Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume14 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 25===

“Can you hear me?”

Near the center of the open stadium, Agnese heard a young male voice.

Hearing a voice when no one was there was nothing unusual. She was commanding more than 250 people, so she was using communication magic.

But this was odd.

The Former Agnese Force was all female.

“This…Mich………k… I have an urgent message. Can anyone hear me?”

She was using a Roman Catholic communication spiritual item derived from the Barbara Branch. It was made from a cherry tree twig with a few buds attached and it wasn’t all that unusual. …Even if it did seem wrong for nuns to be carrying around tools for love fortunetelling.

The hard buds unnaturally opened below the frigid sky and the flower petals vibrated.

They produced a human voice.

(You’re kidding. Is someone hijacking the channel!?)

“Is anyone at all in Academy City receiving this!? There is something I must tell you immediately!”

“?”

Itsuwa gave Agnese a puzzled look from nearby. …Apparently she couldn’t hear this. That meant it was targeted only at the Roman Catholics of the Former Agnese Force.

Agnese Sanctis frowned.

“This is Agnese Sanctis. Who are you?”

“Thank god… I got through! This is Michael Speak, a cardinal officially appointed by the pope!!”

She was at a loss for words.

…Those were the around a hundred ultra elites chosen out of the two billion Roman Catholics to directly advise the pope. Ordinarily, she would never even directly speak to one.

But his voice didn’t fit the part. He sounded like a stressed young man. He didn’t sound even thirty.

Perhaps his modesty was what had earned him so much popularity.

(Another Michael. And with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.)

“What does a great cardinal want with lowly peon like me?”

“Tell only the Roman Catholics to get out of there immediately. You need to leave Academy City as soon as possible. Your team will obey you if you tell them!”

“?”

She had expected a protest or sarcasm in response, so this came as a complete surprise.

This was advance warning of an attack.

She didn’t know what the Vatican was preparing to do, but she had to assume it was a fairly dangerous large-scale spell. Something even greater than Coronzon’s Adikalika.

“You mean it’s close to being activated?”

“As Roman Catholics, we cannot allow someone as dangerous as Great Demon Coronzon to escape Academy City. If she cannot be defeated on the front line, then the Vatican must reach out a helping hand.”

Reach out a helping hand.

So from their perspective, they were saving lives.

And the same went for Agnese, Lucia, Angelene, and the rest of the Former Agnese Force fighting on the front line.

“There are three activation conditions. First, if you completely lose track of Coronzon and the trail goes cold. Two, at 5:47 AM local time. In other words, at dawn. Third, if we believe a non-Catholic force has learned of our plan and could attempt to stop it. If any one of those conditions is met, the Vatican will activate Saint Georgios’s Fire.”

“Kh.”

The most important condition was the third.

That meant the Vatican didn’t want them sharing this information with anyone else. Even though this would mean the destruction of Academy City. The chance to evacuate was for the Former Agnese Force only.

…Were they being pressured to abandon Academy City and the Anglicans who they had fought and risked their lives alongside?

“We are always watching and listening, Sister Agnese. The physical distance matters little. So do not attempt to contact anyone else through trickery or deception. We will not overlook it.”

(Magical surveillance is a hell of a thing. Although I’m sure it was originally justified as a way for the pure servants of god to punish wicked magicians.)

She didn’t actually know how much she was being observed. The Catholics had been outdone by the other forces so far, so Agnese thought they had to be bluffing to an extent. But this still made it hard to take any bold action.

And she knew what Saint Georgios’s Fire was.

She had heard rumors of it back when she still lived in Italy.

There was a legend about the death of Saint Georgios, or Saint George as he was known in England. When he was being pressured to renounce his faith in a wicked temple, a great ball of fire fell from heaven and blew it all away. So it was a legend of pure attack power.

“That’s a large-scale spell that targets a distant location through the ley lines, isn’t it?”

“Ironically, it uses the same pathway Coronzon is attempting to use to escape. But since we can only use it and not control it, we cannot stop her from using it.”

The Roman Catholic spell was essentially a cluster bomb that detonated two billion explosive flames across the entirety of the targeted city.

And rather than burn everything down with the explosive blasts and flames, it used an extreme high temperature to rapidly alter the atmospheric pressure and oxygen level across the entire area. That meant fortifying oneself behind a shield or wall was meaningless. Because your own body would rupture from within. Afterwards, only a lifeless city would remain.

It was effectively the ideal form of a human killer.

(Now isn’t the time for us humans to be fighting among ourselves!!)

“I thought the pope had learned an important lesson from the trials of World War Three. I can’t believe he would agree to such a forceful solution.”

“His authorization is unnecessary. The cardinals have the right to hold an ecumenical council or election. …And the majority wish to do this. We in the minority have no way to stop them.”

“Doesn’t that seem disrespectful?”

“Abstaining in protest will not change the outcome of the vote. Did I ever say that I like that this is happening!?”

There was real strength behind those last words.

That had to be what he really thought. Which was why it pierced Agnese so deeply.

But even if he was sensible, he couldn’t change what was happening. She could tell that too.

(Well, this is a disaster…)

And there was an issue beyond the number of victims across Academy City.

A more fundamental issue.

“Don’t you know ''a human killer spell won’t affect an inhuman demon''? Sowing further confusion in Academy City will only create more openings in the city perimeter!! You’re playing right into Coronzon’s hand!!”

Apparently Coronzon’s special trait remained in effect.

She tore people apart and obstructed their evolution.

(But I can’t believe it’s gone so far.)

“Sister Agnese!!”

“What do you want, cardinal!? I’m really goddamn busy right now!”

“This is a compromise. As much of one as I could get. The original plan was to immediately activate Saint Georgios’s Fire and I only barely stopped that from happening!”

There was kindness in his words.

But that kindness was unnecessary. Something was fundamentally off about this.

“Don’t tell me this is about wounded pride. Index stopped Adikalika by redirecting it to an unnamed desert island in the Atlantic. The Italian peninsula wasn’t harmed!”

“But Coronzon did launch her large-scale attack spell. And that wasn’t her only trump card. Her power is unfathomable, so she must be destroyed when we have the chance. None of the cardinals can ignore that point. I’m sorry, but that includes me!”

She wasn’t sure what to say.

She understood. Yes, even Agnese was furious. If she hadn’t made a conscious effort to calm herself, she might have left the Anglicans back then.

“Violence is wrong,” he continued. “I understand that. We erred and let God’s Right Seat manipulate us during World War Three. …But this time, ''we are in our rights to retaliate.'' Overturning that idea will not be easy, Sister Agnese.”

(Coronzon. Your mere presence really does make a mess of humanity as a whole!)

The Roman Catholics naturally had a variety of emotions about this.

About Coronzon and about Academy City for failing to stop this crisis earlier.

…Nuclear missiles could destroy the world, so it would take a lot of guts to launch the first one yourself. But what if an enemy launched one at you first? That would lower the mental hurdle for pressing the launch button considerably.

People were easily influenced by the word “retaliation”. And that could burn down the entire world.

“I will do everything I can, but I doubt I can stop this from happening. Sooner or later, Saint Georgios’s Fire will be launched.”

He was one of the sensible ones.

He would truly prefer not to use it.

But that was why nothing he said was a mere threat or bluff.

For the pacifists, nothing was more painful than having to declare that an atrocity would soon be happening.

“So you need to escape that city immediately. It’s a shame what will happen to Academy City and the Anglicans, but it’s too late for them. Gather up all the Roman Catholics and get out of there!!”

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