Oriana Thomson was on the ground, not moving at all.
At this moment, Kamijou knew that the boundary that she set up had vanished. The engines could be heard as the planes buzzed around, as if he suddenly recalled something.
The surrounding runway of the experimental airbase looked like it had been plowed through, the control tower and support frames were bowled down. The mini-plane in the air finally hovered up frantically. After a while, Anti-Skill would arrive.
"Stiyl!!"
Kamijou shifted his body that was completely covered with wounds to the rune magician, who was lying far away. Stiyl was covered in ice fragments, and now the ice was almost melted. Maybe it was because the ice block that was covering the wound had melted, there was more blood flowing out of the wound.
Stiyl couldn't get up.
But, as he lay on the ground, his eyes started to blink slowly.
"…Don't worry…about me, I can do this on my own."
He moved his bloody lips.
"More importantly, the Croce di Pietro, force Oriana…to say where…it is…our ultimate objective…is to prevent that spiritual item from activating…"
"But!"
Just as Kamijou was looking around, looking for something that could be used as a bandage.
"There's nothing to worry about. Everything will be over soon."
He could hear a voice.
It was the voice of a female. One that seemed older than Oriana.
Kamijou looked around, there was no new person around. The voice came from near where Oriana was lying.
"…The boundary that prevents communication is cut…"
After much difficulty, Stiyl managed to say these words.
Kamijou thought, this must be a spell meant to replace a wireless walkie-talkie or cell phone.
(If so, the one speaking is…)
Lidvia Lorenzetti.
Like Oriana Thomson, she was also responsible for planning to activate the Croce di Pietro inside Academy City, the person who wanted to dominate this entire area to take over the entire science faction.
She said,
"After a while, the Croce di Pietro will activate. Academy City will work to the Roman Catholic Church's favor. Thus, you don't have to worry even if you're hurt. No matter what, including those wounds, the entirety of Academy City will be reversed."
That meant,
The Croce di Pietro was not with Oriana, but with Lidvia.
At the same time,
"YOU PLAN TO GET RID OF US MEDDLERS HERE!?"
Kamijou inadvertently shouted out.
Lidvia remained unmoved as she said,
"You seem to be mistaken. I just want to say, we'll take care of your wounds, and treat you. Of course, if these are beneficial to the Roman Catholic Church."
What?
Kamijou couldn't help but frown.
"…Ignore her, Kamijou Touma."
Stiyl, who was on the ground, softly whispered.
"Since they're going to use the Croce di Pietro, Lidvia and the spiritual item should be somewhere close by. With your right hand, you can definitely destroy all the spiritual functions. So hurry, Lidvia should be somewhere near this runway—"
"—To avoid any misunderstandings, let me tell you first."
Lidvia seemed to intend to shut Stiyl up as she said,
"The Croce di Pietro is not in Academy City."
Kamijou inadvertently turned to look at Oriana, who was on the ground.
Lidvia's voice, which was coming from there, coldly stated,
"You people seemed to have checked all the 'observatories' in Academy City, but that was just a decoy. Seems like you weren't able to consider the 'observatories' outside Academy City."
The outside.
It took several seconds for Kamijou and Stiyl to understand these words.
"The Holy See, which was created by the Croce di Pietro, once occupied 47,000 square kilometers of land at its peak. Right now, it's at 200 square kilometers. Of course, we have calculated, even if it's outside Academy City, it can take over the entire city."
"Damn it."
Stiyl blurted out these words.
Now lying on the ground, he couldn't even move his limbs as he would like.
"We…were tricked, Kamijou Touma…hurry up and contact Tsuchimikado! Oriana must have…purposely attracted our attention…right from the beginning!!"
"That's right. Her mission is to investigate the related personnel and combat capability, and to divert all the attention in the wrong direction. If she really wanted to hide, she could have used the people clearing field or any spell that can remove her presence. However, there won't be any fish if there's no bait. Thus, she purposely appeared here."
The nun's voice steadily continued.
"It takes a long time to use the Croce di Pietro, but the main point is that the 'observatory' has to be fixed. The most worrying thing is for all your main combatants to know where all the 'observatories' are beforehand."
Lidvia Lorenzetti calmly revealed the truth,
"To us, it's important to prevent this from becoming the focus, so Oriana purposely moved around Academy City, doing things that looked like there was a purpose behind them, to force all your combatants to focus solely within Academy City. I have the Croce di Pietro, and before the time came, I was waiting in a hotel outside Academy City all this while, and in fact, the Croce di Pietro was to be set up outside Academy City. Seems like our plan wasn't discovered."
"This…"
Kamijou gritted his teeth, but he couldn't think of any specific countermeasure.
"I wanted Oriana to not use a people clearing field or a presence cut spell. At first, when the Silent Coin was destroyed, it was the preparation phase to begin battle. That time, we panicked. If Oriana was caught too early, we wouldn't be able to achieve our objective."
To plan out all this elaborately, was it because she had all the trumps?
Lidvia's voice continued to ring inside Kamijou's ears.
"Too bad. Unfortunately, she was beaten. However, the Croce di Pietro will change this situation such that it would be beneficial to us. In conclusion, her failure is nothing but a trivial matter. As long as we can use the Croce di Pietro from outside Academy City to take over Academy City, we can turn this situation around, and it will end up being as we planned it in the beginning."
Though Lidvia's words were mild, they made Kamijou feel that all their efforts up till now had been wasted.
Kamijou used his trembling hand to pull the cell phone from his shorts pocket. Just as he was looking for a record of Tsuchimikado's number on the cell phone display,
"It's useless."
Most likely, besides the voice, it also showed what was going on. Lidvia dully said,
"For you to try and locate me now, it's a little too far. Even if you have reinforcements on the streets, I believe that everything would be over before they could arrive."
"…(The long range strike… Red Spell won't work?)"
Stiyl continued to lie on the ground as he spoke in a barely audible voice.
"…(First seeking, then attacking. Right now, Tsuchimikado is unable to…use spells consecutively. We're lucky if he can even squeeze one off with his current state…)"
"Damn it! What can we do now!?"
Kamijou roared, but he couldn't think of any concrete plan to fight back.
In this atmosphere of despair, only Lidvia Lorenzetti's voice echoed throughout.
"How do you view the changes to Academy City after the Croce di Pietro is used?"
Hearing this, Stiyl moved his lips.
"…Compared to Sodom and Gomorrah (Note: These were the legendary cities that indulged in promiscuous acts. God sent sulphur and fire down onto these cities, destroying all the land, the people, and even the living things down there.)…it might be a little better. But what you people are doing…is no different from destroying those cities. To the Roman Catholic Church, you'll send all those irritating places…into oblivion, and then use force to display God's power…at his end, St. George…did something similar to the Roman Temple."
"This is your misunderstanding."
Lidvia immediately said,
"To us, the most important thing is to yield the rampant science faction, that's all it is. Right now, science is arrogant, like the old Roman pagans. So we have to act like what they did in the past, to deny all of what they believe in, to use our power to demonstrate God's authority."
Her tone had changed.
The words that were cut halfway were now completely linked up.
"Science's views, science's views, science's views…the word 'science' here is no longer just simple knowledge, but a pagan cult in itself. Unfortunately, people will just believe the words 'Science's views' without any condition. They never used their own eyes to confirm it, how stupid is that?"
That true, Science may have been heading in the wrong direction at times.
Even if Science was correct, how could anyone say that Science was the absolute truth? One had to think through it before calling it Science.
Common knowledge and Science—if so, would continue to improve over time. Till 1930, nobody had discovered Pluto. That had also been a time where people said that blue-ray diodes were impossible.
Even if Science was correct, the scientific framework may be imperfect. If one was to add in the words 'Science is correct' without thinking, it was like saying that 'the teacher is never wrong'.
"We feel that it's the science side invading the Church, and so we can't let this slide. Human hands have stained God's almighty name, so it's right to clean with human hands, right?"
Kamijou didn't even bother with Lidvia's words.
It was impossible to talk with her.
Kamijou pulled out his cell phone and confirmed the time. The moment he looked up at the sky, the sky had turned completely purple.
Like ink smudging through the paper, stars were scattered everywhere in the sky.
This was the worst situation.
It was almost over.
"We'll take you in, and won't destroy Academy City. Such a boring festival like Daihaseisai is only a perfect demonstration site for us to force the science side to submit to the Church. We'll let you forsake this pagan religion before accepting you as our dear fellow comrades."
Stiyl moved his wounded body and pulled a blood-stained rune card from his arms. Like Lidvia, he may have been trying to use a communication spell.
"Go…call…Tsuchimikado."
Stiyl tried to squeeze out a voice.
"…It's called the 'all-around reality array', right? That spell that searched out Oriana's counterspell. Use it on Lidvia's message, and find out where she is. After that, I'll use my communicating spell, and call my allies outside to…"
"There's no use. There's only 120 seconds before the Croce di Pietro is used. No, it's 107 seconds now. I can say this now: checkmate."
107 seconds.
Even if they found out where Lidvia was, nobody could get there. They would use up all their time by just calling the injured Tsuchimikado here.
Stiyl Magnus gasped.
On the other side of the communicating spell, Lidvia Lorenzetti revealed a smile.
Kamijou gritted his teeth as he looked up at the purple sky that was becoming starry.
(Is there any way…)
The feeling of not giving up continued to circle around him.
(…IS THERE AN ULTIMATE TRUMP CARD THAT CAN REVERSE THIS SITUATION!!)
Kamijou racked his brain as if he was desperately grasping at straws. —The Croce di Pietro, the most important spiritual item that the Roman Catholic Church had could take over 47,000 square kilometers of land. It was a spell that used constellations, not using just the constellation's location, but its appearance in the night sky. After investigating the characteristics and features, they had chosen the most effective one out of the 88 constellations, and now they were ready to collect the starlight on the ground.
"—!!"
Kamijou Touma grabbed his phone.
"Tsuchimikado! Don't ask anything. Listen to me. How many possible places outside Academy City can they use the Croce di Pietro and still take over Academy City!?"
"Wha…at are you…saying, Kami-yan?"
This interrupted voice probably indicated that he did not know what was going on here.
However, Kamijou had no time or intention to elaborate. He again shouted,
"NO NEED TO EXPLAIN THE SPECIFICS. AMONG ALL THE CONDITIONS THAT I MENTIONED, WHERE'S THE FURTHEST POINT!?"
"…There should be 5 of them outside. Among them…the one furthest away is north of Academy City, about 1,700 meters away…Kami-yan, what's going on…"
"Sorry, Tsuchimikado, I don't have time to explain it."
After apologizing, Kamijou hung up the phone, ignoring the other person's questions. After that he activated the search function of his communication function. It was the electronic version of the Daihaseisai tour guidebook.
(I know the distance. The time…there's 55 seconds left. Can it work!!?)
"Right now, it's impossible to do anything. So let me destroy that last hope of yours, I'm now no longer at that aforementioned location."
Kamijou ignored that voice which seemed to be lying as he continued to operate his phone desperately.
On the display, it was the map of Academy City.
(Not this.)
Kamijou closed the tab and opened a new one.
(Not this. Not this either.)
He closed the screen, and opened another one. This map was only meant for those who had lost their guidebooks and needed information, so it couldn't fit in all the contents of that thick guidebook. It was inconvenient too, and Kamijou still couldn't find the information that he wanted.
Even so, Kamijou continued to work on the phone.
When he finally saw the display, the phone in his hand dropped.
Klak Klak.
The light sound of plastic dropping rang on the evening runway. But, that was just it. Kamijou wanted to pick up the phone, but he couldn't do so. His trembling fingers couldn't move successfully, and he couldn't even do a simple action.
There were still 40 seconds till everything was over.
These last moments would just be wasted by Lidvia's words.
"No matter what, no matter what method you use, it's impossible to get to where I am now."
She continued in her polite tone, as if she was bowing over and apologizing.
"Everything is over. Including you people, I'll make this world a better place."
As if he had given up, Kamijou let out a 'ha' laugh.
"That's right, everything is over."
There were still 20 seconds left.
"Ahh, damn it, saying that I'll keep my promise."
In his vision, it was not the stars that were about to appear.
"That's right. Even though I was confident and agreed with Himegami, I ended up like this. I'm really disappointed."
He looked at the cell phone that was lying on the ground.
"You think so too right, Lidvia?"
There were still 5 seconds left.
"Even when I have broken your illusion."
"What?"
Just as Lidvia raised her doubt.
Dong!!
A strong bright light appeared from the ground, and the darkness in the night was eradicated immediately.
It was the light released by the light bulbs, neon lights, laser lights, focus lights and many more that were set up all over Academy City. Though District 23 had nothing to do with Daihaseisai, the nearby International Airport started to shine like the decorative lights on a Christmas tree. Fast-paced music could be heard from afar with many electronic tunes. It sounded like the background music at a children's theme park.
"It's exactly 6:30 PM now."
Kamijou Touma picked up his cell phone, and looked at the screen.
On the simple digital edition of the guidebook, the words were written 'night parade'.
"Don't you know when the night parade starts?"
"What…"
Light continued to cover Academy City.
Before he realized it, the stars that had been shining in the night sky vanished upon the appearance of the ground lights. It was like a metropolis, where it was impossible to see the stars due to all the light. The weaker starlight was absorbed into the strong floodlights.
"Really…I already promised Himegami to visit her at the hospital before this starts, and in the end, I still couldn't make it. Damn it, I really lost face there."
Kamijou clicked his tongue bitterly.
"That's right. According to Tsuchimikado, the furthest location outside Academy City which can still take over Academy City is about 1,700 meters away. If it's just that distance, with this large amount of light in Academy City, it should cover the entire sky."
Then, Kamijou continued,
"If even the furthest place can be covered, no matter where you are, the other places will be covered as well, right? Lidvia Lorenzetti."
"—"
The remaining 5 seconds had passed.
But there was still no change to the world.
"Thinking about it, we're all boring supporting roles."
This was the moment when a most-powerful spell that used starlight,
Succumbed to all the artificial light released.
"For me, not being able to catch you now, I can't say anything big. But didn't you not look down on Daihaseisai's authority? Haven't you now lost to all the light that everyone released? The security system, what balance between Science and Magic, these are all decorations for today. You should have checked out who's the main character for Daihaseisai."
It was not Kamijou Touma, it was not Stiyl Magnus, it was not Tsuchimikado Motoharu, it was definitely not Oriana Thomson, and definitely not Lidvia Lorenzetti. They were Fukiyose Seiri, who wanted Daihaseisai to succeed, Himegami Aisa, who was in her own blood due to coincidence, Tsukuyomi Komoe, who was crying as she tried to save her student who was drowning in her own blood.
These people gathered together to protect Daihaseisai.
Using this large amount of light. The intention to use this light to create wonderful memories.
"…"
Facing Kamijou's words, the other party had no reply.
Right now, what was Lidvia thinking as she looked up at the sky?
"So how? Seems like you can't shake Daihaseisai anymore, right? I don't know anything about the power balance between the science side and the magic side, but if you destroy the Croce di Pietro, get out of here quietly, and not do anything to Academy City, I won't have anything with that. What do you think?"
"…You think so?"
A low tension could be felt in Lidvia's voice.
It felt like she would explode the moment she moved a finger.
"I'm a respected Roman Catholic, and I don't feel that I did anything wrong to Academy City. It's meaningless to accept your proposal."
"Really?"
Kamijou quietly replied.
He shifted his vision slightly.
Tsuchimikado Motoharu was climbing over the fence and approaching. The only man who could use a spell to detect the magic source was slowly moving over.
Even if Tsuchimikado was to accurately find the 'observatory' where the Croce di Pietro was used, before Kamijou and company could head there, Lidvia would likely escape with the Croce di Pietro. It was already difficult for them while they had their chase, and there was a considerable time and distance for them to cover in order to get outside.
But, there were many magical organizations of different sizes waiting for this opportunity outside the city.
No matter what they thought about Academy City, it was a righteous cause for them to capture Oriana and Lidvia. And also, it was disturbing that the whereabouts of the Croce di Pietro was still unknown. Regarding this, they would be able to settle the situation regarding Lidvia by asking for help from the Anglican Church.
Thus,
By using the 'all-around reality array' that Tsuchimikado prepared, letting Stiyl know the source of Lidvia's communicating spell, contacting the Anglican reinforcements that were waiting outside Academy City, and then letting them do their thing, everything would be over.
Besides that, Kamijou Touma had nothing else to do.
Finally, he laughed, and said,
"Go run and scamper around as if you're running in a sports meet, Lidvia Lorenzetti."