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

===Part 4===

Evening had begun.

They had left District 12 and arrived in the adjacent District 23.

Thanks to the martial law, the ordinary roads were blockaded and the district was being used as a cargo and air force base. So if any ordinary people were to climb the fence, they would be shot without even a warning, but these three didn’t care at all.

Aleister, Anna Kingsford, and Kihara Noukan.

They walked along the fence, passing right in front of the fully-equipped Anti-Skill officers guarding the perimeter of the district. No human and no mechanical cameras or sensors could detect the intruders.

“What are we doing here?” Kihara Noukan sounded deeply exasperated. “I get the feeling you are involving me in your magic nonsense without bothering to explain any of it.”

The general public was aware of magic’s existence thanks to R&C Occultics, but that website had already been shut down. The city’s Anti-Skill didn’t know enough about magic to use it without the assistance of the site or the app.

''Except…

“Hee hee. This is ❌ anything difficult. 🪄 has always been hidden from the 🌍 at large.”

That was all the glasses woman had to say on the matter.

At her level of expertise, ordinary anti-recognition spells and people clearing fields could reach this level.

She had developed each of the fundamentals far enough to assassinate a superpower’s president with it.

And they were just as effective against ''mere'' expert magicians.

“That isn’t enough for me to relax,” said the blonde woman in a beige habit – or rather, Aleister who was borrowing her body. “Because this means someone else could do it too. Like the Transcendents and Anna Sprengel. We can’t get the upper hand unless we can outdo someone on their level.”

“Yes, yes.”

Kingsford only smiled gently in response to his low, unsteady voice.

A lot like a mother viewing her disobedient teenage son.

There was a decent crowd on the other side of the fence, but they didn’t appear to mean any real harm. A group of Anti-Skill with a tough-looking Doberman were clearly annoyed by the obsessive young men trying to volunteer. Anti-Skill were all teachers, so joining without a teaching license was apparently out of the question.

These young men saw it more like a survival game or like online play in an FPS, so they just wanted to hold real guns and ride a real tank. One of the Anti-Skill officers grabbed a device supported by a metal stand and redirected its aim toward the young men, who scowled and looked a lot less enthusiastic all of a sudden.

Aleister glanced that way.

“Is that low-frequency demoralization audio?”

Anti-Skill was playing an irritating sound too quiet to consciously hear so those young men would decide to leave. The city made it all sound so nice on TV and online, but this was the truth of the matter across the entire city. An invisible labyrinth had been constructed. Not that Aleister was one to talk as the person who had built the city in the first place.

At any rate.

Aleister’s group had no use for an airplane. They were here for the Science Tower. The rest of the district was airfield after airfield, making it very flat, so that 400m tower with an observation deck was highly conspicuous. In addition to broadcast purposes, it was currently being used for 49 different high altitude experiments, including laser lightning induction which could hit a desired location with a lightning bolt and research into what affect the large structure had on the human mind.

The observation deck at 350m also contained a restaurant and a hotel.

After they checked in under a false name at the automated front desk, Anna Kingsford took a look around the hotel rooms that were designed to look like the interior of an airplane.

“My, my. So many vacancies. And during the break.”

“People are restricted from leaving home,” softly replied Aleister. “And the observation deck isn’t in much demand after the New Year’s sunrise anyway.”

“Hee hee.”

Kingsford whispered while walking over to their room’s window.

It was the perfect place for ''a pursuer to hide out in.

“Now, then. Where have those lost 🐇 gone ⬇️ there?♪ A wide-area scan should 👁️ them soon enough.”

“You certainly lost track of them quick given how confident you sounded heading out,” said the exasperated golden retriever.

“I will admit that Secret Chief was something of a surprise. And that wasn’t an issue of 💪. I just didn’t expect her to use him for direct ⚔️. How sloppy. A lot like grabbing a thick 📗 full of knowledge and throwing it at my head.”

But that wasn’t an option anymore.

Anna Sprengel wouldn’t think that same method would work again either. If it would, she would have used her trump card as soon as they turned her into a human film canister. That she had held back so long was a sign of her fear.

But she had used up her trump card now, which worked out in their favor.

Kingsford knew how to control herself. She wouldn’t let her own anxiety and hatred get the better of her here.

“Now, you need to decide on a 🔮 target. Are we after Anna Sprengel? Or Mut Thebes?”

Anna Kingsford remained flexible.

“''Or Kamijou Touma''?”

A dull thud echoed out.

In a very un-magician-like move, Aleister had slammed his fist against a nearby wall.

He had seen what Anna Sprengel was like during the battle against Great Demon Coronzon back in the UK.

Yes, Aiwass had been taken from him and he had died.

Anna had escaped even after being turned into a human film canister with no arms, legs, or torso. That meant the only option left was to kill her.

So.

That human’s answer carried resentment itself in his voice.

“Give us the location of the one we must defeat.”

“Then that is what I will do☆”