In the darkness of the "Marriage Chapel", Agnese rested her back on the marble column.
Agnese was surrounded by several nuns who were protecting her to ensure her safety. But with each explosion and crashing sound, these nuns would be so scared that their shoulders would jerk violently and they would look around frantically. In contrast, Agnese crossed her arms in front of her chest, as she silently closed her eyes to rest. The position of those who were protecting and those who were protected seemed to have changed.
"Don't look so panicky; that's too unglamorous. Especially you, Sister Angelene."
"But… but… Miss Agnese…"
Those seemingly mocking words seemed to give the nuns a sense of relief, as they looked like they had seen a savior while they were on a sinking ship. Maybe talking to them would relieve them of their tension.
"The battle has lasted for more than ten minutes… Even… even if we add Orsola in, we still far outnumber the enemy… Don't you feel something is wrong? Ah? Listen! Where did that explosion come from? Maybe… the enemy has turned from defending to attacking…!"
"…"
"Why… why don't we take part in the battle as well? We can spare some manpower anyway…"
"It's meaningless."
Agnese impatiently said.
"Then… what should we do? Orsola's been taken away… If she runs away again…"
"She can't run."
Agnese interrupted Angelene.
She was so confident that she was not willing to give an explanation.
"She'll definitely be unable to run. In this damned world, this is predicated."
The balance was broken in an instant.
The reason came from where Index was.
From the 103,000 grimoires, she found the parts that were detrimental to a Christian's mind which created the Sheol Fear, and was attacking the Roman Catholic nuns with it. During this situation, an accident happened. One of the nuns, Sister Lucia, the one who had attacked Kamijou in the theme park, suddenly shouted,
"Dia puiorita di cima ad un attacco! Il nemico di Dio e ucciso comunque!! (Heavy attack! Light defense! Sacrifice yourselves! Destroy the enemy of God!!)"
In an instant, the nuns completely froze.
Their faces silently and gradually became expressionless, and like a military salute, they neatly pulled out two things from their clothes. Each of their hands was holding a rather high-class fountain pen.
…?
At that moment, Index was thinking that they were planning to use some magic to fire an attack at her.
But she was wrong.
The next instant…
Almost a hundred nuns surrounding Index inserted the pens into their ears without hesitation.
The squishy sound resembled a person squeezing grapes.
Bright red blood spurted out from their ears.
At the same time, they pulled the pens that were inserted deeply into their ears out, and then proceeded to raise their weapons.
Although their expressions were distorted due to pain, they were smiling bitterly like they had just destroyed their desires. There was something white on the blood-covered pens: their eardrums.
Index strongly felt that she was going to vomit any moment.
"Don't tell me… it's to block out the Sheol Fear…?"
If they were unable to hear anything, the Sheol Fear couldn't work.
Index realized this chilling fact as the nuns advanced together.
"Damn it…!"
The one who realized this first was Stiyl. He really wanted to immediately get over and save Index, but the great combination attack with Tatemiya would stop working.
Stiyl continued to let the flame sword explode, letting the firestorm block the nuns' vision. But the heat could not reach where Index was. And by encountering the same attack so many times, the nuns became used to the flames and could find a way to attack them.
"Over here!"
Suddenly, a door of the "Fuyou Chapel" opened. Kamijou Touma stood at the door that was opened outwards. Orsola, who was injured badly, was standing behind him, using the bandaged minute hand of a large clock as a crutch. Maybe Kamijou felt that carrying Orsola around while running wasn't the way to go that he was hiding in the "Fuyou Chapel".
In this critical moment, Index, Stiyl and Tatemiya rushed into the "Fuyou Chapel". Kamijou hastily closed the door. Right at that moment, numerous blades were stabbed into the 5-cm-thick oak door.
In a short time, the door had blocked the Roman Catholic nuns' attacks.
But a door like this could not withstand for much longer. Using the story of the Three Little Pigs as an illustration, it was like they were hiding in a straw house now.
"Seems like everyone's okay… Orsola, can you walk?"
"You really like to worry. My injuries aren't that serious."
Orsola's injuries were definitely serious; it was just that they were hidden underneath her nun's habit, so nobody could see them. Even so, she still weakly smiled at Kamijou. Although Kamijou was feeling compassionate, he couldn't do anything. So, he barely changed the subject.
"…Okay, now what?"
Nobody could answer that question. Everyone present realized that the stalemate that was originally there was gone now.
The Amakusa members out there were surviving through their own sneak attacks and escapes, so they were already busy themselves and couldn't possibly help now.
*Pang!* *Bam!* Like nails being hammered into wood, the number of holes in the wall continued to increase.
Index looked extremely pale as she said,
"They… just… stabbed their ears like that… My Sheol Fear cannot work…"
Maybe Index was still thinking about how the nuns had stabbed their ears with fountain pens that the blood seemed to have been drained from her face.
"The Spell Intercept can only work against one person at a time. It's impossible to interfere when there are so many people chanting their spells…"
"Oh?"
Index continued to analyze her battle capabilities, and Kamijou was confused. He didn't even know what Index had done based on what principle.
Tatemiya then said,
"Although my subordinates are hard-working, I guess it's hard for them to reverse the situation. Humans are at their scariest when they're willing to sacrifice themselves. No matter how good an expert fighter is, he can't handle a group of people rushing like a flood. It's like how an army of ants can kill any beast."
His tone was full of reluctance, overlapping with the sounds of blades being stabbed into the door and being pulled out. Several eyeballs were peeking into the dug-out holes.
Kamijou felt chilly in his stomach.
Once the door broke open, several hundred armed nuns would rush in like a landslide. If they couldn't come up with an answer within the next few minutes, everyone inside would be unable to survive.
But the more suggestions everyone gave, the more they sunk into despair. Although Kamijou was as panicky as an ant in a hot pot, he was at a loss on what to do.
"Eh… If… we had The Book of the Law, maybe we could find a spell to protect ourselves using my code."
Orsola suddenly asked.
Everyone turned to look at her.
The Book of the Law.
Although it was the cause of everything, the grimoire had been long forgotten by everyone. The forbidden book written by Edward Alexander- also known as Crowley, the greatest magician in the world- contained a strong power and knowledge, said to be able to allow humans to use the "Angelic Spells". Just opening one page was said to be able to end this Christian age.
Since The Book of the Law was so dangerous, "breaking the seal of The Book of the Law" could be used as a negotiating tool.
"Too bad The Book of the Law wasn't stolen; it was all a ploy to frame us. In other words, the real Book of the Law may not even be in Japan. They only brought a fake, and the original should still be in the Vatican; we have no-"
"It's here!"
Kamijou and Index shouted out at the same time.
That was right, the original Book of the Law was here.
"Index, although you're unable to decode The Book of the Law, you might have memorized it thoroughly in order to decode it, right? You do have the original text of The Book of the Law in your head, right?"
"Un, I still remember those codes that aren't decoded yet."
Hearing that, Stiyl's expression changed drastically.
"No way! If you do so, she'll memorise the correct content of The Book of the Law! That means that even more magicians will want her!"
"Are you worrying about me?"
Index, who only treated Stiyl as "somebody who had nothing to do with her", asked suspiciously. Stiyl, who treated Index as an "old friend", didn't know how to reply, and his face was flushed red. But Stiyl smacked his mouth again, not saying anything more. Stiyl was clear that Index already knew that the magicians were chasing after her, so no reason would stop her. Besides, there was no other way out.
Stiyl thought for a while. Conflicting thoughts were inside his head like angels fighting against each other. He suddenly shouted,
"Kamijou Touma!"
"What… what now?"
"You have to be even stronger! If there's any consequence that harms her in any way, I'll burn your body, heart, and soul until there's not even ash!"
Stiyl then cursed, smacked his mouth again, and turned around. Index still looked like she didn't know what was going on, as she was somewhat bewildered by Stiyl's anger. Tatemiya looked at Kamijou with a profound meaning, then turned to look at Stiyl. Kamijou thought, "Please don't look at me like that."
Puzzled, Index tilted her head, and asked,
"Anyway, can you tell me how to decode The Book of the Law?"
"Ah, yes, then, I'll explain it to you."
Being asked by Index, Orsola continued on.
At that moment, Kamijou felt sweat emerging from his forehead.
In the past, he had thought that it was only fantasy, yet it was about to come true. The danger that Kamijou had never ever thought of continued to appear in his mind.
Kamijou was very clear of what the "Angelic Spells" that were only rumors and speculation to the magicians were (what an irony). He had seen firsthand one of the four great angels, the Power of God, summon the magic spell "Sweep"- billions of light bombs that nearly turned half the earth to crisp.
If they used such a spell, they could turn the tide around.
But…
Should humanity meddle with such power?
Orsola seemed to have sensed Kamijou's worries, and said,
"We have no need to show them the power of The Book of the Law; we just need to tell them that we have decoded it and can use it anytime. If possible, I would like to avoid using this power as well."
Orsola seriously said.
That was right; the original reason why Orsola was studying The Book of the Law was to cause the knowledge inside the book to disappear. Right now, her actions were going against what she originally believed in. Also, even if they managed to get through this crisis, they would be harassed by magicians all over the world for having the knowledge of The Book of the Law.
She had already thought about all this. But she decided to do it.
Even if it went against her ideals, even if it was going to put her in danger, she still wished to help Kamijou and company.
Throughout history, no one had been able to find a way to decode The Book of the Law.
Even Index, who was keeping the 103,000 grimoires, couldn't decode the banned book inside her.
"The base model is Temurah, which is the switching of the texts' locations. But there's a special rule that's closely related to the number of lines. First, arrange the twenty-two lines of Hebrew text into two rows, and according to the rows—"
Kamijou felt like a duck that heard some thunder rumble, but to Index, it was very important. Kamijou had never seen her so serious before.
Right now, Index was processing and decoding the grimoire that nobody had read before, forming a blueprint of the strongest weapon. On one hand, Kamijou was bewildered; on the other hand, he was wondering if he was taking part in an irreversible mistake.
"—In other words, the texts with different numbers of lines have to be changed again using another rule, so it sounds complicated. But even if the page changes, as long as the number of lines don't change, the rule of change won't change. Then—"
"The sentences with changes done to the positions of the words have to be rearranged according the number of pages. So then, the original content of the text can be restored. The title is 'End of Two Eras', and the content is written in Enochian about the Human Angelification Spells."
Index suddenly finished what Orsola was about to say, as if she had read Orsola's mind. Orsola was wide-eyed now.
"It's alright; I know what's going on."
Orsola was surprised that Index had interrupted her while she was conveying her own way of decoding that only she should know. She asked,
"May I ask, what do you mean by 'you understand'?"
"Um…"
Index said with a heavy tone.
"This isn't the way to decode it; it's a fake answer that the author left behind."
"What…?"
Orsola went numb.
Index sadly turned to look at Orsola, and said,
"I'm sorry. I came up with this answer myself as well. Besides this one, there are many more fake ones out there. The most frightening thing about The Book of the Law is that…"
Index sighed, and continued,
"There's more than a hundred ways to decode it. And every single way of decoding it can form a text, but those are all fakes. It's not that nobody can't decode The Book of the Law, but that anyone can actually decode it because they are misguided."
"This is impossible…"
Orsola hoarsely croaked.
"The wrong explanation can still create a 'text' that someone can read, so even when one finds a wrong way of decoding it, everyone will think that theirs is the correct way. It's normal that you fell into the trap without noticing. Besides the title on the cover of The Book of the Law, there's also a line of English words; do you remember?"
Index painfully conveyed this cruel truth.
"'Desire, and it'll be thy magic'; in other words, what one perceives to be the correct way to decode it can create several 'wrong answers' for The Book of the Law. The Book of the Law is such a scary book."
Orsola Aquinas's face showed that she had lost all hope.
This couldn't be helped. She had gambled her life in order to interpret The Book of the Law, thinking that it would bring about happiness to everyone, and destroy this grimoire, the root of all evil.
But unexpectedly, the "way to decode" that she so treasured was unable to do anything.
Not only was it unable to destroy the grimoire, but it also couldn't save her friends in this critical juncture.
"Look on the bright side. If we tell them that Orsola didn't find the way to decode it, I wonder if they'll be magnanimous in their actions?"
Tatemiya asked.
At the same time, a huge knocking sound came from the chapel's doors.
"I guess it's unlikely. Since they've thrown away their façade, they probably won't hold back."
Stiyl replied.
In the desperate situation, he gave a faint smile.
It was useless.
Their only hope was gone.
Kamijou frantically tried to bring Index and Orsola out the back door, but accidentally knocked into Stiyl, who was wielding a flame sword. The rune cards, which were supposed to be the killer blow, landed on the ground without response.
*BAM!*
There was an impact that was much louder than the first, and the off-type doors of the "Fuyou Chapel" were knocked down. Kamijou and company only had time to say two or three sentences. A few hundred nuns were wielding all sorts of religious weapons as they rushed into the church construct that was built for funerals.