On the fourth day after the Old Magician of the Aozaki Family's body tore apart, Aozaki Touko, preparing to fly to London at the airport, saw news from Misaki Town in a newspaper.
"The local prominent The Ayatsuji Family was attacked by unknown assailants. No one in the family survived, and the cause of death is still under investigation. Father Ayatsuji Eiri, the eldest son of The Ayatsuji Family who worked at the local Goda Church, is missing. Misaki Town police suspect he may have had a motive for the crime and have mobilized a large number of officers to search for him."
Touko read this, reluctantly folded the newspaper, and put it aside. She felt a headache coming on and gently pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers.
She now only felt out of place in this eerie Misaki Town; the sooner she could run off to London, the sooner she would relax... Touko opened her shoulder bag, intending to find a painkiller, but unexpectedly discovered a letter. She frowned as she opened the envelope, finding that the letter contained only a few short sentences. One read, "It's best to get rid of Cornelius Alba as soon as possible." The other read, "It's best to kill Araya Souren as well." The letter was signed, "Your dear sister."
As soon as she finished reading, the letter spontaneously combusted, the azure flames instantly burning the paper to ashes, leaving nothing behind.
---Divider---
Upon arriving at the Clock Tower in London, Aozaki Touko immediately immersed herself in a busy and fulfilling life of study and research. Touko, with her extraordinary talent, quickly became a star at the Clock Tower. Through her efforts, the Lord of the Creation Department, Inolai Bartomeloi Altolhom, became Aozaki Touko's mentor.
After studying for a while, Touko discovered that this elegant and noble old woman, though outwardly gentle, was in fact a ruthless Magician at heart.
Having seen through this, Touko couldn't help but sigh inwardly at her former self. Compared to both her mentor and her sister, whom she had once subconsciously looked down upon, the past Aozaki Touko was undoubtedly naive.
No, Aoko and Bartomeloi are different, Touko thought. Aoko is freer than Bartomeloi; she does whatever she wants.
Thinking about it now, how could Aoko, who possessed an inhuman number of Magic Circuits and efficiency in magic operation, and had even developed many strange magics herself, be an ordinary Magician?
But I am different now, Aozaki Touko thought firmly. I will never be weak again.
That being said, Touko, who had been in London for several months, was still not accustomed to British "cuisine." This made her miss the delicious meals Aoko used to prepare for her. She had inadvertently grown used to that care, and now, having lost it, she regretted it deeply.
Although she planned to fight Aoko in the future to determine a victor, Touko no longer harbored the morbid idea from the original timeline of "I must kill Aoko to seize the magic." Her motivation was more about proving to her grandfather that she was no less capable than her sister.
Speaking of which, is Grandfather truly a Magician? Even without his physical body, he seems unchanged, still "alive" and well... ---Divider---
Aside from the various trivial matters during her research at the Clock Tower, Touko was very concerned about the letter Aoko had left her.
Why should she pay attention to Cornelius Alba and Araya Souren? Touko had secretly investigated Alba during this time. His research area was similar to Touko's, also focusing on Rune magic and doll-making, but Touko considered him merely a mediocrity, nothing worth noting.
However, during their interactions, his subtle attempts to curry favor with Touko made her quite disgusted. He was an old man nearing fifty, yet he used magic to maintain the appearance of a twenty-year-old.
It wasn't that Touko herself opposed using magic to slow aging, but rather that Alba's methods were too crude... While his appearance was that of a twenty-year-old youth, his bodily functions and the efficiency of his Magic Circuits had undoubtedly aged to fifty. In other words, he was the kind of person who couldn't achieve greatness but also wouldn't settle for less, yet always resorted to vulgar tricks to maintain a superficial semblance of dignity.
Thanks to Aoko's warning, Touko undoubtedly kept her guard up during her daily interactions with Alba, not showing any disdain. She also vaguely sensed that the vast majority of Alba's feelings towards her were the ugly component of "jealousy."
Touko knew that future sight existed, and she suspected her sister might be a possessor of such an ability, which was why she had learned of Alba's malice in advance.
Alba, that clown, was one thing, but why would Araya Souren also pose a danger to her? Touko was at a loss to understand this, because according to her secret investigations, Araya Souren, also a Magician from Japan who came to the Clock Tower, was essentially an ascetic figure. (He really was a monk.) His magical talent was unremarkable, and he usually focused on studying the barrier magic he alone excelled at, showing no interest in others.
Touko even admired Araya Souren somewhat, because compared to Alba, Araya Souren was undoubtedly a pure person. He came to the Clock Tower only to seek answers and knowledge, discarding fame and fortune, which Alba cherished, as if they were worn-out shoes.
However, due to Aoko's letter, Aozaki Touko still kept her guard up. She did not try to approach or contact Araya Souren, and maintained her attitude towards Alba at a polite level as much as possible. Covertly, she began making targeted preparations against their magical systems, just in case they suddenly went mad and attacked her, as the formidable reputation of future sight was not to be underestimated.
At this stage, Touko did not plan to eliminate these two, even though Aoko's letter had urged her to do so. The most important reason for this decision was that her foundation at the Clock Tower was not yet stable. Eliminating Araya Souren would be one thing, but eliminating Cornelius Alba could very likely provoke retaliation from the organization known as the Schoenbaum Abbey.
Touko was quite confident in her future. Once her research achievements reached the appropriate level, she would be free to do as she pleased. At that point, neither the foolish Japanese monk nor that old man pretending to be young would be a threat.
---Divider---
Aoko leaving Touko a letter warning her to eliminate those two in advance was merely a precaution, to prevent her sister from befriending them out of admiration for their talents, and then getting herself killed once due to overexposure of her information.
But she didn't think Touko was the type to be very obedient, so she didn't expect Touko to find an opportunity to kill them as soon as she arrived in London.
The Ayatsuji Family was silently eliminated by Aoko using mechanical devices combined with arcane magic. Father Ayatsuji Eiri inexplicably went mad and destroyed his grandfather's physical body. This incident completely crossed her bottom line, so her revenge was merciless.
Grandfather's situation was no different from before, except that since inheriting the magic, he no longer taught her, but instead arranged other channels for her to study magic.
Aoko and Grandfather made an agreement: when she could partially activate the Fifth Magic, the Old Magician would grant her access to that cave.
After graduating from Shirou Asagami Girls' Academy, Aoko chose to attend a high school very close to her home, which was Misaki Town's most famous private high school, Misaki Private High School. In this regard, Aoko's choice was consistent with the original timeline.
As a freshman in high school, her exceptionally beautiful figure and stunning appearance attracted countless boys and girls, which genuinely bothered Aoko for a while.
Towards the girls, Aoko adopted a strategy of being friendly but refusing any romantic involvement. As for the boys, Aoko took a strong stance. At an opportune moment, she publicly severely injured the son of a local business owner, sending him to the hospital. Then, using the Aozaki Family's influence in Misaki, she forcibly suppressed the incident's notoriety. This action deterred many with impure intentions, and from then on, boys kept their distance from Aozaki Aoko.
Initially, the school wanted to use this incident to curb Aoko's arrogance, but her continuous perfect scores in all subjects left the principal with no grounds to do so, so he had to reluctantly let Aoko do as she pleased.
In terms of daily life, Aoko leveraged her understanding of "world trends" and, using "the heir to magic" as an excuse, prematurely divulged some information to her father, the nominal head of the Aozaki Family, allowing him to make some preparations in terms of investments.
Several months passed, and the Aozaki Family's secular companies indeed made a lot of money. Even Aoko's usual family dividends increased significantly, but it was still just that. After all, her own father was just an ordinary person and couldn't pull off the kind of overpowered, 'Dragon King' type operations where prior information allowed him to dominate everything.
Aoko currently spends most of her time residing at Kujonji Mansion on the mountain, which is the home of Kujo Arika.
The Aozaki Family, as the local Manager of the distorted spiritual pulse, has always maintained a good relationship with Kujo Arika, a descendant of the First Magician. Aozaki Touko and Kujo Arika have also been good friends for many years. Aoko's grandfather wrote a letter to the fairy tale witch, Kujo Arika, entrusting her to continue teaching Aoko as a magical mentor. Therefore, Aoko has been living at Alice's home since she started high school.
Kujo Arika herself is a formidable individual on the Magician level. The mystery of her fairy tale magic system far surpasses that of most Magicians, meaning that even at the Clock Tower, it would be impossible to defeat her with magic alone.
There might be a reason for the "fragment of one" existing, but no one can deny Kujo Arika's talent and magical prowess.
Compared to her abilities in the occult, Alice is much less capable in everyday life.
Due to her magical research, Alice's financial expenditures are quite substantial. Coupled with her fondness for expensive black tea, she often finds herself with very little disposable income, sometimes even needing to carefully plan her meal expenses.
Her father was the eldest son of the current generation of the famous Japanese conglomerate, the "Kujonji Family Group," but because he met Alice's mother in England, he renounced his inheritance rights and chose to marry Alice's mother. However, because Alice's mother was "the Witch of Witches," she passed away after Alice's birth due to the inheritance of power.
After her mother's death, Alice's father brought Alice back to Japan, but due to her mother, the relationship between Alice and her father was very strained.
Later, Alice's father also passed away, so she has always lived alone in this large Western-style mansion on the mountain. She did not make it to the hospital to see her father one last time before he died, which has always been a knot in Kujo Arika's heart.
Incidentally, Alice's line of witches is the only witch lineage that maintains a beautiful human form. This fact has led outsiders to suspect that the Yumina line of witches and other witch inheritances are not the same thing at all. For example, the infamous werewolf Beryl is actually an inheritor of a witch clan whose origin is a fairy. His mother was once a hundred percent ugly and evil fairy, who only later transformed into a human and gave birth to Beryl.