The sun had set.
"…?" Kamijou rose from the seat and looked around himself. Seat? He found that he was inside a student bus that apparently did not go in the direction of Kamijou's dormitory. The final stop on the bus wrote "17th District: Before Misawa Cram School." Typically speaking, the final busses stopped running at 6:30. It was possibly a cram school bus considering it was rare for buses to travel at midnight.
"Misawa Cram?" Kamijou's head tilted. Was that the name of the cram school? Kamijou pondered it but found no answer. He himself could not have been a cram school student; Kamijou Touma could not write his holiday assignments let alone prepare for exams.
The term memory loss sent chills down Kamijou's spine. He had thought that it was simply memory loss of previous experiences, but, as things stood, it may have been much worse than he had expected.
"…Better check it out at the hospital." While muttering to himself, Kamijou decided to first get off the bus for he knew not where it was headed. After exiting at the nearest stop, Kamijou found that he was unfamiliar with the surrounding scenery.
He physically felt relatively balanced and was wide awake. At first glance, he seemed very healthy but it seemed safer to do a check-up at a hospital considering he had lost several hours of memories.
If I go to the hospital I'll need my health insurance card. Better go home first. Are hospitals still open right now? Do I need to call for emergency services? Wait, how am I going to explain this to Index? Wouldn't she be suspicious if I wanted to go to the hospital all of a sudden? Would she be angry that she hasn't eaten dinner this whole time…? His mind swirling about, Kamijou walked to his dormitory since there were no buses at that time going in that direction.
Such misfortune.
He felt like something was calling out to him.
…?
Kamijou bent his head with puzzlement. It was strange. Why did he feel like he had forgotten something important? It was like forgetting to turn off the stove before going on holiday, that sort of irresolvable danger.
What's going on? Kamijou thought about the Misawa Cram School that he had never been to and muttered.
"Nevermind. If I can't remember, it's probably not important."
With that conclusion, he continued forward. As of that moment, the most important thing was to calm down Index, who would likely be angry and starving. It seemed his only option was the 700 yen black honey pudding.
I really shouldn't've bought that 3600 yen reference book. Kamijou sighed and scratched his head with his right hand...
…His right hand that could negate any supernatural power, even a Godly miracle…
PAKIN! With the sound of his skull shattering, the entire day's memories rushed into his mind.
"…!" Kamijou erratically looked around and only found a scene cloaked in the night's darkness. Considering the station's distance, he could no longer see Misawa Cram School from where he was. How long had it been? He could not find Stiyl, Himegami or Aureolus and—of course— Index.
Aureolus had said "forget everything" and Kamijou had truly forgotten everything. He forgot the Misawa Cram School that became a battlefield, Himegami being taken away by Aureolus and also what the alchemist said about Index.
"DAMN IT!"
The last few hours were completely lost. Even alone, Stiyl's probably okay in there, right? With him coming to mind, Kamijou began to run towards Misawa Cram School.
During his run, Kamijou, whose mind was in disarray, had noticed that he had not met anyone else along the way; in fact no one else was on the road aside from him. Even if it were afterhours, it was downtown Academy City. It was unnatural to not have met a single person.
…What's going on?
By the time Kamijou had noticed the abnormality, he was already within visible sight of Misawa Cram School. An absence of people was something Kamijou had experienced before due to the Opila runes that Stiyl had utilized the previous evening.
However, this time, rather than an absence of people, Kamijou was surprised to find people surrounding Misawa Cram School. Kamijou stopped and did a double take. Somewhat far away, he saw a few people, whose genders were indiscernible, donned in skin-tight silver armor. The lack of people made it seem all the more suspicious. From Kamijou's angle he saw three individuals. If they were surrounding the four buildings, there must have been more of their comrades.
…What? Who are these weird guys…? People from the Church? Mindful of these people, Kamijou decided to approach one of them. Perhaps the situation had changed while Kamijou had lost his memory like an idiot.
"Oi. What are you people doing? Are you members of the Church?" Kamijou remembered the knight who had died near the elevator. The people wore armor similar to that of the fallen knight.
One of them responded, shocked to hear the term "Church." "I'm a member of the 13 Knights of the Roman Catholic Church, 'Lancelot' Vittorio Cassera." He said rather impatiently. "Oh, so you're a survivor of that battlefield? We saw you walk from over here. You're really lucky. If you don't want to die, get back."
Kamijou wondered what nonsense he was spouting as he examined the entire suit of armor.
"We don't wish to cause unnecessary damage. We'll have the Gregorian Sacred Song Corp use the Gregorian Chant to carry out a Holy Incantation Bombardment. This is a means we decided after much deliberation in order to keep collateral damage to a minimum."
The knight's words were surprising. The Gregorian Chant was the spell that the Misawa Cram School students had used. According to Stiyl, the spell was of Roman Catholic origin. It was intended to be the ultimate weapon of the Roman Catholic Church. By utilizing 3333 monks gathered outside of a cathedral and having them chant the long spell, it intensified the power of the spell like sunlight into a magnifying glass.
Stiyl's words once again floated in his mind. The replica already had such power, how much did the real one have?
"Bombard?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? HOW POWERFUL IS THIS THING!? HOW MANY PEOPLE INSIDE WILL GET INVOLVED!? ARE YOU GOING TO BLOW UP THE ENTIRE BUILDING!?"
"Certainly. This holy spell gathers 3333 at the greatest holy location in the world. The Vatican Church can accurately turn anything in this world to dust. Not to mention, if we leave that heretic's tower intact, it'd be an insult to our pride."
"WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU SAYING!? THERE ARE STILL COUNTLESS INNOCENT STUDENTS INSIDE! AND STIYL AND HIMEGAMI ARE STILL INSIDE! EVEN AUREOLUS—!"
Aureolus, the man that wanted to simply wanted to summon a vampire to save someone's life.
"EXACTLY HOW BIG WILL THE BLAST RADIUS BE WHEN THAT HUGE BUILDING BLOWS UP?!? RUBBLE WILL FLY LIKE CANNONBALLS FOR 600 METERS!!"
"The end justifies the means! The bloodshed of today will be the foundation of tomorrow!"
Kamijou could not remain calm as his anger boiled at those words. His last comment had contradicted what he had said before. For the sake of relieving unnecessary suffering, Kamijou was told to run away. Yet somehow, the knight nonsensically felt no remorse for the lives of the people within Misawa Cram.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? YOUR COMRADE'S IN THERE TOO!" said Kamijou, invoking the knight that died beside the elevator.
"Percival has been martyred in enemy territory. His life will be avenged for the better tomorrow."
The dying, armored knight was unintelligible and filled with fury, seemingly having lost his ability to think calmly.
"Damn it! Wait a minute! One hour, no, 30 minutes will be enough!"
"We have no reason to listen your opinion! Begin the attack now!" The armored man calling himself Lancelot raised his large sword into the sky. Giving off a red glow, Kamijou thought it looked like an antenna.
Before Kamijou could stop him, the antenna was swung down.
"Revelation 8:7," So began the coordinated ritual. "The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down onto the earth!"
Perhaps due to the result of magic, a horn was heard from the glowing sword, a howling, echoing noise was heard through the night.
All voices vanished.
The clouds floating in the night sky promptly scattered and from far away were lightning. An enormous pillar of light descended from the heavens. However, the pillar was red. Like thousands of flaming arrows moving in close proximity, the pillar was spear striking one of the four Misawa Cram buildings.
The red lotus pierced roof to basement, crushing the tower to half of its original height like a squashed aluminum can. The glass shattered and interior decorations flew about in chaos.
However, there was more. The tower that was hit directly dragged the two neighboring towers by the overhead corridors, leaving the last unaffected tower like a tombstone.
The act of madness left Kamijou in bewilderment.
The buildings were twisted, cracks formed along the walls and people fell through the gaps like dust being patted from pants. Numerous pieces of falling debris utterly devastated the surroundings like a meteor shower. The only possible upside was the lack of people that the Opila rune had caused.
Kamijou gritted his teeth at the thought that many students and teachers, Stiyl, Himegami, Aureolus and perhaps even Index were still inside.
"YOU BASTARDS!!"
Kamijou exploded like a cannon, but not at the armored person. There was no time to bother with him; Kamijou's destination was the site of bombardment. A storm of dust prevented Kamijou from making any progress. He could not open his eyes let alone see. Even so, he continued forward. In the back of his mind, he hoped it was all a joke. Then, something changed.
"?" Initially, Kamijou was under the impression that the dust began to scatter. The immense dust flew forward as if carried by a strong wind… to the wreckage called Misawa Cram School. "!?"
Dust was just part of it. The previously falling rubble began to float in midair and the crumbling walls flipped erect. The debris moved together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and completely reformed the smooth towers that looked freshly renovated.
It was like watching a show in rewind. The collapsed towers were upright and the falling people were reabsorbed through the cracks. Most of the damage was repaired and soon, all four Misawa Cram towers were reformed as if nothing had happened. Even the neighboring buildings crushed by rubble reverted to what they were prior. One would have wonder if Kamijou's memories were being manipulated.
Wait. Reverting things back to normal… Don't tell me…! Kamijou looked up at the sky. The red lotus Divine spear that was fired from the sky had reappeared. Any onlooker could have realized where the spear was aimed: eye for an eye.
"Ah… ahh…" Kamijou turned to look at the moaning armored man. His knees had given way and he collapsed onto the ground. It seemed he truly knew how powerful the real Gregorian Chant was.
What's going on? Kamijou returned his gaze to the night sky. Even the seven Level 5s of Academy City could not possibly create such a miracle.
Is that the enemy's… That's that guy's real power…!!
Aureolus Izzard. In face of such a terrifying enemy, how would Kamijou fight him? Kamijou stood idly by with a numbed mind.
"DAMN IT!" Kamijou abandoned his fears and dashed off to Misawa Cram School.
Once he had arrived in front of the automatic doors, he hesitated to go in. With fear and trepidation, Kamijou entered the doors and returned to the battlefield.
The cram school's interior was unchanged and, because of it, Kamijou felt goose bumps. Not to mention, the students were unharmed as they continued to listen to the teachers' lectures. The students were fine despite the Gregorian Chant and the transmuting Limen Magna.
Passing through a certain classroom on a corridor, Kamijou saw something surprising and stopped.
That girl…!
Sitting a seat in the very back of the wide classroom was a girl that Kamijou recognized. She had braided hair and glasses… she was the girl who was turn to gold by Aureolus' Limen Magna when she protected Himegami.
She was there. It was like nothing had happened. She lived in that ordinary world.
"…!" The peaceful scene struck fear in Kamijou. Under the guidance of the alchemist's magic, life and death, fortune and misfortune, normal and abnormal were all reshuffled.
Kamijou did not know where to go. Arriving at a straight corridor, he finally found a familiar face.
"What? Why are you so panicky?" There stood the person who had betrayed him, used him as bait and could still shamelessly smile. There stood Stiyl Magnus, a person Kamijou truly loathed but was perplexedly relieved to see.
"Hm. If you're still here, I guess we're still in Japan, right? No wonder I've been seeing so many Asians this whole time. Speaking of which, what is this mysterious boundary? Kekkai? I seem to be somewhat familiar with it." Stiyl ignored Kamijou as he continued to mutter. Apparently, his memories were wiped like Kamijou's. It seemed he had even forgotten the objective they had for Misawa Cram School, implying his memories were erased even more extensively that Kamijou's.
He could return Stiyl's memories if he touched Stiyl's head with his right hand, but Kamijou was worried whether doing so would erase Stiyl's revival post-bombardment. His right hand was ineffective against Aureolus' order that he "shall not touch," but, if it involved Stiyl's life, the effect may have been undesirable.
"Oi! What block were you in?"
"What?"
"Just tell me!"
"Should be North Block. Why?"
Kamijou heaved a sigh of relief. Only the North block was untouched after the Gregorian bombardment, meaning Stiyl had no need to be revived.
Once confirmed, Kamijou knew what to do. "Oi! Stiyl! Let me teach you a charm that erases your doubts."
"…Oriental Charms are Kanzaki's specialty."
"Just do as I say. It's simple. Close your eyes and stick your tongue out!"
With a look of suspicion, he followed Kamijou's instructions.
"HERE'S A SOUVENIR FOR ACTUALLY USING ME AS BAIT AND ESCAPING BY YOURSELF, YOU BASTARD!" declared Kamijou.
"...Eh?"
Kamijou slammed an uppercut against Stiyl's chin using his right hand.
Memories returned and a tongue was bitten, proceeded by rolling on the floor.