Chapter 320: The Illusion Killer
Walking down the bustling street, he casually bought a few street snacks that looked decent and ate them as he made his way toward the main field where the opening ceremony of the Great Academy Festival was being held.
By the time he arrived at the field, it was already packed with a dense crowd of students, and the opening ceremony had reached the final segment: the student oath.
With his cap pulled low, George leaned against a wall, sipping a drink as he watched the ceremony.
This time, the ones representing the students with abilities in the oath were two of the seven Level 5s: Kuroban Gumbaha and Shokuhou Misaki.
Kuroban Gumbaha, according to the intelligence he had, was a natural esper known as a "Gemstone," unlike the other six.
In the entire Academy City, nearly all the students with abilities had gained their powers through the esper development system created by Aleister.
Only Gemstone espers were born with innate abilities.
Compared to other espers and magicians, Gemstone espers were truly the darlings of this world—able to possess powers far beyond ordinary humans without giving anything in return.
If placed in ancient times before esper powers or magic existed, they would have been considered true gods in human perception.
As for Shokuhou Misaki, she was the only psychic among the seven.
She could read minds, brainwash, erase memories, create illusions, and use telepathy. She was a well-developed, blonde, beautiful girl.
At this moment, the two were standing on a high platform, giving a speech on behalf of the students.
At first, their speech content was fairly synchronized, but halfway through, Kuroban Gumbaha seemed to forget his lines and began improvising freely.
The scene immediately became somewhat chaotic.
Fortunately, although Kuroban Gumbaha was a bit chūnibyō, his speech wasn't too outrageous.
The host quickly grabbed the microphone and began announcing the upcoming competitions.
"There are eighteen events in total, divided between morning and afternoon. Now we officially begin the first event: the baton match!"
As the competition officially began, students from various schools seated in the audience entered the arena, and many seats emptied out.
"It's her!"
At that moment, George also noticed someone.
It was Index, the girl whose mind contained 103,000 grimoires, whom he had met once before.
With a glance, he stepped forward.
During this time, he had gleaned many of the real secrets of the magical world through hints and clues from Aleister.
His previous plan to study magic in the libraries of major churches or to extract knowledge from the memories of magicians was, in truth, not very feasible.
Because the original grimoires necessary to learn magic were completely inaccessible to ordinary people. Only magicians who had been trained from childhood could come into contact with them, and they were heavily guarded by powerful mages.
Even with his current strength, if a conflict broke out and he was surrounded, it would be hard for him to escape.
Even Aleister, as powerful as he was, had once been seriously injured and had to hide his identity for years.
Moreover, the last time he had managed to read Sherry's memories so easily was only because they were in Academy City, which blocked out many magical intrusions and prohibited entry to many magicians.
Had it been in the church's headquarters, things wouldn't have gone that smoothly.
Any unexpected move would definitely provoke the wrath of the entire church—and possibly the whole magical world.
So, after learning all this, he couldn't help but shift his focus to the 103,000 grimoires hidden in Index's mind.
Aleister could never fully trust him, nor would he pass on all magical knowledge without reservation—especially those outside modern magical systems.
If he truly wanted to understand the essence of this world's magic and ascend to become a Magic God, he still had to find a way to obtain Index's 103,000 grimoires.
Just because he couldn't crack the magical defenses in Index's brain now didn't mean he wouldn't be able to in the future.
Once he finished learning from Aleister and had grasped most of the magic of this world, forming his own magical system...
Maybe he could break the defenses using just his knowledge of magic.
Until then, perhaps he should make friends with her and build a good relationship.
"Hello, Index."
"I'm... so hungry."
Index lay sprawled across her seat, with the tricolor kitten she kept perched on her head, looking as if she were about to starve to death.
Hearing someone greet her, she slowly raised her head:
"Oh, it's you, Misaka... are you Misaka's sister?"
She had thought it was Misaka Mikoto, but seeing he wasn't wearing a school uniform and was dressed like a boy, she immediately remembered the guy who had saved her before, who claimed to be Misaka's brother.
"Sister? Is that how Misaka Mikoto introduced me?"
George didn't really mind.
Index nodded. When she saw the snacks in George's hands, her eyes sparkled as she jumped up, nearly drooling onto the ground.
"Wow, you have so much food—can I have some?"
"Of course."
Seeing this, George placed all the snacks he held onto the seat in front of Index.
"They're all for you."
"You're such a good person! Better than your sister!"
Index immediately began to gobble them up like a starving wolf.
At the same time, George took the opportunity to gently touch the back of Index's head, activating his psychic ability.
But in the very next second, his hand was forcefully repelled by a powerful force.
"Just as I thought, it won't work."
He realized that to forcibly break through Index's magical brain defenses with psychic powers, he would at least need to reach the peak level of Professor X.
So he gave up for now and turned his attention to the arena below.
After a chaotic skirmish, only students from two schools remained on the field—one of them being the school where Kamijou Touma studied.
Kamijou Touma himself was participating.
"This guy... could he really be a natural Gemstone esper?"
Watching Kamijou Touma in the match, George's eyes narrowed slightly.
The ability to negate all magic and esper powers—the Imagine Breaker—was far more overbearing than even Accelerator's ability.
If he could obtain this power, then even against single-universe-level opponents, as long as they weren't physically monstrous like the Heavenly Gods, he'd have nothing to fear.
But he didn't know if this ability, known as the Imagine Breaker, could be analyzed and replicated.
Thinking about it, it seemed unlikely. If it were possible, Aleister would have done so already.
After all, Academy City's superpowers were developed by mimicking the abilities of Gemstone espers.
If it could be done, Aleister would've definitely tried to replicate a power as insane as Kamijou Touma's.
"They're here. The two magicians have already entered Academy City by car."
As George pondered, Aleister's voice came through the earphones.
"Index, I have something to do. I'm heading off."
After hearing the voice, George turned to Index, who was stuffing her mouth full of food, and said goodbye.
Index quickly swallowed the food and waved to George.
"Bye-bye, Misaka Mikoto's sister! Next time I'll ask Touma to treat you to a meal!"
(End of Chapter)