useful for once and be a shield!! (Use the talisman of the blue wood and protect my body!!)[1]”

Tsuchimikado yelled this as he pulled out a piece of origami as the explosive gunshots came from directly in front of him.

The few dozen anti-materiel bullets fired acted as if they had ricocheted off of a shield slightly in front of Tsuchimikado and destroyed the walls they hit.

Blood leaked from between Tsuchimikado’s lips.

It was the side-effect of his magic use.

Even so, he pulled out another piece of origami, this one black.

“C’mon, wake up you fuckers. Destroy some shit and laugh your asses off about it!! (The color black is the symbol of water. Open a path similar to that violence!!)”

A sphere of water a meter across suddenly appeared out of nowhere and flew towards the powered suit knocking it back.

But that was all it did.

Since he had used magic twice in quick succession, blood was oozing from Tsuchimikado’s side. He tried to prop himself up against the ancient wall, but one of his legs gave out before his hand reached the wall.

“Fuck...”

He looked around the area and saw a number of powered suits. And there were even some on the roofs of the buildings aiming for him.

(...)

As he checked the location of the suits, Tsuchimikado slowly raised his hands above his head.

Then he moved his lips and spoke.

“I surrender. ...Do whatever you like to me.”

“But,” he continued. “That’s only if you can do it.”

As soon as he spoke those words, something changed with the powered suits aiming at him.

The powered suits that could move more smoothly than a flesh-and-blood person suddenly stiffened. As the pilots hurriedly checked the behavior of the suits, the sound of stuck gears could be heard. It seemed that not even the fingers could move, because there was no sound of gunshots.

“I’m sure you want to know what’s going on.”

As Tsuchimikado slowly approached, he could feel the atmosphere of surprise coming from within the suits. These powerful weapons were still being piloted by normal people.

“Those suits are equipped with the new drive correction device installed. Whether in a desert or in the Antarctic, the machine will automatically check the environment and perform maintenance.

“But,” Tsuchimikado said, “in certain situations that can be a hindrance. For instance, if certain special conditions are met in a certain order, it creates an error in the device. Simply put, there’s a security hole that slows down the system’s decision-making ability when it simultaneously receives multiple contradictory conditions such as ‘turn right’ and ‘turn left’. Did you forget that the HsPS-15 is a prototype that had only recently made it to the point that it could be shown at exhibition?”

In addition to that, the version of powered suit being used in Avignon was made to share its environmental data with the other suits. That meant that an error in one suit could affect all of them.

Tsuchimikado walked up next to one of the frozen powered suits and forcibly took the anti-barrier shotgun from its grip.

“...The error in the drive correction device was sent to the rest of them. Now, you need to manually change the settings on the escape equipment to even get out. There’s a lot of annoying work that needs to be done to get them up and running and it’ll take 10 minutes at the very least.” He said while carrying the huge shotgun that looked like a shortened version of a tank’s main gun over his shoulder.

It seemed the pilots inside the powered suits were completely dumbfounded at what Tsuchimikado was saying. They must have been wondering how the man in front of them knew about a problem with the suits that they didn’t even know about.

Meanwhile, Tsuchimikado tapped on the armor of the suit next to him and spoke in a bored manner.

“If you’re gonna get out, you should hurry. Once they figure out you can’t attack, the rioters are going to start attacking.”

After that, a clicking sound came from the powered suits. It seemed they were in a hurry to get out. Tsuchimikado thought as he watched this.

(Now then...)

He had succeeded in temporarily robbing the suits of functionality, but the soldiers themselves were still alive.

(This is where the true battle begins.)

At least they were sealed inside until they could repair the escape equipment. As they couldn’t fight, maybe he could actually talk with them.

(First, I need to explain that I’m acting as an agent of Academy City. No, I suppose I’m acting against the wishes of my superiors this time. I hope I can get this conversation going without making things worse.)

Tsuchimikado was planning out how he was going to “negotiate”, but his thoughts were interrupted and he suddenly looked up.

He could hear a loud roar.

He saw a jet black bomber flying through the peaceful blue sky.

And that 100-meter class bomber was not the only one. Over 10 bombers were circling in a giant arc above Avignon.

Tsuchimikado grit his teeth at the sight of that characteristic silhouette.

(That’s the Academy City HsB-02 Supersonic Stealth Bomber!)

Those bombers were created using the same tech as the supersonic passenger plane that he and Kamijou had taken to Avignon and that could travel over 7000 kph. It was said that they could shake off a missile just by flying straight.

After his thoughts calmed down, a question came to his mind.

Where had the huge number of powered suits come from?

This was his answer.

They had been loaded onto the bombers and brought to France in about an hour. Then they parachuted down to Avignon. It was quite a feat, but Academy City’s elaborate technology had made it a reality.

Naturally, the HsB-02’s would have more than the suits loaded on them. They must have had the equipment required for a bombing as well.

(Damn it...) Tsuchimikado thought as he glared up into the sky. (They dropped the powered suits down first to make sure the C-Document was here. Once that’s confirmed, they’re just planning to use the bombers to blow up the Palace of the Popes, aren’t they!?)

It was a rough and easy to understand plan, but it was hard to think it would work knowing the special spell Terra of the Left had.

Tsuchimikado banged on the armor of the powered suit next to him.

“Hey! Have the people of Avignon been evacuated yet!? When is the bombing set to happen!? Those are the new HsB-02’s. They aren’t planning on using that here, are they!?”

As he yelled, he could feel his thoughts getting mixed up as he thought frantically.

(What are you thinking, Aleister? I could understand if it was the others, but you know about the world of magic. If everything could be solved with normal military action, organizations like Necessarius wouldn’t exist. Don’t you know that this isn’t enough to eliminate the C-Document?)

Tsuchimikado had another thought.

(Or do you still have something else up your sleeve?)

Part 5

Nine thousand meters above Avignon, a Level 5 carrying a cane was onboard one of the 11 HsB-02 Supersonic Stealth Bombers. The Level 5 and a few maintenance crew members were the only things in the large space that would normally be full of bombs.

A high-pitched alarm was sounding from the speakers inside the bomber and a staticky transmission followed. One of the maintenance crew members turned towards the Level 5 after hearing the transmission.

“Part A is complete! We can now move to Part B. The wall there will open once Part C begins. You need to get your parachute on!!”

“I don’t need one,” responded the Level 5 in an annoyed voice.

The Level 5 calmly held his cane and stared at the flat-panel monitor on the wall.

(God, this is a fucking pain. I’m pretty busy and they go and kick me out of Academy City. I need to get this shit over with and get back to the real issue at hand.)

Seen from above, Avignon was a small city surrounded by ancient stone walls. Perhaps because the area was limited by the walls, the inside looked like it was packed full of tall buildings.

Looking at that, the Level 5 laughed.

“Ha ha. It’s like a miniature Academy City.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. But this is a damn convenient world. We can get from Academy City to France in about an hour.”

“Heh. I suppose it can be convenient.” The maintenance crew member chose his words carefully as he spoke with the Level 5. “When flying at supersonic speeds, air resistance raises the surface temperature of the fuselage significantly. When going at full speed, it approaches 1000 degrees, so there are pipes for liquid coolant throughout the entire thing.”

“Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen?”

“Yes. The pipes full of coolants with a low freezing point pass through these tanks to increase the cooling effect. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen are also used as propellant for space shuttles and are part of what is used as fuel here. But that means the cooling effect is lost as we use up fuel.”

“So we really are going to London instead of making a U-turn and going back. I can’t believe they agreed to give us supplies for the bombers. Japan hasn’t even given us permission to have bombers.”

While the Level 5 was speaking in amazement, the alarm rang over the speakers again.

After hearing the announcement, the maintenance crew member raised his voice.

“Part B is beginning!!”

As he spoke, 4 of the bombers flying nearby changed course.

They rotated and moved 15 km away like spreading out the radius of a circle.

Then they turned their noses and accelerated away.

The bottom of the bombers had a part on them that the one the Level 5 was on did not.

It was a jet black blade about half as long as the bomber itself.

The blade was elongated like a baton and its surface was made so it could electrically contract. In 1/100 of a millimeter units, the concavity/convexity and pattern could be controlled.

That long but sensitive blade sliced through the air as the supersonic bomber flew at 7000 kph.

From that alone, the wind currents created by the blade held tremendous destructive power.

But what would happen if a small amount of iron sand was mixed in?

The answer to that would soon be displayed.

The four bombers caused the ground to be sliced in a square with Avignon trapped inside.

Only a few grams of iron sand were disseminated from the side of the blade.

Because that metal powder reached a tremendous speed higher than 10,000 kph, an orange flash cut into the ground even though it started from a few thousand meters in the air.

The bomber the Level 5 was riding on shook.

The air had been disturbed by the passage of a friendly bomber.

“...”

The Level 5 put one hand on the wall without taking his eyes away from the monitor.

The first blast had created a trench 20 meters across and 10 meters deep.

Directly afterwards, the trench melted into orange and collapsed. The earth itself was being cooked until it was like magma. And just like that, the old city of Avignon was trapped inside a river of lava. The electricity and water lines and even the Rhone River flowing near the city were severed. The outer circumference had already started to flood.

Now everyone inside the old town of Avignon was completely trapped.

The city did continue on past the outer walls and the residents in the area that was going to become a river of lava had been forcibly removed by the powered suits, but none of them were going to be very thankful.

(Ha. So this is the “Earth Blade”. With only 3 kilograms of iron sand and an hour, it could cut the entire supercontinent of Eurasia in two. Academy City certainly does make some fun things.)

Normally, bombers were protected by a few fighters.

Unlike small fighters, large bombers couldn’t turn very sharply. If they did, they would immediately stall and might even succumb to inertia and come to pieces in midair. In other words, if an enemy got a lock, they had no way of avoiding the missile. Chaff or a flare could help to a certain extent, but they weren’t perfect methods. Therefore, fighters would be deployed around a bomber to help prevent the enemy from making a lock.

But the HsB-02 supersonic bomber was different.

Since it could only fly straight, it was made so that it could shake off a missile just by flying straight.

Overwhelming speeds of over 7000 kph made that a reality. With air-to-air missiles fired by fighters and even surface-to-air missiles lying in wait at bombing points, the idea was to carry out the bombing and get out of range shortly after the lock was made.

The supersonic bomber changed the traditional rules of an air battle through pure power.

And when the Academy City high power stealth functionality was added in, it became next to impossible to defend against an attack from the HsB-02.

“The objective area is confirmed to be isolated!!” The maintenance crew member said loudly.

The bombers that had fired the Earth Blade went an ample 20 km away and decelerated. They must have altered the “pattern” of the blade’s surface because the wind currents stopped.

“We will now switch to the aerial bombing of the entire mission area!!”

The Earth Blade gave the impression of being an overly imprecise attack, but, by electrically controlling the “pattern” on its surface, it could attack in a curve or in a single spot instead of in a straight line. It could cause destruction precise enough it could cut out a jigsaw puzzle piece. Apparently, a single bomber could make multiple lines at once if need be.

“This bomber will be altering course to ensure the path of the 8 bombers to be used in the next bombing. Watch out for unexpected shocks!”

The next target was the area inside the old city of Avignon.

They weren’t just targeting the Palace of the Popes; they were targeting the entire old city. The powered suit unit was still down there, but the pilots were equipped with a type of transmitter that the bombers would detect and utterly burn the city of Avignon down to a sea of lava while avoiding those spots.

The plan was for the powered suits to be abandoned and melted down by the Earth Blade. The pilots would pretend to be locals and travel to the nearby coast of the Mediterranean where they would leave France in a waiting submarine. Travelling long distance in powered suits would stand out too much, so the unrecoverable equipment would just be melted down.

But for the plan to succeed, the unit on the ground would have to cross the sea of lava under their own power. They must have had some equipment to help them with that. With the city turned to lava, there would be plenty of updrafts, so perhaps they had some handheld gear that would allow them to slowly float across like dandelion seeds.

“...”

According to the monitor, there were still a lot of people who had not escaped the old city of Avignon. Those lucky enough to be near the powered suit pilots would be saved, but most of them would be killed by the 8000 degree blade.

“Change of plans.”

“Huh?”

“We’re after the Palace of the Popes, right? Focus your attack there first. If that doesn’t work, I’ll go down myself. If you don’t hear from me after that, then you can attack the entire old town as planned.”

“But...you’re only supposed to go down under Part C. The calculations say that we should be able to eliminate the enemy forces with only Part B.”

“Change of plans,” the Level 5 repeated.

The maintenance crew member’s back stiffened. He had remembered why the Level 5 was on board the bomber.

He was a bomb.

Just like an atomic bomb or a hydrogen bomb, he was a bomb loaded on the bomber to be dropped as part of the mission.

The maintenance crew member grabbed his radio and began making a transmission. He appeared to be negotiating with his superior who had command of the operation and he repeated himself again and again. Afterwards, he put down the radio and silently looked over at the Level 5.

“...Y-your request was accepted. The plan for Part B has been changed. We will concentrate our attack on the Palace of the Popes.”

He must have been wondering why his stubborn superior had given in to this, because he had a curious look on his face.

Meanwhile, the Level 5’s lips pulled up at the sides in a smile.

“Good.”

“B-but why...?”

The Level 5 clicked his tongue in annoyance at the question.

The isolated city of Avignon and the tiny fleeing people who looked like grains of rice were displayed on the monitor.

“It may all look the same to you, but there are different kinds and different levels of evil.”

An electronic sound resounded throughout the bomber in what must have been the preparations to open the bay.

Hearing that, the Level 5 turned towards the maintenance crew member and spoke.

“A first-class villain doesn’t target honest lives.”

Part 6

A loud roar that sounded like cold water being sprinkled on a heated iron plate amplified hundreds of times resounded throughout the Palace of the Popes.

Something must have happened outside the building, but neither Kamijou nor Itsuwa nor Terra looked to see what.

Kamijou held up his right hand and glared at Terra.

They were about 7 meters apart.

He was well within range of Terra’s flour guillotine. Not to mention that Terra had his “precedence” ability.

The condition of the floor was bad. Pieces of the stone wall Terra had broken down were scattered about and a number of cylindrical shells that belonged to the fallen powered suit were too.

“I’d ask you one last time, but I really doubt you’re just going to hand over the C-Document.”

“No. So just accept your defeat.”

Kamijou dashed forward after hearing that.

Terra responded by swinging the flour blade in his right hand.

Kamijou thrust his right hand forward as a means of defense as he ran.

But...

“Precedence: Air – Lower, Flour – Higher.”

The flour guillotine suddenly expanded with a roar.

The guillotine acted as a giant fan 3 meters wide and flew towards Kamijou bringing an enormous amount of air with it.

“!?”

Kamijou couldn’t respond.

Itsuwa had been running towards Terra along with him and she forcibly grabbed his arm. She dodged to the side dragging Kamijou with her as the air that shouldn’t have had any weight or sharpness to it smashed the floor and wall of the Palace. A number of the shells scattered on the floor exploded like fireworks. The shockwave-like noise almost made Kamijou choke.

Itsuwa gently let go of Kamijou’s arm.

And then with a speed that one would never imagine from her previous gentleness, she brought her spear up again and fiercely stabbed it towards Terra’s throat.

The sound of the air being sliced resounded.

“Precedence: Blades – Lower, Human Skin – Higher.”

With Terra’s words, Itsuwa’s attack was deflected by his skin.

A metallic clang reverberated through the Palace of the Popes.

Itsuwa felt a resounding pain in her hand like she had struck a giant stone with her spear.

But she did not stop moving.

She maintained her striking posture and kicked up some pebbles that were at her feet towards Terra’s eyes.

Terra did not move his head out of the way. He didn’t even close his eyes.

He casually swung his right arm.

A horizontal strike flew towards the pebbles and Itsuwa and even Kamijou was knocked back from the new angle he had been attacking from.

A dull noise sounded as Kamijou and Itsuwa were knocked to the ground.

“Ow...!?”

Itsuwa tried to get up, but she grimaced.

When she had collapsed, she had fallen on the remains of the stone wall Terra had destroyed. Falling on that stone had done some damage to her ankle.

And Terra of the Left did not overlook that fact.

“Precedence: Human Flesh – Lower, Flour – Higher.”

The guillotine flew.

Itsuwa could not move with her damaged leg, so she quickly brought her spear up.

Kamijou got in between them from the side.

He held out his right hand and blew Terra’s attack to pieces.

There was a loud roar.

Terra swung his right arm again and Itsuwa pushed Kamijou to the side as she jumped in the opposite direction on her hurt leg.

Terra’s guillotine flew between them.

“Oh, how brave,” Terra smiled slightly while watching Itsuwa bear with her pain. “But you’re at your limit. Right now, you’re just getting in his way.”

Kamijou was about to fly into a rage at Terra’s words, but...

“...That’s true.” Itsuwa spoke quietly.

But there was a smile on her lips.

“But you’ve finally shown your weakness. A fatal weakness.”

“And what might that be?”

“It’s what that Tsuchimikado-san was talking about. The weakness of your precedence spell, ‘Execution of Light’. I’ve noticed a clear oddity in your actions...”

“Oh?” Terra said interestedly.

Itsuwa slowly pointed the tip of her spear towards Terra and spoke.

“The Amakusa Church does not use incantations and magic circles for our spells; we gather together everyday objects and habits that have magical meaning within them to create our spells. And because of this, we are quite good at finding those meanings.”

“I see. That is a problem.” Terra spoke with no emotion in his voice. “But do you have time to do anything with this knowledge now that you’ve figured out it?”

As he spoke, Terra lifted his right hand above his head.

The guillotine tapered off like a screw and stabbed into the tall ceiling.

“Precedence: Ceiling – Lower, Flour – Higher.”

As Terra moved his arm like he was pulling the string for a fluorescent light, it came down.

Just like a trap in an old castle, the ceiling of that floor suddenly lowered.

The pillars supporting the ceiling sank down unnaturally into the floor.

“!!”

Itsuwa hurriedly held her spear vertically.

She wedged the spear between the falling ceiling and the floor narrowly avoiding being crushed to death.

But in doing so she lost her weapon.

Terra then mercilessly attacked with his guillotine.

There was an explosive roar.

The horizontally flying guillotine directly hit Itsuwa’s defenseless body. She doubled over while a dull sound could be heard and the shock knocked her small body through the air. Her body rolled a few meters as she bounced 2 or 3 times until her body finally lost its momentum and stopped.

She lay limp and did not get up.

Her arms and legs were splayed out, but her chest was slowly rising and falling so she wasn’t dead. However, it didn’t look like she would regain consciousness anytime soon.

(Damn it...)

Kamijou grit his teeth.

“Itsuwa!!”

“Well, this was to be expected. A normal magician can’t hope to stand up to a member of God’s Right Seat.”

As Terra spoke, the fallen ceiling returned to its original height. The compressed pillars also returned to their normal length.

Itsuwa’s spear that had prevented her from being crushed fell to the ground.

“You bastard...”

Kamijou slowly, very slowly put more power into his right fist.

But Terra did not seem even slightly worried by the expression on Kamijou’s face.

“My, my. Getting so mad is only going to cause more problems. This is a battle. You didn’t think I was going to let you punch me again and again without attacking back, did you?”

“...”

“In fact, I’m the one that’s disappointed here. I thought taking on the Imagine Breaker would make for a difficult battle, but I never expected it would be this incomplete. If its original functionality were recovered, you should have been able to protect that magician from that attack.”

“What?” Kamijou looked confused.

(Imagine Breaker’s...original functionality?)

Kamijou stared at his right hand without meaning to and a slight smile appeared on Terra’s lips.

“Oh. Do you not know?”

“...”

“Heh heh. But that can’t be. You would have to know. Not knowing would mean...Hm? By any chance do you not remember some things you should know?”

“Why you...!!”

“Oh, did I just hit the bull’s eye? It seems I’ve found some interesting research material!!”

“...!”

It may not have made much sense to get mad over that.

But talk of “not remembering” bore deep into Kamijou’s heart because he had lost his memories.

“Ha ha!!” Terra laughed loudly while watching Kamijou somehow manage to get to his feet while wobbling. “I see! I see! I don’t remember hearing any report of that...Have you been hiding it? What for? Have you told that magician lying over there? Looking into how you lost your memories and what you’ve done about it could prove to be quite interesting.”

(Damn it!!)

Kamijou controlled his anger.

He had determined not to let anyone know he had lost his memories. All for the sake of the white girl he had met just after losing them. That was his rule. He had to follow it. Having that rule destroyed like this was about to drive him insane.

“You can tell me.” Terra of the Left spoke these nonsensical words while smiling. “You’re going to die here anyway, so you don’t have to worry about anything. I don’t know what has you so upset, but I’ll resolve it for you.”

As Terra slowly held up the flour guillotine, Kamijou grit his teeth so hard it felt like his jaw would break.

(...The power of that blade alone isn’t fatal.) Kamijou thought while glaring at the white powder swirling around Terra. (The main problem is that “precedence”. If only I could find a weakness in that power that he uses for both offense and defense, I can take him down!! If a weakness even exists, that is.)

Tsuchimikado and Itsuwa had both determined that there was one.

Or it was possible that had just been a bluff they were making in their exchanges with Terra.

(There’s something there.)

Kamijou estimated the distance between himself and Terra.

(Come to think of it, there was something odd about Terra’s attacks. There were mistakes in our favor that I didn’t think too much about and tossed aside. Oh, right. There was...)

“Oh, you aren’t coming in to attack?” Terra said while lightly swinging his flour guillotine. “Well, I don’t like waiting, so I’ll come for you!!”

As he spoke, he attacked with the white blade.

And when Kamijou Touma saw that, he...

Part 7

The flour blade roaring forcefully towards Kamijou did not hit his right hand.

He avoided the strike coming for his face by moving his head out of the way.

As he did so, he purposefully fell to the ground and grabbed a bento box sized piece of shattered wall from the ground.

As he stood back up, Kamijou threw the stone at Terra as a counter.

“Precedence: Stone – Lower, Human Skin – Higher,” Terra said almost as if he was singing.

The stone hit Terra on the forehead, but his expression did not change in the slightest.

Matching the timing with which the stone hit, Kamijou put his hand in his pocket. Terra stared at him grimly, but Kamijou ignored him, aimed for Terra’s eyes, and threw the object that had been in his pocket.

The flour guillotine roared.

But when Terra saw the object that had been ripped to shreds by it, he looked confused.

It was a simple wallet.

Kamijou had thrown that piece of synthetic leather that had no effect as a weapon and watched Terra’s reaction.

“Now why did you do that?” Kamijou spoke these cutting words. “You easily repelled Itsuwa’s spear and Tsuchimikado’s magic. So why didn’t you use your ‘precedence’ on a simple wallet?”

“...!?”

Terra swung the flour guillotine as if to keep Kamijou from speaking.

Kamijou continued doing so as he destroyed it with his right hand.

“If you think about it, some things just don’t make sense.”

Kamijou stepped forward as if to split the powdery remains of the guillotine.

“For instance, Itsuwa and I took a direct hit from that white blade, but we’re still alive. You have no reason to hold back and you certainly don’t seem like the type to let those that lose to you go. The answer to this is simple. When you hit us with that blade, it wasn’t that you didn’t feel the need to kill us. You couldn’t kill us even though you wanted to.”

The flour blade did not have enough intrinsic destructive power to kill a human. Its power had to be amplified using the precedence spell.

Which meant...

“Your ‘precedence’ isn’t very adaptable. The blade’s power was always decreased on the first attack after you stopped one of our attacks. In other words, your ‘precedence’ can’t be used on multiple targets at the same time. When you move from one precedence to another, you have to reset each one every time. It has to be something like that.”

“Heh,” Terra laughed.

He once again brought up his giant blade as his expression relaxed.

“...So the weakness in the ‘Execution of Light’ that your friends spoke of was that.”

His voice was filled with relief at the solved mystery.

“You see, this is unadjusted. I was actually fairly curious about what they meant.”

The clergyman smiled.

“But,” Terra’s words returned to those of scorn, “now I know they weren’t anything to be worried about. Terra of the Left is not so naïve as to lose due to something like that!!”

The white blade flew with the sound of sliced air.

Kamijou blew it away with his right hand and chased after Terra who had back stepped away.

“Terra!!”

He yelled, but Terra was faster. He swung the flour guillotine again and spoke as it struck straight down.

“Precedence: The Floor – Lower, Flour – Higher.”

The thick stone floor was blown off and the small pieces flew towards Kamijou. The boy jumped to the side to avoid them and shouted.

“Why are you going this far!? It isn’t just us! You got everyone in the town of Avignon wrapped up in this! Is this really worth that!?”

“Ha. Most of the uproar was caused by your side, Academy City!”

Terra moved back with small hops and gathered the flour in his hand.

“This is for the Holy Kingdom, the ultimate goal of the entirety of the Christian Church.”

“What?”

“Oh? More people in Christian cultures know about this than know what the colors of a traffic light mean. But I suppose someone from a non-religious island nation in the Far East can’t be expected to know.” Terra spoke with slight boredom and disappointment. “It is the kingdom that God himself will create after the Final Judgement. Only those who have devoted themselves to their strong faith will be allowed there. It is a place of eternal salvation. Doesn’t it sound truly wonderful? That is my goal and I aim to help others who also wish to reach that place.”

Terra swung the flour guillotine and Kamijou blew it away with his right hand.

A few cylindrical shells on the ground were blown away by the wind pressure.

Terra spoke while staring at his weapon that had been turned to powder.

“But I had a thought.”

There was no wind, but the powder returned to Terra’s hand with an almost eerie amount of precision.

“Won’t people create conflicts in that Holy Kingdom? Even if God creates a perfect kingdom and only those with true faith are gathered there, will the various ‘groups’ people create really live up to His expectations?”

Kamijou ran forward as he listened.

Terra fired the guillotine to stop him.

“God will lead those who have kept their faith in the Christian Church to the Holy Kingdom. But even the Roman Catholic Church is split into innumerable factions. Even if God only provides salvation for devout Roman Catholic believers, the problems that arise from the different factions within the Roman Catholic Church will just be transferred over to the Holy Kingdom.”

Terra moved his right hand and the flour squirmed and formed a giant blade.

The white guillotine struck Kamijou’s fist.

“...No matter how perfect a kingdom God creates, it is meaningless as long as there are ugly divisions among the people inside it. If the conflicts we have now are brought to the supposedly perfect kingdom, it will all be for naught. I wouldn’t call that ‘eternal salvation’.”

As the flour guillotine was negated by his right hand, Kamijou listened.

Terra must have decided that falling back further would be pointless, because he moved forward.

“I wish for salvation. And I wish to bring salvation to others. Even if God’s plan is perfect, we humans can ruin it all if we do not live up to His expectations! That is why I must know whether humanity will still have its current conflicts in the Holy Kingdom!! And if it will, I just have to guide everyone in the right direction before the Final Judgement!!

“That is the very purpose of God’s Right Seat!” Terra roared.

Unlike another member, Vento of the Front, he had chosen this path for the sake of the Roman Catholic Church.

He may be going as far as he was because he truly wanted to protect those who believed in the Roman Catholic Church.

But...

“...Is that really what salvation is?” Kamijou said as he grit his teeth.

The face of the woman who had taken a bullet to get him to act, Oyafune Monaka, came to Kamijou’s mind.

He thought of Tsuchimikado and Itsuwa who had fought alongside him.

“It can’t be the Roman Catholic Church at fault here. I can’t imagine that the teachings of the church that brought up Orsola and Agnese could be that twisted. Your problem is much more basic than that. You don’t know what the word ‘salvation’ means!”

The rioters rampaging throughout the city of Avignon.

And the powered suits that had come to suppress those riots that Terra had destroyed.

“There’s no way this god of yours could be spreading salvation to create conflicts like this! Screw that. If you’re going to come up with your own definition for salvation and be satisfied with that...”

He glared at the man in front of him.

That was the enemy.

“Then I’ll destroy that fucked-up illusion right here and now!!”

Kamijou leaped towards Terra as he yelled.

Terra moved back and brought the guillotine up with his right arm. Kamijou wasn’t going to catch up to him at this rate.

But even so he continued forward.

The sole of his foot landed on one of the shells on the ground, but he ignored it and stepped down even harder.

And he kicked something at his feet forward as hard as he could.

It was the Friuli Spear Itsuwa had dropped.

Spears weren’t easy to kick up, so it just slid across the floor. It hit the anti-barrier shotgun the powered suit had dropped and headed for Terra’s ankle with a slightly altered trajectory.

“!!”

Terra swung the guillotine down and smashed Itsuwa’s spear to the ground.

He went out of the way to use his guillotine to block an attack he could have easily avoided by lifting his foot up.

(I was right.)

Kamijou took that opportunity to get even closer to Terra.

He got right up next to Terra where he hadn’t been able to before.

(If Terra himself had a large power from the beginning, he wouldn’t need magic that switched out the order of precedence. Those reigning at the top don’t need to change anything. His intrinsic power is nothing special.)

Kamijou put all of his strength into his right fist.

(In other words,) he concluded, (Terra of the Left isn’t all that strong. Some guy who looks strong while hiding in a safety zone can’t possibly be stronger than people like me or Itsuwa who truly set foot in the battlefield!!)

After Terra knocked Itsuwa’s spear to the ground, he mumbled a “precedent” and shot the flour guillotine in return, but Kamijou destroyed the attack with his right fist.

“Too slow!!”

His fist continued on and struck Terra’s face.

A thick sound rang out.

Kamijou felt a dull recoil go from his tightly gripped fist to his wrist.

Because he had put all his weight into the blow, his body pitched forward.

(Got him!!)

He was sure of it.

But Terra did not collapse.

“You damn pagan aaaaaaape!!”

Strength returned to the God’s Right Seat member along with the rage.

The bottom of his shoes slid across the floor. Terra almost fell when his legs hit the collapsed powered suit. He lost his balance and bent over backwards, but his fighting spirit was not broken. Terra swung his right hand while still in that unstable posture and the flour guillotine flew fiercely towards Kamijou’s gut.

“Precedence: Human Body – Lower, Flour – Higher!!”

The blade was set to cut right through people.

And Kamijou had only just thrown his punch to Terra’s face.

It was a difficult position to touch the guillotine with his right hand from. Same for dodging out of the way.

(...!!)

Kamijou quickly trampled the objects at his feet.

All that was there was the thick anti-barrier shotgun from the powered suit Terra had defeated.

The shotgun was lying diagonally slanted due to the rubble on the ground, so it moved like a see-saw when Kamijou stepped on it. The mass of metal stood up in front of him.

“You’re too naïve!!”

But Terra’s expression did not change.

The anti-barrier shotgun was heavy, so Kamijou couldn’t pick it up easily. And even if he could grab the giant gun, it would take several seconds before he could aim it at Terra and pull the trigger. His last-ditch plan wasn’t going to work. As Kamijou desperately tried to grab the shotgun, it was slammed forcefully into his gut by Terra’s guillotine.

A tremendous noise resounded through the Palace of the Popes.

Red blood flew through the air.

The liquid was dripping from Kamijou’s mouth as he doubled over. He hadn’t been able to block the attack with his right hand. He hadn’t been able to dodge out of the way. He had been hit by the attack as it came directly for his gut and strength fled his body.

“Wha-...?” came the shocked voice.

But it was Terra of the Left’s voice, not Kamijou’s.

But you couldn’t blame him.

He had amplified the destructive power of the guillotine with his precedence magic and yet Kamijou’s body had not been sliced in two.

“...”

Kamijou smirked and used his right hand to grab the guillotine that had struck him in the gut.

And with that the flour blade came apart.

Terra of the Left started to move back, but Kamijou moved forward before he could.

He was now in range of Kamijou’s fist.

“What kind of result was that? Imagine Breaker is supposed to only be in your right hand. What happened? Don’t tell me a pagan ape like you has already achieved that power!!”

“That wasn’t it.”

Kamijou tightly clenched his right fist.

“That had nothing to do with Imagine Breaker.”

“Then wha-...!?”

Kamijou moved before Terra could finish yelling.

He aimed directly for Terra of the Left’s face that was currently colored with shock.

“Do you really think I’m going to answer?”

A thick sound rang out.

This time, Terra’s body was thrown to the ground.

Part 8

“Gh...”

Kamijou held his stomach that was throbbing with pain, gathered strength in his staggering legs, and just barely managed to stay standing.

His gut hadn’t been sliced where the guillotine had hit, but a dark bruise was still forming.

(It looks like...I made it.)

He looked at the anti-barrier shotgun that had been bent by the shock and Itsuwa’s spear and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When Terra had fired his guillotine for the last time, he was aiming at Kamijou, so he used his magic to give the guillotine precedence over Kamijou’s body. If it had directly hit Kamijou, it would have sliced right through him.

He was still alive thanks to the powered suit’s anti-barrier shotgun that he had kicked up right before he was hit.

Terra’s “precedence” was indeed powerful, but it could only change one precedence at a time. To change from one to another, the previous setting had to be reset each time.

In other words, when the guillotine had precedence over Kamijou’s body, it did not have precedence over other objects. So the guillotine could be stopped by putting some other object between him and the guillotine. Already soft things like the air or a wallet wouldn’t work, but the shotgun was metal.

The guillotine’s intrinsic power was not enough to crush internal organs. If something strong enough was used as a shield, it wasn’t hard to defend against the attack.

One problem was what exactly counted as “Kamijou’s body”. His clothes and things he was carrying were a bit of a gray area, but something that wasn’t even his like the shotgun wouldn’t be counted as part of his body.

Itsuwa’s spear that Kamijou had kicked just before was an object belonging to someone else just like the shotgun. That was why Terra had been unable to slice Kamijou in half along with the spear. If the spear had been something that Kamijou normally carried around, he probably would have been able to.

Kamijou had realized Terra’s weakness because of that spear. Without it, he would probably be in two pieces right now.

“...”

Kamijou looked over at Terra who was lying on the floor.

The large amount of flour hadn’t kept its blade form and was now scattered about him.

(It looks like it’s over... Is Itsuwa okay? Tsuchimikado is...Well, he might still be fighting the powered suits...)

Kamijou looked at the flour that had lost its magical effect and was being blown away by the wind.

He was in pain, but he still breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at Terra’s face again.

Something cylindrical had fallen out of Terra’s pocket. The rolled up old piece of parchment was the powerful spiritual item known as the Document of Constantine or the C-Document for short.

Kamijou bent down and grabbed it with his right hand.

Actually, it crumbled before he could grab it.

As soon as his fingertips touched the C-Document, the parchment fell to pieces like the end of a cigarette being tapped on an ash tray. It lost its form becoming dust and was gently blown away by the wind.

It happened much too quickly.

It made all the uproar seem almost pointless.

Kamijou turned his attention from the destroyed C-Document and thought about the enemy he had been fighting.

(...Terra.)

He looked down at the unconscious man.

This was not Academy City. Now that the battle was over, he couldn’t just leave it all to Anti-Skill. He couldn’t relax until he had restrained Terra and taken him to the proper place.

(Come to think of it, is Tsuchimikado all right? I guess I should contact him and discuss with the Anglican Church what to do. I have the feeling Academy City’s influence here is pretty weak...)

The powered suits that had attacked Avignon were from Academy City, but oddly enough Kamijou never thought of consulting them on this. Perhaps his first impression of them was too horrible.

Kamijou looked around the area.

Itsuwa was lying a bit away.

He approached her, grabbed her slender shoulders, and shook her, but she showed no sign of waking. There was only the regular sound of breathing coming from her lips as her chest slightly rose and fell.

“Oh, right. Her spear...”

Kamijou went to go get the spear he had kicked and went back to Itsuwa.

He placed the dangerous weapon next to her.

“Thanks, Itsuwa. If you hadn’t been here, I probably wouldn’t have won.” Kamijou softly said while looking at the girl’s closed eyes.

Since she had been knocked out, she wouldn’t have heard the discussion between Kamijou and Terra about Kamijou’s lost memories. But he couldn’t exactly say he was “glad” about that. After all, Itsuwa had fought alongside him without knowing about it.

“...”

There was nothing but bitter things in his heart.

But he shook them aside and thought.

(I need to talk with Tsuchimikado...)

He was going to call Tsuchimikado on his phone, but it wasn’t in his pocket. He looked around and found what looked like it on the ground a bit away.

But when he picked it up, the LCD screen was broken so he couldn’t see and some part was catching so it wouldn’t close.

“Damn it,” he swore and then he heard a noise from behind him.

“!!”

He hurriedly turned around, but Terra was still lying on the floor as before. Only the position of his arm was slightly changed. He must have tried to get up but couldn’t muster the strength.

“Ha ha. I see. The Imagine Breaker is indeed difficult for us to deal with. It negates every little thing and it even feels like it negates our efforts as well.”

Terra’s trembling lips moved slowly as he lay on the floor glaring in annoyance at Kamijou.

“...Are you not going to ask?”

“About what?”

“About Imagine Breaker.”

Kamijou stopped moving when he heard that unexpected answer.

Imagine Breaker.

He just used that power as if it were normal and never really questioned it. And it seemed Terra knew something about it. That meant it must be something from the magic side and not the science side. But Index didn’t seem to know anything about it despite having 103,000 grimoires memorized.

Kamijou thought for a short time.

“Do you know what it is?”

“Heh heh.” Terra of the Left laughed cruelly at Kamijou’s words. “If you have to ask, I suppose you truly have lost your memories.”

“...”

“Heh heh. You need to think about why Imagine Breaker has a connection to your ‘right hand’. There is a great answer hidden there. There is also meaning behind the fact that it can negate all magic...”

Terra smiled in enjoyment as he watched Kamijou.

“It’s quite simple,” he said.

The light sound of Terra breathing sounded greatly amplified in Kamijou’s ears.

Terra slowly moved his lips.

“The true identity of Imagine Breaker is-...”

Kamijou was not able to hear the rest of the sentence.

This was because there was a tremendous noise and Terra of the Left’s body suddenly exploded.

No, technically Kamijou did not see the instant Terra was blown away.

An orange flash came down through the ceiling right above Terra. The pillar of light was about 3 meters across and, the second it hit the floor, a terrible blast roared through that room of the Palace of the Popes. Kamijou’s feet were torn from the ground in an instant and he flew several meters back like a puff of dust. Itsuwa and the powered suit were caught up by the blast too and flew back with him.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!?” Kamijou screamed when he hit the floor.

It wasn’t so much a sharp pain as it was a weak scorching pain in his arm. It felt like a day old sunburn. When he looked at it, his skin was slightly red. He had been burned.

(Wh-what just...?)

He shook his hazy head and looked at the area that had exploded.

When he did, his body stiffened.

The area Terra had been lying in had become a swirl of lava. A few meters of the stone floor had been turned to a glowing orange pond and what looked like the same stuff was dripping from the huge hole in the ceiling. He heard the sound of evaporating water. When he tried to approach, an invisible wall of heat hit his skin.

He could see something out the window.

Those objects that looked like they were created from dark stains that were circling in the blue sky were...bombers.

Where they would normally have bay doors to drop bombs, they had a jet black metal blade.

He didn’t know what had happened, but it was clear it was some type of attack.

“Terra...”

As he could not approach due to the heat, Kamijou called the name of his enemy.

The steel wings flying in the air were coming back his way.

The bombers had created enough distance for their approach and were accelerating to a tremendous speed.

“Terraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

His yell was erased.

Multiple pillars of light tore through the ceiling and hit the exact point Terra had been in. With that kind of accuracy, it was more sniping than it was bombing. The orange light took away Kamijou’s vision. His body was thrown against the floor again and again from some kind of after-effect.

He passed out.

But even if he hadn’t passed out, he wouldn’t have been able to find Terra.

The ceiling and walls disappeared in an area in front of Kamijou as it all turned into a sea of lava. A third of the Palace of the Popes disappeared in the same way.

And Terra was gone without having left a corpse.

References

1. ↑ Tsuchimikado's spells are always given with a proper descriptive phrase that is in parentheses here in the translation and a crude phrase given in furigana in the original which is what he actually says.