Stiyl Magnus journeyed for the top floor of the North block. Perhaps Kamijou, whom Stiyl had used as bait, was attracting many more enemies than he had predicted as Stiyl faced essentially no resistance. He hid himself completely, checked every secret entrance, and formed a grasp of the building's situation.
It seemed Deep Blood Himegami Aisa was not imprisoned inside. Having checked the dust and mana traces left behind at the entrance, it seemed that whether it the front or back of the coin, no one had entered.
There was no one, no subordinates, no soldiers or not even Aureolus himself, an environment that would not monitor an escaping prisoner. If such an event occurred, it would have become much more complicated, meaning that Himegami Aisa was not in fact imprisoned but willingly assisting Aureolus Izzard. If it were so, it seemed Stiyl had to face the terrifying and unknown power called Deep Blood.
…Damn it. Why are espers so hard to handle. Having such thoughts, Stiyl's mind wandered to the boy that was used as bait. If the boy died, it would have meant little to Stiyl. From the beginning, Stiyl had told him that they were not allies and clearly stated the boy was a shield. However, when the boy was pushed down, he had seemed so betrayed.
It was the expression of someone backstabbed.
"..."
He had attacked him with a flame sword on their first meeting and had even dragged him to that deadly battlefield. Why did the boy see him as a comrade?
Stiyl was uneasy. Though just a small irritant, it caused Stiyl some uneasiness. …Damn it. Why are espers so hard to handle!
Stiyl began to dash down the narrow emergency staircase. Considering he had used him as bait, such an action was futile. However, Stiyl could not appease his conscience unless he did something with some impact. The remains of Stiyl's humanity argued back.
"I don't understand. Why are you so anxious?" inquired an icy voice behind Stiyl.
"…" Stiyl slowed turned his head. He knew what would have happened if he let an enemy sneak behind him.
Behind Stiyl Magnus stood…
"Hm. So it's over here?" As orange sunset melded with purple night, Index arrived before Misawa Cram School, whose normalness made it seem strange. Index had tracked the owner of the runes stuck to the student dormitory. However, it seemed the mana trail disappeared once it entered the building.
To be blunt, it was an obviously abnormal building that feigned normality. Its intentions were clear.
Like how individuals had mana, the world had "power."
Christians called the existence God's Blessings. The creation of the Golden Dawn organization mapped the blueprint of Western magic called Telesma. In terms of contemporary language, the most similar were the geography and astronomy of Feng Shui. As the name would suggest, a pulse formed from the forces and flows of the entire world that formed blood vessels extending everywhere.
It was similar to how mana formed from human life force, similar to gasoline refined from crude oil. Similarly, the energy spread out over the planet was not too powerful (at least relatively. The lifespan of planetary objects could not be compared to that of a human's and thus the "power" was much larger than human mana.). Through a temple or shrine, it was possible to convert this power into a "planetary energy", generating huge sums of energy.
The power filled the world like air and ordinary people (magicians included as well) could not feel it. Only specially trained magicians or Feng Shui masters could see the force. However, there was no such energy in the four buildings before Index.
Though the power of the world was normally undetectable like basic air, if a vacuum formed, breathing became impossible. Similarly, Index felt an incomparable strangeness.
It was like some tower of death was sliced into cubes, becoming the largest tombstone in the world. It was much too extreme, even if for the sake of trapping mana inside.
Though Kamijou's right hand was capable of destroying the world's power, it was not a large problem. If the power returned to the soil like falling leaves, it rejoined the cycle of life in the form of destruction, perfectly natural. Before Index realized the Walking Church's destruction, she had not realized how harmonious the hand was with nature.
However, the magic tower differed. It was like a city of stone and steel formed after cutting down a forest through forced methods. It was an ugly representation of urbanization.
Had the rune magician not realized? It was perhaps because the rune magician was a walking refinery of vast amounts of mana. Similar to how people react to eating foods with strong tastes, slight changes in flavor went undetected. In contrast, Index, who could not refine mana, clearly felt the slight change.
"This isn't a boundary preventing enemies from invading but a boundary to prevent escape. Hm… It's like an Egyptian pyramid…" muttered the white nun and walked through the automatic doors.
Index had no reason to head back. In face of such an abnormal existence, she had ever more reason to bring the boy home.
The moment she stepped inside, she felt the difference in the atmosphere. It felt like she had walked from under the scorching sun into a shop with a hyperactive air conditioner. The lively and peaceful street had become a cold-blooded battlefield with the ominous presence of permeating death. It was not a false impression for, deep inside the expansive room, at a wall near the lifts was a dead knight donned with Roman Catholic tools.
Index cautiously approached the knight and observed him. The knight's tool, the enchanted suit Surgical Armor was imbued with magic that absorbed physical strikes. As the emphasis was focused on physical defense, the equipment was frailer against magic attacks. However, the enchanted armor was forcefully destroyed by a powerful physical attack. Someone had ignored the defensive attribute.
…Either someone doesn't know anything about magic or he's just really crazy.
Of course, examining the building that was similar to a pharaoh's tomb, the former was impossible. In which case, the situation was troublesome. Those capable of destroying the enchanted Roman Catholic armor with pure physical force were either those capable of summoning archangels or metal golem specialists.
Then, she heard the sound of something clashing. Index looked back and found, beside the elevator, the entrance to an emergency staircase. There seemed to have been the sound of dragging and heavy breathing.
"Who's…" Before she could finish her question, the thing climbed out of the emergency staircase.
It could not have been called human or object. It was no longer human. Its lower half was ripped, its left arm blown to smithereens, and its face's right side blown off. Even its remaining left side was charred. Such a thing could not have been called human.
The half of its remaining face was still moving. Unbelievably, it seemed the head tilted with thought. As Index began to think of something unimportant, it used a hand to support itself in preparation to leap.
"…!"
Without a word, it leaped. Index could only frantically backtrack and trip and tumble over the remains of the knight. The thing seemingly lost its target and seemed to be positioned to land on Index.
"Be crushed!" A stern man's voice was heard in the icy expanse.
The wall near the elevator ripped apart like paper and a man's hand emerged from within. The large hand grasped like it was catching a ball and found the charred head of the thing.
Then, before Index lying on the floor, the thing's body shattered as the man had declared. Like gathered ash being crushed, with a "pak!" three cracks appeared on the thing's body, beginning to break into pieces. It then exploded into something like snow-flakes that disappeared before touching Index's face.
"Open!" The voice was heard once more and the immobile elevator doors ripped open from the inside. The twisted elevator that should not have opened, did. It was an ultimate magic that forced the user's surroundings to morph according to his words.
"Don't tell me…"
Facing the puzzled, mumbling Index, a tall, lean man exited the elevator, appearing careless. His green hair was combed back and he wore a white Italian suit and high class leather shoes.
"Hm. It's been a while, but I don't think you remember me. Inevitably, you can't remember the name Aureolus Izzard. But, to me, this might be somewhat lucky." Said the man who had numerous mosquito-bite like marks on his head.
It was acupuncture, an Asian healing technique that seemed out of place with Westerners. In truth, this was false pretense. For example the founder of Golden Dawn, a Western magic organization, loved Buddhist concepts.
"But, even if you don't remember, I shall say what I need to. It's been a while Index. It seems you've forgotten me but I'm quite happy to see you haven't changed." He said as he reached his hand out, blocking Index's eyes. It was the hand of a human or perhaps a monster that crushed the charred creature.
Index could not move as she responded. "Do-Don't tell me… the Golden Ars Magna?"
The man responded with a soft smile.