When Kanzaki finally calmed down.
Only a few emergency lights provided dim illumination inside the abandoned factory.
I will make up for my mistake.
Kanzaki wiped away her tears and made a solemn promise.
No matter the cost.
Index shook her head.
You don't owe me anything, but...
She hesitated for a moment.
Pointing at Kanzaki Kaori, she said seriously: If you really want to do something... please make sure no one else experiences the pain I went through.
Kanzaki nodded solemnly: I swear by my sword.
Misaki Shokuhou watched this scene and, unusually, refrained from making any sarcastic remarks.
She turned to Misaka Mikoto and whispered: That little nun is much stronger than we imagined.
Misaka Mikoto nodded in agreement.
It's incredible that someone can maintain such kindness after their faith has collapsed.
Shirai Kuroko glanced at her watch.
It's already so late, will that person still come back?
She was referring to Ling Qing.
I'm not sure either, let's wait and see.
Misaka Mikoto 09 shook her head.
She could ask Ling Qing directly in the chat group, but she didn't know what Ling Qing was facing, so she didn't dare to bother her.
...
However, what Misaka Mikoto was worried about was actually quite relaxed at the moment.
If there exists a pinnacle of humanity in this world...
Then he is at the pinnacle of the demon god rank.
Ling Qing's power is beyond what ordinary demon gods can match.
He who truly stands at the top of the world is free.
Therefore, Aleister and Aiwass were now just lowly minions at his mercy.
...
On the other side.
Within Puritanism.
The steam in a bathroom was tinged with a pale gold by the candlelight.
The twelve Venetian mirrors reflect the beautiful figure in the center of the bath in countless ways.
A blonde woman is immersed in a milky liquid in which Bulgarian roses float.
Half a glass of 1937 sherry rests on the edge of the gilded bathtub.
She hummed an aria from The Magic Flute.
She used a silver knife inlaid with rubies to cut open the pomegranate, and bright red juice dripped down her snow-white wrist onto the water.
There is probably only one person who can be so at ease here: Laura Stewart, the Archbishop of the Puritans.
Laura's emerald pupils contracted slightly, and a few ice flowers suddenly froze on the water's surface.
Because—she sensed the collar breaking apart.
The shackles that imprisoned 103,000 grimoires were now melting away around Index's neck like chocolate.
The twelve angel statues around the bath simultaneously oozed blood, turning the rose bath into an eerie pink.
Realize that something has happened.
Laura used her toes to lift the floating silk bathrobe.
I gaze at the curve of my lips in the mirror.
It was a perfect smile that even the most demanding etiquette teacher couldn't find fault with.
It seems they failed.
The failure of Kanzaki Kaori and Stiyl, whom she personally dispatched, was not unexpected.
The two of them may now know the truth.
Anyone would be furious if they discovered that what they had always believed was a deception.
The two of them will probably come to question the archbishop who deceived them, just like everyone else.
but.
She didn't mind.
She is very confident.
Because she is the archbishop.
Laura didn't take it too seriously.
Now that the Catalogue of Forbidden Books has arrived in Academy City, she needs to make further plans.
However, at that moment...
The starry sky reflected on the water suddenly became distorted.
A star that shouldn't exist suddenly burst forth with blinding light in the Andromeda constellation.
The second wave of impact was more intense than expected.
The liquid in the bathtub suddenly defied gravity and rose upwards, condensing into the topological structure of a Klein bottle before Laura's eyes.
She suddenly stood up, splashing water everywhere, and the gilded bathtub cracked in two at her feet.
Phase friction…
Laura ran her fingers, still damp with rose petals, through her hair, and her long, golden hair suddenly grew to her ankles.
Geometric patterns of light, unlike anything human, appeared in her pupils, and the Celtic runes on the bathroom floor tiles were all reversed.
When the third wave of shocks arrived.
She heard the sound of the world's barriers shattering, like someone overturning a glass cup filled with stardust.
This is…
…
The commotion of Qing becoming a demon god is stirring up the phases, and he is reshaping the phases.
The phase shift that Laura noticed was caused by him.
The demon god could also sense his presence.
In their eyes, he was a newly born demon god.
…
The moonlight over the Nile was bent into a Möbius strip by some force.
Nephthys is weaving a shroud with the undead.
She stopped her gilded spindle and looked into the distance.
The statue of Buster the cat is spitting out colorful sand.
Newborn child…
The goddess of death touches a model of the universe made of sand with scarabs.
A new emerald-colored bud suddenly forked along a certain timeline.
She wrapped herself tightly in a linen robe and walked toward the pyramid's skylight, where she saw blue flames reassembling constellations deep within the Milky Way.
...
Inside a floating teahouse in Chang'an City.
The empress was using Yang Guifei's gilded bone fan to stir the moon's reflection in the tea.
Oh, is it a happy occasion?
She suddenly crushed the white porcelain from the Xing kiln in her hand.
The tea solidified into ice crystal dice as it fell.
Each facet of the dodecahedron reflects a cyan figure from different times and spaces.
This time, it wasn't their doing.
…
The pomegranate trees in the seventh courtyard of the underworld suddenly withered.
Prosecina straightened up from the black onyx throne.
The sinners below, who had been wailing, suddenly fell silent.
Because Her Majesty the Queen's long hair is transforming into countless ouroboros.
An unfamiliar taste…
She licked the phase remnants floating in the air, and the Queen of the Underworld's gilded fingernails suddenly grew three inches longer.
Should we make the newborn Him into earrings?
…
The Chimera saw the anomaly through the Eye of the Beasts.
The right hand, which was grooming the lion's mane, suddenly froze, while the eagle's head on the left shoulder shattered the observation crystal.
Countless animal specimens opened their eyes in the exhibition hall, and the same blue light was reflected in their irises.
Unstable variables.
The centaur-shaped demon shattered the runes that automatically appeared on the floor with its hooves, and its wings shook off sulfur-smelling feathers.
He revealed his ferocity!
…
Euthinus gazes at the universe from his open left eye, which is outside the world.
...
He is considering whether He should descend.
…
Almost every demon god had different thoughts because of Ling Qing's existence.
Only the monk remained meditating under the Bodhi tree with his eyes closed.
When all the causal lines began to collapse toward a certain singularity, the old demon simply brushed the cherry blossoms off his robe.
Dependent origination and emptiness.
The prayer beads in his hand suddenly manifested both the state of birth and death simultaneously, with one of the wood beads gradually turning a bluish-green color.
...