The Star of Bethlehem fortress trembled like a beating heart. Thunderous echoes reverberated like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, striking fear into the soul, and even from more than a thousand miles away its vast silhouette could still be seen blotting out the sky.
Viewed from space, it looked as though an enormous azure "moss infection" had suddenly appeared over the waters of Southeast Asia.
The density and sheer volume of this sea of thunderclouds were simply horrifying. The people beneath it were utterly terrified.
CRACK—!
Dark clouds blanketed the sky, completely obscuring the sun beneath their immense mass. Torrential rain poured down as vast bolts of heavenly lightning descended like war spears hurled by the gods, unstoppable in their momentum!
Was this punishment from God? Or the beginning of the end of the world?
Among the secular world, every observant person who witnessed this scene was left with only one question beyond their astonishment.
Was this some kind of weapon, or...the personal might of a magician or esper?
This was especially true for the North American coalition's naval support fleet.
As members of the North American coalition that had been pulled onto the Science Side and had declared war on the Roman Catholic Church, they were unquestionably allies of Academy City. At least for now.
Not long ago, their unit had received orders stating that Academy City's Banda Aceh forward base guarding the entrance to the Strait of Malacca was under fierce attack from the Roman Catholic Church and the "holy war" punitive fleet of its allied nations, so they had been dispatched to provide support.
Unfortunately, circumstances changed faster than they could respond. In the span of only a few blinks, Vatican City, the holy land of the Roman Catholic Church, had been wiped out in one fell swoop. The Pope was dead, the cardinals had all been annihilated, more than half the cardinal bishops had been killed or wounded, and before the Church's accumulated foundations could even be brought into play, they had been reduced to ashes amid blazing flames.
This...the Roman Catholic Church, which had originally seemed to hold an enormous advantage, had suddenly suffered crippling losses. In that miserable state, it probably wouldn't recover for years, and that was assuming Academy City didn't suppress it after the war ended.
It wasn't as though they wanted to lose. Naturally, they wanted victory. But this was very different from the situation they had hoped for, where both sides would fight each other to exhaustion and suffer mutual devastation.
And so, the North American Combined Fleet, which had originally been rushing desperately to provide emergency support at full speed, suddenly lost all urgency.
Please wait. Our unit needs time to recover from the fatigue of long-distance travel. Once preparations are complete, we will immediately enter the battle.
That was how the commander of the North American Combined Fleet responded to the unified inquiry sent by Academy City's Board of Directors.
With Aleister no longer present as the one calling the shots, Acting Board Chairman Selene flying around the world setting ambushes, and the few remaining directors lacking enough authority to directly berate the North American coalition for dragging its feet, there was little they could do.
After all, what they said did make sense, didn't it?
Thus, the North American Combined Fleet, having only just sailed out of Singapore's harbor and entered the waters of the Strait of Malacca, had the great fortune of encountering an ultra-large thunderstorm the likes of which they had never heard of in their lives.
A pillar of lightning struck down.
In the blink of an eye, it blasted up a wall of water nearly a hundred meters tall, which simultaneously expanded outward in a hemispherical shape.
Then came the second bolt, the third...
Dense pillars of lightning connected heaven and earth one after another, like an entire forest of thunder erupting from the ocean surface. The enormous condensation clouds were formed when shock waves produced by massive high-voltage electrical explosions in the water rose to the surface, creating a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure and causing condensation. The sight was terrifying beyond words.
"Stop stop stop stop stop! Turn the ship around!!"
"Stop advancing! Stop advancing!"
"What are you idiots standing around for?! Do you want to die?! Get back inside the ship!"
While the allied naval fleet arriving in the area descended into complete chaos because of the atmospheric electric field that had been triggered and spread around them, Selene casually tossed the severed arm with one hand while keeping the other behind her waist, watching with great interest as the man and woman stepped onto the Star of Bethlehem fortress.
Tap tap~
Footsteps sounded across ice and gravel.
Rather than saying they approached normally, it would be more accurate to say they unnaturally appeared within every sense at the same time.
A strange pair.
One was a tall blonde woman.
She wore a loose dark jacket made from thick material over jeans, with a work apron tied around her waist and industrial windproof goggles resting on her forehead. Although her appearance looked rough at first glance, Selene sensed a certain working professionalism in her mannerisms similar to that of the British maids serving Carissa.
Mm. Connected to the British Royal Family.
Then there was the other person, a thin yet very tall blond man.
He wore a thin light-blue shirt beneath a camel-colored wool vest, simple khaki trousers, and brown leather shoes.
Wearing so little at an altitude of ten thousand meters either meant something was wrong with his brain or he had real ability. The man was clearly the latter.
Ahem...could the newcomer possibly be the famous "Good Guy Emperor," "Friend of Animals," and "Peacemaker"?
Selene raised one elegant brow as she stood atop the high platform and looked down at them from above, deliberately asking a question whose answer she already knew. "A guest is still a guest. Losers of the old era, although I know a little about the two of you, aren't you going to introduce yourselves?"
"A guest? In that case, I suppose I would count as an unwelcome one. As for hospitality, there's no need."
The man shook his head with a gentle smile as warm as polished jade. Combined with his brilliant short golden hair, he truly radiated a warmth like a little sun, making it easy for others to feel favorable toward him.
Only his eyes were somewhat gloomy, as though he carried disappointment toward both life and the world. It created a contradictory aura.
He patted his partner on the shoulder, then raised his head and looked toward the beautiful woman standing atop the platform.
Her excessively refined facial features gave an almost unreal impression. Her body was wrapped in a platinum-colored formal dress whose design, at first glance, seemed to incorporate elements of close-fitting combat attire. Threads of golden holy-lily patterns ran across it, faint streams of light seeming to move over them and lending the clothing an inexplicable nobility.
"My name is Ollerus."
His answer was brief, and his sky-blue eyes reflected the "Fiamma of the Right" Selene had suspended in midair.
"What else is there worth saying...hm. In the past, I was supposed to become a Magic God...and then that throne was taken from me by the One-Eyed Othinus. A rather tragic magician, wouldn't you say?"
Those words compressed every important piece of information into a single sentence.
"My purpose in coming here is simple. Him." The magician named Ollerus immediately revealed his objective without beating around the bush, showing no concern that Selene might suddenly attack. That was the confidence of someone like him.
"Then you're too late."
Selene was unsurprised by Ollerus' purpose. She naturally stepped aside and made an inviting gesture. "Go ahead, if you can convince him." She raised a pale jade hand covered by a pure-white lace glove and lightly covered her lips as if suppressing a laugh.
Ollerus froze for a moment. Based on his analysis of Selene's personality, he had expected a brutal battle, yet he hadn't imagined things would be this easy.
"In that case, I won't refuse..."
After pondering briefly, Ollerus spoke toward Fiamma of the Right. "You don't want to simply hang there waiting to die, do you? It's time to accept reality. You've already lost this war. Rather than continuing to dream about being some savior...preserving your own life should be your highest priority right now."
"You only need to say the word, and I'll have a reason to intervene. In exchange, all you need to do is tell me what you've seen and heard."
Although Selene's malicious intentions were obvious, and she clearly wanted to watch him make a fool of himself, Ollerus still accepted the situation. He was polite and carried himself with the ritualistic seriousness of someone who respected contracts.
He possessed absolute confidence in his own strength.
"I'm afraid I won't need your help, Ollerus."
He.
"Fiamma of the Right" responded in a hoarse voice. Countless layers of noise were mixed into it. It sounded male and female, adult and child, as though multiple voices were speaking the same sentence at once.
"No...you're not Fiamma of the Right...I see, I see. You've already taken control of Fiamma of the Right's mind?" Ollerus suddenly understood.
Crack crack crack—!
With the sound of the atmosphere splitting apart, patterns like shattered glass spread across the floor of the platform before it broke into fragments.
"Fiamma of the Right" slowly descended. Expressionless, he raised his head. The arrogance in his eyes had been replaced by unfathomable depth. He naturally lifted his right arm, and with a crack, his bones reset into place. The Subspace Lance completely merged into his body, while purplish-red traces of light spread throughout his entire body along his blood vessels, making him resemble porcelain filled with ice-crack patterns.
"The power of the Holy Right."
"The God of Christianity is unique, and every miracle should be governed by that singular God. Within Christianity, the right side represents 'equality.' The Son of God could cure every illness with his right hand, and people use their right hands when baptizing believers. Every miracle of Christianity is contained within this right hand."
Bzzzz!
"Fiamma of the Right" once again summoned his "third hand." An enormous transparent outline appeared, five twisted masses of light beginning to gather as a crimson contour extended outward.
Creak~
The hand spread all five fingers as though stretching its muscles. With every movement, the nearby space seemed to twist, shatter, and transform into the physical manifestation of a miracle, as though the hand did not exist within this world at all but instead occupied some higher Phase and dimension beyond human comprehension.
The instant she saw that hand, the blonde woman's scalp tingled. Her blood flow accelerated, and a deeply unsettling sense of dread gripped her heart.
Its terrifying presence was impossible to put into words. Only when facing it directly could one truly understand what despair meant—an absolute, unmatched despair.
"Sylvia, fall back."
The calm expression on Ollerus' face vanished, replaced entirely by profound solemnity.
No matter how close his constitution was to that of a Magic God, and even though he was a monster capable of wielding the power of a Magic God using nothing more than ordinary magical power in the mortal world, he was still not truly a Magic God. The difference between a quasi-Magic God and a Magic God was only a single word, yet it was the difference between heaven and earth.
He was not omniscient or omnipotent. He truly had not anticipated that the "Aleister" Selene referred to meant this. He had indeed detected Aleister's faint magical wavelength before. Although he couldn't determine the exact location, Aleister should have been on land.
Possessing another person's body...what an utterly vile act.
"You're too slow." Selene glanced sideways at "Fiamma of the Right," who was still familiarizing himself with his new body, and tossed him both the severed arm and John's Pen Remote Control.
The reason she hadn't attacked directly was because she had been waiting for Aleister to completely seize control over Fiamma of the Right's body.
After all, at this moment, the Holy Right attached to Fiamma of the Right's flesh had already disintegrated in midair because of its instability and inability to remain manifested for long. With no primary consciousness controlling the body, he was essentially an empty shell. It could be said this was his most vulnerable moment.
And if Selene and Ollerus started exchanging blows, even a random shock wave would be enough to turn Fiamma of the Right's untrained and fragile body to ash. Wouldn't all her efforts have been wasted?
Selene could tell that Ollerus was probably the strongest enemy this divided-spirit incarnation of hers had encountered, and also the upper limit of what the incarnation could output. As for exactly how great the gap was, she would only know after fighting him.
"It's not too late."
After taking Kamijou Touma's severed right arm and merging it into the "third hand," "Fiamma of the Right" raised John's Pen Remote Control and activated it. "Aiwass," he called.
"Looks like everything is ready." A response suddenly sounded from the air. A golden figure seemed to precipitate directly out of empty space, abruptly appearing inside the room.
Judging by outward appearance, the newcomer looked female, but their entire body was enveloped in hazy light, making their face impossible to discern. Their whole being radiated an aura of "mystery."
"An angel?"
At the sight, Ollerus suddenly realized that perhaps Fiamma of the Right had never truly been the instigator of the war. Or rather, Fiamma of the Right had simply happened to occupy the position of the most convenient target.
His ambition had been exploited, his actions tacitly encouraged and pushed forward, turning him into someone else's pawn. Then, once his value had been fully extracted, he had been completely devoured!
"Sylvia, protect yourself."
"Hildskjalf—deploy!"
After warning his partner Sylvia, Ollerus immediately revealed his true power.
Selene had been waiting for this moment. Standing in front of "Fiamma of the Right" and Aiwass, she used no cumbersome incantation. I am authority. I am law!
With a wave of her hand, countless streams of light and heat surged up. Her crimson diamond-shaped eyes blazed in an instant, vast and brilliant like stars.
"Strong Nuclear Force—Fusion."
Bzzzz—!
She transformed into a golden sun, like a second blazing star appearing in the sky as nuclear fusion reactions erupted within it.
Almost at the same moment, "Begin." "Fiamma of the Right" extended the "third hand" and spoke coldly.
Aiwass neither agreed nor objected to the instruction, but their movements were not delayed in the slightest.
Bzzzzzz—!
Above the deep-blue sea, the enormous magical array more than forty kilometers in diameter was instantly pierced by a silver pillar of light unleashed by the Holy Guardian Angel, which continued extending for more than a hundred kilometers.
The space surrounding that enormous silver beam twisted violently.
For a time, the sky across hundreds of kilometers flickered with ominous radiance, and the atmosphere became incomparably oppressive.
In the ocean ten thousand meters below, every marine creature sensed overwhelming danger and immediately began fleeing without hesitation!
At this very moment, people throughout the waters of Southeast Asia were horrified to discover that merely standing on the shore allowed them to see enormous schools of fish surging to the surface and thrashing wildly. Large numbers of deep-sea fish normally never seen in shallow waters were rising to the surface one after another. Seabirds fled in migration.
Beneath the dark ocean surface, bioluminescence among marine organisms intensified. As vast numbers gathered together, some even produced powerful pillars or clouds of light, forming enormous moving patches of brilliance across the sea. It was extraordinarily beautiful.
But experienced fishermen knew that this was an omen of a great disaster!!