Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter1 (section)

===Between the Lines 2===

Board Chairman Accelerator’s eyes and ears remained active while he remained inside the most strictly guarded cell in District 10’s prison. He could not manage Academy City otherwise.

Population density and the flow of people, things, and money.

A list of online trends, especially dangerous rumors.

The state of the deployed troops.

Organizing and prioritizing witness accounts of their target and of the dangerous element known as Transcendents.

Etc., etc.

However, he did not use the Underline nanodevices distributed to every corner of the city by previous Board Chairman Aleister. He had already frozen the usage key for that largescale peeping tom tool.

Then again, what he was using may have been even more unfair: a scientific angel and a magical demon.

They could fly freely throughout the city, so the #1 used them as his eyes and ears.

Accelerator sat on a bed far too luxurious for a prison cell and viewed the large LCD screen embedded in the wall while he thought quietly.

He scanned through all information available to him, but it wasn’t enough.

He didn’t even have a solid definition of the Transcendents who were at the base of it all.

At any time of day or night, he could pick up the receiver on the wall and a nervously sweating guard would bring him a veal fillet, but he was too preoccupied to even take a sip of water at the moment.

(Did I declare martial law too soon? No, the city was already swept up in that ridiculously named Kotatsu Syndrome thanks to those Transcendents. If I can’t predict what the people will do, it’s safest to keep them at home. Some external factor has been injected into the ordinary people’s decision making process, so I can’t even be sure ''they would stop after seeing a red light.'')

''And while he had declared martial law, he hadn’t expected everyone to accept it so readily.

''He had been prepared for some harsh pushback, so it was frankly creeping him out that everyone just went along with it.

“Tch.”

This focus on defense was a large departure from Accelerator’s normal way of thinking. But the fate of the city had been left in his hands, so he had a responsibility to keep the city peaceful and safe. Gone were the days when he could focus on his pride and aesthetics and ''pull off a win'' by making a reckless attack all on his own.

Or maybe he hadn’t accomplished anything back then. Maybe he had only convinced himself he had.

Qliphah Puzzle 545 continued her report while she flew through the night sky.

“As far as I can see, there’s a clash between tank-size guns in District 12. It’s throwing the checkpoint layout into chaos. They still haven’t reported in to the central datalink, but I’m trying to identity the vehicles that fired. Also…wait. Y-you’re kidding, right?”

“?”

Was it Mut Thebes?

Or was it Kamijou Touma, Aradia, and Anna Sprengel?

(What does that bastard think he’s doing working with a world-class wicked woman?)

Accelerator expected one of them had made some kind of move, but the answer was beyond anything he had imagined.

“Someone’s entering the city by crossing the eastern wall. Th-they’re Transcendents! And a lot of them! Wait, am I seeing this righ- ksssssshhhhhhh!!!”

''The tides were turning.

Even though she was artificial, Qliphah Puzzle 545 was still a demon. Her demonic powers allowed her to single-handedly trap the UK in the passion and confusion of war. Anyone who took her down that easily had to be quite powerful.

Plus, cutting him off from the artificial demon was like taking out one of his eyes and ears.

But panicking wouldn’t change that.

He had to stand firm and assume this wasn’t over yet.

“Kazakiri.”

“U-um, uh?”

“The demon can take care of herself. If you’re okay, then report. Don’t you dare disappear before you do. If you want to rescue Qliphah Puzzle 545, you can do so ''after'' reporting.”

“Okay!!” the angel replied with excess enthusiasm.

She was obsessed with doing the right thing.

She was delighted by that option even though it didn’t benefit her in the slightest and wasn’t worth the effort.

If that was the combined will of Academy City’s espers, then apparently the entire city was too nice for its own good.

Accelerator scowled and held a hand to his ear.

“Give a rough estimate if you have to, but how many Transcendents crossed the wall?”

“I-I’m sorry, but, um, I’m not really sure what a Transcendent is.”

“Just tell me how fucking many got into the city!”

“I can’t say for sure, but I saw maybe ''20 or 30'' from here.”

Did that mean the Bridge Builders Cabal was taking this seriously?

It sounded like the Transcendents already in Academy City had been the minority.

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