Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 9===

Someone was coming. Kamijou’s woozy mind managed to hear several footsteps approaching. They were on their way despite the laws and treaties protecting the consulate and despite the fact that it was a monstrous place guarded by countless Transcendents, including Alice herself.

They were on their way to bring an end to all this trouble.

They were on their way to protect Kamijou Touma.

“Damn.”

(I appreciate it, but I can’t get them involved in the battle against Alice. If they go up against her without any real chance of winning, who knows what kind of trick she’ll reveal she still has up her sleeve!!)

That meant he only had one option.

He couldn’t rely on kindness, warmth, or the good of the world.

He had to crawl back to his feet if he wanted to protect them himself.

And if he wanted to prevent Alice from becoming that kind of enemy!!

“Bh.”

He had no way of knowing what was going on inside his body.

A rusty flavor filled his mouth.

Maybe this was what it meant to fight a Transcendent without a plan. With Aradia, Trismegistus, and Alice, simply being with them meant risking your life and directly facing them meant unavoidable death.

All the more reason why he couldn’t let anyone else get involved.

He moved his body despite the disturbing sounds it made when he did so and he dug his fingers into the dark soil.

He was painfully aware of the birdcage his ribs formed in his chest. Something hot was exploding inside that cage.

He had pushed himself too hard.

The blood went wild in the core of his being and he collapsed back to the ground.

“Gahh!?”

How much longer would he be able to move?

10 minutes? 5? Maybe not even 1.

But.

He gathered strength in his deteriorating body once more.

He was willing to cough up blood, break some bones, or damage his internal organs if that was what it took.

As long as he could keep himself moving for another minute.

As long as he could stand back up and clench his fist again.

His right hand wandered.

He touched Trismegistus’s sword on the ground and it shattered. With Good, Old Mary’s outdoor kitchen tools, he wasn’t sure how they were even used as weapons.

Nevertheless…

“Gahh!!”

He stood up.

He threw his right fist forward.

Toward the giant monster rushing toward him. The difference in their strength had already been proven beyond a doubt. The Gryphon opened its large beak and bit at the boy’s right arm.

He heard an unpleasant tearing sound.

He felt searing heat.

But.

His arm exploded.

''Something'' burst from within his torn-off right arm and rapidly expanded within the bird of prey’s mouth.

The Gryphon’s silhouette burst like a balloon.

“Ah, ahh, ahhh, ahhhh, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

(This isn’t over.)

He staggered to the side.

His vision faded due to all the blood gushing from his arm.

(Alice is still there.)

He still had to deal with the hedgehog balls, the flamingo bat, the executioner, and the small girl herself.

He knew that.

He wasn’t going to last much longer.

Defeating the giant Gryphon wasn’t the end of it. it probably didn’t even qualify as one of the main cards in Alice Anotherbible’s deck. Kamijou was already battered before even arriving in front of her. If he couldn’t defeat her at his best, what hope did he have in his current state?

Still.

Kamijou Touma used his remaining arm and his mouth to tie a handkerchief tightly around the shoulder just above where his arm had been torn off.

He couldn’t afford to pass out yet.

He knew people were rushing to his aid, but he couldn’t expose them to the threat that was Alice. If this had all begun with the two of them meeting on that adventure in the dark side, he had to be the one to end it.

“Al…ice.”

He couldn’t even straighten his slanted stance.

But he still clenched his bloody teeth and took a step forward.

“Forget about the others. Pretend they’re not even here.”

He moved forward.

He moved of his own free ''will'' to stand before that young monster whose innocence was what made her so terrifying.

“''So fight me!! Alice Anotherbible!!!''”

And…

“…”

Alice looked away from him in her inappropriate leather outfit. She was instead focused on the many footsteps surrounding them.

On all the people attempting to eliminate her to protect Kamijou.

Then she let out a visible breath with resignation on her face. It was the look of a child who had been so excited about going to the amusement park but, once she arrived, got lost, was taken into custody by the park officials, waited and waited for her parents to come get her, and as the sun began to set, finally realized that her parents had abandoned her.

That face stabbed into Kamijou Touma’s heart far more painfully than anger or the noh mask ever could.

“Forget it…”

''Uh, oh,'' realized Kamijou, but it was too late.

He had already seen the clear drops growing in the corners of her eyes as she pouted her lips and turned away.

And the girl said one last thing now that she was truly alone.

“Stupid teacher.”

[[Image:GT_Index_v07_BW7.png|thumb]]