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

===Part 4===

The night wind raged.

The darkness was colored by the blowing red snow.

Only a winged figure stood within it. Kamijou Touma had still clenched his right fist, but that was all. He had passed out with his fist still tight. He was completely out.

The communication line was staticky and there was no response from the person on the other end. Physical distance and thick walls were meaningless against magical curses. They provided no defense. New Board Chairman Accelerator had also been fully silenced.

It was quiet.

Divinely so.

“Qliphah Puzzle 545.”

“Kh.”

The artificial demon floating stealthily in the air shook when she was called out without even a glance in her direction.

“You could try that stunt again, but know first that I have ''already developed a countermeasure''. Leviathan was it? That sacrificial spell will only lead to a meaningless death. So settle down and watch the end of the world. That would be the better option for a lonely demon like you.”

Red snow fell through the dark night.

Adikalika’s countdown continued unabated, but no one remained to stop it.

The world’s fate was sealed.

No…

“So you’re the last one left, Hamazura Shiage.”

A voice spoke.

As if recalling old times.

Another form had gotten back up.

Quietly.

He was battered and bloody, but Hamazura Shiage was not dead yet.

With an ironic smile, Coronzon spread the wings on her back.

“I can’t imagine what an ordinary human can accomplish, but fine. As a human, you lack perfect righteousness yet work desperately to gather up the fragments of a good heart. Toying with that treasure without realizing its value to me is the height of folly. So fight back against my annihilation.”

“Y’know.”

Hamazura Shiage sat down in the red snow.

Yes, he did not duck down or dive behind cover.

Almost suicidally, he sat right in front of Great Demon Coronzon.

And he let the words spill out.

“I had a feeling it would end up this way. The last one standing wasn’t going to be Kamijou Touma or Accelerator. Coronzon, since it’s about you, I had a feeling it’d be me, even if I don’t really belong here.”

“Are you suggesting that I showed mercy to my enemy because we are acquaintances? You think I, a great demon, standing here as a concentration of vice, would do that?”

“No, I don’t think that’s it.”

Hamazura’s voice sounded somehow empty.

But also confident.

He ''personally'' knew Coronzon, not through hearsay or myth.

“You’re logical. You’re trying to destroy the world for a very rational reason. So you labeled everyone opposing you an enemy and you defeated them. It’s simple really. You eliminated them because they were trying to stop you, so ''you don’t actually hate Kamijou Touma or Accelerator''.”

Yes.

She didn’t hate them, but not for some emotional reason. There just wasn’t any connection between them.

Kamijou Touma and Accelerator were nothing more than strangers to Coronzon. What reason did she have to thoroughly hate Villager A?

“Ha ha! Then what? Have you accepted it yourself? You’re saying I forgot to even mark you an enemy because you’re just some pathetic delinquent? Even then, anyone who stands before me is an enemy. I will destroy anyone and everyone who tries to stop Adikalika. You damn gnat. You cannot stop me, Hamazura Shiage!!”

“''That’s not it either.''”

He rejected her claim again.

Immediately.

Even Coronzon had to frown now.

Could the being known as a great demon not understand this tiny truth?

“''I’m not working against you.'' I no longer have any reason to attack you.”

“I…don’t understand.”

“Go ahead.”

With those words, it was Coronzon who grimaced.

But seeing the look on her face, he spoke clearly.

“I know all too well this world is shit. I mean, I’m a Level 0. That alone means I’ve got nothing. So go ahead. If the new age you imagine is a free and righteous place where everyone can be happy…”

“Hey, wait. Dammit, Hamazura, are you saying…!?”



“C’mon, Coronzon. Go ahead and do it.”



Yes.

When Hamazura faced Coronzon and she asked what he would do about her, he had said “that depends on your answer”.

“But…back in the UK, you stopped me, didn’t you? In the very end, with some help from Dion Fortune.”

“True,” admitted Hamazura. And then, “But I hadn’t actually processed what you said back then. I stuck with my own thoughts and simply thought I could save you too if I protected the world. …But how did that pan out? The instant you were free again, you got to work trying to destroy the world again. As if to say it’s the world that’s wrong. To be honest, I agree with you there. If the fighting continues with you or without you, then it doesn’t seem like you’re the source of the problem.”

From Hamazura Shiage’s point of view, Kamijou Touma and Accelerator were success stories too dazzlingly bright to look at. It wasn’t a matter of money, education, family, or esper level. No matter how much he tried, he knew he could never catch up to them.

So they would want to protect the world. Without a second thought.

Even if it meant risking their lives.

Even if something about the world felt off.

Ultimately, they wanted to protect the current world because they were reluctant to let it go. Because they were happy people who could imagine the benefits they would find in keeping the current system going.

If they were foolish, they would be fine with that.

They would foolishly look only to their own happiness and continue to reap the benefits.

But what if they were clever? What if they were aware so many people were denied freedom and couldn’t obtain the things they had, but they continued to enjoy those benefits themselves? That was no different than trampling others in pursuit of their own happiness. It was an undeniable sin.

Protecting the world was not necessarily a good or righteous act.

If the wicked wealthy with all their injustices and dirty money said they were going to protect the world, who would praise them for it?

If the world had been rotten to the core from the beginning, then the meaning of that phrase flipped on its head.

Everyone thought of Great Demon Coronzon as an unpersuadable absolute evil.

Hamazura alone disagreed.

Because he had once broken away and fought alongside Coronzon.

And he had realized something because he saw her as a relative evil who could be reasoned with.

He suspected this world was hiding something that had pushed Coronzon to do this.

“Damn you…Hamazura…”

“You can see it, can’t you?”

That question was a rejection of everything Hamazura had believed in.

How much courage had it taken for a mere human to voice it?

It likely wouldn’t have been possible for Hamazura alone.

Which was why he was currently holding the hand of his girlfriend lying unconscious by his side.

He knew that would give him the courage he needed to face every obstacle this world could throw at him.

“You’ve viewed this world on a higher level than me and you’ve investigated this world with superior brains than mine. …If, in the end, the Great Demon Coronzon herself concluded this shitty world deserves to be destroyed, then that’s probably the right answer. If even you had to give up with all your power, then there’s really nothing we can do. At the very least, I can’t think of anything to say to stop you. So you know what? …''I think you might as well go ahead and do it.'' Why not?”

This was a destructive third view that Kamijou Touma and Accelerator could never have held.

This was Hamazura Shiage’s job.

Was it Dion Fortune who had said even Kamijou Touma was powerless against Coronzon?

“Are you kidding me!? Do you know what you’re saying!?”

“Why do you make it sound like you want me to stop you, Coronzon? I’m the all-purpose trump card. I’ll work with a great demon if it’ll save my girlfriend or just a friend. You weren’t expecting a softy like me to take on that role, were you?”

“Kh.”

“''That’s why''”

He wasn’t good or righteous. But he wasn’t fully evil either.

The ''soft'' boy continued.

“That’s why I’ll accept you. When I saved Qliphah Puzzle 545 earlier, I was even thinking this world can go to hell.”

If Takitsubo Rikou were awake here, he might have arrived at a different answer.

But he couldn’t do that now.

“Over and over, I’ve seen the depths of this world’s cruelty and how it wears down the people you love like some sick assembly line. Body Crystal? The Golden cabal? Everyone treats people’s lives like nothing more than a useful component and ''they praise that behavior like it’s a sign of strength and beauty.'' Can you believe it? And no one ever questions it. Not even the people being worn down! It’s obvious to anyone that this world is rotten to the core. …So if you’re going to get rid of all that glorification of complexity for the sake of complexity, give us nothing but an ordinary world full of ordinary things with nothing hiding below the surface, where everyone I love can laugh happily and worry-free forever and ever, then ''you’re clearly on the side of good and righteousness'', Coronzon.”

The higher being seemed taken back.

It couldn’t be.

Was someone really saying this to her at this stage?

She suddenly found herself the one pointing out the dangers.

This wasn’t right.

How did her role get so turned around!?

“Have you forgotten? Once the Adikalika large-scale attack spell activates, there is no stopping it. It will fully destroy all life in the target land. So the Italian Peninsula will be crushed and slashed into a hell of blood and bone. And after that, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, Academy City, and the Russian Orthodox Church will all join in endless war! I have set them up in pairs so they will eliminate each other like matching cards in old maid, so every part of this world will be brought to an end!! Trying to curry my favor will not allow you to survi-!!”

“It’s hopeless regardless, right? Whether nor not you use that Adi-whatever.”

He didn’t let her finish.

He wasn’t speaking all that loudly, but Coronzon still fell silent.

As if he had struck her right in the heart.

“Hey, Coronzon. You’re not stupid and you’re not wild. With you, every single action is based on your intelligence. I saw just how incredibly smart you are back in that fight where you dragged the UK and the whole world into it.”

Hamazura spoke quietly.

Yes, the boy holding his unconscious girlfriend’s hand was quiet.

He did not shout and scream.

“I’ve been thinking. You couldn’t believe what I was doing, but you still helped me save Takitsubo Rikou and Dion Fortune. You had to have thought I was a burden and an idiot, but you never did betray me, leave me behind, or let me die. So I had to wonder why you’re doing this to Academy City. …It’s simple. You decided you had to start a global war. There’s something you can’t solve without taking it that far.”

“Are you saying you can see it? But how could a mere human do that?”

“I don’t know what it is. But you weren’t the one who messed up this world. It’s already so messed up that stopping you wouldn’t fix anything. So it’s past the point of not wanting to die or wanting to make sure at least my girlfriend survives. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s definitely going to happen if nothing is done. So betting on you seems like the best option. If I want even the slightest chance of the people I know surviving, someone has to force the world off its current course.”

“…”

“Or are you going to say I’m wrong?”

It wasn’t that Hamazura Shiage doubted the world was ending.

He could already tell the world had been rotten before Coronzon began any of this. It was so bad even a Level 0 idiot like him could tell. And if it was that bad on the surface, then the invisible core or central pillar of the world must have been badly eaten away by now.

He didn’t know what the termites gnawing away at the great tree actually were, but knowing that wasn’t important.

So that wasn’t what had shaken him.

There was something else he had to be certain of.

“Am I wrong to bet on you? Are you not worth it? Were you going on and on about your importance, but it was all talk and you just want to destroy the world for the hell of it? Will you end up sticking your tongue out, laughing, and going ‘oops, that didn’t accomplish anything’? Well, in that case, you really are a villain. If you’re causing trouble for so many people without doing anything worthwhile. If you’ll just keep all the money I’d bet on you because I trust you. If you can’t stick to goodness or righteousness and stall out somewhere in the middle without ever accomplishing anything, then you’re evil! If it’s all going to be pointless in the end, you might as well not have done anything in the first place!! Do you know what that’s called? It’s called being a troublemaker, the lowest and weakest type of villain, Coronzon!!!”

She hung her head.

The monster who was understood by no one said nothing for a while.

She appeared to be biting her lip.

And.

Finally.

“''Don’t make me laugh, human.''”

When she raised her head, she showed off the most demonic of faces.

“I came up with this plan myself, but it was you who gave me the final push, Hamazura Shiage. So I hope your soul shatters from the guilt of unnecessarily making yourself responsible for the countless corpses soon to litter the entire globe! …Adikalika!! O master of death and blood, incarnation of destruction, and black goddess of the 11th letter, break the current world’s pillar of good and submerge the very planet in an ocean of black blood!!!”

The world shined.

Behind Great Demon Coronzon, at the center of the empty space where the Windowless Building once stood, space itself was emitting a pale light as if something were gathering there. The pillar of light’s glow strengthened in stages. It was already past the point of no return.

In that moment, Hamazura Shiage smiled. While squeezing his collapsed and unmoving girlfriend’s hand.

Just a bit.

As if he were at the train station sadly seeing off a friend who was moving away.



“Sorry I couldn’t give you a world you can accept.”

“~ ~ ~!!!?”



Never before.

Not even once.

No one had never accepted that great demon and even she had failed to accept her own function and thus chose to curse god and herself, so she looked like she badly wanted to say something.

She had clearly lost.

Kamijou Touma, Accelerator, Aleister Crowley, and even Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers had all failed to bring that look to her face.

Of pain.

And anguish.

She began to say something.

“Hamazur-”

She never finished.

The light exploded.