Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 179

"First is Oriana Townsend. As his surname suggests, he was born in England; now he should be Italian. Known as 'The Tracker Blockade,' he is one of the most skilled deliverymen in the magical world. In addition to his ability to hide and escape, even if he is discovered by the enemy, he will always be able to shake off his pursuers."

Chapter 312 Siegfried Sword

Chapter 312

More accurately, Oriana is the kind of man who will stop at nothing to escape his pursuers. Furthermore, because his actions are impossible to fully predict, even if enemies prepare countermeasures based on prior intelligence, he can easily evade them. Oriana Townsend is the kind of mage who can destroy bridges, create seas of fire, and lay countless runes to block the advance of pursuers; he possesses many unique skills. Moreover, he is also the kind of handsome man who sometimes exploits people's weaknesses.

Given that Oriana was originally a British citizen, it's conceivable that he had several fierce clashes with the Anglican Church during his activities within the Church of England. During the pursuit of Oriana by the Church of Necessary Evil, he was repeatedly blocked by ordinary people completely unrelated to magic, all of whom claimed to be his best friends. He wasn't just an ordinary battle maniac; he also knew how to easily blend into crowds using human walls formed by ordinary civilians.

"And then there's Lidovia Lorenzetti. He was an outcast in the Roman Catholic Church. Known as 'Confession Tuesday,' his missionary work targeted marginalized individuals who were not accepted by society, and they were known as reformed youths."

Unlike Oriana, he was a true Roman Orthodox from the Vatican. Despite his high position, he did not seek "his own place," but instead felt that missionary work around the world was more meaningful. He was also "a man who would do anything for missionary work," and he did not hesitate to immediately pawn the silk robe and platinum staff that the Pope personally awarded him as a reward for his outstanding achievements, in order to fund his travels.

The talents "saved" by Lidovia, and gathered "to save more people," were all unfortunate geniuses who had previously been hidden from the world, and most of them were problematic figures in human society, such as vicious criminals and cult followers. It would not be surprising if such people were executed, let alone discovered, but Lidovia's characteristic was to specifically collect such talents.

He not only has an excellent eye for talent, but also the ability to lead and manage problematic individuals.

Even the Roman Catholic Church, known for its indiscriminate killing of sinners and burning of heretics, could not arbitrarily attack those formally recognized as truly reformed. For the higher-ups who despised these problematic figures, Lidovia's actions were a thorn in their side. Moreover, he was a formidable opponent for Archbishop Laura of England.

If someone is openly training magicians, it's perfectly justifiable to intervene and stop them. But if someone is teaching the Bible and prayer to unfortunate people, those who obstruct them will be seen as villains.

"They're both quite influential figures in your world, aren't they? I've never heard of them. So, who are you going to make a deal with?"

"It cannot be stated explicitly. The prime suspect at present is Nikolai Tolstoy of Russia. He is a bishop-level official."

While Nicolae lacked the Roman Catholic Church's aggressive stance of "abolishing heretics," he was a notoriously cunning figure who would actively seek to profit from conflicts between two organizations.

"In this incident, what items was the delivery person transporting...? Could you please tell us?"

"If you don't specify the name and shape, you can't track it either."

Lola looked away from the screen on the lecturing platform and let out a "hey." Sitting in his chair, he picked up some "item" that was placed on the floor.

Is that a sword?

"This is just a replica. I borrowed it from the British Museum. This replica only has the appearance; it doesn't actually have any magical effects."

Lola held a marble sword. It was 1.5 meters long, and its hilt—or rather, its guard—was 35 centimeters wide on each side, totaling 70 centimeters in length. The hilt was about 10 centimeters thick in diameter. As one can imagine, it had no blade; the tip was as sharp as a sharpened pencil.

"This is called the 'Thrusting Dragon Sword.' I can't describe its detailed effects, but I've heard it can 'pierce a dragon and pin it to the ground.' Its magical value and effects are immense. If it falls into the wrong hands, we will immediately be in trouble. The whole of Britain may be drawn into the vortex of war."

The "Thrusting Sword" is a magical artifact capable of destroying a crucial "pillar" of a church sect in a single blow. By calming a specific sect and destroying its "pillar," surrounding hostile forces may take advantage of the sect's weakened state to launch a surprise attack.

"Pillar" refers to the "saint" in the Christian faith.

The "Thrusting Sword" can completely eliminate those saints in the Christian society whose fighting power and values ​​are equivalent to nuclear weapons.

"Hmm. This is like the tactical weapons in your world."

Aleister looked at the sword in the question through the video camera and said:

"Could you explain what kind of danger this sword would pose if used in Academy City? Depending on the situation, it might be necessary to guide and evacuate the general public."

"No need to worry. This is a weapon that can only be used in the magical world. It will have no effect in your world."

"I see. If you could explain its structure and principles in more detail, we could also devise some countermeasures."

"Oh. So, the inhabitants of the scientific world can also devise countermeasures against magic? Could there be a magician lurking among them?"

"..."

"..."

Silence fell between them. A tension, like a thin, sharp thread, permeated the air, as if the slightest movement, such as breathing, would snap it. Yet, neither showed any anxiety on their faces; in fact, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Lola, as if snapping a string of tension with her fingers, spoke in a cheerful tone:

"Let's stop this pointless stalemate. Time is of the essence now."

He shook his head, his long hair, which stretched out on the ground like a velvet blanket, swaying slightly.

"The biggest problem is that the transaction for the 'Thrusting Sword' is taking place in your Academy City."

"The enemy must have done their research beforehand. We cannot make an exception and only allow the British magicians to enter our territory."

If the Anglican Church is granted special permission, other churches and organizations will likely demand permission for them as well. These individuals are not entirely benevolent collaborators. Some may use this opportunity to infiltrate Academy City and carry out various acts of sabotage.

The situation was already troublesome enough; if new trouble were to arise, anyone could imagine how things might develop. Moreover, it was during the Daihasei Festival, with many members of the public and media present. Naturally, she wanted to avoid chaos, let alone a tragedy.

A similar situation occurred in early August when Misawa Academy was occupied by alchemists. At that time, Academy City summoned the British Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church to stop Aureolus Isaad's out-of-control behavior. However, the situation is different this time. It's currently the Daihasei Festival, and many ordinary citizens have come from "outside" Academy City. If Aleister proposes, "We decide who solves the problems in our city," while the other side argues, "But there are also people from our country among the tourists there. We will protect our comrades," it will only cause greater chaos.

Chapter 313 Punishment Game

Chapter 313

Of course, there are also differences in strength between organizations.

As the leader of the scientific world, Academy City possesses fundamentally different capabilities compared to the smaller factions in the magical world. This naturally leads to a difference in the influence of their statements, but this doesn't justify forcibly suppressing the other side.

After rejecting the opinions of smaller factions in the magical world, larger organizations will use this as an excuse to make demands. Even if their opinions are suppressed, even larger organizations will follow. In this back-and-forth, the problem snowballs, eventually becoming a conflict between science and magic as a whole.

The Daihasei Festival was already highly anticipated worldwide.

From the occurrence of the problem to its development, it shouldn't take more than a day.

"That being said, if someone from Academy City defeats a magician within Academy City, it could become a problem."

Science and magic each occupy their own territory, preserving their respective interests and rights. If the law enforcement agencies of Academy City rashly arrest a magician, it risks trespassing into the other's domain.

“Those guys really thought of everything. Even though we both sensed something was wrong, we held back because we couldn’t act rashly against the intruders. This way, they could focus on the transaction without worry.”

"But if we give up because of this, wouldn't we be helpless against them?"

Lola stood up.

His hair was so long that he wouldn't leave the ground with just this movement.

The gold and silver combs that had been on his lap fell to the ground, but Lola didn't even glance at them.

"You're currently hosting the general public over there. If that's the case, it shouldn't be a problem for those of us on vacation to sneak in, right?"

Hearing his earnest voice, the person on the other end of the screen smiled:

"Well, even if we disguise it as a vacation trip, we'll still have a headache if the group of tourists are all members of the Anglican Church. If it's discovered that this is a group operation planned by an organization, outsiders might think that 'an organized church force has infiltrated Academy City.' But if it's just an individual... and that person has friendly relations with the residents of Academy City, it can be used to confuse the issue."

After Aleister whistled merrily, he added:

"...In that case, we'll have no choice but to use that girl as our tour guide."

-

10:30 a.m.

The opening ceremony of the Great Star Festival has finally come to an end.

Miss Rin yawned from the stands. As expected, no matter which world it was, this kind of scene was as boring as ever. It was just that there were a few more principals here, so she had to hear a few more versions of their speeches.

This was after the board of directors had rigorously selected the speakers. Otherwise, having all the principals of Academy City give speeches would probably have taken up the entire first day of the conference.

"It's about to start, stop reading."

Rin Tohsaka shook Pendragon's arm. Although they were sitting far from the playground, they could enhance their eyesight by circulating magic in their eyes and see the situation on the field clearly.

"Wow, what a coincidence."

Pendragon spotted the God of Purity, who was practically sunburnt to the point of exhaustion, almost instantly.

It's said that the opening ceremony of the Daisei Hasai takes place at more than 300 venues simultaneously, so if you can run into each other, it really is a matter of fate.

The soccer field was surrounded by elementary, middle, high school, and university students participating in the Daihasei Festival, all with expressions as serene as the gods. The basic attire consisted of short-sleeved shirts and shorts, varying by school; some wore shoe covers, or track and field uniforms. Special schools, for example, wore aikido uniforms, camouflage work pants, or armored suits made of special materials (the kind without a power system).

What the students had in common was that they all wore red or white headbands on their foreheads.

The Daihasei Festival is basically a competition between schools, with points awarded based on the results. Each school is further divided into a Red Team and a White Team, and each school receives additional points based on its total number of wins. Red Team plays against White Team, and schools play against each other. The final ranking of each school is determined by the total combined score.

When Pure God and Misaka, whom he happened to meet, argued about winning before the opening ceremony, they were based on this system. In Academy City, if your school's ranking is higher than the opposing school's, you "win." Misaka's harsh words at that time seemed to be: "You...you just wait and see...! I'll make you regret saying that after losing the match, you'd have to do whatever I say in the punishment game!!!"

The competition that Miss Rin had been waiting for for so long finally began. Shortly after the students who had attended the opening ceremony left, the signal for the contestants to enter the venue was finally broadcast over the school's public address system.

The first competition was a "wooden stick wrestling contest"—both sides erected wooden sticks about seven meters long, and participants had to defend their own sticks while trying to knock down the opposing sticks. The hoarse voice coming from the other end of the loudspeaker indicated that the participants were first-year high school students.

Although there were television cameras covering the event, it was essentially still a school sports meet. The commentary and introductions for the television broadcast were held in a separate studio, which didn't look much different from the outside. However, the mere fact that it would be broadcast on television made the atmosphere and sense of presence inside the venue significantly different from usual.

Although it's practically impossible to keep track of all 1.8 million students, it still feels nerve-wracking.

The students' excited chatter was quite loud, yet a strange tension permeated the air. In that instant, one truly felt that this was indeed an official event attracting global attention.

One group of students behaved very professionally before the competition even started, with their warm-up exercises all in perfect unison, while Jing Shen's group...

Well, although their school is quite ordinary in Academy City, the whole group of people exuded an inexplicable sense of authority today, and no one was fooling around.

Centered on their mission to purify the spirits and vanquish demons, they lined up in a row across the campus. Rather than a wooden stick-pulling contest, it resembled the tense atmosphere before a battle in the Warring States period. The wooden sticks lined up everywhere looked like the spears carried by an army. This tension felt like it belonged to a different dimension than the tension created by the presence of television cameras. It seemed as if they saw nothing but their own forces and the enemy's.

"Thump thump, clatter clatter, bang bang," strange sound effects emanated from all around them.

This is the sound produced by the aftershocks of three-digit abilities colliding and vibrating the air.

Those participating in the wooden stick competition were naturally divided into two groups.

A group of people erected their wooden poles and stood guard.

Chapter 314 Battle of Abilities

Chapter 314

A group of people erected their wooden poles and stood guard.

The other group consisted of people who pushed over the opponent's wooden sticks.

Jing Shen chose the latter.

So when the signal to start the competition came, he took the lead and ran towards the enemy camp.

“Ohhhhh!!”

Jing Shen shouted and ran over.

Most people might think... this is just a competition in the sports meet, but most of the students in Academy City are superpowered individuals who have awakened certain powers, including fire, water, earth, wind, thunder, ice, and other superpowered individuals whose power is unknown. When a group of about a hundred people clash fiercely, the intensity and tension are no small matter.

The two sides are currently about 80 meters apart.

The enemy troops, lined up in a horizontal row, flashed their lights continuously. At first glance, they looked like camera flashes from a cheering stand, but that wasn't actually the case.

This is a long-range attack launched by a superhuman.

The attack likely utilizes explosive pressure generated by fire or burst-type abilities. To shape it into a projectile, a transparent outer shell, created by a pressure-type psychic, is used. During the creation of the explosive bullet, the casing alters the curvature of the air, much like a transparent balloon reflecting sunlight, thus refracting the light. This type of attack, created through the collaboration of multiple psychics, is something only seen at the Daihasei Festival.

Jing Shen predicted that its structure should be achieved by removing the pressure-based outer shell, releasing the explosive pressure inside, and then releasing shock waves in the surrounding area.

She ran towards the attack unleashed by dozens of units, while countless sand spears fired by her allies flew past her to meet the enemy. This was an attack primarily based on telekinesis. Originally, it was just a colorless and shapeless "power," but the dust particles flying in the air reacted when they encountered the transparent "power." The sand particles, combined with the flow of magnetic field lines, drew lines in the air.

The explosive grenades and telekinetic guns clashed fiercely in the middle of the two camps.

Upon seeing the sudden gust of wind, cheering screams, like the sound of ocean waves, erupted from the cheering seats.

To outsiders, the scene was comparable to a science fiction blockbuster, and perhaps even more exciting, because it was real.

Can a movie compare to this kind of live experience?

(Those who watch this should find it very interesting!!)

Although Jing Shen hesitated slightly because of the loud noise, she still continued running forward.

The other school seems to be experts in sports; you can tell they've put a lot of effort into developing abilities. While it's nothing compared to the devastating power of a Railgun that delivers a one-hit kill... well, something terrifying is still terrifying nonetheless.

The Goddess of Purity's right hand possesses the power of Imagine Breaker. This is a magical power that renders magic, superpowers, and miracles ineffective upon contact with her right hand... However, its effect is limited to her right hand. If attacks come from all directions, it is ultimately impossible to defend against them all.

As Jing Shen ran toward the enemy camp with these thoughts in mind, someone ran alongside him.

My best friend with blue hair and earrings.

"I'm off now, Pure God. Watch how this comedy expert shatters the obnoxious coolness emanating from that high-and-mighty, corrupt elite group! Wahahahahaha!!"

Several projectiles were fired by the interception team, but the blue-haired girl with the earring dodged them with the grace of a ballerina, spinning around and dodging them all with ease.

They were still twenty meters away from the fierce clash between the two sides. Even though they had no time to think about others, Jing Shen still said in surprise to the blue-haired girl with the earring running beside her:

"By the way, why are you so happy?"

"Ah!? Pure God, it's all because of love! The subtle love conveyed by these athletic young men, their sweat and tears mingling, intertwined into a sadistic love, is now being broadcast across the national television network... no, it's being broadcast to multiple countries! Faced with such overwhelming love, even if I can't accept it, I must fight my way to my harem!!"

Ahahahahahaha—!! The blue-haired man with the earring moved faster and faster, his emotions rising.