11 PM. It was nighttime now.
The substitute Supreme Pontiff, Tatemiya Saiji, together with 47 members of the main force, were gathered around the portal of the special teleportation magic, the Thumbnail Tour.
The place was not some mysterious forest or mountain, however; they were at a large snack-themed amusement park called Parallel Sweets Wonderland.
This snack-themed amusement park had been built and financed by 4 large snack manufacturers, and it was as large as an electrical plant. Inside the park were 75 stores from 38 different countries. Throughout the park were several donut-like watercourses, linked to each other like the 5 rings on the Olympic logo. Outside the watercourses, there stood several snack shops similar to those of hawkers, but their products were top-quality. Inside of the circular watercourses was a square where many snack manufacturers could showcase their products and carry out activities. As it was almost the end of summer, it seemed like they were promoting ice products and frozen desserts.
Although the locations of the portals that Ino Tadataka had set did not change, the city developed and changed everyday. Some portals were located within certain rooms in certain condominiums, or even a large vault in a certain bank; it was now impossible to use those for teleportation. In comparison, this portal was the most accessible.
The Amakusa members who had infiltrated Parallel Sweets Wonderland were holding hands as they prepared for the Thumbnail Tour.
As conditions for its use, the Thumbnail Tour could only be used at midnight, and the ritual to prepare it had to be completed beforehand. As the timeframe in which the Thumbnail portal could be used was only 5 minutes long, it would be too late if they waited until midnight to begin the ritual. The ritual had to be activated exactly at midnight, however, so if necessary, they could finish it first and then activate it at midnight.
None of the preparations for the ritual required any weird magic arrays or spell chanting.
Aside from having infiltrated a theme park that was not open for service, these people were not really that strange. There were young people gathered in groups of 4 to 5, talking together; some occasionally took out French fries and hamburgers from paper wrappers to eat; some were holding discussions in front of the theme park's introductory board; and others were standing and flipping through travel guidebooks. Their actions seemed quite normal.
Their attire was much more commonplace than those worn by Index or Stiyl: one girl wore a cutie top and a pair of short jeans, a boy had donned a mixed-colored shirt and baggy black pants, a lady wore an outfit with her overcoat slung over her shoulders, and so on. The only noticeable thing was that around 10 people were carrying sports bags, musical instrument cases, surfboards, and all other sorts of bulky luggage; these were the people responsible for transporting weapons.
Only people of the same trade would be able to understand that every detail of their attire and actions was carefully planned.
There was a magical meaning behind everything.
The number of males and females, the age difference, the color combinations of the clothes, the act of having 4 to 5 people gathering together, the content of the discussion, the religious ritual that "eating" represents, the ingredients used for the hamburgers, what "eating meals" meant in magical terms, the page numbers where they stopped, the act of reading, adding up all the page numbers together…
All these were classified as "codes" or "logos". Every action by the organization created a spell and a magic array. Like this, the spells of the Amakusa used things from everyday life that had originated from several abandoned religious rituals, choreographed over and over so people could not tell that they used magic. This trait originated from the Bakumou era, when they were forced to hide to avoid persecution.
It's about time…
Tatemiya Saiji stood alone, far away from everyone, and swung the sword in his hand horizontally.
The metal streetlights lost their light, breaking in half and leaving behind diagonal cuts.
Please observe carefully, for this is the Christian sect that is infused with many different religious values: the Amakusa Church.
He lifted his hands and muttered softly, looking at the night sky.