Facing this golden treasure chest, Shen He was a little nervous.
He had burned through most of his saved trump cards for this battle. With only one remaining mid-level time-limited enhancement card, there was no way he could fight Misaka Mikoto Alter head-on, not to mention an enemy who undoubtedly possessed the Holy Grail.
So—there had to be a trump card to turn the tables.
Open the treasure chest!
There was no extra dazzling movement, nor any extra light. The treasure chest in the backpack disappeared, replaced by a glittering golden card.
Advanced Time-Limited Enhancement Card!
"Whew—"
Shen He exhaled a long breath, feeling as comfortable as if he had just climbed out of a hot spring.
Although the probability of getting enhancement cards from treasure chests is high, what if a nine-hour advanced delay card is pulled? That would be a huge loss.
But there's only one chance. It has to be used on the final boss, preferably in the Holy Grail war.
"Next..." Misaka Mikoto looked at Shen He, her eyes filled with anticipation.
"We need to get more information," Shen He shook his head helplessly. "The items to lift the seals have been used up for now, and our strength will soon drop. We can only hope there won't be any tough battles in the near future. But... Kanzaki, do you have any way to restrict the actions of a Saint?"
Based on the information Shen He knew, for Acqua of the Back, who yearned for order and the removal of chaos, the real enemy should be the source of chaos, Misaka Mikoto Alter.
In other words, Acqua of the Back, after being freed from the Holy Grail's influence, was a Saint-level combatant who could be won over.
However, before confirming this, they still needed to restrain his actions.
"Yes." Kanzaki Kaori nodded affirmatively. "A Saint is only able to borrow the power of the God's Child because a part of their body is the same. But they also have the same weaknesses: a large cross, sharp nails, and a crown of thorns."
These three items represent the [Execution of the God's Child]. Even a saint, nailed to a massive cross and crowned with thorns, would temporarily have their saintly powers stripped away.
"Then let's do it." Shen He glanced around, determined not to waste any more time. "Restrict his movements, and then I'll take you to a safe place to rest for a while."
The others had no objections.
They found Kamijou Touma and the others, and then Shen He led them away together.
About three or four minutes later, Shokuhou Misaki arrived at the scene with her people, only to find a desolate wasteland.
"Let's go back!"
Shokuhou Misaki gritted her teeth, suddenly regretting not having agreed to Kamijou Touma's request when he came to her door earlier.
On the other side, Shen He and the others arrived at an underground experimental base in a hidden research institute.
This base clearly wasn't a normal experimental facility. There were cold, steel experiment beds, hidden machine guns, and even a lot of equipment that made your hair stand on end just by looking at it.
However, a considerable number of people had gathered here now, nearly several thousand of them. They included both espers and Level 0s, all ordinary students who didn't want to participate in the cruel war.
"Where's Kushiro Iko?" Shen He was very familiar with this place and asked directly where the student in charge was.
It didn't take long before Kushiro Iko, who had a very gloomy appearance, strode over.
"You all know about the recent battle," Shen He explained simply, "Although we won, we were also injured. We'll come here to rest for a while. Just give us a more spacious room, and we have our own food and water."
"Okay," Kushiro Iko didn't say much.
They were all people who had gathered here to receive help, and they received enough food from Shen He every day, but no one dared to say anything about this level of provision.
However, as Kushiro Iko left, her gaze lingered on Misaka Mikoto Alter, who was wearing a jacket, a baseball cap, and a mask, and a look of suspicion flashed in her eyes.
"Why are we dressed like this, and we're still being noticed?" Misaka Mikoto Alter muttered quietly only after the other party had left.
"Because they've seen too much."
Shen He shook his head and lifted Acqua of the Back, who was nailed to a cross. Behind him were Kihara Nayuta and Vento of the Front, all of whom were prisoners.
After simply pouring a bucket of water over him, Acqua of the Back woke up first.
The pain of nails piercing his wrists and ankles wasn't anything, nor was the suppression of his Saint's power. What truly made him breathless was that not-so-powerful "Power of God."
Divine Judgement.
The second layer of restraints imposed on him by Joan of Arc.
"You should know what happened, right?" Shen He's gaze fixed on Acqua of the Back, who seemed to have regained his clarity, and directly called him by his real name. "William, who made you go berserk?"
"..."
A brief silence hung in the air, as if they were trying to process everything that had happened.
"I don't know." Acqua of the Back finally replied with that answer, "I came to investigate the source of the disaster. When I got close to the people who started the war, I was affected by a mysterious power… It's very similar to the power that's been bestowed upon me now. It's like the wrath of God."
"Think carefully again." Shen He continued to question, "Were there any people around you at that time? No one should be able to approach you silently."
"...Ordinary students, clones, about a dozen."
Acqua of the Back seemed to be cooperating with being a captive, not struggling or choosing to remain silent.
"Is that so…" Shen He lowered his head in thought.
Now it could be basically confirmed that the one holding the Holy Grail wouldn't be Misaka Mikoto Alter. Even the Railgun would not do something underhanded like that.
"Misaka." Shen He looked at Misaka Mikoto and Accelerator again, "During your investigation, did you find any suspicious individuals around Misaka Mikoto Alter?"
"Yes." Accelerator spoke first, "I investigated the place where Last Order was held. Those bastards were still shouting 'Big Sister's side chamber' even as they were about to die. If that woman possesses the same memories as the Third, then this 'side chamber' should be a very suspicious person."
"—It's not a suspicious person!"
Misaka Mikoto's face flushed as she screamed.
That damn Kuroko, she actually let such a shameful self-proclaimed title spread around.
And with that guy's perverted nature, she might even do all sorts of perverted things to the Misaka sisters. She really should have cooked that guy's head with a hundred thousand volts of electricity back then!
"Kuroko..." Shen He was indeed seriously considering, "Could it be possible that Kuroko possessed the Holy Grail? She made a wish to have Misaka Mikoto always by her side, and as a result, created Misaka Mikoto Alter?"
It's not impossible to rule out this possibility. This kind of all-powerful wish-granting machine is sometimes really super unreliable.
"..." Misaka Mikoto Alter also fell silent.
She couldn't understand what the Holy Grail was, but given Kuroko's personality, it was entirely possible for her to make such a wish.
Moreover, according to the information she had gathered, Shirai Kuroko, and even Uiharu Kazari, had always been by the side of another Misaka Mikoto Alter.
"List Shirai Kuroko as one of the suspicious targets," Shen He could only say in the end.
After all, Shirai Kuroko wasn't a main character; most of her scenes involved perverted incidents, so Shen He's impression of her was limited to the word "pervert." He wasn't clear on how much justice she, as a Judgement member, actually possessed.
With the suspicious targets identified, the next step was to find out as much as possible about the enemy's remaining combat power.
"William," Shen He turned to Acqua of the Back again, "How many magicians are there with the other Misaka Mikoto Alter? Or, how many Level 5s? You should know this, right?"
Berserk was just a change of state, not a change of personality. Memories wouldn't change; only the way of looking at the memories would. So, Acqua of the Back should know quite a bit.
"There aren't any. As for the magicians, there's only me and Vento of the Front." Acqua of the Back glanced at Vento of the Front, who was lying on the ground. "I don't know about the espers... The order was just to destroy Kamijou Touma and everyone around him tonight... It's truly humiliating."
For Acqua of the Back, this was indeed a complete humiliation.
He was clearly here to resolve the chaos, but instead, he had created the greatest chaos since the beginning of the war.
"The target is Kamijou Touma?" Shen He raised an eyebrow.
He quickly thought in his mind, recalling the plot he had seen as if watching a movie.
Only he could stand in the perspective of a god and see the true emotions and goals in each character's heart.
I must have overlooked something, Shen He thought.
Everyone else remained silent, watching him. Even Acqua of the Back didn't say anything like, "I can help."
"Knock, knock, knock."
However, at this moment, there was urgent knocking on the door.
Misaka Mikoto immediately put on her hat and mask.
"Kushiro Iko, what's happened?" Shen He looked at Kushiro Iko, who was behind the door with a face full of panic, slightly taken aback.
"The, the military is attacking Academy City!" Kushiro Iko showed Shen He the phone she was tightly gripping in her hands.
It was a video taken by a student and then uploaded to the internal network. At the edge of Academy City, dense armed helicopters appeared in the air, followed by fully armed soldiers rappelling down ropes. The screen even flashed with intense explosions, indicating that Academy City's special forces had already engaged the invading military.
And below the video, there were comments constantly being posted by students.
"It's 'Apache' armed helicopters."
"US Military, it's the US Military!"
"I'm an American citizen! I'm in the ah-12 dormitory in District 7! Come and get me out of here!"
Shen He read the comments one by one. If he calmed down and thought about it, he could roughly guess the reasons why other countries would choose to invade at this time. After experiencing the ferocious battle just now, which was so powerful, most people would think that both sides would definitely be damaged. This was the best time to reap the benefits.
-----------------------
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