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- “Now, let us follow the story of St. Margaret who worshiped the cross. Because I know you
- loathe those morality plays as much as I do.”
- The father pressed her leather shoe’s heel against the daughter’s forehead.
- “I will step on you.”
- “...ister.”
- “That is a symbol of stripping away a demon, stealing its power, removing the disaster,
- and retrieving peace, Great Demon Coronzon.”
- “Aleister Crowleyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!???”
- Golden hair that symbolized devilishness wriggled after spending a very long time
- gathering power from the moonlight. It emitted a somewhat off-kilter fear that was
- different from that of a witch from the ancient past or an alien from the future. This was
- something outside the realm of imagination. If you faced this Great Demon while
- unprepared, your soul could be damaged and you could be forced to succumb no matter
- what your physical specs were.
- But the magician who had created all of modern Western magic was different.
- The silver crushed the gold.
- The pressure from Aleister’s foot grew as if to bury Lola’s lovely face in the black asphalt.
- No, that was not just the silver witch’s power. Academy City was that magician’s holy
- ground. It was a reproduction of the Abbey of Thelema that had once stood on a small
- Italian island. She used all of that to apply a “seal” that resembled extreme gravity.
- “How does it feel to be humiliatingly defeated by what is just? Now, let us move on from
- St. Margaret and discuss a clever little technique.”
- It came directly from Aleister Crowley.
- “The Banner of the West. Those dual symbols and color layout will reject evil. I cannot
- eliminate all doubt from thy nature, so I shall protect thee by severing all ties.
- Furthermore, I am blameless and need not leave this location, so the evil one must remove
- herself in accordance with her sin!!”
- [...]
- “Even all this is no more than buying time. I cannot kill you the way things are. But how
- much can I do in the time this buys me? Give it some thought inside the seal. Just as every
- country and region in the world has used the exact same punishment since BCE times,
- having our time wasted is a burden for us all. Oh, but we know each other well enough
- that I am sure you will understand. And that is why this will fill you with more fear and
- suffering than anything else.”
- There was a sticky, muddy sound.
- The pressure felt like an asteroid at this point. Aleister Crowley used her heel to shove the
- Great Demon into the dark wet asphalt.
- Then, with an odd sound reminiscent of a punishing lightning strike from heaven, an
- unnatural light flashed through several of the roads that acted as Academy City’s arteries.
- That light drew a giant equilateral triangle with a cross carved into the center.
- Anyone who knew anything about modern Western magic would immediately recognize
- it as the Banner of the West. That symbol of exorcism was one of the most convenient
- symbolic weapons that protected the spell user by monitoring and rejecting the approach
- of evil power on the ceremonial grounds—for example, something resembling Telesma
- that was out to get humans. The banner was so useful because good and useful powers
- would remain unmolested while only the evil and useless powers were affected.
- It only took an instant.
- Once the light vanished, nothing remained.
- Not even the golden demon sinking into the asphalt.
- Aleister spoke as if spitting a curse down at the wet road surface.
- “...It all begins here. I will use this time to its fullest.”
- Yes, this was only the preliminary round. It only treated the symptoms. That silver girl
- was a skilled enough magician to fully know this was no time to be optimistic. A seal that
- used an entire city and measured dozens of kilometers across might sound nice, but the
- city had not been designed for use against Coronzon. She had only connected the spider
- web of roads in a meaningful way. It was a makeshift method that took inspiration from
- the giant circle Karasuma Fran had used in her attempt to summon Kamisato Kakeru.
- That great demon would tear through something on this level.
- After all, if Aleister’s predictions were correct, Coronzon had enough direct firepower to
- push back Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass.
- Currently, the human race had no real method of fighting back.
- If she learned how to fight this makeshift delaying tactic, it was all over. The next time
- Lola Stuart made an appearance, no one would be able to stop her.
- -Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 20 Prologue
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