At the end of September, over the abnormally frozen equatorial ocean, the flames of the Christian Church's holy war collided with high-tech weapons manufactured by a certain city in the Far East on an unprecedented scale.
Torrents of steel, countless magical formations, chanted holy incantations, unending barrages, roaring artillery...the smoke of gunpowder and lingering traces of magic completely engulfed this land that should originally have belonged to a tropical rainforest climate, and the battle only grew fiercer by the moment.
But at this moment, when that orange sword of light stretching from earth to heaven descended, everything changed.
It was as though the outcome of the war had been rewritten by a single person. Everywhere the eye could see, offshore islands sank and coastal land collapsed...
The consequences of the continental shelf near the coast fracturing were terrifying. In an instant, millions upon millions of tons of earth plunged into the frozen ocean, and the iceberg-covered waters affected by the large-scale freezing spell of the "Queen's Fleet" from the Queen of the Adriatic Sea shattered in the blink of an eye.
Crack crack crack—!!
A deafening rumble like the earth itself overturning spread in every direction, hammering at people's eardrums and nerves.
It was as though boulders had been pushed from a great height into a pond. Under the force of displacement and compression, the ocean beneath the ice sheet instantly erupted, smashing through the thick ice and surging straight into the heavens before pouring back down. Tens of millions of tons of seawater, as heavy as mountain ranges, swallowed everything.
Countless tons of seawater blasted into the sky by the instantaneous explosive heat of the orange sword of light were caught by the shock waves rising from the shattered frozen sea, whereupon the vapor condensed into clouds.
Vast condensation clouds first appeared around the canyon where the orange sword of light had fallen and vanished, then rapidly spread along the collapsed coastline, joining together and rising until, in the blink of an eye, they formed a wall of water that obscured the horizon.
The battlefield was left in utter devastation. Whether it was the Roman Catholic Church's "holy war" punitive fleet or Academy City's mechanical army forged from steel, both sides stopped fighting almost simultaneously.
One thing was certain. After the war, regardless of who ultimately won, the Malaysian government would come out ahead. The only one likely to suffer was Singapore.
That was because the "canal" Malaysia had once desperately wanted but never obtained had now been carved most of the way through the Malay Peninsula by the orange sword of light. All that remained was to scrape away a little more before it connected all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Viewed from the sky, the pillar of light that had risen from Banda Aceh on Sumatra crossed the strait before falling upon the Malay Peninsula. Unfortunately, it extended for less than two hundred kilometers. The Malaysian officials who had observed it were probably stamping their feet in frustration by now.
Come on! Why couldn't you have put a little more strength into it?!
As for Kamijou Touma, who had been directly facing the descending pillar of light, he felt as though he had just taken a tour through the gates of death.
'Cough...it's Fiamma of the Right! The leader of God's Right Seat, the darkest faction of the Roman Catholic Church, the true power behind the Vatican, and the man who started this world war! Be careful! Even I have absolutely no chance of defeating him!'
At that moment, Kanzaki Kaori's somewhat exhausted voice sounded inside his mind.
Her words simultaneously echoed through the minds of every Academy City combatant stationed at the Banda Aceh base.
To accommodate the little nun Index, who was extremely bad with and actively disliked technological devices, this served as Academy City's backup communication method apart from ordinary communications systems, linked together through Shokuhou Misaki's mental ability.
And now it had proven useful. After Fiamma of the Right's attack, electromagnetic interference, extreme cold, extreme heat, hurricanes, atmospheric disturbances...all kinds of environmental changes had either damaged communication equipment or disrupted channels, reducing them to static at the slightest provocation.
"So that's Fiamma of the Right. The one responsible for everything...the bastard we have to defeat!"
Kamijou Touma stared furiously at the thin man in a red suit slowly descending from the sky above the coast.
His right hand curled as though grasping something. Behind Fiamma of the Right, an enormous translucent outline vaguely appeared while he let out a delighted laugh that sounded almost breathless.
"Haha...hahahaha!! I didn't expect both Index Librorum Prohibitorum and Imagine Breaker to be here. Perfect. Saves Yours Truly from making another trip."
As he spoke, something wriggled behind Fiamma of the Right. From his right shoulder, a glowing mass possessing five twisted fingers slowly emerged.
At the sight of him, even those on the same side recoiled. "So this is the Holy Right...the power of God..." Biagio Busoni muttered fearfully as he backed away across the deck.
The nuns of the Agnese Forces also wore expressions of lingering fear. Although the man's body showed no signs of deliberate physical training, he nevertheless radiated tremendous pressure.
"It would've been more satisfying to destroy your disgusting nest in Academy City and then watch you scream and cry in agony, but sooner or later makes no difference."
He landed upon the ice deck of the Queen of the Adriatic Sea.
"How interesting. There are this many small fry here, yet your Divine Punishment spell has done absolutely nothing?"
"Ptoo!"
Vento of the Front spat out a mouthful of bloodstained saliva. A faint trickle of blood ran from her lips as she supported herself with her spiked hammer. Her ring-covered face was twisted from having extracted too much magical power, while the cross on the tip of her tongue jingled.
"You think everyone is as absurdly favored as you are? There's an extremely powerful mental ability user hiding inside that metal shell underground. Watch yourself or she'll catch you off guard. Because of her, the emotional fluctuations on the other side are practically being held constant. My spell can barely activate."
Vento of the Front's signature technique as a member of God's Right Seat was the Divine Punishment spell. It used a certain emotion as its trigger and could strike down anyone who harbored that emotion.
For that reason, the Divine Punishment spell required her to actively provoke hostility from others, which was precisely why she dressed the way she did and wore so many rings through her face.
Its effects differed according to the degree of hostility: stripping consciousness, binding the body, or even blocking outside interference. Regardless of the stage, once someone fell into the trap, it was over. Until the magician judged that "divine punishment was no longer necessary," recovery was absolutely impossible.
Unfortunately, during the battle, no matter how much Vento of the Front provoked and insulted them, the Level 5s on the other side were like blocks of wood. She could curse them however she wanted and they barely showed any emotional fluctuation, not even hostility, yet they attacked without the slightest mercy. It left Vento of the Front completely at a loss.
The only hedgehog-headed boy whose emotions fluctuated strongly was useless as a target because Imagine Breaker erased supernatural powers...
Fortunately, she possessed extremely high compatibility with the strategic-class spiritual item Queen of the Adriatic Sea. By specifically using Idol Theory as its underlying principle to achieve perfect control over the Queen's Fleet, she had managed to draw out more than two hundred percent of its firepower.
If Terra of the Left had been sent instead, he would have died long ago. His "Execution of Light" was useful only for one-on-one fights and killing opponents who had never seen it before. Surrounded by multiple Level 5-class enemies, he would have died without question. Even Acqua of the Back might not have performed as well as she had.
"Vento of the Front, can you still hold out?" Fiamma of the Right asked with a chuckle as he tossed the "goods" he had imported from the Russian Orthodox Church onto the deck.
"Obviously. What are you planning?" Wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, Vento of the Front moved to stand beside him at the bow.
Unlike the original story, where internal contradictions had erupted and Vento became hostile to Fiamma after he destroyed St. Peter's Basilica, in this world, although Vento of the Front's extreme hatred of science meant she and Fiamma of the Right were hardly close, they could at least be considered united against a common enemy.
After all, Terra of the Left had been killed by Selene. Acqua of the Back had been enslaved by Selene. The Pope and Vatican City, including St. Peter's Basilica, had been destroyed by Selene. And Academy City itself had openly declared total war on the Roman Catholic Church with the intention of exterminating it...
How could they possibly start killing each other now? With a common enemy as enormous as Selene standing before them, there was no conceivable way Vento of the Front would fall out with Fiamma of the Right.
"Yours Truly has already prepared every condition necessary to activate the Star of Bethlehem..."
"You still haven't obtained Imagine Breaker..." Vento of the Front glanced toward the spiky sea-urchin head darting around the crater-riddled coastline in the distance. "Fine. I'll create the opportunity for you."
Rumble—!
A ship sailing over dry land.
Under Vento of the Front's control, the Queen of the Adriatic Sea led the Queen's Fleet directly onto land.
Bang bang bang—!
One ice frigate after another was hurled onto the land like artillery shells, exploding into fragments. The scattered pieces of ice glittered like moonlit jade, piling together until the ruins of the city across dozens of kilometers were covered beneath a thick layer of ice crystals.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Countless fluorescent green beams erupted from in front of the brown-haired woman like meteors chasing the moon, melting straight through several falling ice frigates. The tremendous energy contained within the green light distorted the air as the frozen hulls cracked apart and collapsed.
Bzzzt~
A long crystalline object composed of multiple black triangular crystals immediately fell to the ground, sinking into the snow and releasing wisps of white vapor.
"Haa..."
Mugino Shizuri took another Diffusion Support Semiconductor from the support robot beside her, which was carrying an entire crate of them, and panted slightly. She had fantasized countless times about this kind of extravagant fighting style where she could fire as much as she wanted with unlimited supplies, but now that she was actually doing it, it was exhausting.
"Magic, huh...the end result might be similar, since they're both forms of supernatural power, but the operating principles are completely different from anything I've seen in Academy City."
As for that monstrous sword strike that had just fallen, how should she put it? She had already given up.
If abilities were taken out of the equation and we fought purely with our bodies, I could beat you skinny little weaklings like children!
Looking at Fiamma of the Right, who had only just entered the battlefield, and then at Accelerator's equally thin figure on her own side, the somewhat irritable Mugino Shizuri couldn't help thinking that.
Unfortunately, that was impossible.
She had finally accepted reality. She really couldn't compare with the second and third ranks. Those two could fly, fight, and tank attacks, while she couldn't. She was more suited to serving as a stationary artillery platform. She might possess a decent amount of raw physical strength, but it was useless at the moment.
"The enemy's strongest fighter has arrived. Where's our Rank 1?"
Crash—!
Slashes, violent winds, shock waves, light-based attacks, and various other ability applications were unleashed by Kakine Teitoku, smashing the continuously regenerating ice frigates to pieces.
Six pure-white wings quietly spread from the boy's back. Bathed in sacred white light, the angelic wings suddenly expanded. Kakine Teitoku extended his Dark Matter wings to nearly thirty meters in length, directly shielding several kilometers of terrain beneath him.
His solemn gaze remained locked on Fiamma of the Right, who had already reached the land.
No. With that level of offensive output, I'm no match for him. Accelerator isn't either. Boss, when the hell are you getting here?
"Selene isn't in Academy City. According to the latest report, after destroying the Roman Catholic Church's headquarters, she headed to Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church has officially submitted a ceasefire request to Academy City and has instead declared war on the Roman Catholic Church."
As though sensing everyone's doubts, Shokuhou Misaki's gentle voice sounded in their minds.
In a safe room near the escape submarines on the lowest level of Banda Aceh's underground base.
"Thank you, little Misaka. Once we get back, Big Sis will buy you some delicious cake."
"Hehe, Misaka is amazing, isn't she? Misaka Misaka says proudly. Hmph, let's see if he still dares call Misaka a useless burden."
"Yes, yes, Misaka is such a good girl." Shokuhou Misaki reached out with a white-gloved hand and rubbed the little girl's head.
Although she very much wanted to play with little Misaka for a while, business came first.
Keeping the tiny version of Misaka Mikoto, Last Order, beside her and using the Misaka Network to expand the range of her mental ability, Shokuhou Misaki saw the news broadcast on the screen:
"Russia issues declaration ending hostilities, condemns Fiamma of the Right's imprisonment of the Supreme Patriarch, and declares war on the Roman Catholic Church." She immediately relayed the information to everyone else.
Shokuhou Misaki said, "In other words, the only large-scale mobile force the Roman Catholic Church can still deploy is the punitive fleet right in front of you."
"So the Russian Orthodox Church has withdrawn from its state of war with Academy City?! That's great! As expected of Lady Selene! She solved the biggest problem of the world war this quickly."
Helping the hardheaded damage sponge Sogiita Gunha back to his feet, Kamijou Touma became visibly excited upon hearing the news.
"So if we defeat these bastards in front of us, this farce of a world war will finally be over?"
But in the next instant, before he could make another move, both of their bodies suddenly stiffened!
"Ah, that's exactly right. But why would Yours Truly ever lose?!"
A mocking voice slowly curled around Kamijou Touma's ear.
"You know something? The moment I got close to you, the outcome was already decided!" A faint red figure silently landed a little over twenty paces in front of him, revealing Fiamma of the Right's face, which bore its usual malicious smile.
BOOM!!
The next moment, the ice crystals scattered beneath Kamijou Touma's feet erupted with a roar, shining brilliantly as they linked together.
"Kamijou! That's...an ultra-large magical formation! Destroy it with your right hand!!" Stiyl's hoarse roar instantly rang out.
"Hahahaha, too late. Star of Bethlehem—rise!!"
Crack crack crack—!
...
Step—crunch!
Silver-white high-heeled boots decorated with holy lily patterns crushed the melting snow along the way, leaving shallow indentations behind.
"Tsk, tsk. The Star of Bethlehem...is Fiamma of the Right trying to become the Jesus of a new age?" Her joints creaked softly as her slender, pale fingers curled like drawn bows.
Standing at the precipitous edge of a sea cliff, Selene stretched her body with a somewhat bored expression.
"You...still don't intend to make a move?"
A androgynous man in a green surgical gown stood barefoot upon the jagged rocks. His calm green eyes reflected the mass of land rising from the opposite side of the strait.
"No hurry. Why should we build the stage ourselves when there's already a perfectly good one waiting for us?"
With a soft laugh, Selene raised her hand as though proposing a toast. Turning around, she offered Aleister a colorless crystal no larger than a fingernail.
"What is this?"
"I'll inject Honkai energy into Fiamma of the Right's body. With this, you'll temporarily gain the authority to usurp his flesh. As for what comes after that...I'm sure the Chairman doesn't need me to teach him."