Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 177

"And your story isn't over yet."

"Huh?" Feng Zhan raised his head, his face full of surprise.

Footsteps came from behind Jing Shen.

"They've arrived as expected," Jing Shen thought. She couldn't help but smile.

Misaka had just said that, to prevent the boy from being arrested by the guards or disciplinary committee, it would be best to remove him from the scene first. However, the boy insisted on staying with Jōjin until the very last moment, refusing to leave. Jōjin witnessed all of this.

If that boy had guessed from the beginning where Kazakiri Hyouka was hiding, but was forcibly taken away by Misaka and Shirai, thus preventing him from immediately giving chase,

And even until the very end, the boy was still worried about Kazakiri...

The Catalogue of Banned Books will surely return here.

"...Huh?"

Kazan Hyōka, who had buried her face in Jōjin's chest, saw the person appear behind Jōjin and made a sound of surprise.

Jing Shen slowly turned around.

In the distance, at the rooftop entrance without doors, stood a young man dressed in a pure white monk's robe. The safety pins on his robe were missing, making it look almost like a high-slit cheongsam. The young man was panting heavily, drenched in sweat, clearly having run back with all his might without a moment's rest.

The boy—from Index: Forbidden Books—rushed towards Kazakiri Hyouka without hesitation the moment he saw her. There was no fear, no disgust. Like a child lost in an amusement park finally finding his father.

Feng Zhanbinghua stared blankly, even forgetting to blink.

"Why...why? Isn't this...strange?"

Kazezan's body trembled slightly as if he were feeling cold.

"This is so...strange...I'm not human...why would she...make that face at a monster? Why...is she looking at me...like a friend?"

Jing Shen Tuo Mo sighed calmly.

"Indeed, your body is different from that of ordinary people, and you can do things that ordinary people cannot."

The purifying spirit's tone seemed to be saying, "Why ask such a simple question?"

"But that doesn't change the fact that you are her friend."

These words brought tears to Feng Zhanbinghua's eyes, and her legs went weak, causing her to kneel down.

The Forbidden Book Index lunged at Feng Zhan, and the two fell onto the roof.

Feng Zhan cautiously reached behind the Forbidden Book Index and hugged it tightly.

Looking at the two of them, Jing Shen chuckled softly.

"Damn! It's already over?"

When Fang Cun finally managed to escape the spatial loop and followed the sounds, only the guards remained at the scene.

It doesn't matter, though; I still gained a lot of hero points this time. It's just that not being able to appear at the last moment feels subtly off.

-

"Doctor, look, I didn't have to be hospitalized this time. Aren't I amazing? I guess this counts as growth, right?"

Inside the hospital's examination room, Jing Shen excitedly said this to the doctor.

It's a bit of a shame that we couldn't use the bed we booked.

"I really don't understand you. How can you still laugh in this situation? Is it because you're overly tired and in a state of excitement? Anyway, I must remind you that you're just one step away from a complex fracture in your hand."

"……What?"

“You seem surprised? But it’s very possible. The human hand can make very precise movements, but because it has many joints, it is not resistant to impact. If you just want to make a simple attack, using a headhammer is safer than using a fist.”

Upon hearing this, Shang Bing remembered that his right hand was indeed a little sore, and a chill ran down his spine. The doctor's words were indeed quite destructive.

The frog doctor cleverly used threats to calm the patient down, and then quickly wrapped bandages around the cleansing god's hand.

There are several suspicious points in this matter.

Teacher Xiaomeng, who had come to the hospital with Jing Shen, looked at Jing Shen's hand, which was covered in bandages, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Yes. Although saying it out loud won't make things clear, it's not comfortable to keep it bottled up inside, so the teacher decided to speak out."

Teacher Xiaomeng gave a meaningful smile, raised her index finger, and said:

"The first question is, why did Kazakiri Hyouka 'appear' around the Goddess of the Realm? The entire Academy City is filled with AIM diffusion fields, so theoretically he could appear anywhere in the city. Why did he appear 'near the Goddess of the Realm' several times in a row? Of course, it might just be a coincidence."

Then, Teacher Xiaomeng raised her middle finger.

"The second point of doubt is that Himegami once said, 'Kaze-zan Hyōka is the key to the Five Elements Mechanism in the Imaginary Number District.' What exactly does this mean? However, this is just something I heard from Kirigaoka's teacher, so it might just be a baseless rumor."

Then, he raised his ring finger.

"Finally, there's the third point of doubt. How were the terrorists able to pinpoint the location of Kazakiri Hyouka, who only 'appeared' today? Even those of us living within Academy City hadn't noticed Kazakiri Hyouka's existence before, so this information likely leaked from a high-ranking official within Academy City. However, this could also just be a coincidence with no causal relationship whatsoever."

Chapter 308 "Boundary"

Chapter 308

Finally, Teacher Xiaomeng spread all five fingers, put her two palms together in front of her eyes, and said:

"But why are so many coincidences happening at the same time? Perhaps that's the biggest question."

The entire consultation room fell silent.

There is too little information available to determine the answer.

When asked casually, the frog doctor looked away and gazed out the window.

Although it cannot be seen from here, there is a windowless building in the distance in this direction.

Are you satisfied now?

In a room of a building without doors, windows, corridors, stairs, elevators, or ventilation shafts, Tsuchimikado Haruka looked away from the image floating in mid-air and said bitterly.

Aleister, suspended upside down in the giant glass cylinder, gave a faint smile but did not answer.

Tsuchimikado, seemingly unable to bear the silence any longer, continued:

"By using people as pawns and mastering the key to the Imaginary Number Zone and the Five Elements Mechanism, the completion rate has increased by another point. To be honest, in my opinion, you are the real monster."

Imaginary Number Zone - Five Elements Mechanism

"No one could have guessed that the truth was the AIM diffusion field itself. No one knew that the power naturally emanating from the 2.3 million students in Academy City was the Imaginary Number District."

Wherever there are superpowered individuals in a city, there will be an AIM diffusion field, and there will be Five Elements mechanisms.

No one even knows whether the Five Elements Mechanism is harmful or not.

This isn't a massive energy burst like nuclear energy. If a powerful force were to permeate a city, anyone would sense something was wrong. The truth behind the Five Elements Mechanism, the AIM diffusion field, is simply a tiny force that can only be detected by machines.

However, the Five Elements mechanism is as unstable as water at zero degrees Celsius under decompression.

Under reduced pressure, that is, when the air pressure is extremely low, water will not freeze even at zero degrees Celsius because the freezing point is lowered. However, if the water is stirred with a stick or something similar under these conditions, the water under reduced pressure will suddenly freeze.

The same applies to the Five Elements Mechanism. Normally, its power is so minute that only machines can detect it, but with a certain degree of impact, its power can instantly increase. In this incident, Kazakiri Hyouka's power increased significantly later on, also due to this "impact." It's just unknown whether this "impact" came from the stone giant's attack or something else entirely.

The problem is, no one knows exactly how much of an impact this "some degree" is. It's possible that a simple poke with a finger could cause a massive explosion, or it's possible that it's nothing to worry about at all.

Furthermore, the claim that "power will instantly increase" is merely a "prediction." What kind of power it is, and how large it is, remains unknown. It could potentially wipe Academy City off the map, or it might be nothing at all.

Without knowing the details, it's impossible to predict the outcome. Therefore, Academy City doesn't even dare to easily attempt to eliminate the Five Elements Mechanism.

In that case, it's better to control rather than eliminate.

And the key is—

"Feng Zhan Bing Hua? You actually implanted self-awareness into a part of the Imaginary Number Zone to help it materialize. You're really insane."

There was a girl who possessed a right hand called Imagine Breaker.

This right hand is the only threat to the imaginary number region.

Because they felt threatened, they developed a sense of self.

Desires created by life instincts such as appetite and sleep are signals of "wanting to live" and "not wanting to die." In other words, things that do not know about life and death will not develop instincts or a sense of self from the beginning.

Conversely, if the concept of "death" is instilled through a fantasy killer, a fantasy that originally had no self can develop a self.

Only now did Aleister, who had remained silent, speak:

"This is also a strategy to facilitate the control of the imaginary number region. Rather than letting it remain in a state of 'not knowing what it will do' without any sense of self, it is better to give it the ability to think, so that its actions can be predicted and it can be negotiated or coerced."

"If the person whose heart is generated is a good person within your prediction, then of course there's no problem. But if it's an unimaginably wicked person, how do you plan to deal with it?"

"Evil people are easier to control than good people. The only difference between the two lies in the methods of negotiation."

Tsuchimikado cursed under his breath. Indeed, Aleister's view of humanity was quite different from that of ordinary people.

"Was all that effort done to gain control of the imaginary number region truly meaningful?"

Tsuchimikado couldn't help but ask:

"Yes, the Imaginary Number District is a major threat within Academy City. However, threats don't just exist internally. Your tacit approval of what happened today will slowly destabilize the world. Whatever the reason, a formal member of the Anglican Church has been defeated by the guards. Those people in St. George's Cathedral will not remain silent. You don't actually think that this city alone can defeat all the magicians in the world, do you?"

Despite Tsuchimikado's threatening tone, Aleister's smile remained unchanged.

"As long as you can master that, magicians are nothing to fear."

"What did you say?"

Upon hearing Aleister's words, Tsuchimikado frowned.

The Imaginary Number District and the Five Elements Mechanisms do indeed pose a safety concern within Academy City. However, this is only a matter confined to the area within Academy City. The AIM diffusion field only occurs around Level 5 users.

Thinking of this, Tsuchimikado suddenly felt a very bad premonition creeping up his spine.

"and many more……"

She tried to summarize once again the collective properties of the AIM diffusion field, namely the imaginary number zone and the five elements mechanism.

This thing is like infrared radiation or high-frequency sound; it exists, but it is neither visible nor audible.

It is a life form that exists in a phase different from that of humans, and is composed of a collection of certain forces.

Haruka Tsuchimikado knew perfectly well what such a thing would be called in magical terms.

"Could it be... an angel?"

No, the residents of the Imaginary Number District, like Kazakiri Hyouka, are the true "angels." And the "city" he inhabits is—

"Aleister...you're not thinking of creating an artificial heaven, are you?"

"What do you think?"

Aleister simply gave that indifferent response.

An artificial celestial realm… no, if it is purely created through scientific power, it cannot be referred to by terms like “celestial realm” or “demon realm” that already exist. It is a new “realm” that does not exist in the scriptures of Kabbalah, Buddhism, Christianity, Shinto, or Hinduism.

Once the new "boundary" is completed, it signifies the destruction of all magic.

Chapter 309 Changing the Rules

Chapter 309

For example, suppose the baseline values ​​for buoyancy and lift on Earth change significantly.

In this state, airplanes manufactured according to patterns drawn by kindergarten children on drawing paper certainly cannot fly, but airplanes manufactured according to designs drawn by professional mechanics also cannot take off.

However, the plane would still taxi on the runway, attempting to take off. The result was that it lost balance and crashed the instant it took off.

The emergence of a new "boundary" causes a drastic change in the magical environment, carrying the same meaning. If a magician attempts to use magic, their body will explode. Temples or sanctuaries supported by magical power will also collapse due to the loss of their structural strength.

The same phenomenon can occur in any religion.

Think about it carefully and you'll see. Every religion has certain "rules." Of course, there isn't just one set of rules. Buddhism has its rules, and Christianity has its rules. These rules are like different colors of paint, overlapping and depicting the vast canvas of the world.

There is only one thing in common among all religions: they all have some kind of rules.

What happens if a new "boundary" is forced into a place where all the rules are already established? The original rules that maintain stability will be disrupted, and any magic that a magician casts will explode and self-destruct.

Even the best violinist can't play a violin with its strings tuned haphazardly. Disrupting the rules is the same thing.

The key to the Imaginary Mathematical District appears to be incomplete at present. Once completed, no magician will be able to use magic within Academy City.

Academy City is essentially a microcosm of the world.

When the development of superpowers reaches a global scale, and all of humanity can use superpowers, the entire world will be enveloped in the AIM diffusion field. The Imaginary Number District, which originally existed only within Academy City, will expand to the entire world.