Chapter 3: The Descent of the Angel that Harms This World[part 3]

The angel didn't do anything.

Kanzaki stood in front of Kamijou and Touya, and she reached for the nodachi at her waist.

"An angel's power is neither good or evil. Those who were directed by God to save mortals will be praised as angels. Once they fall onto the corrupted earth, they will become terrifying demons."

Kanzaki said in a curse-like voice.

"It's as according to what the Old Testament described. Do you really want to return to heaven? Power of God?"

Kamijou stared dumbstruck at Misha—no, the angel called Power of God. Maybe her reason of preventing Angel Fall was even simpler than anyone here.

Angel Fall was a spell that caused an angel to fall into the mortal world.

An angel that got pulled down would definitely want to go back.

Power of God didn't say anything.

There was no need to talk. She raised the L-shaped crowbar high as if it was a lit fuse.

Kamijou felt a chill, as if his heart was speared by an ice pillar.

The moon above him was even whiter, even brighter. The bright moon created a halo around it, as if a camera lens was forced near the sun. With the full moon at the center, the halo instantly expanded outwards. The interior of the halo formed all sorts of bright lines that looked like all sorts of complicated codes.

A magic array.

And that magic array wasn't just big. Looking closer, all the bright points that formed the lines were magic arrays themselves. It was like flocks of fish swimming together in the ocean, or ants crawling in single file on the land. Billions and billions of magic arrays were neatly arranged to form one huge array.

(How can, there be...such a terrifying scene.)

Looking up at the array of stars in the night, Kamijou was unable to say anything.

The stars in the night sky looked weak and fantastical, but it was just an illusion. Things that were further away seemed smaller—this was something that even an elementary school child could understand. Even one who stayed in Japan should have seen the fighter jets of the Self Defense Forces, or the ones stationed at the American bases, create contrails, but had anyone seen an engine spurt out fire?

That was the case right now.

The contrails released by a fighter jet would disappear after a certain distance. And as for the artificial lights visible in the stratosphere, most likely, only the lights from the rocket boosters of the satellites could be seen.

Even though Kamijou didn't understand anything about magic, he could understand this.

Those magic arrays weren't a trivial thing.

Kamijou could feel it, his body was trembling.

Looking up at the night sky, a drop of sweat appeared on Kanzaki's face.

"Are you serious? Power of God! You intend to use an Old Testament spell just to kill one person? Are you trying to destroy this world!?"

Kanzaki's tone and what she said were too shocking.

Kamijou inadvertently panicked and asked, "What? Oi, what does that angel intend to do...?"

"That's a torrent of fire arrows that once destroyed a civilisation. If that spell activates, humanity will cease to exist."

The seriousness of this situation far exceeded his understanding, and Kamijou was unable to comprehend what was going on.

But the words 'fire' and 'torrent' remained etched in him.

(Rain of fire arrows? Fall down? Don't tell me, those lights in the sky, these billions of bright spots that aren't any different from rocket fuel will land onto the surface!?)

Kamijou remained rigid as he looked at the night sky. The simplest thing he could think of was that the billions of bright spots were missiles aimed at the world. If all those missiles landed on the earth, it would far surpass a carpet bombing. Even if one missile was assigned to every person, there would still be many remaining.

Kamijou wasn't clear how large the attack range was. Maybe it was a city, or maybe a country. If any place that could see the night sky was part of the range, half the world would be reduced to ash.

Kanzaki looked like her heart could stop at any time.

"Without God's orders, angels shouldn't be able to kill. Have you forgotten about that, Power of God? According to the New Testament, the Final Judgment of judging the souls has been decided. Killing people randomly will cause it to be affected, you should be clear about this! This is what you told humanity!"

Kamijou had heard those words from Tsuchimikado before.

At the end of the world, God would descend down to the mortal world and decide everyone's fate, whether they were going to heaven or to hell. If a person who shouldn't be killed was dead, his children wouldn't be born. If that happened, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren wouldn't be born. That was why those who could control time and space were those supremacists who could control history. The angels who escaped from the history of humanity also had the power to change humanity's future.

The supremacists.

The angel didn't respond to Kanzaki's earnest plea to not kill humans.

No anger, no frenzy, no mockery, no sneering, nor any guilt.

It wasn't moving at all.

Seeing that, goosebumps appeared on Kamijou. They couldn't talk to that angel called Power of God. Ever since Angel Fall occurred, perhaps she was like a train that had gone off track.

The angel had only one command to itself, and that was to return to heaven.

It was already unable to think of what would happen to the world.

It just wanted to return to its correct position.

It was like an organ transplant. If an organ that was not suitable was transplanted, the body would reject it, even though it knew that it would die.

It had been willing to work together with Kamijou and company just to find out who the person was.

After an all-out bombardment, it would be unable to tell whether its target was dead from the pile of corpses and rubble. Thus, it had to remember the target's face.

Kamijou gritted his teeth and looked up.

Kamijou's right hand could neutralize any supernatural power, even if it was God's miracle. However, the magic array was located too far away. Even a fighter jet couldn't reach that altitude.

Thus, Kamijou turned to glare at the Power of God.

If he wanted to destroy those magic arrays, the only way was to beat the caster down. Like Angel Fall, the spell was still incomplete.

"Damn it..."

But faced with that simple answer, Kamijou couldn't help but grit his teeth.

If he did that, how would it be different from what that angel did?

"DAMN IT!!"

Power of God was just staring at Kamijou expressionlessly.

Its eyes were like someone standing high above, looking down at insects rolling around in the dirt.

The archangel that could destroy the world without raising a finger didn't say anything.

Its eyes didn't have any look of danger, not even a look a pity.

Because there was no need to pity a bug that was going to be crushed to death.

"WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE IS THIS! AT LEAST SAY SOMETHING! LISTEN UP, I'M ANGRY, I'M REALLY ANGRY!! THERE'S NO ROOM FOR NEGOTIATION, REMOVE THIS SPELL RIGHT NOW!!!"

Kamijou roared at the girl who was shorter than him, but his voice was trembling.

At that moment, Touya was shocked that his own son was still scolding.

Kamijou recalled the speed, the power, the distance control and the battle skills that Misha had used to send Hino retreating in front of his eyes. Even if it was pretending, it still had that power, a godlike power. If they fought, Kamijou would only be played with in its hands.

Besides, right now, its victory was just right in front.

Because it didn't need to disguise itself anymore.

"..."

A lot of sweat flowed down Kamijou's body. In order to protect Touya, Kamijou took a step forward. This may have looked courageous, but it was merely suicidal. The difference in power between a human and the Power of God couldn't be closed down. It was like using martial arts to take on a nuclear missile.

"Kamijou Touma."

At that moment, Kanzaki Kaori silently turned her head back and looked at Kamijou Touma.

"I'll take care of the Power of God, hurry up and take Touya-shi away from here."

For a moment, Kamijou was unable to understand what Kanzaki meant.

Because she had said it so casually.

In this situation where it was not much different from using martial arts to take on a nuclear missile.

Kanzaki wasn't hesitating, bothered, tolerant, fearful, anxious,

She stood before Kamijou, facing the angel that was like a death god.

"W-why...?"

Thus, Kamijou could only choose to ask that.

Facing this question Kamijou barely managed to make out, Kanzaki said without turning her head back, "No reason. There's something I should do here, which is why I'm standing here. It's just that simple."

Kanzaki then said in an uninterested tone, "The Sweep? How meaningless, really meaningless. If you do that, I won't be able to achieve my aim."

Kanzaki stepped forward.

Kamijou was unable to stop her, nor was he able to catch up to her. Though they were less than a meter away from each other, it made Kamijou feel like he wouldn't be able to catch up with her for all of humanity. It wasn't because the enemy was strong, not because of the fear within him, not because of the sharpness, weight, speed, cold or heat.

But because of the nature.

With her back facing Kamijou as she faced the Power of God, Kanzaki gave off a presence of nature that indicated that she had the right to do this.

The Breaker of God said, "The following battle will far exceed a human's limits. When escaping, be careful not to get caught in the shockwave."

Facing the word 'escaping', Kamijou was unable to understand.

At this point, where could they run off to? Could they actually run off to Mars?

Kanzaki didn't turn back as she continued to say to the puzzled Kamijou, "Think about it, the Power of God just needs to cast the Sweep to easily end everything here. Why is it silently waiting there for us to take action?"

Now that Kanzaki said it, Kamijou finally realized it.

Since it had the power of the Sweep, why didn't it take action quickly? To the Power of God, there should be no reason to hesitate, as she had only one goal.

Why didn't it quickly summon the Sweep?

"It's not that it's not activating it, but that it can't. Even if it's the Power of God, it will take quite some time to activate such a large spell. This isn't weird. When it activated the God's Purge that destroyed an entire civilisation, it took quite some preparation time."

Kanzaki said.

"...About thirty minutes. Fufu, wouldn't that be too short to send all the animals up the Ark?"

Kamijou was speechless.

Only thirty minutes left. Thirty minutes later, the Sweep spell would send billions of burning fire arrows down on half the world like billions of missiles. Of course, Kamijou's Imagine Breaker wasn't going to save the entire world.

But on the other hand...

If they could beat the Power of God within those thirty minutes.

"If that's the case, that's even more reason for me not to run away! I want to fight! Against this enemy from the magic world, my right hand should more or less be of some help!"

"Don't be stupid, if we professionals let amateurs get hurt protecting us, we don't even have the right to commit seppuku."

Kanzaki sounded rather casual.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL SO CONFIDENT IN YOURSELF!? THAT THING WON'T SHOW ANY MERCY! THAT NONSENSE YOU GUYS SPOUTED ABOUT ANGELS UNABLE TO KILL HUMANS ISN'T RELIABLE AT ALL!!"

Kamijou sounded like someone who was trying to prevent a lunatic from jumping off a building.

"HOW CAN I LEAVE SUCH AN OPPONENT TO YOU! I WANT TO FIGHT! HOW CAN I RUN AWAY EVEN AT THIS POINT!!"

"Listen to me."

But Kanzaki seemed abnormally calm,

"This thing in front of us is already past an ordinary person's realm. It's stupid to fight against it, let alone beat it."

Kamijou held his breath as he stared at Kanzaki.

"But don't be mistaken. I don't want to lose my life like that. I may not be able to beat it, but I don't think that I'll lose. Maybe I can divert it away and hold it off."

Kanzaki said silently.

"Kamijou Touma, while I hold her off, please take Touya-shi away to remove Angel Fall."

"Wait, what did you say?"

"Have you forgotten what's the goal of the Power of God? The reason why it activated the Sweep was just to remove Angel Fall. In other words, if we remove Angel Fall before it activates the Sweep, there's no need for it to cast the spell, right?"

The last sentence didn't seem to be directed at Kamijou, but at the archangel.

The unmoving angel didn't respond to her.

It was because to the Power of God, all that wasn't important. Thirty minutes later, the Sweep would kill the caster of Angel Fall, Touya, and end everything. Even if Kamijou and the rest used another way to remove Angel Fall, it wouldn't be of any disadvantage to the angel.

Thus, Power of God just silently let Touya escape from its eyes.

Its attitude was like saying, no point arguing with you since the outcome will be the same.

It had an Astro in Hand spell that was even scarier than the Sweep, it was just wondering which method was more suitable to settle the problem right now.

Kamijou glanced at Touya. It was true that leaving him with the Power of God here was too dangerous.

"But what about yourself? Is it really alright to go against that Power of God..."

"Who knows, but this is the best choice. With your ability, you can't contain it. You have to seriously do your job well and try to destroy Angel Fall. Your hard work will increase my chances of survival."

Kanzaki stared at the Power of God and stepped forward.

"And I don't wish to cause ordinary civilians to die because of battle between magicians. I definitely can't allow Kamijou Touya to die, even if I have to sacrifice my life."

"...Can you really do that?"

"Yeah. Though it's a little disrespectful for me to say this, I decide to trust you for now. Just like the time when you saved that child in front of me, this time, please save me."

Kanzaki didn't say any more.

Kamijou wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say.

It would be a waste of time to stop Kanzaki. Every meaningless action would decrease Kanzaki's survival rate.

Kamijou gritted his teeth.

"THEN I'LL LEAVE IT TO YOU, KANZAKI! I'LL TRUST YOU THIS TIME!"

Kamijou shouted as he grabbed Touya's wrist, who still didn't understand what was going on, and pulled him to the resort.

"Oi! Hold up a minute! What's going on!?" Touya shouted, but Kamijou ignored him.

Power of God turned away from Kanzaki and stared at Kamijou and Touya.

Kanzaki moved her body and again blocked the Power of God's line of sight.

"Your opponent is me. One of an angel's responsibilities is to act as a messenger between God and humanity, so you have to listen to me, right?"

At this moment, Kanzaki actually smiled.

"Speaking of which, did he really just say that he decided to trust me? Stiyl said that he nearly went crazy during the Misawa Cram School' battle so this feeling isn't exaggerated. But this is the best way to say it. Because of that, my chances of survival have really increased."

After saying that, Kanzaki grabbed onto the hilt of the Shichiten Shichitou.

The Power of God that was staring at Kanzaki silently suddenly muttered in an alien language.

"—qSTUPIDrw"

With a loud boom, a huge explosion occurred behind the angel.

Her back let out something that looked like wings.

They weren't wings that were as elegant as a swan's, but the screen of ice wings like a peacock.

Numerous sharp wings that looked that they were carved out from ice extended outwards like a hill of swords. At the same time, the sea behind Power of God let out an irregular tide, and numerous huge sea serpents or sea dragons formed from several tons of seawater rush out and gathered behind the angel.

The back fused with the seawater, forming a huge wing of water.

The huge water wing of blades opened up behind the Power of God, and each of them were about fifty to seventy meters in length. They looked like walls that nobody could climb up, and like a wall of sharp crystals that could cut anyone's fingers on the slightest touch.

The numerous ice wings stabbed up at the sky.

Finally, a drop of water appeared above the Power of God. The drop of water drew a small circle, forming a halo in the air.

The color was like the surface of the sky at night, bringing the azure blue presence with black shadows and death.

Each wing was thoroughly infused with Telesma, and each attack could flatten mountains and carve valleys like Divine Judgment. Even if it was on the battlefield as per normal, Kanzaki, who often caused enemies to back away in fear, was now stiff with tension. If it were anyone else, the killing intent released would have caused the person to faint.

"I really got quite a bad job now."

Kanzaki said as she lowered herself.

—At that moment, Kanzaki realized something.

"Tsuchimikado? Where are you? Tsuchimikado?"

He was gone.

It was unknown when Tsuchimikado disappeared from the battlefield.

Even in that situation, Tsuchimikado still insisted on his philosophy of betrayal, causing Kanzaki to be dumbfounded.

"Oh well, he's like this anyway. Even if I ignore him, he'll find a way to survive through his own way. Right now, I need to make a path to survival through my own way. While using Yuisen, please allow me to declare my magic name."

Then, Kanzaki Kaori let it out from her mouth.

The other name that she had carved on her body, heart, and soul.

"Salvare000 — Be the salvation of those who cannot be saved."