Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 9===

Several thick shockwave-like impacts rang out in quick succession and the flamingo bat crashed into the flower bed alongside the walking path.

It hadn’t even bought them a few minutes, but it was enough.

Kamijou thanked it and tackled his shoulder into the glass entranceway door.

It broke shockingly easily.

Unable to stop his momentum, he tumbled inside, where the world changed yet again.

The change wasn’t visible.

But all sound from outside was shut out.

The dark school building was so silent his ears ached. He had shattered the glass in the entrance door, but he doubted he could have returned to the visible schoolyard if he tried. He had a feeling he would be ''deflected or thrown back.'' Not that he had any interest in testing this theory.

The presence of Imagine Breaker suddenly felt a lot less significant.

It was a reference point for the world.

And so it could negate any and all illusions.

But that meant it had no effect on anything that could distort even that reference point.

For example, his right hand hadn’t been able to destroy the infinite worlds created by Othinus.

Alice could absorb the world to that extent.

She simply hadn’t done so before now.

“What...is this place?”

Everything looked normal, but that was no reason to relax.

Kamijou felt like something was lurking on the other side of an invisible barrier.

Something he couldn’t see and that spelled doom if he ever confirmed its presence.

He sensed that collection of terror.

Most likely, not even the pursuing Gryphon and Executioner could enter here.

Not to mention the flamingo bat and hedgehogs who had taken his side.

''Had they been deflected or thrown back''?

Again, he had no interest in testing that theory.

He sighed once, got up, and faced forward.

“Okay,” said Othinus from his shoulder. “This looks like a greater challenge than Crete’s Labyrinth containing a bull-headed monster, but what’s your plan?”

“I suppose there’s no point in trying to predict where in the school Index is being held… That wouldn’t be Index’s choice and Alice’s own preferences wouldn’t come into it. So our best bet is probably predicting Alice’s preferences and going where we think she would be.”

“And where exactly would that be?”

“My classroom,” replied Kamijou without delay.

This wasn’t logic – his own gut instinct was enough. Where would little Alice most want to go in a school she had never before visited? That question was enough to reach the answer. And this was a method only Kamijou could use.

Several female voices whispered from the ducts in the ceiling. A gaze which spoke volumes peered out from the gap in the metal door to the fire hose. When Kamijou turned to look at the janitorial locker or a gap in the wall he had glimpsed out of the corner of his eye, something small skittered out of view.

So much was making its presence known, but it was all strangely ephemeral.

He felt like his mind would break if he didn’t stay strong and tell himself those things really did exist. He had to accept it as is and not question it. Logic was an impediment here. Once he started wondering if something was a hallucination dreamt up by his mind, he would end up circling forever in the same place. He would be stranded in a 1m square.

Othinus spoke up in partial exasperation.

“This is just like the flamingo bat and the Gryphon. They were more obvious, but the presences and scenery around us are also being controlled by Alice’s inner conflict.”

“…”

“Human, if Alice wanted to invite you in, she would only need to come out herself. And if she wanted to reject you, she could have turned the doors and windows into monsters or just created a thick wall. She’s hidden and created several suspicious locations to get you lost, but there is a proper path, isn’t there? That proves she hasn’t settled on a plan. …That she can create all of her different plans at once shows how scarily powerful she is, though.”

Kamijou heard a solid thunk.

It came from the darkness.

This one was a footstep. His heart naturally raised the alarm. A black-haired young butler appeared. It was H.T. Trismegistus.

“Hey,” complained Othinus. “Stop lurking in the shadows. I know Alice leaves more of an impression, but we just about missed you. Anyway, are you the Trismegistus we saw at the consulate before? Or are you one of the understudies?”

“Common sense says I can leave that up to your imagination.”

With a creaking sound, the wallpaper peeled away.

Mice emerged.

They were the size of sports bags and there was an entire swarm of them.

What meaning did those characters have within Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? Kamijou didn’t have time to think about it.

A pleasant “slap!” rang out.

It happened too fast for Kamijou to see.

He simply noticed a flash of light from the young butler’s hand and then the hunks of flesh split in two like some kind of joke. There was no blood. They lost all color, became dark shadows, and faded into nothingness.

It could be hard to tell how impressive that had been, but he had been attacked by dozens of beings on the same level as the flamingo bat and the Gryphon. He could probably kill Kamijou on the spot with ease.

“…”

“This way.”

The black-haired butler turned around.

Apparently he was leading Kamijou somewhere.

“Unlike during your battle against Rosencreutz, you should not expect any support from the upper levels of this scientific city this time. I had a feeling they would trouble Alice, so I attacked them at the very top.”

“Wait, but the Board Chairman right now is- you beat him!?”

“I did not need to win,” said H.T. Trismegistus. His presence here alive was enough to know how that had turned out. “I only needed to restrict his movements for the time being. Fortunately, I noticed he is receiving electronic support from his choker. Destroying the nearby communications equipment and other electronics to create signal noise and then burying him in rubble was enough to immobilize him.”

Kamijou gulped.

H.T. Trismegistus really was a Transcendent.

''Anyone who knew the #1 knew that plan was much easier said than done.

The very ability to act on a plan when faced with him was unusual.

Was this H.T. Trismegistus’s true power?

Or had Alice Anotherbible linked to ''something'' that distorted the world?

While walking through a hallway with whisperings, mutterings, and rustlings beckoning toward the various gaps, a sharp light would occasionally flash from H.T. Trismegistus’s hand. The sword drawn from his cane easily sliced through the monsters wriggling out from the gaps in the walls and from behind posters, so Kamijou nervously followed after him.

Should he really have been killing those things?

After all, wasn’t everything here – enemy or ally – being subconsciously controlled by Alice? Those were the raw toys – no reasonable magician had remade them into proper tools like the Shrink Drink. They were on the same level as the “Drink Me”. Kamijou recalled a column in a corner of a textbook telling of an overstressed child causing the poltergeist phenomenon in the small territory of their home. What did it mean for Alice when a third party cut down and eliminated part of her inner conflict?

H.T. Trismegistus remained entirely composed as he spoke.

“Common sense says this should go without saying, but I am not your ally. I have always sided with the Killers when it comes to you and nothing has changed there. You do not fit my salvation condition and provoking Alice will only further distort the world.”

“Then why are you helping me?”

“Are you incapable of using common sense?”

The young butler sounded exasperated.

He smiled thinly as he continued.

“Common sense says the most logical way to swiftly and surely take your life is to have you meet Alice Anotherbible as soon as possible.”

“…”

“I see you do not deny this.”

His words were polite but as sharp as any blade.

What exactly was Alice to this butler?

“Common sense says you did this. And as a result, Alice was stupefied to the point she left herself undefended, allowing Rosencreutz to kill her. It all leads back to you. …What will happen when Alice sees you now? Nothing could be more obvious.”

They climbed the stairs.

They avoided the clear slime dripping from the ceiling and arrived in front of one of the many doors lining the hallway.

That door led to Kamijou’s classroom.

It was a perfectly ordinary door that would open when slid to the side.

But it carried more weight than an audience chamber where a king waited.

“Please enter,” was all H.T. Trismegistus said.

It felt like something from a dream.

Othinus had been calling everything into question before, but even she had gone quiet now.

Kamijou felt strangely compelled to continue.

This path was like a contradictory nightmare where he created the very thing he did not want to see.

Invisible rails had been laid out before him, so he could not leave this course.

And he didn’t even have a chance to find this strange.

He should have known opening this door would lead to grave danger. Not opening it was always an option, or he could wait to open it until he had worked up sufficient resolve and made ample preparations.

Nevertheless, Kamijou stood before the sliding door.

He grabbed the handle and opened it.

Like it was nothing.