Toaru Majutsu no Index-Volume 13, Chapter 10: Their respective battlefields. The_Way_of_Light_and_Darkness.

Part 1

His time limit was 60 seconds.

He had to kill Kihara. It did not matter if he had only 10 seconds left after the fighting was over. Esper mode used orders of magnitude more power than normal mode. Even a few seconds of battle time would leave him several dozen minutes of time back in normal mode.

A Testament modified to be portable lay in one corner of the abandoned office.

With that, he could heal Last Order’s brain at the very least.

If the virus really had been inputted here, Kihara most likely still had the original script. In that case, it would not be hard to create an antivirus program.

(So I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him! This will all be over once he’s dead! I don’t have to think about anything else. I can’t return to the path of light either way, so I just need to focus on dragging Kihara down to hell with me!!)

With his mind focused on only that, Accelerator charged toward Kihara like a bullet. He spread out the fingers of his right hand. With his vector reflection ability, he could reverse the flow of blood throughout someone’s entire body just by touching their skin. That demonic hand would cause the person’s blood vessels and organs to burst. As Last Order was on this same floor, he did not want to use too flashy a method, but this was more than enough to kill.

He sent his hand flying sharply upwards toward Kihara’s face.

Kihara simply swung his head to the side to easily avoid it. He showed no fear or tension over how deadly even a single touch would be. His face was proclaiming that it was no problem as Accelerator would never hit him.

After Accelerator missed, Kihara threw a cross-counter.

With precision on a level dozens of times greater than a jab in boxing, he pulled back his hand just after he threw it.

The strike slipped past Accelerator’s reflection wall and slammed mercilessly into the bridge of his nose.

“Ah...!!”

The dull sound of something being crushed rang out.

This was not a flashy and heavy blow like from a hammer. Taking it to the nose shook his vision, but it was not enough to knock him unconscious.

However...

When Accelerator stopped momentarily due to the pain, a string of light blows assaulted him. Face, chest, shoulder, gut, and then face, face, face. When Accelerator swung his arm, Kihara would step back. When Accelerator tried to pursue, Kihara would move closer and attack.

“Gya ha ha!! You piece of shit! Aren’t you ashamed to stand before me like this!?”

Another impact shook Accelerator’s head along with Kihara’s shouting voice.

His reflection was not working.

That absolute wall was supposed to ensure not a hair on his head shook even if he took the brunt of a nuclear blast.

Accelerator tried to move away.

Kihara stepped further forward and threw another punch at his face.

“!!”

Accelerator’s reflection did not create a thick bulletproof shield in front of him.

It only redirected any force heading toward him. He protected himself from any and all attacks by altering any force moving forward so it moved in the opposite direction.

In other words...

(If my reflection acts on a force moving backwards, it sends it forwards!!)

With blood trailing down from the corner of his mouth, Accelerator was now confident he knew what was happening.

Kihara Amata would reverse the direction of his punch just before it hit Accelerator. He would do so in the instant when he was just barely touching the thin protective film of Accelerator’s reflection. That forced Accelerator to pull the backwards-moving fist forwards.

This just meant he had to alter the vector control ability protecting his body, but Kihara’s fist made minute adjustments in the direction of its turn as if the man had predicted the changes Accelerator would make. It seemed the intellect that had directly developed the esper power known as Accelerator was quite something.

“What’s wrong, kid!? I thought you came here to save that brat!”

He had lost his timing, had the rhythm of the battle taken from him, and was being led around by the nose. Each individual blow from Kihara seemed weak, but it gradually built up in his body like alcohol. As Accelerator’s movements grew duller, Kihara started taking bolder and bolder actions which only quickened the rate at which Accelerator grew “drunk”.

“Gh...Aahh...!!”

More time heartlessly passed.

This much of a gap existed between them even when he was using his full power as Academy City’s strongest esper, but once the protection of the electrode was gone, he would have difficulty even standing on his own two legs. The passage of time caused him to grow more and more impatient.

(You little shit!! You don’t have time to be stopped by Kihara here! You’re going to lose the time you need to heal that brat with the Testament!!)

“This is too easy, you scrapped murderer!! Have I already won!?”

A great roar rang out.

Accelerator had started to change his train of thought, but his mind was truly shaken this time.

Kihara Amata’s actions were growing larger. He had decided Accelerator could not keep up with his speed after the damage the boy had taken.

The gap between strikes grew as the weight of each punch grew.

“Did you think you were a total badass or something?”

A strike to the face caused Accelerator’s legs to waver. If he had not been paying attention, they would have gotten intertwined and he would have fallen to the ground.

“Did you think you could make up for everything you’ve done by standing up to a giant evil organization to save a poor kidnapped brat?”

While Accelerator was focused on keeping his balance Kihara let loose another punch. He tried to protect his vitals with his arms, but Kihara always managed to slip through a gap in his defenses and land the punch. As the damage grew, more blood began dripping from his closed lips.

“Gya ha ha! What a fucking joke! You’re never escaping the mud! You can crawl around and try to crawl out of it all you want, but that mud isn’t ever coming off!! You should just give up and sink in! If you start walking around, you’ll only get everything else dirty!!”

An especially great impact sent Accelerator to the floor. His knees gave out and his forehead fell down to smash against the carpet that had practically fused with the dust.

(...Damn...that bastard...)

But Accelerator placed his hands on the steel desk and avoided completely falling. The damage from Kihara’s attacks had torn out all of his stamina. His entire body was screaming for a rest as if he had just finished running a marathon.

(I know that. I know this mud is never coming off. You reminded me of that well enough, so I have no regrets about that. That isn’t what I want...)

He gritted his teeth, forced back the pain, and pushed down against the desk supporting him. He used his arms to stand up on wobbly legs.

(Give it a goddamn rest already. All of you are working together against that brat. You and I are the only ones that need to go to hell. Don’t get her involved in this, you piece of shit.)

But his determination was in vain.

He heard a quiet electronic beeping.

That tiny final notification had come from the choker-style electrode around his neck.

That mechanical sign indicated the end of his 60 seconds.

In other words, his battery was dead.

All strength left Accelerator and he collapsed to the dusty floor in front of Kihara Amata.

Part 2

A great roar rang out as sparks bridged between the wings of the “angel” as if they were about to overflow.

“Hah hah!!”

Vento of the Front used a single hand to jab her giant hammer toward Kamijou.

In response, Kamijou swung his clenched right fist at Vento with all his strength.

He heard the sound of something slicing through the air.

It did not come from Vento swinging her hammer.

It was the sound of Vento jumping three meters straight up into the air.

She had not dodged down or to either side; she had dodged straight up.

She had likely used some form of magic that used the air.

After Kamijou’s fist flew through empty air, his face was mercilessly struck by a flying kick counter. With a dull sound, he was knocked to the wet asphalt.

(Ghah!? She...!!)

Kamijou frantically sat up as he held his nose.

Vento stood directly in front of him.

She swung up her hammer and then forcefully swung it down toward where Kamijou sat on the road.

Kamijou heard the scraping sound of the chain.

The chain was wet with red blood and it was creating a spiral spear aimed for his face.

A wind weapon appeared along that shape.

“Gwahh!!” shouted Kamijou as he held out his right hand.

He deflected Vento’s attack and a storm of air erupted around him. The direction of the rain was greatly changed for just a few seconds.

But neither of them was watching the rain.

“Hh!!”

Vento sucked in some air and swung her hammer with all her might once more. The tongue chain wriggled like a living creature. Kamijou gave up trying to block it with his right hand and rolled backwards to evade it. He would never gain the upper hand if he only relied on Imagine Breaker. He used the momentum of his roll to move back even further and then stood up from the ground.

The air weapon stabbed into the ground instead of him. Fragments of the asphalt flew through the air.

As Kamijou used both arms to protect his face from the storm of rocks, he heard Vento’s painful voice.

“Cough... Shit. The output really has dropped...” She coughed up blood and glared at the angel behind Kamijou. Vento raised her voice while shaking the bloody chain. “Ha ha. This has been a real pain in the ass!! You’ve got that disgusting right arm and you’re covering for that angel that makes me want to vomit. Just how much do you want to make me laugh!?”

“Don’t joke around!! Do you think your viewpoint is the only one there is!? Why the hell don’t you try to accept others!?”

Vento charged through the storm of rocks and straight for Kamijou.

Oddly, the asphalt never once hit her. It almost looked like it was moving out of her way. Kamijou guessed this was another type of air magic.

She swung her hammer around while shouting.

And red blood leaked from between her teeth all the while.

“I hate science! I loathe science!!”

Just as Kamijou was about to knock down the hammer with his right hand, the hammer suddenly disappeared into thin air. Kamijou’s fist sliced through the air and then Vento produced the hammer in her hand once more.

Vento pressed the head of the hammer against Kamijou’s defenseless gut.

The tongue chain wrapped around the hammer’s handle.

“I hate science for doing this to me!”

In the next instant, a wind weapon shot from the end of the hammer.

Kamijou immediately twisted his body to the side, but the blunt weapon still grazed his side. That was all it took for his body to spin around like a bamboo copter. He had no chance of making a proper landing and he slammed into a crumbling wall.

“I loathe science for letting my brother die!!”

Vento swung her hammer around even more while shouting things Kamijou did not understand. Despite how tightly the chain had been wrapped around the handle, it had already been removed. She created a wind weapon which shot toward Kamijou. He had his back pressed up against a wall, so he leaped to the side to avoid it.

The building wall was smashed to pieces like a toy.

That power sent a chill down Kamijou’s spine, but then he suddenly froze.

A college aged man was lying on the other side of the destroyed wall.

“Wai-...!!”

Kamijou tried to stop her, but...

A great roar drowned out his voice.

It came from the sparks produced by the angel’s wings.

It quickly surpassed the level of a roar and became something similar to a shockwave.

“!!”

The vibration was so great that Kamijou covered his ears and grimaced in pain. He looked away from Vento and turned around. The sparks bridging between Kazakiri’s wings had finally surpassed their limit and been released.

Something burst out that exceeded the realm of sound.

Its path resembled a snake as it shot outside of Academy City in an instant. Despite striking a point far enough away to be hidden by the horizon, the wave of soil that was blown into the sky was still visible in the distance.

The angel had likely fired another attack to defeat her enemies.

(Shit...)

Pain pounded in his head.

He knew he had to defeat Vento soon or others would become wrapped up in this, but he could not move his body properly.

Meanwhile, Vento’s expression was one of someone who was not bothered by the pain.

“This is what science does!! And you’re one of them! Don’t you find it disgusting!?”

As blood continued to flow from her mouth, Vento used all of her strength to swing her hammer around. She aimed using the tongue piercing and smashed the concrete to pieces with an especially big wind weapon.

She was intentionally attacking the unrelated person there.

Part 3

He could not keep his balance in any direction. He could not even make the “calculation” to determine which direction to push to get up. He could see a hand sprawled on the floor, but as he tried to count the number of fingers, he would lose track partway through.

The battery had died, so the electrode on Accelerator’s neck was no longer functioning.

He could not use his powers, understand language, or even make simple calculations by counting on his fingers. He had difficulty controlling his body weight and center of gravity, so he could not even stand up properly, much less clench his fist and attack Kihara.

The abandoned office floor was covered in dust and clumps of it were caught all through the carpet. Being collapsed with his cheek pressed against that carpet was uncomfortable for Accelerator. However...

(How...am I...supposed to...get rid of...this discomfort?)

He could passively gather information, but he could make no active reaction to it. He could not make the “calculations” needed to bridge that gap.

A voice rained down from above Accelerator.

It belonged to Kihara Amata.

“Gradually arriving to fall asleep is fine, but is that far from that many problems!?”

Accelerator could not understand what he was saying.

What had he come here to do? He could ask himself the question, but he could not answer it. He was fairly certain Last Order was here. He was fairly certain he had to take her from here. That much he knew. He did not need to make any calculations to know that. He simply had to draw information he already knew to the surface of his mind.

However...

How was he supposed to do that?

(...................................................................................................)

Accelerator stopped moving there.

Even if his ability to think had been at its best, he would not have found an answer to that. Even if he could use Academy City’s strongest power to its fullest, Kihara Amata would predict his actions, confuse him, and control his powers. Kihara would then attack with a harsh counter. Kihara seemed completely unconcerned even when enough power to destroy the world was launched at him. Meanwhile, Accelerator had lost the benefits of his choker-style electrode so he could only barely stand with the help of a cane. Trying to find a means of victory there was simply too much to ask. Even if Tree Diagram was used, it would simply output the answer “0%”.

However...

“...?”

After spewing so much abuse at Accelerator, Kihara suddenly stopped.

A slight bit of confusion mixed into his expression of scorn.

And this was no surprising. Especially with someone who had almost perfectly predicted the function and weaknesses of the device on Accelerator’s neck immediately upon seeing it.

One of the desks creaked as Accelerator grabbed onto it and stood back up.

He was in no state to fight.

He could not even support his own weight. He had his hands on the desk, but he would collapse back to the floor the instant he let go. His eyes were not focused and were rolling around randomly. Only he could know what images those black pupils showed him.

Accelerator was losing even to earth’s gravity, so he was in no state to oppose a powerful enemy.

And yet he still confronted Kihara Amata.

Kihara laughed like an idiot as he saw how pathetic Accelerator was.

“What do you gain from removing the same bombardment unit!?”

He continued mocking him even though his words would never reach the boy.

He had likely been asking what Accelerator could hope to do with his battery dead, but Accelerator was unable to understand it. And even if Accelerator had understood, it would not have changed what he was doing.

Accelerator could not make any calculations in his current state.

He understood how hopeless the situation was and he could think of no way of breaking free of that situation.

However...

Accelerator could not calculate out any of the reasons he would lose either.

That meant he would not hesitate no matter what.

No matter what situation he was thrown into and even if he knew the next attack would kill him...

He would continue to fight to the very, very end.

He would fight without making any calculations.

Part 4

Kamijou’s eyes opened wide.

His right hand containing Imagine Breaker had not made it.

Vento’s attack had smashed the concrete wall to pieces like a bomb had gone off. Everything there, including the unconscious man, disappeared behind a cloud of gray dust.

This action was like attacking a battlefield hospital, holding a gun to the heads of the injured being treated, and pulling the trigger.

There was no way the man could have survived.

After the gray dust cleared, Kamijou was sure he would see nothing but pieces of human flesh scattered everywhere.

Meanwhile, Kazakiri continued firing attacks that resembled electrical discharges.

The great sounds of those attacks put further pressure on Kamijou’s heart.

“Damn yoooouuuuuu!!” he shouted after a bit of a delay.

The scene before his eyes was so gruesome it had taken his mind longer than usual to process it.

And then the cloud of dust suddenly disappeared as if a storm had blown in.

However...

It revealed the unconscious man with not even a scratch on him.

“Wha-...?”

“Ah...?”

Both Kamijou and Vento stared at the collapsed college student.

The attack had definitely hit. And yet...

(What is going on, dammit? I thought I could shake him emotionally by crushing someone in front of him.)

That had been Vento’s plan.

But...

Something like pale glowing cotton slowly floated down from the night sky.

Kamijou and Vento both turned their heads to look at it.

Tiny glowing objects that resembled a moth’s scales were floating around the uninjured college student. This was the sign of a supernatural power so weak that they had to pay close attention to even see it properly. However, this had covered the area around the college student to block the impact. This was what had protected the man from Vento’s attack.

Kamijou glanced around, trying to figure out where it had come from.

These glowing scales were floating around the area despite the pouring rain.

Something had caught Kamijou and Vento’s attention just as much as the survival of that man.

It was the light coming from these scales.

Kamijou Touma recognized that light.

He turned around.

Kazakiri Hyouka was scattering those scales from her countless wings.

“Ha ha...”

He laughed.

Kamijou could not help but laugh at this.

He heard the sound of some rubble collapsing nearby. More people who had been buried alive like the college student began to appear. There were men and women, adults and children. There were a great number of them.

Hundreds or even thousands of those scales had wrapped around them and protected them.

They contained no injuries.

Not even one.

The glowing of the countless scales lit up the surrounding area.

Her feelings were sweeping away the darkness!!

“Ha ha ha.”

Kamijou had no idea who had done this to Kazakiri, but he doubted they cared about the safety of the survivors. The destruction was one thing, but using those glowing scales that had saved those people was unlikely to have been in the orders given by whoever was controlling her.

In that case, she had done this of her own free will.

Even after being transformed like this and having her freedom robbed of her, she had desperately resisted. And as a result, she had managed to keep herself from crossing that final line.

The pencil-sized rods attached to the angel’s halo above her head moved at high speed. The light guiding her twinkled again and again.

This was likely a command telling her to stop these unordered actions.

An odd cracking sound came from Kazakiri’s right arm.

She was being bound so tightly that her arm’s silhouette visibly changed.

Even so, the scales floating around did not disappear.

She refused to stop protecting them.

With a great roar, the electric discharge-like attacks were fired one after another from Kazakiri’s wings and toward the outer perimeter of Academy City. However, countless scales appeared and blocked the path of those attacks. The attacks held such great destructive power that the scales were easily blown to pieces, but Kazakiri did not stop resisting. It did not matter how much it hurt her.

She attacked and defended. She simultaneously took two contradictory actions.

That represented what Kazakiri Hyouka was right now.

Even if she could not escape the control someone had over her and even if she could not stop attacking others, she did not give up.

She resisted to the point that her body groaned in protest.

She resisted so that misfortune would befall as few people as possible.

She gathered up all of her strength even if it would cause blood to ooze out.

And she fought alongside Touma.

“You hypocrite!! What are you doing!?” shouted Vento with her face turning red, but her words did not reach Kamijou’s ears.

“Ha ha.”

He was glad.

He had made the right decision to stand up and protect Kazakiri Hyouka.

He knew that for sure now.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!! I love it! I love it!! I’m always talking about my misfortune, but I’d say I’m fortunate enough if things like this can happen!! Right!?”

“Wh-what... What are you talking about!?”

When Kamijou left the proper course by laughing, Vento took a step back despite having the upper hand. Her tongue chain that had been dyed red trailed along after her. Meanwhile, Kamijou had no intention of answering her questions. He was already satisfied. If he did not need any more answers, he did not need to respond to Vento. Now that he had this answer, Kamijou’s heart would not break no matter what Vento said or did.

“Wait just a bit longer, Kazakiri.”

Kamijou Touma now spoke with the knowledge that his words would reach her.

He spoke to that girl who was scattering destructive attacks yet continuing to resist with those protective scales.

“Index is working to save you. This may be a huge problem, but I know she can handle it. Plus, she’s your friend. She’s sure to live up to your expectations.”

Kamijou gathered strength in his right hand.

He formed a fist that was incomparably stronger and harder than before.

“So don’t worry. I’ll take care of things here until she does.”

Part 5

“What the hell are you trying to do, you cripple!?” shouted Kihara Amata as he threw a real punch toward Accelerator who was unsteadily supporting himself on an office desk.

Accelerator could no longer use his powers, so Kihara no longer had to pull back his fist when punching. He could now throw his entire body weight into the punch.

As a result, Accelerator would be sent flying through the air like a scrap of paper.

However, he grabbed Kihara’s wrist just before he did. His grip was unexpectedly strong. His motions had been nothing more than an animalistic instinct to grab something flying toward him, but this kept Accelerator’s body in place.

“Tch!”

Kihara tried to shake Accelerator from his fist, but it was not working. As he did, Accelerator formed a loose fist with his other hand and swung it at Kihara’s face.

It produced a foolish slapping noise and caused almost no pain.

Accelerator grabbed the hair on the side of Kihara’s head just above the ear and forcibly ripped it out.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaaah!?” screamed Kihara as blood sprayed out.

Accelerator had pulled it all out at once like a weed, so the scalp had ripped up along with the hair. The bundle of hair in Accelerator’s hand was thinly held together by skin and pink flesh like a clump of grass held together by dirt.

He showed no mercy.

He showed no restraint.

As Kihara’s expression crumbled, Accelerator’s mouth split open in a smile.

He was fighting almost exclusively on instinct and his expression was one of extremely primitive exhilaration.

“You fucking brat!!”

Kihara pushed the side of Accelerator’s head with one hand and tried to move back.

However, Accelerator grabbed onto Kihara like a zombie and pushed him to the floor.

“You fuck!!” shouted Kihara, but Accelerator did not have the language comprehension to understand it.

Kihara tried to shout out “Don’t underestimate me!!”, but Accelerator tried to grab his ear and rip it off.

“Ohhh!?”

Kihara frantically shook his head to avoid the boy’s fingers, punched him in the face, and escaped from underneath him. He then rolled across the floor.

(This is a complete joke! I’ll fucking kill him!!)

Kihara spotted a handgun lying on the ground near him. It belonged to one of the Hound Dogs Accelerator had defeated.

Kihara intended to use it to fill Accelerator with lead, but...

“...”

Accelerator grabbed his hand.

Kihara tried to force his hand closer to the handgun, but Accelerator jammed his other hand into Kihara’s solar plexus. After Accelerator repeated the process a few more times, Kihara gave up on the handgun, slammed his shoulder against Accelerator’s face, and tried to move away.

He was mostly acting on instinct, but Accelerator still managed to collapse with his body in between Kihara and the gun.

(This damn brat. The more options he loses, the more of an edge he gets with his remaining actions!)

Kihara tried to catch his breath while he watched Accelerator writhe across the floor.

If Accelerator had still been able to think properly, he might have noticed that something was odd.

It did not make sense for this monster who had easily handled Academy City’s strongest Level 5 to be so concerned over this.

Kihara Amata had used a trick.

When it came down to it, the only reason he had been able to overwhelm Accelerator was because he had been the one to directly develop Accelerator. Kihara had every piece of data there was about Accelerator: personality, powers, physical ability, etc. He had used that data to arm himself with surefire techniques that were only effective against Accelerator.

Of course, for this to succeed, he had needed a much better sense for martial arts than a normal person and a genius intellect to work that massive amount of research data into his strategies. But even when he pulled it off, he did not have the ability to defeat one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s head on.

It he really could defeat a Level 5 with no tricks, Kihara would not have those Hound Dog subordinates. When that piercing-covered woman had appeared, he would have quickly dealt with her himself. During this mission, Kihara had always stayed back and let his subordinates handle anyone other than Accelerator.

But now he had been unmasked.

Accelerator had changed from a Level 5 to a powerless Level 0.

By abandoning all of his previous strategies, Accelerator had robbed Kihara’s “countermeasures” of all meaning.

(He’s making a fool of me. I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him. Shit. How could this happen? I was supposed to overwhelm him. I can’t figure out why I’m stuck crawling on the ground.)

As Kihara muttered curses under his breath, he suddenly noticed something out the window.

The “angel” was acting oddly.

Kihara was not sure what exactly had changed, but something seemed off. To put it vaguely, the ominous, stabbing atmosphere had disappeared.

(It’s...changed?)

Kihara was dumbfounded.

(Don’t tell me...some problem has occurred...that not even Aleister saw coming...)

Kihara wiped sweat from his brow and tried to stand up, but then he saw Accelerator’s face.

His mouth was moving in order to produce words.

But those words never reached Kihara Amata’s ears. And even if they had, Accelerator was in no state to produce words that another human could understand. Kihara would not have been able to comprehend what the boy was trying to say.

Even so, Kihara could feel his pulse pounding unpleasantly at his temple.

Accelerator’s expression and atmosphere were enough to tell him the boy was mocking him.

(Don’t you dare mock me...)

Kihara Amata’s eyes suddenly grew bloodshot.

(Just killing you isn’t enough. Just stopping his heart would give him too easy a death. I need to take more. I need to take away even the reason for his death. But how?)

His thoughts raced through his mind. What was Accelerator’s weakness? What was his vital point? What would make him suffer the most? Kihara brought together production, script, and effects to put together the worst possible scenario.

“Ha ha,” laughed Kihara.

He quickly stuck his hand into the inner pocket of his lab coat. He pulled out a single chip.

It contained the original script for the virus that had been inputted into Last Order’s brain.

That data would be necessary to heal her brain using the Testament.

Without it, Last Order could never be saved.

And...

Kihara Amata crushed the chip in his palm as Accelerator watched on.

“Gya ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

A scornful laugh burst out within the abandoned office.

The plastic shards fell to the floor. Accelerator did not move. He could not make any calculations, so he could not comprehend what destroying that chip accomplished. Even so, Kihara was satisfied. Nothing could have pleased him more than destroying everything that boy cared about right in front of his eyes.

“That’s what you get! That’s what you fucking get!! There’s more than one way to win! Do you hate me now, you fucking brat!? I just destroyed everything you hold dear! You can’t get any of it back now!! Ah ha ha ah ha gya ha ha!!”

This was the world Accelerator and Kihara Amata lived in.

It contained no restraint, mercy, compassion, and or salvation.

Good and evil would die alike. The weak would be devoured first. Someone like Last Order would never survive if they wandered into this world. This was the fundamental rule of the underground society. It was so basic that no one ever needed to state it. Yet another person had lost their life because of it all.

That was all this was.

It should have been nothing more than that.

As Kihara laughed hysterically, he kicked Accelerator’s side. Just robbing him of all hope was not enough; he was going to beat him to death too. Kihara’s face was deeply carved in the joy of a plunderer.

“Okaaay! You’re up next! How about you waste these final moments wondering if heaven really exists!?”

There was no hope left.

However, salvation had not abandoned Accelerator and Last Order.

“There she is!! It’s her!!”

A set of footsteps entered the abandoned office.

Despite having heard that girl’s voice only a few hours ago, it sounded very nostalgic.

As Accelerator lay on the ground being kicked, he turned his head toward that voice.

He saw Index standing there in a soaking-wet white nun’s habit.

Part 6

As the giant angel sent out great rumbling noises similar to an electrical discharge, Kamijou Touma charged toward Vento.

He shot toward her like an arrow. It made his previous movements seem like a lie. No, it was the opposite. He now knew the people who had been buried were indeed still alive and he knew that Kazakiri was still herself despite looking like that. Kamijou knew well that she would not easily grow hostile toward anyone. And now Vento could not hurt anyone nearby with her disorderly attacks. Kamijou had been freed from the bonds of all his worries and anxieties, so he could now fight with all his strength.

He just had to protect her.

He only had to protect that one important friend.

It was simple.

And so Kamijou Touma was freed from everything else.

“Shit!!” swore Vento as she swung her hammer around.

However, Kamijou had already arrived directly in front of her. He blew away the wind weapon with one strike and then stretched his right hand out more and more in an attempt to grab the part of Vento’s hammer that was not wrapped in barbed wire.

“!!”

Just before his hand reached it, the hammer disappeared form Vento’s right hand. The hammer immediately transferred to her left hand and Kamijou’s hand sliced through empty air.

Vento swung her hammer horizontally toward Kamijou’s wide open side.

Kamijou ducked down to avoid it. As a great roar passed by over his head, he jabbed his elbow into the center of Vento’s gut.

A dull sound of impact exploded out.

“Gehh!?”

Vento doubled over, her feet slipped, and she fell to the ground. Kamijou tried to stomp his heel down into her gut like a stake, but Vento swung her hammer around while on the ground.

A wind weapon was fired toward Kamijou’s face.

“!!”

Kamijou immediately moved backwards and the wind weapon shot by right in front of him. It tore through the pouring rain and left a particulate afterimage trailing behind it.

He had been driven back, but Kamijou was smiling.

He could do this.

(Vento prevented me from grabbing her hammer with my right hand.)

Kamijou opened his right hand and then clenched it into a fist once more.

(That means I can negate it. And I doubt she can fix it right away once it breaks. If I just touch it once, she won’t be able to use it anymore!!)

“It looks like I don’t gain anything from letting you get close.”

Vento spun the long hammer around in her hand and then rested it on her shoulder.

The red blood dripping from her lips was trailing down the narrow chain and soaking the cross at the end.

With his fist clenched, Kamijou gave a fierce smile.

“Now that I don’t have to worry about my surroundings, I can go all out.”

“Hah. You make it sound like that monster behind you is helping you.”

“It doesn’t just sound like it. She really is helping me!”

“You keep thinking that!!”

Vento swung the hammer down from her shoulder as Kamijou charged forward.

He knocked away the wind weapon with his right hand, but the second blast shot towards the ground at Kamijou’s feet. The asphalt was blown to pieces and the fragments assaulted Kamijou.

He crouched down so as few fragments would hit him as possible, held his arms up in a cross to protect his face, and continued forward.

As he did, he shouted, “This is your limit!! When you can’t use any human shields, this is all you can do!!”

“Don’t underestimate...God’s Right Seeeeeaaaattttt!!” screamed Vento as she swung her hammer around to create another wind weapon.

But Kamijou could interpret the action.

She used the hammer to create the “weapon” and it was fired along the trajectory of her tongue chain. It always followed the same pattern. Kamijou could handle it with just his right hand.

(No, Vento can probably do more than this normally.)

She had a spell that would crush anyone who turned hostility in her direction. That combined with this wind attack would be enough to handle most anyone. Even if her attack did not hit, her enemy would feel hostility from the mere fact that she held a weapon.

But Kamijou’s Imagine Breaker prevented Vento’s Divine Punishment spell from taking effect.

Right now, she could only use the blunt weapon that was only meant to hold people in check.

(So I can win!! I can end this here!!)

Kamijou clenched his right fist as tight as if it was a single solid object and charged toward Vento.

But before his hand could reach her, Vento swung her hammer horizontally.

This produced a blunt weapon made of air.

But before it was fired, Vento rotated her wrist and swung the hammer up. With a great roar, a second weapon was created.

The two weapons did not fly off in different directions.

They ate into each other and become a single mass before exploding out in a fan shape like a shower. Hundreds of pointed air drills shot toward Kamijou all at once.

He could defend against all of them with just his right hand.

“Ahhhh!!”

As he charged forward, Kamijou forcibly twisted his legs so he could roll to the side with all his strength. With a dull sound, the asphalt was torn up for several dozen meters behind him. The arm of his school uniform was ripped off and he felt the skin tearing as well.

Kamijou came out of his roll in a crouch and Vento swung her hammer up toward him.

She swung the hammer around vertically and horizontally in quick succession to produce three different blunt weapons this time.

Kamijou’s body stiffened in shock.

(Not good!)

He had not yet fully stood back up, so he could not move quickly. If he was attacked with another shower like before, he was not sure he could avoid it.

“Dammit! It’s gonna hit!!”

Kamijou immediately held up his right hand, but...

Vento suddenly bent over and blood exploded from her mouth.

She lost control of the three blunt weapons and they exploded on the spot. With a great roar, Vento’s body was sent flying backwards.

“Vento!!” shouted Kamijou without thinking.

He recalled that Vento had coughed up blood before as well.

“Why are you shouting out like some kind of idiot?”

While spitting out the blood in her mouth, Vento unsteadily held up her hammer.

The explosion had ripped her yellow clothes in places and blood started seeping into them.

“It was you on the science side that set this up. The appearance of that angel has forcibly added a spell pressure to the entire ‘realm’. I suppose it prevents our magical power from circulating properly. Aleister comes up with some nasty ideas...”

Vento’s words were a bit unclear and Kamijou did not understand exactly what she was talking about.

However, it seemed the situation made Vento cough up blood when she used magic.

Producing so many wind weapons in a row may have been putting even more of a burden on her.

But...

Even as she coughed up blood, she continued to swing the hammer around.

The look on Kamijou’s face changed.

“You idiot!! Why do you need to go this far to fight!?”

“Don’t you dare ask that after trying to beat me to death!!”

The hammer danced both horizontally and vertically to produce three blunt weapons. They swirled together into a single sharp stake and shot toward Kamijou.

With a roar, the stake shot right by his ear.

Kamijou had not evaded at the last second.

He had been unable to react. It had missed because Vento’s aim had been off.

Her strength would not last much longer.

(She sends multiple blasts of wind into each other and their vectors join together to create a different blast of wind with a completely different direction and strength...)

“Does that attack use fluid mechanics!?”

“Why must you piss me off so much!? Don’t classify my magic like you know what you’re talking about! Just hearing those scientific terms fills me with disgust!!”

She shouted out, but her body could not keep up with her mind.

She tried to swing up her hammer, but it dropped to the ground, bringing her arms with it. Despite her arms drooping down, the hostile glare did not leave Vento’s face.

“Oooahhh!!”

She clenched her bloody teeth and swung the hammer up.

The limit of her strength could be seen in its unsteady trajectory.

The wind weapon produced did not hit Kamijou. It instead struck the road right next to him.

Seeing that, Kamijou said, “Hah. Aren’t you the one that needs rescuing?”

“Shut the...hell up...”

“Sorry, but I’m busy too. I need to get you to the hospital as quickly as possible!!”

“Shut up!! I’ll never trust my body to science again!!” shouted Vento in a roar.

Kamijou frowned.

“Never again?” he muttered and the anger on Vento’s face grew even stronger.

She spat blood to the ground next to her, wiped off her lips with the back of her hand, and spoke.

“My younger brother was killed by science.”

“What?”

She clenched her red-stained teeth, swung the hammer up with all her strength, and continued speaking.

“When I was young, there was a malfunction while we were testing out a new theme park attraction. My younger brother and I were both horribly crushed. And yet they said it was scientifically proven to be perfectly safe! They said it had several layers of safety features, the latest lightweight reinforced materials, and an automatic speed control program! They used so many reliable-sounding terms, but none of it helped in the slightest!!”

“You...”

“And so I will never trust science to save anyone. That angel is the same. It claims to be protecting people, but it’s destroying everything at the same time!!”

Kamijou had no words.

Vento stuck her tongue out at him and said, “Surprised? Does it shock you that a member of God’s Right Seat, the group that controls the entire world, is fighting for a reason like that? Well, I detest science so much that I am willing to use a system like God’s Right Seat to crush it!!”

She shouted in anger, but no attacks came.

Vento could likely sense that her strength had reached its limits.

She slowly moved her legs to gradually walk sideways. She may have been waiting for the perfect timing to finish it all in one strike.

With her reddened tongue hanging out, she said, “B Rh-. The doctors said this blood I’m coughing up is very rare. It isn’t so easy to find enough blood for a transfusion. So what do you think happened when my brother and I were brought to the hospital?”

“...”

“They couldn’t get enough blood for both of us. They called around but could only gather enough for one of us. While we were waiting on the verge of death, the doctors told us something truly hopeless. They could only save one of us. And only I survived! My brother asked them to save me and they just let him die!!”

Even as blood spilled from between her teeth, Vento did not attack.

She was implicitly announcing that she was waiting for the moment when she was certain she could kill Kamijou.

“Science stole our path forward and now it is even trying to desecrate the scriptures that are supposed to show how to truly save someone! That is what science is at the core. It does nothing but get in people’s way!!” She breathed heavily and the atmosphere shook around her as she shouted as if she was increasing her power. “That is why I hate science! That is why I loathe it! If science is such a cold system, I will destroy it and fill this world with a warmer system. That is my duty after stealing my brother’s future!!”

“...”

Kamijou could hardly believe it.

It came down to the fact that Vento had always regretted her brother dying because of her. Most likely, she viewed herself as her greatest enemy, not science. She hated herself for living while the one she had tried to protect had died.

Kamijou thought back to her Divine Punishment spell.

That magic would defeat anyone who turned hostility in her direction.

When Kamijou had first heard about it, he had thought it was an extremely convenient power. However, that spell would be useless if a great number of people were not constantly pouring their hostility on her.

Vento had chosen a life that would make everyone in the world hate her.

She would have no value and produce no results if others were not hostile towards her. To support that, she had been forced to lurk in the darkness of the world. It was as if she was intentionally abandoning the possibility of anyone showing her kindness.

She ran down the path of destruction while believing this was the appropriate way to make it up to her dead brother.

This was a manner of thinking Kamijou simply could not copy.

So he said, “To hell with that.”

“What?” said Vento with a frown.

Kamijou continued, “What do you mean science killed your brother? Those doctors obviously never wanted him to die. They obviously wanted to save both of you!! And the same goes for the attraction that caused that accident. It wasn’t there to hurt people. It was supposed to make people smile!!”

“Shut up...”

“How do you think your dying brother felt when he asked the doctors to save you!? He knew perfectly well what situation he was in, but he still asked them to save you!! Do you really think someone like that would want you to take revenge on science!? Do you really think someone who wished for your happiness more than anyone else would want that!?”

“I said shut uuuuuuuuuuppppppppppppp!!” roared Vento as she swung her hammer around as hard as she could.

This was not a calculated movement like before. She was simply firing wind weapons at random, so Kamijou easily blew them away with his right hand.

“A child of less than 10 saw a family member injured while he was dying and not thinking clearly! Anyone would agree to it if they were asked in that state!! This was just the opinion of a small child. What value does that have!? If they didn’t have enough blood, they should have given it to him! They should have used my own blood if they still didn’t have enough!!”

Kamijou’s expression did not change in the slightest.

He stared Vento directly in the eye through the pouring rain.

“It did have value,” he said while spitting on the ground. “Even if it was only the opinion of a small child, that decision is why you are still alive today! That’s enough value right there!! And aren’t you the one who needs to understand that value more than anyone else!?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!! Is that supposed to comfort me!? I took his life to survive!!”

“Could you say that same thing to someone in the same circumstances!?”

“!!”

Vento gasped.

Kamijou continued speaking to bear down on her further.

“I wouldn’t be able to. And that’s why I’m arguing with you!! This isn’t how you should be living your life! I don’t know what kind of person you brother was, but he did something I couldn’t. Your brother did the most amazing thing in the world there!! Are you going to disgrace that decision!? Are you going to waste those words of his by claiming he died hating science!?”

“...Don’t make me laugh,” said Vento of the Front while barely moving her lips. “Do you think words like that can change what path I take? I have decided to take this path. That isn’t going to change because of someone who only just now learned about it!!”

She took a step back, gathered up all of her remaining power, and lifted up the heavy hammer. The blood spilling from her mouth dripped down her thin tongue chain and soaked the cross at the end.

In response, Kamijou clenched his right fist and stared at Vento.

They were only 5 meters apart.

Kamijou could enter punching range in only two steps. With as weak as Vento was, only one strike would be enough to knock her unconscious.

But Vento would launch an attack as he approached. She would use her special technique of bringing together multiple wind weapons to alter their form and vector similar to scientific fluid mechanics.

This battle would have no tricks and each strike would be crucially important.

The battle began when they heard some rubble crumbling.

“!!”

“!!”

Kamijou shot forward.

Vento swung her hammer around again and again while coughing up blood to produce seven different wind weapons. They ate into each other, their vectors were altered, and they swirled together to form one giant stake.

Kamijou had not been able to react to the stake made of only three wind weapons.

This was more than double that, so he could not even imagine how much power it would have.

Even so, Kamijou did not hesitate.

He did not try to evade. He gathered even more strength in his fist to intercept it head on. If the aim of his fist and the stake were off by even a few centimeters, his head would explode. Kamijou understood that, but his gaze did not waver in the slightest.

(This crisis surrounding Academy City and Kazakiri Hyouka...)

He might have been able to predict where the attack would travel by observing the movements of Vento’s eyes and the timing of her breathing. It was possible he could read the direction of the wind attack using the pouring raindrops.

(...and this hatred for science that has trapped Vento.)

But Kamijou abandoned such calculations.

This battle would not be resolved by such cleverness.

He saw her trying to bring out everything in her heart to produce this one final attack.

(I will destroy both those illusions right here!!)

“Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

Kamijou and Vento shouted out.

His fist and her stake flew at almost the exact same moment.

With a great roar, the stake shot out between them. It scattered and smashed the raindrops into small particles. Once the raindrops had exploded into a fine mist, they blocked Kamijou’s vision for an instant. It scattered in every direction like steam.

All sound disappeared.

And then...

With the primitive sound of an impact, Kamijou’s fist slammed into the tip of the wind stake and smashed the entire attack.

“...!!”

Vento tried to swing her hammer up once more, but she did not seem to have the strength left.

And Kamijou moved even closer.

“It may be nothing compared to what your brother did...”

He clenched his fist as tightly as he could.

He stared Vento in the eye.

“...but I’ll save you just a bit. Come back once you’ve rethought some things, you goddamn idiot!!”

Kamijou’s fist slammed into the bridge of Vento’s nose.

Her body flew several meters through the air and rolled across the wet asphalt.

Part 7

Index found Accelerator beaten and collapsed on the floor while that man in a lab coat was kicking him. Oddly enough, the situation was very similar to the one she had seen near the entrance of the underground mall.

(It’s them!! Are they related to this too!?)

However, she did not have time to focus on them.

What mattered most to her was the key she needed to restrain that “archangel”.

But...

(!?)

Index’s eyes opened wide. The man in the lab coat stood in front of Accelerator and kicked the collapsed boy in the head as hard as he could. Accelerator rolled across the floor without even resisting.

Index instinctually tried to run over, but...

“Oaaaahhh!!”

Accelerator let out a noise that was not quite a shout and not quite a roar as he grabbed onto a desk and stood up. He stood in the perfect position to act as a shield for Index.

Index hesitated for a moment, but there was too much she had to do.

She grabbed an unplugged phone from a desk and threw it at the man in the lab coat. After a quick glance over at Accelerator who charged forward at the same moment, Index looked over at the girl of around 10 who was lying on one of the desks.

This was the person Accelerator had been looking for. She had seen a picture of her just once.

This girl was the key to everything.

(I can’t do it here. I need to move her to a safer place for this work!)

Index started to pick up the limp girl’s body in order to leave the abandoned office, but she decided it would be too dangerous to move her much given how weak Last Order looked. To make sure the girl was not affected by the fighting, Index moved her from the desk to behind it on the floor.

“Hey!! Stay the hell out of this!!” shouted the man in the lab coat, but Accelerator forcefully grabbed onto him.

Index looked over the girl from head to toe.

She observed her from a magical point of view.

(This girl is definitely the core to everything. The foundation is the construction of an angel. Formless Telesma is forced into a “container” that uses the image of a human to create a silhouette in the same way as a balloon doll. This spell was used by the Golden magic cabal that Crowley belonged to.)

The knowledge of 103,000 grimoires solved the magical mystery in no time at all.

However...

(But I don’t understand anything beyond that.)

Index gritted her teeth.

(I understand the general structure, but I don’t understand what parts it is made from!!)

This was similar to asking a craftsman who made violins out of wood to make an electric guitar filled with electronic parts. It was still an instrument, but the fields of knowledge used were so different that he would only be able to “generally” understand it.

And precise work could not be carried out with only a “general” understanding.

This was as far as Index could get on her own.

And that was why she did not hesitate to ask for help.

“Short hair, I have a question!!”

Index shouted into the cell phone in her hand.

It was connected to another girl.

“Call me Mikoto-sama!! So what is...kssshhhhhhh...this question!?”

Frequent explosions could be heard over the phone. However, Mikoto did not mention them. She seemed to be saying it was nothing Index needed to worry about.

And Index took her up on that kindness.

“What is an electrical network using brain waves!?”

Mikoto used all of her knowledge from Tokiwadai Middle School to answer Index’s question.

When she heard that answer, Index gave another question.

“What are the AIM diffusion fields spreading across Academy City!?”

The two girls each lacked one or the other of scientific knowledge and magical knowledge.

That was why neither of them fully understood the answer they were being led to.

“What about the safety device related to the electrical network based in brain waves!?”

Even so, the two girls continued forward.

They worked to solve the problem. As long as they reached the correct solution, it did not matter if they did not understand the means used to arrive at it. In a way they let go of their pride and merely continued to work towards improving the situation even if they felt left out.

(Basically, a special power fills this city and this girl controls it. That special power has been twisted by binding her mind and that has created this angel! In that case...!!)

“I just have to untie the ‘knot’ in this girl’s head!!”

Someone from the science side may have called it a virus.

(But how am I supposed to do that?)

Index could not use magic.

But she did not need to use magic to save Last Order.

To untie the “knot”, Index chose to use words. Altering a human mind may have sounded like a special thing, but it was no different from reading a book to study. Humans naturally had an open “port” for such things.

Index only had to choose the words that would conform to the “knot” and “untie” it by having Last Order hear them. 𝒇𝐫ℯ𝑒𝒘ℯ𝑏n𝑜ѵ𝐞l.c𝗼𝗺

And that specifically meant...

“A song,” decided Index. “That will be easier to get across than mere words. Some people who won’t cry even after an hour-long sermon will shed tears after a minute-long song. The rhythm and tune can be used to stimulate emotions on multiple levels. So...”

But Mikoto grew a bit panicked and began arguing when she heard that.

“W-wait a second. Will that actually work!? The basic method of overwriting the contents of a human mind is rote learning! And not all brains’ memorization and adaptation abilities are skilled enough for that!! And since this requires interfering with an electrical network, don’t you need to digitally input the values with a specialized device like a Testament? Will a primitive analog method like a voice or a song really work!?”

Index did not understand the scientific terms Mikoto used, but she was not sure it would work either. She knew a few offensive methods of interfering with human minds such as Sheol Fear and Spell Intercept, but she had never used them like this.

“I can do it,” she replied nonetheless. “My prayers will get through and that will save her. That is how a nun spreads her teachings!”

She stared forward without hesitation.

“Our prayers will save them all. They will save this girl, they will save Hyouka, and they will save Academy City!!”

Part 8

Accelerator slid across the floor after being punched, beaten, and crushed by Kihara.

He was in no state to fight.

Due to his brain damage, he could not even stand on his own two feet. He had fought before by half-falling on top of Kihara and clinging onto him, but the man had started keeping his distance to prevent him from doing it anymore.

“Ah ha ha gya ha ha ah ha ha ha!!”

Kihara laughed so hard it sounded like his throat was going to rip apart.

No one would think that was the expression of a man who had had part of his scalp ripped off.

He grabbed Accelerator’s collar, dragged him along the floor, slammed his back against a desk, and then slammed his fist into the boy. An unpleasant creaking sound came from Accelerator’s skull and the skin of his face split open as if it was tightening. Due to having his brain rattled, he could feel strength leaving his fingertips.

But he did not lose consciousness.

That alone did not waver.

“...”

Accelerator heard a smooth melody in a girl’s voice.

Accelerator had lost his language comprehension, so he could tell he was hearing a voice but could not understand what words were being used. However, this girl’s song held emotions. Accelerator could sense the girl’s feelings for Last Order that surpassed the boundary of language.

He did not know what the words meant.

It was possible she was only holding Last Order’s hand and trying to alleviate her pain.

But that was more than enough salvation.

After all, no one had done that for Last Order before.

“Ooooaaaaaaahhhhh!!” roared Kihara as he launched an especially heavy fist.

Accelerator was knocked around and collapsed to the dirty floor. He felt pain all over his body. Even getting up would be difficult now.

Even so, Accelerator smiled thinly.

The girl’s smooth song continued.

The song made him feel like he was bathing in a warm light. This was likely the voice of someone from the world Last Order belonged in. Accelerator merely listened to the song. He listened with almost no calculation ability. He listened to that voice that he could never produce.

A brat like Last Order did not belong among pieces of shit like Kihara Amata and Accelerator. It was best for a resident of the world of light to be rescued by someone else from that warm world.

But...

Why?

Why did Accelerator feel inferior here? Why did he decide that light was too bright for someone in the darkness like him to touch?

Could only just people do just things? Could only good people do good things? That did make sense.

However...

Why did that have to make so much sense?

Accelerator wanted to save Last Order.

He wanted to save her from the unreasonable violence bearing down on her.

What was wrong with thinking that?

It did not matter who stood in the light and who stood in the darkness. He did not want to save Last Order because she was from the world of light. No matter what world she was from, Accelerator would still want to protect her.

Those distinctions between worlds meant nothing.

Did it matter if the person who reached out to help was good or evil?

Would anyone complain if a resident of the darkness protected the world of light?

He was Academy City’s strongest villain who had acted so arrogantly.

But was there any reason to continue doing the same things now?

“...”

Accelerator suddenly reached a hand out toward the desk while sitting on the floor.

With a creaking sound, he slowly stood up.

He had made up his mind.

Even if he was evil, he would puff out his chest with pride. Even if he was travelling through the world of darkness, he would save the light. Even if he was heading down a different path from those around him, he would not be ashamed. He would become so dark that he could be proud of being so deep in the darkness.

He would abandon all the previous rules.

He would change the settings of what was possible and what was impossible.

He would make a list of the conditions before his eyes and demolish that wall.

“Ki...hara...”

A voice escaped that mouth that should have lost its ability to speak.

His legs slowly supported his weight.

“Kiiiharaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

In that instant, Accelerator used his supposedly unusable legs to run forward.

He ran straight for his natural enemy, Kihara Amata.

Even if he had to battle all of reality, be injured, and lose so very much, he would make sure to protect this one illusion.

Part 9

Kihara Amata’s smile grew even deeper and fiercer.

Accelerator had stood up.

Despite how much Kihara had hurt and beat the boy, he was running forward while yelling Kihara’s name.

It was as if he was trying to protect the space behind him.

It was as if he was trying to save the two girls hiding behind that office desk.

“...Interesting,” said Kihara when his enemy would not be defeated.

His face was filled with ferocious joy.

“That’s right!! This wouldn’t be any fun if you were defeated so easily! I’m glad you know how to provide excellent service, Accelerator! You’ve never done anything but piss me off! I won’t use a gun. I’ll sink my fists into you before killing yoooooouuuuuuu!!”

Kihara’s mind seemed to snap.

He shouted out like a wild animal. But that cry did not stop Accelerator or the strange girl’s song. The girl seemed to be in a trance where she was so focused she was not aware of her surroundings. Kihara was surrounded by nothing but enemies. No stage could have been better.

(This all would have been perfect if you had been dead, so why the hell are you still alive!?)

Kihara intercepted Accelerator.

He clenched his fists and cracked the knuckles.

After clenching his one fist until it was as hard as steel, he mercilessly threw it toward the center of Accelerator’s face.

A roar rang out.

Kihara could feel slight cracking feelings transferred up his arm.

And yet Accelerator did not stop in the slightest.

“Ooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

Despite having his face smashed, he sent a counter punch at Kihara’s face. Kihara’s nose broke and pain exploded out. That strike had had the boy’s entire strength behind it. Kihara could tell without having it explained to him.

(...Gh...bh!!)

Kihara moved his head back to its original position, pushing the fist back with it.

He further hardened his fist.

“That’s not gonna cut it, boooyyyyy!!”

He slammed that fist against Accelerator’s slender face. The boy’s body spun around and collapsed to the floor. He writhed around on the floor, but Kihara slammed his foot down with all his body weight on top of it.

It was like hammering a thick stake down.

This produced a great roar of impact. Kihara repeatedly shouted out meaningless statements while he stomped here and there on Accelerator again and again. He heard the sounds of things breaking and a red liquid flew out.

“Okaaay! Now we’re talking! My engine’s all heated up, but what about you!? Fucking amazing! Can you not actually save that brat at all?”

Accelerator gave no response to that amused voice.

But the light in his eyes did not diminish even as he lay crushed on the ground.

He needed to rescue that girl. He needed to protect her.

And so he could not let his heart break.

“Pant!! Pant!!”

Kihara was putting so much effort into stomping on the boy that he was out of breath.

“Ha ha ha!” he laughed as he looked around.

The incompetent Hound Dog subordinates that Accelerator had defeated were lying on the floor. And so were their guns. Kihara had gotten fed up with it all, so he approached them and crouched down.

“I was just starting to have some fun, so could give this a little more effort?”

He picked up one of the weapons and gave a thin smile. This was the expression of a runner after completing a marathon.

Kihara Amata lightly tossed the object in his hand at Accelerator.

It was an anti-personnel grenade with the pin removed.

Not only had Accelerator lost a portion of his brain function, but he was lying collapsed on the ground after being thrashed by Kihara. He had no means of avoiding or knocking away the grenade.

With a light thunk, the grenade struck his forehead and bounced slightly.

The small object did not even have time to hang in the air.

With a tremendous noise, the grenade exploded. A shockwave and a large number of fragments flew in every direction and gray smoke blew out. The explosion had been close enough for one of the fragments to scratch Kihara’s cheek. That was enough to slice open the skin like someone had taken a chisel to his cheek. But Kihara was smiling. He was filled with nothing but exhilaration.

Silence fell.

Only the entranced nun’s quiet and lengthy singing continued.

“Hyah.”

He had won.

“Gya ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

Kihara laughed from the bottom of his gut.

He was dead. That boy was dead. That grenade had exploded only a few centimeters from his head. No flesh-and-blood human could survive that no matter what they did. The area was still covered in smoke-like dust, but once it cleared, Kihara would only find a corpse so torn to pieces its original form would be unidentifiable.

The gray dust produced by the grenade thinned out as it spread. It surged behind Kihara like a wave and fully covered his vision.

Once it cleared, Accelerator’s corpse would be visible.

Once he saw that boy’s pathetic end, Kihara Amata’s fight would be over.

(Aleister said not to kill that mass-produced brat but that means anything else is fair game. I’ll give his corpse to that strange singing nun as a souvenir to completely break her mind.)

“Ha ha.”’

Just as that thought came to Kihara...

Someone grabbed the front his face.

“...!!”

Someone was standing in front of Kihara Amata.

The dust prevented him from seeing exactly who it was.

(Gah...!?)

Normally, Accelerator would have been the most likely candidate. But Kihara could not accept that. Without his powers, Accelerator was weaker than your average high school student. He could never survive that grenade blast without some sort of trick.

And it was hard to believe that his reflection would have returned for some reason. The hand grabbing Kihara was covered in soot. If Accelerator’s reflection had been functioning, even those small stains would have been deflected.

“What...?”

But it was unmistakably Accelerator standing there.

Kihara saw white hair, red eyes, well-formed facial features, supple skin, a slender body line, a choker, mostly gray clothes, arms and legs with little muscle, and glittering black shoes.

But he ignored all of those and shouted about something else.

“What the hell are those black wings growing from your back!?”

They looked more like jets than wings.

Some unknown substance was being sprayed out as wings that were darker than ink and swallowed up even the light.

Kihara had seen an “angel”. He had understood that he had helped make it appear. But he was still unable to properly grasp the scene occurring before his eyes.

(Th-that bastard...)

Accelerator’s power gave him control over all vectors regardless of what type they were. His speech ability, walking ability, and the acquisition of this new power had likely all used some kind of power that existed in that local space.

Scientifically speaking, Accelerator was currently unable to perform any physics calculations, so it should have been impossible for him to control any physical force.

But what if there was some other power?

If he had grabbed ahold of some unscientific theory, did it matter what calculations he could make?

The occult.

That was what appeared to be a set of irregular laws that showed themselves ever so slightly after thousands and tens of thousands of experiments and that only a researcher of Kihara’s level would know about.

(He’s achieved a new clearance level for what he can control? What values did he input into his Personal Reality? What has he secured a method of communicating with!?)

The only possibility he could think of was the representative example of a power filling Academy City.

(AIM!? ...Wait, it can’t be! Is that power actually that angel or whatever!?)

But Accelerator was not going to wait around.

He poured more strength into his grip as he squeezed Kihara’s skull.

“...”

He smiled. He silently smiled.

“Ha ha ha,” laughed back Kihara Amata as his arms and legs hung down limply.

And he asked a question.

“H-have you...seen what’s behind you, you monster?”

“ihbfKILLwq”

The black wings explosively burst out.

An unexplainable and invisible power burst from Accelerator’s hand and assaulted Kihara Amata.

His body left Accelerator’s hand, shot through the abandoned office at terrifying speed, flew out of the broken window, and cut across the night sky at dozens of times the speed of sound. He moved so quickly that he turned to plasma and left behind an orange afterimage.

It was not necessary to check to see if he was dead.

Part 10

Kamijou sat on the road in the middle of the pouring rain. He was already soaking wet, so he did not mind sitting on the rain-soaked road surface. He breathed a sigh of relief at finally being able to relax.

The angel’s wings had grown silent.

The giant sparks it had been firing not long before had completely stopped.

(How is Index doing?)

Things were likely going well on her end of things as well. Kazakiri’s angel wings and halo had not completely disappeared, but their outlines were gradually beginning to waver.

(If she was in trouble, that wouldn’t be happening. I hope that guy on the phone managed to save Last Order.)

Thinking of the phone reminded him of something.

Kamijou pulled Last Order’s cell phone out of his pocket. Academy City may have been in bad shape, but it would be best if he called an ambulance. He did not like using someone else’s phone, but this was no time to be worried about that.

As expected, the operator said they might not be able to respond like normal. Even so, it was better than doing nothing.

Kamijou returned the phone to his pocket and looked around. Kazakiri’s appearance had turned the entire area to rubble, but it seemed the people had been just barely saved thanks to her power. Glowing moth-like scales were still floating around in the darkness.

Kamijou wanted to go save them, but he was worried Imagine Breaker would negate the effects of the scales. He had no choice but to leave them be for the time being.

“But...”

Kamijou looked over at where Vento was lying on the ground.

She was obviously unconscious.

He had wanted to ask her how to wake up the people collapsed around the city thanks to her Divine Punishment spell, but she showed no sign of waking no matter how many times he slapped her cheek.

Kamijou wondered what would happen to Vento now. She had almost completely shut down the city, so he doubted Academy City would simply let her go. Any talk of preserving the power balance between science and magic would no longer cut it. In fact, it was the magic side that had destroyed that balance first.

A certain line may have been crossed.

Academy City might even kill her to eliminate her dangerous techniques from the world. And he doubted God’s Right Seat or the Roman Catholic Church would let go of such a powerful spell so easily. This could no longer be resolved by science and magic talking it out as had happened a few times in the past. There was a danger of this being the trigger that would cause everything to come crumbling down.

(Dammit...)

Even in a broad historical sense, what Vento had done here was a big deal. But after learning of her circumstances, Kamijou could not approve of letting her be executed and used as a tool to bring about war. Even if she had to make up for what she did, that was the worst possible scenario.

(She can’t make an enemy of both science and magic and be forever on the run in this small world. But I have to do something. Maybe I can at least hide her temporarily until this has time to settle down a bit. Tsuchimikado might be able to help. But even then, who knows if it will work...)

He could not simply hand her over to the Anglican Church. Vento was too great a factor to do that. More importantly, Kamijou did not think a normal high school boy could truly resolve a worldwide problem. But he would not be satisfied unless he did something. Abandoning Vento here would leave too bad of an aftertaste.

“For now, I can only wait for her to wake up. That was one hell of a punch I gave her...”

Kamijou turned his gaze from Vento to Kazakiri, but she still gave no response. Nothing had changed about her. She still had those somehow vacant eyes and she still had a great number of wings growing from her back. As time passed, the outlines of the wings gradually grew more indistinct. The shorter wings had almost lost all form. Index was likely interfering in some way.

However, it would still take some time for the wings to completely disappear.

Kamijou looked down at his right hand. If he used the power residing in that hand, he might be able to negate those ten or twenty wings just by touching them. However, that would be meaningless if doing so affected Kazakiri’s main body as well. He regretted how useless his power was at times like this.

(Even so...)

Since Vento had hated Kazakiri so intensely, that was most likely something Academy City had caused. Kamijou wondered what the higher ups of the city were trying to do. Since Vento’s arrival had been unexpected, Kazakiri could not have been produced simply as a means of defending or intercepting her. There had to be some other purpose.

“There are just so many problems,” muttered Kamijou.

And then...

A pile of concrete was suddenly smashed before his eyes and his vision was filled with gray dust.

“!?”

Kamijou brought a hand up to cover his eyes as he instinctually stepped backwards.

This went beyond the rubble losing its balance and collapsing. The entire pile had been blown to pieces as if someone had set off a bomb.

The pouring rain washed away the dust in the air.

A wind turbine was sticking up from the site of the blast. It must have been casually ripped from the ground and thrown because it was buried into the ground halfway up the pole in the center of the crater the rubble had been blown from. And this pole was the size of a telephone pole.

Kamijou was horrified as he thought about what sort of strength would be needed to do that.

(!! Where’s Vento!?)

Kamijou frantically looked around.

Vento had been lying unconscious right next to him, but now she was gone.

However, Kamijou spotted something else instead.

A man stood a short distance away.

“Who are you!?” shouted Kamijou hostilely.

The man had Vento’s limp form held under one arm.

He wore a blue long-sleeved shirt with a white short-sleeved shirt over it. For pants, he wore thin slacks that looked like they had decent breathability. It was a sporty outfit, but it lacked energy. It reminded Kamijou of the golf wear men in their prime liked. While holding a chic black umbrella, the man was surrounded by a silent and solid aura that a high school boy like Kamijou could never hope for.

But what was the most frightening was how the man showed no tension at all despite the scene of destruction before him. His white skin and his brown hair both looked like sharp blades.

“My apologies,” said the man in fluent Japanese. “I have business with this girl. I blinded you to keep you from growing violent, but perhaps that did not sit right with you.”

“I asked who you are!”

“I am Acqua of the Back. I am a member of God’s Right Seat just like Vento.”

Kamijou’s caution shot up another level when he heard that name.

He had no idea what kind of hierarchy existed within the organization known as God’s Right Seat, but if this man had even an equal level of power to Vento, the situation was very bad. If Academy City was attacked by a second wave in its current state, it would never recover.

As Kamijou bristled, Acqua only gave a slight smile. The expression did not suit that muscular man.

“Do not worry. I wish to avoid any needless deaths of our troops. We will be falling back for now. Fighting that fallen angel waiting behind you would simply be too reckless. I would need to at least make some preparations first.”

Acqua was saying that he could fight it at any time if he did make preparations.

The look in Kamijou’s eyes grew sterner, but the man did not give in to it.

“The effect that interfered with magic and had been causing Vento to suffer seems to have disappeared, but we have our own circumstances to deal with.”

The man sighed and glanced over at Kazakiri Hyouka.

An angel was an existence that even Kanzaki Kaori had been barely able to fight evenly with. It seemed even this strange group called God’s Right Seat considered it a bargaining chip.

If they would simply leave, that was perfectly fine.

However...

“Let go of Vento,” said Kamijou to Acqua.

“Do you want to ask her how to save the victims within Academy City?”

“That’s part of it,” he replied. He was saying there was more to it than that. “Her hostility towards science is nothing more than a misunderstanding. She knows that, but she can never escape those feelings as long as she stays in God’s Right Seat!”

“Can Vento’s darkness really be so easily eliminated?” replied Acqua disinterestedly. “We of God’s Right Seat do not simply reach out a sympathetic hand to unfortunate girls. We exist to influence this world. And Vento decided to use that power for the sake of her personal circumstances. Do you know how much she has paid to come this far? Can you even imagine how great that power is?”

When he thought about it, Kamijou realized the reasons behind Vento’s actions had not included anything about results for the organization as a whole. In other words, she needed to constantly create enough of a benefit for the organization that she could remain a part of it.

Kamijou thought on that fact for a moment.

But just thinking about it was not enough for him to understand how she felt.

“So what?”

“What?”

“If you say nothing because you assume they won’t listen, you’ll never accomplish anything.”

Kamijou and Acqua stared at each other.

But Acqua was much more unconcerned than Kamijou.

“Hmph,” said Acqua. “If I released Vento here, she would be captured by the science side and almost certainly executed.”

“!!”

Kamijou’s entire body stiffened at Acqua’s words.

Acqua’s smile deepened when he saw that. The looks in his eyes was the same as an adult reading the wishes children had written for the Tanabata.

“I will give you this.”

With a single movement of his fingertip, Acqua flicked something toward Kamijou.

Kamijou grabbed it and found it was the chain and cross accessories that had been attached to Vento’s tongue.

“It has been destroyed by your right hand already, so it is of no use to us either way. It is nothing but junk. Without it, Vento cannot use Divine Punishment. Those who fell victim to it should soon recover. You can rest easy taking that to mean you protected the peace of Academy City.”

“Wait!! Like hell I can accept that!!”

Kamijou clenched his fist, but Acqua paid it no heed.

“Let me tell you one thing,” said the man while boldly turning his back. “I am a Saint. Recklessly picking a fight with me will only shorten your life.”

A tremendous noise was produced as he kicked off the ground.

In the time it took Kamijou to blink, Acqua and Vento had disappeared. He did not even know which direction the man had gone. It was even possible he had jumped up into the sky. All Kamijou knew was that the man had moved at extraordinary speed.

The battle may have ended, but the problem was far from over.

In fact, he felt as if it had only invited in an even greater conflict.

(I’ll stop this.)

The Roman Catholic Church.

Academy City.

(Goddammit. I’ll definitely stop this from continuing any further.)

Kamijou muttered his thoughts under his breath as he stared up into the rainy night sky.

The dark clouds showed no sign of clearing up.