On how PhDs become human evil

"Instead of doubting that I'm lying, you should doubt the church that gave you that idiotic conclusion. Think about it carefully. Would your organization really let something as precious as the Index out there? And only send the two of you to protect it? Your organization's leader can't be an idiot, can he?"

After being so bluntly threatened and lectured by Bai Jie, Kanzaki Kaori and Stiyl finally lost their composure.

"I...I'll go ask the archbishop."

Kanzaki Kaori took out her phone.

Section 521, Question 21: You think Shuten-dōji is a damage dealer?

Kanzaki Kaori's phone call didn't last long; she only exchanged a few words before hanging up.

"Hey Kanzaki! What did the Archbishop say!?" Stiyl asked impatiently.

"...Lord Bai Jie is right, the Archbishop has not denied deceiving us." Kanzaki Kaori's tone was extremely bitter when she said this.

Upon hearing Kanzaki Kaori's words, Stiyl's expression shifted as if she had witnessed the collapse of the heavens and earth, plunging her into utter despair and collapse.

Stiyl and Kanzaki Kaori belong to an organization called the Church of Necessary Evil, a purge organization established by the Anglican Church specifically to deal with heretical magicians, and its leader is Laura Stuart.

Stiyl and Kanzaki Kaori both knew that this leader was definitely not a good person. It was said that she did as many good and bad things as she did, and her moral compass was completely unclear. However, Stiyl and Kanzaki Kaori always believed that she was honest with them, who were from the same church, and that she would not deceive them on matters related to the mission.

However, Laura Stuart deceived them, using a magical spell to bind Index, forcing her to erase her memories once a year, or she would gradually lose her ability to breathe and die.

With Kanzaki Kaori and Stiyl's magical abilities, they could have easily analyzed the spell and found a solution within a year, freeing Index from the torment of memory erasure. However, the church did not tell them the truth, causing them to hurt their most important friend time and time again.

"So, what are you planning to do?" Bai Jie asked.

"...Erase Index's memories." After a moment's hesitation, Kanzaki Kaori said, "Tonight is the one-year deadline. There's no time left to analyze and undo the spell. Next year... next year I will definitely find a way to break that spell and free Index from its bondage!"

"Then it will be too late."

"Huh?"

Shrugging, Bai Jie said, "Now that you know about the existence of the spell, the Anglican Church will definitely not let Index run around outside any longer. They might ask you to take her back and set up a new binding spell, or they might imprison her completely."

"...It was indeed the Puritans who did it, but we have no other recourse."

"Who says there's no way?"

Bai Jie pointed to himself.

"No matter how sophisticated a magic spell is, it is ultimately made of magic power. For someone like me who can directly manipulate magic power, interfering with it is a piece of cake. I can undo the spell in two or three seconds at most."

"Really...really?"

"If you can't solve this, I'll eat shit while standing upside down."

Bai Jie made a solemn oath.

----------------------

Inside that dilapidated house.

"...That's how it is. I apologize for the hurt I caused you before, Touma Kamijou."

"Oh, it's alright now. Since the misunderstanding has been cleared up, everything's fine." The spiky-haired high school student, Touma Kamijou, said without any concern. "By the way, so your name is Bai Jie. I really want to thank you for what happened the other day. If it weren't for your sudden appearance, Mr. Kamijou would probably have been chased by that Bilibili guy all night again."

"Hmm? Some time ago?" Bai Jie frowned.

In his memory, this was the first time he and Touma Kamijou had met. How could he... wait, it seems like this wasn't their first meeting.

"You... are you the boy who ran away back then?"

Bai Jie's voice rang out. When he first arrived in this world, Misaka Mikoto seemed to be confronting a man, and then the man ran away as soon as Bai Jie appeared.

So that was Touma Kamijou!

Touching his chin, Bai Jie laughed: "So that's it. It's you. What a coincidence."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I am Bai Jie, currently working as an English and math teacher at Tokiwadai. I am also Misaka Mikoto's teacher and have a good relationship with her. I can easily give her a call and invite her out for coffee."

"Uh... please don't call that Bilibili guy over, or Mr. Kamijou won't be able to sleep tonight!"

He hadn't had much rest because of Index, and if Misaka Mikoto were to come along, Touma Kamijou felt like he could really say goodbye to sleep.

Seeing Touma Kamijou's cowardice, Bai Jie shrugged and said, "Just kidding. Okay, step aside for a moment, I'll take care of removing this girl's binding spell. If we do it now, we can go have dinner."

"Oh, okay, please go ahead!"

It seems that Touma Kamijou is very sensitive about Bai Jie's identity as Misaka Mikoto's teacher, and even uses a respectful title for him.

Arriving beside the still unconscious Index, Bai Jie opened his clairvoyance—

"Oh my, so this is the Index of Forbidden Books. It's really something, the original text of a grimoire... Hmm, it's a good thing, but unfortunately it's useless to me. So where is that spell? I can expel it from my body first... It's right here."

After muttering a few words to himself, Bai Jie blinked and turned off his clairvoyance: "That technique is on her throat, a rather sensitive spot. What should we do?"

"At the throat...please make your move!"

"Okay, three seconds."

As Bai Jie spoke, he put his hand into Index's mouth. Although he could directly manipulate magic, Bai Jie still needed to be able to access the magic, especially since it was a completed spell.

Bai Jie inserted his finger into Index's mouth, and soon he felt his fingertip touch something hard.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

The moment the three seconds were up, Bai Jie withdrew his hand precisely on time.

"Boom!"

The moment Bai Jie withdrew his hand, an incredibly powerful magical force suddenly erupted from Index's body; however, this magical force had only just appeared—

"Boom—!"

An even more powerful magic erupted from Bai Jie's body, directly pressing it back into Index's body with sheer quantity and quality!

Seeing this, Kanzaki Kaori and Stiyl stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to say.

The power Index had just unleashed made them both feel incredibly uneasy. After all, it was the power of 103,000 magic books combined, only a step away from becoming a demon god. Who could have imagined that Bai Jie would forcefully suppress it in the next second! The two had indeed heard that powerful mages could defeat weaker mages simply by releasing their magic, but Bai Jie's operation... they really couldn't do it!

Standing up and clapping his hands, Bai Jie said, "Great, that's it. We won't need to remember everything every year anymore."

P.S.: I played Onmyoji Arena all afternoon again, and I found that my deck is really deceptive. You might think the main damage dealer is Shuten-dōji, but the Onmyoji and Momiji also deal a lot of damage! In five of my games today, the Onmyoji and Momiji carried the team, and Shuten-dōji didn't even get a chance to do anything.

Section 522, Part 22: Once the urge to play cards kicks in, no one can stop it!

Three days after the Index incident ended, Bai Jie called Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko over.

"Let's play cards today!"

As he said this, Bai Jie placed a bunch of cards on the table.

"Are you out of your mind again today?"

Misaka Mikoto looked at Bai Jie speechlessly.

"When you suddenly called saying something urgent, I thought it was because my belt was finished, but it turns out it was about playing cards..."

"What? You look down on playing cards?!" Bai Jie's expression suddenly turned Malik-like. "Then, as a duelist, I must challenge you to a duel! I'll make you understand the power of dueling!"

"The power of dueling... I was wondering why you suddenly wanted to play cards? Weren't you obsessed with that Sekiro game?" Misaka Mikoto asked.

"Ha, Sekiro is nothing, it's just a game by Miyazaki, how could it compare to Yu-Gi-Oh!"

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Bai Jie became withdrawn because he died too many times in Sekiro. To relax, he used his clairvoyance to observe other worlds and discovered a casual game. Although that world was supposed to be a technology-driven world, for some reason, the technology tree was skewed, and the card game technology had been developed to the point that it could allow time travel!

After experiencing the game briefly through the body of a duelist, Bai Jie fell in love with it so much that he created a physical deck and became obsessed with playing cards, wanting to find someone to duel with.

Then the unlucky ones he found were Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko.

Looking at the scattered Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, Shirai Kuroko shook her head and said, "Sorry, Mr. Shirai, I have to take care of my duties as a disciplinary committee member, so I'll have to excuse myself."

"Alright, Misaka, you come and duel me. If you win, I'll give you your belt."

"Then let's duel!"

Misaka Mikoto instantly adopted a serious expression and sat upright on the sofa.

With a cold laugh, Bai Jie sat down on the sofa opposite her, and with a flick of his hand, rearranged the scattered cards on the table into a new deck.

"You can use this Dark Magician deck; it's more suitable for beginners. The little book on your sofa is a beginner's guide. As for my deck, it's this one—!"

"Whatever, let the duel begin! Watch me defeat you and get the Kamen Rider belt!"

"Hmph, you're really impatient. Do you really think you can defeat a true duelist like me?!"

Using magic, they conjured a tabletop for playing cards, and Bai Jie and Misaka Mikoto each placed their card decks in the preparation area.

"Duel!"

"Duel!"

"I'll attack first—Doro!"

With an exaggerated gesture, Bai Jie drew a card from his deck, glanced at his hand, then at the card he had just drawn, and laughed: "Hahaha! Looks like you'll be gone in just two turns!"

"Activate the Spell Card Fusion from my hand! Send the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in my hand as Fusion Materials to the Graveyard!"

"Let me show you the strongest, most ultimate dragon in history! Transcending the boundaries of time and space, descend! Destructive jet of white light!! Perfect, invincible, the strongest!!! Ultraman Blueace White Dragon!!!"

After a series of smooth moves that sent four cards to the graveyard, Bai Jie slammed one card onto the table with the force of smashing it!

Misaka Mikoto retorted irritably at Bai Jie's ridiculously over-the-top chuunibyou (delusional) behavior: "Why are you yelling so loudly? It's not like I can't hear you. Let me see what kind of monster it is... Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, twelve stars, dragon... 4500 attack power and 3800 defense power?! Why did you summon such a powerful monster in the first turn?! And how did you even do that?!"

Misaka Mikoto has five cards in her hand, including three monster cards: the core of this deck, Dark Magician; Elf Swordsman; and Magician Twin Souls. But none of these cards can compare to the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon that Bai Jie summoned this turn!

Narrowing her eyes, Misaka Mikoto questioned, "I said, you didn't play against me without shuffling the cards, did you?"

"How...how could that be? I am a true duelist. True duelists even decide for themselves when to draw cards. I just drew the card I wanted."

"You didn't even shuffle the cards!"

"Shut up! My turn ends here! It's your turn! Now, draw a card, Misaka!"