Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 7===

Alice Anotherbible.

Bits and pieces of her power had been seen in Academy City on December 29. There were the direct examples like the hedgehog balls and flamingo bat, there was the Executioner with unknown attack conditions, and even the Bridge Building that constructed bridges between the world’s logic and laws to distort the world as she saw fit. Seeing as she had created a reality where the dark side’s survivors all worked together to fight a powerful foe, her power had reached the point of forcibly creating impossible results.

Also, her body was immune to bacteria, bugs, curses, and all other forms of internal damage, both scientific and magical. As for external damage, she would always remain unscathed thanks to the hedgehogs and flamingo protecting her. Moreover, this didn’t come from a fear of shedding blood. She protected herself that way because if anything obstructed her actions, she might get angry and kill someone.

It was unknown if it was even possible to defeat her.

Kamijou couldn’t guess what punching her with Imagine Breaker would accomplish.

And with all that in mind…

(My top priority is that world-distorting power.)

Kamijou set his sights on that.

(I have to avoid ''being sucked into a fake happy ending where I forget all about fighting.'' But as long as I can avoid that, I can at least continue to fight back. That means-)

“''Gryphon, clean this up.''”

Everything blurred.

Kamijou’s vision grew distorted as he was tossed more than 20m backwards. Alice’s already small form looked so much smaller due to the greater distance.

Horrific snapping and cracking sounds came from inside his body. He belatedly realized he was basically being squeezed within a giant press.

Giant feathery wings spread wide before his eyes. That was definitely a sharp beak and talons holding him. Overall, it reminded him of a hawk or eagle, but that was no bird. When his eyes finally managed to focus again, he realized he was pinned down by a lithe body covered in feline muscles.

Hadn’t Alice mentioned a gryphon?

He estimated it was more than 7m long. The spread wings made it look nearly three times as large. A lion was 2.5m and a Siberian tiger could reach 3m, so how strong was this beast!?

(Damn, I’m not sure what a gryphon is supposed to be! And since this came from Alice, is it a specific one from that children’s book? I need Index’s knowledge here!!)

“Bh?”

''He hadn’t known about this.

''Kamijou hadn’t heard a thing about this trump card!

“Gahh!! Cough, cough, agh! Alice!!!”

Held between a giant beak and pressed roughly to the ground, “cornered” didn’t adequately describe Kamijou’s plight.

“Gryphon.”

Alice wasn’t even looking his way with her leather and soft skin exposed.

She only held out a hand and observed her nails.

“The girl is bored. Entertain her with the usual lobster dance.”

“!?”

Kamijou’s vision turned to flowing lines and gravity seemed to vanish.

It took him a few seconds to realize the giant monster was shaking its head side to side with him still in its beak. By then, he had already been slammed into the dark soil. He heard a disconcerting cracking sound deep inside him. He couldn’t have survived a second or third time, but he instead slipped from the beak, flew through the air, and tumbled along the ground. Thankfully, the beak wasn’t good at gripping. With a jaw with rows of teeth or fangs, he would have been pummeled until he didn’t even look human anymore.

Some kind of massive vortex approached him with rumbling sounds reminding him of artillery fire.

Was that the lobster dance?

That told him nothing! He couldn’t even predict what was flying his way! He was up against incredible power wielded in seemingly meaningless ways, so he had the feeling anything he tried to do to escape would backfire!!

He put off worrying about his inability to breathe. He instead rolled to the side to escape.

It didn’t help.

He felt something catch on his back and then the world around him lost shape again. By the time he realized, a birdlike talon had caught him, he slammed into the ground, tearing up the grass. He forgot all about breathing. He couldn’t resist in the slightest as the sharp break grabbed him again.

Kamijou couldn’t win. Or more accurately, ''he couldn’t even start to fight.'' He had badly misjudged this. After running around Academy City’s darkness with Alice on December 29, he had tricked himself into thinking he understood the girl.

Aradia, the Bologna Succubus, Good, Old Mary, Trismegistus, and all the other Transcendents were each said to rival the entire magic side on their own, so did he really think what he had seen before was enough to terrify them?

How many more trump cards did Alice have?

In fact, this giant monster with a lion’s body and a bird of prey’s beak, wings, and talons – had she called it a gryphon? – had been tossed out so thoughtlessly he wondered if Alice Anotherbible even considered it to be a trump card. Could this be her idea of ''teasing him'' with her little finger instead of one-shotting him like she had the others?

“Teacher.”

Cold wasn’t the right word.

Alice’s words were empty, like she didn’t care at all if he lived or died, which tore into Kamijou’s heart.

“You don’t need to worry about that. There is no way you can escape the Gryphon.”

“Aghhh!?”

“Do not underestimate the girl’s Gryphon. He is an embodiment of destruction who insists everything is a boring illusion and strips all things of value.”

Alice made it sound like no concern of hers. The Gryphon may have been the one who got rid of any nuisances bothering her.

It appeared whenever Alice didn’t feel like playing and it swiftly cleaned up whatever was ruining her fun. No, it was more than that. That monster would also perform the aforementioned lobster dance to cheer up the small girl. It destroyed only the simplest of hurdles. Its job was to give her a change of pace when she was done playing with someone and wanted them removed in a hurry.

The Gryphon hadn’t made an appearance on December 29.

Because Alice hadn’t felt the need.

Did that mean, ''in Alice’s opinion anyway,'' the Gryphon was even more dangerous than Academy City’s entire dark side!?

(A-)

Still in its mouth, Kamijou reached out his hand.

Toward the girl in the unsuitable leather outfit who was trying to display no interest in him.

He couldn’t reach her.

He knew that.

But if he died here, what would happen to her?

(Al…ice.)

A dull crunch rang out.

The gruesome sound of crushed flesh and bone echoed across the area.

He had known this. He had known Imagine Breaker wasn’t enough to battle a Transcendent without anything else prepared. That was an undeniable fact when he had already been killed multiple times by Transcendents like Aradia and Trismegistus. And he doubted Good, Old Mary was going to conveniently get up and resurrect him right now.

If he died, it was all over.

That basic fact of life applied to everyone equally…but it did not bare its fangs against Kamijou Touma here.

He was not dead.

The crunch had not been the Gryphon mercilessly shutting its giant beak. The gruesome sound of crushed flesh and bone had contained another sound as well.

''An explosive blast.

The flesh and bone belonged to the Gryphon, not to Kamijou.

But this wasn’t just a sniper shot. The abnormal bird of prey was more than 7m long and it was blasted so hard from the side that it forcibly spat Kamijou from its beak. That couldn’t have been a simple 12.7mm anti-materiel rifle. It had to be something large enough to deserve the title of “cannon” rather than “gun”.

“Bwah!! Cough, cough. Ughh!?”

Kamijou rolled along the ground trying to get air in his lungs again, but all he found was a rusty flavor. He heard definite cracking sounds from inside his body. He may have broken a few ribs.

Alice looked away from her nails.

And she spoke in a dry, emotionless voice.

“Hm. An antique.”