Chapter 319: Illusion Killer (Second Update)

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Walking through the bustling streets, he casually bought a few street snacks that looked decent and munched on them as he headed toward the grand sports field where the opening ceremony of the Great Baster Festival was being held.

By the time he arrived at the field, it was already packed with a dense crowd of students, and the ceremony had reached its final segment—the student oath.

With his cap pulled low and leaning against a corner wall, George sipped his drink while watching the opening ceremony.

The students representing the ability users for the oath this year were two of the seven Level 5 espers: Gunha Sogita and Misaki Shokuhou.

Gunha Sogita, according to the intel he had, was known as a "Gemstone"—a natural-born esper, unlike the others.

In Academy City, nearly all esper students gained their powers through the system developed by Aleister.

But Gemstones are born with their powers.

Compared to other espers and magicians, Gemstones are truly the darlings of this world—gaining power far beyond the average person without having to sacrifice anything.

If they had existed in ancient times, before espers and magic appeared, they would've been regarded as gods in the eyes of humanity.

And Misaki Shokuhou—she was the only one among the seven with psychic abilities.

She could read minds, brainwash, erase memories, create illusions, and communicate telepathically—a well-developed blonde beauty.

At this moment, both stood on the high platform, delivering their speeches on behalf of the student body.

At first, their speeches were aligned, but halfway through, Gunha seemed to forget his lines and started improvising.

The situation quickly became a bit chaotic.

Fortunately, even though Gunha was a bit of a chuunibyou, his speech didn't go too far off the rails.

The host swiftly grabbed the microphone and began announcing the upcoming events.

"There are a total of eighteen competitions, held across the morning and afternoon. We now officially begin the first match: the Pole-Pulling Contest!"

As the competition officially kicked off, students from various schools in the audience began moving to the field, leaving a lot of empty seats behind.

"It's her!"

At that moment, George spotted someone.

It was the girl he had previously encountered once—Index, the one with 103,000 grimoires stored in her mind.

His eyes lit up, and he walked over.

During this time, he had been probing Aleister for more information and had uncovered quite a few secrets about the magic side.

Originally, he had planned to study magic by visiting libraries of major churches or extracting it from magicians' memories. But that idea wasn't very realistic.

Because grimoires—the real sources of magical knowledge—were kept out of reach for ordinary people. Only magicians raised from a young age could even come into contact with them, and they were heavily guarded.

Even with his current strength, if a conflict broke out, it would be hard to escape after being swarmed.

Aleister was unimaginably powerful and had still suffered serious injuries back in the day, forcing him to hide his identity ever since.

Also, the only reason he could so easily read Sherry's memories last time was because they were inside Academy City, where most magicians weren't allowed, and detection abilities were heavily restricted.

If it had been within church territory, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

If anything unexpected happened and he was exposed, the entire Church—and even the entire magical world—would hunt him down.

After realizing this, he couldn't help but shift his attention back to Index and the 103,000 grimoires in her mind.

Aleister would never completely trust him, and therefore would never share all the magic he possessed—especially not the magic outside the modern system.

If George wanted to truly understand the essence of magic in this world and ascend to the level of a Magic God, he had to find a way to access the grimoires inside Index's mind.

Just because he couldn't crack the magical defenses in her brain now didn't mean he never would.

Once he finished learning from Aleister and mastered most of the world's magic, forming his own complete system…

Maybe he could unlock the defenses with just the right magical knowledge alone.

Before that, perhaps he could start by becoming friends and building rapport.

"Hello, Index."

"So…hungry…"

Index lay sprawled across her seat, with her calico cat perched on her head, looking as if she was on the verge of starving to death.

When she heard someone greet her, she slowly lifted her head.

"Oh, it's you, Misaka… Are you Misaka's little sister?"

She had initially thought it was Misaka Mikoto, but seeing that the person wasn't in a school uniform and was dressed more like a boy, she instantly recalled the person who'd saved her last time—the one who called himself Misaka's big brother.

"Little sister? Is that how Misaka Mikoto introduced me?"

George didn't really mind.

Index nodded eagerly, and the moment she saw the snacks George was holding, her eyes sparkled as she leapt up, practically drooling all over the floor.

"Wow, you've got so much food! Can I have a little?"

"Of course."

Seeing her reaction, George placed all the snacks he was holding onto the seat in front of her.

"They're all yours."

"You're such a good person! Even better than your sister!"

Without hesitation, Index began devouring the food like a starving beast.

While she was distracted, George took the opportunity to gently reach out and touch the back of her head, activating his psychic ability.

But in the very next moment, his hand was forcefully repelled by an immense power.

"Just as I thought—no good."

He realized that to forcibly break through the magical defenses in Index's mind using psychic power alone, he would need to be at the peak level of someone like Professor X.

For now, he had to give up. His attention shifted to the competition taking place on the field below.

After a chaotic scuffle, only two schools still had students standing. One of them was the school where Kamijou Touma was enrolled.

Kamijou himself was currently participating.

"That guy… Could he really be a Gemstone?"

Watching Kamijou in action, George narrowed his eyes.

His "Imagine Breaker," the ability to nullify all magic and esper powers, was even more overwhelming than Accelerator's.

If George could obtain such a power, then even against opponents on a universal scale—so long as they weren't physically overpowering like members of the Celestial Divine Order—he'd have nothing to fear.

The question was whether the Imagine Breaker could be analyzed and reproduced to simulate a similar effect.

But thinking it through, the chances seemed slim. If it were possible, Aleister would've done it already.

After all, Academy City's entire esper system was built by mimicking the abilities of Gemstones.

If something like Kamijou's absurd power could be replicated, there's no way Aleister wouldn't have tried to copy it.

"They're here. The two magicians have entered Academy City by car."

As George was deep in thought, Aleister's voice came through his earpiece.

"Index, I have something to take care of. I'll be going now."

Hearing that, George turned and spoke to Index, who was still stuffing her mouth full of food.

Index quickly swallowed and waved at him.

"Bye-bye, Misaka Mikoto's little sister! Next time, I'll make Touma treat you to a meal!"

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(End of Chapter)