Gasp!
Kamijou Touma instantly snapped to attention!
"Huh?"
"Yo, Tsuchimikado! Thank goodness, you're finally here. I haven't seen you for most of the day. I thought you'd gone off somewhere to have fun on your own. Let me smell... Mm, there's the sweet fragrance of a lovely woman on you... Ahhh—"
Still hanging off Kamijou Touma, the blue-haired boy with earrings looked at his best friend, who wore sunglasses and a thick gold chain beneath his head of explosive blond hair. He immediately swept a hand dramatically through his own hair, put on an intoxicated expression, and spoke with seemingly heartfelt emotion.
Though judging by his face, Kamijou Touma would have been grateful if the guy actually possessed even a shred of genuine emotion.
This was exactly what people meant by a terrible friend and disreputable companion!
"Maybe. Anyway, I'm borrowing Kami-yan first!"
Before the blue-haired boy with earrings could react, he suddenly felt the shoulder he had been leaning against disappear. He could only stare as his two best friends ran off hand in hand without even looking back.
"So, Tsuchimikado, what happened... Ah! Slow down!"
Seeing a crack appear in the supposedly unbreakable trio of a certain high school as Kamijou Touma and Tsuchimikado Motoharu abandoned him and eloped hand in hand while whispering to each other, the blue-haired boy instinctively leaned forward, stretched out a hand, and let out a heartbroken wail.
Judging by the sheer misery in his cry, anyone who did not know better might have thought he'd just been dumped by a heartless woman.
"Hey, hey! Kami-yan! Tsuchimikado! You're openly skipping out just like that?! Is there something good going on? Wait for me—ah!"
Skipping out in broad daylight? Damn it! How could you not bring me along?! I want to go too...
"Stay right there!"
The back of his collar was suddenly seized. The instant the blue-haired boy heard the pleasant female voice behind him, all his energy drained away and he collapsed limply onto the ground. "Ah, I'm exhausted. I can't go on anymore."
"Seriously, what is this supposed to be?!"
A beautiful girl with black hair parted down the middle and tucked behind both ears, making her forehead look somewhat broad, held the blue-haired boy by the back of his collar. When she looked over the classmates sprawled all across the ground, listless and devoid of fighting spirit, she froze for a moment.
A tracksuit jacket bearing the Daihaseisai Management Committee armband was draped over her shoulders. Even through the T-shirt of her athletic uniform, the prominent swell of her chest was clearly visible, emphasizing the girl's impressive figure.
"It's bad enough that everyone is this drained. Now you're even trying to desert?! Kamijou Touma! Tsuchimikado Motoharu! You two idiots, get back here!"
Hearing the black-haired girl's dissatisfied voice from behind him, Kamijou Touma's expression turned bitter.
"Hey, Fukiyose! Sorry, but I'm leaving the competition to you! As for me and Tsuchimikado, don't worry about us. Just think of it as the unfortunate Kamijou-san going off to deal with another obstacle blocking the road of his life!"
"What?! What kind of twisted logic is that?! I hate people who use misfortune as an excuse to flee right before a competition. When one person acts listless, everyone around them loses their motivation too!"
"Just you wait until I get my hands on you later!!"
Planting both hands on her hips, Fukiyose Seiri furrowed her brows and immediately began condemning the two figures fleeing into the distance. Completely unaffected by Kamijou Touma's abnormal luck with women, she truly lived up to her title as the "Iron Wall Woman Completely Immune to Kamijou."
Tap, tap—
Kamijou Touma had no idea how long Tsuchimikado Motoharu dragged him along. After turning left and right through a maze of narrow alleys, he finally saw his best friend slowing down and spoke between ragged breaths.
"Tsuchimikado, what exactly happened? You're in such a hurry. Don't tell me another another another crisis threatening to destroy Academy City has appeared. You can tell me now, right?"
"I'll answer that question for you, boy."
"Stiyl?" Kamijou Touma turned toward the voice and opened his mouth in surprise. "Didn't Selene throw you out of Academy City?"
The red-haired priest in black robes leaning against the alley wall was none other than Stiyl Magnus. Kamijou Touma still clearly remembered that during the incident aboard the space elevator Endymion, Stiyl and Kanzaki Kaori had gotten involved because the magic side was competing over Meigo Arisa—or rather, Shutaura Sequenzia—and Selene had casually thrown them out of Academy City.
In Selene's words, if the magic side was going to enter her territory, then they had better not act so arrogantly.
Still wrapped in bandages, with his arms and legs not yet fully healed, Stiyl's face reddened. He coughed lightly a few times. "Let's not talk about that. We have more important matters."
"This incident involves something extremely troublesome. Its purely physical destructive power isn't especially impressive, but in terms of how difficult its effect is to deal with, it genuinely possesses the ability to destroy Academy City."
"So what exactly is going on?"
Straightening up, Kamijou Touma leaned against the wall beside Stiyl and complained, "Why is it that nothing good ever happens whenever you show up? Every single time, either this place is being attacked or that place is being attacked."
"You think I want that?!"
Stiyl sighed. "We've confirmed it. According to Charles Conder, director of the British Museum, that object isn't the Stab Sword. Kanzaki won't be in danger, but now we've got a different problem."
"It's one of the Vatican's highest-class spiritual items, something they've stubbornly refused to disclose—the Croce di Pietro."
...
The main venue in School District 7.
"The Croce di Pietro. That cross planted beside the grave of Saint Peter, one of the Roman Catholic Church's Twelve Apostles."
In short, a gravestone.
Streams of crystalline blue data flashed rapidly across Selene's scarlet eyes as she swiftly reviewed the intelligence sent by Board Chairman Aleister Crowley. She gave a soft snort of amusement.
"Correct. In terms of destructive power, the Croce di Pietro is weak. However, it possesses an extremely unusual effect. Within the effective range of its spell, believers of the Vatican's Roman Catholic Church will become happy, while everyone else will likewise begin to feel that being a Roman Catholic believer is a source of happiness."
Aleister's emotionless voice continued to echo inside Selene's mind.
"In other words, wherever it is planted, everything within that space, whether physical or psychological, will forcibly become territory belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. Within the dominated land, all events will naturally develop in ways advantageous to the Roman Catholic Church. No one will question it. Instead, they will willingly accept the result."
Isn't that basically a Mental Seal?
"That does suit those vermin in the Church rather well."
Looks like we're all competing to see who's worse. None of us is much nobler than the others.
"This thing..."
Maintaining the quantum information link she had established with Aleister through UNDER_LINE, Selene raised an eyebrow while examining photographs and reference materials concerning a replica of the Croce di Pietro.
"Its effective range reaches forty-seven thousand square kilometers, roughly a radius of two hundred kilometers. No wonder they disguised it as the Stab Sword to mislead Necessarius... Even if they activate it outside Academy City, it can still cover the entire city."
"Mr. Chairman, I assume you've already made comprehensive preparations. So, what do you need me to do?"
Elsewhere, inside the Windowless Building.
Suspended upside down within a life-support device filled with weakly alkaline culture fluid, Aleister's lips curved upward by an almost imperceptible degree. Having a reliable collaborator with whom he shared an unspoken understanding truly did make things easier.
"The movements of both the British royal family's Knight Faction and God's Right Seat of the Roman Catholic Church appear to be converging on your younger brother's location... Selene, there is a time to remain still and a time to act. Do not make this incident too large. The Daihasei Festival must conclude successfully."
Aleister stated his requirement.
"...Fine."
After ending the communication, Selene used the partial authority Aleister had granted her over UNDER_LINE and the Bank to rapidly review intelligence concerning every aspect of Academy City's foreign arrivals.
She also understood the reason for his warning. Once the Daihasei Festival ended and the wave of visitors began returning home, not only would the Misaka Network formed by the Misaka Sisters spread across the globe, but Aleister's magical constructs based on Honkai Cubes would also disperse throughout the world and even into outer space.
As far as Selene knew, before Starrail Gate Corporation had been transferred under her command, it had suddenly received a massive injection of funding from the Board of Directors. The reconstruction of the space elevator had also been rapidly placed back on the schedule. It was not difficult to guess what Aleister intended to do.
After all, surely Aleister wasn't doing all this because, like Ladylee Tangleroad, he had some shallow desire to seek death and wanted to die... Uh, actually, what he was doing wasn't much different from seeking death. Even if he succeeded, Aleister himself was one hundred percent certain to be reduced to ashes.
Ah, what a "noble," martyr-like spirit. Selene sincerely offered a hymn of praise.
Regardless of what anyone else thought, she was currently one of Aleister's staunchest supporters.
The next instant, Selene called an old acquaintance. "Kihara Amata, I've got a job for you. Deploy Hound Dog. I'm authorizing you to take command of every riot-control mobile unit in School District 7. Location XXXX... They're vermin from the Vatican, and they're fairly high-ranking. One of God's Right Seat."
"Internal fighting between Academy City's schools gets boring after a while. The magic side and Science Side are bound to go to war someday anyway. Consider this a warm-up before the match."
God's Right Seat was known as the Roman Catholic Church's ultimate weapon, independent of all other institutions within the Church. Its official membership had always remained at four, with each member receiving a corresponding title based on the four archangels who occupied the most important positions beside God.
They were Vento of the Front, Acqua of the Back, Terra of the Left, and Fiamma of the Right.
As far as Selene knew, the disparity in individual strength among them was almost unbelievable. Fiamma of the Right was the strongest, Acqua of the Back ranked second, followed by Vento of the Front.
Terra of the Left, the first one to reveal himself and jump out within Academy City this time, was the weakest of the four.
It wasn't enough to make Selene wary. The only beings she truly needed to take seriously were Magic Gods. Half-Magic Gods lacked the necessary rank. No matter how close they came, they were still ants. Crushing God's Right Seat would not be difficult for one of her divided-spirit avatars. Only Fiamma of the Right might prove somewhat troublesome.
At present, only Terra of the Left had jumped out to seek death. There were vague records of Vento of the Front and Acqua of the Back having been detected, while not so much as a hair of Fiamma of the Right had been seen. Selene had no intention of acting yet. It would be a shame if she frightened them away.
Better to send Kihara Amata and his people to deal with Terra of the Left. He was just right for handling this disgrace to God's Right Seat.
As for why Selene herself wasn't going to put on an act and pretend to be weak... Hmm, hmm, hmm... Did she not have any dignity to preserve?
More importantly, rejected on grounds of ugliness!
Terra of the Left was simply too hideous. Being ugly was one thing, but he was also a pervert and a neurotic, as though someone had stacked every possible negative status effect onto him. Selene was afraid that if she went over personally, she might lose control and tear him apart alive.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
After adjusting her mood, Selene left the arena and returned to the VIP section. Looking at Katy, who was wearing a baseball cap and had changed into sportswear, the corner of Selene's eye twitched. "Uh, Mother, when did you change clothes?"
"Oh my, Sel, watching you look so heroic out there got me excited too. Is there horse racing...?"
That was what Katy said, but she was clearly rather fired up. Clenching her fists, she eagerly pressed Selene for an answer.
"Don't even think about it. It's impossible. Give up, Mother. The Daihasei Festival doesn't have events for parents, and I'm not going to add even more work for the Management Committee and Anti-Skill. If I make things any harder for them, they'll probably start shouting that your daughter ought to be skinned and hung from a streetlamp."
Selene picked up a bottle of mineral water and delivered three consecutive refusals, instantly dumping a bucket of cold water over Katy's rising enthusiasm.
"Wahhh! That's so mean! Little Selene is bullying her mother."
Watching her mother begin wiping away imaginary tears again, Selene calmly pointed toward the rather timid girl standing behind her and changed the subject. "Mother, put the acting cute aside for a moment. Who is she?"
Selene was asking despite already knowing the answer. In truth, she had noticed the blonde girl behind Katy from the moment she arrived, surrounded by a group of bodyguards in suits.
The girl wore a floral dress and a wide-brimmed hat. Silken golden hair flowed down from beneath the brim, complementing her snow-white skin and giving her a bright, youthful appearance.
Even though her clothing was simple and lacked elaborate accessories, the girl's delicate, vulnerable air made her resemble the quintessential princess from a storybook, drawing attention wherever she stood.
"Um, my name is Villian. It's nice to meet you, Miss Selene."
She curtsied with flawless ladylike etiquette. Recalling the encouraging words her mother had given her before urging her to come to Academy City, the girl suppressed the fear in her heart. Her voice remained soft and timid, but she ultimately managed to speak.
Unlike Katy, Villian did not view Selene through a mother's biased filter. Lonely people who were innately kindhearted and compassionate tended, to some degree, to possess a fairly sensitive intuition when meeting someone for the first time.
Although Villian was nearly twenty-five years old and standing before Selene, who was supposedly still a middle school student, she found herself completely overwhelmed in every respect, from bearing to presence. That decisive military air was far more frightening than even that of her second sister, Carissa.
"Mm. Nice to meet you, Villian." Looking at the delicate princess, Selene's current thought was, If I use you to threaten Acqua of the Back, do you think he'd kneel before me?
The odds aren't even— "Ow!"
"Don't 'ow' me. Selene, what happened to the manners I taught you?!"
Seeing Selene standing there with her arms crossed and displaying the condescending attitude of someone long accustomed to looking down on others, Katy glared and pinched Selene sharply at the waist.
She complained, "She's Queen Elizard's daughter, Britain's Third Princess Villian... More importantly, regardless of her status, when someone politely greets you, Sel, acting like that is far too arrogant, far too ill-mannered, and far too rude."
"This time was an accident. Next time, definitely."
The more Katy thought about it, the angrier she became. One glimpse was enough to reveal the whole picture. She already had the sinking feeling that while her efforts to teach Selene proper ladylike behavior had not completely failed, they were not far from it.
"You still want there to be a next time?!"