Fiamma of the Right.
The project he’d been planning had finally started in earnest.
To start with, he’d gathered all the necessary pieces from the Roman Orthodox Church’s holdings all around the world and then built the fortress his ritual needed.
Scooped up onto this battleship as it rose, Touma Kamijou heard the voice of his fated enemy.
“I welcome you—to my fortress, the Star of Bethlehem.”
The mobile stronghold wasn’t the only threat, however. Fiamma had another trump card yet to be played:
“Sally forth, Archangel Gabriel, the POWER OF GOD. Blow them all to bits.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Having reached a field hospital in the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations, Shiage Hamazura received help from the sorceress Elizalina, who successfully eliminated as much of the ill effects from the Crystals eating away at Rikou Takitsubo’s body as she could.
But then Hamazura and Takitsubo read a document sent to the Alliance called the Kremlin Report, quickly learning that Russian forces were preparing to carry out a special operation: a procedure for defending nuclear launch facilities by using biological weapons—and the location where they planned to execute this inhumane plan was very close to the settlement where Digurv and the others lived.
“I couldn’t talk much while we were in the settlement, but I remember everything those people did for me. I want to fight for their sake, too.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Meanwhile, Accelerator had been sojourning in the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations as well, but even Elizalina’s cleansing technique hadn’t granted him a way to save Last Order.
Accelerator ultimately decided that if he wanted to save her, he had no choice but to decipher the mysterious parchment after all.
Moments later, Elizalina yelled a warning at him:
“Run away!! They’ll be here soon. If they mount a serious attack, our forces won’t be enough to stop them! Their goal is the parchment you’re carrying!!”
✦ ✦ ✦
An archangel’s ferocious attacks may have been assailing Russia’s skies, but the term angel didn’t refer only to Misha Kreutzev.
There was another.
Hyouka Kazakiri, born from scientific technology and AIM dispersion fields, was challenging the angel of water:
“…If that is the reason you would harm my precious friends, then I’ll use all the power I can muster to stop you.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Another battle was unfolding in another place as well.
In the Vatican, Matthew Reese, who had decided to abandon his very position as the pope of Rome and to fight once more as a simple Crossist, was confronting Cardinal Peter Iogdis:
“Do you understand? We are fighting so you can survive. Promise me you will not die before this war ends.”
✦ ✦ ✦
In a Russian palace, Bishop Nikolai Tolstoj trembled with rage, having been completely left out of the plan.
“Send in the reserves…I want that fortress blown up!! Right now!!”
✦ ✦ ✦
And Mikoto Misaka, newly arrived in Russia, was listening to a Sister as she relayed details about the movements of an independent Russian unit.
“Nu-AD1967. They are preparing to fire an old Soviet strategic nuclear warhead, reports Misaka, summarizing the details.”
✦ ✦ ✦
A myriad of battles were unfolding in multiple places.
Unbeknownst to these fighters, a great deal of people had gathered to defeat the archangel Misha Kreutzev.
✦ ✦ ✦
Accelerator had intervened between Misha and Kazakiri.
✦ ✦ ✦
Acqua of the Back had attempted to reduce the archangel’s power by redirecting the telesma comprising Misha’s body into himself based on their mutual control of the element of water.
✦ ✦ ✦
Touma Kamijou had tried to damage the archangel by destroying the ritual site on the Star of Bethlehem.
✦ ✦ ✦
And as a result…
“…You think it’ll go that easy? You don’t have Misha anymore. I still don’t know why things went so well, but humans managed to beat an archangel. No matter how you think about it, the scales are tipping in our favor.”
But it wasn’t over.
Even after the enormous loss of an archangel, Fiamma’s mental state didn’t waver as he confronted Kamijou atop the Star of Bethlehem.
“Misha Kreutzev’s role ended when it changed these skies into night. I’d like to say phase one is now complete, but even now, I’ve gotten a little bonus.”
Two right arms were on the verge of clashing.
But before they did, Fiamma of the Right said only this:
“One can only fully wield true power in a true world…It’s time I showed you exactly what that means.”