Meanwhile...
On an artificial coast, the setting sun finally disappeared as night approached.
This shore was located several hundred meters away from a beach, and a cliff about ten meters tall was nearby. In order to protect the base of the cliff from erosion, the ground had been strewn with wavestones.
After the sun had completely set, the sea became a deep black color.
As if waiting for nighttime to arrive, a hand quickly stretched out from the black sea.
It was a hand covered by a gauntlet. The heavy gauntlet-covered hand grabbed onto a wavestone, and then, a figure in a full set of Western armor left the sea. From top to bottom, every inch of the figure's skin was covered by metal armor, making it look inhuman.
Once the first one landed, twenty other knights also followed suit, appearing in the sea and climbing up the wavestones. Each of the gauntlets the knights were wearing had the words "United Kingdom" engraved on it. That meant England.
These knights had swum all the way here; it was not an analogy or a figurative way of speech, but rather a fact. They had started from England and swum past the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, across the Indian Ocean, and into Japan.
They had used a sea current manipulation spell handed down by St. Blaise; simply put, it was a high-speed swimming spell that allowed a human to swim around the world in only three days. The spell was not cast on the armor, however, but rather on the user's body; every knight had used his own body to activate the magic spell. Right now, the armor that the knights wore did not have any magical capabilities; that was because the power of the knights was too strong, and so any magical effects would make the armor cumbersome instead. All these knights were far stronger than what any artifact could possibly make them, so if any of them were to wear magical armor, their strong powers would very likely just destroy it.
The organization these knights belonged to did not have a special name; they were just called the "Knights of England".
In the past, the British had used names like "Rod Knights" and "Dual-axe Knights", but those names had been abandoned seven years ago--not because the knights today had lost their original expertise, but because they had mastered every technique, thus allowing them to enter a whole new realm of power.
The knights wanted this power because of the internal worries in England, which were also the reason why the Knights of England had been formed originally.
The command system in England rested on three equal powers:
The British Royal Family, composed of the Queen and her committee.
The Knights of England, made up of its leader and his fellow knights.
The Anglican Church, formed of the Archbishop and her believers.
The relationship between these three was as follows:
The British Royal Family controlled the Knights of England through direct orders;
The Knights of England made use of the Anglican Church through political items;
And the Anglican Church manipulated the British Royal Family through holy advice.
The trinity formed by those three powers created a sense of unparalleled beauty. If one side were to act on its own, the other two would create a large commotion through several means, and prevent the first side from acting. The reason Britain had the most complicated Christian culture in the world was not just that, however.
Britain, also known as the United Kingdom, was made of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Up until today, some places still used their own currency.
On the one hand, even if two countries belonged to the same Anglican sect, there could still be quarrels amongst them, such as between England and Wales. On the other hand, even if two people each belonged to the Anglican Church and the Knights, if they were both Scottish, they may secretly smuggle some money or information out. The decoder Sherry Cromwell had betrayed the Anglican Church not just because she had had her own motives; her culture had also influenced her passively.
Three sects, four cultures.
The interconnected relations between each side were what made Britain so complicated, and the mission of the Knights of England was to maintain this status quo; however, the United Kingdom had turned this to rubble.
Because of that, the Knights and the Anglican Church held some grudges against each other.
The Knights could not accept that the Anglican Church, the Anglican sect, could have power equivalent to the Knights.
The original purpose of the Anglican Church had been to counter the Roman Catholic Church. Britain had not wanted other countries to meddle in its politics, but the influence of the Roman Catholic Church had been widespread throughout the world. Had Britain not listened to the Roman Catholic Church, they would have been be charged with disobeying the teachings of Christianity. So, Britain had created the Anglican Church, an independent Christian sect, within its country. With that, Britain had been able to declare to the world that "We're following the orders of the Anglican Church," and so did not have to be ordered around by the Roman Catholic Church anymore.
In other words, the Anglican Church had originally been just a political tool.
If the British Royal Family and the Knights of England were described as large gears, then the Anglican Church could be described as a lubricant.
But today, the Anglican Church had gained enough power to be of equal standing with the Royal Family and the Knights.
The Knights did not want to be restricted by a tool.
So, the Knights would only listen to orders from their leader or the Queen. As for orders issued by the leader of the Anglican Church, the Knights were normally apathetic about them, and sometimes even disobeyed them.
The Knights had their own ideas regarding the order from the Archbishop, which had been to assist the recovery of The Book of the Law and Orsola Aquinas.
They just needed to kill off all the Amakusa.
The Knights had no reason to follow the orders of someone they did not recognize--the Archbishop--and sacrifice their lives for her. They also did not care about the relationship between the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Amakusa Church.
Even if the Amakusa were to disappear from this world, there would not be any loss in terms of their country's welfare.
With the abilities the Knights possessed, killing off the Amakusa would be too easy. The techniques of the Knights, inherited from the crusaders who had attacked the Middle East in the tenth century, had buried who-knows-how-many believers of other religions since ancient times. Their power was great enough to even wipe an island off the map.
Destroying a weak sect in the far East, the Amakusa, would not even take a day.
Even if the Amakusa had a hostage like Orsola, they could not care less.
The Anglican Church was not even interested in The Book of the Law, since its contents had been ingrained in Index's brain. Whether Orsola lived or died, the outcome would not affect Britain. The Roman Catholic Church may try to put pressure on Britain, but was it not the Archbishop's job to pacify the Roman Catholic Church?
The Archbishop had already warned the Knights to be wary of Kanzaki Kaori, the former leader of the Amakusa Church, but they had not taken it to heart. If Kanzaki were to attack in a fit of rage because of the destruction of the Amakusa, the Knights would just send her into oblivion, too.
That had been the knights' original plan.
But such a plan was completely decimated within three seconds.
Just as the knights climbed out of the sea and onto the rocks,
An explosion shook their area.
The explosion blasted every wavestone, each weighing more than one ton, into the air, like a volcanic eruption. The knights, who had originally been standing on the wavestones, flipped in the air to regain their balance. They then searched the ground for a suitable landing spot.
A lady stood at the center of the explosion that had launched the twenty-one knights and numerous pieces of rock.
She had black hair, tied into a ponytail behind her head, and snow-white skin covering her thick muscles. She wore a short-sleeved T-shirt with a knot tied at the bottom, a pair of jeans with one leg cut off, and top-boots. A belt ran around her waist, and under that belt hung a Japanese sword more than two meters long--Seven Heavens Seven Swords.
Kanzaki Kaori.
She did not utter a single word as she attacked the twenty-one knights in the sky.
Now that the knights were in the sky, they could not move their bodies freely. Kanzaki's way of attack was rather simple: strike each of the Knights in turn with her Japanese sword. Kanzaki did not unsheathe the sword, and simply swung it together with its sheath.
But she was as fast as lightning.
In actuality, the knights were only in the air for one second, but they got the feeling that their bodies were stuck in the air. Since Kanzaki was truly too fast, it was as if time had stopped and only she was moving.
If one were to see it through the normal flow of time, they would see something like an invisible whirlwind in the midst of an explosion.
After being hit by the sword, a few crashed to the ground, some buried in the cliff and others beside it, the rest skipping across the water's surface like thrown rocks.
After attacking the twenty-one Knights, Kanzaki landed steadily on a wavestone.
The moist night wind began to gently stroke her hair as knights came falling from the sky, and bell-like percussive sounds reverberated along the entire coast as they landed in the sea.
"I didn't use my full strength, so this sort of attack probably won't cause any deaths. It's a good thing you're all wearing sturdy equipment; it let me attack without any worry."
"You…"
Kanzaki's calm voice, however, became the biggest mockery to the knights. One of the knights tried to stand up, but his body could not move; even budging a finger was difficult for him.
So, the knight could only use his mouth, the single part of his body that he could still move.
"Do you know who we are? Such an action from you is the same as declaring war on the United Kingdom!"
"I'm also a citizen of the United Kingdom. This has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church or the Russian Orthodox Church. This is an internal conflict within the Anglican Church, so I believe that it won't bring too much trouble for the people above… Huh?"
Before Kanzaki could finish speaking, she realized that the knight who had been speaking a while ago had now fainted.
"Some of them fell into the sea...but then, they haven't removed their swimming spells, so they probably won't die."
Kanzaki muttered as she faced the dark, peaceful surface of the sea.
"You say all that with a worried expression, yet there's not even a sense of spirit in it."
"!?"
Kanzaki looked mystified by the familiar voice. She turned around and saw a teenager with messy blond hair, blue shades, an aloha shirt, and shorts.
Tsuchimikado Motoharu.
Once Kanzaki noticed where he was standing, she was shocked. Kanzaki's senses were rather acute, and logically, no one should be able to get near her without being discovered. But right now, the distance between the two of them was merely ten meters, and yet Kanzaki could not sense any presence from Tsuchimikado.
"So, you came to stop me?"
Kanzaki grabbed the sword handle. But the eyes behind Tsuchimikado's sunglasses were still smiling.
"Don't bother, Kanzaki. You can't beat me."
Facing such a critical situation, Tsuchimikado remained calm and collected. He did not have any weapons on him, and he was not assuming a battle pose, either.
"You're strong, but you don't kill. I'm an esper now, and if I were to cast magic on you, I might die. In other words, no matter who wins, death is the only option for me. Let me ask you: do you have the resolve to kill Tsuchimikado, who doesn't want his own life?"
Kanzaki gritted her teeth.
Her magic was supposed to save people, not kill them. A battle where lives would be lost no matter which side won was meaningless to her; one might say that she would avoid it at all costs.
Her fingers, now touching the sword's handle, started to tremble slightly.
At that moment, Tsuchimikado suddenly revealed a smile like that of an innocent child and said,
"You don't have to stare at me like that, nee-chin. My order isn't to stop you, but to resolve the situation before you get into trouble. Also, I have another job to do."
"Job…?"
"That's right. My order is to steal the original Book of the Law while the Roman Catholics and the Amakusa are fighting each other furiously."
Kanzaki squinted her eyes and asked,
"Is this an order from the Anglican Church or Academy City?"
"I can't comment on that. But if you think, you'll find the answer. Think about it: between the magic side and the science side, which would want the grimoire more? And which side am I working for?"
Hearing Tsuchimikado's words, Kanzaki remained silent.
A mysterious atmosphere surrounded those two; the warm air flowing between them had been frozen.
Several seconds later, Kanzaki looked away from him.
"…I'm leaving. If you want to give a report to the higher ups, go ahead. I don't mind."
"I understand. Ah, I'll take some time to clean up this place; it'd be troublesome if we were to let these guys be captured by the police."
"Thank you."
Kanzaki bowed to Tsuchimikado. Tsuchimikado then went on.
"Oh, yeah, nee-chin; what do you want to do now after coming all the way back from England?"
Kanzaki, whose head was still lowered, froze.
After ten whole seconds, Kanzaki raised her head.
"Yeah..."
Kanzaki forced a stiff smile, showing her anger and sorrow, and said,
"...what did I come here for?"