Divine Right of Various Anime and Manga

"The Book of the Law, Chapter III, verse 72: I am the Master of the Powerful Twin Staves; this staff is the force of COPH.NIA, but my left hand is empty, for my right hand has shattered the universe, leaving nothing behind!"

"..."

"The Book of the Law, Chapter III, verse 74: In my concealed and honored name lies radiance, as the midnight sun is ever the son!"

"The Book of the Law, Chapter III, verse 75: The word that ends all is: ABRAHADABRA!"

"The Book of the Law is written, then hidden. AUM.HA, AUM.HA!"

When Roy's right hand, gripping the quill, finished writing the last letter of The Book of the Law, the book suddenly began to flutter without any wind, the rustling of pages echoing through the bedroom. Roy's eyes remained vacant; his heartbeat was strong, his breathing steady, but his brain had ceased to function, as if his 'spirit' had left his body, traversed the Material World, and journeyed to a 'phase' unknown to the world.

This was a phase where only 'spirit' existed, lacking any known matter. Neither the laws of physics nor the rules familiar to people applied here; it had its own set of laws.

Roy had come to this strange 'phase' for the first time. Unfamiliar with it, his body could not move for the time being—in fact, even something like a 'body' did not exist. All that remained was his ability to think.

Just as Roy was engaged in the only thing he could do—thinking—a voice abruptly sounded in this 'phase,' which should have contained nothing else but Roy.

The voice was neither male nor female, as if brimming with infinite possibilities. Its owner spoke with the wonder of discovering some novel creature: "...Interesting, interesting. How did you come to this 'phase'?"

"...Oh? Let me think. It must be through The Book of the Law. As I recall, that book should have fallen into the hands of the Roman Orthodox Church by now. Are you one of the personnel sent by the Roman Orthodox Church to decipher The Book of the Law?"

"It seems I underestimated the Roman Orthodox Church. To think someone could actually find the correct path of interpretation amidst endless errors."

The voice spoke to itself, its tone somewhat frivolous. Then, Roy 'saw' a human figure appear in this void-like phase. He had silver long hair reaching down to his back, wore a magnificent black coat resembling a military uniform, and had a long military cloak draped over his shoulders, adding a touch of solemnity to the man's elegance.

This was a man whose face and aura alone could make countless women fall for him.

Aleister Crowley—Roy recognized him the moment he 'saw' this man.

The father of this body, the father he had never met—'Beast of Revelation,' 'King of Beasts,' 'The Most Evil Man in the World'—all these were his titles.

Upon seeing Aleister Crowley, Roy's surprise suddenly turned into wild joy. He had been wondering how to find this man, yet unexpectedly, after completing The Book of the Law, he encountered him in this strange 'phase.'

Roy wanted to speak, but he couldn't utter a single word. The laws of this 'phase' were completely different from those of the Material World. Before he could adapt and understand its rules, even a simple act like 'speaking' was impossible.

At this moment, Roy didn't even have a body; he was merely a spirit, a thinking spirit.

But Aleister was different. He was clearly familiar with this 'phase' and had conducted in-depth research on it. Not only could he easily speak here, but he could even manifest his form.

"This is the phase of imaginary numbers. Meeting me here is truly your misfortune, unknown one... The Imagine Breaker was broken in the battle with Mathers. For the sake of my grand plan, it's not yet time for you to pass on information about my location to the magicians."

Aleister Crowley said this, and then, under Roy's stunned gaze, the greatest magician of the twentieth century slowly raised his right hand. He clenched his fist, extending his thumb and index finger, making a universally recognized gun-shooting gesture.

And the muzzle of that gesture was aimed directly at Roy!

Chapter 6: BEAST 666 and BEAST 777

That was Aleister's unique 'Sorcery Equipment'—Spirit Binding. It was a magic that forcibly projected the image of the caster's own meditation into the observer's mind.

Simply put, the caster made a certain gesture to guide the target. The target would instinctively associate the gesture with a weapon, its power, and its might. Then, this magic would turn that imagined reality into actuality, imposing it on the target.

It was a magic that made the victim kill themselves with their own imagination.

Aleister made a gun-shooting gesture at Roy, first making Roy think of a pistol—the weapon he knew best. But then, Roy saw sparks fly from Aleister's finger-gun hand, and three numbers appeared: '50, 21, 35.'

These mysterious numbers connected to Roy's brain, guiding his thoughts and imagination. In Roy's mind, that small pistol had transformed into an anti-materiel sniper rifle.

For Roy as he was now, an anti-materiel sniper rifle was enough to cut him in half and kill him outright.

As if that weren't enough, Aleister's empty left hand beckoned, and a silver-white staff, shaped like a spiral tower, appeared in his left palm.

The Staff of Impact—this Sorcery Equipment originally belonged to Aleister's teacher, Alan Bennett. After a certain incident, the deceased Alan Bennett had entrusted it to Aleister.

Neither the Staff of Impact nor Spirit Binding showed any exaggerated effects on their own, but when these two 'spells' were combined, they unleashed unimaginable power.

The Staff of Impact, as a supporting spell, amplified the imagined power of Spirit Binding tenfold. This was one of Aleister's trump cards, allowing him, a mere mortal, to contend with 'Magic Gods.'

The 'Magic Gods,' who could distort all rules, possessed knowledge beyond human imagination and thus had immeasurable imagination. Under Spirit Binding's guidance of imagination and the Staff of Impact's tenfold amplification, even a 'Magic God' would struggle to withstand it.

Roy hadn't expected Aleister to think so highly of him. Perhaps amazed that Roy had 'deciphered' the secrets of The Book of the Law, Aleister had used his ultimate technique from the very start, determined to finish him in one blow.

But Roy felt no honor or pride in this. In his perception, the power of that anti-materiel sniper rifle, amplified by the Staff of Impact, had nearly turned into an intercontinental ballistic missile.

An anti-materiel sniper rifle was already enough to kill Roy, let alone using such an exaggerated means as an intercontinental ballistic missile to kill an ordinary person.

The fear of death surged from the depths of Roy's Sea of Consciousness like a volcanic eruption, flooding his thoughts entirely. Boundless despair nearly drove him completely mad. The evil from the Avici Hell was about to drag him into that inescapable void world forever.

He would die. He would definitely die. Even a strong practitioner of the Mind's Eye could find no chance of survival in this desperate situation.

Roy was just an ordinary fifteen-year-old boy. He only knew some basic suggestion magic; he was completely ignorant of any stronger, systematic magic.

And his enemy was the greatest magician of the twentieth century, the founder of modern occultism, one who sought to destroy magic alone and dared to oppose the entire world—a being like a myth or legend: Aleister Crowley!

Aleister's enmity with the entire world was no exaggeration but a stark reality. All magicians in the world were his enemies. Even the Magic Gods, who could reverse life and death, alter rules, and distort the world, had long been written on Aleister's list of foes.

The disparity was already despair-inducing, but to ensure absolute certainty, Aleister had immediately used one of his strongest methods for combating Magic Gods!

"BEAST 666!! (Beast of Revelation)"

Only then did Aleister speak his Magic Name. In the modern magical world, this signified an irreconcilable, life-or-death struggle.

"Boom——"

Roy's thoughts instantly exploded. All his consciousness completely scattered, like an entire ocean evaporated.

It was as if an ordinary human had been directly hit by an intercontinental ballistic missile. Under the raging flames and shockwave, only tiny fragments of the corpse would remain—if even those could be found.

A kaleidoscope of images flashed through Roy's mind: scenes from his over twenty years of ordinary life before his transmigration, and fragments of his warm yet hard life with Laura in London after his transmigration.

Each of these images was so clear, as if in an instant Roy had relived his entire life once more.

He knew this was what people called the final flash before death.

At the very end of the visions, Roy's consciousness settled upon a book—The Book of 777, the magnum opus that gathered the thoughts of Aleister Crowley.

The ideas within this book were still filled with Aleister Crowley's imagination, much like a peerless master in a martial arts novel who creates a secret manual, yet even the creator himself has never cultivated the deepest levels of that manual.

Aleister was exactly like that. What The Book of 777 recorded was more like his own future vision of his path—a realm even he himself had not yet reached.

And just before Roy's death, his mind seemed to undergo an endless sublimation. The contents of The Book of 777 were thoroughly comprehended by him, completely transformed into knowledge that belonged to him—

"'BEAST' 777, I Shall Transcend Human Evil!!"

A Magic Name is the reason a magician uses magic. It is etched into the magician's heart, a beacon-like thought that guides the magician forward, a foundation the magician must never forget.

In this moment before certain death, Roy finally grasped the path he should firmly tread, using the knowledge recorded in The Book of 777. He would bear the 'Human Evil' in the name of 'God', becoming the beginning of Genesis and the end of Revelation!

As Roy chanted his 'Magic Name' within this Imaginary Phase, his form finally manifested within this phase.

When Aleister saw Roy's true appearance, the expression on his face was extremely vivid.

Shock, astonishment, disbelief, realization, calmness, bitterness—until it reached tragic despair.

"Clang—"

The Staff of Impact slipped from Aleister's palm and fell onto this void-like ground. He knelt down entirely.

"Nooooooo—"

Hearing Aleister's heart-wrenching, anguished cry, Roy didn't know why, but at that moment he only wanted to laugh.

He hadn't expected his life to end so inexplicably?

"Having heard the Way in the morning, one may die content in the evening." This saying from the Analects became the best description of Roy at this moment.

Just then, Roy seemed to hear a sigh, along with a faint whisper—

"Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

Roy's consciousness sank completely...

Chapter 7: Supreme Pontiff

Aleister Crowley—this man had all kinds of flaws and shortcomings, vastly different from the description of a 'perfect person'.

But no matter how many defects Aleister had, there was one point so noble that everyone admired him for it: his 'love' for his family.

This man appeared cold, almost devoid of human emotion, but that was merely a disguise for the deep love within his heart. Aleister was a man willing to give everything for his family, even to stand against the world.

The reason he chose to eliminate magic and sought to bring down the Magic Gods was not because of any lofty ambition or ideal—it was simply because the existence of magic had caused his eldest daughter to die before she was even born.

Aleister was a man simple to the point of purity. For a child who died before even being born, he was willing to raise his chest and defy the entire world, just to take revenge on this magical world that had made his daughter's survival impossible, to shatter this fate he absolutely refused to accept.

In the instant Roy vanished, he saw Aleister's essence.

He was a man who forever lived in failure and setbacks. No matter what Aleister wanted to do, no matter how meticulous his decades-long plans were, he would always encounter setbacks along the way, and in the end, he would always fail. Then, from within that failure, he would stand up again and continue his life that would never succeed.

This was a pitiful, laughable man who evoked sympathy. When Roy recognized his father's true nature, that was why he laughed.

For a man like Aleister, who loved his family so deeply, killing his own son with his own hands—even if it was accidental—would likely become a nightmare he could never forget for the rest of his life.

This irresponsible father—this was the greatest revenge against him!

"Brother... Brother? Roy?"

Laura Stuart wiped her delicate hands with a clean, washed-white towel as she walked out of the storage room, calling her brother's name with a puzzled expression. Usually, when she called for her brother, he would respond immediately, but today Roy strangely made no sound at all.

But when she walked into the living room and looked at the chair where her brother always sat, the chair was already empty.

The puzzled expression on Laura's face slowly faded. She silently walked to the table.

The copy of The Book of 777 on the table was burning without a flame, slowly turning to ash.

Laura knew that for a Demonic Path Canon, this meant all the knowledge within the book had been fully obtained by someone else, and this Demonic Path Canon had lost its purpose.

The Book of 777 completely turned to ash, and the last part to disappear was where the author's name was signed—Aleister Crowley.

Laura gently touched the chair that still carried Roy's lingering warmth, then turned and left the room without looking back.

St. George's Cathedral in London—this was the headquarters of the English Anglican Church. Anglicanism (Protestantism) was one of the three major branches of Christianity, with nine hundred million believers worldwide.

At some point, Laura had changed out of her simple long dress and put on a beige monastic robe.

This monastic robe seemed a bit bulky for a fifteen-year-old girl, as if it weren't tailored for her figure. But as Laura stepped up the stairs of St. George's Cathedral step by step, her body underwent a tremendous change.

Her beautiful, pale-golden hair had originally reached her ankles, but in an instant, it grew rapidly, almost reaching two and a half times her height. Her once-thin body also changed, becoming fuller and more rounded, shedding its slightly malnourished leanness. A fifteen-year-old girl seemed to leap across time to eighteen years old, possessing a girl's most mature and moving, exquisite figure.

Laura folded her eerily long hair from her ankles back behind her head, then folded it again from behind her head. Even after folding it twice, her beautiful hair still reached her waist.

She took out a silver-white hair clip from somewhere to secure her hair, and at the same time, the folded hair perfectly covered the demonic face hidden within her locks.

St. George's Cathedral was pitch black, eerily silent.

Laura walked slowly down the aisle to the cross at the cathedral's altar. She lowered her head as if praying to God. After a long while, she suddenly raised her left hand and snapped her fingers.

"Snap!"

Candles were lit one by one in St. George's Cathedral, their flames driving back the darkness. At some point, several men and women in monastic robes had knelt behind Laura, like pilgrims, and said, "...Supreme Pontiff, what are your orders?"

"Convey my command: find that evil, despicable magician and kill him!"

Laura's voice still carried that innocent sweetness, like a naive little girl, extremely approachable, making it easy to forget the gap in their status.

She was the Supreme Pontiff of the English Anglican Church, the actual ruler of the Anglican Church, the spiritual leader of nine hundred million people worldwide!

But what clashed with Laura's sweet voice was the murderous chill in her words, "...Kill him. Kill him at any cost!"

The Anglican magicians kneeling to receive orders hesitated. One of them scratched his head and said, "...Supreme Pontiff, your orders seem a bit beyond our capabilities. Every magician in the world is looking for that man. If his whereabouts were that easy to find, he'd probably be dead by now."

"...Relying solely on the Anglican Church's strength, we cannot pinpoint his location. We may need to join forces with the Roman Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church."

Facing the Supreme Pontiff of the Anglican Church, these subordinate magicians showed no fear; instead, they spoke to her like friends. This was the atmosphere Laura wanted—a persona she had crafted for herself.

"Aleister Crowley will come to England. He will definitely come to England, because there is a reason here he cannot ignore. Mobilize all the Anglican Church's power. The moment he sets foot on this land, find him, locate him, destroy him!"

Laura spoke with confidence, as if holding all the cards.

"Yes, Supreme Pontiff!"

The magicians did not ask why Laura was so certain. Though they showed little outward respect for their Supreme Pontiff, deep down they trusted her completely.

The Anglican magicians withdrew. The candles in St. George's Cathedral went out again. Standing in the darkness, Laura looked up at the cross, her expression slightly complicated.

"This was always my plan. Everything is progressing as I intended—using... to lure out Aleister Crowley and complete that contract. But why do I feel so empty inside?"

"...Roy, my brother... my brother..."

The Supreme Pontiff of the Anglican Church pressed a hand to her chest and murmured softly.

Chapter 8: The Founding of Academy City