Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

The shrill sound was a lot like someone filling their lungs with air and then blowing into a whistle.

Takitsubo and Frenda looked up almost simultaneously within District 16’s Bulweiser Icicle Theater ice palace.

“Mugino.”

“Oh, no. In the end, ''that’s the reaper’s flute''! Get down, everyone!! Something’s falling this way!!”

How many of them managed to follow those instructions?

Light flashed.

All sound was drowned out.

The flames were a lot like those caused by a car explosion. Which meant small particles in the air had been ignited. But it covered an abnormally large area. Each blast caused an explosion more than 100m across and they just kept happening.

The support team delinquents waiting outside were enveloped in flames and blasted into the air along with the bulletproof car. Even if they got down or dived behind an ice pillar, the waves of heat and shockwaves would circle around and take their lives.

The tremendous explosions were too loud to even hear their death cries.

A nearby concrete building was scorched black and the heat was so great the asphalt melted.

Kinuhata used Offense Armor to smash the ice floor below her and then Item slipped underground.

Without advance knowledge of the enemy, they would have been caught completely by surprise and killed.

The detective had given them the clue they needed.

Takitsubo reached a hand out toward a delinquent being left behind, but Mugino grabbed her wrist and dragged her down.

An especially large explosion followed.

Even with a thick ice roof over their heads, they had to shout to be heard by the people right next to them.

“It looks like we at least managed to deflect the heat, but if I could smash these ice blocks with my fists, then they super aren’t going to be much of a shield. I don’t know what idiot is behind this, but if they’re serious about this bombardment, they’ll break through soon enough!!”

There was no one here but the four of them. They hadn’t had time to save anyone else.

The girls crouched down and ran through the narrow space.

“So is this Number 000? They’re killing everyone involved in the death of a Judgment member?”

Paling, Frenda bit her thumbnail.

This proved none of that had been a bluff.

This city’s justice could easily cover up even a thermobaric carpet bombing.

“In the end, this is absurd. Why do we have to die because they were careless!?”

Absurd

They could be so certain of that assessment because they were villains who existed outside the rules of justice.

The people who could do something like this were different.

Generally, anyone who was immersed in justice never even questioned their actions.

(You call this justice?)

Mugino thought this while clenching her teeth hard.

These people were abusing their official authority to cover up evidence of a mistake and kill anyone who got in their way. And these were the people who reigned above the detective who had risked her life for a classmate?

Kinuhata kept her voice low. “If they kill everyone who was involved in a case where a Judgment member died, then they won’t just target the dark side. They would do this to an ordinary person who happened to witness it too.”

“What’s your point?”

“It super pisses me off, so I want to tear that fucking system down!”

“Then the best way is to attack the dumbasses doing the attacking and cause so much damage it becomes clear they’ll get burned even if they try to keep their system going. But that’s a lesson for the execution squad’s higher ups, not the squad themselves,” responded Mugino with a brutal smile.

She only had her life now thanks to the detective, but this was her way of doing things. Asking Mugino to become a good person right away was simply impossible. She had to choose what Item could realistically do right now.

“Violence isn’t a toy to play with for fun. It’s a professional’s tool. That’s a lesson the purity-obsessed justice needs to learn.”

The four of them emerged from below the floor.

They heard more whistling overhead.

It seemed unlikely they could escape the downpour of flames on foot, but they fortunately found themselves in a parking lot. And a few snowmobiles were parked there in place of motorcycles.

“Hurry!!”

Mugino and Kinuhata boarded one snowmobile and Frenda and Takitsubo boarded another. They started the engines in a less-than-legal way.

A suggestion came from the snowmobile moving alongside Mugino’s.

“Mugino, can you shoot down those things falling from the sky?”

“What good would it do? I’d just be telling the enemy where we are. We can make our counterattack after escaping their targeting and losing them!!”

More and more shells struck the city behind them. The white snow reflected the red light and giant ice sculptures were scorched and shattered before they could even melt.

Trying to escape based on speed alone would only get Item caught in the explosions. To survive, they had to drive in sharp curves while focusing in what would act as cover.

Fortunately, there weren’t many people out tonight. Since it was late at night on August 31, people were staying in to prepare for the new school term in September.

“Mugino, does that mean we don’t have to worry about ordinary people getting hurt?”

“All this and zero deaths? That’s too much to chalk up to coincidence. We may be playing right into Number 000’s hands.”

Frenda clenched her teeth while operating the one snowmobile, but she was also rationally analyzing the situation.

Explosives that didn’t rely on esper powers were her specialty.

“In the end, there are a lot of shells, but they’re all coming from the same direction. They might be launching them while on the move, but there is probably only one launch point. The enemy can’t be too large!!”

“How about we make a u-turn and super go in for the attack!?”

“In the end, it’d be a real pain if they’d set up a bunch of landmines and then built up a thick wall. It’s better to let them shoot all they can and aim for the moment they approach to see if they got us!”

A blue road sign passed by overhead.

Mugino clicked her tongue.

“That ain’t good.”

Fleeing on snowmobiles was all well and good, but it was late August. The snow on the ground had all been created by snow machines.

So once they left District 16 where the campaign was being run, the winter wonderland would vanish.

And if they escaped District 16 to the south, they would run into District 1.

That was the symbol of the sketchy justice. That inhuman district contained all the administrative and government agencies, so it was the most distant part of the city for anyone on the dark side.

The snowmobiles sent sparks into the air as they scraped across the asphalt. Mugino hopped off before hers had even come to a complete stop.

“Mugino, another shell is coming.”

“Super what do we do!? There’s no way we can escape on foot!!”

“In the end, this way!!”