“Hi.”

And so, the man naming himself St. Germain appeared before the girls of Item with the
strange spear known as a Chambord resting on his shoulder.

Mugino Shizuri narrowed her eyes a little and immediately realized what the spear meant.

She gestured toward the outer wall she had filled with holes.

“Was that you?”

“It was. To be honest, I do not need it anymore once I get to the Dianoid’s mid level TV
Station and retrieve the Shield that produces a positive gap in the lattice, but
unfortunately, I made a bit of a promise. Could you perhaps calm down a little in order to
grant someone’s wish?”

“Kinuhata.” Mugino ignored him. “If you don’t want to die, stay in a position where you
can protect Takitsubo with your Offense Armor. I’ll take care of this guy.”

“Are you sure, Mugino?” asked Takitsubo.

“What do you mean by that exactly? If you’re worried she’ll go super overboard and kill
him, then I’ll agree with you.”

It was the man in the tailcoat who laughed.

“You think you can escape the grasping fingertips of death with that?”

“You’re pretty full of yourself for some stranger.”

As he listened to Mugino, St. Germain gathered some slight strength in the Chambord
resting on his shoulder. With a whistling sound, it drew a half-circle in the air and pointed
at Mugino.

“I will ask one last time, young lady.”

“If you’re going to complain, wait until you’re in hell.”

“That is too bad. I suppose this is why they say ignorance is a sin.”

With a light smile, all hint of emotion vanished from St. Germain’s eyes.

“Now, will you be able to say the same thing when you see your own heart beating
outside your body?”

An instant later, Mugino’s Meltdowner beam mercilessly vaporized the Chambord and St.
Germain’s arm along with it.

The man’s arm vanished from the shoulder down.

The great heat had completely cauterized the wound, so there was no bleeding.

Academy City’s #4 spoke coldheartedly to St. Germain as he stared blankly at where his
missing arm had been.

“Are you mocking me?”

An explosion of emotion soon followed.

However, it did not come from Mugino or St. Germain. It came from the frightened crowd
gathered on the viewing platform. With earsplitting screams and shouts of anger, they
fled with all their might. They moved with such force that they sometimes very nearly all
toppled over like dominoes.

The people vanished, the area was left completely empty, and St. Germain spoke.

Despite the lost arm, he was smiling.

“By the way, young lady. Do you have anyone you would like to protect?”

“What?”

“If so, you should take this more seriously. Especially when you still have time to be so
considerate.”

Perhaps done in by the heat, a few of his tailcoat buttons fell to the floor.

The tailcoat opened up to reveal something like clay strapped to his stomach.

Mugino immediately realized what that clay was.

“You-...!!”

The man had shown no sign of caring about the loss of his arm and the loss of his life
seemed to be no different.

“Let me tell you one thing.”

The man moved the situation along while smiling.

“Even if an individual St. Germain dies, the St. Germain ideology shall not perish. ...It
shall never perish.”

It did not even take a full second.

A tremendous explosion assaulted Item as it filled that corner of the floor.

-Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 12 Chapter 2 Part 15