Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter8 (section)

===Part 4===

There was no escape.

The server room was on the 20th floor and there were no windows regardless. Breaking through the walls, ceiling, or floor would be difficult since they were all made of special steel so it functioned as a panic room. They could not reach the limited number of exits before the approaching wall of flames would roast them.

Even Level 5s were still human.

If they were swallowed up by hellfire with no advance preparation, they would die.

It should have ended right then and there.

However.

“Queen, please make contact. Please eliminate the fear that is making me tremble.”

A high-pitched sound burst out and the approaching tsunami-like mass of flames was deflected right before Mikoto’s eyes.

Technically, that was not quite accurate.

The flames had not simply been blown away.

It was a giant mass of ice.

When Sakibasu Yuri played an especially loud note on her violin, countless pillars of ice burst from the floor as a thick barrier.

“Wha-?”

She was supposed to be the Ace of Tokiwadai.

She was supposed to be #3 in Academy City.

Yet the situation left her behind entirely. Mikoto did not understand any of what was happening around her.

The flames disappeared like some kind of magic trick and the chill of the chemical coolant crept back in from all directions as if as an afterthought. With a loud noise, the weeping floor and walls were rapidly covered by white frost.

“What in the world?”

“Stativarius Tam Lin. If you can do it, then I can do it with my Ainsel. …I am sick of special privileges and ‘keys’. No one needs to be ‘chosen’! I will drag you down into the depths here!!”

A change came over her music. The vibration of the strings followed a different set of rules from before. She pressed the bow against the taut strings with so much force it looked like she would snap them herself and the notes she released into the air followed rules different again from those of music.

A wind whipped up.

They could only see it thanks to the fog that resembled dry ice.

This ignored the most basic of rules that an esper could only use a single power.

Her short skirt fluttered dangerously and showed off her slender legs contained in black kneesocks while a great explosion of noise was released. That noise became a solid blow on the level of a wrecking ball, but Ryous deflected it with the violin. The powerful dark arms smashed the great mass and flames erupted out.

“You reached this level already?”

A voice spoke up in astonishment.

Not even Stativarius Tam Lin could believe it.

“No, even if you understand the idea behind it, I doubt you could use ''a spell'' so quickly without any sheet music to follow. Did you receive inspiration from somewhere? What did you memorize to pull this off??? Or are you actually ''summoning'' Ainsel in real time and with a straight face!?”

“Sa10> U-Uiharu?”

“GK> Don’t ask me! What am I even supposed to search for this!?”

“I have not done anything special,” said Sakibasu Yuri. “Stativarius Ainsel has been with me from the beginning. I briefly misinterpreted our relationship and paid the price for that, but I will make no such mistake again. So I can say this with confidence! Ainsel!! Lend me your strength just this once so I can save my mother!!!!!”

It no longer mattered who was controlling who.

If Sakibasu Yuri and Ainsel were both working together to save that mother, then the phenomenon they produced would be the same in the end.

The violin girl gave a roar.

“Queen, contact! Please give me the courage to take just one more step forward!!”

So there was nothing to fear.

She could rely on Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Shirai Kuroko, Hokaze Junko…and one more: Ainsel!!

“That huge body is in the way, so I will destroy that first!!!!!”

She released a sharp white breath of resolve, played a note with the bow, and sent out a tornado that grew crimson as it swallowed up the flames.

The powerful dark arms worked to push it back, but then a beam of light shot in even faster than the explosive boom of its firing. That was a Railgun. It tore through the air at three times the speed of sound, glowed orange thanks to the friction of the air, and tore off that entire right arm made of an unknown substance. And with its defenses drastically reduced, she could secure a line of fire on their main target. Needless to say, that was not Sakibasu Ryouu. It was the unforgivable violin that she held between her shoulder and chin.

“Kuroko!!”

“I’ll try!!”

Shirai Kuroko teleported over several metal darts, but the black party dress lady easily dodged them all with her rhythmic movements.

However, that was only meant to confirm something.

Sakibasu Yuri would not hesitate any longer.

“Indefinite curves, was it? If you think you can dodge my attack with such a cheap trick, then just try it.”

“!?”

“Remember what I said? If you can do something, then so can I. As long as I play this Ainsel and give myself over to its music, I can achieve the same rhythm. And if I sync myself with you before using ''that thing you call a spell'', I can attack you despite the randomized dodging!! I can defeat you!!”

A broken sound followed.

But this did not come from Sakibasu Yuri.

It came from Ryouu’s feet. While the enemy was wary of an attack from the front where a line of fire had been opened, the girl launched a surprise attack from below. Some kind of pattern made from blue circles and complex symbols appeared on the floor further down even than the black party dress’s skirt.

To use some older terminology, it almost looked like a magic circle. More and more of them appeared like bizarre reflection boards reacting to the violin.

Their element was water.

But the provided symbol was destruction.

So they produced giant shards of ice that jutted vertically up like smashed pieces of drift ice.

“Be skewered, Tam Liiiiin!!”

Just as she shouted with a white breath, all strength seemed to leave Sakibasu Yuri’s knees.

“Sakibasu-san!!”

“Sakibasu!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou did not know what they were seeing here, but they shouted in alarm regardless.

A rusty smell burst in the black-twintailed girl’s nose. And it did not end there. All her body’s blood vessels throbbed disconcertingly and she sweated profusely despite how chilly the cooled server room was.

She had not hit her head anywhere, yet an unnatural trail of blood dripped down from her forehead.

“Hee hee.”

He laughed while moving back outside the range of the patterns on the floor.

All while the movement indecently flipped the black silk party dress’s skirt around.

“Things are different between this gentle wife and her daughter! Did I forget to explain what happens when an esper takes a step into ''this world''? Gee gee, bwa ha ha ha!!”

Most likely, this was some kind of malfunction. Two sets of rules were conflicting, like running a computer with more than one security software installed. If she continued using Ainsel’s “true power”, all her body’s blood vessels and nerves might be shredded, her bones shattered, and her organs ruptured.

“So I’ll play your game!! Once I’m done with this gentle wife, it’s your turn, girly! I’ll smash Ainsel while you watch and then I’ll take control!! Ah ha, ah ha ha!! Tell me whatever it is you lack and I’ll give it to you. It’s like losing a pet. An Almati or a Guarnari won’t cut it. Once your Stativarius partner has been destroyed, only another Stativarius can soothe the pain!!”

“…”

But had he forgotten?

Ainsel and Tam Lin were not the same. This violin was a partner she could rely on. She and the instrument already had an understanding, it would never hide information that would harm her.

It was her trust in that fact which allowed her to find the answer.

It was there inside her.

This was why the Stativarius Ainsel had chosen her as its owner and true performer.

A white breath slipped from the corners of her mouth as she whispered.

“Carbon Search.”

“Wait, what the hell are you doing!?”

“Setting tracking element and designating myself as the scan target. Beginning scan of body circulation!! Locate everything running wild within my blood vessels, nerves, tendons, marrow, lymph nodes, and muscle fibers!! …The problem is the malfunctions occurring within my body, right? Then all I need to do is locate each and every one of those issues and use my power to smooth it all over. I refuse to be nothing more than some sheltered girl. I walked through the city myself, I pursued this case with Misaka-san’s group, and I fought alongside my Queen! I have changed!! And the path I have walked has given me the opportunity to face what my own power is!!”

The girl said this was not just her own power.

She had only reached this point thanks to the support of Misaka Mikoto, Shirai Kuroko, Uiharu Kazari, Saten Ruiko, Shokuhou Misaki, Hokaze Junko, and many more.

“So I will no longer fear Ainsel. Give me your full power! I will not claim to be your partner only when things are going well! I will accept even the pain you bring me!! …Now, let us share the good times and the bad. So do not cower in fear like a small child! Give this your all, Ainsel!!!!!”

More and more distorted notes shook the air.

They came from the floor covered by white fog.

Those intricately detailed patterns covered the entire surface except where her allies like Mikoto were standing. The patterns seemed to resonate with her music. And of course, those were all landmine points from which shards of ice resembling split drift ice would burst. As large as the server room was, there was no avoiding a direct hit with the floor so thoroughly covered.

“Am I really losing?”

Tam Lin sounded confused and was not even sure how to move the violin bow to control the flames against this.

No.

He could use fire, water, wind, and earth and he could even use ice just like her, but that malicious being could do nothing against this.

An instrument was not whole on its own.

No matter how superb it was, a tool alone was only a decoration.

It needed a performer.

Only with a true partner could it draw out its abilities as a world-famous instrument.

As long as that girl was acting out of benevolence and not out of self-interest, ''everything on the field'' – both enemy and ally – would work to her benefit.

Even the choice of a server room with special walls for the final stage had ended up preventing Tam Lin from escaping.

“I am not some bizarre Academy City technology, nor am I one of your garbage esper powers that simply rewrite the concepts of Thelema using arbitrary new terminology like Personal Reality… I am a crystallization of the Rosicrucian age that predates even the Golden cabal. I am one of the autonomous parasitic spiritual items that were the envy of all. Even a lower-end estimate gives me 300 years of experience in this field, yet some little girl is going to outdo me!!!???”

“Farewell, Tam Lin.”

The trigger took the form of a musical note.

Sakibasu Yuri mercilessly moved the bow.

There were no extra malfunctions or side effects here. That girl had achieved a perfect harmony as she released that final attack.

“I do not care about your history and listing it off changes nothing!! …You chose the wrong opponent here. Messing with ''us'', was your biggest mistake!!!!!”

The many shards of ice that burst from the floor acted as heavy weapons that pierced and destroyed the giant’s upper body leaning over her mother’s back.

However.

“That wasn’t enough!?” shouted Shirai Kuroko.

The powerful dark arms were stabbed through, but that acted as a cushioning layer that distorted the ice’s path just enough to miss the violin.

“I will not…let this end here!! As long as the violin itself survives, I – Stativarius Tam Lin – will never diiiiiiiie!!”

However, the metallic sound of a flicked coin rang through the air.

“This is our fight.”

Misaka Mikoto, Academy City’s #3 and the Ace of Tokiwadai, took aim.

This was much like shooting an apple off of someone’s head, but the path had been cleared. The dark giant had its hands full dealing with Sakibasu, so she did not have to worry about it interfering.

None of it had been wasted.

Without Sakibasu Yuri’s efforts, Misaka Mikoto could not have arrived at this final moment.

“So no matter who delivers the finishing blow, this was ''our'' victory!!”

All sound was blown away.

This time, the violin controlling that mother was accurately shot through.