It had been the archangel Misha Kreutzev.
The huge-winged monster was flying alongside the monorail car, matching its speed.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kamijou stopped caring about the missiles, exploding one after another, and even the sound of them exploding.
That was the level of tension that ran through him then.
And in the meantime, the archangel flapped its wings again and again, intercepting every one of the countless missiles created with the latest technologies.
“…”
When he got another close-up look, he was surprised by how imposing it appeared.
From afar, it only looked like a human-shaped silhouette with huge wings growing on it, but when he saw it like this, he noticed the similarities to Sasha. Its height, to begin with, was almost six feet. According to Kanzaki, Gabriel was a female angel, but its face was actually smooth, expressionless. It was almost like a doll face still in the manufacturing process. The insufficient hills and valleys actually engendered a strange sort of allure.
It was feminine, surely, but it was more feminine than female, assumedly to grant it a sense of uncanniness.
Its skin and clothing weren’t demarcated, with the silky white cloth showing its body lines. Golden pins fastened the cloth in various places. Its general color scheme was white and gold, but the pale-blue light emanating from its body changed its impression to something viewed on a screen.
The white cloth extended back where the hair would be, spread out in the shape of a trumpet. It looked like a lily, but it probably had some sort of religious meaning.
In a place that wouldn’t get in the way of that hair, a small ring made of water was floating. Its speed of rotation would increase or reduce according to the angel’s movements as though some sort of rules were at play.
What did Sasha, a genuine Crossist follower, see when she looked at that angel?
Kamijou didn’t have the time to ask.
His eyes locked with the archangel’s.
Even though its face comprised only indentations, with nothing anyone could call eyeballs, Kamijou definitely felt a terrible sensation in his spine.
Misha Kreutzev made a gesture like someone tilting their head slightly in confusion.
A moment later.
The giant wings on its back filled with power, like someone pulling back on a bow. The movement was clearly trying to attack their monorail car.
…Shit…?!
Fiamma of the Right had said that his right arm and Sasha’s body were essential to his plans.
However.
Maybe those circumstances didn’t matter to Misha Kreutzev.
Its face, expressed only with unevenness, seemed to be watching Kamijou’s right hand closely.
The right hand that could cancel out any strange power.
Then, as though drawn to what one could call “her” natural enemy, Misha Kreutzev flapped its wings.
✦ ✦ ✦
Grrkk-eeeee!! A tremendous sound like two crags ramming together rang out.
✦ ✦ ✦
For an instant.
Kamijou thought the shock would make his heart would stop—but that didn’t actually happen.
That was not the sound of Misha Kreutzev firing an attack at Kamijou and Sasha.
In fact, it was just the opposite.
Someone had intervened, driving an extremely fast flying kick into Misha Kreutzev, knocking it away.
“Question…two. What on earth…?!” said Sasha, groaning.
Nothing normal could have dealt an effective blow against an archangel. And they were high in the air—up above fifteen thousand feet. Coming up here by itself had to be impossible for a normal sorcerer.
But Kamijou knew.
He knew exactly one being, one who could overwhelm even saints, one who could probably compete with the magical angel Misha Kreutzev.
A being created by science.
An aggregate of AIM dispersion fields.
And she had dozens of wings coming out of her back, flinging purple lightning every which way.
“Hyouka…Kazakiri…!!”
Kamijou shouted her name as the raging winds gusted past them.
What the heck is she doing here…?!
He doubted she could have heard him.
But she did, just once, glance his way.
For just a moment, a trace of her usual timid nature crept into her face.
A second later, after turning back to face Misha, Kazakiri possessed a fighting spirit he’d never seen in her before.
September 30. Kazakiri, in her angelic winged state, had been under the control of a third party. But he didn’t sense that sort of dangerous light from her gaze. Their births may have been different, their body structures may have been different, but a human light filled her eyes. Her hair had changed to a golden hue, and there was a ring over her head and wings on her back, but she was, without a doubt, the Hyouka Kazakiri that Kamijou knew.
They intersected for the blink of an eye.
Since the glasses-wearing girl had stopped in place in order to hold off Misha’s follow-up attack, the monorail car zoomed away.
The mouth of a tunnel—another entrance into the fortress—was closing in.
But right before they shot inside, he saw the knocked-away Misha Kreutzev arcing toward Kazakiri. And he saw a strange sword extend from Kazakiri’s right hand in response, one that looked like a transformed sinister wing.
He didn’t know what became of them.
Because a moment later, the monorail car entered the dark tunnel.
And then.
Vr-vvrrrrmmmmm!! A massive shaking hit them after another instant. If they hadn’t been in the tunnel, its aftermath alone might have sent the car flying from the rail.
“Damn it!!”
Kamijou ran to the back of the car, but he still couldn’t tell from here what was happening in the skies.
…What was that? What the hell happened?!
Judging by the second shock wave that came rushing through, and then the third, their battle hadn’t finished.
Kazakiri was supported by Academy City’s AIM dispersion fields— How was she here? And why was the fainthearted girl fighting? Kamijou didn’t understand anything.
In any case, there was only one thing to do.
This wasn’t just for Index anymore. To protect her friend as well, he had to stop Misha Kreutzev’s movements as soon as possible.