Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

There may have been one thing that gave Kamijou an advantage. He stood before an exceedingly powerful foe, so focusing on that problem helped distract him from his sorrow. Without that, the shock of losing Alice Anotherbible may have devasted him.

So should he be thankful?

''Hell no.

“…”

The sunset dyed the city red.

Kamijou Touma vs. Christian Rosencreutz.

The collapsed Anti-Skill officers didn’t seem cognizant of the fact that a perfectly ordinary high school boy was confronting that silver monster one-on-one. Their minds had already yielded to the idea that such a thing wasn’t possible.

Kamijou kept his eyes on Rosencreutz but spoke to a nearby Anti-Skill officer.

“You can still move, right? Then drag the others to safety and get out of here. You need to move now if you don’t want to regret this.”

“Oh? And why should this old man just let him do that?”

“Because I won’t give you time to focus on them.”

The Anti-Skill officer got moving despite being weak in the knees. But not to run away – to find some way to get his injured and unmoving colleagues out of danger.

Christian Rosencreutz grinned.

It looked like Kamijou had successfully captured his attention.

“You cannot hold this old man’s attention if all you do is charge at me the same as before.”

“Don’t you worry. That won’t be happening.”

“How exciting☆ Simply killing you would be so ''boring''.”

Hearing that, Kamijou Touma took a step forward.

Faint surprise showed on Christian Rosencreutz’s face.

He may have thought he would always be the one moving in first.

He too approached in amusement.

Now that they were both in motion, there was no stopping them.

Or so Kamijou thought.

“La la la la♪ To all you gentle cat lovers out there, we know you think your cat is cute, but don’t let them create lots of little kittens. Once you have too many to properly care for, it is the cats who will suffer.”

There was a pet shop nearby. It wasn’t actually open thanks to the martial law and the lack of animal cries suggested the employees had taken the animals home with them, but the LCD advertisement screen was still functioning. It may have been set to activate whenever someone walked by.

And a moment after it did…

Tears spilled from Rosencreutz’s eyes.

This was no mistake.

Kamijou watched as the tears joined together to form a line down each cheek and then dripped down from his slender chin like a waterfall.

“Hey, wait, what is with you!?”

“Didn’t you hear? The cats…and the cute kittens. Don’t you feel so sorry for them?”

Kamijou’s eyes opened wide.

Did that man not remember injuring Anti-Skill just a minute ago? How could someone wield that much violence and still feel sorry for some cats!?

He was terrifyingly distractable.

Legendary Magician Christian Rosencreutz sniffled like he had completely forgotten where he was.

''But he hadn’t.

He did not have some grand goal related to the fate of the world or the future of humanity. He had no plan at all. He poured all of his energy into whatever drew his attention at the time.

But his power was immense.

He had enough power to one-shot Alice Anotherbible, yet there was no predicting where he would direct it next.

“The humans must die! Every last one of them!! If they can’t be trusted to keep their promises, the only solution is to go around slaughtering them all. Hwa ha ha! And then all the cats can be happy!!!”

“What the hell is wrong with- shit!?”

Kamijou started to shout back on reflex, but he quickly swung his head to the side.

He felt something wet on his temple: his own blood.

He could guess it was some kind of magic, but he couldn’t analyze it even after being hit by it. If he hadn’t moved at the last second, it would have taken off his head.

Still weeping, Rosencreutz shouted out loud.

He had not reduced his deadly strength.

“Death to all humans!!”

“~ ~ ~! Give a thought to how powerful you are, you dumbass!!!”

Kamijou clenched his right fist, but he couldn’t reach.

They were too far apart.

And his opponent was slightly faster.

With a “crash!!”, something heavy fell behind Rosencreutz.

It was a 2m silver orb.

At first, the sensible part of Kamijou’s brain identified it as a wrecking ball meant to tear down skyscrapers, but it wasn’t. This orb had a round handle just like on a submarine’s watertight doors.

“The Pneuma-less Shell…sniff, sob.”

CRC smiled even as he cried. He was full of emotion.

He moved his feet as if performing dance steps.

But this had nothing to do with magic.

He was simply avoiding the small flowers blooming on the ground.

“Uhh, sob. You may have encountered this when battling a magician who takes after me. It is a Rosicrucian spiritual item, after all. Stones and sharp blades will stab or slash. Plant ropes will strangle or squeeze. Not even this old man can control the random fluctuations that produce the world’s oldest tools related to each cause of death and they will produce the greatest attack based on that origin!”

(Tch!! So is he really at a more advanced level than Anna!?)

Kamijou could feel his heart hammering in his chest, but this was also his chance.

If Anna Sprengel and Christian Rosencreutz were the same sort of magician, then their spells would be similar, even if the scale was different. That meant he only had to remain calm and observe. He already knew this man’s attacks. CRC wasn’t from a completely unknown legend. Kamijou had already defeated Anna who had long ruled over and protected the Rosicrucian cabal, so he might notice some familiar magic in this fight. That would be his greatest opportunity. Rosencreutz had realized this and thus produced the randomized Pneuma-less Shell to prevent Kamijou from predicting what would happen next. That could mean the man was subconsciously afrai-

Kamijou’s optimism was shattered by a dull wrenching sound.

His right shoulder had become a solid mass of agony.

Rosencreutz smiled.

He gave a twisted smile while holding his palm out from a short distance away.

He had indeed summoned the Pneuma-less Shell, but he hadn’t laid a finger on its round handle.

The possibility of recognizing the attack – and the relief that thought brought – had been part of his strategy.

In other words…

(Spoilers aren’t enough to weaken him. He knew I would recognize that and used it against me!?)

“Gahhh!!”

The distance between them was irrelevant. CRC had only needed to hold his palm out toward Kamijou. That was all it took to tear into his right shoulder and produce scorching pain. Kamijou’s legs refused to support him. Unable to fight the force of the blow, his feet left the rubble-strewn ground and he spun through the air.

What was this? He didn’t know, but what was even happening to him!?

A second time.

And a third time the same attack assaulted him.

Since he had failed to resist the first impact, Kamijou let himself to be knocked backwards to try and avoid any further attacks, but it wasn’t enough. CRC corrected his aim for each new attack.

“Hm?”

The onslaught of destruction suddenly stopped.

CRC took a single step to the side.

Kamijou blinked in confusion even as he grimaced from the pain coming more from his bones than his skin.

Why had that man suddenly dodged? It didn’t make sense.

Was it based on some kind of rule? More importantly, was there some way of taking advantage of it?

The only thing on the road there was an old abandoned civilian car. The two round headlights and the plain bumper looked something like a smiling man.

(Really? It was that? It was really nothing more than that!?)

“Oh, how cute. Oops. I do have a bad habit of getting emotionally invested in things like this. I wonder if it was a habit I picked up from using hidden symbolism to interpret secret instructions and messages.”

Kamijou shuddered.

Logic and tactics came second. He really did do everything on a whim.

The next attack would arrive before long.

“Kh.”

Kamijou focused his mind on his right hand.

What was Imagine Breaker good for?

He clenched his teeth and his fist as tight as could be.

“Don’t try to defend, Touma!! Dodge by falling to the right!!”

Hearing a shout, Kamijou immediately swung his right fist.

But to the side, not the front. That shifted his center of gravity just enough to let him roll to the side and out of the way of the deadly attack.

It was a close thing.

He belatedly realized that, if he had relied on Imagine Breaker out of habit, he probably would have failed to fully negate the immense torrent of magic and his arm would have been twisted off at the shoulder or elbow.

And.

He recognized that voice.

“I-Index?”

Index was there with 15cm Othinus on her shoulder.

Kamijou forgot all about his pain and looked up from the ground.

Those two had no reason at all to risk their lives to save a villain like Anna Sprengel. Yet here they were.

No warm light had descended from heaven and no great sea had parted before his eyes.

But what was this if not a miracle?

“Do you think we have time to explain why we’re here or how we got here? Get back on your feet already!”

“Sorry, CRC, but I have too much pride as a god to quake in fear of your legend. I am the Norse war god, so my magic is not built with your rules at the foundation.”

And those two weren’t alone. Kamijou had trouble believing the next person he saw: Misaka Mikoto.

He was speechless.

She may have read the question in his eyes.

Mikoto averted her eyes a bit as she spoke.

“I-I never said I wouldn’t help. I only presented the problem from a different viewpoint. So don’t get all excited about this, idiot.”

Something else drew his attention.

“?”

For some reason, ''a complete stranger'' had shown up too.

Why had that middle school girl with long blonde hair come to this dangerous place?

“Don’t worry about me. Even if I explained my reason ability for risking my life here, you would forget it all soon enough anyway☆”

For some reason, Christian Rosencreutz waited for all of this to play out.

In fact, his eyes were sparkling.

A bad sign.

“Fascinating!!!”

“Watch out, everyone!! That idiot is about to attack!!”

They all scattered.

Whatever happened, the air in a straight line out from CRC rapidly heated and scorched. A pedestrian bridge far behind them was sliced apart and soared through the sky.

Apparently he wasn’t guaranteed a hit whenever he held out his palm.

Gathering his attention was far too dangerous.

That alone could mean death.

Even if the silver young man himself didn’t intend for it.

After all, not even Kamijou’s Imagine Breaker could fully negate CRC’s magic. Defense was out of the question. Evasion was the only option. If your legs froze up in fear of the approaching deadly attack, you would be instantly consumed.

And it wasn’t just dumb luck that there were no victims from Kamijou’s group.

Kamijou had experienced too much misfortune to believe in that.

There had to be a real reason they had been saved.

“TBSR – TCKU (Thy body shifts right – thou cannot keep up)!!”

“Oh?”

Index had folded her hands and raised her voice in what sounded like a song, but it wasn’t.

That was Spell Intercept.

By analyzing the structure of the enemy magician’s spell and randomly rearranging the incantation or symbols into something extremely similar but with an entirely different meaning, Index could throw off the enemy’s focus.

She had only diverted his aim by the smallest amount this time.

But when she really worked at it, she could cause the magic to malfunction or even harm the enemy magician.

“Kee hee hee. Oh, how delightful! Such fun!! Is this what modern magic is like? It is missing a lot, but I see you have made a number of changes to make up for that. You could even call it a brand new genre of original recipes. This type of creativity is far more interesting than Kingsford who continued to use the musty old secret arts!!”

Christian Rosencreutz was probably being entirely honest.

But Index still clenched her teeth.

He was saying she had insufficient data and that all her knowledge was a distorted version of the original. She had dedicated her life to memorizing more than 103,000 grimoires, so his words were a humiliating insult to her.

He might as well have tried the finest dish of a chef who had worked his ass of training in French cuisine and then scoffed, calling it an amusing Japanese twist on the dish.

That man had to be well versed in ways to make people suffer.

And he used them for no more than his own amusement.

But reality could not keep up.

“Gh!?” groaned Mikoto.

She had magnetically pulled over an electric car as a shield, but now it exploded. The whitish explosion of the giant lithium-ion battery slammed into her, throwing her backwards.

Index’s instructions weren’t enough to avoid this.

Her Spell Intercept wasn’t enough to throw off Rosencreutz’s aim!?

“Hm? Weird. This doesn’t match my grimoires!?”

“Kee hee hee. Of course it doesn’t.”

CRC cackled gleefully.

He looked like he was resisting the urge to hold his sides.

“Does flipping through a recipe book make you a chef? You are a library, a collection of book knowledge, while this old man is steeped from head to toe in real knowledge and skill. We may be drawing on the same wisdom, but there is a vast gulf between what we can actually use. Hee hee ha ha ha. Did you think your lines of text on paper could outdo what this old man truly performs!?”

“''Shokuhou''!!!”

Collapsed on the ground, Misaka Mikoto called a name that had a terribly familiar ring to it.

The honey blonde girl immediately pulled a TV remote from her handbag. But then she froze. Not even her widened eyes blinked.

Something inside her had suddenly broken.

“What? No…way.”

“''Did you really think that child’s play would work on this old man''?”

He didn’t provide any further explanation.

But everyone could tell that was an absolute truth that brooked no objection. The result was plain to see. The #5’s power did not work on him and that was all that mattered.

With their attack stopped, it was Rosencreutz’s turn.

The negative trend would not stop.

“Kh!!”

Kamijou stepped out in front of the girls and held out his right hand.

But a chill ran down his spine.

Hadn’t he done this exact thing after Alice Anotherbible died and his mind went blank? Index had used the full knowledge of all her grimoires and told him not to use Imagine Breaker here. It didn’t matter what had worked in the past – she had concluded that method wouldn’t work here.

Christian Rosencreutz slowly held his palm out toward Kamijou.

“Ahhhh!!” roared dusty Misaka Mikoto.

She must have harnessed a great magnetic force because the highway overpass crossing the road collapsed and a skyscraper on either side collapsed to block the road. An artificial gale blew through. How many people would have died if everyone hadn’t been evacuated from the area by the martial law?

But Kamijou didn’t even consider that question.

The world quaked. A single attack caused the towering pile of rubble to crumble away. Hearing the cacophony was enough to know it would soon no longer function as a barrier.

The original rule stood before him.

''Evasion was the only option.

''It didn’t matter what had worked in the past – he must not think of trying defense this time.

A pair of eyes shined bright beyond the collapsing pile.

''He'' was smiling with amusement.

“Is that all you can do? You gather all your strength and it buys you a measly 10 seconds?”

“!!??”

Terror squeezed at Kamijou’s stomach.

Before they could try anything else, that abnormal joy pinned Kamijou and the girls’ feet to the ground.

Rosencreutz’s approach could not be stopped.

He was coming to them!?

“Heh heh. No, no. Surely you can do more than that. You bothered to stand in this old man’s path, so you had better entertain me a while longer!!!”