The inside of the Palace of the Popes was vast.
But Kamijou felt that vastness gave it a feeling of lonely isolation. At the very least, there was nothing inside. The walls didn't even have wallpaper; they were bare stone. Other than the evenly spaced pillars holding up the ceiling, nothing was there. It was like a pyramid after all the treasure had been removed.
(It looks like the Roman Catholic Church really didn't have any major force here. A select few wanted to use the C-Document without the rest of the church knowing. Or maybe Terra is acting alone using a personal squad.)
"It looks like no one's here…" Itsuwa said while holding her spear at the ready.
The site was open to sightseers on weekdays, but no one was sightseeing at a time like this. Before, Avignon had been afraid of the rioters and now the powered suits were rampaging around the area.
The gun shots and explosions continued.
If they were continuing, that meant that an actual battle was occurring instead of a one-sided suppression.
Terra was not the only magician in the city because someone had to be operating the C-Document. The powered suits were astounding, but those Roman Catholic magicians had to be something else to take them on directly like that.
As he didn't want to draw fire from either side, Kamijou was walking quietly.
"…Where exactly did those powered suits come from?"
"Eh?" Itsuwa looked over at Kamijou.
"Are there Academy City people piloting them? Or were they lent to an organization that cooperates with Academy City? And they can't exactly hide what they're doing here. What is Academy City thinking…?"
His cell phone had a television function.
Causing unnecessary noise was dangerous, but he needed information.
Kamijou checked to make sure no one was around, took out his phone, and tried to turn on the television function. However, nothing showed up. Perhaps it didn't work with foreign stations. He thought for a second and then brought up the recorded numbers. He called one of those numbers.
"Misaka!!"
"Wh-what?"
He had called Misaka Mikoto.
"Are you busy? There's something I want to ask you."
"O-oh, I see. Does it have to be me? Couldn't you ask someone else? Like my mom maybe."
"Hm? …Oh, I guess you're right. I can just ask Misuzu-san or someone…"
"Non non non non!! I thought you called me because you had something to ask me!"
"??? Well, I guess someone in Academy City would be more helpful than Misuzu-san."
Kamijou cocked his head to the side in confusion and got to the reason he had called.
"Misaka, can you check the news? It can just be from the internet. Can you see if the foreign news says anything about something happening in the city of Avignon?"
"Huh?" Misaka responded.
Perhaps his question had been a bit too sudden.
…Or so he thought. Apparently that wasn't the case here.
"What are you talking about? If you just turn on any TV, you'll find the special news report. Avignon is a French city, right? It seems some religious group is violating international law there by using some special kind of destructive weapon and an operation to clear them out has begun. There's a huge uproar about it."
"…What?"
Kamijou was completely shocked, and then Mikoto continued.
"They're saying that normally the French government would take care of this, but they needed some experts with access to special technology, so Academy City has gotten caught up in it all. …Actually, where are you? You would be hard pressed to find somewhere that didn't have this information yet."
"W-well…" Kamijou thought about how to explain this, but something distracted him.
He couldn't hear anything else.
The gunshots and other sounds from the nearby battle had stopped at some point. This was the natural state of the Palace of the Popes, but the silence almost hurt his hears.
(…)
Mikoto was saying something on the other end of the phone, but Kamijou didn't respond.
He stopped breathing and focused his attention, but he still couldn't hear anything.
He exchanged glances with Itsuwa who was standing next to him and slowly moved forward.
(What's happening here…?)
He felt like some unknown tension was seeping from the depths of the passageways, from the cracks in the walls, and from the other sides of the doors. It felt like the entire atmosphere of the area had been changed.
Kamijou was unable to figure out what had caused it.
This was because the answer showed itself before he had a chance to.
With a loud crash, the thick wall to Kamijou's side burst open.
A powered suit came crashing through.
It slammed into Kamijou and knocked him to the ground. The phone in his hand fell to the ground and the LCD screen shattered.
"!?"
Itsuwa hurriedly thrust the tip of her spear at the powered suit, but she stopped partway.
This was because the powered suit had its arms and legs dangling down showing that it had lost all functionality. It must have been hurled in there by someone.
A number of cylindrical objects were scattered about the powered suit. The 350-milliliter drink can-sized cylinders were the shells for the anti-barrier shotgun the powered suit used. The giant revolver shotgun was lying on the ground nearby.
"Kh…" Shaking his head, Kamijou stood up and heard footsteps.
He raised his head.
Itsuwa was wielding her spear so as to cover him.
And beyond her…
Through the destroyed wall, a magician stood holding a giant white blade.
It was Terra of the Left.
The man had destroyed the powered suit without breaking a sweat by using his "precedence" magic.
"They've really done it now…" He said in a slow voice with an intentional hint of irritation mixed in. "I didn't expect for them to quiet down the chaos of the riots by creating an even greater chaos that I could get wrapped up in. It just goes to show how serious Academy City is. They felt they had to do something about this even if it brought them a certain amount of international criticism."
In his left hand, the opposite of the hand holding the white guillotine, he held a rolled up piece of parchment. It was small. It was only about 15 cm long and 3 cm across. That parchment that had been sealed with wax was…
"The C-Document…" Itsuwa muttered in complete shock.
It was that powerful spiritual item that made a speaker's words thought to be "completely correct" for the Roman Catholic Church. And if Terra was holding it instead of the magicians that had actually been using it…
"This really is a pain. I could easily defeat them on my own, but they focused their attack on the magicians using this. And that will clearly have an effect on the spell. Really now, not being able to use human spells can be a real problem sometimes. Now I've had victory snatched from my grasp thanks to those mediocre magicians. It seems calling it quits here and leaving would be the best plan now."
"Do you really think we're just going to let you leave?" Kamijou said as he slowly lifted up his right hand. "You people can use the C-Document when you get back to the Vatican. Do you really think we're going to let you go knowing that?"
"But what can you do about it? Not even that Academy City unit attacking Avignon can stop me. Or do you think you're more powerful than all of them with that right hand of yours? Do you have any proof of that?"
"…"
As there were no more gunshots coming from anywhere in the Palace of the Popes, it was best to assume that all of the powered suits had been defeated by Terra.
With that much power at his disposal, Terra mockingly smiled towards Kamijou and Itsuwa.
"Although, I suppose it will be difficult to convince you if I don't do anything." He put the C-Document into his pocket with his left hand and lifted the white guillotine with his right. "Challenge me to your heart's content and then give up to your heart's content. I find it much more enjoyable that way."