Kanzaki Kaori was a Saint.

There were fewer than 20 Saints in the world. A Saint was a person who possessed a certain talent or bodily characteristics and so held similar magical symbols to the Son of God from the moment they were born. As such, they obtained a fragment of his power that they could freely control.

For most enemies, she didn’t even need to draw her sword.

She had a hand-to-hand technique for semi-long distances called Nanasen that used wires and she could blow away most magicians by merely swinging Shichiten Shichitou’s long scabbard.

(My enemy is the head of the knights, Knight Leader. I doubt he will be defeated so easily.)

Kanzaki paid close attention to Knight Leader’s movements and poured strength into the fingers holding the hilt of her sword.

(It looks like I’m going to have to go all out here, but I don’t want to kill him if I can avoid it… I’ll knock him out with the scabbard and quickly capture the second princess!! That’s the only way to quickly put a stop to this ridiculous rebellion!!)

But…

Something invisible was seeping from Knight Leader’s body.

Knight Leader disappeared from Kanzaki Kaori’s sight.

It took her an instant to realize that he had moved out of her vision at tremendous speed.

When she did, she heard the sound of slicing wind coming from directly behind her.

“!?”

She immediately turned around while bringing up her scabbard for defense.

Knight Leader had merely kicked.

Even so, Kanzaki’s body of a Saint was blown away along with the guarding scabbard. While she was knocked back and lost her balance, Knight Leader sent his clenched fist into her gut.

A tremendous sound rang out.

Kanzaki’s body was blown back 10 meters without landing and she struck one of the guard carriages. The carriage was protected by a number of spiritual items, but it was still smashed to pieces from the impact and Kanzaki’s body slid along the ground after passing through it. The horses tied to the carriage panicked.

“Gah….Wha-…!?”

(I thought this was going to be an issue that normal methods weren’t going to work on, but what’s with this tremendous power…!?)

Including Saints, there was a maximum amount of power that a flesh-and-blood human could control, but he had clearly surpassed that.

(Don’t tell me he’s using the high-speed stability line like Acqua of the Back…!!)

Kanzaki was having trouble breathing as doubt entered her mind, but she didn’t have time to think over it calmly.

Knight Leader had already jumped up 5 meters in the air and the soles of his shoes were approaching in order to crush her.

“!?”

Kanzaki immediately rolled to the side.

But even with her physical abilities as a Saint, she couldn’t get to safety in time.

She avoided a direct hit, but the destroyed asphalt scattered around the area and struck her. Knight Leader looked silently down at Kanzaki as she rolled to the side with blood gushing from her. He was not watching her cautiously. His expression said that he saw no need to hurriedly pursue her.

“Why do you look so surprised?”

Knight Leader gently spread his arms wide towards Kanzaki who was completely on guard. He did not seem worried at all. He almost seemed disappointed.

“I am the head of the knights, one of the three factions. Even if you are a Saint, you are still just one member of the church. Did you really think you could fight on my level?”

“!!”

Without responding, Kanzaki fired off 7 wires.

Nanasen.

“…Long ago, an old friend of mine hit me with a dreadful surprise attack.”

Knight Leader did not seem worried. He held a hand up in the air, grabbed all of the wires fired towards him, and forcefully ripped them apart. He hadn’t used a weapon. In fact, he hadn’t even used both hands.

“Ever since, I have always been on the lookout for surprise attacks.”

While he spoke, Knight Leader “threw” the destroyed wires. Even if they were sharp, they were still basically just strings. They shouldn’t have had any power to them, but Kanzaki’s body flew back like a fired shell when they hit her.

“Gh…bh….!!”

This time, Kanzaki finally stopped moving when she struck a tree in the forest.

The destroyed wires were no longer wires. They had been gripped with such strength that the metal wires had been compressed into a single mass and fired like a bullet from a handgun.

“The one to stand before me should be, at the very least, the head of the Anglican Church,” Knight Leader said quietly as he cracked his knuckles. “No, the church simply does not have enough strength. I respect the royal family, but I stand above them when it comes to violence. Frankly speaking, you simply aren’t up to the task.”

A tremendous sound rang out.

When Knight Leader’s body disappeared, he was already directly in front of Kanzaki. Immediately after she jumped to the side, his leg blew away the trunk of a large tree with a single strike. It didn’t break, it flew. As Kanzaki trembled at that destructive power, her hands subconsciously moved. They reached for the hilt of her sword.

(Oh, no…!!)

The reason a chill ran down her back was not due to a danger to her own life.

Her hands had already moved.

By the time she realized that, her right hand had already forcefully drawn her sword. She had used the true Yuisen. That ultimate attack that could cut down even a monotheistic angel flew straight for Knight Leader’s neck.

He was unarmed. He had nothing that even resembled a weapon and his suit was not a spiritual item.

And yet, with a tremendous noise, he grabbed Kanzaki’s sword with a single hand.

This time, it was bewilderment, not fear, that wrapped around Kanzaki’s entire body.

Having stopped her movement, Knight Leader spoke.

“Do you know why the longtime members of Necessarius did not begin a large-scale systematic resistance when we conquered the United Kingdom and instead quickly slipped into the darkness to wait for a better chance?”

Still grabbing the blade of her sword, he lifted one foot from the ground.

“It was because they knew that it was absolutely impossible for them to win in a straight fight against the knights while inside the United Kingdom.”

A loud explosive noise rang out.

It was the sound of Knight Leader kicking Kanzaki. The tremendous force caused Kanzaki to lose her grip on Shichiten Shichitou and her body was knocked a great distance.

“Our country was constructed around Curtana and the four cultures and so the entire United Kingdom itself is bound by a special Christian rule. When in this land, the monarch is the leader of the angels and the knights are angels. …As long as we are in the country, there is just a sheer difference in the amount of power. If you want to kill me, you should first drag me outside of the United Kingdom.”

“…Uuh…”

Kanzaki’s consciousness was wavering as she watched Knight Leader toss Shichiten Shichitou aside.

“Also, we of the knights do not believe in the Anglican Church that Henry VIII created for political reasons. We see it as no more than something to use. Our essence is a single ideology created from a synthesis of Norse, Celtic, Charlemagnic, Germanic, and all other paths of knighthood. …That attack just now seems to have been a strike that circumvents numerous spells in order to injure angels, but that kind of detour isn’t enough to circumvent my defenses.”

Kanzaki attempted to stand up, but no strength would enter her legs.

There were special circumstances in that situation, but even so, that was the most ridiculous enemy she had ever faced. She had previously fought an imperfectly manifested version of the Archangel Gabriel and Acqua of the Back who used that angel as a symbol, but she had at least been able to “fight” against them.

But with Knight Leader she couldn’t even do that.

And he did not even take pride in his strength.

“So you haven’t given up yet,” said Knight Leader narrowing his eyes out of disinterest. “In any case, a mere Saint cannot kill me with their special strength.”

As Kanzaki attempted to muster some more strength, Knight Leader casually approached her directly from the front.

As he did, he spoke.

“And I haven’t even drawn my sword yet.”

He kicked Kanzaki.

It was not the kick of a martial artist. It was much like he was kicking a soccer ball.

Kanzaki’s body flew through the air and then rolled along the ground.

Knight Leader didn’t even look over in her direction and instead gestured at his subordinates. They all boarded carriages or mounted horses and headed in the direction the second princess had disappeared in.

Atop his horse, Knight Leader looked in Kanzaki’s direction for just an instant.

Seeing that she had completely lost consciousness, he spoke disinterestedly.

“So that’s all a Saint can do.”
- To Aru Majutsu no Index Vol. 17