"----"
The clamor gradually faded away.
This was a small alley that stood in complete contrast to the lively atmosphere of the Daihaousei Festival, so silent it was terrifying.
Fang Li and Kanzaki entered it, leaving the crowd behind.
Fang Li raised his head and looked ahead.
There, Kanzaki held a long sword even taller than herself, meeting Fang Li's gaze as she watched him.
For a moment, Fang Li's eyes lingered on the long blade in Kanzaki's hand.
That kind of blade was called a Commanding Sword, a traditional ceremonial implement once used in religious rituals.
Yet Kanzaki wielded it as a weapon, facing Fang Li in a standoff.
Pressure began to fill the air.
It was something that could not possibly be absent.
Surely, anyone facing a magician named Kanzaki Kaori would feel at least some pressure.
That was because the young woman before him was one of fewer than twenty Saints in the entire world. She could wield a portion of the Divine Child's power, far surpassing ordinary magicians and even capable of fighting the angels recorded in the Bible.
No one would feel no pressure when facing such an existence.
Fang Li felt it too.
It was simply that Fang Li, who had long regarded danger as pebbles and death as dust, completely ignored that pressure.
"So, what does the Female Pope of the Amakusa-Style Church want with me?"
Fang Li broke the silence and asked this question.
"Don't tell me you still want to hunt down Index like before?"
The moment he spoke, Fang Li showed no mercy whatsoever.
In response, Kanzaki quietly lowered her eyes, making it impossible to see the flicker in them. Only after a while did she raise them again, her sternness restored.
"I am no longer the Female Pope of