Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter8 (section)

===Part 1===

The Ainsel and Tam Lin, both Stativari which carried the title of world-famous violins, clashed using notes of destruction. The leaking chemical coolant made the large server room even chillier than necessary. Computers the size of refrigerators were lined up along the floor and they exploded one after another as “stray shots” hit them. The dry-ice-like fog was torn through and thick arcs of electricity colored the darkness like neon.

This time, Sakibasu Yuri’s performance was not enough to overpower her mother Ryouu.

No, something had stolen her mother’s body and that something was working to swallow up the girl as well.

“Kh.”

“Sakibasu-san!!”

Mikoto grabbed the black-twintailed girl around her slender hips and used magnetism to leap toward the ceiling. A storm of EM waves raged along the floor. When Mikoto saw gravity pulling on the upside-down girl’s skirt, she hastily changed how she was holding her.

During all this fighting, the wicked strings vibrated to spit out a voice rather than music.

“Gee kee, ah ha ha!! You play some nice violin, girly. I had assumed a mature woman was best ''when looking for the body most suited for playing me,'' but did I actually want the fingers of a refreshing unripe fruit gently wrapped around me instead!?”

“I refuse to touch a monster like you! Show him what we can do, Ainsel!!”

“Yeah, that’s the stuff. You really know how to stimulate the scab. It’s making me so damn jealous. You must know nothing is more exciting than taking what belongs to someone else, so I can only assume you’re asking for it by showing that off!!”

The positions of master and servant had been entirely reversed on the other side. Instead of adjusting the size of the instrument to what the performer could best play, the humans were lined up and compared to see whose arms, legs, and fingers were the perfect length to play a 60cm violin. This was a clear statement that a human life was a small price to pay for drawing out the music of a world-famous instrument.

The violin’s explosive notes targeted the ceiling, so Mikoto moved around while holding Sakibasu around the hips. She moved from the ceiling to the servers and then back to the floor.

“Kuroko, you take over! Help Sakibasu-san with your Teleportation!!”

“Will do!!”

Of course that bastard was going to aim for the moment of the switchover.

Mikoto launched a lightning spear as covering fire, but it was once again diverted away from the enemy.

“A gentle but world-wise wife is pretty great, but this opportunity doesn’t come along every day. Instead of tearing apart a man and woman to take her #1 spot, ''I actually have the chance to steal someone from another Stativarius''!! Gee kee, ah ha ha ha!!”

“Kh!! Damn you!!!!!!”

“Lick those slender fingertips in preparation for me. Once I grant this old wife’s silly little wish, it’s your body I’ll claim next, girly. So you’ll need those fingers to play some beautiful music with me! And there’s no stopping until I’m satisfied!!”

They were both Stativari, but the attacks coming from Tam Lin had clearly surpassed anything possible using the wavelengths of a violin. It was like some other destructive force had been added on. This was something indescribably sinister, which came at the price of the owner’s destruction.

Shokuhou Misaki let out a white breath and gave an order.

“Go, Hokaze.”

“Understood, Queen.”

Starting with an explosive step, the girl with gorgeous ringlet curls tore apart the dry-ice-like white fog and approached Sakibasu Ryouu. She circled around to the side of the mother and daughter who were clashing head-on.

However…

“That ain’t gonna work!!”

“!?”

It was the ringlet curls girl who was pushed back.

Even though her opponent had both hands full playing the violin.

A shadow extended from the feet of the beautiful mother in the black silk party dress and something like the upper body of a dark giant burst out.

“What is it now!?”

“I don’t think we have to time to let every little thing surprise us, Kuroko!!”

The thick arms reached out on either side of her body and the torso rose up behind her and leaned over her head. It was the fist of one of those pitch-black log-like arms that pushed back the ringlet curls girl who claimed she could bench press more than a ton.

What was more impressive here? The dark arms that could push back Rampage Dress, which strengthened the body by controlling it on the cellular level using the weak bioelectricity within?

Or was it the ringlet curls girl who could survive a blow from a dark arm more brutal than the heavy machinery used to demolish buildings?

“That isn’t metal or wood. It was similar to thick rubber, but subtly different. …Dead flesh. I think the closest comparison would be punching a giant tuna or hunk of frozen meat.”

“Risking yourself to test my strength? You’re a brave little thing, curly. But it seems to me you must have a death wish.”

“!!”

They had to support the ringlet curls girl, but Mikoto’s attack would be too powerful.

“Kuroko, I’ll take care of Sakibasu-san, so you focus your attacks on that violin!!”

The usual metal darts skipped right past the thick dark arms and directly invaded the holy territory in which the party dress woman stood.

However…

“I can’t hit it!! Why!?”

The 60cm violin skillfully dodged the teleportation attacks as the woman shook her head and shoulder with the rhythm she was playing herself. Those metal darts could tear through the walls of a nuclear shelter, but they were meaningless if they only hit empty air.

“Sa10> This is three Level 4s and two Level 5s from prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School, right? How can a single person fight evenly against all of them at once!?”

“GK> That’s just how dangerous they are, apparently! Agh, there’s nothing in the Bank related to violins or this situation… What theory is this technology based on!?”

Then they received their answer.

And just because a search produced no results did not necessarily mean it ''only'' relied on the mysterious occult.

When panicked and confused, the proper search terms could slip from your mind.

“It’s called an indefinite curve. Like pi, it’s an irregular waveform that has a clearly defined formula but that never arrives at the crucial answer. The wonders of music can control the human body, so what happens when I produce a ''random fluctuation'' that your minds can’t predict? You could link up all the world’s supercomputers and have them work at it for a 1000 years and never find an answer to this long-ass string of numbers, so how are the puny brains behind those cute little faces supposed to stand a chance? An attack that sweeps across a line or fills a plane would be one thing, but one that pierces a single point can never hit me.”

“Queen, please make contact!!”

“Will do. Fall back, Hokaze!!”

Mental Out was not just for use on enemies. It could also forcefully intervene in an ally’s thoughts, so the ringlet curls girl jumped back and away from the giant arms with movements she never could have pulled off with her own reaction speed.

Just like with empty cartridges, the enemy must not have wanted to step on one of the metal darts and lose balance.

The root cause of it all used those high-heeled feet to kick the fallen darts aside within the cold fog.

“I don’t like the way you’re fighting there. You’re holding back out of fear of killing this woman, aren’t you? But just so you know, this body is part of me now! There’s more to a Stativarius than the violin in the glass case!!”

“Dodge, Kuroko!! Don’t let the apparent distance trick you!!”

Just as Mikoto shouted that warning, one of the dark arms tore up a fridge-sized computer like it was a weed. And it threw the server. The fog that hung in the air like dry ice was entirely blown away. That weight and speed could crush the average car and the electricity it scattered in every direction could easily destroy a human body if it flew anywhere near them. Shocked Shirai vanished into thin air at about the same time the ringlet curls girl fell back further to reassess the appropriate distance from this enemy.

“What’s wrong!? I’ve gotta create a new family name for this careless wife. Aren’t you gonna help me give her a dramatic death!?”

If they stood in front, the violin would hit them.

If they circled around to either side or behind, the dark arms or the giant’s upper body would handle the offense and defense. A clean hit from either would be lethal. Plus, keeping their distance was not enough to ensure safety.

Shirai Kuroko clenched her teeth next to Misaka Mikoto while viewing that fearsome situation.

“To be honest, this is a formidable opponent!!”

“So what? How can we accept anything but a happy ending after coming this far!? Let’s smash that hunk of junk and take back Sakibasu-san’s mom as soon as possible!!”