"What answer? I do not understand your questions," Aleister said, his synthesized voice as calm as a still lake.
"Stop playing dumb, Aleister. Are you trying to say you didn't know that Takahashi Yuuya possesses magic? Who in Academy City knows more about this than you?"
With his golden spiky hair, unbuttoned white shirt, and blue sunglasses, Tsuchimikado Motoharu looked like a common delinquent. But right now, the goofy grin was gone. Although his eyes were hidden behind the tinted lenses, they were burning with an intense, interrogating glare.
Most people who entered this cavernous, sealed room were filled with primal fear, feeling as if they had been locked in a cage with a sleeping tiger.
But Tsuchimikado was different. Although he rightly feared the man who floated upside-down in the life-support tube, his job did not allow him to show weakness.
He was a triple agent, but his true loyalty lay as an informant for Necessarius—the English Puritan Church. His main task was to prevent a catastrophic war between Science and Magic, and to eliminate rogue magicians who infiltrated the city.
"Takahashi..." Aleister looked calmly at the spy.
"Takahashi is a registered Esper in Academy City! But he also possesses the raw magical power of an Elite Mage!" Tsuchimikado snapped. "What exactly did you do? Did you use scientific methods to artificially fuse Magic and Espers?! Don't you know what this will cause?!"
"Magic... Espers... such categorical words are still too rigid," Aleister said smoothly. "What kind of answer do you want me to give you?"
"Stop beating around the bush. Whether it's Science or Magic, who knows more about the occult than you? Aleister Crowley... no, Edward Alexander Crowley, the most evil Magician of the twentieth century."
Tsuchimikado stood his ground. Other factions on the Magic Side might have been fooled by the passage of time, but as a native Onmyouji of the island nation, he had vaguely understood who ruled this city from the moment he arrived.
However, the Windowless Building generated a cognitive barrier to the outside world. As long as Aleister didn't leave this tube, the rest of the world would never definitively link the General Superintendent of Science to the infamous 20th-century occultist.
"My, my... How dare you speak to me so rudely? Aren't you afraid of dying here?" Aleister mused, showing no actual anger.
"If I were afraid of dying, I wouldn't have infiltrated Academy City," Tsuchimikado retorted, his voice resonant and strong. "What exactly is your plan? You know better than anyone what will happen when the Magic Side finds out about Takahashi! The balance of the world was disrupted the moment that boy began radiating mana!"
Tsuchimikado clenched his fists. "It's only a matter of time before he's discovered. The religious factions have numerous methods to detect unnatural ley-line flows. Takahashi's presence is like a massive beacon in a city that is supposed to be devoid of magic. Soon, the Magic Side will send Inquisitors to investigate."
"Takahashi is a very special anomaly. Even magical tracking methods will struggle to define him. Do not worry, Academy City's elite soldier," Aleister replied.
"So you are plotting something! Does Academy City intend to launch a preemptive strike on the Magic Side?" Tsuchimikado gritted his teeth.
"Or are you trying to use Imagine Breaker? I felt something was off. Takahashi is the fuse you're using to drive Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker, isn't he? I must warn you: if you want to weaponize Imagine Breaker against the Magic Side, you must be prepared for it to shatter your own illusions as well."
Aleister remained as calm as still water.
"The permutations you have considered are commendable. But you are wrong about one fundamental thing: Takahashi Yuuya is not my doing. His power is a pure, uncalculated coincidence."
Aleister paused, the bubbling of the life-support liquid filling the silence.
"He possesses a 'Right Hand.' A power similar to Imagine Breaker—or rather, the other side of that same coin. An extreme manifestation of rejection. Perhaps this is the true source of the magical anomaly you sense."
"Does this explanation clear up your doubts?" Aleister asked.
He did not reveal Yuuya's true identity or the full extent of his power. Tsuchimikado was not yet qualified to know the deepest secrets.
"Another Right Hand?! A power that rivals Imagine Breaker?" Tsuchimikado's expression paled, realizing the apocalyptic seriousness of the matter.
Imagine Breaker was the ultimate exorcism tool, the anchor of the world's reference point. If another absolute power like that had manifested, it was a cataclysmic event for the occult realm.
"The 'Right Side' represents holiness and miracles in Christian theology. It is not surprising that another miracle would appear," Aleister said calmly. "So far, there are three 'Right Hands' active in this era."
Imagine Breaker. World Rejecter. The Holy Right.
"I see..." Tsuchimikado turned around, shoving his trembling hands into his pockets. He glanced back at Aleister over his shoulder.
"So you deliberately let two of those Right Hands cross paths. Although I don't know what your endgame is... if you intend to destroy the balance of the world, I will stand in your way. Necessarius will shatter your illusions."
"..."
Aleister remained silent, completely unbothered.
Zzzzt.
Space warped slightly in the room. A teenage girl with red hair tied into twin-tails appeared in the windowless room. She wore a blazer draped over her shoulders and held a heavy military flashlight.
Musujime Awaki. The Guide.
She cast a highly fearful glance at the upside-down Aleister, then quickly placed a hand on Tsuchimikado's shoulder.
Snap.
They teleported out of the Windowless Building.
...
An Alleyway. District 7.
"Thank you very much, Miss Guide," Tsuchimikado said casually, stumbling slightly as his feet hit the pavement.
"Hmph!" Awaki snorted coldly.
She instantly teleported away, reappearing in a deserted, dimly lit corner a few blocks down.
"Urp—!"
The moment she materialized, Awaki collapsed against a brick wall, her face deathly pale. She vomited violently into a trash can.
"Pant... pant... It's terrifying," she gasped, wiping her mouth with a trembling hand. "Being in the same room as that man... it's like standing next to an indescribable monster. Why am I the one forced to do this courier work? I'm not the only Level 4 Spatial User in the city."
She looked up at the sky. A blimp was slowly drifting past, its LCD screens still broadcasting the news of the Eighth Level 5.
Awaki's pale face twisted with a bitter, complicated sense of disgust.
"If I didn't have this psychological trauma... I would be the Level 5 Spatial User. Damn it."
She punched the brick wall in frustration. Ever since she accidentally teleported her own foot into a solid wall, the terror of calculating her own spatial coordinates made her physically ill. It had permanently capped her potential.
...
Time passed quickly. The golden hues of late afternoon began to bleed into the sky.
Inside the dimly lit apartment, Suzushina Yuriko stood in her tattered black-and-white clothes. She looked up at the clock on the wall.
A terrifying, bloodthirsty curve appeared at the corners of her mouth. Her red eyes gleamed with suppressed violence.
"Is it almost time?"
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