The Occult Research Club and the student council assembled in the staff room, while worried parents and children gathered in the gymnasium. In order to maintain calm, Vice-Chairwoman Shinra had mobilized the remaining staff to gather as much information as they could.
Rias, meanwhile, shook her head as she was setting up a communication square.
“…This is bad. I can’t reach anyone outside the town.”
Akeno sighed, giving up on the magic square she had deployed on the floor. “Same here. We won’t be able to jump very far.”
Seriously? We couldn’t contact the outside world, or even teleport outside the town…? We had run into similar situations a few times before—the first at the Togetsu-kyou Bridge in Kyoto, the second after the mid-level demon promotion exam. In both cases, a dense fog had fallen over the area while we were whisked away to an artificial dimension. There was no fog this time around, but it certainly felt like a similar phenomenon.
“…I examined the qi energy in the area around us. The trees and grass are real,” Koneko said in her cat-eared mode.
…Did that mean we hadn’t been transferred to an artificial space?
Chairwoman Sona opened her own Communication-type magic square. “I’ve gotten through to Agreas and the community center. I have video.”
Two holographical projections opened up in the staff room—the first with Sairaorg in Agreas, and the second with Gondul in the town’s community center.
Sairaorg was the first to speak. “What’s going on?”
“It’s safe to assume this area has been encased in a barrier erected by hostile forces,” Gondul answered. “We mages are summoning creatures to test the barrier’s extent. So far, reports suggest it is likely covering Agreas and Auros in an oval shape.”
…It was that big? It had to be massive…
“In addition, we mages have lost access to most of our spells. As you can see, they’ve been sealed away.” Gondul pulled back her hair to reveal an ominous magic square on her forehead.
…Sealing magic? Who would do such a thing…? My questions just kept piling up.
Curious, I gathered some demonic energy into my hands… My aura was building as per normal. I couldn’t fail to notice the members of the student council checking their own demonic energy. Irina likewise tapped into her angelic powers, which looked to be fine… So we could all still use our powers?
Just to be sure, we checked our Sacred Gears, both real and artificial, and there were no issues with them either.
“I can still use magic,” Rossweisse pointed out.
“The culprits must have targeted those of us at the conference,” Gondul murmured. “The frightening thing is there’s still no sign of them.”
A seal only affecting the mages at the conference…? There was no mistaking the target here.
“You’re telling me our enemies are capable of this…?” Saji muttered with a taut grimace.
“…There is one possibility,” the chairwoman said as she adjusted her glasses.
“Indeed,” Gondul added, seemingly of the same mind. “The legendary Evil Dragon Azhi Dahaka supposedly had more than a thousand techniques at his disposal. He would no doubt know how to incapacitate us mages.”
—!
One and all, we were rendered speechless at Gondul’s mention of the Evil Dragon. We had received reports that Azhi Dahaka had been resurrected, while Vali’s team had actually come under attack, so it was a convincing suggestion.
Responsible for the evil dragon’s resurrection was none other than the Khaos Brigade’s newly formed Qlippoth group. Those miscreants were already to blame for reviving other Evil Dragons, and even mass-producing artificial ones…
So Azhi Dahaka was behind both this white sky and the seals placed on Gondul and other the mages…
“But the scale…it’s so huge… Even for a legendary Evil Dragon, sealing off an entire city and all those famous mages…it’s unreal…,” Irina whispered.
Indeed. If it was just a physical barrier over the city, that would be one thing, but incapacitating all those mages seemed like an impossible feat even for a legendary Evil Dragon.
“They must have found a way to amplify his techniques’ effectiveness,” the chairwoman said, turning my way.
The face of that bastard Euclid flashed before my eyes.
“…That replica Boosted Gear,” I muttered.
…If he had boosted his power and transferred it to Azhi Dahaka, that might explain the unimaginable scale at play here.
Gondul breathed a sigh. “The barrier surrounding this area and the seals on us mages must have been amplified. That Longinus may be a replica, but it’s nonetheless a fearsome weapon.”
…Seriously. That bastard was abusing the power he stole from me without so much as a second thought. It really made my blood boil…!
…No, hold on. If he could to that, then I ought to be able to do the exact opposite!
“Let’s try to undo it!” I suggested. “I can use my Boosted Gear to supercharge a reversal spell!”
But the chairwoman shook her head. “We should probably assume they’ve already thought of that and will have a countermeasure ready to deploy… The outcome could be catastrophic if we try to force our way out of here.”
…So our foes had thought that far ahead? Knowing Euclid’s grasp of the Boosted Gear’s strengths and weaknesses, it was certainly possible. Yes, he would no doubt have a plan in place…
“We can’t let them use it repeatedly,” Akeno said, worried.
“It isn’t something you can use over and over,” the chairwoman pointed out. “It isn’t a genuine Sacred Gear, and from what I’ve heard, they’re using it at a huge cost. Judging by what we can see, Azhi Dahaka has assembled a very intricate technique, so amplifying it would need careful fine-tuning. After all, there is always a risk of any ability going haywire… I can only conclude Euclid Lucifugus is genuinely adept at wielding the replica Boosted Gear.”