"Boom, boom-!!!"
Kamijou Touma sprinted into the distance without looking back, remembering to help the half-conscious Accelerator along.
With Roland voluntarily confronting the archangel and cleaning up his father's mess, he should, properly speaking, have solemnly stood his ground and answered Roland's words before the battle, given the immense favor he was receiving.
But while that was true in principle, reality still demanded adapting to the situation.
Had he been even a step slower, he would have fallen into a fissure in the earth and died, leaving no future to speak of.
Besides, even as he raced along at full speed, his current behavior could hardly be considered a violation of Roland's request.
-Watch my transformation?
Honestly, that was completely unnecessary.
Kamijou Touma thought as he retreated, trembling.
There was no need to make a point of watching. From Academy City all the way to the surrounding coastline, every living creature that could still see, still feel, and was still alive would be forced to take in this sight, whether they wanted to or not.
Kamijou Touma raised his head slightly and looked at the crimson shadow before him, dragonlike and beastlike, blotting out the sky and earth and displaying the Lord's majesty in full.
It was the incarnation of desire and gluttony, descending from beyond the darkness.
Feeding on the gaudy, corrupt city of sin, it displayed the full majesty of the most ancient dragon in this world.
"The archangel's manipulating the planet to destroy humanity, while the monster that looks like the source of all evil is protecting humanity. Haven't you got your roles completely backward?"
After magic shattered the old ideas he had developed on the science side, the tentative notions and deductions about religion Kamijou Touma had formed over sixteen years of life were also demolished.