It's said that when it rains, it pours. Rin now understood what that feeling was like. Of course, it didn't mean that the roof of the Tohno Family mansion leaked and it rained for several nights. If that were the case, Rin would be happy even if the roof had a hundred holes.
Aozaki Touko, was back... "Tou-Touko, why are you back so soon…?" Rin's face twitched, and her voice stammered as she spoke into the phone.
"Ah, I couldn't help it." Touko's voice also carried an undeniable heaviness. "The Mage's Association couldn't sit still any longer. Under the guise of assisting the Fifth Magus, they dispatched fifty Maguss under the Association to Misaki. I received the news and came back a step ahead."
"Mage's Association?"
"It's called the Mage's Association, but it's just people from the Clock Tower. The true giants wouldn't make a move, after all, no one would just watch the Fifth Magic fall into the hands of an old monster who is already at the pinnacle of magic. But these fifty Maguss are undoubtedly a prelude to the Mage's Association's intervention. Aoko's matter can't be delayed any longer. I don't have much time to prepare once I meet her. After the final cleanup, I will make my move."
"Touko!..."
"Rin, come and help me. Help me clean up those disgusting rats, and then, help me take good care of Aoko…"
"Beep, beep, beep…"
The phone was already ringing with the disconnect tone, but the phone in Rin's hand remained by her ear. "Is it really… too late?"
"Clatter…" The phone casually dropped onto the table. At times like these, children are the most sensitive. Akiha, who knew nothing, immediately realized that Big Sister was unhappy, so she tried to get out of Rin's arms.
Rin noticed the movement in her arms and subconsciously tightened her grip. She looked down at Akiha and asked, "What's wrong, Akiha?"
"Onee-chan is unhappy about something. This isn't the time to bother Onee-chan," Akiha said thoughtfully.
Rin's conflicted heart felt a touch of warmth from this understanding. She smiled, resting her forehead against Akiha's, and said, "I'm fine. I made Akiha worry. I'll take care of everything."
"En, Akiha will grow up and mature as quickly as possible, so that Big Sister won't have to solve everything by herself."
"Haha, Akiha, you're truly too adorable!"
As night fell, the stars were bright and the moon clear; it was a cloudless night. Moonlight flooded in, and even without turning on the lights, the light through the windows was already bright enough.
It was already deep into the night. Rin, dressed in the same outfit she wore when attacking the Tohno Family, with a long, dark trench coat over her tight suit, stood before the grid-patterned French windows. The moonlight streaming through the windows cast a long silhouette on the floor.
Rin lowered her head and looked at her raised hands. Her jade-like hands glowed beautifully under the moonlight. No one would have imagined that such a pair of exquisite hands held immense divine power!
But what was the point? In the end, she could only help her clean up some rats… Rin muttered gloomily, her downcast gaze falling upon a dark briefcase placed in the corner. Inside was the initial version of the infant doll, "a doll completely identical to a human," which Touko had given her before she left last time. Rin had already drawn the binding ritual on it using Alice's blood she had collected. As long as Alice's current body completely ceased its life functions, this doll would automatically guide Alice's soul to inhabit it.
"Mage's Association, hmph!" Rin's eyes flashed with disdain and anger. Towards the Mage's Association, this so-called orthodox Magus organization that was sanctimonious and profit-driven, Rin felt a deep sense of disgust from the bottom of her heart.
Their so-called assistance to the Fifth Magus didn't specify who the Fifth Magus was. If that were the case, then anyone could be the Fifth Magus. And if that were the case, then someone among this group who obtained the Fifth Magic Crest could also be the Fifth Magus!
They were no different from those dirty rats, yet they insisted on giving themselves a sanctimonious excuse and reason. In Rin's view, such actions were even worse than those rats!
"Tch, since you've come, none of you are leaving!"
Looking at the city bathed in the cold moonlight, a layer of frost formed in Rin's eyes. Undoubtedly, it was the intervention of the Mage's Association that forced Touko to act ahead of schedule, or rather, it was because of the existence of the Mage's Association that Aoko didn't have ten or twenty years to slowly comprehend the Fifth Magic, forcing Touko to make her awaken.
While one couldn't completely deny the Mage's Association, over eighty percent of its members were extremely selfish beings who abandoned humanity in pursuit of the Root and mystery. Someone like El-Melloi II, who focused on teaching others and achieved the position of Lord through his vast theoretical knowledge, was the only one in the Clock Tower's history.
"Ping!"
The glass French window shattered into countless streams of light under Rin's explosive aura. A shadow under the moon, like a black eagle soaring through the sky, rushed out of the Tohno residence!
Rin ran at lightning speed under the moonlight, covering ten zhang with each step. The walls, houses, and buildings in front of her could not stop or change her path. She ran across rooftops, building tops, leaping from building to building, and finally reached the very top of Misaki City's tallest landmark building in the city center.
The strong winds at high altitude made the hem of her trench coat flap loudly. Rin looked at the dazzling night view of the city below her, breathing in the cold air of the winter snow. Standing high above, looking down on all living beings, this feeling of being detached from the world and independent was a kind of inexpressible desolation.
Rin stood at the highest point with her eyes closed, weaving several Magic Seals in front of her body while chanting a series of obscure and difficult-to-pronounce characters.
Three Small Knots: Domain Omniscience!
An invisible, intangible magical energy field instantly spread from Rin as its origin point throughout the entire Misaki domain! The magical energy swept over every blade of grass and tree, the Texture of a leaf, the expression of every passerby, their subtle movements, the creases in their clothing—all were imprinted in Rin's mind in minute detail!
Rin's entire Magic Circuits glowed with a faint green light. Rin maintained the consumption of the wide-area detection spell while enduring the torment of the excessive information on her brain.
Damn it, if I could control the effect of the spell, I wouldn't have to suffer this!
It was still the End Magic's over-correction. A large amount of useless information, along with the spiritual vision, poured into Rin's mind. If she could control it, there would be no need to display details like every passerby's expression in her mind.
Found it! Northeast direction, forest outside the city, seventy kilometers from here.
The black eagle, having landed under the moon, spread its wings again. The prey had appeared; it was time to begin a true hunt!
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