The girl was wearing a white T-shirt tied up at the waist and jeans that had the entire left leg cut off at the thigh. It barely qualified as normal clothing, but the asymmetrical style gave her a strikingly alluring, battle-ready appearance.
However, the massive, two-meter-long Nodachi resting at her waist exuded a chilling killing intent. Her cold eyes were filled with sharp anger upon seeing her companion so seriously injured.
"Kanzaki... that guy is a Magician," Stiyl said through gritted teeth, groaning in agony. His body was cold and numb, a dangerous sign of excessive blood loss. He was certain that at least twenty bones in his body had been shattered by the concrete debris.
"I know, Stiyl."
Kanzaki stared coldly at Yuuya. She leaped from the towering wind turbine, landing effortlessly on the pavement to block Yuuya's path to the fallen Pyromancer. Her gaze flicked to Index for a brief, pained moment, her lips pursing tightly before she locked eyes with Yuuya again.
'He is a Level 5 of Academy City,' Kanzaki thought warily. 'Judging from how easily he bypassed Innocentius and defeated Stiyl, he is incredibly strong—not only in terms of his spatial abilities, but in his pure combat instincts.'
'I did feel the violent clash of mana just now when he repelled the flames, but there's no trace of it lingering on his body.'
There were rare individuals in the world born with innate magical power. On the eastern continents, the local magic cabals referred to this physique as possessing innate Qi—a pure power brought from the mother's womb that hadn't dissipated after birth. With a little guidance, such a person could easily master the power of a Grimoire and become a Magician by constructing magical circuits in their mind.
'However, since this boy actively uses Esper superpowers, he physically cannot become a Magician,' Kanzaki reasoned. Although she didn't know the exact scientific principles behind it, everyone in the underground knew that Esper powers and Magic were two fundamentally conflicting systems. Using both simultaneously would cause the body's micro-vessels to rupture, leading to catastrophic internal hemorrhaging.
"You..." Yuuya squinted at the tall, striking girl who looked like a modern Valkyrie.
'So this is what a Saint is?' Yuuya thought. 'Indeed, she's very powerful. She possesses an incredibly terrifying, passive enhancement within her body—a structural alignment with a divine Phase.'
Yuuya's enhanced eyes saw something that ordinary people couldn't: Kanzaki Kaori had a subtle, underlying conceptual pattern integrated into her physical being, representing a direct connection to the Christian Phase.
Because Saints shared a similar physical constitution to the Son of God, the magical principle of Idol Theory granted them a fraction of divine power through the operating laws of that specific Phase. That invisible Stigmata was the gateway to channeling those physics-defying laws.
'So that's how it works...' All this profound magical knowledge was currently being deciphered from his passive understanding of The Book of the Law. The grimoire was not merely a text; it contained a vast, fundamental outline of all hidden magical knowledge. Activating the Stigmata granted temporary access to divine power, instantly pushing the user's physical constitution far past human limits.
"My name is Kanzaki Kaori, boy," she spoke, her voice ringing clear across the ruined street. "If I had the choice, I wouldn't want to give you my other name. Because that is the name of a murderer."
Kanzaki tightened her grip on the Nodachi's hilt, her cold gaze suggesting she might strike at any microsecond.
"I don't want to explain the complexities of our situation to you, and I won't beat around the bush. Young man, we will not harm that nun. I implore you to hand her over to us peacefully. We are only trying to protect her."
Yuuya remained as relaxed as ever, completely unmoved by Kanzaki's terrifying status as a Saint.
'Even Aleister's true form couldn't intimidate me,' Yuuya smirked internally. 'Even if Kanzaki stood there and chopped at me for a hundred years, she wouldn't be able to cut a single hair on my head.'
"Heh, you Magicians really love to talk big. In my opinion, you lot are nothing special," Yuuya scoffed dismissively. "I promised Index that I would protect her, even if I have to face countless Magicians to do it. If you want to fight, then so be it."
Yuuya glanced back at the silver-haired nun watching him with deep concern. The corner of his mouth rose in a reassuring smile. He then turned back to Kanzaki, his tone shifting to a teasing drawl. "But I'll warn you... if I beat you down, don't try to run away."
"Ah..." Index looked at Yuuya's broad back, feeling incredibly safe, and smiled innocently. 'Yuuya is so amazing!'
Kanzaki caught a glimpse of Index's genuinely happy smile, and a sharp pang of guilt pierced her heart. She sighed heavily.
"Then there is no other way," Kanzaki closed her eyes for a moment, her resolve hardening. "I will tell you my magical name and take her back by force."
"My magical name is Salvare000. Its meaning is: 'Be the salvation of those who cannot be saved.'"
The very microsecond she finished speaking, Kanzaki suddenly drew and swung her massive longsword.
Nanasen (Seven Flashes).
In an instant, the air was violently torn apart faster than the speed of sound. Yuuya only felt a sharp gust of wind rush past his ear, followed immediately by the terrifying shriek of solid matter being cleaved cleanly in two.
Looking down at the asphalt just thirty centimeters from his feet, he saw a perfectly neat, smooth fissure—about the thickness of a little finger—dividing the street completely in half.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yuuya glanced behind him. He saw that the massive steel wind turbines lining the street, stretching for an unknown distance down the block, had been neatly sheared in half by invisible steel wires. They began to slide and fall like a row of cucumbers sliced at a perfect 45-degree angle.
RUMBLE...
The massive turbines smashed heavily into the asphalt, completely blocking the street. Dust and debris filled the air, and dangerous blue arcs of electricity flickered wildly from the severed subterranean power cables.
"...Next time, I won't miss intentionally. This is your absolute last chance, young man. If you give me a negative answer, I will strike your body directly," Kanzaki warned, her clear, cold eyes narrowing slightly.
"Hehe. Go ahead and try to cut me, then," Yuuya said jokingly, completely unfazed by the destruction.
'You dare to show off such trivial parlor tricks?' he thought in amusement.
Kanzaki raised her hand to grip the hilt again.
In an instant, another invisible slash struck out, this time aimed directly at Yuuya's right arm.
'I'm sorry, young man,' Kanzaki thought regretfully. 'Even if your goal was genuinely to help that child, I have no choice but to do this. It's just severing an arm. Academy City has medical science on par with high-level healing magic; they should be able to reattach it perfectly.'
A heavy hint of pity and self-reproach appeared in Kanzaki's eyes as she executed the strike.
BZZZT—!
The invisible wire slash instantly struck Yuuya's right arm. But instead of slicing cleanly through bone and muscle, a harsh, vibrating buzz echoed through the air.
The kinetic force of the strike was completely disrupted and actively reflected upon contact with his skin. The sleeve of his white coat tore open from the friction, revealing entirely unharmed skin beneath. The redirected force merely blew past him as a slight breeze, harmlessly fluttering the hem of his coat.
Kanzaki slowly widened her eyes in absolute shock. Stiyl, groaning on the ground, had fully expected the Esper's arm to fly off in a spray of blood, but only his sleeve was torn. Nothing else happened.
"It's no use. Your physical attacks have absolutely no effect on me."
With a playful grin, Yuuya slipped his hands back into his pockets and walked unabashedly toward the stunned Saint.
"You know I'm a Level 5, so your faction must have investigated me, right? Do you know why my official profile registers me as the 'Space Master'?"
"It's not just about simple point-to-point teleportation," Yuuya continued, smoothly spouting complete pseudo-scientific nonsense. "You might see me standing right in front of you in this physical space, but the actual coordinates of my body are actively displaced into an alternate mathematical dimension. Your physical attacks will never reach my true body."
He took his hands out of his pockets and spread his arms wide, inviting her to try again.
"So, what else do you have? Is this really the peak of your Magic? Please, produce something decent, or I'm going to beat both of you to a pulp today. Though... since you're quite a beauty, I might go easy on your face."
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