While Misaka Mikoto was wondering how to explain it to Shirai Kuroko and the others, the magician Stiyl also set foot on the land of Academy City again.
"It's so fast..." The tall and thin magician was still dressed in his own way. After getting off the plane, he stomped his feet vigorously, trying to get rid of the discomfort caused by the high-speed flight as soon as possible.
It was different from the visit not long ago - when Steele and his partner Kanzaki Kaori entered quietly in a semi-official and semi-submarine manner. But this time he came on behalf of the "Necessary Evil Church" of the Puritan Church No. 0 in the UK, so he entered the country openly, and the standard and treatment were much better.
As soon as he got off the plane, Steele found himself vaguely surrounded by a group of men in black.
But Stiles immediately realized that these men in black didn't intend to attack him.
They are actually bodyguards.
Because Steele himself has played similar roles more than once, it is clear what a professional and competent bodyguard stands for.
"But, in turn, this can also be understood as a disguised form of house arrest?" Stiyl muttered with a cigarette in his mouth.
The flame at the end of the cigarette flickered on and off, and the magic power in the magician's body was about to move.
Although he came here for "friendly negotiations", Stiyl would never put his own safety on the goodwill of the "enemy".
That's right, this is the "hostile" sphere of influence. It's just that the "hostility" here doesn't mean that the British Puritans are at war with Academy City. Rather, it is a conflict of opposites based on ideas and principles.
The science camp and the magic camp respectively integrate the two different worlds of "superpower" and "unreality".
The two are incompatible or even incompatible from the physical level to the core concept.
Both sides are always thinking about subverting the other's "world" and promoting and expanding their own "world". Then rule the entire real world!
Based on this status quo, it is more appropriate to say that they are "hostile" to each other.
The magic camp is currently dominated by "Christianity", and British Puritanism is one of the three major schools of Christianity.
And Academy City is the base camp of the science camp.
Stiyl, a magician belonging to the Puritan Church of England, stepped into this city alone. In a sense, it can indeed be called "deep into the enemy's camp".
As a qualified magician, Stiyl is always "selfish". One's own ideas and life are always the most important, and then the tasks assigned by the superior.
"Guests from the UK, please come with me." A female office worker in her twenties came over and asked him to get in the car.
No one in the car spoke, and the receptionist seemed to have no intention of letting the guests take a good rest, and drove directly to the destination—the "windowless building" in the seventh school district.
It is the residence of Aleister, the ruler of Academy City and the chairman of the board.
This time Steele came here on behalf of Laura Stewart, the Supreme Bishop of the "Church of Necessary Evil" and the de facto leader of the Puritan Church in England. Of course, the other party to meet must have the same status.
Stiyl is about to meet a figure who seems mysterious even to magicians.
As the distance from that weird building got closer, the inexplicable pressure in Stiyl's heart quickly accumulated.
There were very few pedestrians near the building, and it seemed to be a restricted area. When Steele got off the car, he didn't see anyone else at all.
After letting him go, the others left quickly, as if they had never been there.
"What's next? How do I get in..." Stiyl looked up at the tall and smooth building, a little speechless.
"I'll take you in." A female voice suddenly came from the end of the street next to it.
"Student?" Stiyl frowned. He had a lot more experience in daily life than many magicians, so he could tell at a glance that the girl in front of him was still a student.
Although this is an Academy City where students are the main residents, Stiyl still subconsciously excludes ordinary students from his world.
"I am the 'leader'." The red-haired girl said indifferently, "Only I can lead you in."
Saying that, she moved closer to Stiyl.
The magician subconsciously took half a step back to distance himself.
"Don't resist, don't be nervous." The red-haired girl glanced at him, "Cooperate well, and you will be fine."
Steele frowned, but quickly forced himself to calm down.
"Being infected by the atmosphere, I'm a little too nervous." Stiles reflected, "No matter what, you can't show your timid side."
It's not about face, it's about survival.
A male lion does not keep company with sheep. For a ferocious predator, if he cannot be his ally, he can only become his prey.
Aleister was undoubtedly a predator among predators, and Stiyl was absolutely unwilling to be a prey.
Just as he was clearing up his mood, Stiyl only felt a blur in front of his eyes, and a sudden silence in his ears.
When he looked up again, Stiyl found that he had already arrived at a wide indoor space.
Before he could react, the "leader" girl beside him took a step back, bowed slightly to the front, and then disappeared in place.
Therefore, in the huge space, only Stiyl was left.
No, besides the visitor Stiyl, there is another being in the room.
The owner of this room, this building, even this city.
To be honest, this space is too wide to be called a "room", and there is no lighting equipment at all.
However, the countless screens and buttons on the surrounding walls emit light like stars, still illuminating the entire space.
There are countless facilities, and tens of thousands of cables and pipes extend like blood vessels on the ground, and all of them are finally concentrated in the center of this room.
— there's a huge test tube in there.
Four meters in diameter, UU Reading www. uukanshu.com is more than ten meters high, a cylindrical container made of strengthened glass, filled with a red transparent liquid.
Then, inside this test tube, there was a human being in a green surgical suit, suspended head to toe in the liquid.
"Human" - this is Stiyl's first impression of Aleister.
Other than that, he couldn't find any other more suitable words to describe the existence in front of him.
This "human" with silver hair looks like a woman and a man, an adult and a child, a saint and a prisoner.
He is the aggregate of the common denominators of all human beings.
Therefore, only the word "human" can describe it.
But from the bottom of his heart, Steele was unwilling to admit that the other party was the same creature as himself.
A huge sense of disobedience and a sense of surprise filled Stiyl's mind, making him forget how to react for a moment, and just stared blankly at the strange scene in front of him.