Part 1
Even the digital display showing the date of October 30th seemed to be shivering in the cold.
The car's heater was mostly broken.
As Hamazura Shiage drove an old, beat up car along the snow-covered ground, his hands gripping the steering wheel were cold. No matter how far he went, nothing but flat empty land spread out before him. The commonplace asphalt road was barely visible buried in the snow. The area was so empty that he almost didn't think he would notice if he strayed off the road.
That scenery was simply something that could not be seen in Japan.
He had heard that Hokkaido was a fairly vast land, but even that wasn't on this scale.
This area was like a white desert.
They were in western Russia.
It seemed they were near the border of the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations.
In order to escape their pursuers in Academy City, they had used a supersonic passenger plane's autopilot to flee to Russia. They hadn't had much time to prepare, so they had almost no money to help with their flight.
(…I guess I can't really complain too much since I stole it, but damn. Maybe it isn't an issue with the air conditioner and we're just not dressed properly. The need for heavy clothing here is a lot different than in Japan…)
The car's paint was coming off and brown rust could be seen on it. While gripping the wheel, Hamazura glanced over at the passenger seat.
A short girl wearing a pink track suit was sitting there.
She was Takitsubo Rikou.
She was in bad shape health-wise due to the side effects of a drug (?) called Body Crystal. She was leaning limply in her seat producing an unhealthy sweat similar to someone with a fever. Hamazura wanted to get her to a doctor, but he knew that wouldn't solve the problem. Body Crystal was a top secret substance in Academy City. A doctor outside of the city would have no idea how to heal her.
They were on the run from Academy City, the one place that could save Takitsubo.
(We can't fight Academy City on our own. And even if we could, utterly destroying the city would also destroy the technology needed to save Takitsubo. Whatever we do, we have to return to Academy City and rely on their cutting edge tech in order to save her.)
However, if they just surrendered and returned to Academy City, Hamazura and Takitsubo wouldn't be free to do what they wanted. And the odds of them being killed were not exactly low. As such, he needed to come up with a plan to ensure their safety.
(So we'll fight them by finding "something" while on the run here in Russia and using that to "negotiate". If things go well, we can use whatever it is to get Takitsubo healed, too. That's our only hope.)
"Hamazura, what is it?"
"Nothing," Hamazura replied with a smile. "I was just thinking that, whatever we're going to do here, we're gonna need some money. The money in our wallets when we left Academy City wasn't much and we can't even use that right away because it isn't Russian money. We need to get some somewhere."
They could always sell the stolen car he was driving, but Hamazura didn't feel that was the best plan. Finding the kind of shady dealer that would accept a stolen car wasn't exactly easy. He could manage it in Academy City, but he didn't know how things worked in Russia.
And he didn't know much Russian. Academy City and Russia were enemies in a large scale war, so it might cause a major issue if some Asians who spoke Japanese were spotted.
That meant…
"I guess we'll just have to steal some."
"But…" Takitsubo hesitated.
However, that was their only option.
As if in response to their plan, they spotted a small store ahead. The store was connected to a gas station and it sold canned foods and other preserved foods most likely for those on long distance drives.
"Wait here," Hamazura said to Takitsubo as he parked the car a bit away from the store. "I'll be back with some money."
…Hamazura had said that, but he was actually fairly worried.
First of all, he wasn't in Japan. The usage of guns was treated differently. He had a small handgun, but they could have a gun or even a rifle for self defense.
And…
(There's a war.)
Takitsubo had translated the Russian news they had picked up on the car radio, but the word still didn't feel real to him.
(To the Russian people, we're their biggest enemies. If they find out that we came from Academy City, it wouldn't surprise me if they gang up on us.)
War.
Just saying the word wasn't really enough. He had always thought of war as something that occurred in faraway countries that you would only see on the news, but it was occurring somewhere in the world right that very moment. He wasn't sure if it didn't feel real to him because he simply hadn't had time to think about it since they had escaped Academy City, or if it was because they had never been thrown into a real battlefield full of bullets and shells flying back and forth. According to the news on the car radio, Academy City forces had been deployed to help evacuate and defend the facilities that worked with Academy City within Russia. However, Hamazura still didn't feel any real sense of danger.
He had no idea what would happen from then on.
Hamazura honestly didn't care who won, who lost, or what effect it all had on who guided the world. As long as that ridiculous war ended quickly and someone who would protect him and Takitsubo had some control over things, he didn't really care about the rest.
Hamazura thought about all that, but what he was truly worried about lay elsewhere. He may have been thinking about the problem of the war in order to avert his gaze from his true worry.
That true worry was the fact that he had to attack that store with a clerk inside. It may have been an extremely selfish excuse, but doing that was a lot different from stealing a car or an ATM. When he thought about the possibility of being forced to use his gun, he felt something heavy deep in his gut.
Hamazura checked the safety of the small handgun in his pocket again and again.
(I have to make sure—make sure—that I don't hurt the clerk in there!! All I need is what's inside the cash register. I'll only point the gun at him, that's all. If I'm going to fire a warning shot, I'll make sure to point the barrel up!!)
Repeating those things in his head, he gave a small, vaguely-directed prayer. Just before entering the store, he put up his hoodie's hood so his head was deep inside and put on the gloves that had been in the stolen car.
As he opened the door, he pulled out his handgun.
(I have to make sure I don't hurt the clerk!!)
And then Hamazura saw the female clerk with her arms and legs bound with duct tape and saying "Nnn! Nnn!" because her mouth was covered.
He also saw a masked man who looked a bit like a professional wrestler holding her down and pressing a blade up to her throat.
The large man was over 2 meters tall and he wasn't alone. He had two companions. They looked over as Hamazura opened the small door and came in.
"Who the hell are you?" they said in Russian.
Hamazura hadn't understood them and he merely responded by saying the words in Japanese he had been preparing to say.
"This is a robbery. Put your hands up."
Takitsubo heard multiple gunshots.
She turned her head while sitting in the passenger seat of the stolen car and eventually saw Hamazura Shiage approaching having left the store. It seemed the robbery was over. He was holding quite a few large beige paper bags in both arms. At least one must have been full of food because it had a long loaf of French bread sticking out. Another had the end of a wool scarf and what looked like part of a folded up coat sticking out.
As Hamazura opened the driver side door and got in, Takitsubo asked him a question.
"Hamazura, were you successful?"
"The clerk was so thankful she gave me all sorts of stuff!! We even got gas for the car!!"
"?"
As Takitsubo looked on in puzzlement, the stolen car headed off once more.
Part 2
Accelerator was hidden aboard a freight train on an international railroad.
The railroad crossed the continent of Eurasia and was the longest railroad in the world. Normally, it would take more than 2 weeks to get from the first terminal to the last, but that was not true then. Due to the beginning of World War III, a large amount of military materiel needed to be transported. The normal schedules and the safety regulations were being completely ignored so the trains could travel at high speed.
Either those preparations alone had quite an effect or they had brought out some kind of prototype from a lab somewhere because the freight train Accelerator was on was traveling at over 500 kph. Its speed was on par with a linear motor car. The front of the lead car tapered off like the tip of a fighter or a space shuttle and the walls of the cars were rough like modern racing swimsuits.
(A war, hm? Fucking ridiculous.)
For an instant, Accelerator had thought the war was a strategy on Academy City's part to chase after Last Order and himself, but he concluded that he was over thinking things. Because of his activities in the dark side of that city, he knew that actions this out in the open were not like the city at all. They liked to keep things hidden.
They had carried out that kind of open activity in the French city of Avignon, but that had most likely been because there was something there that had made it necessary. He didn't know what that something was though.
But…
(Even if I set aside the possibility this is a plan created by that god damn city to get us, there's still gotta be some kind of hidden reason behind it.)
Academy City was very influential. Normally, they would take measures to prevent a large scale war from occurring in the first place. And yet a war had started that was large enough to destroy the science-ruled world. Thinking there was something behind it wasn't just some crazy idea.
And Academy City had responded to whoever was picking a fight with them. There may have been something they wanted enough to go to war over.
Accelerator didn't really care about that.
That was not what mattered to him then.
(…Dammit.)
He was not alone.
Last Order, a girl who looked around ten, lay next to him.
She was a clone created from the cells of the #3 Level 5. She had been used to bring a monster known as Aiwass into the world, which was a major burden to her brain. Due to that, she was merely lying there limply unable to even walk around on her own legs.
Last Order was wearing a button down shirt over a camisole, but she had a thick blanket on top of that. The blanket had been inside the freight train. Accelerator had also found some mainly white winter clothes and put them on.
"…Where are we? says Misaka as Misaka looks around."
"In a train."
"Where are Yomikawa and Yoshikawa? says Misaka as Misaka asks a question."
"They aren't here right now, but we'll see them soon. I promise."
"I see…" Last Order's words trailed off a bit. "If they were here too, we could have Yomikawa make us another Salisbury steak soup, says Misaka as Misaka is a little disappointed."
"…"
"But I'm glad, says Misaka as Misaka feels relieved. I finally get to see your face again, says Misaka as Misaka stretches out her arm."
She said that, but her small arm did not move.
Her fingertips merely twitched a bit.
Whether she had noticed that or not, Last Order continued speaking.
"Let's all eat meals together again, says Misaka as Misaka gives her proposal. Yomikawa's Salisbury steak soup is really good, says Misaka as Misaka boasts."
In contrast to her smile, she sounded like speaking was painful for her.
(…Why did it end up like this?)
Accelerator gritted his teeth while crouching down.
(What did she do? Did she do anything that required she end up in a state where she can't even move her own fingers? Why did this shit have to happen to her?)
As he put more strength into his jaw, an unpleasant noise could be heard.
In that place, she was not free or safe.
Accelerator felt vehement resentment towards the vague idea of fate. He knew it wasn't an issue that would be solved by holding a grudge against someone, but he couldn't help but feel angry.
He gripped his modern cane so hard he thought he would smash its grip.
A worldwide war was beginning on that planet.
Various people from countries all across the world would be fighting for the sake of those who were important to them.
But there was no one to fight for her.
Despite the fact that people all across the world were preparing to risk their lives, not a single person existed who would stand up to save that girl who had done nothing wrong.
"...Fuck that," Accelerator muttered.
He had come that far in order to fight that unfairness. Because of some plan someone had put together, Last Order was on the verge of destruction. In order to save her, in order to oppose that cruel fate, Accelerator had abandoned his position and his pride to come to Russia.
Go to Russia.
Aiwass, a ridiculously strong existence that had utterly defeated him, had said that. The being had said that he might be able to save Last Order's life if he managed to acquire something there.
Accelerator had no idea what he was supposed to find.
In fact, he wasn't even sure he could trust what Aiwass had said.
But…
(I'll do it.)
Accelerator silently made up his mind.
(Either way, I know sitting still in Academy City won't save her. That means I have to find another way. This has nothing to do with what Aiwass said.)
Accelerator was Academy City's #1 Level 5 and Last Order was a special clone who stood at the center of Academy City's plan. It was possible Russia would see them as something like powerful strategic weapons or important military bases. However, he didn't care. He didn't especially like being seen as a pawn of that rotten city, but he didn't need to correct everyone who was mistaken. He only had one goal and he would continue on while destroying everyone and everything that stood in his way.
That was when he heard a noise from directly above.
It was the sound of thick metal being dented in.
Most likely, the freight train container had been bent by something. Accelerator looked up and the same sound came twice more.
It wasn't just coming from that one car.
That odd sound that couldn't be drowned out by the sound of the train racing along continued to come from various parts of the train. And it wasn't always the ceiling. It also came from the walls and below the floor.
At the same time, he heard someone yelling in Russian accompanied by numerous gunshots.
The yelling quickly turned to screams.
Accelerator deduced that someone had jumped onto the freight train while it moved at high speed.
And not many people could get onto a train moving along at over 500 kph.
It had to be Academy City.
(…So they've come after us.)
"What is it? says Misaka as Misaka asks about the situation," said the young girl.
Accelerator slowly looked down at Last Order who lay on the floor. The #1 pulled a handkerchief form her pocket, folded it a bit, and placed it over her eyes.
He did not want her to see a blood-stained world.
"…It's nothing."
As he spoke, Accelerator reached up to the electrode around his neck.
The switch that allowed him to wield the power of the Academy City's strongest monster was there.
"You aren't going to fight again like before, right? says Misaka as Misaka makes sure."
"…I won't. I promise," he lied to the girl.
Normally, Last Order would have been able to forcibly cut off his connection to the Misaka Network taking all his powers from him. However, she did not do that. It may have been because she was not even able to do that in her current state.
For just a bit, Accelerator looked down at Last Order's face with the handkerchief over her eyes.
Finally, he silently stood up.
He stood up in order to utterly destroy all those who would threaten that small girl's life.
Immediately afterwards, Accelerator's slender body broke straight through the steel roof and landed on the train's roof.
When the attackers saw Accelerator appear from a crack like in broken plastic, they moved back a bit.
They were white powered suits.
About 10 soldiers stood there wearing identical suits.
The upper body was surprisingly slim while the legs were exceedingly thick. They were likely special models create solely for speed. They had everything necessary built in so that they could move at high speed, maintain their balance, and soften the shock from impacts.
There were many different kinds of powered suits. There were kinds used for work, kinds used for rescue operations, and kinds used for military operations like the invasion of Avignon. It seemed some of those last types had entered Russia for World War III, but these ones were clearly different. They gave the impression that no money had been spared on their development and maintenance to ensure the maximum performance. The higher ups that had dispatched the attackers must have really wanted them to succeed in their mission.
Accelerator did not waver despite being surrounded by guns.
His glowing red eyes looked around the area and then muttered a few words under his breath.
"…Fucking trash. It's best not to piss me off."
A Russian soldier trembled in fear.
He had not gone through any kind of harsh training so he could fight on the front lines. He specialized in supplies and was only supposed to ensure that the necessary war material made it to its destination. However, he was still a soldier. Normally, his spirit was not so weak as to get that scared at having a gun pointed at him.
However, what was before him now was in another dimension entirely.
Those repulsive white machine soldiers had suddenly jumped onto the freight train.
And then some strange monster with white hair and red eyes had started destroying them in a single strike.
The monster had broken through the roof, blown through a wall, caused an explosive wind through the opening, and kicked a few of the machine soldiers out. He had used his human arms and legs to tear through the 5 cm thick steel container like it was made of paper. Those simply weren't things a normal person could do. The soldier knew that Japan's Academy City was scientifically developing espers, but seeing it with his own eyes was something else entirely.
"Tch. Looks like that isn't enough to kill them," the monster said while staring outside.
He had kicked people out of a train moving at over 500 kph and that was what he said. Both sides in that fight were monsters.
The monster looked around the area.
Immediately afterwards, a giant machine soldier broke through the wall between cars. It appeared right to the side of the monster. However, the white monster did not seem worried. He merely swung one arm slightly blowing the machine soldier away along with the wreckage of what used to be its armor.
Something the machine soldier had been holding landed at the monster's feet.
It was most likely the item the machine soldier had stolen.
It was a duralumin trunk. The remains of handcuffs were attached to its handle. The handcuffs had originally been attached to the wrists of the Russian soldier, but the machine soldier had torn the chain apart with its fingertips.
The monster headed for the trunk, but the Russian soldier didn't stop him.
If the monster's attention turned in his direction, he was dead.
It was like being thrown into a small cage with a carnivore.
The trunk was locked, but the monster opened it as easily as opening his own wallet. He had simply broken the lock open with sheer force.
"…What the hell?" he muttered.
The Russian soldier had not been informed what lay inside. What the monster found inside was a few dozen sheets of parchment. They had what looked like eerie spells or magic circles written on them in old ink.
It was just a bunch of nonsense.
Some people held vague senses of expectations or uneasiness towards good luck charms, but did anyone really think a demon would appear in a physical form to carry out the effects of those charms? What would people think if someone seriously said a series of killings had been done by a demon?
But…
The soldier doubted his superiors would have asked him to handcuff that trunk to himself if it was pointless. And those Academy City machine soldiers had shown up for the trunk.
The Russian soldier wasn't sure what to make of the situation.
Had his superiors used it as a diversionary tactic and Academy City had fallen for it?
Or were those pieces of parchment in the trunk actually valuable enough that it was worth it for Academy City to send special forces after them?
"...Interesting," muttered the monster.
The sublime smile that appeared on the monster's face seemed to indicate the parchment's abnormality more than anything.
"So this was a mission on the same level as recovering me, Academy City's strongest Level 5? I don't really see the point behind this, but it might be connected to the 'different set of laws' that fucker mentioned."
Part 3
And Kamijou Touma was also in Russia.
It was only the end of October, but the area was already completely covered in white snow. The couple of centimeters of snow weren't enough to completely paralyze the transportation services, but he was walking in his basketball shoe-covered feet. The snow melted into cold water that penetrated his shoes torturing his toes with a stinging pain from the cold.
He was wearing his school uniform. He usually thought of it as inconvenient, but he was now admiring the range of environments it could work in. Of course, that was probably because it was using the textile technology of Academy City. He still would have liked to have a coat, but it was hardly the time to complain.
War.
Just hearing that word suddenly didn't give him a proper idea of what was going on. According to Queen Elizard of England, the war had occurred in an "unusual" way from what she could see of the international situation. The fact that it was highly likely that the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church had a hidden connection meant that Fiamma of the Right was likely pulling the strings behind the scenes.
But was that really all there was to it?
If there was only that simple reason, he could just stick to fixing that.
But didn't Academy City respond readily with military force? Didn't the city send a large number of forces and unmanned weapons into Russia as soon as the war began as if they had been preparing for this for years?
Was something happening behind the scenes there, too?
Kamijou stood quite near the center of that war, but he was only a high school student, so he couldn't grasp what was going on behind it all.
However, if he could end the war at least temporarily by stopping Fiamma, he knew what he had to do. And Kamijou also had an exceedingly personal reason to fight towards stopping Fiamma's plan.
There was a girl called Index.
She had memorized 103,000 grimoires, but was a completely normal girl otherwise. And there was someone after her vast knowledge.
Fiamma of the Right.
He had stolen a spiritual item from England that allowed him to remotely take knowledge from Index's head. By activating it, he had put a great load on Index's mind which had left her unconscious.
To save Index, Kamijou had to defeat Fiamma as quickly as possible and destroy the remote control spiritual item.
To do that, Kamijou had gone to Russia where Fiamma of the Right hid.
But…
"…Why is Lessar here?" Kamijou muttered dully.
Now, some of you may just have a blank look on your face upon hearing the name Lessar. Lessar was a girl from the British cabal reserve army of New Light. When Second Princess Carissa had used Curtana Original to start a coup d'etat, she had been one of the magicians who secretly excavated and transported Curtana.
She had white skin and was short. She looked like she might be in her early teens, and just the ends of her long black hair were braided. She was wearing what looked like a lacrosse uniform with a jacket, but what caught the eye first was the tail stretching from the area of her butt. The tail looked like a flat chain running through a transparent tube and it had something like an arrowhead on the end, so it gave a bit of a devilish feel to her. When they had met before, they had been enemies.
Kamijou had felt they had solved everything with no ill feelings after the coup d'etat, but he still didn't think she was the kind of person who would rush off to Russia like that.
In response to Kamijou's question, Lessar's tail swished back and forth lightly.
"Hmm? I'm not here because I was ordered to come by the British Royal Family, because I have a grudge against Fiamma of the Right, because I want to become a member of the Kamijou Faction, or anything else like that," she responded in an exceedingly halfhearted way. "I was just thinking that it would be good if we give you some help since you dying here would be disadvantageous to the United Kingdom as a whole. …Actually, maybe I shouldn't go so far as to say 'we'. Bayloupe may end up grabbing my ass again…"
Lessar seemed to start talking to herself in the middle of her response. Kamijou had sensed it a bit during their first meeting, but he had a good feeling now that that girl had very self-centered thought patterns.
Without realizing what Kamijou was thinking, a mischievous smile appeared on her youthful face.
"Well, you can just say that I'm using you and helping you. If you think of it as having a professional magician's strength at your disposal, it's not a bad deal, right?"
"Lessar…are you even all that powerful? All I remember you doing was running around London at night with some strange case."
"Do you want me to kick your ass and show you? Necessarius can't help you, right? So I should be a lot of help. Oh, and I'm better than Bayloupe when it comes to simply using the steel glove. As long as she doesn't use the Gjallarhorn, I won't lose to her. …Although, I can't exactly complain about that if it were a real battle," Lessar added. "And!! My steel glove has been powered up!! Tah dah!! It's the Lessar Special Custom! Something like a red laser comes shooting out allowing the blade 'fingers' to grab things at a distant that it isn't actually touching when I swing it around!!"
"…I didn't ask for your help."
"You really don't think I can help, do you? Was I overshadowed by the impression left by the rest of the coup d'etat…?" Lessar muttered before seeming to switch back to showing off how she could be helpful. "And it'll make things a lot easier to have someone who can translate Russian for you, right?"
"And another thing, how did you know I was sneaking into Russia?"
After the coup d'etat, he had pretty much only told Elizard and Stiyl that he was heading to Russia, but he hadn't told them how or exactly when. And yet Lessar had still managed to hunt him down.
He felt a little pathetic for running into a comrade right after sneaking into Russia alone without telling anyone. It may not have been the time to worry about something like that, but he still felt that way.
Then Lessar seemed to notice Kamijou's troubled expression.
"Hah hahhn. Are you thinking you shouldn't do this to Index who is sleeping in a London cathedral? After all, you say you're heading off to save her, but then you meet up with some other girl right away."
"Gh…!?"
"Then I have some good news for you. I may have a tail coming out from my skirt, but I'm not wearing spats down below. I'm only wearing panties under there."
"How the hell is telling me that supposed to help!?"
"Circle behind me!! Flip it up!! And forget all about the girls of the past!!"
"Y'know, I really should punch you for that one!!" Kamijou yelled with veins bulging at his temple.
However, Lessar just asked him a carefree question with her tail waving about as if she were completely willing to show him her panties.
"So how were you planning on finding Fiamma of the Right here in Russia?" She said in a tone that implied she thought he didn't have a plan at all. "Russia is quite large. It stretches almost all the way across the continent of Eurasia from east to west. Countries with a 9 hour time difference within them aren't exactly common. It's a little too big to just run across a specific person by chance."
"That's what you'd think, isn't it?"
"?"
Lessar stared blankly at that unexpected response.
"How many magicians do you think I've fought now? I've gotten a bit of an idea of how you all do things by this point."
Part 4
The Strait of Dover was a 30 kilometer strait between England and France.
Throughout history, it had become an important point whenever the relationship between the two countries soured. That area of the ocean had a bloody history and it was now about to absorb more blood and lives.
"The deployment of a mixed team containing both Anglicans and knights is complete."
Kanzaki Kaori nodded silently in response to the voice.
They were not standing on land. They were on a boat. Large 100 meter long sailing vessels made of wood flooded into the area seeming to completely cover the sea. All of the ships had been reinforced magically making them tougher than a battleship and quick moving.
It was an odd sight.
However, the truly odd part was not the great number of ships.
It was the fact that the war between magicians had developed to that level.
"The era truly has changed," said Agnese Sanctis who was standing next to Kanzaki.
The short girl looked off into the distance with her hand above her eyebrows like she was giving a clumsy salute.
"It seems the coup d'etat in England is being called British Halloween. Just like Nessie or the Nazca Lines, it's being treated like one of the 7 mysteries of the world or something. Humans sure are tough. Even when faced with something they can't comprehend, they just end up accepting it."
"Yes, it seems no one has realized that it was actually magic," said Kanzaki with a sigh. "But they had a vague idea that Japan's Academy City is scientifically developing 'mystical powers'. It's an entirely different system, but it gave them a bit of a resistance. Because they knew that kind of thing actually existed somewhere in the world, it was easier to accept that something similar could exist nearby them."
As she spoke, something seemed to catch in the back of Kanzaki's throat. Knowledge of the science side had helped stabilize the magic side. That also meant that, without that knowledge, a more serious panic could have occurred. Kanzaki became wary of "something" that had made its way inside her thinking without her knowing.
"At any rate," Kanzaki said changing the subject, "if they get through here, they have a straight shot for London. I want to avoid a battle as much as possible, but we have to defend ourselves if the French forces attack."
"It's almost 100% certain that they're coming, though," scornfully said the short nun who led an entire unit. "England and France have been in a dangerously tense situation since before the coup d'etat. …And annoyingly enough, it's thanks to their backing by the higher ups of the Roman Catholic Church. With that foundation, World War III is likely to spread here. And glimpses of the Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church can clearly be seen in the background of it all. I don't see how France won't attack England with things the way they are. The only question is whether they will attack as the vanguard of the Roman Catholic Church or they will attack simply to put an end to the historical and magical antagonism between the two countries."
After Agnese finished speaking, a transmission came in from Agata, one of the nuns in her unit.
"Interference from France has been confirmed!! They're coming, so stay on your guard!!"
The Strait of Dover usually perpetually created waves but the ocean then gathered together from the French border. Like ice had spread out instantly, the ocean water solidified.
"Salt!?"
"Tch. They've created footholds for themselves and robbed our ships of maneuverability all at once!!"
Shadows shot along like arrows.
There weren't just one or two of them.
Over 1000 magicians headed from the French border towards Kanzaki and the others by running straight across the white and hardened ocean surface. At that rate, the British side would be killed. They would be crushed like a beached killer whale being eaten by a flock of crows.
Without the use of the ships, over half of the strategy Kanzaki and the others had planned was useless.
However, that did not stop them.
Starting with Kanzaki, the Amakusas who specialized in hand to hand combat jumped down from the ships in order to intercept the French magicians.
Then Kanzaki noticed something odd at her feet.
"!?"
She hurriedly jumped to the side.
A hole opened in the area of the salt land she had been standing on. If she had been an instant slower, she would have fallen into the sea. Then they would have concentrated their attacks on her while she couldn't move properly.
(They were already an enemy that we needed to go all out on, and now this…!?)
They were at the disadvantage by being stuck on top of the unmoving ships.
But if they jumped down onto the salt land, the enemy would seize the initiative and attack.
Whatever they did, they were in a bad position.
People who were seriously waging war were not supposed to allow the enemy to create a situation where they had the advantage.
And then…
"You can't let something like that stop you. I thought you were supposed to be the force protecting England!" said an intimidating female voice.
Immediately afterwards, a thin film appeared atop the salt land like an extra coating. That time, it had not been France's doing. The phenomenon spread all the way across the ocean at once as if it were invading France from England.
They now had a proper foothold.
Kanzaki strongly stepped down and she used her sword's scabbard to blow away more than 20 French magicians at once.
As she did, she looked over in the direction the female voice had come from.
Standing there was the country's second princess wearing a red dress.
Part 5
Fiamma of the Right was the leader of the secret Roman Catholic organization God's Right Seat. Normally, he would have bossed around all of the various groups in that church that was said to number 2 billion across the world.
However, the other members of God's Right Seat—Vento of the Front, Terra of the Left, and Acqua of the Back—had all either been defeated or had left the organization of their own free will.
What had Fiamma used to make up for the loss of power their loss had created?
What part of the Roman-Russian alliance had he used?
"The answer I came up with is the Russian army," said Kamijou as he walked along the snow. "Of course, Fiamma doesn't see them as comrades. They may be nothing more than something like a breakwater used to buy time and ensure nothing gets in the way of his plan. But he will use anything he can. To move freely throughout Russia, it is much more natural to think it will be easier to use those already in Russia than using a Roman Catholic organization. I should be able to see glimpses of Fiamma in the movements of the Russian army. If I follow anything out of place I see there, I can find him."
"Fiamma came to Russia to find Sasha Kreutzev, right?"
"Yes, but I don't know why," said Kamijou simply raising the white flag at Lessar's question. "But if that's really all he needs, then he wouldn't have a reason to come here himself."
"Eh?"
"He could easily just order the Russian military and the Russian Orthodox Church to search over the area for her. All Fiamma would have to do is sit in an easy chair in front of a fireplace and wait for the result. But that isn't what he did."
"So there's…something else?"
"Yes, there's something that Fiamma has to do himself."
As Kamijou spoke, Lessar looked at the side of his face.
She couldn't figure out if he was an idiot or actually smart.
It was probably an issue of what field he specialized in. Like a jigsaw puzzle, various limited circumstances had to be met for the workings of that boy's head to get going. Someone good at video games may have excellent reflexes and kinetic vision, but they couldn't just use those skills in a different field like martial arts. It was something like that.
Most likely, the girl sleeping in a London cathedral was a piece of the puzzle for him.
"But Russia is in the middle of World War III. The military has to be moving all over the country. I doubt the Russian military expected China and India to side with Academy City. I bet they're frantically sending troops in that direction right now. Can you really find the actions related to Fiamma amid all that chaos?"
"Fiamma is sure to be trying to hide his plan," responded Kamijou. "He's using the Russian army while keeping that fact a secret from them. We need to be suspicious of any kind of operation with a plausible reason behind it but shows a completely different meaning when you look at it in a different way like it's some kind of trompe l'œil. …For example, an operation that shows an odd chemical reaction when you add in the term 'magic'."
"And that's why you're here?"
"I wouldn't have come all the way out here for any other reason."
Kamijou looked out across the scenery of white snow and muttered a few words.
"…Wait for me."