Kaoru saw Miwako freeze after the call but didn't wait for her to recover. She turned to Morpheus.
"Lord Morpheus, you're free to go."
Morpheus gave her a half-smile. "You sure know how to seize an opportunity."
Cashing in favors like that—impressive.
Kaoru said humbly, "You jest, Lord Morpheus. I'm merely protecting Japan's government."
To her, the police couldn't hold Morpheus.
If they provoked him, not just the police but the entire government would suffer.
He'd killed Voban. He could just as easily crush Japan's government.
All their forces combined couldn't match one Voban.
Japan had a few hidden aces, but who could say they'd work against Morpheus?
Kaoru hadn't forgotten how Morpheus had utterly dominated Voban.
She wasn't about to let a trivial matter escalate, so she nipped it in the bud.
Morpheus could guess her reasoning but said nothing, leaving with a smile.
Inori tried to stop him, but Kaoru intervened.
She dispersed the crowd, and the bustling street soon returned to normal.
Morpheus quickly forgot the incident, resuming his carefree wandering.
As for Inori, she was just a brief encounter, nothing more.
Unwittingly, he arrived at a new place.
Academy City.
Located in western Tokyo, he'd never visited before, but today's stroll brought him to its gates.
Spanning roughly a third of Tokyo's size, this "City of Schools" housed dozens of universities, hundreds of elementary, middle, and high schools, and over a thousand research institutions.
Its population neared 2.3 million, with 80%—over 1.8 million—being students.
Academy City boasted technology 20-30 years ahead of the outside world, leading the scientific realm.
Built over fifty years by Chairman Aleister Crowley, it was managed by the Board of Directors.
Due to its highly confidential technology and research, security was tight, with strict controls on entry and exit.
Comprising 23 districts, Academy City was a massive educational conglomerate, offering specialized curricula to develop esper abilities, primarily by recruiting external students.
Beyond schools, it had research facilities, production and commercial centers, international exhibition halls, an airport, and all amenities needed for urban life.
Adopting an isolationist policy, it was walled off, guarded by security forces and constantly monitored by satellites.
Satellites naturally detected Morpheus at the perimeter.
He noticed their surveillance but didn't care, strolling casually into the heavily guarded city.
Its security could stop others, but not him.
To Morpheus, their defenses were like paper.
Inside, he wandered leisurely through the streets.
As noted, Academy City was filled with AIM Diffusion Fields—nanoscopic devices, 70 nanometers in size, with six needle-like cilia extending from a spherical body.
They floated through air currents, self-generating power for near-perpetual data collection, using linear electron beams to exchange quantum signals, forming a network.
These "AIM Diffusion Fields" were Aleister's sole intelligence window, linked to the Windowless Building. With about 50 million units scattered across the city, he knew everything happening within.
Morpheus had once mimicked them, creating nanoscale surveillance bugs to monitor Tokyo, now controlled by Kotoko Iwanaga.
He ignored the AIM Diffusion Fields around him, letting them hover nearby.
Thus, Aleister surely knew of his arrival.
So what?
Neither Aleister nor his angel, Aiwass, concerned Morpheus.
Aiwass, summoned through Aleister's late wife, was a Holy Guardian Angel whose imparted wisdom reshaped human history.
Aleister summoned Aiwass as a human aiming to wage war on all Magic Gods, crafting Aiwass as his trump card.
As a Magic God, Morpheus was curious if Aleister would unleash Aiwass against him.
In the original story, Aiwass was an angel beyond biblical or theological explanation, symbolizing attributes unbound by divine control, a key to freeing humanity from fate.
Living in the Aeon of Horus, Aiwass wielded overwhelming power.
Against Aiwass, even Accelerator couldn't fight back.
With the power to destroy the world with a finger's twitch, Aiwass acted purely on whim.
Even if humanity or the world perished, Aiwass would remain unfazed, indifferent even to its own existence.
Its presence was grand, but it rarely acted.
Morpheus couldn't gauge its true strength from the source material.
So he wanted to test it.
But to his disappointment, Aiwass didn't appear.
It seemed Aleister wasn't planning to pit Aiwass against him.
Fine. No fight, just peace.
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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