Chapter Summaries

The Previous Shrine Maiden visited Yukari Yakumo to say farewell before undertaking an uncertain Ascension, and she met the extraordinarily gifted Reimu Hakurei. Before leaving, she warned Yukari that Reimu needed more than training and guardianship, while Roland hinted that he was ready to set off and change her future.

• The Previous Shrine Maiden told Yukari Yakumo she was leaving Gensokyo to prepare for her final trial of Ascension.
• The Previous Shrine Maiden found Reimu Hakurei flying above the shrine pond and learned that Reimu possessed the Garden of Sinners and exceptional divine gifts.
• The Previous Shrine Maiden asked where Reimu had come from, but Yukari said Reimu's father had handed her over and offered no further explanation.
• The Previous Shrine Maiden warned Yukari that Reimu needed someone to fill a family role, then left the shrine.
• Yukari discussed Reimu's upbringing with Roland, who said Reimu would eventually be able to choose her own fate.
• Roland said he had accumulated enough for a first pot of gold and was ready to set off.

Reimu Hakurei enjoyed a lazy afternoon at the shrine while Roland confronted his guilt over the destiny imposed on her and quietly gave her gifts meant to ease her path. In Rome, Roland then prepared to launch the Imperium of Man’s first Great Expedition into space.

• Yukari Yakumo surprised Reimu and pushed her toward the pond, but Reimu used her extreme luck and Innate Dream to escape.
• Roland told Yukari that he accepted Reimu’s laziness, then reflected on how her fate as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden denied her freedom.
• Roland secretly placed the Garden of Sinners, extraordinary intuition, and extreme luck upon Reimu, promising that she would one day gain true freedom.
• Reimu sensed a warm touch on her head but found nobody nearby and wondered if she had imagined it.
• In Rome, Roland surveyed the Imperium of Man’s battleships and approved the start of its first Great Expedition.

Roland began the Great Expedition to find power capable of defeating the Black Serpent, spreading his Dream Realm beyond the world and steering it through the Sea of Worlds. He reached a distorted, heavily sealed New World and, drawn toward a powerful presence within it, found a blonde girl wearing an eyepatch.

• Roland told Yukari Yakumo that ordinary gains from new worlds could not overcome the Black Serpent, and that he needed possibilities comparable to an Angel of Heaven of Heavens and power surpassing his own.
• Yukari Yakumo accepted Roland’s decision and wished him victory before leaving the Temple.
• Roland entered a long sleep as his Dream Realm spread throughout and beyond the world, allowing him to sense places it reached while the Great Expedition carried the world onward.
• Roland reached the bottom of the Sea of Worlds and examined a New World whose thick, grotesquely distorted World Barrier resisted his Dream Realm.
• Roland used the Key of All Spirits to penetrate the barrier and was pulled toward a powerful presence within the world.
• Roland spotted a petite blonde girl wearing a witch’s hat and a black eyepatch over her right eye.

Roland entered a world whose layered phases distorted reality and caused invisible fate-changing sparks, then encountered the blonde, one-eyed girl he had been destined to meet. He recognized her as a Demon God just before she attacked him with an invisible spear.

• Roland arrived in a medieval-looking European city and adapted to its overlapping timelines and phases.
• Roland concluded that the many phases constantly collided, sending sparks into reality that altered people’s fates.
• Roland decided to follow the fate drawing him toward the One-Eyed Princess so he could assess her strength without revealing his own.
• A blonde, one-eyed girl approached Roland in an alley and asked whether he was a man’s accomplice.
• Roland recognized the girl as a Demon God, and she swung an invisible spear at him.

Roland encountered Othinus, a Demon God whose unstable power made her attacks equally likely to succeed or fail. After Othinus killed him, she suspected he might have survived by some hidden means and left, determined to confront him again if he resurfaced.

• Roland recognized the one-eyed girl as the Demon God Othinus and realized he had no chance of defeating her.
• Othinus explained that her restored power had a fifty percent chance of failing, and her first attack left Roland unharmed.
• Roland showed sympathy for Othinus and spoke about gravity, which stirred her interest in him.
• Othinus offered to grant Roland a wish, and he asked for her name before she struck him down.
• Othinus believed Roland had died but suspected he might have survived through another means, then left the alley vowing to find him.

After Othinus destroyed his Dream Realm projection, Roland judged that he could not safely enter the world while its gravity would draw him straight to her. He decided to seek an insider who could summon him and began preparing to use the Book of Ages as a gift.

• Othinus erased Roland’s Dream Realm projection, and Roland assessed the overwhelming power of the Demon Gods.
• Roland concluded that repeatedly invading the world would draw him toward Othinus and expose him to her scrutiny, so he abandoned proactive incursions.
• Roland considered following the Demon God Path, but decided he wanted to reach its heights through interpreting and unifying his own possibilities rather than simply merging with the Bible Phase.
• Roland determined that an insider’s summoning could establish coordinates and help him enter the world safely, but he could not contact such a person from beyond the World Barrier.
• Roland took the Book of Ages from the Key of All Spirits and planned to use it as a greeting gift for a chosen one of a god.

Roland split the Book of Ages and cast one half into the world as a Contract Spirit Fragment, intending to lure a powerful contractor into gradually relying on its wish-granting power and eventually calling upon him. The fragment found a contractor almost immediately, and Roland was stunned to discover the contractor was Aleister Crowley.

• Roland explained that the Book of Ages could alter history and that the Key of All Spirits let it retain its power across worlds.
• Roland split the Book of Ages, kept one half, and cast the other into the World Barrier as a Contract Spirit Fragment that could communicate through writing.
• Roland planned to let a contractor grow accustomed to using the Book's power, hoping their wishes would eventually lead them to summon him.
• Roland sensed the fragment trembling, signaling that it had already found a contractor far sooner than he expected.
• Roland sensed the contractor's name and recognized him as Aleister Crowley.

Roland recognized Aleister as the ruler of Academy City and used the Book of Ages to begin negotiating with him across the Abyss. Aleister learned that Roland sought to go beyond Heaven, leaving both men probing each other’s motives and resolve.

• Roland recognized Aleister’s name and considered how the magician’s nature and goals might make him a useful ally.
• Aleister wrote, “What do you seek?” in the Book of Ages, and Roland answered, “Beyond Heaven.”
• Aleister consulted Aiwass inside the Windowless Building and confirmed that the unknown presence communicating through the paper was not a Demon God.
• Aleister asked what Heaven was, and Roland described it as an unchangeable truth and future.
• Aleister asked what knowing the future could accomplish, and Roland replied that it could steel someone’s resolve and help them attain happiness.

Aleister and Roland established a Contract after recognizing their shared resolve to pursue happiness, though Aleister remained wary of Roland’s motives and origins. Once they exchanged names, Aleister returned to the real world, and Roland began falling through the World Barrier under a force Aleister had directed toward him.

• Aiwass told Aleister that Roland’s resolve to pursue happiness resembled his own, making cooperation possible, while Aleister suspected Roland might be selfish like him.
• Aleister asked whether Roland was a god or a human, and Roland answered that he was both a primordial human and a god yet to be born.
• Aleister concluded that Roland came from outside the world, and Aiwass reacted with clear anticipation to the revelation.
• Aleister asked what kind of god and person Roland wished to become; Roland answered that he wanted to be the only god and a kind person.
• Aleister and Roland exchanged their true names, forming a Contract without discussing when an invasion would occur.
• Roland reached through the World Barrier and was caught by a gravitational force that sent him falling toward the real world.

Aleister’s summoning ritual brought Roland down through the Tree of Life, but the path could not give him a material body. Aleister and Aiwass used the Tree of Evil and the Thoth Tarot to balance Roland’s opposing ranks, and Roland finally opened his eyes in the human world.

• Aleister saw that Roland had formed a path through the Sephirah without the false rank Aleister had planned to create.
• Roland descended along the Path of the Flame Sword but remained immaterial, so Aleister activated his contingency using the Tree of Evil.
• Aiwass explained that Roland’s rank on the Tree of Evil prevented the conflict Aleister had expected, causing the two energies to collide prematurely.
• Aleister had Aiwass use the Thoth Tarot to balance the Tree of Life and the Tree of Evil, ending with The World.
• Aleister witnessed a golden being on a throne and a body formed from purple crystal bones, black mud, and orange liquid; the god opened his eyes.

Roland manifested in Aleister’s temple as Primordial Adam before descending into a living body, then explained the limits of his power and his plan to pursue a new path to godhood. He invited Aleister to join his revolution as his first angel, making clear that refusal would mean death.

• Roland’s multicolored sacred light filled Aleister’s temple, and Aleister recognized him as Primordial Adam.
• Roland awakened in a black-haired, red-eyed body and cursed Aleister for the mishaps during his summoning.
• Roland explained that his body had immense vitality, magical energy, and resistance to spells, but that his power remained tied to the phase and his physical capacity was limited.
• Roland said he had fallen into the human domain and intended to gather possibilities and pursue a path to godhood.
• Roland asked Aleister to join his revolution as his first angel, warning him that refusal would mean death.

Roland and Aleister established a wary cooperation, and Aleister named Roland's codename Dragon. Roland then explored Academy City, examined its surveillance systems, and decided to draw a new Contract Spirit.

• Roland and Aleister agreed to cooperate while respecting each other's boundaries and allowing their plans to proceed in parallel.
• Aleister and Aiwass discussed Roland's ambition to become good, and Aleister assigned him the codename Dragon.
• Roland walked through Academy City and examined the advanced technology, his identification card, and the AIM Diffusion Field that carried information to Aleister.
• Roland accepted that he would need power to operate freely in Academy City and asked the Key of All Spirits to draw a new Contract Spirit.

Roland weighed the science and magic sides as paths to strengthen his damaged power, recognizing that Aleister had built traps into both. He chose Evil Bai Wunan as a Contract Spirit suited to transcending those paths and fitting Academy City.

• Roland assessed his weakened state and decided he needed to turn his body's potential into strength quickly.
• Roland rejected the magic side because it required rebuilding from scratch and left him vulnerable to Aleister's framework and the Demon Gods.
• Roland examined the science side and concluded that Esper Abilities were a talent-based way of manipulating reality, distinct from magic only by method.
• Roland reasoned that Aleister's systems left him vulnerable to interference, so he sought a power beyond both science and magic.
• Roland selected the Contract Spirit [Earth Emperor · Evil Bai Wunan].

Roland contracted Evil Bai Wunan, gaining Magnetic Field Rotation and its immense potential for manipulating matter and the physical world. He tested the new power, reached the Anti-Gravity Boundary, and set his sights on the Windowless Building and Aleister's plans.

• Roland examined Evil Bai Wunan's history and Contract Spirit information, noting its dangerous influence and powerful abilities.
• Roland chose Evil Bai Wunan because Magnetic Field Rotation offered the versatile power he needed to advance his plans in the world of A Certain Magical Index.
• Roland commanded the Key of All Spirits to contract Evil Bai Wunan.
• After the contract, Roland's power overloaded nearby cameras and AIM Diffusion Fields as he explored Magnetic Field Rotation's effects on his body.
• Roland reached the Anti-Gravity Boundary, rose slightly above the ground, and looked toward the Windowless Building, resolving to reach Aleister's other shore first.

After reaching five hundred thousand horsepower, Roland discovered that the true anti-gravity boundary let him shake off the phase sparks that entangled fate, though he chose not to push his power further without a suitable opportunity. He left the alley looking for his bearings and learned that he was near School Garden.

• Roland adjusted to five hundred thousand horsepower and realized his magnetic field power surpassed Evil Bai Wunan's understanding.
• Roland found that his magnetic field could rewrite the AIM Diffusion Fields, and he let them transmit his condition to Aleister.
• Roland reached the anti-gravity boundary and saw that phase sparks could no longer cling to him or make his actions predictable through fate.
• Roland decided to preserve his foundations instead of using an external shortcut to raise his horsepower, but he could not identify a suitable opportunity.
• Roland realized he was lost, then spotted a road sign naming School Garden as the nearest location.

Roland visited the School Garden, then encountered Kamijou Touma after the boy ran into a tree while avoiding a collision. Recognizing Imagine Breaker and the unusual fate surrounding Kamijou, Roland left their meeting intrigued by the boy’s hidden nature.

• Roland toured the School Garden and decided to enjoy his freedom in Academy City rather than seek out its elite students.
• Roland stopped at an intersection just before Kamijou Touma rushed out of a crowd and crashed into a tree.
• Roland helped Kamijou up, and Kamijou explained that his everyday misfortune had led him to take the wrong route while fleeing delinquents.
• Roland sensed that Kamijou’s right hand, Imagine Breaker, erased the phase sparks around him and recognized its importance to Aleister’s plans.
• Roland reflected that Kamijou was a strong individual without a natal star, one who purified gods and slew demons.

Roland deduced that Kamijou Touma’s ordinary body concealed a dangerous essence suppressed by Imagine Breaker, and he considered how Aleister might be trying to draw it out. After Kamijou hurried away to answer an urgent call, Roland noticed that the AIM Diffusion Field had been deliberately manipulated and connected the disturbance to the caller Mitsuari.

• Roland reasoned that Imagine Breaker had chosen Kamijou as a host because his hidden essence was either a power comparable to a Demon God or a force capable of creating the world’s original laws.
• Roland compared Kamijou to Hai Hu, concluding that Aleister’s plans used crises to push Kamijou toward awakening his suppressed power or disrupting fate.
• Kamijou worried that he had said something wrong, but Roland thanked him for helping resolve a long-standing problem.
• Kamijou remembered his urgent errand, and Roland returned his phone before he rushed off.
• Kamijou received a call from Mitsuari as he ran, while Roland detected deliberate interference with the AIM Diffusion Field and found the connection interesting.

Roland considered how his encounter with Kamijou Touma might alter events, then Misaki Shokuhou wandered through an underground shopping district seeking a meal and a break from her burdens. At a fast-food restaurant, a boy mentioned the Talent Workshop, freezing Misaki in place.

• Roland suspected his actions had caused changes in Phase Sparks and decided Aleister would use Kamijou Touma's encounter to pursue an opportunity.
• Misaki Shokuhou reflected on her emotional exhaustion and considered using her ability to alter her own memories, but put off the decision.
• Misaki Shokuhou chose a fast-food restaurant as a familiar, comforting place to eat.
• A boy outside the restaurant recognized Misaki's Tokiwadai uniform and said he had arrived in Academy City that day after an institution invited him.
• The boy named the Talent Workshop, and Misaki Shokuhou stopped in her tracks.

Roland met Shokuhou Misaki over a meal, where she warned him about the Talent Workshop and its dangers. After learning he had received invitations from many research institutions, Shokuhou relaxed her suspicions, and the two introduced themselves.

• Roland and Shokuhou Misaki ate together, and Roland teased her about her appearance.
• Shokuhou warned Roland to be cautious of the Talent Workshop and research institutions that requested biological samples.
• Roland agreed not to join the Talent Workshop, explaining that he could choose another institution.
• Shokuhou examined Roland's invitations and confirmed that the Talent Workshop had officially contacted him among many other institutions.
• Roland and Shokuhou exchanged their names.

Roland listened as Misaki Shokuhou confided how Dolly’s death and the Talent Workshop’s cruelty had left her considering erasing her memories, then urged her to make a new friend. After Roland left, Misaki used a problem with his banknote as an excuse to follow him, and he made her a diamond from a broken branch as a substitute payment.

• Misaki Shokuhou reflected on her identity and Roland’s confidence, while keeping her newly promoted Level 5 status secret.
• Roland noticed Misaki’s distress and persuaded her to tell him about the friend she had lost.
• Misaki recounted how she had befriended Dolly, who died after asking for her real name, and how she later discovered the Talent Workshop planned to execute her.
• Roland encouraged Misaki to make a new friend and reassured her that she still deserved friendship, then left after paying with an unusable banknote.
• Misaki followed Roland, pointing out that the banknote could not be used in Academy City, and Roland fashioned a glittering diamond from a broken branch to give her.