Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 178

No, the preparations have already been completed.

The remaining 10,000-plus artificial esper "sisters" from the "Absolute Ability User Project" are currently being sent to partner institutions in various academy cities around the world under the guise of receiving treatment. Why specifically undergo physical adjustments "outside"? This matter had already aroused Tsuchimikado's suspicion, and now the reason was revealed.

The true purpose of Yuriko Suzushina's absurd experiment was definitely not the evolution of Level 6 absolute power, but rather to distribute artificial espers to every corner of the world. To send these "sisters" "outside" naturally, she deliberately destroyed the esper mass production plan first, and then the deceptive Level 6 absolute power plan. Through these two feints, she sent her "sisters" all over the world.

This strategy can be considered a success. Currently, none of the various church factions, including the Anglican Church, are aware that the "sisters" have been sent "outside." No, even if they were aware, they wouldn't understand the seriousness of the matter; at most, they would simply assume it's a tactic used by Academy City to clean up internal problems.

These superpowered individuals are like antennas in the imaginary mathematics region, covering the entire world.

The next step is to fully grasp the unfinished imaginary region and initiate the new "boundary".

All magicians' powers will be out of control due to the emergence of the new "realm," ultimately leading to their self-destruction.

However, for superpowered individuals, the AIM diffusion field is completely harmless.

Therefore, the outcome of the war between the science and magic factions will be very obvious. No, it won't even be considered a war. It will be like blowing the heads off enemies who surrender one by one—a complete massacre and purge.

Thinking of this, Tsuchimikado shook his head.

Is this really Aleister's ultimate goal? Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't. This person might laugh and think that something of this magnitude is merely a means to pave the way for other purposes, or perhaps he has no intention of doing anything at all.

Difficult to judge.

Aleister, who appears both man and woman, adult and child, saint and prisoner, embodies all of humanity's possibilities. Therefore, no one can predict his thoughts. Perhaps it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he simultaneously possesses every thought imaginable.

Tsuchimikado felt a chill run down his spine, but still defiantly said, like a defeated dog:

"Hmph, if the English Puritans knew about this, they would definitely start a war immediately. Now I'm starting to sympathize with Sherry Cromwell. Judging from the grand conspiracy you've orchestrated, he's no longer just a simple villain, but another protagonist who stands up against evil forces to protect his world."

"Don't indulge in pointless fantasies. I have no intention of antagonizing the Church world. Besides, if you want to create the artificial heaven you envision, you must first understand the true Kingdom of Heaven. That's the realm of the magical world, not something I, standing on a scientific standpoint, can comprehend."

"Do you take me for a three-year-old? Is there anyone on this planet who knows more about magic than you?"

Tsuchimikado said with a twisted smile:

"The magician Aresta Crowley..."

In the 20th century, there existed one of the greatest magicians in history.

Some consider her the world's greatest magician, but she is also seen as the magician who has committed the greatest insult to magic.

The greatest insult to magic she committed in the world was something no magician had ever done in the long history of magic.

That is, she abandoned her masterful magical abilities and started studying science and technology from scratch.

Why Aleister, standing at the pinnacle of magic, would abandon everything he possessed remains a mystery. But for the magical world, it was the greatest insult. The world's strongest magician had forsaken magic for science. Aleister's actions were tantamount to arbitrarily waving the title of representative of magical culture and surrendering to scientific culture without anyone's permission.

Therefore, Aleister Crowley became the enemy of wizards worldwide. Those who wanted to kill her weren't just the Anglican Church, skilled at hunting witches, but anyone even remotely connected to magic.

Stiyl met Aleister but failed to see through his true identity, and there's a reason for that. The Anglican Church hunted Aleister Crowley based on intelligence gathered over many years, but this intelligence was all false information deliberately released by Aleister. Since the original intelligence was wrong, it was impossible to find any connection between Aleister and Aleister Crowley, whether through magical or scientific methods. In other words, to the Anglican Church, Aleister was simply someone with the same name, or someone using an alias.

This ability and courage left Tsuchimikado speechless. Even if he could do it, he would absolutely not want to take such a risk. And perhaps this also symbolized the difference in ability between Aleister and Tsuchimikado.

Chapter 310 Video Call

Chapter 310

“Just consider this my refusal to admit defeat to you. I have some advice for you, Aleister.”

"Yes, I'm all ears."

Have you ever heard the phrase 'hardluck'?

Does it mean 'misfortune'?

"That statement also has another, opposite meaning: 'a powerful stroke of luck that allows one to overcome even the most hellish misfortunes.'" Tsuchimikado said with a slight smile, "I don't understand what you're thinking. Even if you explain it to me in detail, I'm afraid I still won't understand. However, when you're using that Imagine Breaker, I hope you're aware that if you approach her with half-hearted faith, that right hand will obliterate your illusions."

After Tsuchimikado finished speaking, the teleportation ability user entered the house as if he had timed it perfectly.

Then, Tsuchimikado was led out of the building by the boy who was more than 30 centimeters shorter than him.

In the empty room, the man hanging upside down muttered to himself.

"Yes, the illusions I believed in were destroyed long ago."

-

Daihastar Festival.

This is an event held in Academy City from September 19th to 25th. Simply put, it's a large-scale sports meet. Although it's just a sports meet jointly organized by all the schools in the city, this is, after all, a superpower development institution occupying the entire western part of Tokyo, with a total population of 2.3 million, of which about 80% are students, so the scale of the event is certainly not to be underestimated.

In short, it's a super-sized variety show featuring people with superpowers, the kind that can be watched live on TV.

Today is the 19th, the first day of the opening ceremony.

Although it was a weekday morning, the streets were already packed with parents of Daihasei Festival participants. If the Academy City Council hadn't taken measures to address the massive influx of visitors by banning regular vehicles, the pointless traffic jams would likely have stretched for over ten kilometers. In this situation, walking was actually faster than driving. Furthermore, to cope with the traffic problems, Academy City not only increased the frequency of trains and subways but also prepared driverless automated buses. The excessively frequent train services even led to a shortage of drivers, which was truly surprising.

Everywhere you look, it resembles a train platform during rush hour, which shows just how popular the Daihasei Festival is.

This is one of the few special days that Academy City opens to the public each year, featuring a competition between superpowered individuals that can only be seen in movies. Although it is a sports meet with very ordinary events, the opportunity to personally experience "superpowers" that are "very famous on TV but never actually seen in person," which are both intimate and incredible, is truly exciting and captivating for people outside Academy City.

Pendragon had no intention of going out this week, no matter what. In her opinion, this week was Academy City's "National Day," and there was no point in going out when there were so many people.

However, she couldn't resist Rin's threats and persistent pleading, and was dragged out.

She felt that it would be more exciting to see it live, even though the scene projected by the computer could be just like the real thing, and the angles were more professional, making it more comfortable to watch and ensuring that she wouldn't miss any exciting shots.

Even if Pendragon said she could teleport there when the games started, it wouldn't work; sometimes women just don't make sense.

Anyway, it didn't matter. Pendragon took Rin's arm and activated the auto-follow mode, focusing all his attention on the book in front of him. The field formed by his psychic powers isolated everyone else from a distance of one meter.

-

St. George's Cathedral, London.

Calling this building a church would be too grand, while calling it a cathedral seems too cramped. In this rather unremarkable building, the de facto leader of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Laura Stewart, stood serenely.

It's 9 a.m. Japan time, while the British clocks are pointing to midnight. Although this is the capital of a country, the tranquil atmosphere surrounding Lola can even be described as solemn. The soft darkness and cool night air together bring the day to a close.

In the cathedral where the candles had been extinguished, there was no one else but him.

Lola placed a chair before the preaching platform and sat down. He wore a monastic robe predominantly white, adorned with contrasting patterns of black, red, green, purple, gold, and silver threads—colors recognized in formal attire. In addition, the robe was covered with decorative strips of cloth used by high-ranking clergy. This was formal attire worn when visiting others.

Basically, regardless of the cultural sphere, in Christian societies, clothing is a way to indicate identity and stance. This may sound a bit serious, but the principle is actually the same as the height of a chef's hat or a school uniform.

Unlike ordinary nuns, people like Lola, who frequently attend public events, must prepare countless styles of monastic robes to suit the season, time, place, ceremony, stance, and will. Sometimes, to elevate the status of guests, they deliberately wear clothing of lower status to greet them; other times, to express their dissatisfaction, they deliberately wear attire of higher status to attend meetings. The etiquette in this regard is quite tedious and complex.

"Before the Lord, all are brothers...is that so? That's quite a grand statement."

The Supreme Bishop couldn't help but scoff at words like "stance" and "status."

But such meticulous attention to detail was nothing more than trivial matters to Lola. His magnificent appearance was no less impressive than his fine clothes.

His most distinctive feature was his long, golden hair, which was two and a half times his height. Normally held in place with silver hairpins, his hair was now, unlike usual, a massive amount hanging vertically from his shoulders. The unmanageable sections were simply scattered on the floor.

Laura sat in a chair with a row of gold and silver combs on her lap.

He chose a comb from among those with different bristle lengths, widths, and spacings. Treating his long hair like the strings of a harp, he carefully combed strand after strand. His hair was longer than his height; even with outstretched arms, he couldn't reach the ends. So, Lola gracefully pulled her hair closer with her hands, carefully combed it, and then placed it back on the floor. Her golden hair presented a beautiful, undulating wave.

After combing all his hair, he would switch to another comb, and then switch to yet another comb. He would repeat this action over and over again, as if the order in which he combed his hair had a very important meaning.

The only light projected onto his long hair was the moonlight filtering through the glass window and the glow from the LCD screen placed on the lectern.

Chapter 311 Combing Hair

Chapter 311

The screen and communication equipment were temporarily installed by a certain Academy City cooperative organization in London. This was originally supposed to be Tyr's job, but she's not currently in England. Kanzaki Mizuori knows how to operate a mobile phone, but if it's this kind of latest equipment, he'll probably just sit there stiffly staring at the instruction manual, finally looking at her with the helpless eyes of an abandoned puppy.

So the two magicians began to communicate remotely via computer video, and the scene was harmonious and pleasant.

What are you doing?

A piercing sound came from the other end of the computer screen. It was a voice that was neither male nor female, child or adult, saint or prisoner. Lola didn't look in the direction the sound came from. In any case, what appeared on the screen was that "human" floating upside down in the liquid.

Aleister, the "human" who serves as the chairman of the Academy City General Council.

Laura, with her enormous, long hair cascading down to the ground, spoke quietly:

"Don't you know? I'm fixing my hair. Men shouldn't let women see them grooming themselves." He suppressed a laugh and said, "In 12th-century England, noblemen considered it a great virtue to let their hair be bathed in sunlight or moonlight to achieve the best color—'sun-kissed hair.' Isn't it more charming than using unsightly dyes?"

Lola answered smugly, but there was no response from the other end of the screen.

?

Without looking at the LCD screen, he asked with slight surprise:

"Why are you so silent and not responding to other people's questions?"

There was still no response from the other end of the screen.

Just as she was wondering what was going on, a voice finally came from the other end of the machine:

"No... Actually, I've wanted to ask you something for a long time."

"kindness?"

"To be honest, your Japanese is weird. Or are you deliberately treating me like an idiot by saying that? Which one is it?"

Laura suddenly stopped moving.

The comb flowing through the solemn golden hair trembled slightly.

“I…I don’t know what you mean? There’s no need to be polite to those who don’t believe in the Lord’s glory; just keep your words simple!”

“I see… If you’re using this distinctive tone of voice intentionally, then so be it. I just wanted to say that if you’re really bothered by it, I can send a Japanese teacher to teach you. After all, I’m the one who rules the academic district.”

"Alas! I am not troubled by this at all! Why should I bother with the language used by a mere Far Eastern country!?"

Lola called out loudly as she quickly combed her hair. There was no sound from the other end of the screen; the empty cathedral was momentarily filled only with the sound of combing hair.

After a while, Aleister seemed to want to change the subject and said:

"But why comb your hair in front of the guests? Isn't that something that should be done before we start talking?"

Whether it was because she liked the topic of hair or because she felt relieved that the other person had changed the subject, Lola's tone and attitude gradually returned to their original calm.

"Because of the time. It is late at night, a time when men should be tidying up their appearance in their dorm rooms. Please forgive the small amount of time spent combing your hair."

"Hmm, so the result is the 'sunlight hair' you just mentioned? The moonlight legend is probably superstition, and the sun's effect is caused by ultraviolet rays. This must have been inspired by how sunlight fades books. But I have a piece of advice for you... it will make you bald."

"...Such extremely rude remarks could easily escalate into a diplomatic issue."

Lola's gaze shifted to the hair that cascaded to the floor like a velvet carpet, reflecting the light from the LCD screen. The hair, meticulously combed with gold and silver combs, possessed a radiant sheen, infused with primary colors like red and blue.

He muttered it again in a low voice: "Utterly rude."

“I believe I have already conveyed my intention to contact you, and I am now confirming it again. First of all, thank you for accepting our impolite request.”

"If you're referring to the time difference, then you don't need to worry about it. Now is the time for us to start working."

“I just want to say that interfering with your work hours is also rude,” Laura said, looking at the light reflecting off her hair. “The opening ceremony should be happening over there right now. As the leader, shouldn’t you go up on stage and say hello?”

"...Do you want anyone to see me like this?"

"Hehe. That's true. This manner is indeed impolite."

Only then did Laura turn to the LCD screen on the preaching platform.

A transparent, cylindrical tank filled with red liquid contained a person floating upside down. She was wearing green surgical scrubs. In any case, this appearance was inappropriate for public display.

Moreover, she'll probably remain this way for over a thousand years to come (it's said so; Lola can't understand the details). If she frequently appears in public, people will likely notice something amiss. However, if she really wanted to, there are certainly ways to change her name or appearance.

Laura Stewart's actual age doesn't match her appearance. But she's not the type to learn from others; instead, she ignores her own flaws and only cares about mocking others.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. Because I don't have time either, let's keep this short."

A sigh came from the other end of the screen.

"...You mean the Academy City intruders?"

Laura nodded in agreement.

“I know that you are currently hosting the general public, so security needs to be more relaxed.”

Laura had experience with this. During parades or large-scale celebrations like Christmas, if a truly airtight security system were deployed to protect important figures, the movement of ordinary people would be halted, directly impacting the operational schedule. To avoid delays, a certain degree of "space" was needed.

"There are magicians who are taking advantage of the situation to attack Academy City. According to intelligence from the Anglican Church, two intruders have now been identified: an important figure in the Roman Catholic Church and a deliveryman he hired."

"The delivery person? Let me confirm, are they personnel whose purpose is combat and destruction?"

"Yes, the delivery person's name is Oriana Townsend. She was hired by Lidovia Lorenzetti. Their purpose is the transaction of some item."

Lola grabbed the document next to the screen on the lecturing platform and waved it in front of the screen. The text on the document was small, but since the other party was from Academy City, which manipulated unknown technology, they probably wouldn't say something as casual as "I can't see it clearly."