School District 7 – The Windowless Building.
The air in the sterile white corridor was cold, carrying the faint, metallic scent of nutrient solution. Under the silent, unnervingly polite guidance of an attendant, Fang Li once again stepped into the heart of Academy City's mystery.
A voice, dry, ancient, and utterly without inflection, echoed from the very walls, surrounding him like a chill. It was Aleister.
"So," The voice began, "are you satisfied now?"
Fang Li stopped in the center of the vast, open room and looked up. The sight never failed to be unsettling: a man in a hospital gown, suspended head-down in a colossal tube of pale green, shimmering fluid.
"According to my calculations," Aleister continued, his tone clinical as a chemist, "in one hundred and one more hours, Scorpius will have completely unified all its territories. In another four hundred and fifty-eight hours, its operations will enter full stability, establishing itself as the largest and only organized armed group of ability-less individuals in Academy City. For Academy City, you, the man controlling Scorpius, have now become a presence that cannot be ignored. One who can even stand on equal footing with the members of the Board of Directors."
Fang Li's reply was a faintly mocking, crooked smile aimed directly at the inverted figure.
"But it's precisely because of that that you don't really care, isn't it?"
He crossed his arms, his gaze unwavering. "After all, to you, the Board members are nothing more than replaceable parts. If one is lost, another can simply fill the vacancy. They're disposable. So Scorpius… is the same kind of thing, right?"
If it weren't so, Aleister would never have simply turned a blind eye to the organization's existence. Fang Li knew the truth: Aleister had already determined that Scorpius posed no decisive threat to his overall plan and therefore chose not to interfere.
Aleister, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied the accusation. He simply went straight to the transactional core of their meeting.
"Then, as promised, here is your reward."
Ka-cha.
The floor before Fang Li gave a mechanical shudder, and a cylindrical pedestal slowly rose from beneath the ground. Resting atop it was a book radiating an inexplicable, palpable aura, mysterious, sacred, and dangerous all at once.
Its title was stark and famous in both the magical world and the bizarre annals of the Main God Dimension:
"The Book of the Law."
"The Book of the Law…" Fang Li murmured the name softly. There was no surprise in his expression. His gaze drifted to the bottom-left corner of the cover, where the author's name was inscribed:
"Edward Alexander."
The legendary magician. The man who, a mere seventy years ago, had ignited an evolution in magical theory beyond anything achieved in the preceding millennia. People speculated he could have been an Apostle, had he been born into another age. Even today, roughly half the world's magicians were influenced by his works.
Yet, records painted him as utterly vile. He'd sacrificed his own wife to contact an angel. He'd continued his research in cold detachment after his daughter's death. He had even used a group of children, the same age as his deceased child, as living sacrifices to further his experiments.
It was an monstrous cruelty, yet it were also undeniable contributions.
Legend claimed that the book contained techniques taught to him directly by an angel, and that once its contents were fully translated, the Age of Christianity itself would end. It was why the Roman Catholic Church had sealed the original deep within Vatican City.
As for Edward Alexander himself, records stated he had perished under the weight of his sins.
"He died, did he?" Fang Li's tone was faintly amused, even dismissive. He lifted his eyes toward the shimmering tube.
He knew the truth.
Aleister Crowley, the Superintendent of Academy City, was Edward Alexander.
Edward Alexander had not died. Someone had rescued him at the brink, placed him in this life-support apparatus, and sustained his existence for decades. He had lived on in this artificial body, eventually creating Academy City.
If Aleister was the true author of The Book of the Law, then even if the Vatican had sealed one copy in its deepest sanctum, he would still have a way to bring its content back to his side.
Fang Li had known this much, which was why he had trusted the promised reward without question.
Without any hesitation, he reached out and took the Book of the Law down from the pedestal.
Shuā!
The next instant, the thick, ancient tome vanished from Fang Li's hand without any warning. He had slipped the original into his Bag.
Aleister made a slight sound, a low "Oh?" that echoed in the vast space.
"I'm somewhat interested in the method you used," Aleister's voice observed. "That didn't look like an Ability, did it?"
Aleister had surely realized it wasn't magic either, which is why a technique belonging to neither of his known domains piqued his curiosity.
Fang Li simply cast a glance up and smiled, a gesture that held a deeper meaning. "In fact," he countered, "I'm more interested in your methods."
He took a slow step forward, his eyes narrowed.
"You're going to use the rapid-aging genetic defects in the mass-produced Little Sisters, the shortened lifespans caused by accelerated growth, as a pretext to send the remaining Little Sisters out to the research facilities that cooperate with Academy City, aren't you?"
Fang Li's words changed the atmosphere in the room at once. The air seemed to grow heavier, colder.
"Oh?" Aleister repeated the sound, but this time there was a hint of something merciless, something ancient and terrible, in the observation.
"If you've reached that level of understanding, then you must know what I intend to do, right?"
Fang Li did indeed know. He understood the purpose of the AIM Diffusion Field: the faint, unconscious field of energy released by every Ability user, akin to the heat given off by a human body. It's what allowed Takitsubo Rikō's "Ability Tracking" to function.
Aleister's plan was simple and cosmically ambitious.
"If the Little Sisters are dispersed around the world," Fang Li said, his voice calm, "the AIM Diffusion Field, which currently exists only within Academy City, will expand globally. Eventually, the whole world could be enveloped by an AIM Diffusion Field."
He directed his gaze directly at Aleister's inverted body, speaking the man's goal out loud.
"Then, using the AIM Diffusion Field, you can manufacture an artificial 'Heaven', a domain where Magic cannot function. Those who use Magic in that world will self-destruct. Shrines or sacred halls propped up by Magic's power will collapse when that power is lost. The same phenomenon will strike every religion, and Magic activity worldwide would suddenly stop."
Fang Li paused, letting the scope of the plan hang in the sterile air.
"That," he finished, "is your purpose."
(End Of This Chapter)
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