A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 1023 Remote Live Streaming
“‘The Apostolic Cross’?” Index exclaimed. “The cross in St. Peter’s tomb?”

“That’s it,” Steele said. “Legend has it that the place where this cross is planted will be forcibly converted into Roman Catholic territory; and everything that happens in this area will go in a way that benefits the Roman Catholic Church.”

"How could there be something so unreasonable?" Kamijou Touma exclaimed.

“It’s precisely because the effects are so outrageous that the Roman Catholic Church has always denied the existence of this magical artifact,” Index said. “But now it seems that the legend does indeed exist.”

"Wouldn't that be terrible?" Touma Kamijou, who believed Index unconditionally, panicked. "The Roman Catholic Church sent that cross to Academy City, which clearly means they want to turn Academy City into their territory!"

“Yes, that reason is indeed more plausible than attacking Lin Wuming with the Spiked Sword,” Steele said. “So we have even more reason to stop them.”

Although both belong to the Christian faith, the positions and interests of the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church are clearly not entirely aligned; moreover, the Anglican Church and Academy City have an alliance, so they naturally do not want to see this happen.

Then, Tsuchimikado Motoharu interjected, "No matter what, what we need to do hasn't changed. We still need to stop them from activating that spirit weapon... I've already notified Takemiya Saiji, and we're heading to meet up with you guys, Ogami. Hopefully, Oriana hasn't had time to get too far..."

……

Meanwhile, in a modern office building in Rome, several high-ranking members of the Roman Catholic Church gathered together to watch the images on an electronic screen.

This is a property of the Roman Catholic Church. Although a considerable number of people in the Roman Catholic Church dislike or even hate modern technology, the times are what they are, and no one can go against the tide.

The Roman Catholic Church has two billion followers, the vast majority of whom are ordinary people—that is, ordinary people who do not reject the use of modern technology in their daily lives and work, and in fact, are quite dependent on it. In any case, the Roman Catholic Church cannot exclude this group of believers simply because it dislikes science and technology.

This educational property belongs to a multinational trading company, and what they are watching right now is a live broadcast transmitted via satellite relay from the other side of the Earth.

Academy City is currently holding a grand event called the "Daihasei Festival," which is one of the few opportunities for Academy City to be publicly displayed.

Every year at this time, the "Daihasei Festival" is broadcast live or rebroadcast around the world, showing the world the real situation inside this "city of superpowers".

Depending on attitudes toward Academy City, evaluations vary across different countries and factions, ranging from "a demonstration of achievements" to "a declaration of force."

Without a doubt, from the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church, this is Academy City conducting a "show of force".

Therefore, the Roman Catholic Church pays close attention to the Daihasei Festival every year, and even sends people directly into Academy City to conduct interviews and live broadcasts as an important part of intelligence gathering.

—The reason why Bishop Piagogi was able to send so many mercenaries, private detectives, and magicians in was also through these channels.

During this period, Academy City's information control will become quite relaxed; at least some street interviews and live broadcasts can be sent out directly without being intercepted or reviewed by Academy City.

The Roman Catholic Church just broadcast live the entire battle between Oriana and Touma Kamijou using a miniature drone.

Or rather, almost all of Touma Kamijou's activities throughout the day were being watched.

The Pope sat there expressionless and very quietly, without making any statement. The Left Land and the Wind Ahead made no attempt to hide their disinterest. The Wind Ahead, in particular, was the representative of the Orthodox Church's aversion to technology; even sitting in this room filled with modern technological products made him feel uncomfortable, and he seemed to be suppressing his anger.

Even Piaoji, who was directly in charge of this series of affairs, was not very interested. However, due to his lowest status among those present, he had to remain serious and watch the whole thing.

Only the one on the right watched the whole thing very carefully.

Because it was the mission he issued, only he knew the true significance of that seemingly ordinary battle.

“Although Orianna’s strength is not convincing enough, it is enough as a test,” said Right Flame. “It proves that the rumors of ‘Imagine Breaker’ are not exaggerated or fabricated; coupled with the Puritan Church’s ‘Index of Forbidden Books,’ it is indeed a very threatening trump card.”

"The nemesis of magicians?" Left Land, who had been drinking wine by himself, looked up at the replay on the screen after hearing Right Fire's evaluation. "It does look very powerful."

Despite saying that, there was no sense of awe or respect in his tone and demeanor; it was full of agreement and perfunctory attitude, as if he were talking drunk.

“It’s better not to underestimate him,” the Pope suddenly said. “Although it’s just a rumor, there are signs that Kamijou Touma was involved in the battle of the Rear Water.”

After saying this, the Pope fell silent again, and the other three "Right Seats of God" present also fell silent.

Fire on the Right glanced at the Pope but said nothing more.

Because of everyone present, he was the only one who truly valued Touma Kamijou... or more accurately, he had high expectations for Touma Kamijou's "Imagine Breaker," and therefore he didn't think there was anything wrong with the Pope's words.

Having achieved his goal, Right Fire did not linger any longer and got up to leave.

When he walked over to Piaget, he reached out and patted him on the shoulder: "Well done, keep gathering intelligence on 'Imagine Breaker'."

"Please rest assured." Piaoji nodded gently, but after the fire on the right left, he also got up to take his leave.

Those on the left and in front, who had absolutely no interest in this, naturally had even less desire to stay; in the end, only the Pope remained in the room.

A sigh escaped from the empty room.

In fact, during the Daihasei Festival, the real focus of the Roman Catholic Church's actions was on the "Apostolic Cross"—a top-tier spiritual artifact on par with the "Queen of the Adriatic."

However, both Right Fire and even that Piah Oji were dismissive of the plan, seemingly not believing it could succeed.

Moreover, even the "deliverymen" hired to transport the "Apostle Cross" were inexplicably used by Piaget as pawns to test Touma Kamijou...

(End of this chapter)