Kamijou sat on the road in the middle of the pouring rain. He was already soaking wet, so he did not mind sitting on the rain-soaked road surface. He breathed a sigh of relief at finally being able to relax.
The angel's wings had grown silent.
The giant sparks it had been firing not long before had completely stopped.
(How is Index doing?)
Things were likely going well on her end of things as well. Kazakiri's angel wings and halo had not completely disappeared, but their outlines were gradually beginning to waver.
(If she was in trouble, that wouldn't be happening. I hope that guy on the phone managed to save Last Order.)
Thinking of the phone reminded him of something.
Kamijou pulled Last Order's cell phone out of his pocket. Academy City may have been in bad shape, but it would be best if he called an ambulance. He did not like using someone else's phone, but this was no time to be worried about that.
As expected, the operator said they might not be able to respond like normal. Even so, it was better than doing nothing.
Kamijou returned the phone to his pocket and looked around. Kazakiri's appearance had turned the entire area to rubble, but it seemed the people had been just barely saved thanks to her power. Glowing moth-like scales were still floating around in the darkness.
Kamijou wanted to go save them, but he was worried Imagine Breaker would negate the effects of the scales. He had no choice but to leave them be for the time being.
"But…"
Kamijou looked over at where Vento was lying on the ground.
She was obviously unconscious.
He had wanted to ask her how to wake up the people collapsed around the city thanks to her Divine Punishment spell, but she showed no sign of waking no matter how many times he slapped her cheek.
Kamijou wondered what would happen to Vento now. She had almost completely shut down the city, so he doubted Academy City would simply let her go. Any talk of preserving the power balance between science and magic would no longer cut it. In fact, it was the magic side that had destroyed that balance first.
A certain line may have been crossed.
Academy City might even kill her to eliminate her dangerous techniques from the world. And he doubted God's Right Seat or the Roman Catholic Church would let go of such a powerful spell so easily. This could no longer be resolved by science and magic talking it out as had happened a few times in the past. There was a danger of this being the trigger that would cause everything to come crumbling down.
(Dammit…)
Even in a broad historical sense, what Vento had done here was a big deal. But after learning of her circumstances, Kamijou could not approve of letting her be executed and used as a tool to bring about war. Even if she had to make up for what she did, that was the worst possible scenario.
(She can't make an enemy of both science and magic and be forever on the run in this small world. But I have to do something. Maybe I can at least hide her temporarily until this has time to settle down a bit. Tsuchimikado might be able to help. But even then, who knows if it will work…)
He could not simply hand her over to the Anglican Church. Vento was too great a factor to do that. More importantly, Kamijou did not think a normal high school boy could truly resolve a worldwide problem. But he would not be satisfied unless he did something. Abandoning Vento here would leave too bad of an aftertaste.
"For now, I can only wait for her to wake up. That was one hell of a punch I gave her…"
Kamijou turned his gaze from Vento to Kazakiri, but she still gave no response. Nothing had changed about her. She still had those somehow vacant eyes and she still had a great number of wings growing from her back. As time passed, the outlines of the wings gradually grew more indistinct. The shorter wings had almost lost all form. Index was likely interfering in some way.
However, it would still take some time for the wings to completely disappear.
Kamijou looked down at his right hand. If he used the power residing in that hand, he might be able to negate those ten or twenty wings just by touching them. However, that would be meaningless if doing so affected Kazakiri's main body as well. He regretted how useless his power was at times like this.
(Even so…)
Since Vento had hated Kazakiri so intensely, that was most likely something Academy City had caused. Kamijou wondered what the higher ups of the city were trying to do. Since Vento's arrival had been unexpected, Kazakiri could not have been produced simply as a means of defending or intercepting her. There had to be some other purpose.
"There are just so many problems," muttered Kamijou.
And then…
A pile of concrete was suddenly smashed before his eyes and his vision was filled with gray dust.
"!?"
Kamijou brought a hand up to cover his eyes as he instinctually stepped backwards.
This went beyond the rubble losing its balance and collapsing. The entire pile had been blown to pieces as if someone had set off a bomb.
The pouring rain washed away the dust in the air.
A wind turbine was sticking up from the site of the blast. It must have been casually ripped from the ground and thrown because it was buried into the ground halfway up the pole in the center of the crater the rubble had been blown from. And this pole was the size of a telephone pole.
Kamijou was horrified as he thought about what sort of strength would be needed to do that.
(!! Where's Vento!?)
Kamijou frantically looked around.
Vento had been lying unconscious right next to him, but now she was gone.
However, Kamijou spotted something else instead.
A man stood a short distance away.
"Who are you!?" shouted Kamijou hostilely.
The man had Vento's limp form held under one arm.
He wore a blue long-sleeved shirt with a white short-sleeved shirt over it. For pants, he wore thin slacks that looked like they had decent breathability. It was a sporty outfit, but it lacked energy. It reminded Kamijou of the golf wear men in their prime liked. While holding a chic black umbrella, the man was surrounded by a silent and solid aura that a high school boy like Kamijou could never hope for.
But what was the most frightening was how the man showed no tension at all despite the scene of destruction before him. His white skin and his brown hair both looked like sharp blades.
"My apologies," said the man in fluent Japanese. "I have business with this girl. I blinded you to keep you from growing violent, but perhaps that did not sit right with you."
"I asked who you are!"
"I am Acqua of the Back. I am a member of God's Right Seat just like Vento."
Kamijou's caution shot up another level when he heard that name.
He had no idea what kind of hierarchy existed within the organization known as God's Right Seat, but if this man had even an equal level of power to Vento, the situation was very bad. If Academy City was attacked by a second wave in its current state, it would never recover.
As Kamijou bristled, Acqua only gave a slight smile. The expression did not suit that muscular man.
"Do not worry. I wish to avoid any needless deaths of our troops. We will be falling back for now. Fighting that fallen angel waiting behind you would simply be too reckless. I would need to at least make some preparations first."
Acqua was saying that he could fight it at any time if he did make preparations.
The look in Kamijou's eyes grew sterner, but the man did not give in to it.
"The effect that interfered with magic and had been causing Vento to suffer seems to have disappeared, but we have our own circumstances to deal with."
The man sighed and glanced over at Kazakiri Hyouka.
An angel was an existence that even Kanzaki Kaori had been barely able to fight evenly with. It seemed even this strange group called God's Right Seat considered it a bargaining chip.
If they would simply leave, that was perfectly fine.
However…
"Let go of Vento," said Kamijou to Acqua.
"Do you want to ask her how to save the victims within Academy City?"
"That's part of it," he replied. He was saying there was more to it than that. "Her hostility towards science is nothing more than a misunderstanding. She knows that, but she can never escape those feelings as long as she stays in God's Right Seat!"
"Can Vento's darkness really be so easily eliminated?" replied Acqua disinterestedly. "We of God's Right Seat do not simply reach out a sympathetic hand to unfortunate girls. We exist to influence this world. And Vento decided to use that power for the sake of her personal circumstances. Do you know how much she has paid to come this far? Can you even imagine how great that power is?"
When he thought about it, Kamijou realized the reasons behind Vento's actions had not included anything about results for the organization as a whole. In other words, she needed to constantly create enough of a benefit for the organization that she could remain a part of it.
Kamijou thought on that fact for a moment.
But just thinking about it was not enough for him to understand how she felt.
"So what?"
"What?"
"If you say nothing because you assume they won't listen, you'll never accomplish anything."
Kamijou and Acqua stared at each other.
But Acqua was much more unconcerned than Kamijou.
"Hmph," said Acqua. "If I released Vento here, she would be captured by the science side and almost certainly executed."
"!!"
Kamijou's entire body stiffened at Acqua's words.
Acqua's smile deepened when he saw that. The looks in his eyes was the same as an adult reading the wishes children had written for the Tanabata.
"I will give you this."
With a single movement of his fingertip, Acqua flicked something toward Kamijou.
Kamijou grabbed it and found it was the chain and cross accessories that had been attached to Vento's tongue.
"It has been destroyed by your right hand already, so it is of no use to us either way. It is nothing but junk. Without it, Vento cannot use Divine Punishment. Those who fell victim to it should soon recover. You can rest easy taking that to mean you protected the peace of Academy City."
"Wait!! Like hell I can accept that!!"
Kamijou clenched his fist, but Acqua paid it no heed.
"Let me tell you one thing," said the man while boldly turning his back. "I am a Saint. Recklessly picking a fight with me will only shorten your life."
A tremendous noise was produced as he kicked off the ground.
In the time it took Kamijou to blink, Acqua and Vento had disappeared. He did not even know which direction the man had gone. It was even possible he had jumped up into the sky. All Kamijou knew was that the man had moved at extraordinary speed.
The battle may have ended, but the problem was far from over.
In fact, he felt as if it had only invited in an even greater conflict.
(I'll stop this.)
The Roman Catholic Church.
Academy City.
(Goddammit. I'll definitely stop this from continuing any further.)
Kamijou muttered his thoughts under his breath as he stared up into the rainy night sky.
The dark clouds showed no sign of clearing up.