The fortress was falling faster now.
And inside it, Touma Kamijou was running at full speed.
The Arctic Ocean coastline, between sea and land. He’d destroyed a different one of the large levitation Soul Arms to twist the fortress’s trajectory that way. In order to stand against the archangel, Kamijou just kept on running.
On the surface, there was a change. Some sort of small shadow was approaching at a high speed.
He could see the snow along the path of whatever it was, shooting along at a low altitude with incredible velocity, being gouged out in enormous chunks. It wasn’t simply getting blown away. Hundreds of meters—no, whole kilometers of snow centered around “her” were all getting absorbed at once.
Drawing a long, thick line over the white lands, the archangel headed his way. There was nobody to stop her advance. There seemed to be several along the way who flung magical-looking lights at it, but the archangel didn’t even glance their way. She just passed through, mowing down all the professional sorcerers.
The archangel reached the Arctic Ocean from the coastline.
And at the same time…
✦ ✦ ✦
…The Star of Bethlehem fell directly on top of it.
✦ ✦ ✦
With an earsplitting bbb-bbooom!! the giant fortress fell into the sea along with the archangel. As it sank, Kamijou headed ever downward as fast as he could. Unable to withstand the immense pressure, the walls and pillars inside the fortress collapsed one after another. Severely cold seawater poured inside, but Kamijou didn’t pay attention to it. He kept going down. To the bottom. He went below sea level.
There was no more illumination around him.
But there was one speck of light in the expanse of darkness.
A quiet light, deep and blue, reminiscent of moonlight.
Touma Kamijou squeezed his right fist as tightly as he could. She’d noticed him, too. In the dark, only the lights of their eyes clashed a step before they did. As an incredible sense of hostility overflowed, the boy, a simple human, plunged forward, never stopping.
✦ ✦ ✦
So much had happened before coming here.
✦ ✦ ✦
And it had all started when he lost his memory. He’d decided to go forward, lying in order to prevent one certain girl’s sadness. He’d fought an alchemist to save a girl possessing special “blood.” He’d fought the strongest monster, too, to rescue the third-ranked Level Five and her Sisters. At the beach house, he’d fought a death match against a traitor from his class.
A bunch of things had happened on August 31: He’d stood up against a real golem to save a friend, an aggregation of AIM dispersion fields. He’d picked a fight with the largest Crossist denomination to help a Sister professing to be able to decipher the Book of the Law. There’d even been an incident related to the Tokiwadai girl’s underclassman.
During the Daihasei Festival, even as an executive committee member and a classmate got wrapped up in everything, he’d protected Academy City from the threat of the Croce di Pietro. In Chioggia, Italy, he’d clashed with a fleet of ships made of ice to save a girl who used to be his enemy. On September 30, to save his utterly changed friend, he went head-to-head against a woman from God’s Right Seat. The sukiyaki he’d eaten with everyone in his class had been delicious, and he’d run into Skill-Out, too, to help the Tokiwadai girl’s mother.
In Avignon, France, he’d fought God’s Right Seat over the Document of Constantine. In Academy City’s underground city, he’d fought alongside the Amakusa-Style Crossist Church against a powerful saint. In London, England, he’d stopped a coup d’état led by the second princess.
And now.
It’s been a long time, he thought.
The things that had transpired up until this point hadn’t all been enjoyable.
He’d hurt others, many, many times, and been hurt by others in return, a cycle that had kept on repeating.
However.
Touma Kamijou could still run.
He knew that his actions had saved no small number of people.
He could take on his greatest enemy, this archangel, proudly.
…Maybe this world will be destroyed one day. Even planets have a life span, and I know it’ll be swallowed into the sun once it expands. Maybe it’s more likely all the creatures will die off the face of the earth before that happens.
But, thought Kamijou, gripping his fist and charging forward.
✦ ✦ ✦
It’s okay for the ending to be less tragic.
It’s okay to fight to stop this thing.
✦ ✦ ✦
With a boom!!!!!! the two figures charged at point-blank range.
At the same time, the giant body of the Star of Bethlehem, which had transferred its landing impact in its entirety, was crushed to a pulp.
And.
✦ ✦ ✦
October 30.
Academy City and the English Puritan Church.
The Roman Orthodox Church and the Russian Catholic Church.
World War III, started by a fight between two factions, ended.
Just before it did, the Star of Bethlehem was confirmed to have fallen into the Arctic Ocean.
✦ ✦ ✦
