Chapter 2: The Witch-Hunter Moves Along With the Flames. Part 2

Upon leaving the dormitory room, he met Stiyl, whom he had parted goodbye to sometime previously. He was scattering card-like objects around the area.

"What are you doing?"

"Can't you tell? I'm placing a barrier here to build a temple." Stiyl said as he worked. "Before we leave for Misawa Cram, who knows who will come here with a stupid reason and kidnap Index? Even if we can only do so much, we can feel a little more optimistic if we leave Innocentius here. If something happens, it can help her buy time to escape."

Innocentius.

Though Kamijou lacked memories, his information database informed him that Innocentius was a humanoid, ultimate weapon consisting of 3000 Celsius flames with an automatic tracking ability. Its only weakness was—

"It can only be used in the boundary that has runes and will disappear if the runes are destroyed."

"…I'll tell you this," Upon his words, Stiyl's ears twitched. "I lost to you last time because of the location, not because I'm weaker than you. If you hadn't set of the sprinklers…"

"Eh? Did we fight before?"

Kamijou, with only knowledge instead of memories, knew how to defeat Innocentius but knew not where the information came from.

"Ku… So you mean to say that that incident was too pointless to remember?" Apparently misunderstanding, Stiyl continued. "Then, fine. I won't squabble with you over it. Once I'm done here, the boundary will be complete. And, we'll be able to head to Misawa Cram… how troublesome. I have to set up a boundary to repel magicians but weak enough that that child won't notice."

Stiyl continued to mutter, seemingly quite happy. As such, Kamijou somewhat realized a fact.

"Do you like Index?"

"Eh? EH!?" Stiyl blushed as if his heart had stopped. "Wh-Wh-Wh-Why are you saying such ridiculous things all of a sudden?! She-She's a target of protection, not for romance—!"

Kamijou chuckled and ended the conversation because he felt that if he delved deeper, he would dig his own grave. The main point was not whether the current Kamijou Touma liked Index or not but that the current Kamijou's feelings must have been the same as the previous Kamijou.

The current him knew not how the pre-amnesia Kamijou Touma thought of Index or how the interactions went. If Kamijou were to say something contradictory, Stiyl would have realized his masquerade.

It's like there's two of "me"…

Kamijou sighed deeply in his heart. It was inaccurate to say there were two Kamijou's. Kamijou felt that a false him invaded the real one's body and assumed his personality, putting the current him in an awkward situation.

"Before we charge into Misawa Cram, let's talk about our 'enemy.'" Stiyl said, perhaps preventing Kamijou from questioning further. They exited the student dormitory to walk onto the night street. Kamijou listened to Stiyl speak.

"The enemy's name is Aureolus Izzard." He introduced the name. "Speaking of Aureolus, there's a person you'd think of… hm? Are you shocked he's so famous? Don't worry, he's just a descent and not as strong as the legend."

"…Who is this Aureolus??"

"...Oh yeah, you don't know about the magic world. But, you have heard of Paracelsus, right?"

"???"

"Ku...! He's the most famous alchemist in the world!" Stiyl said impatiently.

"So… Is this guy really amazing?" Kamijou asked while walking down the evening streets.

The August sunset burned and the multitude of windows, windmills, turbines, everything, were dyed an orange-red. Kamijou thought it looked exactly like a faded photograph, perhaps assisted by the unrealistic aspects of their conversation.

"He shouldn't be strong… But, what's worrying is the fact he must have some 'secret weapon' to subjugate Deep Blood. The worst case scenario is one where he's used Deep Blood to capture the certain creature." Rather than Aureolus Izzard himself, Stiyl seemed to mind the creature.

However, Kamijou could not comprehend. Even if the conditions were unique, treating the enemy's abilities as secondary was incomprehensible.

"Oi. That's not right, is it? I don't know how powerful vampires are but shouldn't our primary concern be the enemy leader? It's like fighting in a fire. We'll be hurt badly if we're only concerned with the flames."

"Hm? Oh, you don't have to worry about it. Aureolus' name may be familiar but his descendants aren't as powerful as him. And, in the magic world, there's no such thing as an alchemist." Stiyl spoke nonchalantly. "Divination, alchemy, summoning… these sound like your world's language, mathematics and history. Japanese language arts teachers wouldn't try to abolish mathematics, right? This so-called-magic is the study of learning a part of everything and choosing a world most suited for the user."

Stiyl also added that the reason Aureolus Izzard became an alchemist was because he was untalented at other roles.

"And, also, alchemy isn't a refined knowledge."

"…"

Though Stiyl stated all of these, Kamijou understood none of it. His knowledge was like a historical calendar. It was because, for Kamijou, alchemy was only a fraudulent gimmick widespread in the 16th century. The purpose of alchemy, to his knowledge, was to fool royalty with scams.

"Alchemy—especially of the late Zurich branch—can be said to be a sub-branch of the Hermes school. Normally speaking, the main purposes were to turn lead into gold, create an immortality elixir, and so on." Stiyl sounded unmotivated, perhaps because it was out of his scope of expertise. "But, these were all experiments. They're like what you'd call a scientist, always looking for 'foundations' or 'rules'. Scientists don't care about what they get from the test tube because it wasn't their aim. The same theory applies here. Alchemists weren't actually focused on creating something but pursuing knowledge."

"…Is it like how Einstein was only researching the Theory of Relativity? The atomic bomb was just a by-product?" If one examined it from this angle, scientists were the arrogant type, never considering the effects their creations have on society.

"Yeah. But, besides researching the formula and principle, they have a final goal." Stiyl paused. "…It's like a simulation of the world within his brain."

"…"

"If you can understand the all the laws of the world, you could imagine the world in your brain. Of course, if even a single law were to be wrong, the simulated world in the brain would be flawed."

"…? What? What do you mean? Are you talking about abilities similar to esper powers?"

On the primitive islands of the South Pacific like Fiji and Melanesia it was said that: to be leader, one had to be able to predict the next day's weather with just a glance up at the sky.

Though such weather forecast ability seemed esper-like, it was just a result of calculating wind currents, cloud shapes, temperatures and humidity's in the brain. The island leaders never realized that their brains were calculating. Instead, they believed they "listened to the voice of the wind" to predict the weather.

Stiyl's meaning was similar to such an example. While it was true that a leader's mind had simulated the next day's weather, the imaginary world would have been miles away from reality if there were the tiniest error in their supposedly-perfect formulas.

"…Hold on. What could an ability like that do? Are they trying to make some algorithm that predicts the future for them like a weather report?"

"No." He responded easily. "What if they could bring something imaginary into the real world?"

It was a shocking declaration.

"For example, there are spells that involve ectoplasm and spells that use telesma to summon Angels. In the magic world, it isn't uncommon to see someone drag their brain's thoughts into reality." Stiyl folded his arms. "Thus, it's important to have an ability that lets the brain accurately imagine the real world. Basically, with this power, they could operate the world. Any and all celestial beings or devils would bow before them."

"…Oi… Oi…"

"Of course, it's hard to do. The flow of the river, the clouds, the humans, the blood… there are an infinite number of laws in a world. If someone screwed something up, he wouldn't create an accurate world. One distortion in the world is like a distorted pair of wings. Even if they're summoned, they'd be vanquished."

That's like a computer's processor. Kamijou rationalized. No matter how perfect the process is, if someone forgets to input an extra line, there'll be an error and the program won't execute.

"On the other hand, if he really somehow did it, wouldn't no one be able to go against him? If he could alter the entire world, how could the world win?" Perhaps, deep within him, Kamijou refused to believe it.

He was right. Humans could not defeat "everything" in the world. It did not mean that gods or devils were strong or weak; it was not that. Instead, "everything" in the world also included the people living there, such as Kamijou himself.

The simplest example: a mysterious could make real anything it reflected. No matter how strong Kamijou was, if an opponent created an identical Kamijou, the battle between identical Kamijou's would result in simultaneous deaths.

"I said it before, just relax. Alchemy isn't a refined knowledge." In contrast, Stiyl did not seem anxious. "Let me put it this way: If I wanted you to explain everything in the world, including every grain of sand on the beach or stars in the sky, how long would it take you?!? I don't think you could finish in one… two hundred years?"

"That's the situation. In reality, the incantations existed for a long time but the human life is so short no one finished chanting it." Stiyl continued easily. "Though they tried all sorts of things like removing unnecessary parts to shorten it or breaking it up to allow each generation and descendant speak 10 lines and so on."

Even under these cases, there was not a single case of success. A completed incantation would have lacked any excessive points. When each generation passed down the incantation, the incantations became gradually erroneous like a game of telephone.

"However…" Stiyl stopped there and seemed to finally show some hostility. "…If the alchemists were living things with no lifespan limits, they could recite and complete the very long incantation. Perhaps because of this, the certain creature is such a rather large threat to magicians."

Maybe this is why the aim of the enemy is to get a vampire. Kamijou thought.

To scientists, it was painful when they knew an answer but did not know why.

If an alchemist's body of flesh could not fulfill it, could they not just seek a creature that surpassed a human's limits?

"It's true that this alchemy is still pretty threatening. But, right now, Aureolus Izzard shouldn't be able to do it. The most he can do now is create a few things and turn this Misawa Cram into a fortress and set up numerous traps to prevent outsiders from entering."

"…?" Kamijou felt that something was off. Why is Stiyl so confident? "Oi. Do you know this Izzard guy?"

"Of course I do. We were from Church organizations after all." Stiyl said smoothly. "I'm an Anglican and he's a Roman Catholic… We did meet each other, though our sects differ. Though, of course, we aren't friends."

For Kamijou, it was difficult to associate the terms "Church" and "magician" together.

Necessarius', the organization that Stiyl and Index were affiliated with, purpose was to consume magical knowledge and counter magicians. But, they were radicals among the radicals. Even if the Anglicans possessed such an organization would the Roman Catholics, of a different sect, have been similar?

Noticing Kamijou's question, Stiyl frowned.

"Necessarius is an exception amongst exceptions. There can't possibly be similar institutions." Stiyl sighed. "But, even if we're exceptions, his job as a secret recorder was a unique example among unique. He basically wrote grimoires in place of the Church. Even thought they were grimoires, the purpose was the complete opposite. It was like a guide to teach things like 'which lines in the Bible could be used to counter spells witches use.'"

Stiyl stretched his arm and shook it about. "Of course, it isn't rare to see members of the Church write grimoires as guides. The ones Pope Honorius III and King James I wrote are really famous."

"…I see. So that's why you said Aureoulus Izzard's power isn't really that much."

"That's right. He might be knowledgeable about these things, but he can't fight. He's like a quiet social club member that isn't in a sports club. However, he's still a tough opponent. It's because he's one of the few secret recorders of the Roman Catholics and possessed much influence. The Roman Catholics are planning to determinedly fight him and punish him as a 'heretic.'"

"No, that's not what I meant. I'm saying that Aureolus is a name worth mentioning with the top religious people and kings, right? Are you jealous of him?"

"…I can consider that a taunt, right?"

"I'm up for it if you want to fight but don't mistake me as an enemy right now." Kamijou stared forward. "We've arrived at the battlefield."

The pair stopped. Under the seemingly flaming sunset, the building awaited them.