Chapter 82

As Saten Ruiko and the others were ready, the battle on the other side also came to a conclusion. One of the machines managed to escape the pursuit of the aircraft, while another was hit and, during its descent, was steered by its pilot towards this direction.

Saten Ruiko created an invisible wind track in front of the machine, allowing it to avoid the buildings it might have crashed into and instead land on the beach. Upon closer inspection, the wooden front of the machine had four feathers made of cloth and obsidian, resembling a flying fish.

The fallen flying fish trembled slightly, seemingly attempting to restart, but Misaka Mikoto manipulated a large amount of iron sand to completely envelop the flying fish and began to cut it.

The harsh sound echoed on the now deserted beach. Soon, the entire machine disintegrated, and a figure emerged, holding an obsidian dagger.

It was a man, but the bleeding wound on his leg indicated that he had been injured in the previous battle.

The man glanced around, only to see five vibrant young girls.

However, he did not dare to relax. The iron sand still flying around indicated that these girls might be formidable enemies. In fact, from the perspective of the "Science Side" and the "Magic Side," they were indeed enemies.

He was about to launch an attack, but Amai Shirai took action. She rarely used her abilities these days, but considering the various methods of magic that Tsukino Shizune had mentioned, it was better to be cautious.

Seeing the person from the machine standing still, the others understood that Amai Shirai had taken action.

"Shirai, how is it? Who is it?" Saten Ruiko asked Amai Shirai, who was reading the person's memories. She was not happy, as they had finally made it to the beach, only for this to happen.

Amai Shirai finished reading the memories and looked around. "Let's go back to the hotel. I'll explain everything to you there. And, Shokuhou, you don't know anything about this, so we need to explain it to you properly."

Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko looked back at the bewildered Shokuhou Shizuri and nodded.

Amai Shirai used her ability to control the magician and led them to the hotel. She used her ability to make passersby avoid them, and soon they arrived at Misaka Mikoto's room.

At this moment, the high-ranking officials of the City of Arts, who had been watching everything through surveillance cameras, began to contact the Academy City. As self-proclaimed "world police," they did not want their so-called secrets to be known by outsiders, especially those from the Academy City. However, they could not ignore the Academy City's handling of Saten Ruiko and the others, so they had to contact the Academy City.

But who would dare to act against them? Not to mention Shokuhou Shizuri's hidden ability, there was Level 5, 4th ranked Misaka Mikoto, Level 6, 1st ranked Amai Shirai, Level 5, 9th ranked Saten Ruiko, and the sister of Level 5, 1st ranked Tsukino Shizune.

Who would dare to move?

Of course, they couldn't tell the City of Arts this. They only mentioned the most well-known Misaka Mikoto, and the reason that "military secrets such as DNA profiles are at risk of being leaked" left the City of Arts' officials speechless.

By the way, Saten Ruiko's Level 5, 9th rank information had not yet been released in the Academy City. After all, the eight Level 5s had already made the "Magic Side" somewhat nervous, and another one might lead to even greater conflicts.

Since they couldn't act against Saten Ruiko and the others, the City of Arts' officials sent a staff member, Oliver Herlihy, to the hotel where they were staying for negotiations.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Shirai Kuroko first introduced the existence of magic and the conflict between the "Science Side" and the "Magic Side" to Shokuhou Shizuri, while Amai Shirai organized her thoughts.

After Shokuhou Shizuri accepted the existence of magic, Amai Shirai began to share the information she had obtained.

"This magician comes from the magic organization 'Return of the Winged Ones.' The machine is called 'Snake of the Cloud Sea,' and they have another ace machine called 'Snake of the Sun.' The City of Arts, in order to counter the Academy City..."

"Eh? Counter the Academy City? Why?" Shokuhou Shizuri asked the question everyone wanted to know.

"Because they believe that superpowers will lead to chaos in the world, and as self-proclaimed world police, they cannot tolerate it. To counter the Academy City, they intend to develop abilities from different directions."

"Then what? What does this have to do with 'Return of the Winged Ones'?"

"They discovered that 'Return of the Winged Ones' uses a special power that is vastly different from their understanding, so they attacked 'Return of the Winged Ones' and seized the 'Snake of the Cloud Sea' for analysis. 'Return of the Winged Ones' did not want the secrets of magic to be revealed, so they have been in conflict with the City of Arts for many years."

"So it's the fault of the City of Arts, right?" Misaka Mikoto was still too naive, thinking that only one side was at fault.

"No, regardless of the cause, they have been fighting in this area for many years, completely disregarding the civilians. By Misaka's standards, both are at fault."

Misaka Mikoto fell silent. She knew that things in the world were not that simple, but she didn't want to admit it.

"Then why hasn't anyone noticed this for so many years?" Shirai Kuroko asked after Misaka Mikoto fell silent.

"It's simple. This is a city of movies. It's easy to suppress things under the guise of movie performances."

"What about the injured civilians? Didn't they react?"

Amai Shirai smiled and looked at the people who had always lived in the light. "You understand the word 'handling,' right?"

Shirai Kuroko also fell silent.

After a pause, Amai Shirai continued, "Today's attack is because the City of Arts obtained the core of 'Snake of the Sun' from 'Return of the Winged Ones' in a previous battle and is now analyzing it. 'Return of the Winged Ones' launched an attack, which is what we saw today."

"So this is a mess, right? What should we do? I don't believe the managers here will just let this magician go." Shirai Kuroko didn't care much. This wasn't the Academy City, and she didn't need to maintain the safety here. Moreover, she didn't approve of the City of Arts' actions. Although she now knew that the Academy City also had similar darkness, if she saw it, she wouldn't ignore it. At least she could seek help from her brother, and Tsukino Shizune, as a brother, wouldn't ignore his sister's request, right?

"Yes, I think the managers here will soon come to us." Although Shirai Kuroko was right, Amai Shirai was not worried at all. With their identities, who would dare to act? Not to mention their identities, with their strength, who would they fear?

"We should remain neutral. We don't need to get involved in their affairs. However, 'Return of the Winged Ones' seems to have an attack plan recently. There are many civilians and those who haven't been 'handled' yet. We need to save them."

Seeing the attack plan against the City of Arts, Amai Shirai raised an eyebrow. She didn't want to save the captured people, as it would only lead to conflict with the managers here. However, the people in front of her were overly righteous. Although she had convinced them not to get involved in the conflict, she couldn't stop them from saving people. Since she couldn't stop them, it was better to set the terms in advance to avoid trouble later.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door.

Ps: Some might wonder how reading the memory of a person from 'Return of the Winged Ones' could reveal information about the City of Arts. However, the two sides have been in conflict for many years. How could they not notice these basic facts? The City of Arts didn't know about magic, but 'Return of the Winged Ones' didn't know about science? They had sent Ezel to the Academy City, and the people of 'Return of the Winged Ones' could change their faces, making infiltration too easy.