Index burst out of the parking garage into the rain.
She'd been shaking around in a big hospital-like car before, but she didn't
have the time to be hiding out any longer. Voices yelling for her to stop came
from behind her, but she didn't turn back.
I swear, what on earth was that "Misaka Network Connection Battery" thing,
anyway?! Did he trick me? Anyway, a lost child is a problem, but I never thought
something like that would appear in Academy City!
Just its wings were gigantic; she couldn't see its main body, hidden behind the
buildings as it was. She could see dozens of layers of feathers moving slowly—
about the speed a person walked.
An angel.
Index had no idea why something like an angel had appeared in Academy
City. Plus, this angel wasn't in her 103,000 grimoires. That hadn't happened
since Aureolus and his Ars Magna, which meant this rivaled that incident in
importance.
I have to stop it…She glared at the hundred-meter-long wings far in the
distance. If I don't, it will do something terrible.
Just the one attack from earlier had incredible destructive power, but if it
really was an angel in the sense that Index knew them, that wouldn't have been
its true value. It would have the strength to end all life on earth with a fingertip
and even greatly affect the stars in space.
The archive of forbidden books.
Necessarius, the Church of Necessary Evils.
It was all created for situations like this, but they'd never felt so unreliable
before. She was a professional sorcerer, and even she felt so much fear from it.
She knew she couldn't let the angel strike that fear into others who had nothing
to do with this.
Index ran through the eerily quiet streets. She passed by nobody, perhaps due
to the downpour.
Then, the being far, far in the distance began to roar as though tearing apart
the night sky with its cry. It sounded like a beast being pulled by a collar made
of barbed wire.
Its layers of giant feathers rattled, squirming ominously, as though it was
stirring, trying to endure pain.
And as the angel moved, it cried out.
Index focused in that direction, wanting to get as much information as
possible.
"…Huh?"
But suddenly, she grunted, confused.
The sound, a simple vibration of the air, which humans could never
understand.
But for some reason, when she heard that voice, she felt a longing.
"…"
The angel held her giant wings in front of her.
Wings of light, not meant to be in this world, divine yet spine-chilling. At times
the wings would blur as though blown by the wind, then return to normal. Like
waves on a beach—like mist swaying in a breeze.
The motions looked random, but they actually followed a fixed pattern.
Index had perfect recall, and that information gave her a match.
She'd seen those movements before.
September 1.
After defeating the sorcerer Sherry Cromwell in the underground mall, when
she and Touma Kamijou had gone to the hospital with the doctor with the frog
face.
It was…
The reserved air, cowering in the face of everything…Its owner was…
"…Hyouka?"