August 31, 12:24 PM.
(Dammit! What the hell is going on? Why would a magician appear here?! What is he after?!)
Kamijou cursed in his head while running through the side streets.
First, he needed information on the enemy's attack traits.
Kamijou took out his cell phone while running. Fortunately for him, the enemy's attack didn't have rapid-fire or much accuracy. But even so, being in a situation where the enemy's attack was continuously fired from behind still made Kamijou feel pressured. The fingers holding the phone shivered involuntarily.
The ringing started. Once, twice, three times, four times, five times, six times, seven times, eight times, nine times.
"Ah, uh, Hello! This is the Kamijou residence, yes!"
"Too slow!"
Kamijou shouted meaninglessly, and after hearing that, the girl on the other side also started to get mad.
"Ah, is this voice Touma? Touma's the one that's slow! When can we eat lunch? Or should I go to Komoe's house for help? If you don't clearly say beforehand, I'm not going to know what to do!"
"Sorry, Index! We can talk about food later! I have something important to ask you right now!"
"What do you mean later?! Why does Touma always-?"
"Enough already, are you alright over there? Some magician showed up, and I don't know what they are after, but they could be coming after you again! Tsuchimikado, that guy… he might be back at the dorms by now! Oi, Index! Go next door right now and take a look! That guy is on our side!"
"Touma… are you… being chased right now?"
Index seemed to understand the situation, and her voice became quiet.
"That's right! I'm running madly for my life right now! If possible, please give me some advice that'll let me turn the current situation around!"
"…What's the magician's traits? Things like clothes, weapons, the way of speaking, or the way they act."
Kamijou then mentioned everything he knew about "Unabara Mitsuki" to Index, including how he had changed into somebody else's appearance and the stone knife he wielded.
After three seconds of short silence, Index replied, "The black stone knife is obsidian, right? A spear made by using a mirror to reflect starlight… that should be the Spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli."
"Tlah… what?"
"Spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. It's the name for the Aztec god of Venus and disasters; supposedly, his Spear can kill anyone that is under the light of Venus."
Kamijou froze. No matter what that legend was, it was way too preposterous. If that stone knife had that kind of power, humankind would've been gone from the world by now.
"What Venus… Index, you can skip the introduction. Anyway, what do I do now? I want to quickly—"
A loud *Boom* cut off Kamijou's whining.
The mysterious attack went past Kamijou's side and hit an air conditioner. Kamijou involuntarily broke out in a cold sweat all over, and swiftly turned a corner.
"Touma! If you don't listen carefully, the one in trouble is going to be you!"
"Sorry! Index-sama! I won't complain to things experts say again! Please tell me some suggestions now! Immediately!"
"Mm, first, that Spear is made from the light of Venus, remember that."
Kamijou couldn't help but look up. In the sky between the buildings… Venus couldn't be seen. But that didn't mean "Venus didn't exist"—just that "the sunlight was too bright to be able to see Venus".
"But that's unreasonable, right? Everybody in the world is under the light of Venus. If the power of the Spear is as you say, no one can escape its power and humans would be extinct now, right?"
"Yeah, that's why it's classed as god-level magic—but that's also its flaw, as humans can't completely control magic used by gods."
"What does that mean?"
"Simply put, humans can only use a replica of the Spear. If the real Spear was used, all humans would die. I think the theory behind the replica should be using the obsidian knife as a mirror? The light of Venus from the sky gets reflected by the mirror and reaches the enemy as the Spear. On the other hand, if you don't get hit by the light, then you can avoid the attack by the Spear. If properly handled, Touma's right hand can block the attack, too; the main point is how to find the unseen path of attack."
"Light that can't be seen… basically, a laser weapon roughly the size of a pistol?"
"What's a laser?"
He could imagine Index tilting her head in puzzlement on the other side of the phone.
Maybe it's because he was splitting his concentration that Kamijou kicked a bicycle accidentally. Kamijou tilted forward, and barely avoided falling down onto the ground.
*Boom!*, behind him came a frightening sound.
Kamijou looked back, and the fallen bicycle had already been disassembled by the unseen attack into frames and wheels. It seemed like the accuracy of the magician's Spear wasn't really that high. Kamijou saw the magician behind him raising the knife once more and quickly turned a corner.
"Dammit, that guy's actually shooting something like that… At least look at the surroundings, you idiot!"
"Mm… the spell technique is like a blueprint; magic itself is only a phenomenon. As long as the technique isn't leaked out, even if the magic is seen, it wouldn't matter. Even if people without magic knowledge witness the phenomenon, they can't reverse-engineer the blueprint."
"Uh… that wasn't what I was trying to say."
Kamijou sighed, and turned down an even narrower side path.
Even though every second counted right now, there were still questions left to ask.
"Dammit, so that means how this guy turned into Unabara is also a kind of Aztec magic?"
"That's right, the Aztec priests have a technique that skins a sacrifice alive and allows them to wear their skin; this magic should be derived from that technique."
Kamijou gasped.
Even though he knew that the situation right now was dangerous, Kamijou was still shocked enough to almost stop running.
"What… did you say about the skin?"
"Cut it off with a knife and wear it, though if it's just for changing appearances, there's no need to go that far; just cutting off fifteen centimeters of the skin from the forearm and turning it into a charm is enough to give a certain amount of transformation effect."
A horrible feeling started creeping from Kamijou's fingertips. The pursuer behind him now felt even more frightening.
"That's way too scary, actually skinning people to change appearances. Magicians really are all lunatics!"
"Oi, Touma, what you're saying is job discrimination–!"
With no time to hear her babbling on, Kamijou turned off the phone.
The small side street was a lot shorter than Kamijou had expected, and he was now back on the main road. Kamijou hurriedly ran towards the side street across the road. Behind him came a few more frightening sounds of the "Spear" disassembling something.
(Should I run into a building? No, if the outer walls are gone, I'll be buried alive! Not knowing the attack range is a problem. If I run into an underground street, I might still be buried alive!)
As Kamijou ran, he tried to understand the situation. The reason the magician was after him probably had something to do with Index, right? She was a library of grimoires, with 103,000 of them in her memory. The possibility of magicians from all over the world coming after her wasn't exactly low.
Though if that was the case, there was still something hard to understand. Why had that magician transformed into Unabara Mitsuki? Unabara was Mikoto's friend, and had no direct connection with Kamijou and Index. If he wanted to assassinate Kamijou, then shouldn't he have transformed into someone closer to Kamijou…?
Kamijou rushed to turn another corner.
"Dammit!"
Kamijou cursed. The path in front of him was blocked due to the building next to it being under construction. Spades, bags of cement, and building machinery filled the narrow path; it was impossible to pass. On top of the half-constructed building was a crane, moving materials overhead.
Even so, Kamijou still headed towards the working site, and turned around to look. The "enemy's" footsteps were closing in from the corner behind him. There was nowhere to run.
(What now? What now?!)
In that instant Kamijou looked around, 'Unabara Mitsuki' stepped out from around the corner. As soon as he saw Kamijou, he raised his black stone knife.
The distance between the two was only five meters.
But Kamijou didn't choose to swing his fist at "Unabara Mitsuki", instead grabbing a spade next to him. During this time, "Unabara Mitsuki" waved his black knife in the light, adjusting the angles bit by bit. Kamijou felt sweat covering his palms, and swung the spade down hard.
But his target wasn't "Unabara"; it was the cement bag next to him.
With a swish, the spade stabbed through the bag. Kamijou continued the swing, and spreads the cement dust around them.
"Unabara's" view, surroundings, and the sky were swallowed by the gray dust.
"Unabara" ignored it and swung the knife. At this point, he noticed something.
The Spear didn't activate.
The link between Venus and the mirror was blocked by the cement dust. In this situation, the Spear made by the light of Venus couldn't be used.
*Swish!* Something heavy flew past "Unabara Mitsuki's" cheek.
He lowered himself, thinking it was probably the spade.
"Oooooooooohhhh!!"
Kamijou's fist pierced through the gray curtain and reached for him. "Unabara" reflexively bent down and avoided the fist. There wasn't any reason—just instinct. Sweating, "Unabara" raised the obsidian knife, which was now only a normal weapon, and tried to slash it across Kamijou's face. But "Unabara" hadn't stabilized himself beforehand, so the attack wasn't very powerful. The tip of Kamijou's foot swung with the sound of the wind, and impacted the stomach of the bent-down "Unabara".
"Unabara" jumped back, trying to minimize the damage.
He noticed that battling in the cement dust was disadvantageous for him, and decided to move back.
"Unabara" continued to move back another few steps, but Kamijou, moving faster, caught up to him instantly. From the structure of the human legs, their speed going forward was obviously faster than moving back. Kamijou was about to swing his fist once more, so "Unabara" hurriedly raised his obsidian knife to try and counter it.
*Whoosh!*
At that instant, a sudden gust blew through the small alley.
The gray mist that covered everything was suddenly gone. The sky, partially blocked by the surrounding buildings, was once again visible. The grace of the light of Venus once again descended onto "Unabara".
Unabara raised his knife and corrected the angle.
Kamijou, who was closing in, now showed surprise.
"Hmph! Accept your fate!"
The angle's set, connecting Venus, mirror, and the target. Focus the mana, chant the incantation, and the starlight would turn into a spear that couldn't be seen, and would pierce directly through the enemy!
The symbol of Venus and disasters, the Spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli.
Kamijou, in his panic, raised his right hand...
But was unable to determine the unseen path of attack.
Theoretically, this blow would move through the gap in the right hand's defense and pierce the heart.
But nothing happened.
"What…?"
"Unabara Mitsuki" involuntarily said that. To release the Spear, several conditions had to be met simultaneously—but the strike just then should have met those conditions; there was no reason for failure. The Spear should have been released, gone straight through Kamijou's heart, and split his body cleanly like meat at the butchers.
"Unabara" looked at his obsidian knife with an expression like examining a flashlight that had ran out of power.
"Unabara" was astonished.
The obsidian knife in his hand had a layer of rough gray dust sticking to its surface. Just like a blackboard duster thick with chalk dust, its original color couldn't even be seen.
The role of the obsidian knife was to be a mirror, aiming to adjust and reflect the light of Venus that descended from the sky.
If the mirror was no longer reflective, it couldn't connect the target with the light of Venus.
Pah! The sounds of Kamijou's footsteps rang out.
He was now right in front of "Unabara".
"?!"
If "Unabara" had discarded the obsidian knife and changed his tactics, then he might still have had a chance to win. But "Unabara" couldn't help but try and wipe off the dust on the obsidian knife. It wasn't hard to understand. Comparing an equal chance of winning or losing by hand-to-hand combat with the sure-kill magic, anyone would choose the latter option. "Unabara" lost to the temptation of "just wiping off the dust with a single sweep".
The result was that he couldn't react to the Kamijou's attack in time.
A *Don!* sound bursts out. "Unabara" was smashed into the ground, and the obsidian knife that he clung to until the last second finally left his hands.