“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