Starting in Type-Moon, but a Magician from A Certain Magical Index

Nearly eighty giants charged at Mephistopheles, while the gods were left frozen by what Mephistopheles had just displayed. For a moment, they did not even react in time to stop the giants.

The first to react was Medea, the girl whose attention had been almost entirely fixed on Mephistopheles.

"Mephistopheles, watch out!" she cried, immediately beginning to cast a spell in an attempt to stop the charging giants with an attack. However, her attack clearly had little effect.

Artemis also raised her bow, but although she could attack with arrows, she could only hold back a few giants. There were simply too many giants swarming forward to stop them all.

By the time the gods finally reacted, it was already too late. Zeus gathered lightning in his hand, but no matter how fast lightning was, the moment he began casting it, the best chance to rescue Mephistopheles had already passed!

If anyone remained the calmest at this moment, it was undoubtedly Hecate. She remembered very clearly just how absurdly defensive Mephistopheles's clothes were. Those giants obviously could not do much to him.

Seeing Hecate remain so calm, Athena, who had been terribly nervous, also settled down. She felt that Mephistopheles should still have some hidden trump card.

Boom!

Terrifying force smashed into Mephistopheles, only to be blocked by his clothing. What his clothes constructed was a Temple—a mobile Temple. Since the properties of those clothes contained every quality a Temple required, they could also exert the defensive power a Temple should possess!

However, he did not have enough materials, and what he had created was not the kind that could be maintained indefinitely. It was considered a relatively inferior type.

Even so, during its activation period, this outfit could withstand an attack on the level of a nuclear bomb—and that meant the force at the very center of the explosion!

The giants were baffled. They could not understand why their attacks had no effect on this human. They had clearly brought down crushing blows that should have pulverized him completely, yet he was utterly unharmed!

"He's actually fine?!"

Zeus's heart gradually sank. He realized that he could not see through this human from another world. The magic the other party used was all completely incomprehensible to him. He began to consider what the outcome would be if he fought him.

Then, he sorrowfully realized that he would most likely gain no great advantage. They might even end up in a stalemate.

If the other party could fully wield the power of those projected Outer Gods, then forget a stalemate—he might be instantly killed.

But from the looks of it now, the other party seemed only able to use a portion of that power.

"He's really fine!" Artemis shouted happily. That immediately revived Medea, who had nearly fainted when Mephistopheles was struck.

Medea looked at Mephistopheles in the distance and finally let out a breath of relief.

For that brief instant just now, she had felt as if her heart were about to leap from her chest. In that moment, she had truly felt as if the entire world had suddenly gone gray.

That feeling made her miserable!

Meanwhile, after blocking the giant's attack, Mephistopheles began another new magical experiment.

Hundreds of magical formulas around him activated. His body began to strengthen while being kept from collapsing.

All of it was for the battle to come!

Bang!

Mephistopheles lightly pushed off the ground, and his entire body shot out like a cannonball. A sonic boom even erupted around him. In that instant, he had broken the sound barrier!

Mephistopheles was not a Saint, not one of those monsters born with overwhelmingly powerful bodies who could casually destroy mountains or even cities when going all out. But he was a magician, and through magic, he could accomplish many things that humans could never perform on their own.

For example, engaging in hand-to-hand combat at the speed of sound!

It was a required course for magicians!

Admitting His Mistake

In the world of A Certain Magical Index, magicians could use all sorts of formulas to perform magic that ordinary people could understand, such as water bullets and fireballs—the kind of attacks that appeared in all manner of novels, films, and games. But there were also some combat methods that might defy common sense.

That was to use formulas to give one's body powerful resistance—for example, temporarily enhancing it until it could withstand sonic speeds, ensuring that it would not collapse under such conditions, and then launching high-speed hand-to-hand combat.

Naturally, other formulas would also be incorporated in the process to carry out all kinds of attacks.

Combined with the protective formulas on one's body, unless one encountered some freak who could invalidate an entire spell system with a single touch, one could generally put on quite an impressive display in battle.

This was what was known as Sonic-Speed Combat!

However, Mephistopheles was currently empowered by the Four Archangels. Even under such circumstances, he could only use a small portion of their power, but it was still enough for him to strengthen every formula covering his body. Sonic-Speed Combat had directly been upgraded into Supersonic Combat—and Precision Supersonic Combat at that!

Mephistopheles maintained a speed of two or three times the speed of sound as he rushed out from beneath the giant's attack and charged toward the nearest giant.

Faced with Mephistopheles's assault, the giants hurriedly launched attacks of their own, intending to intercept the incoming man directly. Naturally, the best option was to give this rapidly approaching opponent a viciously intimate encounter with the enormous clubs in their hands!

At such tremendous speed, if they collided, this little fellow would definitely receive a powerful baptism!

At that moment, the club swung by the giant instantly broke the sound barrier as well, whipping up a violent storm and producing an ear-piercing boom.

Even without touching the ground, the gale brought by that club ripped the earth apart in an instant!

No magic power was needed. With pure physical strength alone, its immense might was enough to astonish even Titan gods famed for their strength!

Moreover, at such high speed, dodging through turns and other maneuvers was bound to be extremely inconvenient. The trajectory would be easier to predict, so the Gigantes giants believed that this strike would definitely hit that fleeing little rat.

But just as Mephistopheles was about to reach the club, his figure turned!

He actually executed a turn nearly equal to ninety degrees, evading the strike. Then he rapidly made another ninety-degree turn, restoring his direction to its original course!

Most terrifying of all, his speed did not decrease at all. He continued forward at supersonic speed, and after dodging that first blow, he had already arrived before his target.

"Heat and moisture."

The brief statement was a chant. The instant Mephistopheles spoke it, the yellow dagger circling him shone brilliantly. The angel named Raphael spread his wings and guided that power!

A fierce gale emerged around Mephistopheles. Then, an enormous quantity of air compressed to the sharpness of throwing knives blasted forward at tremendous speed.

They were blades formed entirely from air, flying forward one after another. These blades were so sharp that when they passed over a massive boulder blocking their path, it was instantly split into more than a dozen pieces, each cut surface exceptionally smooth!

Nor did the wind blades slow down after striking the stone. Instead, they continued forward at their original speed and all slammed into the giant's ankles.

In that instant, the giant's ankles were pierced by the wind blades, leaving wound after wound. Every one of those wounds was a penetrating injury; one could even see the scenery behind it through the front!

Unable to endure the devastating pain, the giant could not help bending over. At that moment, several wind blades shot into the air and blasted into the giant's head the instant it bent down.

Then several more incredibly powerful wind blades erupted from Mephistopheles as their center and flew outward. In the blink of an eye, dozens of giants were wounded by the wind blades. Some were struck in vital areas and died instantly, while others suffered serious or light injuries before being finished off by the gods, who had finally reacted.

At that moment, more than forty of the original hundred-plus giants had died. Although more than half still remained, the battlefield already looked much sparser than before.

Heracles roared and charged before a giant that looked especially tall. He raised his weapon high and smashed it down fiercely.

Heracles, possessing immense strength, unleashed all the power he took pride in upon that giant's body, striking the towering giant so hard that it could not help taking a step back.

Zeus raised the lightning spear in his hand. Lightning roared as it crashed toward that giant, forcing it to raise its hand to block the terrifying bolt.

At that very moment, Heracles drew his bow, aimed at the giant's head, and shot an arrow straight through it.

Almost simultaneously, lightning fell and directly engulfed the wounded giant.

It had to be said that after they reacted, Zeus and Heracles worked together quite well. Through their cooperation, they directly killed one of the leaders of these giants.

Athena finally found an opportunity as well. She abruptly seized a giant by the head, while a massive snake emerged from behind her and bit into the giant's chest, which Mephistopheles's wind blades had pierced. Venom continuously flowed in through the wound, destroying the giant's body.

At the same time, Athena held a spear in her other hand and viciously thrust it into the giant's abdomen. Under the double assault, the giant revealed a pained expression, but it was of no use.

Athena's strength was equally formidable. Interfered with by pain, the giant could not even break free of Athena's grip and could only allow her to ravage its body so mercilessly.

Hades hid himself away. Like an assassin lurking in the dark, he seized opportunities to inject his attack into the body of a giant with a killing blow, then concealed himself again and began searching for the next opportunity.

As for Poseidon, he did not use his authority to summon tsunamis or anything of the sort. Instead, he crudely lifted the mountains the giants had brought and hurled them directly at the giants!

He was attacking with pure physical force. In terms of results, this might have been the most direct and obvious method among all the gods present, because under Poseidon's attacks, there was no need to specifically choose targets whose defenses had already been broken by Heracles and Mephistopheles.

If the first smash failed to break their defenses, then he would just strike them a second time!

As long as he smashed them enough times, their defenses would eventually break!

What should have been an incomparably fierce war had now turned into a one-sided beating. Enemies who had once been able to make the gods fear them now appeared weak.

And all of this was caused by Mephistopheles's magic attacks, which seemed to consume no magic power at all!

From the moment Mephistopheles joined the battle until it ended, roughly half an hour passed. When the final giant's head was severed and its body completely destroyed, the crisis originating from Sephar was finally resolved.

This battle also allowed Mephistopheles to gather a great deal of data.

"Sure enough, even though Christianity has not truly begun spreading in this world, I can still use the corresponding formulas. The power I draw upon even seems to be the Christianity as I understand it, rather than this world's Christian system.

"If the world originates from mystery, and the universe lies within the world as I understand it, then that explains what I am encountering now. Because this cosmic space is wrapped within a greater world, the power contained within that world can likewise be used directly here...

"And it is completely unrestricted by time!

"Of course, there may be other reasons. For instance, there may be some special authority within it that allows me to use these formulas in this world. That is also possible. After all, I currently bear Yog-Sothoth's magical mark and can manipulate space-time."

Mephistopheles thought silently, several conjectures flashing through his mind before he suppressed them.

At that moment, a voice reached him, accompanied by the urgent sound of air being torn apart.

Mephistopheles turned his head and saw Medea flying toward him. Besides joy, her expression also held resentment. She lunged at him so suddenly that Mephistopheles was caught off guard and could only catch her steadily in his arms.

Then he heard her say unhappily, "Don't scare me like that again!"

Her words were indeed filled with worry. Thinking of how he had just directly endured the giant's attack and frightened Medea, Mephistopheles knew that this was indeed his own fault. Feeling the girl's tight embrace and her still trembling body, he could only sigh helplessly before softly saying, "Sorry. I won't do it again."

Then the girl issued a threat.

"If there's a next time, I'll bite you!"

Outrageous Claims

At the summit of Mount Olympus—or rather, inside the Temple at its peak—Mephistopheles was surrounded.

He was surrounded by the gods of Greece. Aside from Hermes, who was absent, every other god was present.

"Tell us honestly, whose priest are you? Or are you a divine messenger?!"

Artemis said this. She was the most familiar with Mephistopheles, and she spoke with a cheerful grin, not looking serious in the slightest.

The strength Mephistopheles had displayed astonished the gods. No one would be foolish enough to provoke someone like him, especially when he was clearly not someone who caused trouble.

Of course, such things could happen if someone's brain was broken.

But clearly, the minds of these Greek gods were not broken at all. In fact, they were perfectly normal.

Even gods born from machinery could, at the very least, understand through logic which choice was the optimal one.

At this moment, the gods gathered here not only because they were already accustomed to interacting with humans, but also because of another influence that came from humanity: curiosity.

They were curious about Mephistopheles's secrets and curious about all sorts of things. That was why they stayed here. They were not forcing him; they were simply waiting for his answer.

These gods had exceptionally simple thoughts.

"What if he answers? Waiting won't cost us anything anyway."

That was probably all they were thinking.

Medea watched this scene somewhat nervously and quietly asked her teacher, "Teacher Hecate, th-this is really all right?"

"It's fine. Everyone is just curious, and it's obvious they're only joking around. You and Artemis have known each other for so long—you should know that what she likes most is playing around."

"So the moon goddess is playing around now too?"

"Of course. I think she's having a wonderful time right now," Hecate said.

Medea looked over. Artemis's expression truly did look like she was having fun, while Mephistopheles, faced with the question, was smiling as well, without the slightest indication that he felt his secrets had been violated.

"What would you think if I said I do not worship any particular god?"

Mephistopheles's answer left the gods stunned. They had never expected such an answer.

Artemis immediately said, "Stop joking. Those figures you summoned back then were obviously projections of gods, weren't they?"

"I am a magician. I rely on the power of gods to summon and use these supernatural beings. I did not summon them because I worship them."

Mephistopheles gave a brief explanation. "If I had to make an analogy, it would be like using the name of the chief god Zeus to command lightning and make it serve me."

The explanation was straightforward, but its very straightforwardness stunned the gods once more.

"Isn't that the same as the connection between us and priests? Priests can use our authorities, then cast magic imbued with divine power. Isn't that the same as what you said about using a god's name to command power?"

In response, Mephistopheles spread his hands. "I don't need recognition."

A brief silence fell over the scene.

Using a god's name directly to command power that belonged to that god without requiring the god's recognition was simply unimaginable.

Yet the man before them said it so naturally, so casually.

In response to the gods' silence, Mephistopheles made another outrageous claim. "Isn't it perfectly natural for magicians to do that?!"

This kind of operation was not impossible. One merely had to directly connect oneself to the Great Source and interact directly with the Root.

But almost no one could meet that requirement. Those who truly reached the level of magician had all formed contracts or connections with gods and the like, relying on divine authorities to cast magic.