It's like an abandoned ruin covered by the night sky.
That was what Kamijou thought when he looked at Parallel Sweets Wonderland, 200 meters in front of him, where the special teleportation portal was. All the lights inside had been turned off, and what was originally a bright and vibrant theme park was now pitch-black. Although it had originally been designed to excite and delight people, right now, it was having the opposite effect. The warm, moist, and yet uncomfortable wind blew all of Kamijou's sweat away.
Kamijou turned his eyes away from Parallel Sweets Wonderland and looked beside him. Several nuns dressed in black robes were gathered in the large parking lot of a department store. It was another strange scene.
Then, Kamijou turned to look at Index. Index continued to write on her palm using her thumb, likely simulating how everything would go in her mind. It seemed like she was unwilling to let Kamijou get involved in this battle between spellcasters. As there were fewer members of the Roman Catholics than available involved in this, the danger was much greater; Index was now a lot more anxious than she had been a few hours ago.
On the other hand, Stiyl stood behind Index, smoking a cigarette like usual. Of course, he was most likely thinking about ways to protect Index.
Agnese walked towards Kamijou and company, her thick-soled sandals continuing to make that tapping sound.
Right now, she seemed like a completely different person. The look that she had revealed when she had been bathing or when she had been sleepy inside Kamijou's futon, of her seemingly going to cry anytime, seemed to befit her age. But right now, when she was working, she was like a person who had forgotten all emotions. That sense of nervousness that had caused her legs to tremble so badly that she seemed about to fall was now all gone.
"We've found the Amakusa's main forces at Parallel Sweets Wonderland, but there's no sign of The Book of the Law or Orsola. Although the probability is low, this may be a diversion by the enemy. So, I can't remove the perimeter or recall our patrol squads. Right now, we can only use the manpower we have with us."
Agnese said firmly, as if it was a foregone conclusion.
Kamijou repeated her words in his head, and said,
"Not knowing who has custody of The Book of the Law, or even where Orsola is in this area, is a huge bother to us. Is there any way we can save her? If we spend too much time looking for her, won't the Amakusa escape with her in tow or even use her as a hostage?"
Once the enemy is really pressured, they'll take a hostage to shield themselves. To Touma, this was almost like a golden rule.
Touma thought about Orsola. She was a girl who lacked common knowledge, ignored what other people said, and would get lost if no one kept an eye on her. No matter what, Kamijou did not want to see her being threatened by the enemy with sharp blades or guns.
Agnese said without hesitation, however,
"If they move out of Parallel Sweets Wonderland, our perimeter will pick them up. As for the hostage...I'm guessing the Amakusa won't use her as a hostage."
"Why?"
Kamijou asked, puzzled.
"The Amakusa's main objective is to find a way to read The Book of the Law with Orsola's help. If they use her as a hostage and kill her in the process, all their plans will have gone to waste. Since they want to use the power of The Book of the Law, they'll want to ensure Orsola's safety through any means."
Stiyl shook the cigarette in his mouth, and said,
"My guess is that, because they lost Kanzaki, the Amakusa want to use The Book of the Law to replenish their fighting strength. And since they're using such tough means, I'm guessing that they're really hard-pressed. In other words, if they fail in their attempt to steal The Book of the Law, they won't be able to make a comeback next time. So, they'll pay extra attention to Orsola's safety."
"...in other words, this means that we have to save Orsola before the Amakusa destroy everything indiscriminately?"
Kamijou felt that this was truly a dilemma. If they pressured the Amakusa too much before they found Orsola, the Amakusa would probably kill her in the process; if they took it too easy, there would be less time to look for her. Also, the difference in battle strength between them meant that there was no room for mistakes.
Agnese seemed to understand the slight dilemma, and said,
"For now, I'd like to divide our numbers into two groups. 80% of our main force will act as bait, and attack the Amakusa head-on. During that time, please act as guerrillas and investigate the interior of Parallel Sweets Wonderland. Once you find The Book of the Law and Orsola, take them back."
Agnese tapped the soles of her sandals on the ground, and said,
"They can only use the special teleportation magic before 12:05 AM. If we can't retrieve her by this time, we'll treat the situation as if Orsola is not in this area; at that moment, please leave this place. Once we defeat the Amakusa, we'll perform a thorough search in this area."
In other words, if Orsola was not found before that time, but was actually still in the compound, she would be facing grave danger.
Looking at Parallel Sweets Wonderland, it appeared that trying to find someone was not going to be easy. According to Agnese's information, there were 75 stores inside the compound.
Kamijou nervously swallowed his saliva. At that moment, Index said,
"We also can't just leave the portal of the special teleportation magic unattended. If we don't destroy it, the Amakusa might take Orsola away and escape through the portal. Although Touma can easily destroy an already-opened portal, the portal only opens at midnight. If we are going to try to stop this magic, we have to destroy all the tools used for the ritual. The problem, however, is that the Amakusa are best at disguising things; trying to find those things won't be easy."
"Finding The Book of the Law and Orsola, destroying the portal...seems like our schedule is rather packed."
Stiyl said as he spat the cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it to extinguish it.
Agnese saw that everyone had finished their mental preparations and raised one hand. The nuns behind her, numbering more than 70, raised their weapons, and the ice-cold clang of metal echoed throughout the night sky.
These people carried all sorts of weapons: simple ones, like swords and spears; ones that could barely be called weapons, like silver rods and giant crosses; and even stranger ones for purposes unknown, like gears as tall as humans and torches. Agnese also received a silver rod from a nun beside her.
"..this is unforgivable."
Agnese Sanctis placed the silver rod against her shoulder and said viciously, looking at the darkness in front of her,
"The promotion of Christianity was originally to save humanity, and yet these guys are using their power for such a meaningless purpose. Once they use violence for such a trivial matter, others will use even more meaningless violence to stop them. Why can't they understand such a simple chain reaction?"
"…"
This was truly a simple truth. To outsiders, it was reasonable; to insiders, easy to understand. Of course, Kamijou himself agreed wholeheartedly with it.
"Maybe I'm a bit disrespectful...but I don't have a good impression of any magicians--it's not just the Amakusa, but especially those modern Western magic societies that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century that twist Christianity or use backdoor tricks. The most notable examples are those who falsely use magic arrays with archangels' names like 'Demigods' and 'Power of God'. Even if we ignored the 20th century, the alchemists who signed agreements with royalty during the witch-hunting era used such high-sounding rhetoric like 'These are teachings of Christianity and not witchcraft, so I'm a loyal servant of God.'"
Agnese tapped her sandals again and said,
"Those people love to memorize the Bible from beginning to end, sieve through every word of God, and find loopholes in it. That's what they call 'Anti-God Black Art'. They aren't scary outside enemies, but rather despicable thieves from within. Magicians are like the politicians who'll exploit any loophole within the law, and then cause the downfall of a country. While we're following orders and queuing up to buy bread, these magicians will blatantly cut in line and cause all sorts of ridiculous problems. What I mean isn't that the magicians shouldn't have their bread, but that their act of cutting queue has to be condemned."
Now that Agnese was talking about Christianity, Kamijou had nothing to say. What Agnese wanted to emphasize was that she could not forgive the Amakusa for destroying (at least, that was what Agnese felt) the order that everyone followed. Stiyl Magnus, who was a real magician and had stood nearby and listened to Agnese's emotional speech, only revealed a delirious smile and a nonchalant look. As for Index, she looked as if she did not know what to do.
Necessarius is composed entirely of magicians; these words must be rather harsh to them. Thinking about it, women really are creatures who'll change really fast. Agnese was shaking nervously a while ago, and now she's completely changed. This is unbelievable.
Kamijou looked around, trying to find something else to talk about, and ended up looking at the Roman Catholic nuns around him.
"To be honest, even though you humbly say that you can't gather all your people, it's remarkable that you can gather this amount with just one order."
Kamijou said in a surprised and admiring tone. Once Agnese heard that, she smiled and replied,
"Our specialty is our numbers; we have compatriots in 110 countries throughout the world, and even in Japan, there are many of our Church Ministries. Also, we're building a new house of God called the Church of Orsola. If I remember correctly, it's located near here. Once it's complete, it'll be the largest Church in Japan. It's about the size of a baseball stadium."
A soft sound came from the soles of Agnese's sandals.
"Church of Orsola?"
"Yes. Orsola once went to 3 pagan countries to preach Christianity to them, and her contributions were great, so the superiors specially allowed a Church to be built in her name. Doesn't she speak Japanese really well?"
Now that Agnese mentioned it, that seemed to be the case. But there were a large number of foreigners around Kamijou who spoke Japanese so fluently, so he had not paid it too much attention. Of course, to Kamijou, who could only speak Japanese, that was a good thing.
"After the Church is built, we'll be sending invitations. Before that, however, let's settle the problem in front of us."
Agnese revealed a smile full of self-confidence. She carried the seemingly heavy silver rod over her shoulders, and stamped her heels on the ground, creating a dangling sound. The 30-cm-thick soles bounced off, leaving behind a pair of ordinary sandals; it seemed like the soles worked like the zippers on the nuns' robes, and one could choose to remove them at any time.
"...since it's easier to walk like that, why don't you normally just take them off?"
"Shut up; it's called a sense of beauty. Wearing thick-soled sandals is my own style."