57 Preparations

----6th October 2:30p.m.----

Accelerator, the strongest esper in Academy City was sitting upright in a chair. He knew it was a chair because of the way his arms were lying on the armrests. But he was still confused.

He was just at a mall fighting some punk who involved the wrong people and now he was in a different place. There was air-conditioning, the seat felt comfy.

Was it a dream?

He clenched the tip of the armrests as he checked to see if he was truly dreaming. But it wasn't.

His eyes gazed upon an old woman sitting in front of him.

The boss of the girl who tried to kill him?

No, but there was something off with him. He remembered having his fingers chewed up and spit out but when he looked at his fingers with his eyes, only his right hand was bandaged up while his left hand was perfectly fine.

There was another thing. 

He wasn't strapped to the seat. Instead, he had a whole cuisine right in front of him on a table.

"Ah you're awake now, Accelerator."

Accelerator took a moment to regain himself. He felt lightheaded and his ears were slightly blocked. He pressed his palms into his ears as he tried to get rid of that odd feeling.

"Who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you want?"

With a single beep the whole table started to shake.

"Now now, Accelerator. Please calm down. My name is Oyafune Monaka, and I am one of the Board of Directors."

"What the fuck do you guys want with me now? Another experiment? Another bloodbath? Whatever you guys are offering me, I don't want any part of it." Accelerator glared at the old woman in front of him as the wind circled around them.

"Hold on a second before you break the windows of this plane. I just want your opinion on this matter."

"...Plane?"

"Yes of course. We're on a plane to France."

Accelerator jumped out of his seat as he went right up to the window. It was true. He could only see the clouds from above. It was his first time flying on a plane. With his vector control, he could fly all the way up to the sky normally, but this was a different experience.

He sat back down as his brows furrowed at the old lady. He still had his guard up as he didn't know what the Board of Directors wanted from him. But he can confirm she was one of them from the fancy plane they were on.

The interior was made of leather with gold linings all around them. The big shots of Academy City always had their way with money. That much he knew.

"If it makes you feel better, Tsuchimikado-kun is at the back doing a bit of 'clean-up'."

"You don't mean..."

"Yes, I brought you here on the pretense of lobotomizing you for research purposes and I snuck Tsuchimikado-kun in here to 'save you'. Soon he'll be out here finishing the job."

"So you basically kidnapped me, just to break me out? You must have a death wish or something." Accelerator jokingly added.

"You're not wrong about that. How are your wounds?"

"That's none of your business."

"I see you're still cold as always."

"Enough of that. What about the girl that attacked me? Where is she?"

However, Oyafune Monaka's face widened in surprise as he asked that question.

"Girl? What girl?"

"Tch, that fucking Level 0 bitch. Come on, no way you just found me on the floor lying down right?"

"Oh but there was no one around you when we found you. There was only a cloth covering your face when we found you."

"...Whatever. If you're going to just ignore my questions then so be it. So? Why are you bringing me to France?"

"I hope you read the news lately. The chaos from the protests and demonstrations from the Roman Catholic Church are intensifying and that could be a major problem for Academy City."

"Yeah I heard about it. But what the hell can I even do? Go down there for 30 minutes and beat the crap out of everyone I see until they stop?"

"No. I'm not asking you to do something so tedious. The protests and demonstrations started out randomly and there seems to be no cause and reason behind it right?" She paused for a moment as she took a sip of tea on her side of the table. "But what if there was?"

"..."

"You see, Accelerator-kun, there is something that you possess that no one has in Academy City." She used her small index finger to point at his choker and slowly traced it down to his left hand. "A dual wielding esper. Somehow, you have the ability to negate powers while having a law-defying power at your fingertips."

Accelerator looked at his left hand as he thought about it. He had never stopped to think what his left hand was. All he heard was 'Imagine Breaker' and 'Imagine Breaker'. But he knew damn well what his left hand could do.

The power to negate all sorts of magical and esper attacks. He had done it so many times that he never stopped to think about it. Come to think about it, every single time his left hand or arm was cut off, it would always regenerate itself back to normal as if nothing had happened and he had only seen it's true form when stopping that self destructing magic attack from Isaac Rosenthal. 

"...What about it?"

"I suspect that there's some sort of supernatural power going on in the Roman Catholic Church. I would even go as far as to say they have their own esper development lab there."

"(Esper? No, that's not it. It's fucking magic.)"

To Academy City, only a select few people know about the magic side. Any other supernatural power that they use is seen as an esper power instead to the rest of Academy City's eyes.

"But what does a group of church goers gain from all those protests and demonstrations?"

At this point, Accelerator decided that he could trust her enough to turn off his powers and even Oyafune Monaka relaxed her shoulders a bit as she continued sipping her tea.

"It's quite simple."

Oyafune spoke smoothly.

"For example, the official number of believers in the Roman Catholic Church is around two billion. That's a frightening amount. Even if you count everyone from the youngest to the oldest residents of Academy City, we only have 2.3 million. If it came to all-out war, we would have no chance from that difference alone. Even if you take into account other factors, it's hard to imagine winning against that kind of difference."

That was when he realized something was definitely off.

"So you're saying they could easily crush us at any minute with those numbers alone?"

"That's right. But why don't they just get it over with? It's because they can't fully control them yet. That is the something that I am aiming at. On top of that, those people are church-goers. How many of them can they convince to kill someone? They might not have the will to commit to that, but what if they were compensated enough that they would benefit from doing it?"

"...A reason to kill." That statement left a sour taste in Accelerator's mouth as he looked outside the window once again.

"That's right. And if a war does breakout, Academy City will start losing funds while the church can still receive money from their church-goers. If two billion people donated one yen each, that would leave them at 2 billion yen. So while we're spending money and resources to build machines for war, they're gaining money just from the continuous assault. Academy City would be in ruins and the place where espers call home will be gone."

"..." Accelerator very well knew what the meant. It meant putting that brat he wanted to protect under fire and everyone else around him. He didn't want that.

"Accelerator-kun, I'm not telling you to go down there and kill every single person you see. Actually, I hope that you can settle this in a way that no one gets hurt. Just focus on the main issue at hand."

At that moment, a sliding door could be heard opening from behind him. It sounded automatic as the sound of gears turning could be heard, followed by the muffled noises of droplets on the carpet floor.

"Ah, Motoharu-kun I see you're finished with the cleanup."

"Don't worry, I left the medics alive."

"How kind of you."

"Don't take it too personally."

"Don't worry, I've prepared myself for this already."

Multiple dry gunshots rang out as Tsuchimikado stared at her through his sunglasses.

The smell of hot iron filled the space they were in and then it was all silent.

"Come on, Accelerator. I'll brief you on the mission."

Accelerator finally turned his head at Tsuchimikado who had a serious expression in comparison to his usually goofy facade.

"Didn't expect you to be involved in this."

"I'll tell you in advance first. Don't trust me. I'm a spy for both magic side and science side."

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on giving my life to you either."

-----------------------

"The Document of Constantine. That's what we're after, or rather that's what your objective is."

"What is it about?"

"I take it you're not one to listen to the history of religion, so I'll just cut right to the chase. The C-document is basically a spiritual item that makes people believe whatever the pope says is true but it can't be used by just anyone and it can't be used just anywhere. It was originally made so it could only be used when it was at the center of the Vatican. The command spreads around the world all at once from there via leylines."

"..."

"Right, I forgot you're pretty new to the magic side, aren't you?" Tsuchimikado says as he pushed his sunglasses down a bit. "Leylines are like...how do I say this...blood vessels under the earth that can alter or destroy the way a terrain works. It's like a field spell and depending on the item, it can produce all sorts of effects. But it's not as simple as it sounds as one wrong move can destroy an entire terrain, that's why magicians rarely use these types of spells."

"Anyway long story short, it's basically a spell that forces people who bow to the pope to believe in things easily. It doesn't work on non-believers and it can't alter the way the world works, but it can still be able to command that vast amount of people. Thus, the rioting."

Soon, they could see a huge land with castle walls surrounding it.

"Seems like we've reached our destination."

"By the way, as excited as you are about this mission..." Accelerator calmly spoke as he leaned against the edge of the plane. They were standing in front of a doorway that airports usually use to welcome guests of the plane, but it was now wide open and Accelerator had a backpack strapped around him which he could only guess was the parachute for landing. But that was not his concern.

His concern was very simple.

"Did you forget my cane?"

"Ahh! That's right, haha well I was kinda in a rush to get you here so I just grabbed your body and ran for it."

"You fucking idiot. Is there any replacement I can use?!"

"Anti-Skill was storming the place, I had to make a decision. It was either you or the cane and I chose the more important one."

"Damn you..."

"Well, nothing can be done now. Off you go!"

Tsuchimikado stood behind Accelerator as he threw his boot forward, sending Accelerator flying down into the land.

"Damn you!! I'll fucking kill yoooouuuuuuu!!!!" His shouts reverberated in the air as he dropped down. To the people below, they could only assume that it was a bird in the sky.

-------6th October 3:30p.m.-------

To Accelerator's dismay, it seemed like whatever parachute that he had, it didn't open up in time as he was only 70 meters off the ground when it opened up.

When he reached for his battery in mid-air, his arm kept getting pushed away from the strong wind that was blowing against him. He was dying to say the least. And by the time he could even touch it again, it was too late.

He fell straight into a riverbed at a fast speed. However, thanks to the parachute at the last second, the drop only gave him a red mark all over his body, as it made his landing into the water relatively smooth yet tough.

It was a miracle that he didn't lose his battery in the process. Instead of trying to swim in the water, he just turned his esper mode on.

He knew it was pointless to try and swim out of the water as even if he managed to get out of there, he would still be stuck without a cane to lean on. So he chose the obvious route.

The water around him flowed around his AIM field as he slowly walked up the riverbed and onto proper land. It was a miracle that no one saw him coming out of the water. Otherwise it would have been another situation.

But just when he thought he was safe, he heard a girl's voice.

"What are you doing here? A-And are you okay?!"

He recognized this voice. Although it was only for a while, he remembered who this person was.

He turned back to confirm his suspicion and he was right. It was Itsuwa from the Amakusa Church.

"You're that girl from that church aren't you?"

She was wearing her usual pink tank top and denim shorts as she stood near the riverbed.

"Yes! M-My name is Itsuwa." She cutely bowed her head as she introduced herself.

"Great timing. You have anything to use as a cane?"

The moment she heard that question she backed up a bit as she faced her bag away from him.

"Um...sorry, but I only have my spear..." She fumbled around with her arms as she looked down with embarrassment.

"Spear? Where is it?" Accelerator asked as he gathered wind around him to dry his clothes faster. Usually these types of things would be done with a hangar, but with how things were, he had to improvise.

"I have my spear separated into 5 joints. Although it's weaker, it's more convenient to bring around."

"In that case, just leave the head out. Give me the joints." Accelerator was nonchalant about it, he didn't care what her business here was. For all he cared, he just wanted to finish the mission and get back to Academy City.

But Itsuwa wasn't having any of his attitude.

"Excuse me, my spear is meant to be used as a weapon! Not as a walking stick! And what do you even need it for? What brings you to Avignon?"

"I'm on a mission. Not sure whether you're aware of it, but I'm after something called the 'C-document'. Ring any bells?"

At that instant, Itsuwa's eyes widened up in surprise as she tucked her handbag closer to her armpits.

"The C-document?! The Amakusa Church has been trying to pinpoint it's location for a long time now, but you already know where it is?!"

"You guys are also on it? Wait...don't tell me that spiky haired idiot is here too."

"You mean Tatemiya-san?"

"Yes."

"Uh...don't worry, the Amakusa Church is currently spread out all around France that's why we haven't been able to assist--" Before she could finish her sentence, she quickly zipped it shut.

Accelerator noticed it, but he didn't want to ask further.

"U-Uhm anyway! Do you need another set of clothes? I have some back at my hotel."

"Are you trying to call me a girl..." Accelerator's face twitched slightly as he asked her nicely.

"N-No! Not at all! My clothes can be worn by both men and women. I'm not insinuating anything!"

"..."

Accelerator simply looked down at his arms and physique as the wind gradually slowed down around him.

"Whatever, my clothes are almost dry at this point. I just need a cane."

"But may I ask, what do need it for when you're standing just fine." Itsuwa tilted her head in confusion as she blinked.

Accelerator pointed at his battery as he explained, "It's this. This thing is what's keeping me standing but it only lasts for 30 minutes. Once 30 minutes pass, I'll be as dead as a fish on land."

"E-Eh? W-Well...I-I guess that's reasonable enough...b-but only this one time! Got it?!" She fumbled around in her bag as she looked for the joints.

Accelerator stared at her before sighing.

"If you're not comfortable with me using it as a cane then I'll just find something else."

"Eh? What are you going to use?"

Accelerator walked past her as he slowly ascended the slope in front of him.

"That lamppost seems viable enough."

In a flash, he heard the sound of metal clanking behind him and a breeze of wind blew from his back. The next thing he knew, Itsuwa was in front of him holding a metallic rod.

"I have determined that this is a better option. Please use this instead." Her face was blank as an expression of the dead was plastered on her face. "Please do not destroy public property!! It will attract even more attention to us!"

She cutely shouted out as onlookers watched them as they shook their heads.

"It's okay, I'll just use the lamppost."

"No. I insist."

She pushed it to his chest as bowed her head down as low as humanly possible.

"..."

That was when Accelerator finally took it from her hands as he placed it down before turning his battery off.

------6th October 4:00p.m.------

Avignon.

The old town of that city in southern France was surrounded by about four kilometers of castle walls. There were a large number of buildings crammed into that limited space. In the city's golden age, it was hugely influential on the entire culture of Europe. Partially because of that, it was still one of the leading tourist spots in France.

"So you were investigating Avignon for the C-Document?" Accelerator asked for an explanation from Itsuwa while they walked through an arched castle gate leading inside the large stone walls and to the old walled town of Avignon.

They entered a plaza-like area and Accelerator saw what looked like an open café. The sign on the side of the road for the café had something written in French and English. It must have been a café for tourists because it had a lot of things to help accommodate people who were here for the first time.

Itsuwa brought Accelerator away from the plaza and into a small pathway where they arrived at a place which is also available at Academy City. To be more precise, it was the same shop that Accelerator had gone to a couple days ago. 

"Drory Coffee? They have this in Academy City as well, so why here?"

"W-well, the shops here are mostly filled with locals, so we would stand out more if we went there. With the riots and demonstrations going on, wouldn't it be more troublesome for us?"

"...True."

For once, Accelerator had his put aside his pride as they went into the store. The layout of the store was exactly the same as the ones in Academy City. The walls facing the road were covered in glass and in front of the glass there was a long table with seats lined up in front of it. The center of the floor had booth seats for four and the counter where you ordered was all the way in the back.

The store was packed with French people. They may have been afraid of the demonstrations and riots, but they still had to go out to make a living. People were only going to the places they had to which concentrated the streams of people to specific areas.

And there was something more noticeable.

The majority of the customers had disheveled hair and clothing, were covered in mud, and had bandages wrapped around their limbs. Everyone from the strongest adult to the smallest child at the very least had bruises on their faces. You would have been hard pressed to find someone who was unscathed.

Accelerator quietly inspected them as Itsuwa nudged closer to him due to the packed crowd.

So far, Academy City and the Roman Catholic Church had been showing their opposition for each other, but no full-blown military actions had been taken. However, this had caused a change that was having a real effect on the world nonetheless. Even though no one had wanted this horrible change.

"We have to do something about this as soon as possible," Itsuwa said in a quiet voice.

"...I know." Accelerator clenched his fists in a quiet anger. These were people he didn't know, but if this indiscriminate violence were to spread to Academy City, no one would be safe. It would be an apocalypse. Even though he didn't know them, he knew that this was obviously not right. He knew that children should not have been involved in this little game between Academy City and the Roman Catholic Church.

But he also knew something.

He was slowly starting to change at that moment.

He would ever raise his fist against someone who would go against the people he cared about, if it was him a few months back, he would not even bat an eye at what was happening. He would just dance around that chaos and anyone who would come at him was just asking for a death sentence.

Something felt different about him. But he didn't know why.

Was it compassion?

A sense of false heroism?

Or was he starting to accept his position?

Whatever the case was, this was no time to leisurely eat some food, but Itsuwa pointed out that they would stand out if they sat down without ordering anything.

"I don't have money on me so I'll just wait at the table there."

"E-Eh?"

Before Accelerator could limp away, Itsuwa pinched his shirt as she looked away.

"I-I can treat you to something."

"...I'm not--"

*BRRGHGHGHG*

At that moment, a growl came from his stomach as he looked back at her. It was loud enough that the other customers heard it as well, as they all started to turn their heads towards their direction.

"...Just give me black coffee."

"U-Uhm okay."

To not make the situation even more awkward, Itsuwa let his slightly damp shirt go as she went up to the cashier.

Accelerator went to the back corner of the store as he placed the cane down while he took a seat. At that point in time he was just hoping that none of the people there were looking at him.

"(Seriously...what was that timing...)"

His stomach rarely ever growled because of his weird diet habits. It was hard for him to even have 3 meals a day, and that was not because he didn't want to eat. It was just that he was too busy everyday beating up someone to even go shopping for food anymore.

Not long after Itsuwa went to the cashier, she came back with a small tray under two sandwiches and two cups with some vegetable sticks by the side.

She sat at the opposite side of him as she placed her handbag down beside her after putting the tray on the table.

"..." Accelerator looked at the window at the front of the store as a few rioters passed by the store.

Suddenly, a giant sandwich was bobbing up and down in his eyes.

"Here you go. You must be hungry right?"

"I thought I said only black coffee."

"Come on, is it so wrong to accept someone's kindness?"

"...You have no idea." Accelerator whispered under his breath as he took the sandwich with his right hand.

Suddenly, Itsuwa poked his right hand with her finger.

"Your right hand. It looks painful. Are you okay?"

That was when Accelerator looked down at his hand again. He didn't realize this before, but his bandages had came off probably when he was in the water earlier.

"It's none of your business." Instead of accepting her kindness, he simply brushed her off.

"....Do you even have any friends at all?" Itsuwa asked as she looked at him with a blank expression yet again.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Will it kill you just to say something nice for once..."

"Tch, if you're done eating then let's go already." Accelerator placed his arm on the chair as he took a sip of the black coffee.

Itsuwa decided to leave him alone as she chewed on her sandwich.

There was a moment of silence between them before Accelerator finally broke it by asking her a question.

"So you said you were investigating Avignon. But if I'm not mistaken, Tsuchimikado mentioned that the C-Document can only be used in the Vatican, so why here?"

Itsuwa placed her sandwich down as she finished swallowing the pieces in her mouth before answering.

"There's a building here called the Palace of the Popes. It's the largest Roman Catholic facility in Avignon. To be precise, the whole of Avignon is built around it."

"..." Accelerator merely listened quietly as he was still quite new to the magic side so he barely even knew the basics of whatever was happening.

"There are some complicated circumstances surrounding the city of Avignon. At the end of the thirteenth century, there was a dispute between the Roman Catholic pope and the French king. And the winner of that dispute was the French king. He gained the right to order around the pope at the time. One of his orders was for the pope to leave his headquarters and come live in France. That started what is known as the Avignon Papacy."

Itsuwa took a second to drink her cup of espresso as Accelerator processed the words in his mind. But to him, it just sounded like a weird ceremony that people used back in the day.

"Apparently, the French wanted to control the pope in order to use the various privileges and benefits the Roman Catholic Church had. Avignon was chosen as the place to imprison the pope. And the palace the pope was imprisoned in was named the Palace of the Popes otherwise referred to as the Papal state."

Accelerator unconsciously took a bite of the sandwich as he continued listening to her. All that history talk was making him confused and bored at the same time. But it was still information that he needed to understand how the magic side works.

"But there are many things the pope had to do that could only be done in the Papal State. Things like the investiture of cardinals and various ecumenical council meetings could be carried out by a representative. But things that had to be done within the Papal State, in buildings within the Papal State, or with certain spiritual items in the Papal State couldn't be done from Avignon in the same way. Doing so would have been akin to creating an entirely new Papal State," explained Itsuwa. "So the Roman Catholic Church needed to set up a certain trick."

"A trick?"

"They couldn't create the same devices in Avignon that they had in the Papal State, but by creating a magical pipeline to Avignon, they could control the devices in the Papal State long distance."

"So they used leylines?"

"Eh? You've heard about it?"

"I don't know much about it and all, but Tsuchimikado told me it connects infrastructures and that some buildings holds some sort of power within it."

"Ah, yes. However, when the pope moved back from France at the end of the Avignon Papacy, the pipeline was supposed to have been severed, but from the looks of the patterns of the magical pulsation in the ground in this area, there must have either been a facility left connected where they could use the C-Document or they may have reconnected the severed pipeline."

"...So we just have to reach the place and destroy it?"

"No, not exactly. We just have to destroy the core of the leylines within the Palace of the Popes. But if we can find the C-Document here, then it would be even better."

Accelerator raised his eyebrows as he placed the sandwich down. "You mean the C-Document is not in the palace?"

"That's right. If they're playing it safe, someone might just be holding on to it. That's why destroying the core of the leylines would be easier."

"Tch, this is more troublesome than I thought it would be." Accelerator finished his black coffee as he placed the cup down, "So have you went inside the palace yet?"

Itsuwa finished her sandwich before answering him with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"N-No...I'm just supposed to investigate... Once I have enough information, I'm supposed to contact the vicar so that a large team can gather and break in at once."

Apparently, Tatemiya Saiji, the vicar, had a "special spiritual item" that was passed down by the Amakusa, but it seemed that Itsuwa thought that acting alone wasn't a very good idea when dealing with an object that affected the entire world.

"Once I've gathered enough information, it would take a few days before they arrive."

Accelerator clenched his right fist as he quietly placed it on the table. "A few days is too long. I don't have that much time."

"...I-I understand, since you're here we can--"

Before she had the chance to answer, there was a loud crash as all of the windows facing the street shattered simultaneously.

It wasn't due to thrown stones. Nor was it due to being hit by bats or metal pipes.

It was due to human hands.

Hundreds of hands pushed against the glass at once and the pressure shattered the glass. Many screams erupted from within the store and a crushing horde of people flooded inside. It was like a scene from a zombie movie.

"Tch, go figures. This all seemed too easy." Accelerator whispered under his breath as he cursed. "Oi, grab your bag. We're running."

"Right!"

Accelerator chose the back corner of the store for a reason. There was a door beside them. He didn't know where it led to, but a door was still a door for opportunity.

Accelerator activated esper mode as he grabbed Itsuwa's wrist, it was so sudden that Itsuwa herself was shocked. He grabbed the makeshift cane along as he busted through the door.

It seemed like whatever that door was, was supposed to be an emergency exit as it led to the back alley.

"Hold tight."

"Eh?"

Without a moment's hesitation, he princess carried her before jumping on top of the building. To him, it was a normal occurrence, but to her, it was something else.

"E-EHHHH!?!??!"

"Shut up, and tell me where the--"

Accelerator stopped mid-sentence because he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The rooftops were also filled with people holding molotov cocktails as well as torches. This rioting was on a whole other level.

"Damn it!"

They started to throw the molotov cocktails at him, but he simply jumped back down to the surface floor to dodge it.

The rioters from the front of the house were now closing in on them.

But they simply kept running.

Whoever was controlling them knew he was coming. Otherwise there would not have been people set up at the rooftops.

"Goddamn it!!! Can I kill them?!" Accelerator shouted as he continued to curve through the alleys while carrying her.

"No! Of course not! They're being brainwashed by the C-Document. If we find the person who's responsible for this, we can end this."

"Yeah, but if they catch up to us, I'll lose my only compass to the C-Document, and if you have the time to complain, use that time to tell me where the damn palace is!"

"I'm thinking! But these alleys are too small and cramped for me to see anything." Itsuwa said as her body was bouncing slightly with every step he took. 

Accelerator was doing what his name suggested. Accelerating through the alleyways of Avignon. Whenever he saw the light to the main road, he would quickly take a detour, but of course he was moving faster than an Olympic runner. If he ran a 100 meter race, he would inevitably beat the world record by a few seconds.

"If you need to see where it is, then here...you...go!" In that instant, Accelerator threw her up higher than any of the buildings. She was not ready for it as she propelled through the sky with no safety harness whatsoever.

She was so unprepared that the only thing she was focusing on was the ground. However, Accelerator used the airtime that she was getting to stomp the ground to create a wall. Well, it wasn't really a wall. It looked more like a rocky wave that had the mechanics of a wooden fence that the old ages used.

Accelerator turned back to where he was looking previously as he pushed his arms out. After a few seconds, a shivering Itsuwa fell into his arms.

"So did you see where it was?"

Itsuwa didn't answer immediately as she was still shivering with fear from how sudden that throw was.

"N-No...p-please give me a warning before you do that next time..."

"Okay, get ready."

"W-Wait!! Not like thiiiiiiiisssssss!!!!"

He effortlessly threw her up yet again as her voice could be heard all over Avignon which drew the attention of some of the rioters behind them as well as in front of them.

A wall of people appeared in front of them as Accelerator caught her in his arms yet again.

"Did you see anything this time?"

-----6th October 4:30p.m.------

Accelerator was just pushing through the crowds at this point with a red mark on his face. Itsuwa was a friendly and docile girl but when pushed to her limits, she would unleash the womanly rage within her.

Accelerator just managed to get a taste of that.

No words were spoken between them as he charged his way through the crowd. He didn't know where he was going. He was just hoping to find a quiet place and an alley to escape from.

Midway through, he felt a bit of vibration in his pants. It was his phone.

"Oi, go into my pocket and grab my phone."

Itsuwa didn't reply him as her face darkened but she still did as she was told. She rummaged through his pocket as she explored it. She was searching through his pockets but because her body was constantly moving due to the Accelerator's speed, it was tough for her to find the vibrating object in his pocket.

She tried and tried until she felt something in her grasp. She grabbed it as tightly as she could but that soft thing soon became tough.

The moment it became hard, Accelerator toppled over.

"Watch where you're digging your hands in!"

"W-What do you mean?"

The swarm of rioters were starting to gather around them. At this point, Accelerator decided to stand up and cause the wind around them to circle around him.

"Tch, if the object doesn't change the fabric of physics itself, this should at least scare them right?"

Accelerator took out his still vibrating phone as he tossed it over to Itsuwa. It jumped around in her hands a bit before she finally caught hold of it.

She accepted the call as Accelerator increased the wind's intensity.

The 70m/s wind circled all around him as it cut anything that got close to him. However, he made sure that Itsuwa was in his safe zone before unleashing it's true strength.

The brainwashed rioters paused for a while as sweat dripped from their foreheads. They didn't dare touch it as one of their pitchforks were cut in half just from trying to pierce through it.

It was devastating to say the least.

"Hello? Who is this?" Itsuwa answered. The voice on the other line was just as confused as she was. 

"I want to speak to Accelerator. Where is he?"

"U-Um he's kind of busy right now. My name is Itsuwa from the Amakusa Church. I assume you're the friend that he mentioned?"

"Ah, I'm Tsuchimikado. That's good to hear. Are your other friends from the Amakusa Church there as well?"

"No, I'm the only one at Avignon right now. The rest of them are exploring the other parts of France."

"Ah...well it's fine we still have the Accelerator here. Though we have to make this quick. I'm going to assume that he's busy dealing with the rioters right now?"

"Yes, that's right. He's set up a barrier around us."

"Ah no wonder. My side's pretty clean, I'm not seeing anyone right now. My guess is the person in charge of the C-Document sent them after us right after we landed." Tsuchimikado said as the rioters on Accelerator's side continue making a fuss.

The next thing they knew, multiple molotov cocktails and arrows were being thrown and shot at them. The arrows were fortunately aimed at Accelerator so he reflected them back, but this caused him to speed up the wind even more to 100m/s. At this point, his focus was aimed towards the wind encircling them. If anything that exceeded that wind were to be thrown towards them and aimed right at him, he would inevitably be shut down.

Controlling the wind for him was much more of a tedious task compared to simply manipulating his own velocity and magnitude of attacks.

It required a bit more precision and calculation to control the wind.

"Anyway Itsuwa-chan, you know about the leylines in Avignon right?"

"Ah, yes I do. What about it?"

"I'm going to explore the Palace of The Popes since my road is cleared. Can you try and navigate the leylines connecting to the Palace of The Popes? Just in case I don't find anything there. I doubt the wielder would really leave out such a spiritual item right in the open. Just to be sure, do you know any spells that can destroy the pipeline?"

"U-Um I follow the Amakusa style, so I know all the standard spells of Shinto, Buddhism and Christianity..."

"Great. I'll leave you two to it."

"Eh? B-But how do we escape from this?"

By now, the whirlwind that Accelerator had caused was starting to cut the floor, which required even more effort from him. So much so that he was starting to sweat a little, but it could have been from the flames that the winds took up from the molotovs that were being thrown at them.

As serious as the situation was, Tsuchimikado's answer was still pretty lax.

"Ah it's Accelerator-yan, he'll figure out a way. Just locate the pipeline and destroy. Do that and the wielder of the C-Document might show up."

"O-Okay!"

Soon after that, the call ended and Itsuwa looked up at Accelerator. She was still sitting on the floor because of the fall, so she had to look up at him. She could see how focused he was. He wasn't letting up with his power.

"Are you...done already?" Accelerator asked as he forcibly threw the words out of his mouth.

"Yes. For now, we need to lose this crowd. Tsuchimikado-san said he'll investigate the Palace of The Popes. He told us to destroy the pipeline connected to the place."

"Alright, where do we...go?"

"A-Are you okay?"

"Shut up and give the directions now!!" Accelerator snapped at her as he glared straight into her soul. Without a moment's hesitation, she answered, "Left. I feel it on the left side."

"Okay, hold on tight."

"E-EH?!"

The moment Accelerator released his grip on the wind, the flames started to intensify around them as it looked like a wall of lava that was about to tear down on them.

With a single stomp from his foot, the flames spread around them but only for a few seconds. For the rioters that were waiting outside for them, for the few who were unlucky, their top was set on fire and the moment the wall came crashing down, the two of them were gone.

------------------------

Accelerator had reached what was supposed to be their destination after a long journey. It wasn't particularly long, but it took off about 10 minutes of Accelerator's battery time because he had to keep waiting for Itsuwa to recover and give the directions to the next place.

The way he carried her was like someone carry a duffle bag. He had her under his arms with her mouth covered to prevent her from screaming.

When they had escaped from the rioters previously, he had sped his body up to the point where a single blink covered about 100 meters.

It was normal for Accelerator as he had travelled through Academy City at that speed or maybe even faster. But for Itsuwa, it was a way different experience than sitting in a car.

"Oi, is this it?" Accelerator asked as he set her down on the ground yet again. Itsuwa had to cover her mouth before speaking as she had felt the need to vomit all over the floor.

"Y-Yes...please never do that again..."

It wasn't a large building solely used as a museum. Just like the housing complexes and stores, it used one portion of the fortress-like buildings towering above the roads on either side. There just wasn't enough room in the old town of Avignon that was surrounded by the castle walls and they had probably wanted to maintain a sense of unity in the scenery.

There was a sign in French on the main entrance, but the wooden door had a metal shutter down in front of it. The plate hanging from the knob most likely said "closed".

It was midday on a weekday.

"If this is the place, how do we get in?"

"J-Just break in..." Itsuwa's face was dampened as she looked at the floor while crawling.

"Are you serious?"

However, Itsuwa didn't answer him as she was still collecting herself. Accelerator didn't wait for her answer as he walked through the solid looking shutter as if it was a curtain. Surprisingly, the alarms in the museum didn't go off.

The lighting was fairly dim. In fact, it was almost completely dark inside. All of the windows were covered so the exhibits wouldn't receive any direct sunlight. With the normal fluorescent lights, it wouldn't have been a problem, but Accelerator was a bit unsure of his footing with only the faint light from the emergency exit sign.

Itsuwa soon followed up with him and when she caught up to him, he put his hand out as he said, "Cane."

"M-My spear is not your cane!!"

"Shut up and just let me borrow it. My battery will die if you don't pass it to me."

"U-Uhh...but..." Itsuwa held her bag close to her as she pulled her knees in closer.

"...Ugh, whatever. Let's just get this over with." Accelerator said as he avoided any further harassment he could cause towards her. He waited for her to walk in front as he didn't know the way or where this leyline could be.

Accelerator followed her and found nothing more than a normal floor. But upon inspecting the arrangement of the glass showcases, the usual pattern was ignored here which left it oddly empty. Itsuwa slowly circled around the oddly empty floor. She looked around for a bit and then nodded in satisfaction.

"Yes, it's here. I can feel a power manufactured by the Roman Catholic Church. It feels like a type of purified power that is used in the spells of some other sects. This is a leyline characteristic of a Western church society. They did an excellent job of concealing it; it's hard to sense until you're almost right next to it." She spoke while looking towards Accelerator. "I'm going to sever the pipeline now, so please stand back."

"Right. I'll just wait at the wall. Tell me when it's done so we can get out of here." Accelerator leaned against the closest wall as he sat down to turn off his esper mode.

He was still fairly new to the magic world, so whatever she was saying he merely went along with it.

"Destroying a leyline takes a huge number of people, but since I'm alone, I can only damage it. But the damage will be sufficient enough that it changes the direction of the leyline."

"Magic huh? It's really hard to believe magic exists outside of Academy City."

"Really? I always thought magic was part of our everyday lives. But maybe it's because I'm in the Amakusa Church that it seems like a daily thing."

The Amakusa girl put down her bag and rummaged around inside it. It seemed she was choosing the everyday items needed to use this spell.

"You can use everyday items just to make a magic spell so maybe that's why I don't find it strange at all. Like for this spell, I only need a camera, a pamphlet, a bottle of mineral water, a slipper, and white panties." As she took them out, her face started to slowly turn red as she realized what she had just said.

"Interesting everyday items." Accelerator commented ever so casually. Itsuwa merely remained quiet as he watched her from behind. Itsuwa lined up the objects she had taken out of her bag on the floor. To Accelerator it just looked like a circle, but there must have been subtle rules about how to do it that she was following.

She took out the joints of her spear as she fitted it back together to form the single spear. When she had finished arranging the objects, she spun her spear around in her hand so that the tip was pointed down.

"Here goes," Itsuwa said as she stabbed down towards the floor with her spear.

It hit the very center of the circle.

There was no sound of blade hitting stone.

The tip of the spear disappeared into the floor like it was sinking into mud.

The Amakusa girl mumbled something while her spear was stabbed into the floor.

The spear ever so slowly sank deeper into the floor.

"(So this is magic huh? If I were to vibrate my hand fast enough, I think I could also dig through the floor. But would that work if I did the same thing?)" Accelerator wondered as he continued observing her. Accelerator was curious about magic and thought it would have been useful to know a bit about magic since he knew he would most likely have to fight some magicians in the future.

She tapped the floor with her heel.

She also lightly but rhythmically tapped the handle of the spear with the pointer finger of the hand holding the spear. The spear was now over halfway into the floor and the end of the handle only reached up as high as Itsuwa's chest.

She let go of the spear and adjusted her grip.

It was like she was turning a giant key.

Next, there was a noise.

But...

It wasn't a noise caused by Itsuwa's spear.

With a loud crash, the outer wall of the museum suddenly burst open from some kind of attack. It was aimed for Itsuwa and her spear that was sunk into the floor.

It looked like a giant blade being swung.

It was white.

It traveled in a straight line for Itsuwa.

When she noticed that, she altered her position without moving the spear so that she was behind it. The attack passed right by Itsuwa, but a piece of the destroyed wall...or rather, a piece of stone too big to reach your arms around, hit her spear dead on.

"Tch!" Accelerator clicked his tongue as turned on esper mode yet again.

The spear broke clean in half where it was hit.

Itsuwa was knocked back a fair distance while holding the broken spear. After causing this destruction, the white attack fluctuated and disappeared like smoke.

"Damn it...!!"

Itsuwa held the two halves of her broken spear in her hands. She removed the broken piece from the attachments and threw it aside. She then kicked her bag up from the ground and grabbed a replacement rod from the bag in midair. She used that piece to remake her spear.

The second attack came shortly thereafter.

The white blade came bursting through the outer wall again.

The motion of the white blade as it moved from one wall to the other was rough like kid swinging a tree branch around. But this had overwhelming destructive force. The stone walls and floor crumbled, the glass showcases shattered, and the pieces scattered in every direction.

The sounds of destruction continued one after another.

Accelerator grabbed her from the waist as he pulled her back but the white blade came again in a horizontal attack. Accelerator pushed his left hand out as a glass breaking sound could be heard.

"Fuck!" Accelerator cursed as he continued pulling Itsuwa back.

White powder started to fall from the ceiling as Accelerator realized the museum wasn't going to last long.

The white blades continued their assaults but ultimately it was falling short as Accelerator continued pulling Itsuwa back. It seems whoever was attacking them could not control the distance or even aim directly at them.

"Run away. I'll handle this fucker myself."

"W-What? But reinforcements might arrive!"

"I don't fucking care. If this is a magician, then I'll show no mercy." Accelerator threw her backwards as he raised his right hand up like a claw without looking at her direction. He was focused on the enemy in front of him.

"Oh. It seems like my accuracy drops when the distance increases."

Accelerator could finally see the person who was attacking them. It was a man wearing green ceremonial clothes. He was wearing green from head to toe. He seemed to be around the same height as Accelerator or maybe even shorter, but he looked twice his age. He was quite skinny so his ceremonial clothes were very loose fitting. His sunken cheeks gave him an odd sense of vitality.

He could probably be compared to Accelerator in terms of skinniness.

"It's a great pleasure to meet you, wielder of Imagine Breaker. My name is Terra of the Left, one of God's Right Seat."

God's Right Seat.

Accelerator remembered that term. He had fought with Vento of the Front back during the end of September.

But he didn't want to remember that night.

"You fuckers. Did you enjoy what I did to that bitch?"

The white powder gathered in his hand took shape.

As before, it was the shape of a guillotine.

It was a board-shaped blade that looked like a seventy-centimeter square that had had its bottom cut diagonally. The man held it by the ring that would normally have the supporting rope tied to it.

"Oh you mean Vento? It's unfortunate what you did to her honestly, but it was her fault for commencing the invasion." Terra of the Left was so nonchalant about his answer it's hard to believe they were allies. "You practically stripped her from the God's Right Seat title. Now she's just a normal girl living a relatively normal life."

However, Accelerator wasn't afraid of him. He was elated as his blood started to flow within him.

"Yeah, you're about to face the same fate when I strip you from your fucking crosses. Shall I eat your tongue as well?"

"It's forbidden for us to commit such heinous acts. But alas, we are talking about the monster in Academy City."

Then Terra of the Left swung his right hand.

He swung it from left to right.

Matching that movement, the white guillotine moved. It was less like he was holding it and more like it was floating in the air while connected to his arm. The form of the guillotine that had been a meter across just a moment ago collapsed. It turned into a white tsunami that shot out in a horizontal line.

It roared through the air.

Accelerator lifted his left hand as he negated every single one of his attacks.

"Ah, the infamous Imagine Breaker. No, actually...it's just a milder version of it. It's not even at it's full potential."

"Heh, is it really that impressive?"

"Oh of course! You could say it's the bane of all magicians."

Accelerator merely smiled in excitement as his right hand trembled. It was trembling with sheer ecstasy to get to finally kill someone as fucked up as him.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not gonna use my left hand on you. I'll use my right, and I'll fucking rip your eyes out, no...I'll rip your fucking head off your chest!! GYAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAA!!!"

"Oh don't get too excited. The fun has just begun."

Accelerator was the first to make a move. He dove straight in for Terra of the Left but with a simple phrase, "Precedence: Flour - lower, Human skin - higher."

Accelerator was fast, that's why Terra of the Left knew it was pointless for him to counterattack. Accelerator's right hand flew straight for his torso and it connected. So much so that it produced a loud thud before he was sent flying backwards into a wall as the debris fell on him. The whole museum shook as the ceiling also fell onto him.

"Is that all the God's right seat had to offer?"

A roaring sound could be heard before Accelerator was knocked to the side of the wall where Terra of the Left had came from.

"(W-What?!)"

Accelerator was hit straight in his gut. If it wasn't for his reflection, that attack would have probably killed him right then and there.

"Oh of course not. I'm not God's right seat for no reason you know?"

Terra of the Left stood at the entrance where he came in from as he continued mocking Accelerator.

"You really shouldn't let your guard down. Especially when your friend is still here. Precedence: Movements of a spear - lower, air - higher."

The sound of metal clashing with rocks was heard. At that moment, Itsuwa's spear dropped to the floor as she struggled to lift it. She was directly in front of Terra of the Left as she looked up at him.

"You--"

"Poor girl."

He raised his right hand up as a guillotine of flour formed in his right hand again.

"Precedence: Human body - lower, flour - higher."

A loud roar could be heard as he swung the guillotine down and an explosion was heard. The ground was smashed apart as the museum shook.

"Oh?"

A sound of surprise escaped Terra of the Left's mouth as he looked at Accelerator as he took the hit for her.

"How brave of you. Precedence: Ceiling - lower, flour - higher."

He swung the guillotine upwards and the entire ceiling broke apart. It was fair to say that the whole museum was going to be taken down.

The rocks of the ceiling started dropping and landed on Accelerator and Itsuwa, covering the both of them completely.

"What a pity. I had hoped you would have put up much more of a fight, Imagine Breaker. But with you out of the scene, I guess our plans can be continued without much trouble."

With the debris marking their graves, Terra of the Left slowly walked away from the rubble.