Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

The muffled explosion was audible even on the bow deck.

Witch Goddess Aradia’s long silver hair and large wimple blew in the frigid wind, but she sighed softly.

(Well, I like to think that isn’t enough to kill him when he has Imagine Breaker. No matter what it looks like or how she uses it, ''everything here is magic, including the weapons and explosions.'')

She also found this a strange thought.

To think the day would come she was acting based on trust in Kamijou Touma’s abilities.

She glanced down at her ankle and smiled a little.

“Now, I need to focus on my own job.”

She looked back up.

The two of them stood directly above the bow’s trio of main guns.

The moon shined down on the two identical witch goddess. Their long silver hair and ankle-length wimples blew in the frigid wind and they breathed identical white breaths as they smiled thinly.

There was no signal.

The two Aradias took action simultaneously.

They moved their mic stand brooms to their left hands.

One swung her right hand horizontally and the other did the same.

Their voices overlapped in disturbing synchronicity.

“I will bring peace to this city by defeating my enemy. Which makes this a good deed.”

“I will bring peace to this city by defeating my enemy. Which makes this a good deed.”

They sealed a cutting edge in their nails and took a step forward.

Their slicing fingers intersected for their first attack.

They jumped from gun to gun. When one threw an open-hand slap, the other struck that wrist to send it off course. They both twisted around while aiming a palm at the other.

Witch Goddess Aradia’s magic was based on the Triple Reload.

They didn’t need to defeat their opponent in one strike.

As long as they gave meaning to their attack, each consecutive one would grow more powerful in a snowball effect. It was an endless triple increase. There was no upper limit. As the chain continued, they would reach the point where they could fight the entire magic side and win.

A shockwave exploded out.

The aircraft cruiser’s gun barrel bent.

Fists flew, stainless steel mic stands roared, and roundhouse kicks tore through the air.

The rubbing of their feet squeaked like during a basketball game. The shadows at their feet grew more apparent. Both Aradias rubbed down the metal clasps of their decorations, sprinkling medicinal herbs at their feet, and used their bare feet to mix in sebum to create their witch ointment.

Their witchcraft mostly relied on that ointment.

Their shadows writhed in a disturbing fashion as the two witches shared a Sabbat dance.

The giant guns exploded below them, so one witch goddess gently landed her bare feet on the side deck another level down.

The other woman also landed with a smile.

“Oh? You aren’t leaving the human realm?”

“Kh.”

She clenched her teeth but couldn’t fully suppress the breath of slight exhaustion.

The other Aradia’s smile grew.

“Hee hee. That’s right. Using the Secret Chief’s power is a broken spell that lets us fight the entire magic side on our own. But it is not enough to come out on top when fighting another Aradia.”

Immediately after, the two blurred into motion.

They clashed.

Aradia and Aradia ran along the side deck, tore into the ship’s armor, and scattered sparks as they crashed into each other a few times. Their fingers sharply intersected, their feet ran, and they either swung their mic stand around in a hand or straddled it to fly in the night sky. They drew out large, twisted arcs and turned those into unorthodox loop-the-loops while their lights collided over and over before the two witches dropped straight toward the aircraft cruiser’s deck once more.

(If I only knew where the unseen rail is.)

Even as they fought fiercely enough to melt and distort the side deck’s armor, the witch goddess kept her thoughts cool and calm.

(Triple upon triple upon triple upon triple. My Triple Reload increases my power threefold with each new good deed, which is like creating a single rail. If I can predict hers, I can block her and keep her dominos from continuing to fall.)

Even in a battle between Aradias, how they used their spells could create a difference in strength. If one continued to grow her power with Triple Reload and the other had that process stopped early, the resultant difference could be used to end the battle.

Aradia knew she could predict that rail.

After all, her opponent was another Aradia.

She could easily tell what in this environment could be converted into a good deed.

But if she tried to take advantage of her opponent’s weakness that way, her opponent would do the same to her.

Stopping the falling dominos was meaningless if it was mutual. Then the shadows at their feet would lose everything they had built up and both of them would have to start over from scratch.

Whether she tried it or hesitated, it wasn’t enough to end the battle.

And…

“Tch!!”

She clicked her tongue and they exchanged a few more attacks.

The air vibrated and even the ship’s thick armor creaked concerningly.

Maybe it was for the best that they were on an aircraft cruiser cut off from the Academy City streets.

Even without the giant gun barrels breaking and flying away, wielding this kind of power would have done untold damage to the city.

“Oh, no. Are we stuck in a permanent stalemate?”

“Maybe so, if our power really is equal.”

They continued to clash like beams with a cutting edge, but that couldn’t go on forever.

One of them came to a stop and the other stopped on the deck in kind.

The Aradia fighting for the boy in trouble tried to surreptitiously catch her breath.

Her attempt failed.

“Huff, puff.”

“What’s wrong? Worn out already? I guess you are ''the old Aradia.'' Feel free to say you only lost because you were still worn out from your previous battles.”

“Do you really expect that to happen?”

“No, I doubt it will be that easy. But if this continues, we really will be pushing ourselves to the limits of our identical specs. And that gives me a small opportunity. One you lack.”

“Won’t you be in trouble if you’re wrong and we defeat each other?”

“Not really.”

That was all she had to say.

(Mut Thebes must have given her a lot of information on me.)

If both Aradias were defeated here, did she assume it wouldn’t affect their ceremony because another performer would fill the role? Had she added the ventilation fan cover mesh to her official costume to ensure their specs were truly equal, thus not giving the “old Aradia” even the slightest chance? And as long as their savior arrived, the witches she wanted to protect would be saved.

That wasn’t good enough for this Aradia.

She smiled a little upon discovering that feeling inside her.

If their specs were completely identical, they were stuck in a permanent stalemate. That meant she needed something ''other than'' her Aradia identity. With that something extra on the scales, she could achieve victory.

(I already gave him hope as a goddess, so I can’t let myself be defeated now.)

Would that feeling give her something that let her overcome her physical exhaustion?

''It would.

A heavy breath appeared white in the winter chill.

Aradia’s shoulders heaved on the side deck as she glance to the side.

“Hoping to ask him for support?”

The other noticed and smiled thinly.

The other magician taking the Aradia name shrugged with her mic stand broom still in hand.

“Seems to me that would only complicate matters. We look and act the same and we use the same spells. Can he look at the two Aradias here and tell which one is on his side?”

“Oh? Do you really think he can’t?”

“?”

Then.

A certain woman focused on one point of the Aradia standing in front of her. She noticed the difference between them.

''The other one had a single loop of duct tape around her right ankle.

“Ah.”

“''Our appearance and specs might be identical, but the things we’ve experienced and the memories we’ve made make a difference''.”

Kamijou Touma rushed in from the side, his fist crashing into the enemy Aradia’s cheek.

Not even the triple goddess beyond human territory mattered.

No secret move was enough to block that boy’s right fist.

(I only wrapped this duct tape around my ankle at the gas station. Mut Thebes must not have seen me between then and our arrival at the cinema complex.)

“Also.”

The witch goddess wagged her finger down at the other Aradia who had been knocked out by the blow to the head. She winked and whispered.

“The goddess of all witches isn’t all that physically strong. A solid hit from Kamijou Touma’s fist is enough to knock her out. …I know that firsthand from Shibuya on the 31st.”