Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 198

This was a project the magicians believed might be a clue in the search for Oriana. Before they knew the answer, the investigation had been delayed until now because Tsuchimikado had used Academy City's security equipment to locate Oriana, and their priority was the pursuit...

"Looking for conditions...? In other words, it can't be used without a certain special environment? Oriana moves around everywhere precisely to look for conditions."

"...Infiltrating Academy City without any certainty...and now you're rushing to find a way, that's really a bit strange, meow...And Tyr is out of contact during this critical time, with her phone powered off!"

Chapter 354 Speculation

Chapter 354

Upon hearing this, Jing Shen remembered that Tyr had exchanged information with the people from the Lunatic Church.

Tyr did indeed say that...

"By the way, that guy said he seemed to know something about the 'Apostles' Cross' storage warehouse."

"What? Purification God, even if it's a small matter... it's okay, you can tell me more details... meow."

"Okay, it seems things aren't going too well in Lunjiao either. As far as we know, the warehouse windows are blocked, and there are two doors."

"Hmm... there are two doors...? Like the airtight locks in a research lab...?"

"...No, what does it resemble?" Jing Shen tilted her head slightly. "Ah, that's right, it seems to be to avoid being exposed to light."

"Light... 'Apostle Cross' is a powerful spirit weapon, perhaps to prevent accidental activation, meow..."

Tsuchimikado fell into a brief silence.

Perhaps because of difficulty breathing, intermittent, shallow breathing could be heard.

This silence indicates that she is thinking.

The silence created by forcing herself not to make a sound only aggravated Kiyoshin's nerves. Sweat beaded on her cheeks, causing her to frown, and Kiyoshin pondered along with Tsuchimikado. The storage room, with its specific rules, two doors, and a windowless room. Preventing light from entering, indicating that the light is…

"Will that 'Apostolic Cross' have problems if it's exposed to sunlight?"

"...It shouldn't be like that, meow...If it were, then the location and time wouldn't matter, right? Even now...there's sunshine. If the 'Apostolic Cross' would activate just like that...they would have done it already. If it's something that easy to use, they could just force their way into the city...and use the 'Apostolic Cross' before being arrested...wouldn't that be enough? It's like a game of kicking a can, meow...But if the activation of the spirit dress...is related to light, I think it's very possible...About two thousand years ago, before the Church of Christ split into the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church, there were quite a few spells that used light. The baptismal hall also had...three windows, and the three kinds of light shining in from there represented...the Trinity, meow."

"So, what is the light that is related to the key to activation...?"

Jōjin voiced the question that had crossed her mind, but Tsuchimikado didn't answer. She probably didn't know either.

"I said, Jing Shen... is this all the information you have...?"

"And that's all……"

Fang Cun was having a headache listening to their phone call, and she was also racking her brains to remember. She had seen the anime, but because it was so long ago, she couldn't even remember the general plot. She could only recall fragmented scenes, which were not enough to piece together the information.

She remembered that the cult leader fought the boss on the rooftop in the end? A gender-swapped version.

Jing Shen held the phone to her ear, pondering carefully. The topic of magic that Tyr had mentioned was outside her field of expertise, and before she could even comprehend it, the next sentence had already slipped out, resulting in many things not remaining in her memory. Even so, she still tried to forcefully recall what she could remember.

"Ah!...I've got it."

"What?"

“Tyr said it was too much trouble to explain, so she sent Osora’s email report directly to my phone.”

"...What about the content?"

The popularity of Tsuchimikado's voice has decreased.

"Sorry, it's all in a foreign language that I can't understand. I'll send it to you now, will you be able to understand it?"

"You didn't send it over first... I didn't know, meow. What foreign language are you talking about? Isn't it English...?"

After Tsuchimikado gave her the address of her new mobile email address, Jōgami hung up the phone. Then she opened her email and forwarded the report that Tyr had sent her to Tsuchimikado.

Two minutes later, Jing Shen's phone received another call.

"Purify, anyway... I just read the report. It's... in Italian, and the grimoire isn't... coded."

"...And what about the key content?"

"This seems to be... a compilation of records from... a notebook in the British Library, something quite ordinary. The Apostles' Cross vault... holds... a thorough cleaning twice a year. This record seems to be... an article written by... other supervisory officers who entered during the thorough cleaning."

The email contained several rules for the spring cleaning.

The first requirement is that cleaning must be done within a certain number of days.

The second requirement is that the deep cleaning must be completed during the daytime on a specific date.

"As expected... it's not any big deal, meow."

"Wait a minute. Tsuchimikado, read the letter again."

Jing Shen held the phone to his ear for a while before finally saying a word.

"Daytime? Isn't it nighttime? That's strange, they clearly used two doors to prevent light from getting in. Isn't it brighter during the day?"

"It seems...it's not just like that."

Tsuchimikado said that the report also included this information.

In reality, such regulations are quite ambiguous. According to the inspector's article, even if the custodian forgets to clean during the day, she will not do it at night. She will say, "Do tomorrow's work during the day," and then simply go home.

"This report from the Inspectorate seems to just... say that the custodian's attitude wasn't very good, meow. And, during duty hours... it seems quite a few people... are still playing with astrology charts. Damn it, as expected... it's not any useful information. This... is mostly just the inspectors complaining."

Jing Shen felt that there was something suspicious about this report.

"...The Apostolic Cross is a rather important artifact in the Roman Catholic Church, isn't it?"

“Yes, meow... That’s why, for these people, it should be a sacred object that makes them want to cry... or even kneel down.”

"Normally, such a casual person wouldn't be allowed to manage things."

"Hmm. I also think those guys... wouldn't handle things so casually. The custodian of 'Apostolic Cross' seems to be... an elite group from various departments... The inspector's records, because she was just someone far from the scene... could only... write such records. What's going on?"

"..."

"During the 'Book of Law' incident... although the deciphering failed, Orsola Aquinas's intelligence analysis ability... was so high that even the entire Roman Catholic Church... felt a sense of crisis. Tyr thought it wasn't a big deal, but since Orsola... chose to include this in her report, it means... there's something fishy going on..."

"Looks like yes."

Jingshin responded to Tsuchimikado's voice, carefully recalling what had happened so far.

The storage room has had its windows removed, and two doors have been installed at the entrance to completely prevent light from entering.

Chapter 355 The Power of the Constellations

Chapter 355

Despite this, the major cleaning, which involves frequent personnel coming and going, is scheduled to be done during the day, not at night.

The report also stated that the custodian who forgot to clean during the day did not clean at night, but instead said they would do it the next day and went home.

In other words, the key point is—

"Tsuchimikado. Regarding the light emitted by the 'Apostle Cross,' is it a light that appears only at night, not during the day? Because judging from the custodian's actions, even if rule one is abandoned to finish the work within a 'certain date,' rule two, 'finishing the work during the day, not at night,' must take priority, right?"

If one of the two rules is removed, the other must take precedence. There must be a reason why the other should take precedence.

"Hmm... that makes sense... meow."

Tsuchimikado mumbled:

"But what was that light that night? Could it have been... moonlight? For example, a full moon... If it can be activated at a specific lunar age... If that's the case, the lunar cycle and the month and day on the calendar... don't match. Even if we decide on the date first, because the lunar age will shift, we can't decide on a 'safe date'."

Tsuchimikado's opinion is that if it's not a "moonlight" unrelated to age, then there's no need to strictly regulate the date of the spring cleaning. For example, on Easter or Christmas, it can be done on any suitable day.

She asserted that since the date was chosen, there must be religious implications involved, and that this occasion is closely related to the conditions for the use or outbreak of the Apostolic Cross.

"...The light of the night...is that it?"

Jing Shen held his phone in one hand, lost in thought.

(It's not that Oriana and his group didn't intend to use the "Apostolic Cross," but rather that they couldn't.)

Jing Shen mentally organized the information he had gathered so far.

(Using the "Apostle's Cross" requires a certain kind of light.)

She carefully considered the facts she had witnessed firsthand, the information from the British Library relayed by Tyre, and Tsuchimikado's various hypotheses.

(That wasn't daylight, but nighttime light.)

Jing Shen looked at the building's walls, which were covered with electronic bulletin boards formed by light.

(No, that's not right. Since it's something that existed thousands of years ago, it shouldn't be a light bulb or a light-emitting diode; those are things that are different from this kind of night scene.)

Her eyes left the electronic bulletin board.

(Light that exists in nature)

Holding her phone in one hand, she became even more lost in thought.

(And it's light that's linked to the calendar...)

Jing Shen Tao Mo suddenly realized something and looked up at the sky above Academy City.

"What did you think of?"

Under the protagonist's halo, the cult leader was always able to discover the key things. Seeing that she had a clue, Fang Cun quickly asked.

"Tsuchimikado, who just read Osora's report, mentioned something like this..."

The custodians of the Apostolic Cross are quite lax; many people use the astrological chart while working. But is astrology truly an essential part of one's job?

"Could it be—the constellation?"

"This...is very likely, meow..."

Tsuchimikado seemed to nod, and after a slight silence, he said:

“Using spiritual garments that utilize constellations is not unusual… Astrology is the most basic of all, and the summoning of angels must also be in conjunction with the constellations of the season.”

Tsuchimikado added: While the lunar calendar changes in monthly units, the zodiac signs change in yearly units. For example, if the "spring zodiac sign" is key to the outbreak of the "Apostolic Cross," then a thorough cleaning must be done during the "autumn zodiac sign" season, so that the "safe date" can be easily marked on the calendar.

"So, the custodians... weren't just rude... they might be... using the astrolabe to gather... information needed for their work, meow..."

Tsuchimikado seems to agree with this, but things are still unclear.

Therefore, Jing Shen frankly asked:

"Activating the 'Apostolic Cross' requires the power of constellations. But what does it feel like to use constellations specifically?"

"Basically, it's about... utilizing the twelve zodiac signs, the twenty-eight northern signs, and the forty-eight southern signs, combined... the magic of one of the eighty-eight constellations. In other words... in this context, Aries and Scorpio on the zodiac don't actually have any power... the stars that form the constellations, although they look like they're lined up... are actually quite far apart, right? To encompass them all... is quite difficult."

"...Is that really the case?"

Although she wasn't familiar with constellations and astrology, she knew they were beliefs that had been held for thousands of years. Did they even have methods for measuring distances between stars back then? Frankly, could anyone back then have a proper understanding of the universe's structure?

After Jing Shen raised her question,

"That's why we need to use that, the Cleansing Spirit."

"What?"

"The ancient universe... no, let's just call it the sky... everyone believed... this sky... was something that surrounded the earth, shaped like a large bowl. Hmm, like a celestial sphere... meow?"

Tsuchimikado continued, "...Constellation magic uses celestial charts like this... It has nothing to do with the power or distance of actual stars. It's about directly... incorporating the regular patterns... that appear in the night sky... on this screen... into a magic circle... The patterns themselves are simple, but they represent... a massive amount of power. And the patterns themselves aren't complicated, so they can be applied to various spells... But there probably aren't many arrays as useful as this, meow."

Tsuchimikado explained that the magic circle covering the entire night sky used by the archangel when he cast his "divine power" at the seaside inn was an extension and development of constellation magic, "preparing a starry sky favorable to the caster." Shirogane couldn't definitively determine the scale of constellation magic within the overall magical realm. However, simply knowing that this technique shared some similarities with the one used by that angel was a tremendous shock to her.

Of course, she had no idea that the bald man next to her could completely crush the angel with a single blow; otherwise, her worldview would have to be re-examined.

"So, that guy Oriana..."

"The structure for activating the 'Apostle Cross' might be... like this. Because it's necessary to concentrate the light from the night sky... onto the ground... that cross is probably a parabolic antenna for this purpose... receiving starlight from the night sky and then making the connection needed to activate the spell. The reason Oriana is walking around on the street now... is probably because he's looking for... the most suitable place to erect the antenna, meow."

Chapter 356 The Fourth Person

Chapter 356

Tsuchimikado says that, of course, not all magic that uses stars applies to this principle. For example, the Toraviskabontik Utori Spear that the Aztec magician cast, which Jōjin saw on the last day of summer vacation, utilizes the light of Venus and has nothing to do with day or night; it only focuses on the "actual position of Venus."

However, the "Apostle Cross" shouldn't be governed by the same laws, so Orion wouldn't need to look for an opportunity. If he could use the local light sources like sunlight, he could quickly activate the "Apostle Cross" and bring Academy City under his control.

Therefore, the "Apostolic Cross" is very likely a spirit item that utilizes the "appearance constellation" graphic.

Oriana was traveling around in search of magical locations where she could utilize the power of the Observational Constellation. However, what was her reason for wandering the streets? Could it be that none of the locations she had scouted were suitable for activating the "Apostle Cross," or was she selecting the most suitable spot?

“...However, Oriana does indeed intend to...use the power of the constellations...to use the 'Apostle Cross'...this is very likely…”