Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 6===

A quake-like vibration disturbed the dark river.

Blodeuwedd the Bouquet could make a weapon out of the vast city full of pests and vermin, but she wasn’t the only one responsible.

As the fish rushed in as a great wave threatening to swallow up the bridge from the side, they were stopped by a three-legged object the size of a stadium.

“Tribikos,” whispered Good, Old Mary, manager of experimental tools.

She was facing Vidhatri, Indian goddess of fate. Their eyes happened to meet and she took a breath as their piece of time and space was cut away from the confused battlefield. At times, rhythm and timing meant everything in a chaotic battle. Good, Old Mary was bound by Vidhatri in the same way.

Their clash was inevitable now.

Good, Old Mary addressed the perfectly-proportioned model wearing a red sari.

“Vidhatri, mama is serious. Mama will crush you. So what will you do?”

“Are you sure you want me to take this seriously?”

“Feel free. Mama is a fount of mercy, after all. You decided to hold onto your Transcendent power even if it meant shamefully forgetting all about your salvation condition. Mama may be facing a despicable slut, but it would be downright cruel to kill you before you can even use the trump card you have been greedily holding in reserve.”

The brown beauty suddenly grew more arms.

No, it was more accurate to say she was standing back to back with had a doll of nearly 2m. It was even larger than Vidhatri’s model-like figure. While she was stiflingly captivating and sensual, this was a life-size ball-jointed doll made of a hard, smooth material.

Was she actually wearing it on her back with thick shoulder straps?

It had apparently been contained inside a rectangular bag.

White thread and black hair was tangled around its artificial fingers.

The Indian fate goddess Vidhatri did not exist on her own. She and the creation goddess Dhatri were always depicted as a pair.

By weaving white and black threads, those gods determined the fate of the entire world, making them extremely powerful.

Threads.

Weaving.

And a doll.

Good, Old Mary sighed as she rapidly analyzed these things to predict what her opponent could do.

“A supermodel figure and a red backpack? Those doesn’t fit together at all.”

“This is no more than a leather bag marketed for all ages.”

Good, Old Mary’s vision slanted.

She tasted blood.

Her chest was sticky and red.

“…?”

A bluegill was to blame.

It was one of the tens of thousands of fish Blodeuwedd the Bouquet had summoned half as a joke. Just as a speck of lead could be deadly when moving fast enough, the fish could embed itself in human flesh if it tore through the air with enough speed.

Good, Old Mary grabbed the intruder flopping around while embedded in her chest wound and pulled it out. This felt different from a sharp blade. The open gills and countless scales caught on the wound, spreading it and rubbing in deadly germs.

But something else bothered her more.

How had the fish even made it this far?

She looked up to see the great wall was missing.

The Tribikos.

In the brief time she had looked away, her stadium-sized trump card had completely vanished.

Like it had been nightmarishly spirited away.

“You must understand.”

With the sounds of springs operating, the ball-joint doll Dhatri’s arms split and lots of pulleys and latches emerged. It formed a loom.

Extremely thin pieces of white and black danced about.

They were threads.

No, was some of that her own black hair?

“Vidhatri controls fate and Dhatri creates all things. Those two goddesses determine all that happens through the weaving of the white and black. Good, Old Mary, you may be able to create anything with your alchemy, but I decide how many different options are included in that ‘anything’.”

“I see.”

“I am Vidhatri. When paired with my partner goddess, I control fate and creation. I am the Transcendent who classifies the world based on my preferences and ''saves all of those that meet my preferences.''”

The threads of fate were woven together to create the warp and the weft of the world.

Was this what it meant to confront someone who had control over all things?

“You are the same as mama. You contain a portion of the mystical power you borrowed from Alice, but you have failed to make full use of it. You are no more than an imperfect performer.”

“Say what you like. In this field, Good, Old Mary, I can easily erase your very existence. I must only intentionally omit all mention of you.”

Good, Old Mary didn’t even have time to hear her out.

With the breakwater gone, the fish crashed into the bridge like a silver wave.