A loud roar that sounded like cold water being sprinkled on a heated iron plate amplified hundreds of times resounded throughout the Palace of the Popes.
Something must have happened outside the building, but neither Kamijou nor Itsuwa nor Terra looked to see what.
Kamijou held up his right hand and glared at Terra.
They were about 7 meters apart.
He was well within range of Terra's flour guillotine. Not to mention that Terra had his "precedence" ability.
The condition of the floor was bad. Pieces of the stone wall Terra had broken down were scattered about and a number of cylindrical shells that belonged to the fallen powered suit were too.
"I'd ask you one last time, but I really doubt you're just going to hand over the C-Document."
"No. So just accept your defeat."
Kamijou dashed forward after hearing that.
Terra responded by swinging the flour blade in his right hand.
Kamijou thrust his right hand forward as a means of defense as he ran.
But…
"Precedence: Air – Lower, Flour – Higher."
The flour guillotine suddenly expanded with a roar.
The guillotine acted as a giant fan 3 meters wide and flew towards Kamijou bringing an enormous amount of air with it.
"!?"
Kamijou couldn't respond.
Itsuwa had been running towards Terra along with him and she forcibly grabbed his arm. She dodged to the side dragging Kamijou with her as the air that shouldn't have had any weight or sharpness to it smashed the floor and wall of the Palace. A number of the shells scattered on the floor exploded like fireworks. The shockwave-like noise almost made Kamijou choke.
Itsuwa gently let go of Kamijou's arm.
And then with a speed that one would never imagine from her previous gentleness, she brought her spear up again and fiercely stabbed it towards Terra's throat.
The sound of the air being sliced resounded.
"Precedence: Blades – Lower, Human Skin – Higher."
With Terra's words, Itsuwa's attack was deflected by his skin.
A metallic clang reverberated through the Palace of the Popes.
Itsuwa felt a resounding pain in her hand like she had struck a giant stone with her spear.
But she did not stop moving.
She maintained her striking posture and kicked up some pebbles that were at her feet towards Terra's eyes.
Terra did not move his head out of the way. He didn't even close his eyes.
He casually swung his right arm.
A horizontal strike flew towards the pebbles and Itsuwa and even Kamijou was knocked back from the new angle he had been attacking from.
A dull noise sounded as Kamijou and Itsuwa were knocked to the ground.
"Ow…!?"
Itsuwa tried to get up, but she grimaced.
When she had collapsed, she had fallen on the remains of the stone wall Terra had destroyed. Falling on that stone had done some damage to her ankle.
And Terra of the Left did not overlook that fact.
"Precedence: Human Flesh – Lower, Flour – Higher."
The guillotine flew.
Itsuwa could not move with her damaged leg, so she quickly brought her spear up.
Kamijou got in between them from the side.
He held out his right hand and blew Terra's attack to pieces.
There was a loud roar.
Terra swung his right arm again and Itsuwa pushed Kamijou to the side as she jumped in the opposite direction on her hurt leg.
Terra's guillotine flew between them.
"Oh, how brave," Terra smiled slightly while watching Itsuwa bear with her pain. "But you're at your limit. Right now, you're just getting in his way."
Kamijou was about to fly into a rage at Terra's words, but…
"…That's true." Itsuwa spoke quietly.
But there was a smile on her lips.
"But you've finally shown your weakness. A fatal weakness."
"And what might that be?"
"It's what that Tsuchimikado-san was talking about. The weakness of your precedence spell, 'Execution of Light'. I've noticed a clear oddity in your actions…"
"Oh?" Terra said interestedly.
Itsuwa slowly pointed the tip of her spear towards Terra and spoke.
"The Amakusa Church does not use incantations and magic circles for our spells; we gather together everyday objects and habits that have magical meaning within them to create our spells. And because of this, we are quite good at finding those meanings."
"I see. That is a problem." Terra spoke with no emotion in his voice. "But do you have time to do anything with this knowledge now that you've figured out it?"
As he spoke, Terra lifted his right hand above his head.
The guillotine tapered off like a screw and stabbed into the tall ceiling.
"Precedence: Ceiling – Lower, Flour – Higher."
As Terra moved his arm like he was pulling the string for a fluorescent light, it came down.
Just like a trap in an old castle, the ceiling of that floor suddenly lowered.
The pillars supporting the ceiling sank down unnaturally into the floor.
"!!"
Itsuwa hurriedly held her spear vertically.
She wedged the spear between the falling ceiling and the floor narrowly avoiding being crushed to death.
But in doing so she lost her weapon.
Terra then mercilessly attacked with his guillotine.
There was an explosive roar.
The horizontally flying guillotine directly hit Itsuwa's defenseless body. She doubled over while a dull sound could be heard and the shock knocked her small body through the air. Her body rolled a few meters as she bounced 2 or 3 times until her body finally lost its momentum and stopped.
She lay limp and did not get up.
Her arms and legs were splayed out, but her chest was slowly rising and falling so she wasn't dead. However, it didn't look like she would regain consciousness anytime soon.
(Damn it…)
Kamijou gritted his teeth.
"Itsuwa!!"
"Well, this was to be expected. A normal magician can't hope to stand up to a member of God's Right Seat."
As Terra spoke, the fallen ceiling returned to its original height. The compressed pillars also returned to their normal length.
Itsuwa's spear that had prevented her from being crushed fell to the ground.
"You bastard…"
Kamijou slowly, very slowly put more power into his right fist.
But Terra did not seem even slightly worried by the expression on Kamijou's face.
"My, my. Getting so mad is only going to cause more problems. This is a battle. You didn't think I was going to let you punch me again and again without attacking back, did you?"
"…"
"In fact, I'm the one that's disappointed here. I thought taking on the Imagine Breaker would make for a difficult battle, but I never expected it would be this incomplete. If its original functionality were recovered, you should have been able to protect that magician from that attack."
"What?" Kamijou looked confused.
(Imagine Breaker's…original functionality?)
Kamijou stared at his right hand without meaning to and a slight smile appeared on Terra's lips.
"Oh. Do you not know?"
"…"
"Heh heh. But that can't be. You would have to know. Not knowing would mean…Hm? By any chance do you not remember some things you should know?"
"Why you…!!"
"Oh, did I just hit the bull's eye? It seems I've found some interesting research material!!"
"…!"
It may not have made much sense to get mad over that.
But talk of "not remembering" bore deep into Kamijou's heart because he had lost his memories.
"Ha ha!!" Terra laughed loudly while watching Kamijou somehow manage to get to his feet while wobbling. "I see! I see! I don't remember hearing any report of that…Have you been hiding it? What for? Have you told that magician lying over there? Looking into how you lost your memories and what you've done about it could prove to be quite interesting."
(Damn it!!)
Kamijou controlled his anger.
He had determined not to let anyone know he had lost his memories. All for the sake of the white girl he had met just after losing them. That was his rule. He had to follow it. Having that rule destroyed like this was about to drive him insane.
"You can tell me." Terra of the Left spoke these nonsensical words while smiling. "You're going to die here anyway, so you don't have to worry about anything. I don't know what has you so upset, but I'll resolve it for you."
As Terra slowly held up the flour guillotine, Kamijou gritted his teeth so hard it felt like his jaw would break.
(…The power of that blade alone isn't fatal.) Kamijou thought while glaring at the white powder swirling around Terra. (The main problem is that "precedence". If only I could find a weakness in that power that he uses for both offense and defense, I can take him down!! If a weakness even exists, that is.)
Tsuchimikado and Itsuwa had both determined that there was one.
Or it was possible that had just been a bluff they were making in their exchanges with Terra.
(There's something there.)
Kamijou estimated the distance between himself and Terra.
(Come to think of it, there was something odd about Terra's attacks. There were mistakes in our favor that I didn't think too much about and tossed aside. Oh, right. There was…)
"Oh, you aren't coming in to attack?" Terra said while lightly swinging his flour guillotine. "Well, I don't like waiting, so I'll come for you!!"
As he spoke, he attacked with the white blade.
And when Kamijou Touma saw that, he…