"The Daihasei Festival?"
Looking at the handbook handed over by the Headmistress, Selene gathered her thoughts and stood up, taking the booklet with a touch of ceremonial politeness. She feigned ignorance, asking, "Is this the comprehensive sports competition?" Then she quickly shifted into character, stepping forward to pull the chair across the desk for the Headmistress.
"Yes... ah, thank you, Selene."
After sitting down, the Headmistress froze for a mont. For so reason, when Selene had opened her eyes just now, she felt a strange shiver running through her body. Before she could react, a gentle, butterfly-like voice soothed her discomfort, like clear notes in the dark or the sound of a tranquil stream. It relaxed her fatigued body from the day’s work.
Looking at the poised, composed, and elegant student—who embodied Tokiwadai’s philosophy of "creating top-tier international talents during compulsory education"—the Headmistress couldn’t help but nod approvingly. Selene ranked high in both her ability developnt and various other talents.
If there was any regret, it was that Selene’s ho economics class... was rather below average. But, after all, she was from a noble family with German military aristocratic traditions, so it was understandable she didn’t et Japanese school expectations.
"Julius inl Little Red Riding Hood (Austrian coffee brand), madam, would you like sugar cubes?"
As she poured hot water into the French press, brewing the ground coffee, a rich and refreshing aroma spread through the air. She then gently lifted her head, opened the sugar cube box on the table with tongs, and asked politely.
It had been a while since her main consciousness had personally served a guest with such courtesy. Now, reflecting on it, it was actually rather amusing. It seed the etiquette courses she had cramd into her head hadn’t been fully returned to the etiquette teacher yet.
Ahem... truthfully, this was just Selene rehearsing. Mother Katie was coming to Academy City to cheer her on. This kind of detail always mattered to Mother Katie, so of course, Selene had to practice a bit.
Moreover, with the Headmistress here, and considering Selene’s status as a Tokiwadai student—especially after receiving the Headmistress’s special treatnt—respect for her elders and teachers was only proper.
Killing two birds with one stone.
Here, there was no Empress or God-Emperor of the Sacred Selene Empire, just a lucky middle school student with familial love, a Level 5 Esper. Selene had no need for an idol persona; she embraced her identity.
Whether it was acting or appearing insincere, as long as Selene didn’t break the illusion, it was as good as genuine, and she truly enjoyed it.
"Just one, please."
Adding a single sugar cube and stirring with a spoon, Selene leaned forward to place the cup in front of the Headmistress. Then she took her seat again, straightening her posture.
Splash~
Flipping through the information about the Daihasei Festival, Selene couldn’t help but chuckle. "For a competition with ordinary people and low-level espers, if I compete and end up crippled or killed, how should we handle that?"
The Daihasei Festival was a massive, seven-day event hosted annually by all schools in Academy City, with over 1.8 million participants. It was one of the few days of the year when Academy City opened up to the public.
The entire student body competed in school-based teams, and the events were primarily based on competition among espers. During the festival, Academy City was almost completely open to the public, with live broadcasts on TV.
Though it was essentially a typical sports event, it was promoted as a grand spectacle due to the recomndation for espers to use their powers (though they couldn’t endanger the audience, which ant high-level espers often couldn’t fully unleash their abilities), transforming it into a dazzling battle of powers.
The rules stated "no abilities with an interference value above 5 allowed," and abilities like Selene’s would always exceed that threshold, regardless of how they were adjusted.
The basic and auxiliary teleportation abilities alone, without weight or quantity restrictions, far surpass the limits of other LV4 spatial espers. Not to ntion other offensive applications that are instantly lethal—one touch, and it’s ga over.
At the sa ti, Selene was curious how the Daihasei Festival’s organizing committee would place restrictions on her powers.
In the past, the winning team of the Daihasei Festival was always one of the five prestigious schools in Academy City. Tokiwadai was known as a consecutive champion.
However, in the last Daihasei Festival, Selene had unfortunately not participated. She joined the school a bit late, making her sothing of a mid-term transfer.
Moreover, her attention was not focused on that at the ti. As a result, the last festival was won by Nagatenjouki Academy, ending Tokiwadai’s streak of victories.
Misaka Mikoto did not participate for so reason, and as for Shokuhou Misaki... well, unless she used her ability, ’ntal Domination,’ to alter the mories of the judges and the audience, forcing a win, it was unlikely that this self-proclaid sports idiot would contribute much. Even if she participated, it would be more about just showing up rather than competing seriously.
Since the Daihasei Festival was one of the few tis Academy City opened to the public, Katie had chosen this ti to co. Not only would there be a major event, but it would also give her a chance to cheer on her daughter without troubling Selene (who would need to use her council privileges to facilitate the visit during the otherwise closed-off days).
Selene guessed that Katie’s primary reason for coming was simply to be a part of the festival and show her support.
"Ahem..." The Headmistress suddenly started coughing, having been caught off guard.
"Selene, that’s enough... rember, friendship first, competition second. Never forget, no harm to life!" she said with a rather serious tone.
Additionally, the Headmistress privately noted that Selene’s temper was a bit... explosive.
"Just kidding, I get the restrictions on my participation now."
Selene nodded, took a large sip of her coffee, and let out a satisfied sigh. Her cherry-colored lips parted as she spoke, "Since it’s your invitation, Headmistress, I’m in. With participating, Nagatenjouki Academy won’t be as lucky as last year. You can rest easy on that front."
"I believe in your strength, Selene."
The Headmistress, unable to hide her inner thoughts, nodded. She rembered well how Nagatenjouki Academy had ended Tokiwadai’s streak of victories in the last festival.
This ti, she had decided to bring out her trump card.
As for things like recruiting fa, it wasn’t that she looked down on Nagatenjouki Academy, but in Academy City, whose reputation was bigger than Tokiwadai’s?
In Academy City, using high-level espers to boost the school’s prestige was the most common and effective thod. But when it ca to LV5 espers, such shortcuts weren’t available to every school.
And Tokiwadai just so happened to have three!
"Are there any other LV5 espers participating?" Selene asked, holding the white porcelain coffee cup.
"The Academy City Operating Committee has invited all LV5 espers to make speeches at the Daihasei Festival, but so far, only Shokuhou Misaki and Sogiita Gunha have confird their participation."
It was to give speeches at the festival, not to compete.
However, Selene understood. Of the eight LV5 espers, the third, Kakine Teitoku, known for ’Dark Matter,’ and the fifth, Mugino Shizuri, with ’ltdowner,’ were not students. Aihana Etsu was a shadowy figure, impossible to pin down. So participation in the festival was out of the question.
After a pause, the Headmistress put down her coffee cup, clasped her hands in front of her stomach, and continued, "Additionally, Selene, the heads of the five schools within our school garden have agreed that for the ’Athlete Oath’ segnt, we would like to ask you to represent us all. How do you feel about that?"
"Huh?" Selene blinked in surprise.
This job, she faintly recalled, was usually assigned to Shokuhou Misaki. It seed like her spot had been taken right away. Wouldn’t that be a bit inappropriate?
"Shouldn’t it be Shokuhou Misaki?"
"If you refuse, Selene, then yes, it will be her."
"Then never mind. I’ll participate in the Daihasei Festival, but let her handle the speech. After all, she’s not really skilled in sports," Selene said with a nonchalant smile, waving her hand. A glimr of light glead in her crimson eyes.
Splash~
"Then, the spot is settled."
The Headmistress drank her coffee in one gulp, stood up, and brushed off her slightly wrinkled attire, nodding toward Selene. "I look forward to your performance, Selene."
Selene waved her hand, and as the Headmistress’s figure disappeared, Selene imdiately stopped smiling. She let out a long breath, leaning against the balcony railing. Taking out her smartphone from her pocket, she glanced at the screen: 9/14.
"September 14th... it’s been about a month and a half."
Seeing this, Selene rubbed her temple in slight frustration, her fingers tapping absentmindedly on the railing.
Selene clearly rembered that when her main consciousness left, it was at the ti of Mikiya Haru’s arrest and the conclusion of the [Level Upper] incident, which happened around late July. Now, it was mid-September, and the preparations for the Daihasei Festival had begun. There was less than a week until the event officially started.
However, Selene wasn’t surprised by the different flow of ti in the Index world. It was to be expected.
Ti was originally just a way to describe the developnt of things.
The universe itself has no concept of ti. Ti is a parater defined by humans based on Earth’s rotation and orbit around the sun—a standard of asurent, marked by years, months, and even seconds or milliseconds. Outside the solar system, the concept of ti is aningless.
It was created by humanity as a conceptual tool for convenience—so they could record, asure, trace, and foresee events.
Formulas, texts, and concepts like ti and space align with human cognition and continue to drive scientific progress. But, in the end, they are creations devised by humans to understand the world, serving as a common standard.
The concept of ti is crucial for beings with life and death.
If one crosses the star seas or the dinsions of the universe, the differences in ti flow can explain everything. It’s not about the hierarchy of world levels; it’s about the existence of Magic Gods.
’Magic Gods...’
At this mont, Selene deeply felt the troubleso limitations of the Magic Gods.
If we set aside other factors and simply talk about their nature, universes like the Halo Universe, where no individuals other than the singular being cover the world above them, or the Type-Moon world, where one singular being controls the entire Swirl of the Root, these are typical in most normal universes. The Index world, however, is unique.
Magic Gods—if magicians are born to fulfill their wishes, then Magic Gods are the beings who exist after those wishes are fulfilled. They are special magicians who have fully entered the realm of gods, mastering magic entirely and elevating themselves to divinity through a special ritual.
They possess infinite power, capable of overturning all laws. The world is like glass to them, ready to shatter with the slightest touch. A true Magic God can control all laws, possessing the power to destroy the world and recreate it from nothing.
Each Magic God has the power of a creator god, but the problem is, there are simply too many of them.
The Index world is quite peculiar. It is not purely flawless. It is overlapped by many religious phases, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Celtic beliefs, Hinduism, Shintoism, Aztec mythology, Greek and Roman myths, and Norse mythology. As many myths and religions as there are, there are as many phases on this world.
These phases act like curtains or filters, one layer over the other, changing the nature of the world. The world we see now is the result of observing through these phases.
The true power of Magic Gods is ’the creation and destruction of a certain thing (phase),’ making it attach to the real world. In this way, they can create and destroy the world as they please.
For the real world, the Magic Gods’ respective phases stack upon their bodies, and they accumulate a multiplicity of ’ancestral’ forces.
The ’ancestors’ influence each other, pressing against one another, collectively forming the rare and unique phenonon of the Index world. It’s like a fishbowl, where multiple Leviathans exist simultaneously, even having once been enemies, yet the world doesn’t shatter!
When one head can easily beco impulsive or regretful, more heads simply add more problems.
For the vast majority of outer worlds, there is usually only one dominant world barrier. But the Index world is different.
For every Magic God, there is a corresponding world barrier influencing it. Without a true dominant subject, the various phases influence and compress each other, leading to the Index world’s world barrier being extrely distorted and unique. It has no fixed flow rate and changes with the collision of the Magic Gods’ thoughts.
To give a conceptual example: ti may flow at one outer world second per day today, one outer world day tomorrow, and one outer world year the day after tomorrow. The flow rate constantly shifts without a central tone.
The Sacred Selene Empire’s multiverse empire is simply Selene forcibly using the Honkai Dinsion’s imperial history as a standard, enforcing uniformity in written language, transportation, and asurents.
To understand the specific changes within this, Selene would have to kill each Magic God, consu them, read their mories, then calculate to the exact date. She could compare and find patterns by looking at the periods where the overlaps of phases were most intense.
But is Selene so idle?
There’s no need or point in figuring this out.
As for the current state of the Magic Gods, they have no interest in conquering worlds or any such things. They are indifferent to everything in the universe. At this point, they no longer have any ambitions. They rely live out their own depicted happiness, desiring to live freely.
Selene can’t be bothered to take the lead in dealing with them. This is a matter for Aleister and Kamijou Touma, and that’s a different story for later.
Placing her phone on the desk, Selene breathed in the cool, fresh air, her eyes drifting to the slowly moving airship in the distance. The preparations for the Daihasei Festival were already in full swing.
Even sitting here, Selene could feel the vibrant energy of Academy City. Looking down, she saw groups of girls chatting and laughing, displaying the beauty of their youthful years.
In the Imperial Palace, surrounded by solemn guards and cautious servants, interactions were limited to either military brutes or bureaucratic officials. Changing environnts felt refreshing, and the sense of relaxation was truly enjoyable.
As Selene continued to organize the matters her split souls had dealt with, her phone rang.
Ding ding ding~
Selene frowned slightly and looked over.
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