Rumble...
The roar of the supersonic engines could no longer be heard inside the specially sealed and soundproofed cabin. Only faint vibrations still seemed to echo around them. Kamijou Touma sat on a folding seat, studying the other passengers aboard this absurdly enormous supersonic stealth bomber.
Every one of those passengers wore standardized full-body armored suits, masks covering their entire heads, and thick night-vision goggles resembling ski goggles. Each of them was broad-built and heavily muscled.
They weren't Anti-Skill.
Kamijou Touma reached that conclusion.
Aside from them, there were also familiar armed robot units. In the center of the cabin stood hundreds of manned powered suits covered from head to toe in specialized armor.
Secured to the cabin by locking restraints, each stood roughly 2.5 meters tall. Armor covered them from head to toe, even their fingers. Their vertically cylindrical heads looked exceptionally large, and together with their swollen chest armor, they resembled oversized cylindrical Security Robots.
Heavy powered-suit units.
Although they were nowhere near as familiar to Kamijou Touma as the armed robot units that had become commonplace throughout Academy City, he still recognized what these things were.
However, unlike Academy City's public-security powered-suit units, which were equipped only with lighter weapons such as submachine guns, shotguns, grenade launchers, rockets, and portable anti-tank missiles, these powered suits were obviously military machines intended for high-intensity warfare.
Rotary breaching shotguns, Vulcan Gatling guns of at least .50 caliber, ultra-high-pressure water cutters firing cryogenic liquid and solid nitrogen, twin honeycomb missile launchers, heavy-caliber recoilless rifles...
Beyond that, there were experimental technological weapons derived from reverse-engineering the abilities of espers. These included energy emitters recreating the Meltdowner of Academy City's Level 5 Mugino Shizuri, with two known output modes—lead projectiles and "Meltdowner"—as well as weapons replicating the Railgun of Academy City's Level 5 Misaka Mikoto...
Among them were even experimental weapons created by weaponizing the "harmless" Honkai energy Selene had provided. Evidently, rather than endlessly tinkering with them at domestic test ranges, it was more practical to bring every weapon that had passed safety certification onto the battlefield and test them properly. Everything had already been registered, so even losing them would not matter.
They were armed to the teeth.
Even Kamijou Touma, who knew little about the arms market, could tell that these were weapons of war designed for the explicit purpose of completely killing other people.
And every one of them bore the same emblem—silver-white mechanical wings shaped like interlocking gears.
Schicksal Group.
Just as Kamijou Touma was thinking about that, heavy footsteps suddenly approached. A man with a close-cropped haircut stopped directly in front of him and sharply clicked his heels together on the final step with a crisp clack.
"Mr. Kamijou, five minutes until we reach Banda Aceh Base in the Strait of Malacca."
He looked to be around thirty. His skin was somewhat dark, his features leaned Western, and he was tall. Although his body seemed to carry a relatively high body-fat percentage, powerful muscles were still faintly visible beneath the layer of fat. Combined with the murderous aura of someone who had spent years fighting on battlefields, there was no way this man was harmless.
Kamijou Touma looked like nothing more than an ordinary high school student, with nothing particularly worth noticing about him. But since these were Selene's orders, the man, as an employee of Schicksal Group, had no intention of asking questions. He only needed to obey. Wearing what he believed was a friendly smile, he nodded and continued.
"Because Banda Aceh Base is a frontline fortress controlling the choke point from the Indian Ocean into the Pacific and lies directly along the route to Academy City, the fortress facilities were recently bombarded by the Roman Catholic Church's so-called 'holy-war' punitive fleet. The airfield has been severely damaged and cannot support a landing."
As he spoke, the man tossed a parachute pack to Kamijou Touma.
"So, Mr. Kamijou, in five minutes all of us will be conducting an airborne insertion, including these friends of yours. No problem, right?"
"N-No... no problem."
He had forced his way into coming here himself—or at least that was what Kamijou Touma believed—so even if an aerial drop from high altitude was unpleasant, he had no complaints.
After all, Kamijou Touma glanced through the nearby armored panel at the holographic display showing the bomber's external condition. With a wingspan well over a hundred meters, it was unquestionably a colossal machine.
Aside from dedicated military runways, there were very few civilian airports anywhere in the world that could withstand the impact and braking forces produced when it landed.
HsB-series supersonic stealth bomber. Nearly one hundred meters long, measuring between eighty and one hundred meters depending on the exact model. Maximum speed: 7,000 kilometers per hour. Simply flying in a straight line at full speed was enough to outrun anti-air missiles. In addition to serving as a transport aircraft, it also carried enough specialized bombs to destroy deeply buried underground facilities.
"I'm so hungry, Touma—"
Just as Kamijou Touma hurriedly pulled on the parachute pack and repeatedly checked whether every buckle was securely fastened, the silver-haired nun beside him began complaining as her stomach growled, unhappily shoving at him.
"I'm hungry... Why is there not even a single dining area in a space this huge? It's nothing but these annoying metal shells." Index glared through gritted teeth at the human-sized armed robots.
The public-security versions of those metal lumps had caused her no end of misery before. Back when she had only recently arrived in Academy City, she had not yet registered any identity information.
When hunger drove her to randomly press buttons on a vending machine, a patrol Security Robot had immediately handcuffed and detained her for attempted destruction of public property, dragging her back to a security branch office where she received an entire afternoon of criticism and education!
"Aren't you the one who insisted on following me?! And how did you people even sneak onto this thing?!"
After fastening the parachute pack securely, Kamijou Touma immediately became exasperated and threw his head back with a long groan. "This isn't playing house. This is war! How could you bring Index along?"
"Uuu..."
Her eyes turning lifeless as she pouted, Index pitifully sprawled across the seats, occupying almost an entire row of folding chairs by herself. Beside her, Stiyl Magnus, dressed in black priestly clothing, lowered the Academy City battle report he had been reading with an expression that was equal parts helplessness and indulgence.
"Could we have stopped her?" he muttered quietly.
There seemed to be a slight sourness in his voice.
Nearby, Kanzaki Kaori wore unfashionable old cut-off jeans and a white short-sleeved T-shirt. She rested a Japanese command sword more than two meters long horizontally across her thighs and let out a breath.
"You know how attached Index is to you. The moment she discovered you were gone from the shelter, she kept pestering me until I agreed to look for you..." At this point, a faint smile crossed Kanzaki Kaori's graceful face. "Still, as expected of you. You actually went to Selene and asked to participate in the war."
"Stiyl and I are both members of Necessarius, so we also had to head to the front line where Academy City is fighting the Roman Catholic Church. Since you had a private aircraft taking you there, we simply came along. It saves time."
That was Kanzaki Kaori's explanation.
"But even so... Ah, forget it. There's no point saying anything now. Index, remember this. Don't run around and don't act recklessly!"
Kamijou Touma weakly scratched his black spiky hair and held his forehead. He gave up. Whatever. He was used to this. Looking at Index's doll-like childish face, he spoke sternly.
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm!"
Seeing that Kamijou Touma had stopped pursuing the matter, Index's green eyes seemed to sparkle as she nodded repeatedly.
Grrr...
Hearing Index's stomach continue to growl, Kamijou Touma sighed helplessly and pulled out the chocolate biscuits he habitually carried in his pocket.
He fed the chocolate biscuits piece by piece into Index's tiny mouth, and Index obediently ate them one after another. Judging from how practiced the movement was, this clearly was not the first time they had done it.
The whole process looked no different from feeding a stray cat or puppy, causing Stiyl and Kanzaki Kaori to exchange speechless glances.
Seeing the faintly amused expression on Kanzaki Kaori's face, Stiyl cleared his throat. "Let's talk about something serious first." As he spoke, he raised the Academy City battle report in his hand. It was not classified material and had simply been placed in the storage pocket behind the folding seats for anyone to read.
"Have you looked at the Russian Orthodox Church's offensive? It's the classic case of thunder without rain. They've launched multiple ballistic missiles at Academy City from all kinds of angles, sent submarines to blockade the Japanese archipelago, dispatched air forces across the border to conduct bombing raids, and even recruited groups of military-experienced thugs online to infiltrate the outskirts of Academy City and carry out sabotage..."
"It looks intense, and the equipment they've lost is extremely expensive. But where are their magical combat units? The magical armaments the Russian Orthodox Church is so proud of, and that steamroller-like ground army, are barely doing anything."
"If the North American Allied Forces hadn't crossed the Bering Strait and invaded Western Siberia, Russia probably would have just sat there doing nothing."
A spark flared from Stiyl's fingertip, lighting his cigarette. He took a deep drag.
"Instead, in the direction of the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations, those Slavs' natural appetite for territorial expansion is showing. They were the first to step forward and declare war on Academy City, yet their main offensive ended up targeting the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations and the other countries of Eastern Europe."
The Russian Orthodox Church's little calculations were practically deafening.
Annex the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations, then push a little farther into Eastern Europe while the European Union was still technically an ally under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church. Wouldn't it be better to seize some fertile Eastern European land while they had the chance?
The Eastern European nations were small and militarily weak, while Russia could point to plenty of obvious historical claims over that land. Call it "territory that had belonged to us since ancient times," then push all the way to East Prussia. Restoring the borders of the Russian Empire at the height of its Slavic power was hardly an impossible dream.
Once the facts on the ground had been established, wouldn't that be far more profitable than fighting Academy City to the death?
As for allies? Weren't those things meant to be screwed over?
Ahem. Look, haven't we lost plenty of "cutting-edge weapons" and "elite infiltration units" against Academy City? And you already know that Western Siberia's terrain isn't favorable for deploying huge formations. So it isn't that we're not trying. We've already done more than enough for you.
Of course Kanzaki Kaori could figure out what the Russian Orthodox Church was thinking. She was not some sheltered child ignorant of the world.
"Everyone has their own agenda. Still, Vento of the Front should already have escaped back to the Roman Catholic punitive force. This time, we absolutely have to keep her from getting away..."
Just as she said that—whoosh!
"Attention all personnel. We have reached the designated drop zone. Good luck to everyone. Victory be with you."
An emotionless electronic voice sounded over the broadcast system. Stiyl extinguished his cigarette and swiftly strapped on a parachute pack. He had no choice. He was not Kanzaki Kaori and did not possess a Saint's constitution. Dropping from the aircraft with nothing but his body would absolutely kill him.
The aircraft's speed had clearly decreased. Kamijou Touma looked out the window. Because of the viewing angle, he could only see that they were heading toward a brown horizon without being able to determine their exact location. As their altitude gradually lowered, he finally saw the countless craters covering the region.
Then came a sudden click!
Rumble—!
The instant the cabin door opened, dazzling flames surged into the sky. Light flashed so brightly that pain stabbed through Kamijou Touma's eyes and tears spilled out uncontrollably.
Only after the glare weakened did Kamijou Touma finally realize just how terrible the frontline conditions were. The cities surrounding Banda Aceh Base had been dragged into the fighting and reduced to ruins.
Along the devastated coastline, enormous flattened fireballs erupted one after another. Shockwaves from the explosions spread outward in three pale rings, shattering rock and throwing clouds of dust into the air wherever they passed.
Cannons thundered with earthshaking force. Trails of light flashed through the sky, lightning roared, and brilliant bursts tore through the air!
Kamijou Touma stared at the burning harbor and shattered defensive perimeter outside the window. Smelling the choking fumes of fuel and gunpowder carried along by the wind, his brows drew tighter and tighter.
Amid the cluster of modern steel warships, one vessel covered entirely in frost stood out with overwhelming prominence.
It resembled a medieval sailing ship, but its size was far beyond anything medieval production capacity could ever have created. Even its sails and rigging were formed from frozen ice. Illuminated by the glow of artillery fire, the hull shone faintly like an enormous white lamp, and the sea froze wherever it passed.
A song of ice and fire.
The land was burning, while every stretch of ocean within sight was filled with floating ice. The ice grew thicker with every passing moment, and here near the equator, even the sky had begun to respond as a blizzard gathered overhead.
"Prepare to jump!"
...
The Mediterranean's nighttime sea breeze swept across the Apennine Peninsula, dispelling the heat and agitation brought by the outbreak of war and bringing the crispness of night.
By Roman time, it was around midnight.
In Rome, people continued living as usual, seemingly completely unaffected by the outbreak of world war. After nightfall, the city's dazzling nightlife and intoxicated atmosphere even gave the ancient and solemn city a sweet, decadent scent.
The people of the Apennine Peninsula had reason to think that way. To the north, attacks from the Anglo-Saxons isolated across the sea were being blocked by the French. To the east, the enormous Slavic bear was an ally. Even if its greed became excessive, the distances across Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and Southern Europe were enough to let them sleep soundly.
Academy City and the nations of the Americas were even farther away on the opposite side of the world. It was like holding seventeen cards in your hand and asking—You think you can one-shot me?!
Vatican City, St. Peter's Square.
Walking among the sacred structures, the priest assigned to tonight's patrol followed his usual route past the obelisk standing in the square. Just like any ordinary night, he was not particularly vigilant.
After all, this was the Vatican!
"Almighty and omniscient Lord, may this holy war..."
Standing devoutly before the obelisk, he closed his eyes and began to pray, but... Hm? Why does the sky look brighter?