Bonus: The Dishonorable Stigmata – Part ②

"…Hmm. I see."

Surveying the battlefield, Acqua nodded calmly once more. Though Frenda’s assault had severely depleted his remaining water reserves—and though he now stood against overwhelming numbers—

"Seven against one, is it? Indeed, I must admit the situation appears rather unfavorable."

Mugino Shizuri. Kinuhata Saiai. Frenda Seivelun. Hamazura Shiage. Kakine Teitoku. Yobou Banka. Gokusai Kaibi.
Each one ranked among the elite who lurked within Academy City’s “darkness.” Facing such opponents, Acqua quietly acknowledged the reality before him.

But acknowledgment was not the same as surrender.

For the simple reason that—

The Right Seat of God was not a fragile existence that could be cornered by something of this level.

"Then, I suppose it’s only fair that I start fighting seriously as well."

The ice Acqua had been manipulating compressed into a ring above his head—and in the very next instant—

DOBAAAHH!!!

A tremendous surge of water erupted from within the Celest Aquarium.
From its entranceways, its windows, and every opening to the outside, torrents of water exploded outward like thick gelatin forced through a narrow tube.
In moments, the flood converged around Acqua, shaping itself into three pairs of wings—sculpted entirely from pure water.

A halo above. Three pairs of wings spread wide behind him.

A seraph.

Seeing this, Kakine—who bore his own three pairs of white wings—grinned with a blend of mockery and amusement.

"…Well, would you look at that. Quite the fairy-tale look you’ve got going. Doesn’t really suit a musclehead like you."

"How rude. Let’s call it ‘holy’ instead, shall we?"

The element of water—Gabriel, the Power of God.

And now, the apostle imbued with the might of the seraph who governs the rear—unleashed his wrath upon the world.

---

Final Chapter – I Don’t Know Anything About Predetermined Harmony  -  Theory_"was"_Broken.
Bonus: The Dishonorable Stigma >>>>> Celest Aquarium All-Out Battle (Part 2)

---

"WHOAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!?!?"

Hamazura went flying several meters into the air.
His fourth flight today was caught—again—by Kakine’s wings.

"Sorry… sorry about that…"

"Don’t worry about it. Though seriously, how the hell are you still alive looking like that?"

"Hamazura!! Don’t you dare get saved by SCHOOL on your own!!"

"Eeek! That’s so unfair!!"

Once again, the battlefield had descended into utter chaos.

For a brief moment, their side had gained the upper hand thanks to SCHOOL’s interference.
However, the instant they damaged the Celest Aquarium’s structure, the released water had become Acqua’s weapon.
As a result, the enemy’s combat power had skyrocketed.
Even now, water continued to gush from the Aquarium, showing no signs of stopping—and neither did Acqua’s power.

"Damn it, just how much water can that guy control!? At this point, he’s way beyond a Level 5 esper, isn’t he!?"

"In a real battlefield, a spec sheet is merely a point of reference."

Speaking calmly, Acqua reshaped his vast wings of water into spears, axes, and countless other weapons—steadily pushing back the entire front line.

"The range is a radius of five kilometers. The total mass—ten thousand tons. That is the maximum volume of water I can command if I so choose. Of course, by enhancing my control through magic formulae, I could wield even more. Do you understand what that means?"

Creeeeeak… crack crack crack.

The water groaned as it warped and solidified into a massive greatsword of ice.

"You are not fighting a mere esper. You are standing against ten thousand tons of water itself—against nature."

"‘Nature,’ huh!? Don’t give me that smug crap, you damn gorilla!!"

VROOOOM!!
A vortex of electronic light roared to life, forming a colossal arm that lunged to crush the five-meter ice blade in Acqua’s grasp.

But—

CLANG!!
A deep metallic note rang out as Meltdowner’s arm was deflected by the frozen blade.

"Wha—!?"

"That light of yours—distorted as it is—still falls under the domain of lightning. In that case, a corresponding ritual formula is all that’s required to neutralize it."

In Christianity, lightning is sometimes regarded as the wrath of God.
Meltdowner’s ability fired electrons in an indeterminate state—neither wave nor particle—but at its core, it shared its nature with the Electromasters: manipulators of electricity.
Therefore, when combined with Acqua’s Blessing of the Virgin Mary, it could interfere with the so-called Wrath of God—even to the point of deflecting it outright, in defiance of physical law.

After all, no matter how extraordinary esper powers might seem, those from Academy City still obey the principles of physics.
That meant that, in theory, applying a magical interpretation to an esper’s phenomenon could allow one to interfere with it.

—Of course, that was only in theory. In reality, attempting such interference mid-battle, where a single mistake meant death, was not something just anyone could accomplish.

"Tch! Don’t drag my ability into your damn occult nonsense!!"

Mugino shouted as her Meltdowner arm exploded outward, striking the ground beneath Acqua’s feet in a violent blast—but even that detonation was instantly smothered.
The watery wings swept in, cooling and extinguishing it in an instant.

While Mugino’s attacks stalled, Kakine moved to take her place.
His white wings beat once as he spoke.

"Then how about this?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Dark Matter unleashed a fierce gale.
As the clear wind brushed against Acqua’s watery wings—

BOOOM!!
The water swelled and distorted, bubbling unnaturally.

"No matter how you control it, water’s still just water. It’s a liquid born from hydrogen and oxygen bonding. Twisting that law is nothing to me."

"…That ability of yours. So there really are espers in this city who’ve stepped into the realm of magic."

However—

GRIND!!
A harsh, gear-like screech echoed through the air as the rampaging water abruptly froze in place.

"What the…?"

"I don’t know which mythology you draw from, but the struggle to seize control of a ritual setup is a common tactic in magical warfare. If the law has been rewritten, then we simply overwrite it on our end. A natural conclusion, wouldn’t you agree?"

WHIRRR!!
The foaming, clouded water reversed its motion—its clarity restored.
Then, like a counterattack, the current surged upward, slamming into Kakine from below.

"Second Rank!!" Hamazura shouted.

"Don’t waste your time worrying about me…! I’m fine!!"

Kakine had dispersed the impact using Dark Matter as a buffer, but his expression was grim. Inside his body, he could hear the grinding of his own bones.

(Dammit…! I’m firing off power from both the visible and invisible sides, and yet he’s still pushing me back? How the hell does that even make sense!?)

He couldn’t have known—Acqua possessed the traits of a Dual Saint, capable of invoking two saintly natures simultaneously.
Kakine, fighting with the strength of a single human, was fundamentally outmatched in raw energy.
It was inevitable he’d be forced onto the defensive.

"…You’ve got some nerve. But don’t think SCHOOL’s going down that easy!"

It happened in that instant.

Without warning—CRACK!—a fracture split across the halo hovering above Acqua’s head.
The mark resembled something precise, almost like… a bullet hole.

"Ah, right. I forgot to correct that earlier—it’s not seven-on-one. It’s eight-on-one. We’re a four-man team, after all."

BOOOOM!!
Seizing that brief opening, the three pairs of Dark Matter wings—half of the right side—lashed out at once.
The resulting gale alone could have pulped a human being.

Even Hamazura and Frenda, who dove for cover, would have been hurled hundreds of feet into the air had they reacted a second later.
Acqua’s body smashed through several of the Celest Aquarium’s structures, skidding dozens of meters before finally coming to a stop.

"…Still alive, huh? Even after taking that full-force hit and not turning into mist—what the hell’s your body made of?"

Even so, it was the first real blow they’d managed to land.
A faint light returned to Kakine’s expression.

And the one who had made it possible had been waiting quietly at the rear of the battlefield.

"Well then. Welcome back—Yumiya."

Ryoko Yumiya.

The girl who had once been protected by Reicia during a previous incident—supposedly returned to the "surface" world.

"Hehe... I already heard about it from Miss Misaki."

Ryoko Yumiya’s return to the battlefield was largely the result of Misaki Shokuhou’s involvement.

Originally, Kakine had agreed to cooperate with Misaki’s goal of dissolving the Dark Side—a promise made after his clash with Touma Kamijou and his assistance in saving Yuzuriha Ringo.
But this also meant Kakine had effectively aligned himself with a faction separate from the "Darkness."

From Misaki’s perspective, there was no longer any need to forcibly extract Ryoko from "SCHOOL."
In fact, Ryoko’s talents—long-range precision sniping and flawless stealth without relying on esper powers—were essential to stabilizing the group, which already had flashy frontliners like Kakine Teitoku and Yobou Banka.

Thus, Misaki had been quietly pulling strings to reinstate Ryoko into "SCHOOL"—or so the story went.

"Besides, I guess I still haven’t completely shaken off my hiatus. I was aiming for the crown of his head, but my shot was a little off."

"Nah, that worked out fine in the end. Besides, I wasn’t even sure that bastard would get a hole in him from a bullet."

"...Tch. This is all that young lady’s fault. First ‘Item,’ and now it looks like we’re all going to be playing nice over here too."

"My, my? Yobou, you’re actually really happy deep down that I’m back, aren’t you?"

"Why are you only ever this aggressive with me!?!?"

He was, quite simply, being looked down upon.

"Save the flirting for later, ‘SCHOOL.’ The water around us hasn’t disappeared yet. Which means this isn’t over—and that bastard’s still alive."

Mugino stood beside Kakine as she spoke.
Indeed, the massive volume of water drifting across the battlefield was still slowly flowing back toward Acqua, who had been blasted deep into the Celest Aquarium.
The battle was far from finished.

Just then—

『--Mugino! We’re requesting artillery fire!』

A transmission from Shiren came through—specifically requesting Mugino by name.

The sudden message made everyone pause, but Mugino was the first to respond, baring her fangs.

"...Hah!? You’ve got to be kidding me! I don’t have time for this!! Handle it yourselves…!"

『Oh my? Don’t tell me that even with the help of the Number Two, you’re in such a tight spot you can’t spare a moment for a simple request from little old me...?』

"W-w-w-wait, Shiren! Don’t provoke Mugino like that now of all times…!"

"Ugh… I see how it is. Inevitably, one of us—me or Frenda—is gonna get hit unfairly once she vents that frustration…"

The effect was immediate.

A vein bulged on Mugino’s temple—thick enough to pinch.

"...Fine. I’ve had Takitsubo memorize your AIM diffusion field. So I just need to blast that stupid head of yours off, right?"

『If you could shift it two meters to the right, that would be most helpful.』

With that calm remark, Shiren promptly cut the line.

A roar followed.

"TAAAKIIITSUBOOOO!!!! COORDINAAAATES!!!!"

『...163 meters at one o’clock. Adjust downward by five meters. Also, Mugino—my ears hurt. Physically.』

In reply, a blinding beam of destructive light lanced across the battlefield.

KABOOOOM!!
The Meltdowner ray tore through the asphalt. Praying it wouldn’t catch anyone near Shiren, Hamazura and Frenda hurried into the Celest Aquarium.

After all, combat engineers like Hamazura and Frenda truly shined when infiltrating the battlefield to set their traps.
And with Acqua temporarily withdrawn, this was their best chance to work from the shadows.

"Still, what are we even supposed to do? We got lucky earlier thanks to SCHOOL’s sniper, but they’re pros too—they won’t fall for the same trick twice. I’ve been planting liquid explosives like crazy, but against that Gemstone, they just turn into water and won’t detonate…"

"Don’t ask me, proper member of Item. I’m just a failed Skill-Out dropout, remember?"

Scratching his head, Hamazura trailed off mid-step.

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah… all that water. It’s true he’s using a huge amount from inside the Celest Aquarium. But if he can do that, why didn’t he just bring his own from the start? If he had, then SCHOOL’s sniper—Ryoko, right?—wouldn’t have even gotten involved. Hell, before our groups even teamed up, Item would’ve been finished… Actually, it probably would’ve ended back when we were fighting alongside that green guy."

"…………"

Frenda nodded slowly.
It was indeed strange. There was no rule saying he had to prepare everything mid-battle. Normally, you’d complete all preparations beforehand in safety, then face the enemy at full strength. Acqua hadn’t. That inconsistency was too deliberate to ignore.

"That bastard said it earlier, didn’t he? That he could control water within a radius of several kilometers. If he meant that literally, it’d be weird for him not to have done so from the start. The fact that he didn’t means…"

"…………There must be some kind of condition for manipulating large quantities of water."

Frenda murmured with conviction.

"For example, maybe he can’t control water that’s sealed inside a container. That would explain why he had to destroy the Celest Aquarium first—to break open the tanks and access the water. In other words, to command what was locked inside, he first had to release it."

Still, since the Aquarium was already in ruins, that limitation didn’t help them much now.

"...Hmm, but I can’t figure out anything beyond that. Also, for us, ‘creating water’ and ‘controlling water’ are two different skills."

That might be the difference between the science side and the magic side.

The very definition of “one ability” differed completely. On the science side, combining hydrogen and oxygen and manipulating moisture were separate phenomena. But on the magic side, the two could coexist. Without even understanding the mechanism, they had no way to exploit its weakness.

That left them with very few clues.

"...Then there’s that whole angel look. Clearly not something he chose for fashion."

"Ah, that. The Number Two had it too, right? Maybe it’s not something they can control themselves?"

"Yeah, neither of them seems like the type to pick that style willingly. Maybe it’s some kind of… occult-like restriction or something?"

Hamazura said it half-jokingly, but Frenda suddenly froze.

"…Hey, what’s wrong, Frenda? Wait—don’t tell me the Number Two heard us!? No, that’s not it! I wasn’t thinking it looks totally unfitting and un–fairy-tale-like or anything!! I always thought it was a very solemn, mystical ability!!"

"……………………That’s it."

While the idiot beside her panicked on his own, Frenda spoke with the seriousness of someone who’d just uncovered a hidden truth of the world.

"Well done, Hamazura!! That’s it—an occult-like restriction! I hadn’t even considered that!!"

Frenda grabbed her partner’s shoulders, eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Think about it. Even the order of his actions had meaning! Right before Acqua started manipulating external water—when he was still only controlling the water he’d created himself—what was the last thing he did?"

"Uh… right. He compressed the water around him like crazy and made a halo out of it—oh!"

"Exactly! If we’re talking about the most important part of an angel, there’s a lot to choose from—but the halo’s right by the head. Doesn’t that sound like some kind of control unit?"

"Now that you mention it… when Yumiya shot his halo earlier, there was that split-second opening. I thought he just flinched from the sniper shot, but…"

"Maybe not. Maybe damaging the control unit caused interference—like static—disrupting his control over the water."

"So in other words… if we smash that thing to bits—!"

"—Then maybe we can bring down this ridiculous fairy tale once and for all."

Even so, neither of them looked confident.
Their smiles were tight and trembling, sweat sliding down their cheeks.

And it made sense. Their opponent was a monster—someone who could stand toe-to-toe with a dark-side organization that included two Level 5 espers. What they’d just discovered wasn’t exactly a shortcut to victory… more like a one-way ticket straight to hell.

Even so—

The two Level 0s exchanged fearless grins.

"Then let’s go, hero. Ready to get canonized?"

"As if. We villains prefer disgrace in life over honor after death."

---

A ring of ice floated above Acqua’s head.

Even though the plan to destroy it was in motion, that didn’t mean the situation had improved.

The water of the Celest Aquarium still served as Acqua’s power source, and his injuries were far from serious.

“Get blown away!!”

BOOM!!
In the distance, Mugino unleashed her Meltdowner—the Atomic Collapse.

As before, Acqua twisted the attack’s trajectory with ease.
But this time, the battlefield itself worked against him—they were indoors.

“Gh… quite the troublesome tactics you use…!”

The warped beam slammed into the facility, setting off a chain of explosions. Even the superheated air carried enough force to roast a person alive. Acqua wasn’t immune to that either; each time, he had to block the blast and rapidly cool the air around him.

Still—

(…This stalemate won’t last forever. Once enough of the Celest Aquarium’s structure is destroyed and the space opens up, the shockwaves and heat will weaken. When that happens, he’ll go on the offensive again. And when he does, we’re in real trouble…)

They had to act before that happened. But Acqua wasn’t the kind of opponent you could strategize against on the fly.
Mugino’s mind was already running hot, barely keeping up with the pace of combat. Maybe someone like the Number One could analyze a battlefield mid-fight at supersonic speed, but she wasn’t him.

She needed an opening—just one second of breathing room.

Then a voice came through her communicator. Mugino listened, and a sharp grin spread across her face.

“…I see. I’m in.”

“Alright, angel bastard—our ‘procedure’ is ready!”

CRACKLE!!
From Mugino’s shoulder burst a massive electronic arm. She swung it like a baseball pitcher winding up, the arm detonating everything it brushed against as it hurled toward Acqua—but he twisted it aside effortlessly.

“…A diversion.”

Acqua saw through it immediately.

He wasn’t fooled by Mugino’s blinding lightshow. Even the surprise strike from behind—from Kakine—was intercepted cleanly by Acqua’s wings of water.

Seeing that, Mugino’s smile only deepened.

“That’s what you think.”

CRASH!!!

The ceiling above Acqua collapsed.

They were inside the Celest Aquarium—meaning there was always a ceiling overhead. So when Mugino swung her Meltdowner arm upward, like a pitcher throwing high, of course the ceiling would be destroyed.

And if that destruction was intentional—then the falling debris would come crashing straight down on top of Acqua.

“────!!!”

Above him.

Right where the angel’s halo floated.

Acqua smashed through the descending rubble with his bare fists rather than his wings. And within the swirling dust of pulverized stone—he saw it.

“I see… so that’s what you planned…!!”

They were there—bombs disguised as stuffed toys.

A split second later, multiple explosions erupted in succession around Acqua.

“Ha! Nailed him!! After taking blasts like that, there’s no way that bastard could—”

“No! He dodged it! He slipped out an instant before it hit! Look up!!”

Kakine’s sharp voice snapped Hamazura’s fleeting relief in two.

Just as he said, Acqua had escaped upward—into the space created when Mugino blew apart the ceiling.

And then, in one fluid motion, he unfurled his wings of water again.

“Hah-hah! We’ve been waiting for this! You’re not the only ones who can call in artillery support!!”

Frenda raised her communicator with a confident grin.

From the device came a calm, chilling voice:

“────This causality shall be reversed.”

It was a voice from elsewhere.

Shiren Blackguard’s voice.

Result Twister—the mysterious power that caused any hostile intent it heard to fail.

But that raised a question.

If the sound from that right hand was transmitted through airwaves, wires, or even mechanical vibrations—what would happen then?

The answer: no one knew.

Even through a communicator, that voice was still the product of vibrations carried through circuits and membranes. And if Result Twister could activate while covered in water, there was no proof that mediated sound wouldn’t work too.

For just a split second, Acqua’s movement faltered.

Not only because of the uncertainty—but because both Level 5s on the field instinctively stopped their attacks, wary of being caught in whatever might happen next. That instant of hesitation made Acqua pause as well.

And in that moment, someone slipped through the gap.

“──Ha det bra, then.”

At some point, Yumiya had appeared behind Frenda, whispering the words softly.

“Wha—when did you—”

Before Acqua could react to the ambusher’s appearance, there came a sharp psshh of released gas—followed by a single deadly bullet slamming into the icy halo above his head.

CRACK!!!
The ring of ice shattered completely, leaving no trace behind.

“Damn—”

Acqua never finished his sentence.

Because before the final word could leave his lips, the wings of water on his back reverted to their true form.

WHOOOOOOOOOSH!!!

A torrent burst forth with the force of Niagara Falls, blasting Acqua away to who-knows-where. But that wasn’t the real problem.

Frenda, Hamazura, and Yumiya were all powerless Level 0s. Naturally, none of them could withstand that raging flood.

“Tch! Hey, Yumiya—this way!”

“Hamazura-san! Thank you, you saved me!”

Correction:
Unlike a heroine conveniently rescued by a high-Level esper, these two idiots—unpopular and powerless—had no such luck.

““Aaaahhhh! Shiren, use that causality-reversing thing! Do it noooowwww!!!””

『Uh… yeah, about that… it doesn’t even activate through a call in the first place… You two sounded so confident when you were bluffing, though…』

““Aaaahhhh right, that’s trueeeeee!!!””

Pure, unfiltered stupidity—getting exactly what it deserved.

“You two really are unbelievable idiots.”

And then—

A small figure appeared, hauling both of them up by their collars.
One idiot over her right shoulder, another over her left.

The girl carrying them was—

“Kanzaki!?”

“Honestly. The enemy was too monstrous, so I decided to stay hidden and take the assassin’s route… but then everything got resolved without me. So now I’m stuck doing cleanup duty.”

WHOOSH!!
Air exploded under Kinuhata’s feet, propelling the three of them to the upper floor, out of the torrent’s reach.

Safe again, Frenda and Hamazura collapsed onto the floor, savoring the simple joy of being alive.

At any rate—even for Frenda’s group, that had been close.

As for Acqua, who had taken the attack head-on… he was probably still alive, but between that countered Tera ritual strike and Kakine’s full-powered Dark Matter blast, he had to be down for the count. Even if not, the flood had swept him several kilometers away by now.

Either way, he was effectively out of the fight.

Things had finally settled down.

Determining that, Frenda spoke into the still-open line.

“Hello? Shiren? Acqua’s been blown sky-high on our end. Looks like it’s over here—but what about you guys?”

“Ah—well…”

Shiren’s reply came back in a hesitant tone.

“Things have… changed a little on our side. To, um, put it simply—defeating Acqua might actually be… quite a problem.”