Beneath the profound night lay a city far from peaceful.
The clamor of the day was but a trivial facade; far more startling transformations slowly surfaced in the pitch-black world that went unnoticed by most.
Hot breath gusted from its nostrils and mouth, countless spore-like substances dispersing into the air through specialized organs across its body.
A grotesque creature covered in tumors clung to the side of an abandoned, towering building, several broad, blood-red tentacles rising menacingly behind it.
A shocking wound ran from its thoracic cavity all the way up to its neck.
The monster continuously used its tentacles to devour the debris of the structure, leaving numerous pockmarks on the wall surface.
It digested the material at an incomprehensible speed, its injuries slowly healing in turn.
"Boldly invading the domain of science, do you think you're one of those magicians? I could smell your filthy stench from kilometers away."
"However, since you managed to evade the perimeter checks, even the sniffers installed on the city walls failed to detect you... you must have discarded your true form, only restoring it after managing to enter Academy City."
The light from a streetlamp fell near a shadowy corner, stretching a bizarre silhouette long across the ground.
A sizable Golden Retriever emerged with elegant, measured steps.
It wore a backpack of unknown purpose, from which a mechanical arm extended, deftly flicking the ash from the tip of a cigar. The dog's face held an unnervingly human-like expression.
This Golden Retriever, a handsome specimen in every regard, had already seen through the other's tricks.
It had likely undergone complete self-castration beforehand to enter Academy City, then used smuggled life-force crystals to concoct potions to restore its power. It probably had shady connections with certain research institutions.
Furthermore, the spores on its body could infect crowds, briefly assimilating and controlling people.
For some unknown reason, however, some of the poorly concocted, failed potions had leaked out, prematurely alerting the Anti-Skill corps.
Taking a drag from his cigar, the handsome dog lifted his head with an air of leisurely composure, watching without urgency as the strange lifeform tried to flee. After all, he was just here to help. The main player hadn't even made a move yet, and this was the last one remaining.
If Natsume-san were here, she'd probably be gasping in surprise—wasn't this the dog she'd sensed at the space elevator?
Back then, she'd been terribly curious, but it had vanished in the blink of an eye. She'd spent days puzzling over it after returning.
Just then, a ghastly pale arrow streaked across the sky, striking the tumor-ridden creature square in the chest.
With a tremendously loud crash, the monster was violently thrown back into a billowing cloud of dust.
Following the shot, a man in a suit casually stowed a small, exquisitely crafted short bow within an inner layer of his jacket and walked over to the handsome dog's side.
Strangely, this compact short bow seemed to have no accompanying quiver of arrows. The arrow that had struck the tumor creature appeared to have dissolved into motes of light.
This was the power of the magic side. Magicians skilled with bows were a rare sight.
"Those hiding within Academy City have all been dealt with. My commission is complete."
"But really, was such a fuss necessary for an opponent of this caliber?"
At some point, the Golden Retriever's mechanical arm had produced a tablet, on which he checked off the final target.
"This is only the beginning. Those things are growing increasingly restless. They are frantically trying to remove the Archetype imposed on the Japanese people, to revert everything to its original state. And Sonoko is their most important, nearly their only, target."
A flicker of worry crossed the suited man's face, but it was soon replaced by firm resolve.
"While I don't fully understand what these things truly are, judging by their nature, it's probably best that this 'Archetype' remains in place."
"The Archetype has its pros and cons. For those forcibly controlled by it, it's hardly a good thing."
Kihara Noukan gave an approving nod, deeply empathizing with the power of Archetype Control.
The so-called 'Archetype' is a term from psychology, referring to a consensus or set of values formed by people within an ethnic group or collective to cope with the same problems.
Simply put, it's a deeply ingrained concept about something—like Christmas, or washing hands after a meal—both can be considered forms of Archetype.
Archetype Control, then, is essentially finding a way to manipulate this concept, allowing a degree of control over lives encompassed by it, much like an esper ability or magic that can be freely used by its owner.
In practice, the more closely an Archetype's associated concept relates to people, the deeper the degree of control; the more trivial the concept, the lesser the influence.
A closely related Archetype, for example, would be the Kihara line.
The reason the Kihara line came into existence in the world was due to an Archetype held by Aleister Crowley. Through creating, disseminating, and destroying this Archetype, he gained near-total control over the entire Kihara line, achieving what is known as Archetype Control.
And this Golden Retriever was one of the Kihara, a product of an animal brain expansion experiment, named Kihara Noukan.
The Kihara line was essentially a product formed from a concept known as 'Abnormal Science.' If Aleister were to discard this Archetype, the Kihara would cease to be Kihara.
Even the concept of the Science side (not science itself, but simply espers and related phenomena) is a form of Archetype, forcibly created as a contender in a larger conflict.
This concept affects the vast majority of students, including Natsume-san herself.
She, in particular, is deeply influenced, firmly believing that esper abilities are legitimate, pure science, and consequently finds it difficult to comprehend the Magic side existing outside the Science side.
From the very beginning, Natsume-san was stripped of any possibility of entering the Magic side.
However, this influence isn't as binding as it is for the Kihara line. Even if stripped away, one would only lose the concept of belonging to the Science side; it wouldn't drastically affect their ability usage.
At most, they might come to feel that abilities aren't scientific but belong to the realm of magic.
After all, the Science side isn't science itself. The driving force behind abilities still stems from this world's fundamental physical laws. One's mastered Personal Reality and scientific knowledge cannot be stripped away.
Another point: these Archetypes can be stacked. A person can accept a multitude of concepts and, naturally, can be controlled by different Archetypes held by different people.
'Speaking of which, this Archetype doesn't seem to affect those existences themselves, but is instead applied to us, using our concepts to lock down their forms.'
'That makes the origins of these things rather suspicious, doesn't it?'
Kiyama Noukan took another deep drag from his cigar, his dog eyes narrowing in contentment—clearly a seasoned smoker. He had only received some vague, ambiguous information from the man beside him.
In truth, he already had his own suspicions. The origins of these tentacled, tumorous creatures might be quite extraordinary. Were they existences influenced by collective human thought?
So, were they things from the Phases?
After all, the birth of many Phases stems from various religions and myths, closely tied to human beliefs, and thus naturally influenced by them.
This is likely another manifestation of the world's connection to miracles. Human hearts can elicit responses from the world, just as Meigo Arisa was born from a young girl's wish aboard that 'Orion' spacecraft.
Meanwhile, Natsume-san, having finally finished her phone call and returned to Dormitory 210, blinked as she lay on the sofa. It seemed she had stumbled upon something rather astonishing.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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