Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume13 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 3===

Only static came from Kamijou’s wireless earphone, but even that ended eventually.

He was dumbfounded as he used his right hand to negate the scorpion and spider made of blonde hair.

No response.

The board chairman had been taken out too easily.

Especially considering he was Academy City’s #1 Level 5.

Great Demon Coronzon’s strength was on another level entirely!!

“His ability to attack anywhere in the city from that one point also means that one point can be attacked from anywhere in the city. Much like the rules regarding gazing into the Abyss.”

Coronzon looked like she was viewing some distant place while standing here.

Was she sneering at Accelerator who she had just defeated?

Or was she recalling the previous board chairman who had developed the #1?

“Still, for someone sniping people from hiding, it’s curious how careless you were about the standard rules for line of sight. Is that another blind spot created by your reflection, Academy City’s #1?”

Her focus shifted from the distant to the near.

Coronzon’s target was now Kamijou.

“And have you forgotten, Kamijou Touma?”

“Kh.”

“I have a winning move. As long as no one intervenes, I only need to repeat the process to pierce you.”

“Dammit!!”

She was right.

The long, long hair spear, the scattered crab and fly scouts, and the invisible maw formed from countless sparks. He knew that series of attacks was coming, but he could not break free of the rails. Position, movement, distance – Coronzon only had to use small steps to adjust those factors and Kamijou would effectively be trapped in a thick cage. It was like a shogi problem only requiring a predetermined series of moves.

And the time had come.

Coronzon made her sneering announcement.

While directing the tip of an immaterial rapier toward him.

“Magick: Flaming_Sword. Manifest thyself through descent of the Sephirah and bathe him in thy power.”



''Blam!!!



He had no choice but to block it.

This was beyond the limits of his right hand.

But rather than strike it with his fist, touching his palm to it and swinging his arm to deflect it away just barely qualified as a correct answer. His arm made a disconcerting creaking sound, but the bones were not broken.

But that was all.

Kamijou Touma’s feet left the ground. As soon as he noticed that, his body was thrown backwards.

Twice, thrice he bounced along the red snow before entering a roll.

He only tasted a rusty flavor.

He supposed still having senses at all was a plus. That meant he wasn’t unconscious.

…Unlike last time.

“I told you.”

“…”

“I only need to repeat the process. You didn’t think this was a one-time-use ability, did you? This is an elementary move. Our last battle was cut short when your right hand went nuts, but, well, this is what happens when I actually make an effort to surround you.”

She was overwhelming and then some.

Last time, the British magic experts had gathered together and somehow managed to pull out a win, so taking on this monster alone had been a mistake.

“You aren’t hoping circumstances will change if you buy enough time, are you? Could this be a stalling tactic so you can let Alice Anotherbible, Anna Sprengel, or another extraordinary member of your party deal with me?”

Great Demon Coronzon had been pure terror to begin with.

But the squeezing at Kamijou’s heart was even greater now.

“They aren’t coming. Because I set it up that way. Kamijou Touma, Hamazura Shiage, and Takitsubo Rikou. Oh, and there was that Qliphah Puzzle 545 too. You four were simply low on my priority list, so I didn’t get around to trapping you in a labyrinth before you arrived.”

One by one, Coronzon plucked away his hopes and possibilities. All with a sneer.

Almost like a child traveling all the way to a flower field, capturing a bug, flipping it over, and innocently tearing out its legs.

“So all I need to do is repeat the process, taking as much time as I need to kill you. Don’t worry about how much it will cost me. Nothing you think can help you escape now.”

“Damn…”

“You see, I can spend as much time on this as I want. But Adikalika will activate in less than half an hour. So it’s you that needs to stop playing around and seriously try to stop me.”

He was far from unscathed. In fact, he was in state of extreme tension where a wrong choice in when to blink could mean instant death.

“Dispersion? Natural decomposition? Destroying the current world?”

But still Kamijou was not broken.

His right fist was intact.

“To hell with that, Coronzon. Who alive today is going to accept that!?”

“My value is 333, my meaning is dispersion. I am the one who tears apart the bonds between people and obstructs their evolution.”

Coronzon whispered her own purpose as if rolling it around in her mouth.

And she looked up.

Once more.

“Keh heh heh. You humans were given the freedom to choose for yourselves yet you continue to let others make your choices based on ‘information’ and ‘trends’, so you can never understand those who were only given a single path.”

“Freedom?”

Kamijou frowned.

The jealousy in her voice made it sound like that was something she didn’t have.

How could she say that after everything she had done?

But before he could say so.



It all flowed out like a rotten clump.



“God made all his creation in accordance to his plan. Not a single part of his plan failed. So it naturally follows that all this world’s sin and vice function as gears in his master plan. That includes all things in this world. Yes, the scams, the theft, the violence, the murder, the swords, the guns, the poison gas, the nuclear weapons – everything!! Vices that even a great demon like me could never imagine will continue to be discovered in this world!! 333, dispersion. The one who lurks in the Abyss hidden in the Sephiroth and obstructs human evolution. God is omniscient and omnipotent. He knew from the beginning I contained the possibility to betray him, to become a hideous demon, and to lose the war! So why didn’t he stop me!?”

“…”

Did she sound like she was spitting on heaven because she was a being known as a great demon?

If so, had these very words been expected by someone?

Coronzon put on a twisted smile.

“Because a creation is no more than a creation, it is difficult for me to escape my traits and my role. Unlike the humans who were tempted into eating the fruit, we – the beings known as angels and demons – have much greater restrictions placed upon us. You could say we are god’s tools. Just as a sword is a sword and cannot be a dinner knife or fork, we can make use of – or even abuse – the abilities given to us within the bounds of our created purpose, but we can never take an entirely different path.”

What was this?

The previous diagram was breaking down.

Or could it be?

Was the very act of understanding Coronzon’s feelings and inner state enough to drag one toward vice?

“So there is but one way to bare my fangs toward heaven. Instead of futilely resisting, ''I must take my purpose farther than he ever imagined, derailing his plan in the process''!! That gives me a chance of ruining god’s plan without ever betraying my purpose in being here. I!! I am here to fight against all the tragedy that occurs in a world designed for someone else’s benefit!!!”

Coronzon spread her arms and wings wide as she made this grand proclamation.

“You’re…kidding,” muttered Kamijou Touma.

Without thinking.

She was 333, dispersion. So she could not allow anything to exist forever and would ensure all things faced natural decomposition.

That was indeed her original purpose, but it only described a method. No one had touched on what she would gain by breaking down the entire world. No one had mentioned her personal objective.

The answer was a simple one.

That being who far surpassed the bounds of humanity could be summed up as follows:



''She was sick of it.



333, dispersion. She tore apart the bonds between people and obstructed their evolution. Those were the hideous numbers and symbols within her – at her very core. When comparing herself to the many other beings who dedicated themselves to roles of bright blessings – mercy, protection, honesty, safety – she couldn’t accept that she existed only for that dark function.

So she had tried to overturn that.

Coronzon wrapped her arms around herself, doubled over, and screamed.

As if trying to forcibly seal away the source of her nausea, which just so happened to be the very core of her being.

“I makes me sick! Oh, so sick!! Both myself for being used in that way and the humans who think this power has any value and create so many spells to interfere with me! But most of all, the world that requires ''me'' repulses me!! Do you understand, good one who always strives to be righteous despite your imperfection!? God knew I would stray. So! I was robbed the chance to grasp even the tiniest sliver of freedom by rebelling of my own free will!!!”

In a way, it was like being forced into the role of telling people to fail and find misfortune.

She was a tool only expected to harm and frustrate others.

No matter how powerful she might be and no matter how important the seat she sat in, the very first assumption had distorted her. How could she find any confidence in that situation?

She had been told she was a necessary part of the world.

But when god had created her from the start as someone capable of rebelling, even that could perhaps have a purpose.

Her power was to tear people apart and prevent their evolution. That was who she was. A great demon.

This world could not exist without that despicable and contemptible system and the current age could not function without so much anger, sorrow, resignation, and infighting, so Coronzon had concluded they were far too twisted and imperfect.

So.

She had decided to use every last part of what she was to destroy ''the plan she didn’t understand and without even trying to understand it.

She had wanted the fastest way of doing that.

She had settled on something she could reach out and touch.

She thought her best option was to destroy the world that god had created and raised.

“Am I nothing more than a sumptuous feast for you humans, designed to fail in order to give you courage when you defeat me? Or am the deluge bucket, designed to succeed so that my thorough destruction can cleanse this impure world? The answer doesn’t really matter.”

Uh, oh.

This went beyond the degree of violence.

Great Demon Coronzon had something that would overwhelm others on another dimension altogether, more closely related to concepts of good, righteousness, and the mental struggle against doom!!

“Either way, if I simply take the role of my symbols and value ''too far'', I can derail and ruin it all without violating the rules. So you cannot convince me with words. I will never hold back. I will activate Adikalika here no matter what! I will bring this to a level that will make anyone – yes, even god himself –  hold their head in their hands and look away!!!”

Something exploded.

Coronzon spread her arms and roared as light exploded out from her in a dome.

Light.

A dazzling white.

As if screaming that her rebellion against heaven was the truly righteous and correct choice.

“…Ah…”

Maybe it had been a mistake to listen to her.

How could Kamijou Touma overcome this when his own position was starting to waver?



The blast struck him across his body.



He was knocked back, thrown through the air, and fell to the ground. He rolled again and again, throwing red snow into the air.

It was night and Academy City didn’t have many lights on since repairs were still slow in coming, but neither was the reason his vision rapidly grew dark.

It blinked in and out.

He felt no pain. Nor any obvious fear or panic. All of those active emotions were melting away from his mind. It reminded him of when Alice Anotherbible had killed him in his school that night. The same sensation was filling him once more. Mercilessly.

Oh, no.

This time…he really was going to…