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The next day, a news report flashed across every screen in Academy City, and eventually, the entire nation.
"The inexplicable phenomenon that swept through Academy City and its surrounding areas last night has been officially confirmed as an accidental incident resulting from a virtual imaging experiment."
"While the event caused significant public anxiety, there were zero physical damages or casualties. As a result, all twelve members of the Academy City Board of Directors have issued a public apology to every citizen affected."
"As compensation for mental and emotional distress, benefits for all city groups, students, teachers, and scholars, will be substantially increased over the next three months. Student scholarships will be raised, teachers will receive salary supplements, and research funding will be boosted. With this, the incident is considered closed."
Once the report concluded, a visible wave of relief washed over the public. Complaints and lingering fear certainly remained, but the compensation packages were enough to gradually calm the widespread unrest.
And so, what had been a terrifying, apocalyptic nightmare quickly faded into little more than a peculiar after-dinner conversation, just another strange urban legend in the already bizarre backdrop of Academy City.
Of course, not everyone was ready to swallow that neat explanation.
At the very least, a significant number of people knew this was no simple "accident."
Even with Academy City's technology being twenty to thirty years ahead of the outside world, a mere virtual imaging experiment couldn't possibly conjure an event of that scale and effect.
Consequently, in the shadows of the city, quite a few individuals with their own agendas began to move in secret, each determined to uncover the real truth behind the supposed "accident."
Whether their efforts would ever amount to anything, however, was an entirely separate question.
Meanwhile, the true instigator of the entire catastrophe was currently being deafened by noise in his dorm room.
"That was not an accident! There has to be another reason!"
Index slammed her hands on the table and leaned forward aggressively. She was as intense as ever as she shouted at Fang Li, who sat across from her.
"Even if I cross-referenced all 103,000 magical grimoires stored in my head and reproduced every spell they contained, I still couldn't recreate the phenomenon that happened last night! It's absolutely not simple! Could an Angel have descended and used an Angelic Technique? Or perhaps an ancient ritual from the Age of Myths was revived? Either way, we can't just ignore this!"
As Index ranted, Sphinx , startled by the shouting, wisely dove under the bed to hide.
Fang Li could only offer a helpless smile, pressing a hand to his chest as he tried to calm his companion.
Inside him, his heart, which had been pounding like a frantic drum the previous night, had finally returned to its normal, steady rhythm.
The raging power of the True Ancestor had completely settled, now flowing quietly deep within his core.
Thinking back to last night, Fang Li felt nothing but exasperation.
(I really didn't expect it to get that bad…)
When he first realized that the True Ancestor power within him could be provoked by the presence of a blood-sucking assassin like Himegami Aisa, he knew confronting Aureolus at the Misawa Cram School would put a massive strain on his body.
But he never anticipated the commotion would escalate to that extreme.
The vampiric impulses, unique to the True Ancestor state, surfacing in his body were one thing.
What truly shook him was that even Arcueid's power had broken free through him. That was something entirely outside of his control and imagination., "Mystic Eyes of Enchantment.", "Imaginary Manifestation."
Though both abilities had only flickered into existence for an instant, Fang Li had indeed used them.
And it was precisely because of that fleeting moment that he finally understood, (So this… this is the true extent of Arcueid's power…)
No wonder she was ranked as the Second among the Dead Apostles.
No wonder she was rumored to possess the strength to completely annihilate an entire continent.
That claim wasn't an exaggeration at all.
(After all, whether it was Arcueid when she once lost control and rampaged, or me last night when I lost my reason, the power we displayed still wasn't even close to its full potential.)
From that alone, it was crystal clear just how terrifying the strength of the princess, hailed as the mightiest among all True Ancestors, truly was.
If Fang Li could ever manage to fully control that power…
(Then I'd probably be able to accomplish far more things in this world than I ever thought possible.)
Unfortunately, even Arcueid herself had been unable to fully unleash that power due to the perpetual interference of her vampiric impulses. Fang Li, of course, was even further away from achieving that mastery.
(If I let that power rampage unchecked, the consequences would be far too dreadful to imagine.)
Thinking this over, Fang Li once again confirmed that his earlier decision had been the absolute right call.
After realizing that the True Ancestor's power within his body could be activated by the presence of the blood-sucking assassin and, in turn, dangerously influence his own mental state, Fang Li had decided to intervene personally in the entire mess.
If that power were to suddenly spin out of control while he was in the middle of something important, it would be a total catastrophe.
That was why Fang Li had taken decisive action himself,, to entirely eliminate the influence brought about by the blood-sucking assassin.
He had used the power of his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to completely erase Himegami Aisa's innate blood-sucking assassin ability.
From this day forward, Himegami Aisa would lose that power completely and live as an ordinary human being.
As a result, Fang Li had handed over the broken-down Aureolus and the unconscious Himegami Aisa to Stiyl, leaving the messy aftermath to him.
However, Stiyl, who had also been inside Misawa Cram School, seemed somewhat spaced out afterward, clearly affected by the terrifying events of the previous night.
After all, unlike the general public, Stiyl had been right in the center of the sudden reality shift. Naturally, he had suffered the greatest psychological impact.
Of course, in that situation, it didn't really matter where anyone was, as long as one was within the borders of the country, they likely couldn't have escaped the attack range of that Moon Fall.
So whether Stiyl had been at the school or not wasn't even the point.
Because he hadn't actually seen Fang Li in the moment he unleashed that power, Stiyl was only suffering residual shock.
Otherwise… the way England's Church of the Pure Faith treated Fang Li would likely have changed once again, and probably not for the better.
While Fang Li was lost in these heavy thoughts, Index was still loudly pounding on the table in irritation.
"Are you even listening to me, you idiot Fang Li!?"
Hearing that, Fang Li finally snapped back to reality.
Just as he was about to respond to Index's complaints, his cellphone suddenly began to ring.
"Wah!"
Index yelped in surprise.
When it came to magic, this walking forbidden library was an expert, but when it came to modern science and technology, she was utterly hopeless, worse than a child. The slightest thing could startle her.
Ignoring Index, Fang Li picked up the phone.
"It's me."
The voice of Stiyl Magnus came through immediately.
The other end spoke with his usual clipped calm, "There's someone who wants to meet you. Come over."
(End Of This Chapter)