The sun set as night arrived.
The night did not bring about peace, however. Agnese, who was dressed in black robes, continued to issue orders through hand signals and foreign language to the other nuns wearing the same monastic clothes. At the same time, she was holding a quill pen and writing rapidly in a small notebook. "It's like a telephone," Index had explained. When one wrote words into that notebook, similar words would appear in other notebooks. Rather than a telephone, why not call it an e-mail? Kamijou secretly thought.
Some among this black organization--official nuns from the Roman Catholic Church--had jumped into the sewer through the triangular hole that Orsola's kidnappers had cut open. Others had opened up their maps and used red ink and quill pens to draw lines on the map. Kamijou could not tell whether they were analyzing the enemy's escape route or setting up positions to monitor and surround them.
It was a noisy and chaotic night. Kamijou, Index, and Stiyl could only stand around and watch from afar. Kamijou could not speak any foreign languages--he did not even know what language the nuns were speaking--so he could not take part in the conversation. As for Index and Stiyl, they had chosen to watch from afar, trying to not cause any confusion among the Roman Catholic nuns, who followed a different command structure altogether.
Enduring his ever-growing hunger, Kamijou said,
"Oi, what did Index and I come here to do? Aren't the people from the Roman Catholic Church supposed to do this mission? If we can only foolishly stand around, what's the point of coming all the way here?"
"About that, our reinforcements should've arrived by now. I don't know why those Knights haven't arrived yet." Stiyl lamented, puffing out white smoke. "Also, we'll definitely be useful in this situation--no, more accurately, she'll definitely be useful."
The "she" that Stiyl mentioned probably referred to Index.
"She?"
"That's right, since this concerns a grimoire: the original copy of The Book of the Law."
For his own interests, Stiyl brought the conversation to a close; it seemed like he did not intend to explain further. So, Index continued from where Stiyl left off, making a simple explanation.
The Book of the Law was rumored to be a grimoire written in codes that no one in the entire world could decipher, so the contents of the book were rather precious. Once someone could interpret it, they would be able to gain tremendous power. And now, there was finally a girl who had found a way to decode it.
But the Amakusa Church had stolen both the Book of the Law from the Roman Catholic Church and the girl who knew how to decode it, Orsola Aquinas.
The girl that Kamijou had met on the road was Orsola. She had escaped in the midst of the confusion in the battle between the Amakusa and the Roman Catholics. As for The Book of the Law, it was still missing, but it may have ended up in the hands of the Amakusa.
Amakusa…?
Kamijou felt that he heard that name before.
He decided to leave that aside for now, however, and asked,
"Nobody can interpret it? Not even Index?"
"No way. I tried, but it's different from ordinary types of codes."
"But is this 'grimoire that nobody can decode' really that valuable? Since no one can decode it, can it possibly be just gibberish?"
"Maybe."
Index replied honestly. By not refuting that claim, however, Index made herself seem like an adult trying to cajole children, like an expert not sharing her views with a layman.
Stiyl spat out the cigarette that he had finished smoking, put it out by stepping on it, and said,
"It's said that the spells recorded in The Book of the Law are too powerful. Once used, the world supported by the Christian Church will be doomed. No matter how truthful that legend is, it's best if we can keep this book sealed forever. One sect even believes that whoever reads the book will be able to use the Angelic spell, a spell that far exceeds human limits, freely."
On hearing that, Kamijou froze up.
"An...gel…?"
"Hm? For an atheist like you, it might be hard to imagine what an angel looks like."
Stiyl laughed. He was wrong, however.
Kamijou understood what an angel was. He still remembered what the angel with the so-called "God's Power" had done. That night, the sky above the seaside had instantly been covered by a large vortex of magic spells. One single word from the angel would have been enough to turn half the Earth to ash.
Also, out of all the spells that the angel possessed, that had only been the tip of the iceberg.
Such a powerful magic could be controlled freely by humans?
"But…since no one's been able to decipher The Book of the Law, how would they know if it's just a bluff?"
Kamijou swallowed his saliva as he asked, disturbed. Index nodded her head like an innocent boy and replied,
"Mm. Touma, it's undeniable, however, that The Book of the Law has a tremendous amount of power. The person who wrote the Book of the Law was rumoured to be the most powerful magician ever; that man was even qualified to be recorded in the New Testament. He was active about seventy years ago, but the evolution of magicians during the past seventy years has surpassed the progress gained throughout the history of the past several thousand years. Of all the magicians in the world today, about 20% of them are his followers, and almost 50% of all magicians are affected by him to some extent."
Since Index looked rather serious, Kamijou could not interrupt.
"I feel that the name The Book of the Law isn't just for show. Even if the power of this book were to be even larger and scarier than that of legend, I wouldn't be surprised."
A group of nuns clad in black robes ran past them, making loud footsteps.
"Who…is that 'he' you're referring to?"
"Edward Alexander, also known as Crowley. He's now buried in a cemetery in a certain town in Britain."
Stiyl lit another cigarette and continued on,
"Anyway, according to history, this guy was the scum of humanity. During one of his trips, in order to carry out a magical experiment, he used his wife, who had been accompanying him around the world, as a medium to contact the guardian angel, Aiwass. And when his daughter Lilith died, he remained unmoved, continuing on with his research on theories of magick. In order to carry out the experiment, he even used a group of girls as old as his daughter as sacrifices…still, he did manage to define a so-called different world--a different but overlapping one similar to Heaven or Hell--and open new grounds in the field of magical rituals. Just by those points alone, his contributions cannot be denied."
At that moment, the wind changed direction. Stiyl moved away, not wanting Index to breathe in the secondhand smoke. The secondhand smoke floated in Kamijou's direction instead, making him cough really badly. Seeing that, Stiyl revealed an evil smile, puffing out white smoke even harder, like a wild beast.
"Anyway, there are too many legends about this guy. It's the same with The Book of the Law; rumour has it that every time he had been in a situation where there had been no way out, he'd use The Book of the Law to carry out divinations, and decide on what to do next according to its contents. In other words, this was a grimoire that could decide the fate of the strongest magician in the world. It's almost equivalent to mastering all of modern Western history. So, one shouldn't view The Book of the Law too lightly."
Stiyl seemed rather irritated as he twisted his mouth.
The three Roman Catholic nuns who had run past them just now sprinted back again. One of the nuns smelled the tobacco smoke and subtly frowned. Her hands were holding a large 1-meter diameter wooden gear. It was either a weapon or something else entirely…
"If it's such a scary book, why not destroy it as soon as possible? Since it's a book, wouldn't burning it do the job?"
"A grimoire cannot be burned, especially the special class of Original grimoires. Using small amounts of energy released by nature or lifeforce as power, the words, paragraphs, and chapters convert into a magical code, like an automatically powered magic spell. So, the most we can do is seal it."
Index revealed a smile which seemed to have profound meaning, and said,
"If it's an original manuscript written from my memory, however, such a phenomenon won't occur."
"An 'auto-powered magic array' has to be activated by the weak magical energy released by humans. The magic that an author possesses is like an engine's starter. A magician writing a grimoire will unconsciously input some magic into the paper along with the text. No matter what type of stationery or material is used, this phenomenon will always occur; thus, it's unavoidable. She's unable to use lifeforce to create magic, however, so this problem won't occur. She can be considered the ideal candidate as the keeper of the Magical Library…it seems like everything was planned, and that really makes me feel unhappy."
"Oh…so that's how it is? Index?"
"Erm…hm…? What's a starter? And what's an engine?"
Stiyl's explanation, however, puzzled Index.
After that, Stiyl impatiently explained to Index what an engine and a starter was--and for some reason, he looked rather happy.
Kamijou watched Stiyl and Index have their conversation, and his heart felt even heavier.
At the beginning, Kamijou had thought that this was not a big deal. Up until now, he had thought that rescuing the abducted Orsola would be enough.
But looking at things now, the situation was not that simple.
Kamijou had seen how capable an angel was. He had seen firsthand the "God's Power" that Misha Kreutzev had used, the power that could turn half the Earth into ash.
And Kamijou understood this group known as "magicians". The magicians he had met before did not even know the meaning of the word "mercy". In order to get whatever they wanted, these people would give their all.
This group of magicians…if they were to use The Book of the Law and obtain the angel's magic, what would they do?
Damn it…
Index had said that the original copy of a grimoire could not be burned,
Since it was like an automatic magic array.
But Kamijou's right hand had an inconceivable power.
If he were to use the power of his Imagine Breaker, maybe he could…
Oh, man! It looks like I can't back out midway through!