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2025-02-20T04:08:56Z

MarioLuigi0404:

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GoldenSS

2024-12-15T06:34:29Z

MarioLuigi0404: Typo fix

==Genesis Testament – A Certain Magical Index SS==

It was the late 19th century.

The Isis-Urania Temple was located in a corner of the British capital of London. Or an apartment that went by that name was.

This is the story of the era before Aleister came knocking at that door. The story of, in some ways, a more peaceful time.

Mina could be succinctly described as a diligent and sheltered young lady who was therefore easily deceived.

Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman had always seen it that way.

That was, in fact, Annie’s impetus for joining the Golden cabal.

She was worried about Mina.

She couldn’t let that clueless girl get anywhere near the topics of Asian teas or New World harbor construction. She would undoubtedly fall prey to some get-rich-quick scam. She deserved to live a life free of those uglier parts of the world. Taking over the family business could fall to her older brother who loved all that complicated stuff while Mina married someone she truly loved. No, she didn’t even need to marry. ''She should just forget matters of gender and choose to spend her life with me instea-

“Mina, do you take Mathers to be your lawfully wedded husband and accept the new name of Mina Mathers?”

“I do. I am overjoyed that all of you in the Golden cabal would hold this ceremony for us.”

…

Annie puffed her cheeks out all on her own. She was also a bit teary-eyed.

A wonderfully blissful scene played out before her eyes.

(…)

It was dazzling. The light was so bright she thought it would kill her. At this point, she wished she could just turn into a slug.

(I didn’t join the cabal to hand my cute Mina over to that sketchy man!!)

William Wynn Westcott sternly read through the newspaper.

He was one of the three founders of the Golden cabal.

“Jack the Ripper, huh?”

That was also happening at this time. The gruesome serial killings had greatly stimulated the people’s baser emotions, but they ironically also helped ring the alarm about the British Empire’s stratified society. They proved that poverty and fear existed even in the country praised as the top of the world.

Jack the Ripper’s aims were of course unknown.

Psychology was still in its infancy, so they would have a hard time working out his identity.

“It’s sad, really. This has caused such an uproar, yet the famous Scotland Yard has no leads on a culprit. Even this article is only taking about it like it’s a thing of the past when the killer might still be walking these streets with us.”

Whatever his purpose, the explosive power of the killer’s wicked mind had shaken the public as he worked toward achieving it. He had created a colossal social phenomenon well beyond anything a single criminal was capable of. To put it in Golden terms, he was a dangerous creature who specialized in harnessing Qliphothic forces. The sooner he was caught, the better.

The Isis-Urania Temple – or the apartment that bore that name – was yet again thick with the scent of cheap oil burning. The lamp on the table had no deep meaning related to ancient Egypt or the rose and the cross – it was simply a way to cut down on operating costs. They wanted to pay as little as possible for electricity and other utilities.

The Lady of the Masquerade Ball, who wore a gaudy red party dress and kept her mask on even in the cabal’s secret base, lounged on the sofa and puffed on a long, skinny pipe. Her other hand held a brandy glass. It was still morning, but she had gone for a double. This was the side of the famous actress she kept hidden from the audience. The smooth mask had no eyes or mouth, yet the end of pipe and the edge of the glass somehow passed through. Almost like the mask itself were made of smoke or liquid.

She gained a Lilith-like glow when inebriated and she spoke while lying on the sofa like a feline beast.

“Oh? Mr. Coroner, I didn’t realize you were assigned to East End.”

“I’m not, which is why it’s so frustrating. I would get it if this was some one-man war against the wealthy or against the soldiers laying waste to the colonies, but he’s only targeting women who sell their bodies. They’re in a precarious enough position as it is, so this is absolutely unforgivable. How does getting rid of them improve the country? He must not understand the structural problems that force those women into that line of business in the first place.”

As you can see, Westcott had a generous and caring heart, had social status, liked detailed work, and had a ton of friends and acquaintances. His serious nature did lead to some awkwardness, such as bringing up the reasons women might sell their bodies when speaking to a young woman, but he had some ineffable quality that led those around him to only laugh and forgive him.

Simply put, he was made of charisma.

Without him, the collection of eccentrics that was the Golden cabal would have fallen apart before it got off the ground.

“Will this do, Annie?”

“If this were my theatre, I would want to place a crane on the ceiling.”

“Hee hee. We are still in the planning phase, you know?”

They were discussing the catacombs…which was a special room where only the VIP magicians would perform ceremonies.

However, they didn’t actually have to grab a shovel and dig out an underground space. “Catacombs” was only a name. They would be making it collapsible so it could even be transferred if they had to move locations.

Knowing this was the wold’s largest magic cabal’s ceremonial ground, one might picture some creepy stone ruins full of skeletons, like the Paris Catacombs, but instead the walls and floor were painted in primary colors and it was full of symbolic weapons made by attaching powerful magnets to the end of wooden sticks or coating clear glass with blue paint.

The light on the ceiling was electric.

They would use anything available to them. That was the way of things in an age before magic and science were split. Mina had graduated art school, so she gave form to the images in Mathers’s head, but they also had help from Annie and the Lady of the Masquerade Ball.

They created a ceremonial ground that used the logic of stage contraptions.

And this was no school play – those professional performers refused to cut any corners.

The Mathers couple’s home was in Paris, but they were visiting the London temple for this job. Annie couldn’t be more delighted at the chance to spend time with her old friend.

“I may have gotten a little carried away.”

“Oh? Mina, remembering your school days?”

“I made some daring alterations, so I hope the 1st temple in Germany won’t be mad.”

“It should be fine. There’s plenty of occult stories about high-tech things too, like cameras stealing your soul or absorbing your life energy, school anatomy models running around at night, or hearing strange voices on the telephone. And there are plenty of stories of ghosts appearing on the stage too.”

Not only that, but the Golden cabal weren’t the only ones to use a stage performance to boost a mystical ceremony. The Christian pipe organs and choirs wouldn’t have taken that form if someone hadn’t designed it for that purpose.

When a magician donned mythological garb and took the stage, they temporarily cast off the bonds of reality.

Here, they could become the disciples who discovered CRC’s preserved corpse.

“Mina, don’t you want a stage elevator? One of those things that lets an actor – bam! – shoot up from below the floor. Should I bring you the designs?”

“The landlord will cry if we modify the apartment that much.”

Lately, Arthur Edward Waite was the center of attention. In the name of testing out the accuracy of the tarot cards he was prototyping and improving, Edward Berridge, John William Brodie-Innes, and others would often gather around the table together. That Waite didn’t realize things were only running so smoothly because of Westcott’s assistance showed it would be some time before he caught up to the founder.

Waite was currently interpreting the card Mina had turned over. Westcott would respect his independence but provide a subtle hint if he ever ran into trouble.

“The obvious interpretation would be the lunar forces: dreams, fantasies, and the occult in general. The Hanged Man next to it refers to another plane of existence. In this case, perhaps the astral plane. And this card refers to a woman. Since it’s the High Priestess, probably one younger than yourself. Like a younger colleague or sister.”

“My.”

“But, madam, this Tower card worries me. It says to watch out for an apprentice. Destruction, disgrace…this may mean you will get into a fight later on. But the combination of another phase and a fight is an odd one.”

“Mina!!”

The door burst open and Mathers entered.

The idiot who stood out even among those eccentrics raised his voice.

“What is the meaning of this? I hate to say it, but you must be possessed by an evil spirit. How else do you explain this horrendous lack of red? I can’t bear to see it. The deplorable state of the eggs on this plate tells me the 5th sphere of Gevurah – that is the power of Mars – is weakening!!”

“Oh, dear, honey. I forgot you will only eat a fried egg if it has been cooked on both sides until the yolk is firm.”

“If you’re just going to complain, then make your own damn eeeeeeeggs!”

Why couldn’t that man just ask her to cook the eggs a little more? His dramatics gave Annie a headache.

“Mina, if you keep spoiling that unemployed loser, he’s only going to get worse.”

“But, Annie, nothing is more fun than looking after a husband who is deadly incapable of taking care of himself☆”

“You’ve taken the loving wife routine so far you’ve turned into a downward spirallllll!!!”

Mathers knew how to box and fence, he was fluent in both Latin and Hebrew, and he had mastered numerical codes. He was talented in just about every field, but he was nightmarishly lacking in common sense, cooperation, and the ability to earn money with a hard day’s work. Heaven had blessed him in one way while cursing him in more than one way, so with the exception of Mina and Westcott, he could only speak with people by sandwiching his words between arguments.

Anna Kingsford’s death had been a tragedy.

That expert was said to have been the only person capable of getting Mathers to obey her word and of silencing him with her fist.

If only she had passed on that secret before she died.

Recently, the Lady of the Masquerade Ball had invited a few members of the Golden cabal to form a smaller group of friends.

It was known as The Sphere.

Being the world’s largest magic cabal had its downsides. When enough people were gathered in a single large room, they tended to split into smaller groups.

In terms of the latest fad of psychology, this may have been the result of Thanatos, the mental drive to modify old traditions and organizations.

…And as dramatic as this might sound, this is a phenomenon commonly seen at pub tables.

One day, the great Mathers arrived at the Isis-Urania Temple (which reeked so bad of burnt lamp oil that they all might have died if not for the fireplace chimney).

What he said came out of nowhere.

“I am one of the chosen nobility meant to protect the common people.”

<span style="font-size:125%">“You’re what???”</span>

Sensible Annie’s (ice cold) retort did not lead him to correct himself.

The look in his eyes was concerning. Such a dark look.

His pupils were fully dilated.

''I shouldn’t have reacted,'' realized Annie, regret plain on her face. It was the late 19th century. The ironclad rule of just ignoring troublesome people had yet to be invented.

Besides, she had noticed before that man was doing something off separate from the cabal.

“Really, I can’t believe it took me so long to realize I have noble Highlander blood flowing through my veins. Oh, sorry if I confused you all, but you can rest easy and henceforth refer to me as the Count of Glenstrae!! Yes, show me the honor I am due, commoners!!!”

Nobility? What was this unemployed loser talking about???

…Perhaps his mind hadn’t been able to bear spending such a long time without a job.

But if so, why didn’t he just get a job?

Annie Horniman chose to discuss it with someone who would understand. She tugged on the woman’s clothing.

“Mina, excuse me, Mina, Mina. Um, I believe your husband is mentally worn out, so it would probably be a good idea to send him to some quiet old castle or retreat up in the mountains. Preferably forever.”

“Hee hee. Oh, my. Honey, you have such an active imagination. Look, your dreams and fantasies are dripping out. Do you even need your wife to wipe your mouth off for you, you spoiled thing?”

“Not even this breaks her loving wife routine? But if this gets out, it’ll do some real social damage!”

Annie’s family had made a fortune in the tea trade and she too had a talent for making money. Enough that she would go on to build a large theatre.

So she was the one funding the Mina couple’s lifestyle. Not for unemployed Mathers, but to support her adorable Mina! But if that unemployed loser started ranting about being royalty or nobility in public, it could damage Mina’s reputation, not to mention Annie’s for supporting them!!

Tarot cards had been around for a very long time. The names and the number of cards varied. Arthur Edward Waite must have been dissatisfied with the accuracy of his prototype version with altered numbers and symbols because he toyed with a few of the cards while sipping on a glass of whisky.

“The thing is, Westcott.”

“Hm?”

“I really like you.”

That alone was enough to know what kind of magician he was.

Overall, there were two lines of thinking within the Golden cabal.

But this wasn’t anything as cool as an inner circle and outer circle or a first legion and second legion.

Quite the opposite.

One group wanted to master magic and change the world. The other saw magic as an attractive topic to inspire enjoyable conversation within the group,.

As the world’s largest, the Golden cabal was not lacking in members. Some like Coroner Westcott and Doctor Berridge had official authority and social status. Some like Annie and the Lady of the Masquerade Ball were part of the gaudy world of the performance arts. They also had a few world-famous poets and scriptwriters. Even Mina Mathers was the daughter of the Bergson family (although the gentle wife was unaware of the privilege this brought her). Whatever industry one might be working in, involving oneself in a shared secret wasn’t a bad way to build up connections.

From that worldly viewpoint, Mathers was an exceptionally unattractive person to hold a central position in the cabal.

For him, magic was everything.

Calling him focused or dedicated sounded nice, but that magical genius had next to no official titles. He had no money and no social standing and his frequent bizarre behavior only served to cause a scene. But he wasn’t some mystical person who got by without working. Technically speaking, he did work. Because Annie would find open positions for him. But that never lasted long. He would be unemployed again in no time. And now he was claiming to be a descendant of Scottish nobility.

Westcott’s letters were actually of dubious validity, yet not a single person in the cabal believed Mathers’s bloodline delusions. Because nothing he said could change that he had been born to a middle class London office worker.

His wife Mina kindly went along with it, but there was no way of knowing what she actually thought. Knowing her, she might actually believe him. Then again, she was the daughter of the Bergson family who had thrown out that position by marrying Mathers, so she may not have cared at all about the class system of Queen Victoria’s British Empire.

“I can’t divorce myself from public life to pursue magic to the extent Count Glenstrae has. And I can’t pursue my dreams to the extent his wife does.”

“You shouldn’t compare yourself to them. Not everyone can live that kind of life. They are unusual even for the cabal.”

“It’s the same with these cards. I talk about using them to package or categorize the Sephiroth, but fortune telling is really all about utilitarian benefit, isn’t it? Pence, shillings, pounds… I am nothing more than a silly man who can’t stop thinking about numbers. No matter how hard I try, I doubt I can ever live as a magician like you.”

“Do you feel bad for living a comfortable life?”

“There is a 7=4 who insists any magician who focuses on worldly money is second-rate.”

“That’s just sour grapes over being unemployed.”

Only another 7=4 would openly talk about Mathers that way. And as a skilled magician who also had real social standing, Westcott was a different sort of monster.

Arthur Edward Waite shrank down like he wanted to disappear.

“I’m ashamed of it, but I just can’t stop making money. Once these cards are complete, they will make me a fortune. I am certain they will continue to be produced and sold long after I am dead. They will continue turning a profit until people no longer fear their vague fortunes and futures.”

He was approaching an invention that, in a way, was more incredible than some magic spell, but that didn’t mean he was proud of it.

This hinted at the real meaning behind what he had said.

Westcott and Mathers.

Two of the three founders.

“That’s why I like that the cabal is led by someone who can compromise with the real world.”

“No, no drinking.”

Mathers (who was a drinker but had no money) was despondent.

But Westcott did not back down.

“You can get drunk after we gather our thoughts on the Secret Chiefs. I have discovered and deciphered all of the original code books. You are supposed to create various ceremonies based on them that anyone can read. Wasn’t that the plan?”

The Secret Chiefs were mysterious beings said to grant permission to establish a magic cabal, and everyone had their own ideas about them. Westcott said one could borrow their power by asking a priestess in distant Germany. Mathers said they were incorporeal beings but boasted he could directly contact them. Some magicians even said they were ordinary people who walked on two legs and drank coffee in the city.

Old gentlemanly Westcott sighed.

“If using your head is so displeasing to you, then how about you visit remote Tibet and search for the Secret Chiefs in the physical world? Do that and I will buy you as much Scotch as you can drink.”

“Sh, shh!!” shushed Doctor Berridge, hastily raising his left index finger to his lips.

Only Westcott, who was on the same level as Mathers, could make jokes like that in the Golden cabal. In this age, magicians believed they would receive unfathomable wisdom and power if they made the long journey to Tibet, but Mathers loathed the way some people would throw out study and logic in order to rely on the “Mysterious East”.

“I say we forget about some single concept like the Secret Chiefs and instead study means of reaching and toying with the higher plane as a whole.”

“Either way, this isn’t a subject you can discuss over drinks. Besides, a drink is a reward for someone who has completed a day’s work. Now, Mathers, I will use your least favorite phrase in the entire world: get to work.”

Doctor Berridge stared at Westcott, plainly wanting to say something.

The priestess named Anna Sprengel was a mysterious figure who only ever appeared in Westcott’s letters. No one had ever actually seen her.

More than a friend of a friend, she was like that friend of a friend’s teacher.

Did that Secret Chief really exist?

This magician loved late-night walks.

Mathers was a troublesome genius who never went out and instead sponged off of his students when out of drinks and cheese, but there was one place even he would take the time to walk to: the British Museum. The many texts stored there were the one thing in the world that had complete power over him. As one of the founders, it perhaps went without saying he was a bookworm through and through. He only visited irregularly, but since he had slipped into the shadows of London, he wanted to read everything he could.

(Grimoires borrowing that king’s name have been more common of late. Now, it would do the world a great service if I could search out the oldest records I can find, sum up their main points, and create a simple checklist showing whether or not they are connected to that king.)

“The ability to gather all those texts into a single whole would be a truly great invention. Hm, but that would eliminate the fun of navigating the maze of bookcases.”

Mathers laughed as he strolled through the London night. He had apparently forgotten Annie’s warning that it was his meaningless evil laughter that gathered the patrolling authorities’ attention. Not that he had been listening to her in the first place.

It was late at night. The museum was no longer accepting ordinary visitors.

But such a truly skilled magician did not think he had to enter through the front door. Not when knowledge was calling his name. As a count, it was only polite to answer its invitation and accept its hospitality.

Mathers felt pain after taking three more steps along the dark street.

From a physical attack.

It felt like a hammer blow.

The heavy impact passed through his thick cloak and clothing to reach his right shoulder.

(It’s broken.)

He noticed only after he was hit.

Of course, Mathers wouldn’t normally make such a mistake. He would have instantly detected the assailant’s intent to attack and sent one of the seven demon lords after them.

“Hm.”

(That means this person knows my methods and found a loophole.)

Magicians were a type of technician Taking out his dominant arm first was a decent decision.

Mathers took a few more steps as if nothing had happened and then turned around.

If someone was there, this would have established a type of resonance that made them turn around too, but it didn’t work.

The dark street was deserted.

He had focused on the wrong place.

Aware of that, Mathers chuckled self-deprecatingly.

“So not even the British Empire is safe? If this attack had happened in broad daylight, I may have ended up in the papers as the victim of another theatrical crime.”

It was that era too.

It had likely made some good sample material for the latest fad of psychology. Some bored ripper had caused a bit of a stir, and that had been enough to distort the world. Crimes were growing and evolving to make the current level of excitement a thing of the past.

Mathers gave a snort of laughter.

Was this some magic being used to that end? It seemed familiar and then Mathers recognized it as an evocation spell he himself had expanded upon based on a certain code book.

“Being the biggest in the world really does have its downsides. There are far too many possible traitors.”

The Isis-Urania Temple was a grandiose name, but it was really just an apartment rented by the cabal. With the exception of the ceremonial ground, the only light came from an oil lamp. And there were shadows in the corners.

She had nothing solid to go off of.

But Mina Mathers’s eyes dropped to her ring as she spoke under her breath.

She was a top-rate magician whose greatest weapon was art and she had created several texts on various forms of visions and meditation as reference material for the cabal.

“Honey…no, it can’t be…”

The shadows of the night were sliced apart, but Mathers’s confidence remained intact.

“Did you learn this from common society? Theatrical really is the best way of describing it. The way these crimes stimulate the people’s baser emotions in such a short period of time shows they were designed by someone who understands the basics of theatre.”

Didn’t one member of the Golden cabal hope to build a theatre? And wasn’t she the woman who wanted to tear apart Mathers and Mina’s relationship?

But Mathers wasn’t dense enough to end his search for the culprit there.

In fact, unlike a common play, the magician had no need to search for the culprit at all. Curses would return to their caster. Or could be set up to do so. If he defeated and eliminated this, it would also harm the magician responsible.

If he had some spare time, he could always search out the foolish traitor who would be writhing in pain from their own curse, but Mathers wasn’t that cruel. The worm could die in the gap between the filthy wall and wooden box where they were hiding.

Summoning and evocation might sound impressive (which was on purpose since Mathers and the other Golden magicians had given them those names for that exact reason), but there was no need to construct an entire angel or demon in order to produce deadly force. That would be a lot of wasted effort and giving it a head – and thus the ability to think – created the threat of revolt.

Sealing Telesma in a talisman or weapon was sufficient for most magic and it technically didn’t even require existing matter.

“Still, this is a makeshift version. I believe Waite is still trying to fine-tune it.”

Mathers only whispered.

Something floated in the air.

A single card. It had been there from the beginning. But in the dark night with only sporadic streetlights, an object the size of a leaf would go unnoticed floating in the breeze.

It was a tarot card from the Major Arcana: the Magician. It meant cleverness, an enemy trap, and willpower. It was the chance to begin something and the beginning of change.

(I see.)

That told him the purpose behind this curse.

And as soon as he accurately interpreted it, a line of light appeared on the ground directly below the floating card. The line bent in accordance with some kind of rules, drawing out a sharp, angular star on the ground. It was around 2m across. The eight-pointed star was drawn out in a single continuous stroke. Instead of specializing in a specific element, this symbol was a combination of all elements.

It was not being created anew.

This meaning had been included in the card from the start. You could say Mathers himself had given it a temporary external appearance with the power of his imagination. He was, after all, one of the cabal founders with a 7=4 grade. If he wanted, he could view the floating card as a heart, drape a thick cloak around it, and turn it into “false person” with a 3D silhouette…but after thinking it through that far, the obsessive man sighed. He consciously lessened his focus. He did not need to thoroughly analyze all the details here. Knowing the meaning and coordinates was enough.

The octagram symbolized the power of metal. If intentionally used incorrectly, it could create a powerful blow to anything composed of the four elements formed from the four qualities.

That made this a colossal spring that could move freely along the ground. It would approach its target and, once their coordinates coincided, reject them, launching them straight up. There was no real altitude limit. If you only wanted to kill someone, you simply had to launch them from the planet. Mathers’s right shoulder had been crushed because the star had passed right next to his foot and only the arm sticking out past his leg had been hit.

“Is that all you have?” Mathers was exasperated. “How careless. You were reliant on the element of surprise and your initial attack failed to kill me, but you aren’t erasing all evidence and preventing me from sending it back at you? Did you not even consider the possibility of a counterattack?”

Did they refuse to listen, or did they lack the brains to understand? He doubted it.

Not if this was being controlled remotely.

The octagram zigzagged along the ground, approaching him. With speed surpassing a coal-powered automobile. As if it were dragged along or guided by the floating Magician card.

Annie Horniman’s grimace wasn’t just due to the burnt oil stench of the lamp on the table.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t considered the possibility. She had vaguely realized this might happen.

But not because she had used the tarot cards Waite was still so seriously working at readjusting the numbers and symbols for. No divination was necessary for anyone with ordinary sensibilities to sense interpersonal trouble brewing.

The problem was how few of the eccentrics in the magic cabal were capable of reading the room like that. They were all the overly intellectual type who needed to gaze into a crystal ball or flip over some cards to figure out something so obvious. So they wouldn’t notice someone’s anger until it exploded in their face.

Of course, Annie didn’t particularly care what kind of disaster befell Mathers.

If a coal-powered automobile hit him on the side of the street, knocking him into the Thames where fish swarmed around to consume his flesh, that was fine by her. Her arms would be open to comfort the newly-widowed Mina.

But…

“…”

Someone stood in a corner of the room.

Mina Mathers. But her eyes weren’t on Annie. She was staring at her ring, her thoughts only on her husband who had left and still hadn’t returned. She looked somehow smaller than usual.

(Well, if that’s how it is.)

Annie sighed softly and hefted something over her shoulders. She felt their weight bearing down on her. As much as she didn’t like it, she made her way to the Isis-Urania Temple’s exit.

After solving a numerical puzzle on the table, Westcott raised his head and gave her a puzzled look.

“Oh? Annie, is that your Jachin and Boaz? Where are you taking them?”

“To go kick someone’s ass☆”

“Evocation.”

It changed.

The people, the air, the presence, the world.

All it took was that word from Mathers.

For an opponent like this, he didn’t even need to pull out the four symbolic weapons his wife had made.

The evocation and the exorcism were two parts of a single technique.

All things that could be summoned by humans could be swiftly driven out by humans. Just like the person who set a train in motion needed to be able to stop the train too.

“I call on one of the seven deadly sins. On one who was once viewed as an even greater demon lord than Satan and Lucifer. On a god who has not lost his great power even after his true name was corrupted.”

This genius was not led astray by the impressive-sounding seven deadly sins.

He was not satisfied with just Beelzebub.

That was why he searched out so many undeciphered texts in the British Library and translated the Hebrew into Latin and the Latin into English so modern people could read them. That was why he reproduced, resurrected, and made use of ancient gods from an age before a certain holy man was hung on the cross. That was why he dug back up the powers that were buried long ago for the convenience of those in charge.

Even if this occasionally made him a target for the Anglican Church’s assassins.

The star which drew out eight sharp points with a single stroke veered off of its shortest attack route. It stopped right in front of Mathers and moved erratically to the sides. It was clearly being controlled by someone rather than being a simple guided weapon.

It seemed to be squirming. Or taking frozen evasive action.

But Mathers had finished.

“Come forth, Baal Zebul.”

It only took a single strike.

Unable to even touch Mathers, the collection of lines pasted to the ground were twisted and burned through while the floating card was forcefully flipped over before its ashes scattered in the wind.

It was in that moment that a certain genius forcibly overturned his deadly fate.

“Oh.”

A figure doubled over.

She was at the former site of one of the Thames’s innumerable wharves.

An altar, flags to the west and east, tablets of different metals, a few seats for each role… So much time had been spent decorating the place to make the temple look like a proper temple, but now it was all in a miserable state. No, that wasn’t quite accurate. A great power had burst from within or sliced through it all. Everything used for the curse was destroyed equally.

She felt intense pain and heat in her right shoulder.

She couldn’t claim ignorance there since she had sent the curse.

“Oh, ohh.”

(It’s…broken.)

This wasn’t like a spell that ended once it was launched from your palm.

A doll.

A dagger.

This was part of why Mathers had concluded he need not search for the culprit.

She had created her game piece by summoning a large quantity of Telesma and having it carry her mental image through the card. That image had been her deadly desire and it could be seen as part of her being. Controlling the monster with her own thoughts gave the attack much greater odds of success, but sending in a deadly monster still linked to her also created the risk of this happening.

Just like blocking off the long steam pipe providing power to a large factory would apply pressure to the central boiler and eventually cause it to burst.

An attack could travel back to her.

“Ohhhhh- gbh.”

Doctor Berridge and Coroner Westcott had once argued over Scotch that the inside of the body could not actually feel pain, but that was a lie. How else could she explain this excruciating pain that felt like having her entire body twisted apart?

A cold sweat formed on her brow.

She focused all her willpower on slowing her breathing and attempting to resume refining her life force into magic power, but she struggled to control her body.

Her thick shoulder bone had been broken. Far too easily.

“Gevurah, the fifth sephirah, the element of fire. That is, the 6=5 robe of the Egyptian role. Accept me as I free myself from the bonds of my physical body and depart. Purify the calamities and flaws of my soul with the flame spoken of in the records of the ancient gods. I will be reborn here, stripping off all my old wounds and pai-”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The figure shook.

Annie Horniman spoke casually to her.

“I get wanting to cast off your body and escape the pain and fear after having the recoiled curse break your shoulder, but astral projection is a form of mental manipulation used to surpass the limits of your surface consciousness. Using it too often can get you absorbed by your own subconscious, unable to return. The Sphere you’ve been secretly putting together knows how to do all the calculations, but you should really stop there.”

“Where did I give myself away?”

“Nowhere really. You just seem like the type who would like remote attacks. Taphthartharath, was it? I remember your plan to summon that symbol of Mercury. Oh, sorry. ‘Envoke’, right? I still don’t quite grasp that new definition Mathers and the others came up with one day out of the blue. Anyway, you were sitting around the table with a few of your apprentices planning a ceremony to call on that thing. Not that I think you can manifest the real deal.”

This had been a theatrical crime.

The threat had incorporated the logic of a play, but Annie Horniman wasn’t the only one with a connection to that industry.

Wasn’t there another?

The Lady of the Masquerade Ball. That magician was in fact a famous actress.

She had clearly been on edge back at the Isis-Urania Temple. She hadn’t participated in the conversation when Mathers caused a scene or when everyone was testing Waite’s prototype tarot. Not once. The only person she had openly spoken to was Westcott, whose charisma made him a contact point for any number of areas.

“It’s just no fun…”

At this point, she didn’t bother making excuses.

Had she given up on all mental activity?

The masked woman puffed on the long, skinny pipe that passed right through her smooth mask and breathed out a toxically sweet cloud of smoke.

“So many rules. So many restrictions. Creating the framework of a cabal may have been a necessary part of getting our secret club started, but that stage is over. The promises made to get it started only weigh us down now. I want to enjoy magic more lazily. I want to immerse myself in it, intoxicate myself with it, and forget all about real life.”

“We call ourselves the world’s largest magic cabal and now we’re falling to internal strife? It’s so human I want to laugh.”

“Oh? Don’t you also want that arrogant and dogmatic Mathers to die? Although in your case it has nothing to do with his influence over the cabal.”

“Well, yes. I would have killed that freak ages ago if that were an option.”

But she hadn’t. She hated his guts for selfishly throwing her life off track and for marrying Mina. Killing him just the once didn’t seem sufficient in her opinion. And yet.

Her reason couldn’t have been simpler.

A pair of heavy objects crashed noisily to the ground.

A white pillar and a black pillar.

Annie Horniman grinned belligerently with one of the long clubs in each hand.

They were from the same cabal.

She wouldn’t kill the woman, but she would rough her up a bit.

Until that beautiful throat and tongue sang that she would rather die.

“This is what happens when you even slightly harm the life my Mina chose for yourself, okay?”

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:KuroyoruSS|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:A Certain Prophecy Index}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM

2024-09-28T20:57:35Z

MarioLuigi0404: Created page with "==Novel Illustrations== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Illustrations}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Prologue}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter1}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Ind..."

==Novel Illustrations==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Illustrations}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Prologue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter1}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter2}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter4}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter5}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter6}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter7}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Epilogue}}
<noinclude>
{{Toaru Nav}}
</noinclude>

Template:Toaru:Side Stories/Long SS

2024-09-28T20:52:23Z

MarioLuigi0404: /* A Certain Magical Index Side Story: Ace Misaka Mikoto vs. Queen Shokuhou Misaki!! - (ePUB) */ Formatting, consistency, added full text. Will re-add updated an epub link later.

<div class="mw-customtoggle-Long mw-customtoggle-LongClose mw-customtoggle-LongOpen" style="background:#ecf2ce;cursor:pointer" align="center">'''<big>Long Stories</big>'''</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible" style="text-align:left;margin:5px5pxclear:both;font-size:100%;background:transparent;width:100%" id="mw-customcollapsible-Long">
'''These are novel-length side stories published separately from the main series.'''

[[Image:SP.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SP ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume_SP|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter1|Stiyl Magnus]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter2|Mark Space]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter3|Kamijou Touma]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter4|Uiharu Kazari]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:RAILGUN SS1 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: Liberal Arts City ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:INDEX Norse Mythology 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Norse Mythology===
::*Illustrations
::*Chapter 1: The Whereabouts of the Restraints — GLEIPNIR.
::*Chapter 2: When Will We Outgrow Tropical Countries? — YMIR's_ocean.
::*Chapter 3: The True Meaning of Environmental Protection — RULIC_letters.
::*Chapter 4: This and That About Life — ALFAR.
::*Chapter 5: Marine Prison — NAGLFAR.
::*Chapter 6: The Best Moment — BIFROST.
::*Chapter 7: The Destination of Salvation — GUNGNIR.
::*Chapter 8: The One who Teaches the Secret Rune — VALKYRIE.

[[Image:RAILGUN SS2 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]

===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS2: Shopping Mall Demonstration ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:RAILGUN PSP.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun PSP===
'''All links below are external links to [https://jerutz.wordpress.com/ JeruTz Translations]'''
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp-tutorial/ Tutorial]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-1/ Chapter 1: Longicorn of the Vacant Lot]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-2/ Chapter 2: Disciplinary Guidance]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-3/ Chapter 3: Grim Reaper Kakiko]
::*Chapter 4
::*Chapter 5
::*DLC Chapter

[[Image:INDEX RtE Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index: Road to Endymion ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Road_to_Endymion|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter5|Chapter 5]]

[[Image:INDEX Necessarius Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Necessarius Special Entrance Exam===
::*Illustrations
::*Chapter 1
::*Chapter 2
::*Chapter 3
::*Chapter 4
::*Chapter 5
::*Chapter 6
::*Chapter 7
::*Chapter 8

[[Image:INDEX Virutal On Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: A Certain Magical Virtual-On ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Preface|Preface]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Prologue|Prologue]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Epilogue|Epilogue]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:Railgun Cold Game Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun_Cold_Game|Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Cold Game]]===

<br style="clear:both"/>
[[Image:RailgunSS3 cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS3 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:Biohacker_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Biohacker ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter6|Chapter 6]]

[[Image:AgneseSS_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Agnese’s Magic Side Work Trial ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:Railgun_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Scientific Railgun ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Prologue|Prologue: Four Girls]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter1|Chapter 1: Shirai Kuroko Does Not Hesitate]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter2|Chapter 2: Saten Ruiko’s Messy Bloodbath Paradise☆]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter3|Chapter 3: Uiharu Kazari Can Do Real Work Too]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter4|Chapter 4: Misaka Mikoto and the Death of Class]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Epilogue|Epilogue: Four Girls+α]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:Item Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Dark Side Item ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Prologue|Prologue: Feminine, Dangerous, Bright]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter1|Chapter 1: The Fifth Girl]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter2|Chapter 2: >>Colosseum]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter3|Chapter 3: A Certain Display of Courage, A Secret Reward]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter4|Chapter 4: Roar of the Level 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Epilogue|Epilogue: A Path Leading to Another Time, Another Place]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Ending|?]]

[[Image:Item2 Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Dark Side Item 2 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Prologue|Prologue: The Girls Resolve Their Job Like a Puzzle]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Level5_vs._Little_Honey_Queen]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2|Chapter 2: The Storm Approaches]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Project Angelica]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Your Chains Exist to be Broken]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Epilogue|Epilogue: If Just One Thing Had Happened Differently]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Ending|?]]

===A Certain Dark Side Item 3 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Prologue|Prologue: The City of Science is a Godless Place]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Public and Private]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter2|Chapter 2: The Fourth Estate]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Dark Side Can Find a New Toy Among the Classics]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Violent Gears Known as Justice]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Epilogue|Epilogue: The Cry of True Evil]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Ending|?]]

===[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Mental_Out_SS|A Certain Scientific Mental Out: The Queen’s Play]]===

===A Certain Magical Index Side Story: Ace Misaka Mikoto vs. Queen Shokuhou Misaki!! ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Prologue|Prologue: Breaking News!!]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter1|Chapter 1: A Single Pudding Triggers the Apocalypse]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter2|Chapter 2: A Fundamental Question]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3|Chapter 3: Two Members of the Most Dangerous Non-Native Species]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter4|Chapter 4: Go Play in Space]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter5|Chapter 5: Returning and Taking Over]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter6|Chapter 6: Who Stands in the Way?]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter7|Chapter 7: Arrival of Catastrophe]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Epilogue|Epilogue: End Credits]]

[[#toc|'''<small>Back to Contents</small>''']]
<div style="clear:both;"> </div>
</div>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Illustrations

2024-09-28T20:30:27Z

MarioLuigi0404: Created page with "<gallery> Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS.png|'''Cover''' Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 001.png Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 002.png Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 003.png Image:Mikoto vs Misak..."

<gallery>
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS.png|'''Cover'''
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 001.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 002.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 003.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 004.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 005.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 006.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 007.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 008.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 009.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 010.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 011.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 012.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 013.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 014.png
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 015.png
</gallery>

<noinclude>
{{Toaru Nav|next=Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Prologue}}
</noinclude>

Template:Toaru:Side Stories/Long SS

2024-09-28T20:27:09Z

MarioLuigi0404: /* A Certain Magical Index Side Story: Ace Misaka Mikoto vs. Queen Shokuhou Misaki!! - (ePUB) */ Illustrations page

<div class="mw-customtoggle-Long mw-customtoggle-LongClose mw-customtoggle-LongOpen" style="background:#ecf2ce;cursor:pointer" align="center">'''<big>Long Stories</big>'''</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible" style="text-align:left;margin:5px5pxclear:both;font-size:100%;background:transparent;width:100%" id="mw-customcollapsible-Long">
'''These are novel-length side stories published separately from the main series.'''

[[Image:SP.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SP ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume_SP|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter1|Stiyl Magnus]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter2|Mark Space]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter3|Kamijou Touma]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter4|Uiharu Kazari]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:RAILGUN SS1 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: Liberal Arts City ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:INDEX Norse Mythology 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Norse Mythology===
::*Illustrations
::*Chapter 1: The Whereabouts of the Restraints — GLEIPNIR.
::*Chapter 2: When Will We Outgrow Tropical Countries? — YMIR's_ocean.
::*Chapter 3: The True Meaning of Environmental Protection — RULIC_letters.
::*Chapter 4: This and That About Life — ALFAR.
::*Chapter 5: Marine Prison — NAGLFAR.
::*Chapter 6: The Best Moment — BIFROST.
::*Chapter 7: The Destination of Salvation — GUNGNIR.
::*Chapter 8: The One who Teaches the Secret Rune — VALKYRIE.

[[Image:RAILGUN SS2 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]

===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS2: Shopping Mall Demonstration ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:RAILGUN PSP.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun PSP===
'''All links below are external links to [https://jerutz.wordpress.com/ JeruTz Translations]'''
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp-tutorial/ Tutorial]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-1/ Chapter 1: Longicorn of the Vacant Lot]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-2/ Chapter 2: Disciplinary Guidance]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-3/ Chapter 3: Grim Reaper Kakiko]
::*Chapter 4
::*Chapter 5
::*DLC Chapter

[[Image:INDEX RtE Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index: Road to Endymion ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Road_to_Endymion|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter5|Chapter 5]]

[[Image:INDEX Necessarius Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Necessarius Special Entrance Exam===
::*Illustrations
::*Chapter 1
::*Chapter 2
::*Chapter 3
::*Chapter 4
::*Chapter 5
::*Chapter 6
::*Chapter 7
::*Chapter 8

[[Image:INDEX Virutal On Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: A Certain Magical Virtual-On ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Preface|Preface]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Prologue|Prologue]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Epilogue|Epilogue]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:Railgun Cold Game Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun_Cold_Game|Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Cold Game]]===

<br style="clear:both"/>
[[Image:RailgunSS3 cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS3 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:Biohacker_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Biohacker ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter6|Chapter 6]]

[[Image:AgneseSS_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Agnese’s Magic Side Work Trial ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:Railgun_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Scientific Railgun ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Prologue|Prologue: Four Girls]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter1|Chapter 1: Shirai Kuroko Does Not Hesitate]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter2|Chapter 2: Saten Ruiko’s Messy Bloodbath Paradise☆]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter3|Chapter 3: Uiharu Kazari Can Do Real Work Too]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter4|Chapter 4: Misaka Mikoto and the Death of Class]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Epilogue|Epilogue: Four Girls+α]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:Item Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Dark Side Item ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Prologue|Prologue: Feminine, Dangerous, Bright]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter1|Chapter 1: The Fifth Girl]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter2|Chapter 2: >>Colosseum]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter3|Chapter 3: A Certain Display of Courage, A Secret Reward]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter4|Chapter 4: Roar of the Level 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Epilogue|Epilogue: A Path Leading to Another Time, Another Place]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Ending|?]]

[[Image:Item2 Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Dark Side Item 2 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Prologue|Prologue: The Girls Resolve Their Job Like a Puzzle]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Level5_vs._Little_Honey_Queen]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2|Chapter 2: The Storm Approaches]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Project Angelica]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Your Chains Exist to be Broken]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Epilogue|Epilogue: If Just One Thing Had Happened Differently]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Ending|?]]

===A Certain Dark Side Item 3 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Prologue|Prologue: The City of Science is a Godless Place]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Public and Private]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter2|Chapter 2: The Fourth Estate]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Dark Side Can Find a New Toy Among the Classics]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Violent Gears Known as Justice]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Epilogue|Epilogue: The Cry of True Evil]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Ending|?]]

===[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Mental_Out_SS|A Certain Scientific Mental Out: The Queen’s Play]]===

===A Certain Magical Index Side Story: Ace Misaka Mikoto vs. Queen Shokuhou Misaki!! - ([https://www.mediafire.com/file/kzgjogumedoo62j/Ace_Misaka_Mikoto_vs._Queen_Shokuhou_Misaki%2521%2521.epub ePUB])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Prologue|Prologue: Breaking News!!]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter1|Chapter 1: A Single Pudding Triggers the Apocalypse]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter2|Chapter 2: A Fundamental Question]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3|Chapter 3: Two Members of the Most Dangerous Non-Native Species]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter4|Chapter 4: Go Play in Space]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter5|Chapter 5: Returning and Taking Over]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter6|Chapter 6: Who Stands in the Way?]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter7|Chapter 7: Arrival of Catastrophe]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Epilogue|Epilogue: End Credits]]

[[#toc|'''<small>Back to Contents</small>''']]
<div style="clear:both;"> </div>
</div>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Illustrations

2024-09-28T20:25:12Z

MarioLuigi0404: Added BW images, need better scans though.

<gallery>
Image:Item3_Cover.png|'''Cover'''
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</gallery>

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Ending|next=Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Prologue}}
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2024-09-28T20:23:08Z

MarioLuigi0404:

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2024-09-28T20:23:00Z

MarioLuigi0404:

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2024-09-28T20:22:53Z

MarioLuigi0404:

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2024-09-28T20:22:44Z

MarioLuigi0404:

File:Item3 BW3.jpeg

2024-09-28T20:22:36Z

MarioLuigi0404:

File:Item3 BW2.jpeg

2024-09-28T20:21:59Z

MarioLuigi0404:

File:Item3 BW1.jpeg

2024-09-28T20:21:17Z

MarioLuigi0404:

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11

2024-09-28T20:19:08Z

MarioLuigi0404: Created page with "==Novel Illustrations== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Illustrations}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Prologue}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter1}}..."

==Novel Illustrations==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Illustrations}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Prologue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter1}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter2}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter3}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter4}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Epilogue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Afterword}}
==Ending==
{{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Ending}}
<noinclude>
{{Toaru Nav|prev=Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10|next=}}
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10

2024-09-28T20:17:14Z

MarioLuigi0404: Update nav

==Novel Illustrations==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Illustrations}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Prologue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter1}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter2}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter3}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter4}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Epilogue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Afterword}}
==Ending==
{{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Ending}}
<noinclude>
{{Toaru Nav|prev=Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9|next=Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11}}
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Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament

2024-09-28T20:16:25Z

MarioLuigi0404: /* GT Volume 11 */

{{Status|Active}}

{{Toaru:Brief}}

'''<big><big><span style="color:green">This page is for the third series of Toaru Majutsu no Index.</span> [[Toaru Majutsu no Index|Click here for the <u>''first''</u> series.]] | [[Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament|Click here for the <u>''second''</u> series.]] <span style="color:red"><big>***</big></span></big></big>'''

==Alternative Languages==
The ''Toaru Majutsu no Index'' series is also available in the following languages:
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index (Indonesia)|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)]]
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Russian:NT|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Русский (Russian)]]
*[[To Aru Majutsu no Index ~ (Spanish)|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Español (Spanish)]]
*[[To Aru Majutsu no Index ~ Deutsch (German)|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Deutsch (German)]]
*[[To Aru Majutsu no Index ~ Italiano (Italian)|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Italiano (Italian)]]
*[[To Aru Majutsu no Index Polski|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Polski (Polish)]]
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index - Français|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Français (French)]]
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index ~Brazilian Portuguese~|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Português Brasileiro (Brazilian Portuguese)]]

(Note: Translation progress varies for each version.)
----
Visit the [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/index.php Baka-Tsuki Project Forum] to discuss this series and other information from Baka-Tsuki.

==Story Synopsis==


<big>''This series is a direct sequel and continuation of '''[[Toaru Majutsu no Index]]''' and '''[[Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament]]'''.''</big>

Science and magic exist side by side in this world.

This is the peak of the science side with a curriculum for espers, Academy City. In this city where 80% of the population are students, the season has finally come when all residents are excited and fidgety!

It's Christmas Eve.

Amidst the city showing a cheerful hustle and bustle, ordinary boy who can’t keep up with school, Kamijou Touma, also doesn’t intend to miss this event! He was hard at work in his supplementary lessons...

A backward glance from the default misfortune-prone bastard, the silver-haired sister freeloading in his dormitory, Index, in the heart pounding scene different from the usual, activates a new gluton skill!? While Kamijou tries to desperately stop that, Misaka Mikoto taken in by the Christmas Eve atmosphere appears before him.

==Awards==

{{Toaru:Awards}}

==Translation==
'''Translators Needed'''

If you would like to help translate this series, please post in the forums [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=3505 here], and we will help you get started. Thank you.

===Registration===

Those who wish to contribute are asked to notify a supervisor beforehand.

Translators are asked to <big>'''<u>[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Registration Page|register]]</u>'''</big> which chapters they're working on.

===Format Standards===
'''Every edited chapter must conform to not only the general format guidelines, but also this project's own guidelines.'''
*[[Format_guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Names and Terminology Guideline|Project-Specific Guidelines: Format, Names, and Terminology]]

'''All edited translations are to be in American English.'''

==Updates==

{{Toaru:Updates}}

==Terminologies==

All terminologies, character information, and other series details are hosted on [http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index_Wiki this wiki].

{{Toaru:Mtoggle:GT}}

==The '''''Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament''''' series by Kazuma Kamachi==


<div class="mw-customtoggle-Genesis mw-customtoggle-GenesisClose mw-customtoggle-GenesisOpen" style="background:#f2e0ce;cursor:pointer" align="center">'''<big>Genesis Testament</big>'''</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible" style="text-align:left;margin:5px5pxclear:both;font-size:100%;background:transparent;width:100%" id="mw-customcollapsible-Genesis">

[[Image:GT vol 1.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 1 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Prologue|Prologue: At an Early Christmas Eve Intersection — Prepare_for_Xmas_Eve!]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Just Like an Amusement Park — Red_Wear,Big_Bag,and_Flying_Sledge.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter2|Chapter 2: A Changing Academy City, the Night Before — the_24th,Showdown.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter3|Chapter 3: A Dark Conspiracy and a Barrier Gone — Enemy_Use_XXX.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Interaction with Another World, the Starting Point — “R&C OCCULTICS Co.Ltd.”]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Epilogue|Epilogue: Snow and Crimson Cover All — White_End.(and_Merry_Xmas!!)]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:GT vol 2.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 2 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Prologue|Prologue: The Bloody Christmas Begins — 12/24_to_12/25.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter1|Chapter 1: This is the Real Battle — Home_Ground_Hospital.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Black Pill, White Snow — and_RED_Rose.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter3|Chapter 3: In the Void of Zero — Contact_6.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Phenomenon of Kamijou Touma — Not_Right_Hand.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Epilogue|Epilogue: Greeting Through the Bars — Matching_Complete.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 3.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 3 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Prologue|Prologue: Look What Under I Found Under This Big Rock — OP.“Hand_Cuffs”]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter1|Chapter 1: A Scab Torn Away — City_Warfare.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Dark Side — Ghost, Android, and…]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Academy City’s Greatest Taboo — Safety_Zero, Control_Free.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Demon Lord’s Young — the_LIGHT.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Epilogue|Epilogue: Cry of a Newborn Darkness — Over_the_C. Point, Now.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 4.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 4 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Prologue|Prologue: A Picture Book that Slipped through the Cracks – Magic_Side,Open.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter1|Chapter 1: The Full Population of Los Angeles is Missing – 26_the_West_Coast_Warfare.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Suspected and Alone – Los_Angeles.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Counterattack Begins – Boy_not_“Dark”.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Beyond the Two Choices – Duel_Against_R∴C∴O∴(for_Save_Mother).]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Epilogue|Epilogue: That Human Returns – Science_Side,Interrupt.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 5.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 5 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Prologue|Prologue: Visitor from Picture Book Land – Girl_Name_is_“ALICE”.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter1|Chapter 1: A Year Ending, a Wallet Emptying, a Struggle Ensuing – Winter_Vacation.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter2|Chapter 2: The Rescue Puzzle Sits Before You – Travel.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Welcome to a World Without the Goddess’ Protection – Difficulty_the_ABYSS.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter4|Chapter 4: If Someone Remains to be Saved – Final_Exams_“Handcuffs”.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Epilogue|Epilogue: Even If Your Hand Leaves Mine – Not_Enemy.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 6.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 6 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Prologue|Prologue: You Lose Less Weight Than You Would Think – Dying_Hungry.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Go Get That New Year’s Eve Job – Away_SHIBUYA,31.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Goddess of the Night, the Moon, and Witches – “ARADIA”x03.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Transcendent Blossoms – Sabbat_VS_Witch_Hunt.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Chapter4|Chapter 4: What’s Wrong With Being Only Human? – Save_the_Stray_Devil.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Epilogue|Epilogue: The Record Needle Skips – Irregular_Counter.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:GT vol 7.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 7 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Prologue|Prologue: Capture the Powerful Witch – Happy? New_Year!!]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Happy New Hell, Another Year of Panic – KOTATSU_Syndrome.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Which of Them was Caught? – the_Consulate.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Next Move – Witch_Trial.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Hear the Name of Thy Ruin, World – Call_"XXXXX".]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Epilogue|Epilogue: Saving Her is Unconditional – Join_to…?]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 8.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 8 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Prologue|Prologue: Attacked from Three Sides – Proclaim_ML.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter1|Chapter 1: I’m Sick of Running – Break_Through_MCV.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Transcendent Mut Thebes – The_Death_Penalty_WH.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Relying on R&C Occultics – Secret_DB.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Decide For Yourself Which Girl to Save – Battle_of_HsB-AD-CVA01.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Epilogue|Epilogue: Beyond Optimism – Catastrophe_XXX.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT Vol 9.png|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 9 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Prologue|Prologue: Battle of the Best – Zenith_of_the_Magic.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Determine Your Stance – Right_or_Wicked.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter2|Chapter 2: So Much Like Tree Rings – Open_War,1st_Defense_Line.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Journey – Cut_a_Road_to_Allover_the_Goal.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter4|Chapter 4: At the Center – Duel_and_Struggle,CRC.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Epilogue|Epilogue: A Certain Truth and the Collapse of It All – Black_Humor.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT Vol 10.png|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 10 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Prologue|Prologue: Alice Anotherbible – Back_to_Memory.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter1|Chapter 1: The World is Not So Strong – the_End_of_Real.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Welcome to the Psychedelic – Little_Queen_Wonderland.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Prophecy – Last_Branch(of_Die).]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Unfortunate Boy’s Focus – Over_the_River.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Epilogue|Epilogue: Kamijou Touma – Notice_of_the_Death.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Ending|?]]

===GT Volume 11 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Prologue|Prologue: Welcome – the_DIE_After_Tomorrow.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter1|Chapter 1: The Other Side of the Ordinary – Hell,_Hades,_and_Gehenna.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Journey – What’s_That_Adventurer’s_Party?]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter3|Chapter 3: A Single Lie, A Single Answer – Seat_the_Only_One.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter4|Chapter 4: I’d Wanted To Do This With You – Duel_and_Struggle,_XXX.Revenge.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Epilogue|Epilogue: End of the Ritual – Flat_Line…]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Ending|?]]

[[#toc|'''<small>Back to Contents</small>''']]
<div style="clear:both;"> </div>
</div>

==Side Stories==

{{Toaru:Side Stories}}

==Official Parody Stories==

{{Toaru:Parodies}}

==Story Calendar==

{{Toaru:Calendar}}

==Project Staff==

*Supervisor: ''None Designated''
*Project Manager: '''[[User:OH&S|OH&S]]'''

===Translators===
'''ACTIVE'''
:*'''[[User:Js06|Js06]]'''

===Editors===

'''All editors that can speak and write English proficiently are welcome.'''
:*''Editors list has been cleaned due to inactive editors. Editors are welcome to add their names again if they are still editing or proofreading.''--[[User:OH&S|OH&S]] ([[User talk:OH&S|talk]]) 11:44, 11 April 2017 (CEST)

==Series Overview==

{{Toaru:Series Overview}}

==More Information==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index The wikipedia article]
*[http://www12.atwiki.jp/index-index/ とある魔術の禁書目録　Index] (日本語、そしてネタバレの危険性がある！)
*[http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index_Wiki Toaru Majutsu no Index Wikia]
*[http://r-s.sakura.ne.jp/w/i_m.htm Kiyotaka Haimura website]

[[Category:Light novel (English)]]
[[Category:Dengeki Bunko]]
[[Category:Kazuma Kamachi]]

[[Category:Genre - Action]]
[[Category:Genre - Comedy]]
[[Category:Genre - Fantasy]]
[[Category:Genre - Harem]]
[[Category:Genre - Sci-Fi]]
[[Category:Genre - Supernatural]]

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Illustrations

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MarioLuigi0404: Add images. BW images need higher quality scans.

<gallery>
Image:GT Vol 11.png
GT Index v11 C01.png
Image:GT Index v11 002.png|'''Contents Page'''
Image:GT Index v11 003-005.png|'''Pages 003-005'''
Image:GT Index v11 006-008.png|'''Pages 006-008'''
Image:GT Index v11 BW1.webp
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Image:GT Index v11 BW3.webp
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</gallery>
<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Ending|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Prologue}}
</noinclude>

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2

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MarioLuigi0404: Update nav next

==Novel Illustrations==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Illustrations}}
==Opening==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Prologue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter1}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter4}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Epilogue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Afterword}}
==Ending==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Ending}}

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item|next=Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3

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MarioLuigi0404: Created page with "==Novel Illustrations== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Illustrations}} ==Opening== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Prologue}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter1}} {{:To..."

==Novel Illustrations==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Illustrations}}
==Opening==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Prologue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter1}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter2}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter4}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Epilogue}}
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Afterword}}
==Ending==
{{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Ending}}

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2|next=}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Illustrations

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MarioLuigi0404: Created page, added illusts

<gallery>
Image:GT Vol 10.png
Image:GT Index v10 C01.png
Image:GT Index v10 002.png|'''Contents Page'''
Image:GT Index v10 003-005.png|'''Pages 003-005'''
Image:GT Index v10 006-008.png|'''Pages 006-008'''
Image:GT Index v10 BW1.png
Image:GT Index v10 BW2.png
Image:GT Index v10 BW3.png
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Image:GT Index v10 BW5.png
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</gallery>
<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Ending|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Prologue}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament

2024-04-25T19:59:49Z

MarioLuigi0404: /* The Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament series by Kazuma Kamachi */ Added GT10 cover

{{Status|Active}}

{{Toaru:Brief}}

'''<big><big><span style="color:green">This page is for the third series of Toaru Majutsu no Index.</span> [[Toaru Majutsu no Index|Click here for the <u>''first''</u> series.]] | [[Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament|Click here for the <u>''second''</u> series.]] <span style="color:red"><big>***</big></span></big></big>'''

==Alternative Languages==
The ''Toaru Majutsu no Index'' series is also available in the following languages:
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index (Indonesia)|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)]]
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Russian:NT|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Русский (Russian)]]
*[[To Aru Majutsu no Index ~ (Spanish)|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Español (Spanish)]]
*[[To Aru Majutsu no Index ~ Deutsch (German)|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Deutsch (German)]]
*[[To Aru Majutsu no Index ~ Italiano (Italian)|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Italiano (Italian)]]
*[[To Aru Majutsu no Index Polski|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Polski (Polish)]]
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index - Français|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Français (French)]]
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index ~Brazilian Portuguese~|Toaru Majutsu no Index ~ Português Brasileiro (Brazilian Portuguese)]]

(Note: Translation progress varies for each version.)
----
Visit the [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/index.php Baka-Tsuki Project Forum] to discuss this series and other information from Baka-Tsuki.

==Story Synopsis==


<big>''This series is a direct sequel and continuation of '''[[Toaru Majutsu no Index]]''' and '''[[Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament]]'''.''</big>

Science and magic exist side by side in this world.

This is the peak of the science side with a curriculum for espers, Academy City. In this city where 80% of the population are students, the season has finally come when all residents are excited and fidgety!

It's Christmas Eve.

Amidst the city showing a cheerful hustle and bustle, ordinary boy who can’t keep up with school, Kamijou Touma, also doesn’t intend to miss this event! He was hard at work in his supplementary lessons...

A backward glance from the default misfortune-prone bastard, the silver-haired sister freeloading in his dormitory, Index, in the heart pounding scene different from the usual, activates a new gluton skill!? While Kamijou tries to desperately stop that, Misaka Mikoto taken in by the Christmas Eve atmosphere appears before him.

==Awards==

{{Toaru:Awards}}

==Translation==
'''Translators Needed'''

If you would like to help translate this series, please post in the forums [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=3505 here], and we will help you get started. Thank you.

===Registration===

Those who wish to contribute are asked to notify a supervisor beforehand.

Translators are asked to <big>'''<u>[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Registration Page|register]]</u>'''</big> which chapters they're working on.

===Format Standards===
'''Every edited chapter must conform to not only the general format guidelines, but also this project's own guidelines.'''
*[[Format_guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]
*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Names and Terminology Guideline|Project-Specific Guidelines: Format, Names, and Terminology]]

'''All edited translations are to be in American English.'''

==Updates==

{{Toaru:Updates}}

==Terminologies==

All terminologies, character information, and other series details are hosted on [http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index_Wiki this wiki].

{{Toaru:Mtoggle:GT}}

==The '''''Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament''''' series by Kazuma Kamachi==


<div class="mw-customtoggle-Genesis mw-customtoggle-GenesisClose mw-customtoggle-GenesisOpen" style="background:#f2e0ce;cursor:pointer" align="center">'''<big>Genesis Testament</big>'''</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible" style="text-align:left;margin:5px5pxclear:both;font-size:100%;background:transparent;width:100%" id="mw-customcollapsible-Genesis">

[[Image:GT vol 1.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 1 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Prologue|Prologue: At an Early Christmas Eve Intersection — Prepare_for_Xmas_Eve!]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Just Like an Amusement Park — Red_Wear,Big_Bag,and_Flying_Sledge.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter2|Chapter 2: A Changing Academy City, the Night Before — the_24th,Showdown.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter3|Chapter 3: A Dark Conspiracy and a Barrier Gone — Enemy_Use_XXX.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Interaction with Another World, the Starting Point — “R&C OCCULTICS Co.Ltd.”]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Epilogue|Epilogue: Snow and Crimson Cover All — White_End.(and_Merry_Xmas!!)]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:GT vol 2.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 2 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Prologue|Prologue: The Bloody Christmas Begins — 12/24_to_12/25.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter1|Chapter 1: This is the Real Battle — Home_Ground_Hospital.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Black Pill, White Snow — and_RED_Rose.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter3|Chapter 3: In the Void of Zero — Contact_6.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Phenomenon of Kamijou Touma — Not_Right_Hand.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Epilogue|Epilogue: Greeting Through the Bars — Matching_Complete.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 3.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 3 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Prologue|Prologue: Look What Under I Found Under This Big Rock — OP.“Hand_Cuffs”]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter1|Chapter 1: A Scab Torn Away — City_Warfare.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Dark Side — Ghost, Android, and…]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Academy City’s Greatest Taboo — Safety_Zero, Control_Free.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Demon Lord’s Young — the_LIGHT.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Epilogue|Epilogue: Cry of a Newborn Darkness — Over_the_C. Point, Now.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 4.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 4 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Prologue|Prologue: A Picture Book that Slipped through the Cracks – Magic_Side,Open.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter1|Chapter 1: The Full Population of Los Angeles is Missing – 26_the_West_Coast_Warfare.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Suspected and Alone – Los_Angeles.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Counterattack Begins – Boy_not_“Dark”.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Beyond the Two Choices – Duel_Against_R∴C∴O∴(for_Save_Mother).]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Epilogue|Epilogue: That Human Returns – Science_Side,Interrupt.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 5.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 5 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Prologue|Prologue: Visitor from Picture Book Land – Girl_Name_is_“ALICE”.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter1|Chapter 1: A Year Ending, a Wallet Emptying, a Struggle Ensuing – Winter_Vacation.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter2|Chapter 2: The Rescue Puzzle Sits Before You – Travel.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Welcome to a World Without the Goddess’ Protection – Difficulty_the_ABYSS.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter4|Chapter 4: If Someone Remains to be Saved – Final_Exams_“Handcuffs”.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Epilogue|Epilogue: Even If Your Hand Leaves Mine – Not_Enemy.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 6.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 6 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Prologue|Prologue: You Lose Less Weight Than You Would Think – Dying_Hungry.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Go Get That New Year’s Eve Job – Away_SHIBUYA,31.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Goddess of the Night, the Moon, and Witches – “ARADIA”x03.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Transcendent Blossoms – Sabbat_VS_Witch_Hunt.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Chapter4|Chapter 4: What’s Wrong With Being Only Human? – Save_the_Stray_Devil.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Epilogue|Epilogue: The Record Needle Skips – Irregular_Counter.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:GT vol 7.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 7 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Prologue|Prologue: Capture the Powerful Witch – Happy? New_Year!!]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Happy New Hell, Another Year of Panic – KOTATSU_Syndrome.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Which of Them was Caught? – the_Consulate.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Next Move – Witch_Trial.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Hear the Name of Thy Ruin, World – Call_"XXXXX".]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Epilogue|Epilogue: Saving Her is Unconditional – Join_to…?]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT vol 8.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 8 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Prologue|Prologue: Attacked from Three Sides – Proclaim_ML.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter1|Chapter 1: I’m Sick of Running – Break_Through_MCV.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Transcendent Mut Thebes – The_Death_Penalty_WH.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Relying on R&C Occultics – Secret_DB.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Decide For Yourself Which Girl to Save – Battle_of_HsB-AD-CVA01.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Epilogue|Epilogue: Beyond Optimism – Catastrophe_XXX.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT Vol 9.png|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 9 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Prologue|Prologue: Battle of the Best – Zenith_of_the_Magic.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Determine Your Stance – Right_or_Wicked.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter2|Chapter 2: So Much Like Tree Rings – Open_War,1st_Defense_Line.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Journey – Cut_a_Road_to_Allover_the_Goal.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter4|Chapter 4: At the Center – Duel_and_Struggle,CRC.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Epilogue|Epilogue: A Certain Truth and the Collapse of It All – Black_Humor.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Ending|?]]

[[Image:GT Vol 10.png|x200px|frameless|right]]
===GT Volume 10===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Prologue|Prologue: Alice Anotherbible – Back_to_Memory.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter1|Chapter 1: The World is Not So Strong – the_End_of_Real.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Welcome to the Psychedelic – Little_Queen_Wonderland.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Prophecy – Last_Branch(of_Die).]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Unfortunate Boy’s Focus – Over_the_River.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Epilogue|Epilogue: Kamijou Touma – Notice_of_the_Death.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Ending|?]]

[[#toc|'''<small>Back to Contents</small>''']]
<div style="clear:both;"> </div>
</div>

==Side Stories==

{{Toaru:Side Stories}}

==Official Parody Stories==

{{Toaru:Parodies}}

==Story Calendar==

{{Toaru:Calendar}}

==Project Staff==

*Supervisor: ''None Designated''
*Project Manager: '''[[User:OH&S|OH&S]]'''

===Translators===
'''ACTIVE'''
:*'''[[User:Js06|Js06]]'''

===Editors===

'''All editors that can speak and write English proficiently are welcome.'''
:*''Editors list has been cleaned due to inactive editors. Editors are welcome to add their names again if they are still editing or proofreading.''--[[User:OH&S|OH&S]] ([[User talk:OH&S|talk]]) 11:44, 11 April 2017 (CEST)

==Series Overview==

{{Toaru:Series Overview}}

==More Information==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index The wikipedia article]
*[http://www12.atwiki.jp/index-index/ とある魔術の禁書目録　Index] (日本語、そしてネタバレの危険性がある！)
*[http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index_Wiki Toaru Majutsu no Index Wikia]
*[http://r-s.sakura.ne.jp/w/i_m.htm Kiyotaka Haimura website]

[[Category:Light novel (English)]]
[[Category:Dengeki Bunko]]
[[Category:Kazuma Kamachi]]

[[Category:Genre - Action]]
[[Category:Genre - Comedy]]
[[Category:Genre - Fantasy]]
[[Category:Genre - Harem]]
[[Category:Genre - Sci-Fi]]
[[Category:Genre - Supernatural]]

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MarioLuigi0404:

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MarioLuigi0404:

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Epilogue

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MarioLuigi0404: /* Epilogue: A Certain Truth and the Collapse of It All – Black_Humor. */ inline image

==Epilogue: A Certain Truth and the Collapse of It All – Black_Humor.==

It was his own groan that did it.

Kamijou Touma’s mind was shaken and he awoke in a bed.

He was in the hospital.

“Honestly. Why are you making me save you, fool?”

He heard a sulking voice.

A little wicked woman sat next to him in the visitor’s chair, something inserted into the inside of her elbow. Blood was gathering in a bag through a tube. Apparently she had given her own blood to save Kamijou from the massive blood loss of cutting off his own arm.

That was Anna Sprengel.

He wasn’t dreaming.

He hadn’t relied on Alice’s ridiculous power.

He had poured in all the strength a human had and even prepared himself for death to finally achieve this little miracle.

This was what he had gritted his teeth all this time to see.

“…I see.”

The transfusion tube descending from the stand led to Kamijou’s right arm. The arm he had supposedly lost was now attached to his shoulder like usual.

He still couldn’t get up, but he somehow managed to move his terribly dry mouth.

“How long?”

“It’s just about midnight.”

“''What happened to the others''?”

“''They died.''”

Those were icy words.

But it didn’t end there.

“You were right to hold onto Good, Old Mary and her resurrection right up until the end. If you had forced her to sacrifice herself, you would be cleaning up after a tragedy right about now.”

He wasn’t sure if he could say this was a good thing.

But at the very least, it wasn’t the end.

Misaka Mikoto, Witch Goddess Aradia, and everyone else involved in the hospital battle must have been revived. That resurrection only reverted the dead body to the moment of death, allowing an attempt at CPR. That meant there had to have been restrictions and the possibility of failure, so he was glad to hear they had overcome all of that. The large hospital would have had plenty of blood and iron supplements to go around.

“Districts 12, 23, 18, and 7 were freed from the yellow Citrinitas sand. And just like in Los Angeles, there is nothing for you to worry about, fool.”

If possible, he wanted to add someone else to the list.

But…

“''Alice won’t be so simple''.”

“…”

“Good, Old Mary is a regular Transcendent, so she cannot interfere with an irregular one like Alice Anotherbible who has far surpassed the usual bounds of the category. If she is dead, there is no overturning that. Like it or not, the simple hierarchy prevents an ordinary Transcendent from changing that.”

“I see,” was all Kamijou could say, releasing the breath remaining in his lungs.

He would have to accept that goodbye.

Alice Anotherbible was dead. He hadn’t reduced the number of losses to zero.

But the tragedy had been stopped there.

He had settled things with Christian Rosencreutz.

He knew this was only the selfish idea of a survivor, but he felt Alice would have wanted it to end this way.

Then Anna Sprengel asked a question.

“Why?”

“?”

“Why did you save me, fool?”

Her tone seemed to point out that her death would have meant the end of all the calamity starting with the rise of R&C Occultics.

His answer was obvious.

“I wasn’t risking my life to determine the truth and name the culprit.”

“I brought suffering to so many. And that includes you.”

“That means we’re the ones that get to choose to forgive you for it.”

“I am nothing but a villain.”

“That’s no reason to let you die.”

“I chose to let the Shrink Drink hit me. I was prepared to die.”

“But I never said I would just let that happen.”

He didn’t hesitate.

He didn’t even need to think about it. The words felt so natural on his lips. Like they were leaving his mouth before they even reached his mind.

That was what it meant to do the right thing.

You didn’t need to rack your brains working out what was right. You didn’t need to seek confirmation or prove it. You didn’t need to dress it up in fancy words or figure out how to make it look good.

Of course someone who thought about it first would have trouble reaching an answer.

Eventually, Anna Sprengel lowered her head and presented one more idea.

“''You could have ended this so much sooner and easier if I had died.''”

“''Not on your life, Anna Sprengel.''”

He didn’t hesitate.

He felt something soft.

While Kamijou lay on the bed, the little wicked woman had pressed her forehead against the center of his chest.

She sobbed.

And she couldn’t get any more words out.

In the end, that was the answer.

[[Image:GT Index v09 BW8.jpg|thumb]]

Anna Sprengel had created a giant IT company that encompassed both science and magic, she had stirred up trouble across the world, and she had carried out all sorts of evil deeds. But before meeting this boy, had she had anyone she could speak her mind to?

“You don’t need a king.”

Kamijou forced his still stiff and awkward body to move and rubbed Anna’s head.

She did not disappear at the touch of his right hand.

That proved she really was alive.

“There are larger umbrellas to protect you in this world. So many reliable people will risk their lives to fight for you. So I promise you, Anna Sprengel, you do not need to wander this world searching for some nonexistent king.”

At the same time, he confirmed that he could feel his own right hand.

It was definitely there.

He only vaguely remembered when his shadow had flickered like a dying fluorescent light and his existence was being gradually dragged into illusion. Had he not been conscious enough for the memories to be created properly, or had he touched on such a great taboo that his brain refused to access the memories? Either way, he knew one thing: that was a direct path to death. For him and for his opponent. It was the path of rejection that ensured someone would be left on the battlefield. It was a greedy antlion pit that swallowed up all life, both enemy and ally.

What would have happened had Good, Old Mary not been there?

How many people would have been lost during that one night?

“…”

He would never do that again.

Never again would he choose to throw out his own life and the lives of others.

He would never give up on his humanity and turn to illusion instead.

But.

He was still glad he had done everything he could to save Anna Sprengel.

There was a definite moment when he let himself think that too.

The hospital door was cracked open

Two girls had lost their chance to knock and had ended up listening in.

“What do we do about this, Misaka-saaan?”

“Don’t ask me.”

Christian Rosencreutz had been an extremely formidable foe. It was still hard to believe they had safely settled things with that monster. That they had was a cause for celebration, but that didn’t address what they should do about Anna Sprengel and her many evil deeds.

Misaka Mikoto thought Anna deserved to be punished.

That was her honest opinion.

Not for the sake of the world or the people who lived there.

This was nothing so grand.

For her, it was the simple fact that the boy she knew so well had nearly been killed.

But…

“He’s forgiven her before we can even have our say.”

“Anything we do now would be the super kind of fluous, wouldn’t it?”

Something else was underway as well.

It was midnight, marking the beginning of January 6.

“Was it over here?”

A nun in a pure white habit walked to District 12 with a little Magic God on her shoulder.

Their focus had been different from the start.

When the chaos of battle split everyone up, Index and Othinus had intentionally left the battle line. Christian Rosencreutz was a powerful magician whose spells were a mystery even with the knowledge of an entire library of grimoires to draw on.

Which was why they had felt a strong need to carefully observe him and divulge a weakness.

Index was specialized for that role in the first place.

…Kamijou and the others had ended the fight in a rather forceful way before these two could figure out Rosencreutz’s spells, but coincidence had worked in their favor there.

They had successfully seen what happened to CRC ''after'' he broke through the hospital wall and flew off like a shooting star.

Othinus rushed Index from atop her shoulder.

“Hurry. It’s already been several hours. If he can still move, he might decide to retreat. This is all for naught if he manages to recover his strength and returns for a rematch.”

“I know that,” snapped Index, still facing forward. With an expression she would never show in front of Kamijou. “That was clearly ''not a battle Touma should have won.'' If he’s forced to fight something like that again, there’s no way he survives.”

And they found him.

It was hard to miss. The asphalt was broken and torn up in one spot. Something stirred at the very center.

“Hee.”

It was Christian Rosencreutz.

He was still alive.

“Hee hah. This is not over. This old man’s passions have not been extinguished. So I have no reason to stop. And I have found it. The Transcendents of the Bridge Builders Cabal, the ones who created this body, are not who will obstruct this old man’s curiosity. There is only one. Just one pathetic life not even spoken of in historyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!”

“I’ll do it,” coldly stated the 15cm god, despite the great discrepancy in heights. “I’m a war god, so I’m used to taking lives. Grimoire Library, you keep your hands clean. That would be best for my understander.”

CRC’s head turned their way.

What did they look like to that ugly young man who could only view the world through his passions?

“You would try to stop me?”

“?”

“No matter how torn my flesh and broken my bones, taking two lives is a simple task. Shall I take them as a souvenir? Not that you have any say in the matter!!”

“''No, no that''…”

For some reason, Othinus was no longer looking at CRC.

To the very end, he didn’t understand why.

Because the 15cm god had given up on conversing with him.

“''Whatever. It’s not like saving you would accomplish anything.''”

There was a sticky tearing sound.

Again, Index didn’t understand.

She had more than 103,000 grimoires in her head, but she still couldn’t explain what had just happened before her eyes.

A large chunk had been taken from the side of CRC’s neck.

“Eh? Uh?”

His grunts of surprise were disturbingly wet.

If not even Index understood, there was no way CRC could know what had happened to him.

The answer was a small hand.

The child’s hand slowly opened and closed in empty air, as if tearing off a piece of soft bread.

“Gbwah!? Eh? Huh? What happened to…this old man!!?”

The pain must have caught up to him because Christian Rosencreutz held a hand to the side of his neck and raised his bloody voice. The dark red liquid continued to flow out from between his fingers. And from his mouth. Where was the blood coming from and where was the flow connected? It was a frightening thing to imagine.

He received no mercy.

He slipped on his own blood and fell to the filthy ground where he found someone peering down at him. Someone very small. She had been short to begin with, but she was even shorter due to the lack of anything above her neck.

He recognized her.

There was only one person this could be.

''Alice Anotherbible.

That little headless corpse stood firm on her two legs.

A dark figure stood next to her.

The young butler wore a tailcoat and held a sword cane.

He did not speak a word.

H. T. Trismegistus was entirely unchanged, still serving his master as common sense dictated, so he must not have felt any particular need to speak.

Only that butler remained dedicated.

He was a true Transcendent in that he had not set one foot outside his own salvation conditions.

“Why?”

The pain vanished once more within CRC.

A much greater question had numbed his entire brain.

Or maybe it was the common fear.

“Yes, this old man made use of her body. I made her dead flesh rise again to launch a surprise attack on Anna Kingsford! But how is this possible!? Why would she get back up again now!? That spell does not last forever. Rigor mortis should have faded away and decomposition should have begun by now!!”

“Stop.”

That word was not directed at Alice or at Rosencreutz.

Othinus had stopped Index from thoughtlessly rushing in.

That calamity was already over.

So do not get yourself involved.

“You are looking at this the wrong way around. You completely killed Alice Anotherbible? ''So what''? We don’t even know for sure if Alice is really human. She could be a tarot deck or the result of someone’s special right hand parting with them. You should have been more thorough and made sure her body couldn’t resume moving after death – by hanging her corpse from a tree, by skewering her and lifting her high into the air, or whatever else.”

“…”

“Good, Old Mary is one of the lesser Transcendents and she can resurrect people. So why are you surprised to learn that Alice Anotherbible, a greater and highly irregular Transcendent, has a more powerful version of the spell? Good, Old Mary is out of options if she is the one to die, but maybe Alice can absorb power from a ley line or gather Telesma to activate her magic and revive herself after death.”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………”

Rosencreutz couldn’t do anything.

Death loomed over him, but he was rooted to the spot. Even though each movement of the little hand produced a disturbing sound while more of his body was torn away.

So.

He couldn’t stop the movement of the headless corpse.

The incomplete vocal cords vibrated.

He should have stopped this immediately.

“…Ah…”

“?”

“The man always…resented it.”

It was like the beginning of a storybook.

The words were spoken in the smooth, gentle tone of a mother reading to her small child.

“He resented his own creation. He resented that a legend which should have been laughed off as an obvious lie instead gained a life of its own. So he tried to put a stop to it and reject it. He wanted to make it nothing more than a joke. But by that time, too many people had come to truly believe in that legend. So no one believed what he said.”

However, the actual story being told was a terribly cruel one.

CRC stared blankly, forgetting all about the destruction of his body.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed.

It was more like the shock was so great his mind had gone blank.

“Eventually, the pitiable man’s words were entirely ignored. And as time passed, knowledge of him faded until he was entirely forgotten. Why? Because that was more convenient for the people of the world. Because no one cared anymore if their truth was in fact an obvious lie. So the poor man resented it all the more. He resented the foolish people who refused to listen to him. But more than anything, he resented that the character he created had gained eternal fame while he had vanished into obscurity.”

Why?

Why did she know this!?

(Is she reading this from the pieces of my body she is tearing away? Like a potter checking the broken fragments in the kiln to see what went wrong!?)

“So to give his character a bad name…”

“Stop. Wait…”

“…he chose to become his character.”

“Shut your mouth. Right this instant!!”

She did not stop.

Something sharper than any blade stabbed deep into Christian Rosencreutz’s chest.

No…

“''Johann Valentin Andreae''. The foolish ordinary man who created the fictional Rosicrucian legend and was crushed by the truth that came from that fiction. Oh, how tragic. But now the self-debased clown’s mask has been stripped away and it all comes to an end.”

There was smoke.

Strange, unhealthy-looking smoke much like that created from chemicals or acid.

He screamed.

And when the smoke cleared, it did not reveal a silver young man.

He was now a wrinkly and unkempt old man who was nothing but skin and bones. All charisma had been stripped away.

This was his true identity.

He was an author who had so loathed his own fictional creation he had chosen to roleplay that character and carry out enough contemptible actions that the entire world would be disillusioned. That ugly nature was on display here.

“This explains why the supposed founder of Rosicrucianism was so intent on killing Anna Sprengel. His stated objective of slaughtering the Transcendents was only camouflage to disguise his weak will. Johann only wanted to destroy CRC and everything that had built that nonexistent man’s legend.”

“Ahhhh!!”

Collapsed and lying on the ground, the wrinkly old man still raised his empty palm.

This action was clearly driven by fear, not passion or playfulness.

The air was compressed.

Kamijou Touma had already proven this was no more than a projectile attack.

But.

“I…don’t believe it,” muttered Rosencreutz.

The headless girl hadn’t moved a finger. She hadn’t dignified him with any kind of response. Instead, a cricket bat had flown in and blocked the bullet on its own. It resembled black coal the size of a golf ball, but its surface shined with a strange luster.

This was the truth of it.

“''Diamond.''”

This had one-shotted Kamijou despite his special right arm.

This had injured Good, Old Mary.

This had tossed aside Aleister in the hospital.

“''All you did was cling to old legends. Your magic was a rehash of St. Germain. A certain right hand failed to negate it because the diamond crystal is constantly growing too quickly to be fully negated.''”

To those in the know, that may have reminded them of the Innocentius spell. Yes, it was not impossible to force through Imagine Breaker with pure magic.

Forcing the Anti-Skill officer to count on his fingers was also an application of that carbon-controlling spell. There was nothing unknown about CRC. It could all be explained using the Rosicrucian St. Germain.

“Thinking back, something about what my understander said seemed off from the start,” spat 15cm Othinus on Index’s shoulder.

When Kamijou Touma had first clashed with Rosencreutz, that boy had been easily defeated.

But why had CRC started by destroying the Shrink Drink?

That spiritual item was only effective against the Transcendents who took on roles to perform, so the reborn Christian Rosencreutz shouldn’t have had anything to fear from it.

''So.

''If Rosencreutz feared the Shrink Drink, he too had to be a fake playing a role.

That also explained why Index and her vast knowledge had failed to predict Christian Rosencreutz’s actions and thoughts.

Because he wasn’t CRC.

The knowledge contained in the grimoire library was not actually flawed or incomplete. She was never going to find the correct countermeasure if she was searching the wrong bookcase.

“This is just sad,” muttered Othinus.

CRC had frequently said magic was nothing but a boring illusion.

And there had been a faction within the Golden cabal that claimed magic was not something used to influence the physical world – it was ultimately something to enrichen your own soul.

So.

Had he been trying to enrichen his soul by misrepresenting himself and ruining the reputation of the fictional character? He was like a self-hater. He displayed the world’s most unproductive form of malice.

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ends with it all being a dream. Alice wakes up before the climactic trial can end and that’s it. ''That is world-famous nonsense story dressed up in countless illusions, but it is also a story that presents the reader with hard, unshakable reality right at the end.'' I will admit that is a side of Alice, but this seems a bit much.”

This may have been a sliver of the real reason the Transcendents had all feared Alice. She had the power to reveal your true nature, no matter how deep you tried to bury it.

And there was no need to deliver a finishing blow.

She had already torn out the side of his neck.

No, it was much more than that.

Pieces had been torn from all over his body. She had taken away pieces of his muscles, his fat, his blood vessels, and even his bones. The legendary Christian Rosencreutz may have been able to recover from that, but the grounded Johann Valentin Andreae would not be so lucky. The color drained from his face as the blood gushed from his wounds, his eyes rolled back in his head, and the old man lay unmoving on the cold ground.

Never to move again.

He was dead.

This unsightly fate left no room for resurrection or any other form of salvation. And…

“''Cackle''.”

Something happened.

It came from the headless girl. Because she had been so lovely and beautiful to begin with, the loss of the head, her most identifiable feature, gave her remains a horrifyingly grotesque sort of beauty.

The severed vocal cords vibrated in the blood-drained neck stump.

It took even the war god several seconds to realize this was laughter.

“''Cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle''!!!”

There was no room for conversation here.

Had Alice Anotherbible always hidden this cruelty within her?

Or had the destruction of her head knocked some gears loose?

Either way, one thing was for sure.

“''This isn’t over,''” said Index.

The false CRC wasn’t the only one. They were faced with the magician who the grimoire library’s wisdom had truly failed to comprehend.

“''None of this is over.''”

What was Alice Anotherbible?

How was she defined?

That question had been there from the start and they had put it off until now.

And now that greatest of mysteries was truly baring its fangs.

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter4

2024-03-22T08:40:24Z

MarioLuigi0404: /* Part 7 */ inline image

==Chapter 4: At the Center – Duel_and_Struggle,CRC.==

===Part 1===

The hospital’s 1st floor hallway was a straight path to the ICU where Anna Sprengel slept.

“Heh heh.”

The red-clad silver young man’s shoulders shook with laughter.

He mocked the foolishness of Kamijou Touma whose shoulder was gushing blood where his arm should be.

“I wondered what trump card you would rely on in the end, but all you did was break the glass container? That one normally sleeps within his coffin, but he naturally awakens when he locates the disease plaguing this world and returns to his coffin once he is no longer needed. Producing the world-healing elixir is all well and good, but how long can you last like this? Given the rate of blood loss, I would guess 10 minutes at the mo-”

Kamijou Touma wasn’t listening.

A single step covered all the necessary distance. He softly sent the translucent dragon emerging from his right shoulder toward CRC.

It didn’t feel like punching with a fist or biting and tearing with great jaws.

It was probably a miniscule attack like a forehead flick.

A mass of compressed sound erupted a moment later.

That was all it took to launch Rosencreutz several dozen meters down the hospital hallway.

“Oh, ohh!”

This result shouldn’t have been possible.

Misaka Mikoto, the other #5 girl, Academy City’s next-gen weaponry, the Transcendents of the Bridge Builders Cabal, the grimoire library, the Magic God, and even legendary magicians like Aleister and Kingsford had failed to achieve this.

This was the very first clean hit against him.

And it happened almost too easily.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!?”

He bounced repeatedly, producing the sounds of physical destruction, the screams of muscle and bone, and the wet hacking of bloody coughs.

But none of that explained CRC’s trembling.

He was looking down at his own left hand.

Still seated on the floor, the silver young man viewed his own hand pressed against the floor and he trembled.

“You made this old man…''touch the floor''?”

This was a first.

It hadn’t been allowed to happen even once before now.

He had always stood tall on the battlefield. His march across Academy City had continued unabated even during the satellite’s heavy metal bombing and the Hula Hoop’s largescale particle accelerator cannon. With that in mind, just how much power had this small result required?

''This far surpassed human limits.

''The boy had chosen to cross that line.

Because he had sworn he would save the greatest wicked woman who could only wait for death.

“…”

Kamijou Touma provided no response.

He did not speak up in triumph and he kept his head lowered, hiding his expression.

A change came over the boy’s own shadow at his feet.

[[Image:GT Index v09 BW6.jpg|thumb]]

''It flickered.

''Unnaturally, like a dying fluorescent light.

What had this power cost him?

It was like the boy, who supposedly had a physical body, was shifting into the realm of shapeless and weightless illusion.

“………………………………………………………………………”

He took another step.

That was enough for the world to distort and strain. The space around him definitely sank. If he had stepped with greater purpose, it might have triggered an inwards gravitational collapse in that space, creating an irreparable hole.

The wordless action conveyed a single purpose.

Kamijou Touma was stepping forward to approach CRC once more.

This wasn’t over.

He wouldn’t let it end with just the one attack.

He would tear CRC apart, chew him up, and fully eliminate him from the world. He would save the people he considered important, even if it meant staining his hand with blood.

He had made the decision.

“I see.”

Rosencreutz did not speak at length here.

When taken to their absolute limit, formulas became beautifully simple.

Just like E=mc<sup>2</sup>, CRC’s conclusion was a concise one.

Cracking sounds came from all across his body as he stood back up. He lifted his hips from the floor, placed a hand on the wall, and allowed himself all the unsightly actions it required.

“I admit it. You have convinced this old man: this world is a fascinating place☆ Eh heh heh heh! I truly did not think it had anything left to satisfy my playfulness and eliminate my frustrations. Ah hee hee hee!?”

His eyes were directed straight at the dragon boy.

Drowning in his own passions, the holy man finally viewed that single boy as an enemy.

Kamijou Touma and Christian Rosencreutz.

A clash between superhumans had begun.

===Part 2===

The air was strongly compressed.

There was no need to hold anything back.

Kamijou approached from straight ahead, so Christian Rosencreutz held out his palm.

That was an invisible attack capable of destroying anything.

That brutal spell was clearly magic, but not even Kamijou’s Imagine Breaker could have stopped it and it would have torn the arm off instead.

The compression of the air passed a certain point and it rumbled out like an explosion.

But Kamijou did not speak a word.

He instructed what lay beyond his nonexistent right arm and the invisible dragon moved slightly. That was enough to overturn all the assumptions.

The dragon’s maw – and its razor-sharp teeth – bit a black object, stopping it in its tracks.

The object was a bit larger than a golf ball.

“''A…projectile''?” muttered Aradia, her eyes widened in shock as she watched from the sidelines.

This was the identity of the extremely powerful magic that supposedly made defense impossible.

There was no mystery or miracle there. In fact, if a projectile was given a lethal amount of destructive force, it would naturally be moving too quickly to see with the naked eye. That unchangeable rule remained the same even when magic had influenced the logic. It was only a common parlor trick.

Kamijou did not bother with mockery. For that matter, he showed no human reaction at all. He only swung his arm dragon horizontally, tossing the annoyance of an object aside.

Why waste time on ordinary emotion when he could dedicate that time to devouring his prey?

That was the only thought behind his actions.

“Hee hee. So you can finally fight back and let me have some fun.”

Rosencreutz continued firing.

Annoyed and irritated by the identical attacks, Kamijou’s dragon released a deafening roar.

It was possible the boy couldn’t control it himself. The sloppily swung jaws deflected CRC’s projectiles to the side, sending them ricocheting toward hospital rooms with no connection to the fight.

The silver young man grinned.

As if to say he had guided things in that direction.

But the fearsome attacks vanished into thin air before contacting the wall.

“Oh?” breathed CRC in fascination.

He had sensed something worthy of his interest.

“You eliminated my attacks without permission? No, this is a simple matter of willpower. Any attack launched without a powerful intent to kill will be swallowed up and destroyed. And any attack that misses its mark swiftly loses all meaning.”

“…”

“After experiencing an improbably uniform amount of misfortune, you loathe lucky shots from your enemy. And this old man loathes all coincidental actions that go against my passions and playfulness. I see. Our clashing wills have distorted space on the macro level. But,” said Rosencreutz with a mocking grin. He held his palm out to the side, casually aiming at the wall there. “Kee hee hee, ee hee, hwa ha ha ha ha ha!! That leaves me plenty of room to play. ''As long as this old man directs his intent to kill toward those strangers, I can still hit them''!”

Space was immediately sliced through over a distance of more than 100m.

But not because CRC had sliced through the innocent hospital patient beyond that wall.

A moment before he could, Kamijou Touma jabbed his dragon jaws forward and had it exhale a violent beam of light. Then he swung the jaws straight up to slice CRC’s right arm off at the shoulder.

Rosencreutz showed no interest in his own right arm spinning through the air.

“''Mend''.”

As soon as he spoke that one word, the nearby rubble gathered around and formed something like the smooth arm of a mannequin to stop his bleeding. This was not a resurrection that returned him to normal. He was only mending by creating something new. After traveling the world, gathering all sorts of knowledge, and going around teaching people the secret art to create a human from scratch inside a still, this was a simple task for him. He didn’t even bother checking the movement of the arm that was lither and more beautiful than a real human arm. Instead, he raised his gaze straight up.

The ceiling had split.

But not because it had been sliced through.

Like custard or gelatin, the hospital’s walls and ceiling had separated themselves to the left and right to avoid Kamijou’s attack. Including the beds, the medical equipment, and the wiring in the walls. It all forgot its original texture, spread apart at the center like a slime, and then reconnected like nothing had happened.

It was like the building itself had a mind and a life of its own.

Christian Rosencreutz drew on his vast wisdom to instantly explain it.

This was not creation or destruction.

It was…

“''Did you command it''? The intimidation of the crowned dragon king can command all living things, but also all inanimate objects?”

Those words carried deeper meaning than it initially seemed. And not just the silly risk of CRC himself obeying the command if he got careless.

Stray shots, hostages, other’s lives?

With this ultimate power, Kamijou wouldn’t have to worry about any of that.

Which meant…

''There truly was no one in the world who could stop Kamijou Touma after this monstrous transformation!!

He attacked again. But this time, it wasn’t just a beam flying from the dragon’s jaws.

The dragon itself detached from his right shoulder and flew out.

“Hwa ha ha hah!!”

CRC laughed loud, swung his body upwards, and dodged by breaking through the ceiling.

He had reacted to the real threat rather than let it hit him and see what happened. And at this point, he had finally quit relying on magic. He had needed to move faster than he could put together a spell.

The battlefield spread beyond the one long hallway.

They moved to a rehabilitation room, a break room, an operating room, and finally a nurse station on one of the higher floors.

It all looked the same, so Kamijou couldn’t tell what floor he was on. But the boy taking a step beyond humanity did see a familiar face down the hallway.

It was Aogami Pierce.

He was a powerless high school boy. But he was standing protectively in front of a small girl in pajamas who was holding a picture book. His legs were shaking, but he hadn’t frozen in place. He had purposefully chosen to stand there.

Whether he was more interested in the young girl or her mother was unclear, though.

Right and wrong didn’t matter here. He wasn’t bound by that.

Seeing that his awful friend had meant what he said, the boy who had partially fallen into illusion briefly smiled like he always did in the classroom, but then he renewed his resolve. Kamijou Touma forced his gaze away and viewed his powerful foe instead.

CRC – Christian Rosencreutz.

He could not let that monster go free and focus on that boy and girl.

No matter what.

“Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

“Oh? Kee hee hee, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

They clashed head on.

Kamijou swung the silver young man to the side.

He kicked him away and then tossed him up into the floor above.

He didn’t stop there, of course. He had already begun his next action.

The air froze.

The giant maw gnashed its teeth intermittently, creating a disturbing sound not even a guillotine or bear trap could have mimicked.

“Kh.”

While clinging magnetically to the hospital’s outside wall and trying to pursue the fight up to the upper floors, Mikoto found her feet pinned to the outside of a window. Pinned by fear. Her instincts were running wild and weighing heavily on her reason.

“What…is this? A psychological form of paralysis?” gasped the blonde girl with her arms around the #3’s hips.

If they would ensure that even the next attack would hit no matter how long the leadup, then the intimidation of those gnashing fangs could be called a surefire attack.

But it didn’t work on the silver young man.

An unpleasant sweat wet his brow, but he was still smiling

He acted out of playfulness and a desire to blow off some steam, so this could not bind him. After all, not even the #5 power had worked on him when it was used by ''its mysterious owner''. CRC was a monster with the mentality needed to continue smiling in this situation.

And Kamijou didn’t care.

Something flew from the dragon maw like a whip. It was a long, chameleon-like tongue. CRC stepped back before it could ensnare him, but then he realized something.

“Hm?”

''He was gone.

''Kamijou Touma had disappeared in the brief moment CRC’s eyes were off the boy.

But he could sense him.

A great pressure was approaching from the front!!

“You are a poikilotherm – that is, you have the ability to blend into the surrounding environment. But did you really think that would work against this old man?”

CRC swung a single arm, not hesitating to strike a point of empty space.

A cross with several sharp rose vines tangled around appeared there. It was more than a meter tall and it was entirely made of heavy gold.

It didn’t matter. A disturbing sound of bending metal rang out.

Kamijou and the dragon maw appeared out of thin air. The fangs and the cross struck each other.

The result was a series of snapping sounds.

“Kh.”

Seeing the cross bending, CRC kicked a nearby stretcher into the shutting jaws. It could be hard to tell since they were made so light for greater portability, but the stretcher was made of sturdy stainless steel to ensure it didn’t drop a critical patient. It wasn’t going to break in a crocodile’s jaws or in a brown bear’s grasp.

But the jaws were not slowed.

They closed at the exact same speed, the row of fangs approaching Rosencreutz’s hand holding the cross.

That cross was not magic.

Nor was it an illusion, but the arm jaws still chewed it up and erased the intruding wreckage from the world.

Those jaws would destroy even unshakable reality.

This was a new power Kamijou Touma had acquired at the cost of his own destruction.

It was an attack that allowed no response.

And most likely, it was a tragic power gained when someone gave up on someone else.

“I see.”

Rosencreutz smiled while dripping with a sweat of both tension and a desire to fight.

That smile contained an unusual heat as he shouted.

“Tell me. Why go to such lengths to protect Anna Sprengel? Hee hee, how much longer do you have left? What did you discover by accepting your own assured destruction?”

Only now did human language leave Kamijou Touma’s lips.

In a situation which screamed that doing so was the abnormality here.

“I will…protect Anna.”

But these were definitely his words.

Because…

“I…wrong to…search out…reason…excuse to fight…”

That was the final humanity left inside the boy who had become a monster.

It was like a tiny stone rattling around inside him, but it was something he couldn’t afford to lose.

So he refused to lose it.

That ordinary boy would never again hang his head and overlook a magical atrocity.

“Interesting – kee hee – but not good enough!”

Rosencreutz held his empty palm out toward the boy’s face.

While their weapons were locked.

That attack had already been identified as a projectile. But in this moment, the invisible dragon could not move to stop the point-blank projectile attack.

With the unpleasant sound of the air being compressed, Kamijou Touma’s entire head was obliterated.

He didn’t even have time to blink.

Kamijou took another step forward like nothing had happened. His head had already regenerated. A dragon tail appeared out of thin air and twirled away as a substitute. That was likely a lizard’s tail that would take on any damage he took. But Kamijou knew without being told that it was a move he could only use once.

Now that he knew he had that option, he wished he had held onto it for longer.

His gaze shifted to the side. The action showed some lingering regret. It all felt like it was happening to someone else. Single use and not knowing the effect until you used it was a devastatingly bad combination.

And with his eyes still in that direction, he casually sent the Dragon Strike straight toward CRC.

“Tch.”

Rosencreutz immediately fell back.

He escaped beyond the reach of the snapping jaws, but Kamijou did not bat an eye.

The entire surface of the invisible dragon jaws ''erupted''. All its razor-sharp scales shot out. They rushed out to pummel Rosencreutz’s entire body like a point-blank shotgun blast.

“Ohhhhh!” shouted CRC just before a white steam explosively filled the space.

In the Rosicrucian cabal, clouds were an important symbol of covering up wisdom and truth to prevent the unworthy from viewing it. Inside that cloud, no attack could hit him even if made from 0cm away. The entire space could be filled with a dense scattershot, but it would be as useless as trying to attack a cat that may or may not be there because no one could observe it.

Kamijou swept the dragon horizontally to tear the thick cloud apart in an instant and then the color red sprayed out.

The cloud didn’t matter at all.

The dragon released its breath.

It looked like a sharp purple-shining blade, but was that actually the poison stored in an evil dragon’s body being released at extreme pressure?

The box was shredded, the cat was forced out to establish its existence, and then it was killed.

“Kee hee.”

CRC laughed and took immediate evasive action, but also ignored the deadly toxin traveling through his bloodstream.

That silver young man had many legends told of him, but he was an alchemist at heart. He used alchemy as a starting point for all of his miracles, from the artificial life within the crystal to the red elixir.

So…

“You would use a nonexistent toxin against this old man? All poisons and harmful substances can be converted into medicines and beneficial substances if handled properly. Just like radiation can induce the cancerization of cells, but it is also used to treat cancer. It would be rude to not present you with my own wisdom in return!!”

Rosencreutz produced a deck of cards in his hand.

He fanned them out and went on to rotate them in a full circle in violation of gravity.

“The secret spell of Rota can be flipped around to make Taro, thus it can be converted into the cards that indicate the 10 spheres and the 22 pathways. Awaken, 78 cards. You are the one and only proper entrance to the light pouring down from beyond the tree – that is, the Ain Soph Aur, Ain Soph, Ain!!”

A violent white light exploded from the emptiness at the center of the card circle.

A beam of light sharper than a razor scorched the air as it rushed toward Kamijou’s right arm. The all-destroying dragon maw was split in two. While he was dragged around by the chaotically thrashing dragon, even more blood gushed from the boy’s shoulder.

The toxic red splattered across the floor and walls.

Christian Rosencreutz scoffed at the colorful artwork.

“Hee hee hee hee hee! How much longer now? Feeling lightheaded? Can’t stop the cold sweat? Worried by your pulse pounding in your chest? Nothing you do can reach this old man!! Even if you wring out every last drop from the depths of your heart!!”

A moment later, beams of light rushed out from seemingly every direction.

“Wha-!?”

CRC realized the boy’s bloodstains had drawn out strange patterns.

The instant he gasped in realization of what those patterns meant, the ''magic circles'' glowed with a disturbing light.

The floor and walls bubbled redly. It wasn’t just the white beams. Crimson serpents that should have been controlled by a lamp emerged, as did the yellow Citrinitas sand that had engulfed Los Angeles.

They surrounded CRC and came at him all at once.

His right arm was already fake, so he sacrificed that while backing away from the deadly chaos, his eyes widening at witnessing what shouldn’t have been possible.

“A scientific esper like you has entered the realm of magic?”

That was no longer CRC’s exclusive territory. Kamijou had intruded on the legend of the rose and the cross.

But how could this be?

Christian Rosencreutz was no ordinary magician. His very existence had become a legend. He refused to accept that even a Rosicrucian expert could understand and immediately make use of the spells he used.

But the fact remained that the red blood splattered on the walls and floor crawled, glowed, and bubbled.

It all drew out secret texts and magic circles known only to CRC. Even though these were the most secret of spells that he had never even shared with the others at the House of the Holy Spirit where they had all shared so much knowledge like they were sharing a meal. Not even the grimoire library would have been able to find these spells if she searched for them.

Had Kamijou Touma already evolved into a monster who could access the world itself and automatically use the magic he found there?

Something occurred to Rosencreutz once he considered that possibility.

…Known ''only'' to CRC?

“I get it now. ''This is a Rorschach test.''”

He should have caught on quicker.

An esper like Kamijou was using magic but showing no side effects.

“The magic knowledge did not come from within this broken esper. He showed this old man indistinct bloodstains, which I interpreted as the secret texts and magic circles I knew, unwittingly drawing out their magic!”

But however it had been done, the magic known only to Rosencreutz had still bared its fangs against him. Knowing the logic behind it did not stop his mind from imagining those shapes when he saw the bloodstains.

Of course, there was risk to Kamijou as well. He had no way of guiding what Rosencreutz imagined when he saw the bloodstains. This was a double-edged sword that could just as easily capture Kamijou himself in a powerful magical blast.

“Trithemius!!” shouted CRC, intricately moving his fingers.

Immediately, the magic light approaching him froze in place and stopped moving. He had made use of the encryption method that Westcott had coincidentally discovered. Rosencreutz had applied a random encryption to the bloodstains which had become secret texts and magic circles, eternally locking them so they could never be used. Much like ransomware encrypting a hard drive.

Rosencreutz felt a sizzling sensation at his temple.

This wasn’t like before. This emotion was anger.

The silver young man’s internal state had shifted up a gear.

“You dare force this old man to use magic out of something other than passion or playfulness? You continue to prove yourself to be my greatest nemesis!!!”

So what?

Kamijou ignored that and took action.

Something grew from the base of the great jaws that had replaced his right arm. It resembled a giant cape, but it was actually a sinister bat wing. The single wing gathered the air and then flapped.

The air became a solid mass and then became an extraordinary projectile that flew through the hospital.

At the same time, all the windows frosted over, the air electrified, and thick bolts of lightning rushed toward Rosencreutz from every direction. Was this what would happen to someone if they were thrown inside a large, swollen cumulonimbus cloud?

“You have not just created wind. The air pressure obeys your will, allowing you to control the weather!?”

This was well within divine territory, making it a legit miracle.

It could be blessed rain, or it could be electric divine punishment.

And CRC could also control clouds. He brought two fingers to his mouth and blew between them. One cloud struck the other, the weather conditions were forcibly altered, and the lightning changed course.

Kamijou Touma was already there.

He had rapidly covered the space between them, arriving right in front of Rosencreutz.

“Kh.”

The silver young man split the floor below him and broke through every floor below that, ending up in the hospital’s basement.

He wasn’t afraid of a ''normal'' punch.

He only realized after the fact that this had been a downwards strike from directly above.

But the hospital itself hadn’t been damaged. All of the floors in the way had parted like gelatin all on their own. After dragon-tamer Kamijou jumped down after him, the holes silently closed back up on their own too.

CRC held his palm out toward a thick metal door.

“The red elixir can conquer all deadly disease and even manipulate the lifespan!”

With a series of solid clanking sounds, the door, a cart, a scanning device larger than a fridge, and various other things gathered together and took the shape of a giant doll. It didn’t matter that they were all inorganic items. A liquid nitrogen tank must have burst because a thick white frost covered it all.

But Kamijou took action before it could actually do anything. In fact, Kamijou had punched Rosencreutz down here because he wanted something down here: the medical waste incinerator.

That special electric furnace could reach temperatures as high as 3500 degrees Celsius.

“…”

The wall right next to Kamijou audibly broke.

The following crunching sounds did not come from the invisible dragon maw.

''Kamijou Touma was chewing it in his own mouth.

And the boy raised his right arm. The front-facing dragon jaws opened as wide as possible. This was something new. Something massive and brutal filled the depths of that mouth with a dangerous light.

He didn’t hesitate to unleash it.

Magnetron Dragon Breath.

All the dust and moisture in the air burned as a fearsome white torrent tore away at Christian Rosencreutz.

Another taboo was revealed and that monster was backed even further into a corner.

===Part 3===

Light was compressed, sound was released in all directions, and yet no third party was affected.

Not one.

The girls had their hands full simply keeping up with the constantly moving battlefield. Misaka Mikoto moved freely along the hospital’s outer wall with her magnetism and Shokuhou Misaki held onto Mikoto’s hips, but both of them could only watch the intense fighting play out. That had to be the same for Aradia and the Bologna Succubus who were probably outside flying in the sky. No one could intervene in this direct clash between superhumans. Attempting to would cause it all to fall apart. Just like any stimulus to calmly simmering water could cause an explosive boil. No, that wasn’t it. That was only an excuse for their own inaction. Their real reasons were nothing so noble.

(It was me.)

Mikoto clenched her teeth at the thought.

She was staring pale-faced at where the boy’s right arm should have been.

(I pulled the final trigger!)

''She was simply afraid to do anything more.

She felt a deep aversion, like she were facing an unknown curse. But this wasn’t a gloomy curse born of an individual’s grudge or hatred. She was overpowered by the same sense of wrongness people had toward viewing or touching something holy and inviolable.

“What am I supposed to do about this?” she muttered distractedly.

This may have been the same feeling Level 0 Kamijou Touma had felt when it was Anti-Skill, Judgment, the Level 5s, and the Transcendents doing the fighting.

Their roles had reversed.

Now that boy alone had complete control of the battlefield.

Only he could face this enemy.

Titles had lost all meaning.

And the situation was still underway. This was no time to be stuck at a standstill. Kamijou was not a fount of unlimited possibility. Nor did he have a hidden power or special ability.

His shadow was flickering unsteadily. This power was bought at the cost of his own destruction.

Which meant there had to be a time limit.

===Part 4===

Kamijou and Rosencreutz clashed head on and the boy broke through a wall, flying across the hallway leading to the elevator. He was knocked up the elevator shaft and rolled along the floor before coming to a stop.

He found himself in a large cafeteria.

He felt an unpleasant sensation below him.

He could barely see it without straining his eyes, but the culprit was yellow sand.

The color of defeat had permeated the area.

Even though a hospital needed to be as clean and sterile as possible.

“…”

Kamijou Touma silently stood up and then wobbled to the side.

As if he were struggling to support the weight of the massive jaws.

Blood was still gushing from the shoulder where his arm had been torn away. He was not going to last long like this. In just a few more minutes, he would collapse from blood loss and he would not be getting back up again.

He stared at CRC. At that man driven by playfulness and curiosity who was now smirking with sweat soaking his face.

“Oh.”

So.

Kamijou didn’t care what happened to himself. His own destruction had been part of the plan from the beginning.

He had to find some way of ending this before he ran out of time.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Guessing a major attack was coming, CRC grabbed something out of thin air.

Whatever it was, it glowed red.

“The ruby’s shine points to the pure red of the rose. That female symbol is a pair to the cross and can produce anything and everything. So mass-produce monsters of death and destruction here and now!!”

A tremor ran through the building.

And not just one. More and more 2m silver orbs known as Pneuma-less Shells appeared, until they had filled the space.

The giant silver bubbles all opened at once. Not even Rosencreutz knew what would emerge. Still holding the mother device – the symbol of the red rose – CRC only laughed.

These things absorbed mystical power like a shaman.

They mechanically decoded it.

And they released it into the world.

“Stone tools – the oldest form of deadly bludgeoning. Wooden sticks – the oldest form of deadly whipping. Uranium – the oldest form of radiation poisoning. The oldest form of drowning. The oldest form of deadly gunshot. The oldest form of deadly burning. The oldest form of vigilante killing. The oldest form of hanging. The oldest form of decapitation, of skewering, of deadly vibration, of crushing, of electrocution, of poisoning, of vehicular homicide, of karoshi, of mincemeat death, of explosive death, of death from being buried alive!!!”

They split open.

Kamijou clenched his teeth.

And he released a brutal purple breath from the dragon.

Mutual death was fine by him.

“Gahhhhhhh!?”

There were legends of that sort.

For example, Norse mythology told of a great serpent that had grown until it could surround the entire world. During the final battle of Ragnarok, that dragon even managed to defeat the #2 god at the cost of its own life.

“Jormungand from…Norse mythology? Did you use the weight that not even Thor could lift to forcibly crush your own wound and stanch the bleeding?”

Kamijou didn’t understand any of that.

And it didn’t matter if he did or not.

There was precedent. In exchange for losing a possibly deadly amount of blood, this dragon that emerged from his right hand had robbed all power from a girl after she became a lightning god.

“Kh.”

The right arm – the invisible dragon – gained further control over the boy.

The shadow at his feet flickered unsteadily. It looked ready to flicker out permanently at any moment.

But an iron will of “that’s fine with me” could be seen within the boy.

If he could protect Anna Sprengel and the people who had helped try and save her, he was willing to move beyond the boundaries of humanity here.

So when Kamijou Touma raised his head, the light in his eyes did not waver one iota.

“~ ~ ~!”

Tears formed in Rosencreutz’s eyes.

He had not succumbed to fear.

CRC took an objective view of his own crisis and was moved to tears like he was watching a movie.

“Ha ha.”

And that cheap and irresponsible emotion was what allowed that passion-driven wicked holy man to draw on his greatest power.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha!! Incredible, simply incredible☆ This old man has actually being driven into a corner? Death has drawn so close? Hee hee. This is where it all begins. Once this old man pulls off a miraculous comeback and escapes alive, I will truly drown in my tearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs!!!”

That was like a trigger.

No matter how twisted and rotten he was, his playful side could resist the temptation of achieving mutual destruction with his nemesis.

And once he shifted fully toward survival, only one option remained.

Namely…

“''Run away''!!!”

He didn’t hesitate.

He broke a still-intact window and jumped out through it.

As much power as Kamijou now possessed, he had lost a lot of blood from his severed arm. There was no need to actually fight him. By moving far away, CRC could wait until Kamijou ran out of time and collapsed.

Kamijou would die on his own as things were and, if he were to try to use first aid to recover, CRC only had to slice off the boy’s head or tear out his heart.

Rosencreutz never would have allowed this before. Not because he was too proud. His playfulness and desire to blow off steam simply wouldn’t have accepted it.

But his objective had already changed.

Pride was just one form of enjoyment. Now that he had changed his objective from “victory” to “survival” and he longed for the pleasure of achieving that, he knew fleeing was the best option.

“Hee ha ha!! We will meet again after the barrier of time has crushed you and stolen everything from you!!” he shouted.

The very next moment, something exploded.

Rosencreutz was forced back inside the hospital.

It wasn’t a mysterious barrier or a never-before-seen ultimate attack spell.

It was no more than a 45cm piece of plastic.

An isosceles triangle flew just outside the window. It was a Snakehead drone and it wasn’t alone. A large group of them flew together like a flock of starlings or bats. The writhing mass of machines looked like a black serpent flying through the sky.

These were by no means elite crafts. All they did was locate their target, ignite their solid fuel, tackle their target at high speed, and detonate their internal explosives.

But they had still stopped Rosencreutz’s escape.

These were only mass-produced weapons, but CRC was only human. If he didn’t respond in some way, his body would be obliterated and he would lose his life. This wasn’t a decisive blow, but it still forced him to respond, limiting his options.

A voice spoke from their small speakers.

“Don’t try to carry the fate of this city on your own, you monstrous freak.”

This wasn’t about catching up or standing on the same field.

A group of disposable pawns was enough.

“You’re still human and one of Academy City residents I’m responsible for as Board Chairman. Don’t you dare forget that!!”

More and more drones ignited.

Each blast was no more powerful than a shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket and they didn’t do any real damage to CRC. But this was never meant to defeat that man. He had to throw out his pride as the #1. If these seemingly useless attacks could keep Rosencreutz still long enough for Kamijou Touma to deliver his own attack, that was more than enough of a win.

===Part 5===

It all began there.

Without that one act, they probably never would have had another opportunity.

Shokuhou Misaki bit her lip, made a decision, and aimed her TV remote.

“Don’t underestimate the power of a girl in love.”

She didn’t have to catch up.

But she still decided to make herself a part of this battle.

“Category 909: Preserve Consciousness. I will support you as much as it takes☆ So I’ll never forgive you if you relinquish your mind ability over something as silly as blood loss!!”

Kamijou Touma had been wobbling unsteadily side to side, but now he stood straight and solid.

This may not have had much of an effect on the boy when he had his right hand, but things had changed.

The Bologna Succubus joined in too.

“Oops, you beat me to it. But I’ll just add my rad Cold Mistress on top of that. The pleasures of death and resignation will reach you as the most excruciating pain, so don’t let your guard down, kid!!”

“Again she’s stealing my bit.”

“I have no idea what you mean♪”

Something had clearly shifted.

It was all turning against Christian Rosencreutz.

Maybe none of them could defeat him. They couldn’t carry such a major role. But stopping his cowardly flight was another matter. As long as it would lead to the ending that boy had shortened his own lifespan to achieve.

''They still had options.

''And that realization ignited the hearts of everyone there.

''They gathered all their power here to make sure his spirit would not be broken!!

“Tch!!”

Rosencreutz clicked his tongue in that antlion pit of a situation.

If he stropped struggling and was swept toward the center, those uniquely deadly jaws awaited him.

“What’s this, CRC?”

Ashamed of herself for relying on this, Witch Goddess Aradia danced as if sliding along the floor. Her bare feet mixed the ointment needed to prepare her Triple Reload.

“You seem awfully angry for someone who planned to slaughter us Transcendents to stave off boredom. Is that because the world you find before you is anything but boring? Yes, this is a colorful world of powerful stimuli where anything is possible – life, death, victory, and defeat.”

“!?”

“In the end, you are the kind of holy man who can only talk big when he has an overwhelming advantage. Someone like that can never understand that boy’s depths,” whispered Good, Old Mary. That Transcendent’s resurrection spell would mean she had seen all the many ways people met their deaths. “In truth, he is not all that powerful. In fact, he lost his life several times on the way here. But each of those deaths was the end result of living his life to its fullest – not once did he pull his punches when it came to living. He was constantly struggling to win, but when he did lose, he would pick up the pieces and continue forward anyway. He could not be more different from you, who grew bored with his strength but still clung shamefully to your current status.”

A quiet metal clink sounded.

Misaka Mikoto had flicked an arcade coin into the air.

When it landed back on her thumbnail, she took aim.

And she roared.

“I’m shooting a Railgun. Everyone, clear the line of fire!!!”

The air was compressed.

This normally would have been no threat to CRC. But in this one moment, the silver young man definitely frowned. He was annoyed. Which meant this was effective.

Altogether, they couldn’t have bought more than a minute of time.

But that was enough. Without a word, Kamijou Touma approached once more.

Half-dragging the giant dragon maw with him.

And…

===Part 6===

In the ICU, little Anna Sprengel was lying in a bed and surrounded by cold, hard machinery. Her expression looked peaceful at first, but it would have burdened a medical expert with great anxiety. She was not being given any kind of anesthesia, so the lack of response to the pain was not a good sign.

The color red flowed through several clear tubes.

There were a lot more of those tubes than normal.

“How is the dialysis going?” asked the frog-faced doctor with uncharacteristic tension in his voice.

“The process itself is going smoothly.”

Anna’s hair was unnaturally damaged. Blood did not flow through the hairs themselves, but they still received oxygen and nutrients to stay healthy.

That meant something was wrong with the patient’s blood.

“The processing of the blood before it is returned to her body is working too. Her blood type is being temporarily altered.”

The technician and a nurse were busily working even now.

Providing someone with the wrong blood type would put them in critical condition. That was undeniable. But it was also true that some people’s blood type had changed after a transplant for the bone marrow that created the blood.

So if all of the blood was changed and not just a portion of it, there was a chance of survival.

“This so-called ‘curse’ carries out its fatal attack after identifying an individual by their blood.”

The frog-faced doctor was a science-side physician.

But even if he couldn’t explain it with his own knowledge, he was not the kind of person to tell a suffering and dying patient that their pain couldn’t be real because none of the medical texts described anything like it.

He would save everyone suffering from disease.

Even if the disease had not yet been written down in any medical texts.

“So if the blood type flowing through her veins changes, this ‘curse’ should lose sight of its target and cease to function. I just hope that ends this.”

The word “curse” gave it an archaic and exaggerated impression, but he only had to think of it like a form of pollen allergy that reacted to an individual’s face or name.

(I do hope this “curse” can’t last forever without a target.)

Bacteria harmed people in order to survive and toxins harmed people because they took the place of a necessary substance. So if they could not function correctly, they would eventually be broken down, ejected from the body, and naturally disappear. They were neither good nor evil. It was no more than a struggle for survival.

“At this rate,” muttered the frog-faced doctor.

That was when ''a dull tremor shook the building.

''And the overhead lights flickered.

While this wasn’t a complete blackout, it was highly unusual. The hospital always had multiple power sources to ensure the survival of its critical patients. So instead of a problem with the power generation facility itself, this had to be something wrong with the wiring in the wall or ceiling.

Something had changed.

Critically changed.

===Part 7===

Kamijou Touma slowly collapsed forward.

No one could stop it.

He had lost too much blood.

His time limit had always been 10 minutes at the longest.

Not even Shokuhou Misaki and the Bologna Succubus’s psychological support could get him around the limits of his physical body.

The only trump card capable of defeating Rosencreutz had broken.

He fell to the floor.

The dragon vanished into thin air.

“Ha ha.”

Laughter echoed out.

Of course, it came from none other than Christian Rosencreutz.

“Now your defeat is assured,” said the silver young man, looking down to the floor. Calmly. “There never was an answer. You never could have found a way of defeating this old man. But this result is still a doom born of your own choices. ''You sought strength as a human, but you still grasped at inhuman power once you were desperate.'' Everyone watching this must have thought the same thing: ‘Oh, Kamijou Touma has deviated from his usual ways.’ And that deviation is what brought this result. You made a mistake and you were never going to find real power in that mistake. None at all.”

Wicked violence had won out in the end.

And.

''Death swept out.

The Bologna Succubus was blasted away like an artillery shell and Witch Goddess Aradia was embedded in a wall. Misaka Mikoto’s microwave radar wasn’t enough to detect what caused her to spin through the air and slam into the floor. Shokuhou Misaki pressed a TV remote against her own temple, but something impacted the back of her head before she could boost her eye movement. This wasn’t like someone being knocked out in a movie or drama. Something unseen clearly broke and split inside her head.

Accelerator could only watch while remotely controlling the Snakehead drone swarm.

Their time was up and defeat led to this.

“Kee hee, ee hee. Hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Death.

Killing.

And red.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! …Whew.”

Christian Rosencreutz once more appeared from the background. No, he had finally come to a stop after moving so fast he had become no more than flowing lines.

His only remaining enemy was Good, Old Mary.

Had he intentionally left her until last, or was it only a coincidence? It could also be that she had partially defended against his attack.

“''Now, joker. Who will you resurrect with that single-use trump card''?”

“…”

“Do not expect this old man to sit idly by and watch. You will only be able to resurrect one of them at the cost of your own life. …And, Good, Old Mary, I seriously doubt you can defeat this old man on your own. Your only value is in your resurrection. So who will you entrust your dreams with? Who will you choose to turn this all around?”

Would it be Misaka Mikoto or Shokuhou Misaki?

Or would it be Aradia or the Bologna Succubus?

Each of them possessed tremendous power. Not one of them was an ordinary human. With the Ace, the Queen, and so many others with varied talents available, who would Good, Old Mary choose?

“Take your time and think about it.”

He laughed.

He scoffed.

Because the answer was obvious from the start.

“Hee ha ha!! But there is no real answer! No matter who you bring back to life, they cannot defeat this old man. If human death were absolute, you could have given up. But because you possess that resurrection trump card, you are now trapped in my prison, kitchen alchemist. Will you agonize over it for eternity, or will the pressure be too much to bear so you make a careless choice only for this old man to tear you both to shreds!? Watch as your own actions reveal just whose side you have taken and who you have made your enemy. Kee ha ha ha ha ha. Regret your own choices as you search in vain for an answer!!!”

In response, the final remaining Transcendent breathed a soft sigh.

And Good, Old Mary spoke.

“''No one''.”

“?”

“''I will not bother resurrecting anyone at this point. You are the one who has run out of time. A second before, you might have managed it. But you lost sight of what truly matters here, you continued to ignore the life you should have been focused on taking, and you carelessly crossed the final crossroads. It is too late to put things back the way they were. No matter how much you try.''”

He tilted his head.

CRC expressed pure confusion.

But the silver young man should have shuddered in fear at that simple truth. He was drawing a blank. He could not come up with anything that fit the situation presented to him. But if whatever it was could slip his mind, how much of a threat could it really be?

He still didn’t understand, so Good, Old Mary pointed elsewhere.

The answer was there.

Aleister Crowley.

The magician CRC had defeated and proceeded to ignore had stood back up.

He was badly injured.

It was incredible he was still alive.

If he had feigned death, he might have had a greater chance at survival.

But he had instead clenched his teeth and stood up. Who out there had inspired him to do that? Why could that human challenge CRC over and over with the golden retriever by his side?

''Who did that human really, truly aspire to emulate?

“I don’t care…how many times you fail.”

Words spilled from his cracked lips.

The person he had entrusted this fight to had already collapsed.

And as a result, 99% of the people who had trusted that boy enough to gather here were now dead.

That was a defeat.

Kamijou Touma had failed to meet their expectations.

But despite the red and black stains covering his body, that human’s spirit was not broken.

Because…

“I will not lose hope in you, no matter how many times you lose or fall. I swear it. Thinking back, it was rare that you found an easy victory from beginning to end. But you always made sure to collect someone’s life before it was lost. That was no illusion. So I will believe in you. …You expect me to accept that a little thing like defeat is enough for you to give up? No matter how many times you fall to your knees, I know for a fact you will stand back up again.”

“Young one?”

“So consume me if need be. Great Demon Coronzon! Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass!! You monsters were always too much for a constant failure like me to handle. But just this once, support me. Help me buy the time we need. Give me the power to uphold my promise!!”

“You think he will get back up? Based on nothing? That loser is soaking in his own bloody vomit and you would still place all your hopes in him? Good, Old Mary could perhaps resurrect at least one person here if she were willing to sacrifice herself to my attack, but you won’t even do that!?”

“That is not what it means to believe in someone,” stated Good, Old Mary. She directly cut down that unbeatable adversary’s words. “You do not believe in someone because it is logical or because the odds are favorable. Human beings believe in and pray to the people they truly want to believe in. You were once a target of that sort of belief. If you have forgotten this, then you really are ''unworthy''. Unfortunately, the savior that mama and the rest of the Transcendents prayed to was not at all what we hoped for.”

So Good, Old Mary had chosen to believe in that boy instead.

Truly believe.

''If she sacrificed herself to resurrect one person here, it ended there. Once she died, her resurrection could never be used again. But if she was patient, survived, and believed that this deadly battle would be overcome without choosing the easy option of self-sacrifice, she could use her resurrection on each and every one of them. Only then was the possibility of saving everyone available.

That was what it meant to believe in someone.

Such belief was never spoken of in terms of “at least”.

Not everything came down to superhuman actions. There were options that became available if you wished for them hard enough.

No one was discussing logic or odds. The thread of possibility was so very thin, but Good, Old Mary chose to believe in the future she most wanted to believe in. Because she knew the foolish compromise of forcing herself to believe in something she didn’t want to believe in would never lead to a gentle and happy world.

“And no matter how absurd it might seem, there are times when our selfish expectations and beliefs are answered. There are people who will crawl through the mud and do whatever it takes to make that happen, no matter how poor their chances. And sometimes they will ultimately reach what they were struggling for.”

“…”

“People value such things as ''miracles''. CRC, I am certain you were once capable of that. You might have done so even in the modern world. But while you let your passions and playfulness guide you, you passed the final crossroads and reached a point from which you can never return.”

In the very corner of his vision, Christian Rosencreutz saw something rise up.

Whatever it was, it was stained red and black. It was someone who should not have still been alive.

The answer was obvious.

This was what the living and the dead had all believed in.

Kamijou.

Kamijou Touma.

“Impossible…” blankly muttered Christian Rosencreutz, suddenly trembling. “You never had a chance to use your resurrection. This old man would never have missed it.”

“True. But mama did not use it on anyone. Not even him.”

“Then this can’t be happening! A normal human had his arm severed and was left to bleed out for 10 minutes. Do you have any idea how much blood he would have lost in that time!? The answer is in liters! And you expect me to believe he overcame that because of some nonsense about believing in him!?”

“Should you really be spouting nonsense at the moment, CRC? Need I remind you that you are the corpse the Bridge Builders Cabal once believed in?” solemnly stated Good, Old Mary. “He answered our call. Unlike you, he did not run from the power of belief. The rules have changed. You completely missed the crossroads you couldn’t afford to cross and you walked right on through. The legend so many people believed in and prayed to is long gone. You are no more than bait now. Bait used to show off a new legend that has accepted the power of belief and is working to create a better future. You allowed yourself to be reduced to this, CRC.”

Kamijou made a horizontal swing of his nonexistent right arm.

The invisible dragon burst out.

It emerged once more.

That was the answer.

Kamijou Touma and Aleister Crowley stood side by side, both bloody and battered. They didn’t need to exchange any words. This team up should have been impossible, but it was possible within the legend of this moment.

There was no cue.

Aleister simply gave a thoughtful look.

A moment later, they both raced forward.

Straight toward their greatest enemy – Christian Rosencreutz.

“Ohhh!!” “Ohhh!!”

In response, CRC gulped and calmly worked out the answer in his head.

“The scientific angel Kazakiri Hyouka and the artificial demon Qliphah Puzzle 545.”

And the person behind those two.

New Board Chairman Accelerator.

“That particle accelerator cannon that gathered all the city’s power was not aimed at this old man.”

Using the Hula Hoop particle accelerator to launch a deadly attack within the city was all well and good, but what happened at the other end? They couldn’t have it pierce through the outer wall on the opposite side of the city and then burn down Shinjuku and Yokohama beyond. This group was too soft to accept that level of sacrifice. So what had they done?

His miniature model was useful for running searches, but there was one thing he had to watch out for.

It only provided the information he actively worked to search for.

Which meant he could miss something.

Especially when it came from a blind spot he hadn’t considered.

“You were holding two nonhumans in reserve, but you knew they could not defeat this old man if you simply sent them after me. So you found a way to inject them with a massive amount of energy without me noticing. ''Angels and demons are effectively collections of energy, so this boosted their raw strength and energized them''?”

They had sided with Kamijou Touma.

Realizing they couldn’t defeat CRC even in their boosted forms, had the scientific angel and magical demon instead opted to assist Kamijou?

As the leader at the top, the question for Accelerator wasn’t who achieved the victory. As long as he could eliminate the threat of Rosencreutz and bring peace back to the city, nothing else mattered.

It wasn’t an issue of logic or odds.

People believed in the person they wanted to believe in.

So while he wasn’t physically present, the #1 had not hesitated to focus on that particular trump card.

“Did you use the absence of his right hand to sneak them into his body? So that their invisible hands could squeeze his stopped heart and start it beating once more!?”

Thus, it wasn’t just two people approaching Rosencreutz.

Far more people had believed in that boy. They had entrusted him with their lives, their futures, and the fates of Academy City and the world.

“''Rosencreutz. It doesn’t matter how hopeless a reality you are.''”

“''Yes, and it doesn’t matter how much of this world you destroy.''”

Kamijou Touma would not run away.

He carried all those things on his back as he poured all his strength into the invisible dragon.

“''If you insist we can’t save anyone here''…”

“''Yes, and if you insist the good and the wicked cannot be equally saved''…”

The hits landed simultaneously.

“''Then we will destroy that illusion!!!''”

[[Image:GT Index v09 BW7.jpg|thumb]]

The God Purifying Demon Destroyer and the Conqueror of the Battle of Blythe Road.

Two inhuman fists flew and mercilessly launched Christian Rosencreutz beyond District 7’s borders.

===Part 8===

When the little wicked woman opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was. She saw a white ceiling, detected a chemical scent in the air, and noticed a great quantity of medical equipment surrounding her. The hard plastic mask over her lower face irritated her. But she was hesitant to move. She didn’t think she even could move right away and, given the tugging sensation from beneath her skin, she could guess she had several needles piercing her blood vessels and had tubes and electric cords attached all across her body.

Nevertheless, she was alive.

Anna Sprengel was alive.

“Where…am I?”

Peering down at her was a doctor with a froggy face.

He gave her a gentle smile.

This doctor had lived up to the belief a certain boy had placed in him.

Heaven Canceler spoke in the same way he always did.

“You’re going to be fine. It’s all over now.”

Some who saw this might have praised it as a miracle.

The commonplace miracle of life.

===Between the Lines 4===

“''Ugh, is this for real, mistress''?”

“''Yes. As much as I would prefer not to believe it, it appears so.''”

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter4

2024-03-22T08:39:06Z

MarioLuigi0404: /* Part 1 */ inline immage

==Chapter 4: At the Center – Duel_and_Struggle,CRC.==

===Part 1===

The hospital’s 1st floor hallway was a straight path to the ICU where Anna Sprengel slept.

“Heh heh.”

The red-clad silver young man’s shoulders shook with laughter.

He mocked the foolishness of Kamijou Touma whose shoulder was gushing blood where his arm should be.

“I wondered what trump card you would rely on in the end, but all you did was break the glass container? That one normally sleeps within his coffin, but he naturally awakens when he locates the disease plaguing this world and returns to his coffin once he is no longer needed. Producing the world-healing elixir is all well and good, but how long can you last like this? Given the rate of blood loss, I would guess 10 minutes at the mo-”

Kamijou Touma wasn’t listening.

A single step covered all the necessary distance. He softly sent the translucent dragon emerging from his right shoulder toward CRC.

It didn’t feel like punching with a fist or biting and tearing with great jaws.

It was probably a miniscule attack like a forehead flick.

A mass of compressed sound erupted a moment later.

That was all it took to launch Rosencreutz several dozen meters down the hospital hallway.

“Oh, ohh!”

This result shouldn’t have been possible.

Misaka Mikoto, the other #5 girl, Academy City’s next-gen weaponry, the Transcendents of the Bridge Builders Cabal, the grimoire library, the Magic God, and even legendary magicians like Aleister and Kingsford had failed to achieve this.

This was the very first clean hit against him.

And it happened almost too easily.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!?”

He bounced repeatedly, producing the sounds of physical destruction, the screams of muscle and bone, and the wet hacking of bloody coughs.

But none of that explained CRC’s trembling.

He was looking down at his own left hand.

Still seated on the floor, the silver young man viewed his own hand pressed against the floor and he trembled.

“You made this old man…''touch the floor''?”

This was a first.

It hadn’t been allowed to happen even once before now.

He had always stood tall on the battlefield. His march across Academy City had continued unabated even during the satellite’s heavy metal bombing and the Hula Hoop’s largescale particle accelerator cannon. With that in mind, just how much power had this small result required?

''This far surpassed human limits.

''The boy had chosen to cross that line.

Because he had sworn he would save the greatest wicked woman who could only wait for death.

“…”

Kamijou Touma provided no response.

He did not speak up in triumph and he kept his head lowered, hiding his expression.

A change came over the boy’s own shadow at his feet.

[[Image:GT Index v09 BW6.jpg|thumb]]

''It flickered.

''Unnaturally, like a dying fluorescent light.

What had this power cost him?

It was like the boy, who supposedly had a physical body, was shifting into the realm of shapeless and weightless illusion.

“………………………………………………………………………”

He took another step.

That was enough for the world to distort and strain. The space around him definitely sank. If he had stepped with greater purpose, it might have triggered an inwards gravitational collapse in that space, creating an irreparable hole.

The wordless action conveyed a single purpose.

Kamijou Touma was stepping forward to approach CRC once more.

This wasn’t over.

He wouldn’t let it end with just the one attack.

He would tear CRC apart, chew him up, and fully eliminate him from the world. He would save the people he considered important, even if it meant staining his hand with blood.

He had made the decision.

“I see.”

Rosencreutz did not speak at length here.

When taken to their absolute limit, formulas became beautifully simple.

Just like E=mc<sup>2</sup>, CRC’s conclusion was a concise one.

Cracking sounds came from all across his body as he stood back up. He lifted his hips from the floor, placed a hand on the wall, and allowed himself all the unsightly actions it required.

“I admit it. You have convinced this old man: this world is a fascinating place☆ Eh heh heh heh! I truly did not think it had anything left to satisfy my playfulness and eliminate my frustrations. Ah hee hee hee!?”

His eyes were directed straight at the dragon boy.

Drowning in his own passions, the holy man finally viewed that single boy as an enemy.

Kamijou Touma and Christian Rosencreutz.

A clash between superhumans had begun.

===Part 2===

The air was strongly compressed.

There was no need to hold anything back.

Kamijou approached from straight ahead, so Christian Rosencreutz held out his palm.

That was an invisible attack capable of destroying anything.

That brutal spell was clearly magic, but not even Kamijou’s Imagine Breaker could have stopped it and it would have torn the arm off instead.

The compression of the air passed a certain point and it rumbled out like an explosion.

But Kamijou did not speak a word.

He instructed what lay beyond his nonexistent right arm and the invisible dragon moved slightly. That was enough to overturn all the assumptions.

The dragon’s maw – and its razor-sharp teeth – bit a black object, stopping it in its tracks.

The object was a bit larger than a golf ball.

“''A…projectile''?” muttered Aradia, her eyes widened in shock as she watched from the sidelines.

This was the identity of the extremely powerful magic that supposedly made defense impossible.

There was no mystery or miracle there. In fact, if a projectile was given a lethal amount of destructive force, it would naturally be moving too quickly to see with the naked eye. That unchangeable rule remained the same even when magic had influenced the logic. It was only a common parlor trick.

Kamijou did not bother with mockery. For that matter, he showed no human reaction at all. He only swung his arm dragon horizontally, tossing the annoyance of an object aside.

Why waste time on ordinary emotion when he could dedicate that time to devouring his prey?

That was the only thought behind his actions.

“Hee hee. So you can finally fight back and let me have some fun.”

Rosencreutz continued firing.

Annoyed and irritated by the identical attacks, Kamijou’s dragon released a deafening roar.

It was possible the boy couldn’t control it himself. The sloppily swung jaws deflected CRC’s projectiles to the side, sending them ricocheting toward hospital rooms with no connection to the fight.

The silver young man grinned.

As if to say he had guided things in that direction.

But the fearsome attacks vanished into thin air before contacting the wall.

“Oh?” breathed CRC in fascination.

He had sensed something worthy of his interest.

“You eliminated my attacks without permission? No, this is a simple matter of willpower. Any attack launched without a powerful intent to kill will be swallowed up and destroyed. And any attack that misses its mark swiftly loses all meaning.”

“…”

“After experiencing an improbably uniform amount of misfortune, you loathe lucky shots from your enemy. And this old man loathes all coincidental actions that go against my passions and playfulness. I see. Our clashing wills have distorted space on the macro level. But,” said Rosencreutz with a mocking grin. He held his palm out to the side, casually aiming at the wall there. “Kee hee hee, ee hee, hwa ha ha ha ha ha!! That leaves me plenty of room to play. ''As long as this old man directs his intent to kill toward those strangers, I can still hit them''!”

Space was immediately sliced through over a distance of more than 100m.

But not because CRC had sliced through the innocent hospital patient beyond that wall.

A moment before he could, Kamijou Touma jabbed his dragon jaws forward and had it exhale a violent beam of light. Then he swung the jaws straight up to slice CRC’s right arm off at the shoulder.

Rosencreutz showed no interest in his own right arm spinning through the air.

“''Mend''.”

As soon as he spoke that one word, the nearby rubble gathered around and formed something like the smooth arm of a mannequin to stop his bleeding. This was not a resurrection that returned him to normal. He was only mending by creating something new. After traveling the world, gathering all sorts of knowledge, and going around teaching people the secret art to create a human from scratch inside a still, this was a simple task for him. He didn’t even bother checking the movement of the arm that was lither and more beautiful than a real human arm. Instead, he raised his gaze straight up.

The ceiling had split.

But not because it had been sliced through.

Like custard or gelatin, the hospital’s walls and ceiling had separated themselves to the left and right to avoid Kamijou’s attack. Including the beds, the medical equipment, and the wiring in the walls. It all forgot its original texture, spread apart at the center like a slime, and then reconnected like nothing had happened.

It was like the building itself had a mind and a life of its own.

Christian Rosencreutz drew on his vast wisdom to instantly explain it.

This was not creation or destruction.

It was…

“''Did you command it''? The intimidation of the crowned dragon king can command all living things, but also all inanimate objects?”

Those words carried deeper meaning than it initially seemed. And not just the silly risk of CRC himself obeying the command if he got careless.

Stray shots, hostages, other’s lives?

With this ultimate power, Kamijou wouldn’t have to worry about any of that.

Which meant…

''There truly was no one in the world who could stop Kamijou Touma after this monstrous transformation!!

He attacked again. But this time, it wasn’t just a beam flying from the dragon’s jaws.

The dragon itself detached from his right shoulder and flew out.

“Hwa ha ha hah!!”

CRC laughed loud, swung his body upwards, and dodged by breaking through the ceiling.

He had reacted to the real threat rather than let it hit him and see what happened. And at this point, he had finally quit relying on magic. He had needed to move faster than he could put together a spell.

The battlefield spread beyond the one long hallway.

They moved to a rehabilitation room, a break room, an operating room, and finally a nurse station on one of the higher floors.

It all looked the same, so Kamijou couldn’t tell what floor he was on. But the boy taking a step beyond humanity did see a familiar face down the hallway.

It was Aogami Pierce.

He was a powerless high school boy. But he was standing protectively in front of a small girl in pajamas who was holding a picture book. His legs were shaking, but he hadn’t frozen in place. He had purposefully chosen to stand there.

Whether he was more interested in the young girl or her mother was unclear, though.

Right and wrong didn’t matter here. He wasn’t bound by that.

Seeing that his awful friend had meant what he said, the boy who had partially fallen into illusion briefly smiled like he always did in the classroom, but then he renewed his resolve. Kamijou Touma forced his gaze away and viewed his powerful foe instead.

CRC – Christian Rosencreutz.

He could not let that monster go free and focus on that boy and girl.

No matter what.

“Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

“Oh? Kee hee hee, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

They clashed head on.

Kamijou swung the silver young man to the side.

He kicked him away and then tossed him up into the floor above.

He didn’t stop there, of course. He had already begun his next action.

The air froze.

The giant maw gnashed its teeth intermittently, creating a disturbing sound not even a guillotine or bear trap could have mimicked.

“Kh.”

While clinging magnetically to the hospital’s outside wall and trying to pursue the fight up to the upper floors, Mikoto found her feet pinned to the outside of a window. Pinned by fear. Her instincts were running wild and weighing heavily on her reason.

“What…is this? A psychological form of paralysis?” gasped the blonde girl with her arms around the #3’s hips.

If they would ensure that even the next attack would hit no matter how long the leadup, then the intimidation of those gnashing fangs could be called a surefire attack.

But it didn’t work on the silver young man.

An unpleasant sweat wet his brow, but he was still smiling

He acted out of playfulness and a desire to blow off some steam, so this could not bind him. After all, not even the #5 power had worked on him when it was used by ''its mysterious owner''. CRC was a monster with the mentality needed to continue smiling in this situation.

And Kamijou didn’t care.

Something flew from the dragon maw like a whip. It was a long, chameleon-like tongue. CRC stepped back before it could ensnare him, but then he realized something.

“Hm?”

''He was gone.

''Kamijou Touma had disappeared in the brief moment CRC’s eyes were off the boy.

But he could sense him.

A great pressure was approaching from the front!!

“You are a poikilotherm – that is, you have the ability to blend into the surrounding environment. But did you really think that would work against this old man?”

CRC swung a single arm, not hesitating to strike a point of empty space.

A cross with several sharp rose vines tangled around appeared there. It was more than a meter tall and it was entirely made of heavy gold.

It didn’t matter. A disturbing sound of bending metal rang out.

Kamijou and the dragon maw appeared out of thin air. The fangs and the cross struck each other.

The result was a series of snapping sounds.

“Kh.”

Seeing the cross bending, CRC kicked a nearby stretcher into the shutting jaws. It could be hard to tell since they were made so light for greater portability, but the stretcher was made of sturdy stainless steel to ensure it didn’t drop a critical patient. It wasn’t going to break in a crocodile’s jaws or in a brown bear’s grasp.

But the jaws were not slowed.

They closed at the exact same speed, the row of fangs approaching Rosencreutz’s hand holding the cross.

That cross was not magic.

Nor was it an illusion, but the arm jaws still chewed it up and erased the intruding wreckage from the world.

Those jaws would destroy even unshakable reality.

This was a new power Kamijou Touma had acquired at the cost of his own destruction.

It was an attack that allowed no response.

And most likely, it was a tragic power gained when someone gave up on someone else.

“I see.”

Rosencreutz smiled while dripping with a sweat of both tension and a desire to fight.

That smile contained an unusual heat as he shouted.

“Tell me. Why go to such lengths to protect Anna Sprengel? Hee hee, how much longer do you have left? What did you discover by accepting your own assured destruction?”

Only now did human language leave Kamijou Touma’s lips.

In a situation which screamed that doing so was the abnormality here.

“I will…protect Anna.”

But these were definitely his words.

Because…

“I…wrong to…search out…reason…excuse to fight…”

That was the final humanity left inside the boy who had become a monster.

It was like a tiny stone rattling around inside him, but it was something he couldn’t afford to lose.

So he refused to lose it.

That ordinary boy would never again hang his head and overlook a magical atrocity.

“Interesting – kee hee – but not good enough!”

Rosencreutz held his empty palm out toward the boy’s face.

While their weapons were locked.

That attack had already been identified as a projectile. But in this moment, the invisible dragon could not move to stop the point-blank projectile attack.

With the unpleasant sound of the air being compressed, Kamijou Touma’s entire head was obliterated.

He didn’t even have time to blink.

Kamijou took another step forward like nothing had happened. His head had already regenerated. A dragon tail appeared out of thin air and twirled away as a substitute. That was likely a lizard’s tail that would take on any damage he took. But Kamijou knew without being told that it was a move he could only use once.

Now that he knew he had that option, he wished he had held onto it for longer.

His gaze shifted to the side. The action showed some lingering regret. It all felt like it was happening to someone else. Single use and not knowing the effect until you used it was a devastatingly bad combination.

And with his eyes still in that direction, he casually sent the Dragon Strike straight toward CRC.

“Tch.”

Rosencreutz immediately fell back.

He escaped beyond the reach of the snapping jaws, but Kamijou did not bat an eye.

The entire surface of the invisible dragon jaws ''erupted''. All its razor-sharp scales shot out. They rushed out to pummel Rosencreutz’s entire body like a point-blank shotgun blast.

“Ohhhhh!” shouted CRC just before a white steam explosively filled the space.

In the Rosicrucian cabal, clouds were an important symbol of covering up wisdom and truth to prevent the unworthy from viewing it. Inside that cloud, no attack could hit him even if made from 0cm away. The entire space could be filled with a dense scattershot, but it would be as useless as trying to attack a cat that may or may not be there because no one could observe it.

Kamijou swept the dragon horizontally to tear the thick cloud apart in an instant and then the color red sprayed out.

The cloud didn’t matter at all.

The dragon released its breath.

It looked like a sharp purple-shining blade, but was that actually the poison stored in an evil dragon’s body being released at extreme pressure?

The box was shredded, the cat was forced out to establish its existence, and then it was killed.

“Kee hee.”

CRC laughed and took immediate evasive action, but also ignored the deadly toxin traveling through his bloodstream.

That silver young man had many legends told of him, but he was an alchemist at heart. He used alchemy as a starting point for all of his miracles, from the artificial life within the crystal to the red elixir.

So…

“You would use a nonexistent toxin against this old man? All poisons and harmful substances can be converted into medicines and beneficial substances if handled properly. Just like radiation can induce the cancerization of cells, but it is also used to treat cancer. It would be rude to not present you with my own wisdom in return!!”

Rosencreutz produced a deck of cards in his hand.

He fanned them out and went on to rotate them in a full circle in violation of gravity.

“The secret spell of Rota can be flipped around to make Taro, thus it can be converted into the cards that indicate the 10 spheres and the 22 pathways. Awaken, 78 cards. You are the one and only proper entrance to the light pouring down from beyond the tree – that is, the Ain Soph Aur, Ain Soph, Ain!!”

A violent white light exploded from the emptiness at the center of the card circle.

A beam of light sharper than a razor scorched the air as it rushed toward Kamijou’s right arm. The all-destroying dragon maw was split in two. While he was dragged around by the chaotically thrashing dragon, even more blood gushed from the boy’s shoulder.

The toxic red splattered across the floor and walls.

Christian Rosencreutz scoffed at the colorful artwork.

“Hee hee hee hee hee! How much longer now? Feeling lightheaded? Can’t stop the cold sweat? Worried by your pulse pounding in your chest? Nothing you do can reach this old man!! Even if you wring out every last drop from the depths of your heart!!”

A moment later, beams of light rushed out from seemingly every direction.

“Wha-!?”

CRC realized the boy’s bloodstains had drawn out strange patterns.

The instant he gasped in realization of what those patterns meant, the ''magic circles'' glowed with a disturbing light.

The floor and walls bubbled redly. It wasn’t just the white beams. Crimson serpents that should have been controlled by a lamp emerged, as did the yellow Citrinitas sand that had engulfed Los Angeles.

They surrounded CRC and came at him all at once.

His right arm was already fake, so he sacrificed that while backing away from the deadly chaos, his eyes widening at witnessing what shouldn’t have been possible.

“A scientific esper like you has entered the realm of magic?”

That was no longer CRC’s exclusive territory. Kamijou had intruded on the legend of the rose and the cross.

But how could this be?

Christian Rosencreutz was no ordinary magician. His very existence had become a legend. He refused to accept that even a Rosicrucian expert could understand and immediately make use of the spells he used.

But the fact remained that the red blood splattered on the walls and floor crawled, glowed, and bubbled.

It all drew out secret texts and magic circles known only to CRC. Even though these were the most secret of spells that he had never even shared with the others at the House of the Holy Spirit where they had all shared so much knowledge like they were sharing a meal. Not even the grimoire library would have been able to find these spells if she searched for them.

Had Kamijou Touma already evolved into a monster who could access the world itself and automatically use the magic he found there?

Something occurred to Rosencreutz once he considered that possibility.

…Known ''only'' to CRC?

“I get it now. ''This is a Rorschach test.''”

He should have caught on quicker.

An esper like Kamijou was using magic but showing no side effects.

“The magic knowledge did not come from within this broken esper. He showed this old man indistinct bloodstains, which I interpreted as the secret texts and magic circles I knew, unwittingly drawing out their magic!”

But however it had been done, the magic known only to Rosencreutz had still bared its fangs against him. Knowing the logic behind it did not stop his mind from imagining those shapes when he saw the bloodstains.

Of course, there was risk to Kamijou as well. He had no way of guiding what Rosencreutz imagined when he saw the bloodstains. This was a double-edged sword that could just as easily capture Kamijou himself in a powerful magical blast.

“Trithemius!!” shouted CRC, intricately moving his fingers.

Immediately, the magic light approaching him froze in place and stopped moving. He had made use of the encryption method that Westcott had coincidentally discovered. Rosencreutz had applied a random encryption to the bloodstains which had become secret texts and magic circles, eternally locking them so they could never be used. Much like ransomware encrypting a hard drive.

Rosencreutz felt a sizzling sensation at his temple.

This wasn’t like before. This emotion was anger.

The silver young man’s internal state had shifted up a gear.

“You dare force this old man to use magic out of something other than passion or playfulness? You continue to prove yourself to be my greatest nemesis!!!”

So what?

Kamijou ignored that and took action.

Something grew from the base of the great jaws that had replaced his right arm. It resembled a giant cape, but it was actually a sinister bat wing. The single wing gathered the air and then flapped.

The air became a solid mass and then became an extraordinary projectile that flew through the hospital.

At the same time, all the windows frosted over, the air electrified, and thick bolts of lightning rushed toward Rosencreutz from every direction. Was this what would happen to someone if they were thrown inside a large, swollen cumulonimbus cloud?

“You have not just created wind. The air pressure obeys your will, allowing you to control the weather!?”

This was well within divine territory, making it a legit miracle.

It could be blessed rain, or it could be electric divine punishment.

And CRC could also control clouds. He brought two fingers to his mouth and blew between them. One cloud struck the other, the weather conditions were forcibly altered, and the lightning changed course.

Kamijou Touma was already there.

He had rapidly covered the space between them, arriving right in front of Rosencreutz.

“Kh.”

The silver young man split the floor below him and broke through every floor below that, ending up in the hospital’s basement.

He wasn’t afraid of a ''normal'' punch.

He only realized after the fact that this had been a downwards strike from directly above.

But the hospital itself hadn’t been damaged. All of the floors in the way had parted like gelatin all on their own. After dragon-tamer Kamijou jumped down after him, the holes silently closed back up on their own too.

CRC held his palm out toward a thick metal door.

“The red elixir can conquer all deadly disease and even manipulate the lifespan!”

With a series of solid clanking sounds, the door, a cart, a scanning device larger than a fridge, and various other things gathered together and took the shape of a giant doll. It didn’t matter that they were all inorganic items. A liquid nitrogen tank must have burst because a thick white frost covered it all.

But Kamijou took action before it could actually do anything. In fact, Kamijou had punched Rosencreutz down here because he wanted something down here: the medical waste incinerator.

That special electric furnace could reach temperatures as high as 3500 degrees Celsius.

“…”

The wall right next to Kamijou audibly broke.

The following crunching sounds did not come from the invisible dragon maw.

''Kamijou Touma was chewing it in his own mouth.

And the boy raised his right arm. The front-facing dragon jaws opened as wide as possible. This was something new. Something massive and brutal filled the depths of that mouth with a dangerous light.

He didn’t hesitate to unleash it.

Magnetron Dragon Breath.

All the dust and moisture in the air burned as a fearsome white torrent tore away at Christian Rosencreutz.

Another taboo was revealed and that monster was backed even further into a corner.

===Part 3===

Light was compressed, sound was released in all directions, and yet no third party was affected.

Not one.

The girls had their hands full simply keeping up with the constantly moving battlefield. Misaka Mikoto moved freely along the hospital’s outer wall with her magnetism and Shokuhou Misaki held onto Mikoto’s hips, but both of them could only watch the intense fighting play out. That had to be the same for Aradia and the Bologna Succubus who were probably outside flying in the sky. No one could intervene in this direct clash between superhumans. Attempting to would cause it all to fall apart. Just like any stimulus to calmly simmering water could cause an explosive boil. No, that wasn’t it. That was only an excuse for their own inaction. Their real reasons were nothing so noble.

(It was me.)

Mikoto clenched her teeth at the thought.

She was staring pale-faced at where the boy’s right arm should have been.

(I pulled the final trigger!)

''She was simply afraid to do anything more.

She felt a deep aversion, like she were facing an unknown curse. But this wasn’t a gloomy curse born of an individual’s grudge or hatred. She was overpowered by the same sense of wrongness people had toward viewing or touching something holy and inviolable.

“What am I supposed to do about this?” she muttered distractedly.

This may have been the same feeling Level 0 Kamijou Touma had felt when it was Anti-Skill, Judgment, the Level 5s, and the Transcendents doing the fighting.

Their roles had reversed.

Now that boy alone had complete control of the battlefield.

Only he could face this enemy.

Titles had lost all meaning.

And the situation was still underway. This was no time to be stuck at a standstill. Kamijou was not a fount of unlimited possibility. Nor did he have a hidden power or special ability.

His shadow was flickering unsteadily. This power was bought at the cost of his own destruction.

Which meant there had to be a time limit.

===Part 4===

Kamijou and Rosencreutz clashed head on and the boy broke through a wall, flying across the hallway leading to the elevator. He was knocked up the elevator shaft and rolled along the floor before coming to a stop.

He found himself in a large cafeteria.

He felt an unpleasant sensation below him.

He could barely see it without straining his eyes, but the culprit was yellow sand.

The color of defeat had permeated the area.

Even though a hospital needed to be as clean and sterile as possible.

“…”

Kamijou Touma silently stood up and then wobbled to the side.

As if he were struggling to support the weight of the massive jaws.

Blood was still gushing from the shoulder where his arm had been torn away. He was not going to last long like this. In just a few more minutes, he would collapse from blood loss and he would not be getting back up again.

He stared at CRC. At that man driven by playfulness and curiosity who was now smirking with sweat soaking his face.

“Oh.”

So.

Kamijou didn’t care what happened to himself. His own destruction had been part of the plan from the beginning.

He had to find some way of ending this before he ran out of time.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Guessing a major attack was coming, CRC grabbed something out of thin air.

Whatever it was, it glowed red.

“The ruby’s shine points to the pure red of the rose. That female symbol is a pair to the cross and can produce anything and everything. So mass-produce monsters of death and destruction here and now!!”

A tremor ran through the building.

And not just one. More and more 2m silver orbs known as Pneuma-less Shells appeared, until they had filled the space.

The giant silver bubbles all opened at once. Not even Rosencreutz knew what would emerge. Still holding the mother device – the symbol of the red rose – CRC only laughed.

These things absorbed mystical power like a shaman.

They mechanically decoded it.

And they released it into the world.

“Stone tools – the oldest form of deadly bludgeoning. Wooden sticks – the oldest form of deadly whipping. Uranium – the oldest form of radiation poisoning. The oldest form of drowning. The oldest form of deadly gunshot. The oldest form of deadly burning. The oldest form of vigilante killing. The oldest form of hanging. The oldest form of decapitation, of skewering, of deadly vibration, of crushing, of electrocution, of poisoning, of vehicular homicide, of karoshi, of mincemeat death, of explosive death, of death from being buried alive!!!”

They split open.

Kamijou clenched his teeth.

And he released a brutal purple breath from the dragon.

Mutual death was fine by him.

“Gahhhhhhh!?”

There were legends of that sort.

For example, Norse mythology told of a great serpent that had grown until it could surround the entire world. During the final battle of Ragnarok, that dragon even managed to defeat the #2 god at the cost of its own life.

“Jormungand from…Norse mythology? Did you use the weight that not even Thor could lift to forcibly crush your own wound and stanch the bleeding?”

Kamijou didn’t understand any of that.

And it didn’t matter if he did or not.

There was precedent. In exchange for losing a possibly deadly amount of blood, this dragon that emerged from his right hand had robbed all power from a girl after she became a lightning god.

“Kh.”

The right arm – the invisible dragon – gained further control over the boy.

The shadow at his feet flickered unsteadily. It looked ready to flicker out permanently at any moment.

But an iron will of “that’s fine with me” could be seen within the boy.

If he could protect Anna Sprengel and the people who had helped try and save her, he was willing to move beyond the boundaries of humanity here.

So when Kamijou Touma raised his head, the light in his eyes did not waver one iota.

“~ ~ ~!”

Tears formed in Rosencreutz’s eyes.

He had not succumbed to fear.

CRC took an objective view of his own crisis and was moved to tears like he was watching a movie.

“Ha ha.”

And that cheap and irresponsible emotion was what allowed that passion-driven wicked holy man to draw on his greatest power.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha!! Incredible, simply incredible☆ This old man has actually being driven into a corner? Death has drawn so close? Hee hee. This is where it all begins. Once this old man pulls off a miraculous comeback and escapes alive, I will truly drown in my tearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs!!!”

That was like a trigger.

No matter how twisted and rotten he was, his playful side could resist the temptation of achieving mutual destruction with his nemesis.

And once he shifted fully toward survival, only one option remained.

Namely…

“''Run away''!!!”

He didn’t hesitate.

He broke a still-intact window and jumped out through it.

As much power as Kamijou now possessed, he had lost a lot of blood from his severed arm. There was no need to actually fight him. By moving far away, CRC could wait until Kamijou ran out of time and collapsed.

Kamijou would die on his own as things were and, if he were to try to use first aid to recover, CRC only had to slice off the boy’s head or tear out his heart.

Rosencreutz never would have allowed this before. Not because he was too proud. His playfulness and desire to blow off steam simply wouldn’t have accepted it.

But his objective had already changed.

Pride was just one form of enjoyment. Now that he had changed his objective from “victory” to “survival” and he longed for the pleasure of achieving that, he knew fleeing was the best option.

“Hee ha ha!! We will meet again after the barrier of time has crushed you and stolen everything from you!!” he shouted.

The very next moment, something exploded.

Rosencreutz was forced back inside the hospital.

It wasn’t a mysterious barrier or a never-before-seen ultimate attack spell.

It was no more than a 45cm piece of plastic.

An isosceles triangle flew just outside the window. It was a Snakehead drone and it wasn’t alone. A large group of them flew together like a flock of starlings or bats. The writhing mass of machines looked like a black serpent flying through the sky.

These were by no means elite crafts. All they did was locate their target, ignite their solid fuel, tackle their target at high speed, and detonate their internal explosives.

But they had still stopped Rosencreutz’s escape.

These were only mass-produced weapons, but CRC was only human. If he didn’t respond in some way, his body would be obliterated and he would lose his life. This wasn’t a decisive blow, but it still forced him to respond, limiting his options.

A voice spoke from their small speakers.

“Don’t try to carry the fate of this city on your own, you monstrous freak.”

This wasn’t about catching up or standing on the same field.

A group of disposable pawns was enough.

“You’re still human and one of Academy City residents I’m responsible for as Board Chairman. Don’t you dare forget that!!”

More and more drones ignited.

Each blast was no more powerful than a shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket and they didn’t do any real damage to CRC. But this was never meant to defeat that man. He had to throw out his pride as the #1. If these seemingly useless attacks could keep Rosencreutz still long enough for Kamijou Touma to deliver his own attack, that was more than enough of a win.

===Part 5===

It all began there.

Without that one act, they probably never would have had another opportunity.

Shokuhou Misaki bit her lip, made a decision, and aimed her TV remote.

“Don’t underestimate the power of a girl in love.”

She didn’t have to catch up.

But she still decided to make herself a part of this battle.

“Category 909: Preserve Consciousness. I will support you as much as it takes☆ So I’ll never forgive you if you relinquish your mind ability over something as silly as blood loss!!”

Kamijou Touma had been wobbling unsteadily side to side, but now he stood straight and solid.

This may not have had much of an effect on the boy when he had his right hand, but things had changed.

The Bologna Succubus joined in too.

“Oops, you beat me to it. But I’ll just add my rad Cold Mistress on top of that. The pleasures of death and resignation will reach you as the most excruciating pain, so don’t let your guard down, kid!!”

“Again she’s stealing my bit.”

“I have no idea what you mean♪”

Something had clearly shifted.

It was all turning against Christian Rosencreutz.

Maybe none of them could defeat him. They couldn’t carry such a major role. But stopping his cowardly flight was another matter. As long as it would lead to the ending that boy had shortened his own lifespan to achieve.

''They still had options.

''And that realization ignited the hearts of everyone there.

''They gathered all their power here to make sure his spirit would not be broken!!

“Tch!!”

Rosencreutz clicked his tongue in that antlion pit of a situation.

If he stropped struggling and was swept toward the center, those uniquely deadly jaws awaited him.

“What’s this, CRC?”

Ashamed of herself for relying on this, Witch Goddess Aradia danced as if sliding along the floor. Her bare feet mixed the ointment needed to prepare her Triple Reload.

“You seem awfully angry for someone who planned to slaughter us Transcendents to stave off boredom. Is that because the world you find before you is anything but boring? Yes, this is a colorful world of powerful stimuli where anything is possible – life, death, victory, and defeat.”

“!?”

“In the end, you are the kind of holy man who can only talk big when he has an overwhelming advantage. Someone like that can never understand that boy’s depths,” whispered Good, Old Mary. That Transcendent’s resurrection spell would mean she had seen all the many ways people met their deaths. “In truth, he is not all that powerful. In fact, he lost his life several times on the way here. But each of those deaths was the end result of living his life to its fullest – not once did he pull his punches when it came to living. He was constantly struggling to win, but when he did lose, he would pick up the pieces and continue forward anyway. He could not be more different from you, who grew bored with his strength but still clung shamefully to your current status.”

A quiet metal clink sounded.

Misaka Mikoto had flicked an arcade coin into the air.

When it landed back on her thumbnail, she took aim.

And she roared.

“I’m shooting a Railgun. Everyone, clear the line of fire!!!”

The air was compressed.

This normally would have been no threat to CRC. But in this one moment, the silver young man definitely frowned. He was annoyed. Which meant this was effective.

Altogether, they couldn’t have bought more than a minute of time.

But that was enough. Without a word, Kamijou Touma approached once more.

Half-dragging the giant dragon maw with him.

And…

===Part 6===

In the ICU, little Anna Sprengel was lying in a bed and surrounded by cold, hard machinery. Her expression looked peaceful at first, but it would have burdened a medical expert with great anxiety. She was not being given any kind of anesthesia, so the lack of response to the pain was not a good sign.

The color red flowed through several clear tubes.

There were a lot more of those tubes than normal.

“How is the dialysis going?” asked the frog-faced doctor with uncharacteristic tension in his voice.

“The process itself is going smoothly.”

Anna’s hair was unnaturally damaged. Blood did not flow through the hairs themselves, but they still received oxygen and nutrients to stay healthy.

That meant something was wrong with the patient’s blood.

“The processing of the blood before it is returned to her body is working too. Her blood type is being temporarily altered.”

The technician and a nurse were busily working even now.

Providing someone with the wrong blood type would put them in critical condition. That was undeniable. But it was also true that some people’s blood type had changed after a transplant for the bone marrow that created the blood.

So if all of the blood was changed and not just a portion of it, there was a chance of survival.

“This so-called ‘curse’ carries out its fatal attack after identifying an individual by their blood.”

The frog-faced doctor was a science-side physician.

But even if he couldn’t explain it with his own knowledge, he was not the kind of person to tell a suffering and dying patient that their pain couldn’t be real because none of the medical texts described anything like it.

He would save everyone suffering from disease.

Even if the disease had not yet been written down in any medical texts.

“So if the blood type flowing through her veins changes, this ‘curse’ should lose sight of its target and cease to function. I just hope that ends this.”

The word “curse” gave it an archaic and exaggerated impression, but he only had to think of it like a form of pollen allergy that reacted to an individual’s face or name.

(I do hope this “curse” can’t last forever without a target.)

Bacteria harmed people in order to survive and toxins harmed people because they took the place of a necessary substance. So if they could not function correctly, they would eventually be broken down, ejected from the body, and naturally disappear. They were neither good nor evil. It was no more than a struggle for survival.

“At this rate,” muttered the frog-faced doctor.

That was when ''a dull tremor shook the building.

''And the overhead lights flickered.

While this wasn’t a complete blackout, it was highly unusual. The hospital always had multiple power sources to ensure the survival of its critical patients. So instead of a problem with the power generation facility itself, this had to be something wrong with the wiring in the wall or ceiling.

Something had changed.

Critically changed.

===Part 7===

Kamijou Touma slowly collapsed forward.

No one could stop it.

He had lost too much blood.

His time limit had always been 10 minutes at the longest.

Not even Shokuhou Misaki and the Bologna Succubus’s psychological support could get him around the limits of his physical body.

The only trump card capable of defeating Rosencreutz had broken.

He fell to the floor.

The dragon vanished into thin air.

“Ha ha.”

Laughter echoed out.

Of course, it came from none other than Christian Rosencreutz.

“Now your defeat is assured,” said the silver young man, looking down to the floor. Calmly. “There never was an answer. You never could have found a way of defeating this old man. But this result is still a doom born of your own choices. ''You sought strength as a human, but you still grasped at inhuman power once you were desperate.'' Everyone watching this must have thought the same thing: ‘Oh, Kamijou Touma has deviated from his usual ways.’ And that deviation is what brought this result. You made a mistake and you were never going to find real power in that mistake. None at all.”

Wicked violence had won out in the end.

And.

''Death swept out.

The Bologna Succubus was blasted away like an artillery shell and Witch Goddess Aradia was embedded in a wall. Misaka Mikoto’s microwave radar wasn’t enough to detect what caused her to spin through the air and slam into the floor. Shokuhou Misaki pressed a TV remote against her own temple, but something impacted the back of her head before she could boost her eye movement. This wasn’t like someone being knocked out in a movie or drama. Something unseen clearly broke and split inside her head.

Accelerator could only watch while remotely controlling the Snakehead drone swarm.

Their time was up and defeat led to this.

“Kee hee, ee hee. Hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Death.

Killing.

And red.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! …Whew.”

Christian Rosencreutz once more appeared from the background. No, he had finally come to a stop after moving so fast he had become no more than flowing lines.

His only remaining enemy was Good, Old Mary.

Had he intentionally left her until last, or was it only a coincidence? It could also be that she had partially defended against his attack.

“''Now, joker. Who will you resurrect with that single-use trump card''?”

“…”

“Do not expect this old man to sit idly by and watch. You will only be able to resurrect one of them at the cost of your own life. …And, Good, Old Mary, I seriously doubt you can defeat this old man on your own. Your only value is in your resurrection. So who will you entrust your dreams with? Who will you choose to turn this all around?”

Would it be Misaka Mikoto or Shokuhou Misaki?

Or would it be Aradia or the Bologna Succubus?

Each of them possessed tremendous power. Not one of them was an ordinary human. With the Ace, the Queen, and so many others with varied talents available, who would Good, Old Mary choose?

“Take your time and think about it.”

He laughed.

He scoffed.

Because the answer was obvious from the start.

“Hee ha ha!! But there is no real answer! No matter who you bring back to life, they cannot defeat this old man. If human death were absolute, you could have given up. But because you possess that resurrection trump card, you are now trapped in my prison, kitchen alchemist. Will you agonize over it for eternity, or will the pressure be too much to bear so you make a careless choice only for this old man to tear you both to shreds!? Watch as your own actions reveal just whose side you have taken and who you have made your enemy. Kee ha ha ha ha ha. Regret your own choices as you search in vain for an answer!!!”

In response, the final remaining Transcendent breathed a soft sigh.

And Good, Old Mary spoke.

“''No one''.”

“?”

“''I will not bother resurrecting anyone at this point. You are the one who has run out of time. A second before, you might have managed it. But you lost sight of what truly matters here, you continued to ignore the life you should have been focused on taking, and you carelessly crossed the final crossroads. It is too late to put things back the way they were. No matter how much you try.''”

He tilted his head.

CRC expressed pure confusion.

But the silver young man should have shuddered in fear at that simple truth. He was drawing a blank. He could not come up with anything that fit the situation presented to him. But if whatever it was could slip his mind, how much of a threat could it really be?

He still didn’t understand, so Good, Old Mary pointed elsewhere.

The answer was there.

Aleister Crowley.

The magician CRC had defeated and proceeded to ignore had stood back up.

He was badly injured.

It was incredible he was still alive.

If he had feigned death, he might have had a greater chance at survival.

But he had instead clenched his teeth and stood up. Who out there had inspired him to do that? Why could that human challenge CRC over and over with the golden retriever by his side?

''Who did that human really, truly aspire to emulate?

“I don’t care…how many times you fail.”

Words spilled from his cracked lips.

The person he had entrusted this fight to had already collapsed.

And as a result, 99% of the people who had trusted that boy enough to gather here were now dead.

That was a defeat.

Kamijou Touma had failed to meet their expectations.

But despite the red and black stains covering his body, that human’s spirit was not broken.

Because…

“I will not lose hope in you, no matter how many times you lose or fall. I swear it. Thinking back, it was rare that you found an easy victory from beginning to end. But you always made sure to collect someone’s life before it was lost. That was no illusion. So I will believe in you. …You expect me to accept that a little thing like defeat is enough for you to give up? No matter how many times you fall to your knees, I know for a fact you will stand back up again.”

“Young one?”

“So consume me if need be. Great Demon Coronzon! Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass!! You monsters were always too much for a constant failure like me to handle. But just this once, support me. Help me buy the time we need. Give me the power to uphold my promise!!”

“You think he will get back up? Based on nothing? That loser is soaking in his own bloody vomit and you would still place all your hopes in him? Good, Old Mary could perhaps resurrect at least one person here if she were willing to sacrifice herself to my attack, but you won’t even do that!?”

“That is not what it means to believe in someone,” stated Good, Old Mary. She directly cut down that unbeatable adversary’s words. “You do not believe in someone because it is logical or because the odds are favorable. Human beings believe in and pray to the people they truly want to believe in. You were once a target of that sort of belief. If you have forgotten this, then you really are ''unworthy''. Unfortunately, the savior that mama and the rest of the Transcendents prayed to was not at all what we hoped for.”

So Good, Old Mary had chosen to believe in that boy instead.

Truly believe.

''If she sacrificed herself to resurrect one person here, it ended there. Once she died, her resurrection could never be used again. But if she was patient, survived, and believed that this deadly battle would be overcome without choosing the easy option of self-sacrifice, she could use her resurrection on each and every one of them. Only then was the possibility of saving everyone available.

That was what it meant to believe in someone.

Such belief was never spoken of in terms of “at least”.

Not everything came down to superhuman actions. There were options that became available if you wished for them hard enough.

No one was discussing logic or odds. The thread of possibility was so very thin, but Good, Old Mary chose to believe in the future she most wanted to believe in. Because she knew the foolish compromise of forcing herself to believe in something she didn’t want to believe in would never lead to a gentle and happy world.

“And no matter how absurd it might seem, there are times when our selfish expectations and beliefs are answered. There are people who will crawl through the mud and do whatever it takes to make that happen, no matter how poor their chances. And sometimes they will ultimately reach what they were struggling for.”

“…”

“People value such things as ''miracles''. CRC, I am certain you were once capable of that. You might have done so even in the modern world. But while you let your passions and playfulness guide you, you passed the final crossroads and reached a point from which you can never return.”

In the very corner of his vision, Christian Rosencreutz saw something rise up.

Whatever it was, it was stained red and black. It was someone who should not have still been alive.

The answer was obvious.

This was what the living and the dead had all believed in.

Kamijou.

Kamijou Touma.

“Impossible…” blankly muttered Christian Rosencreutz, suddenly trembling. “You never had a chance to use your resurrection. This old man would never have missed it.”

“True. But mama did not use it on anyone. Not even him.”

“Then this can’t be happening! A normal human had his arm severed and was left to bleed out for 10 minutes. Do you have any idea how much blood he would have lost in that time!? The answer is in liters! And you expect me to believe he overcame that because of some nonsense about believing in him!?”

“Should you really be spouting nonsense at the moment, CRC? Need I remind you that you are the corpse the Bridge Builders Cabal once believed in?” solemnly stated Good, Old Mary. “He answered our call. Unlike you, he did not run from the power of belief. The rules have changed. You completely missed the crossroads you couldn’t afford to cross and you walked right on through. The legend so many people believed in and prayed to is long gone. You are no more than bait now. Bait used to show off a new legend that has accepted the power of belief and is working to create a better future. You allowed yourself to be reduced to this, CRC.”

Kamijou made a horizontal swing of his nonexistent right arm.

The invisible dragon burst out.

It emerged once more.

That was the answer.

Kamijou Touma and Aleister Crowley stood side by side, both bloody and battered. They didn’t need to exchange any words. This team up should have been impossible, but it was possible within the legend of this moment.

There was no cue.

Aleister simply gave a thoughtful look.

A moment later, they both raced forward.

Straight toward their greatest enemy – Christian Rosencreutz.

“Ohhh!!” “Ohhh!!”

In response, CRC gulped and calmly worked out the answer in his head.

“The scientific angel Kazakiri Hyouka and the artificial demon Qliphah Puzzle 545.”

And the person behind those two.

New Board Chairman Accelerator.

“That particle accelerator cannon that gathered all the city’s power was not aimed at this old man.”

Using the Hula Hoop particle accelerator to launch a deadly attack within the city was all well and good, but what happened at the other end? They couldn’t have it pierce through the outer wall on the opposite side of the city and then burn down Shinjuku and Yokohama beyond. This group was too soft to accept that level of sacrifice. So what had they done?

His miniature model was useful for running searches, but there was one thing he had to watch out for.

It only provided the information he actively worked to search for.

Which meant he could miss something.

Especially when it came from a blind spot he hadn’t considered.

“You were holding two nonhumans in reserve, but you knew they could not defeat this old man if you simply sent them after me. So you found a way to inject them with a massive amount of energy without me noticing. ''Angels and demons are effectively collections of energy, so this boosted their raw strength and energized them''?”

They had sided with Kamijou Touma.

Realizing they couldn’t defeat CRC even in their boosted forms, had the scientific angel and magical demon instead opted to assist Kamijou?

As the leader at the top, the question for Accelerator wasn’t who achieved the victory. As long as he could eliminate the threat of Rosencreutz and bring peace back to the city, nothing else mattered.

It wasn’t an issue of logic or odds.

People believed in the person they wanted to believe in.

So while he wasn’t physically present, the #1 had not hesitated to focus on that particular trump card.

“Did you use the absence of his right hand to sneak them into his body? So that their invisible hands could squeeze his stopped heart and start it beating once more!?”

Thus, it wasn’t just two people approaching Rosencreutz.

Far more people had believed in that boy. They had entrusted him with their lives, their futures, and the fates of Academy City and the world.

“''Rosencreutz. It doesn’t matter how hopeless a reality you are.''”

“''Yes, and it doesn’t matter how much of this world you destroy.''”

Kamijou Touma would not run away.

He carried all those things on his back as he poured all his strength into the invisible dragon.

“''If you insist we can’t save anyone here''…”

“''Yes, and if you insist the good and the wicked cannot be equally saved''…”

The hits landed simultaneously.

“''Then we will destroy that illusion!!!''”

The God Purifying Demon Destroyer and the Conqueror of the Battle of Blythe Road.

Two inhuman fists flew and mercilessly launched Christian Rosencreutz beyond District 7’s borders.

===Part 8===

When the little wicked woman opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was. She saw a white ceiling, detected a chemical scent in the air, and noticed a great quantity of medical equipment surrounding her. The hard plastic mask over her lower face irritated her. But she was hesitant to move. She didn’t think she even could move right away and, given the tugging sensation from beneath her skin, she could guess she had several needles piercing her blood vessels and had tubes and electric cords attached all across her body.

Nevertheless, she was alive.

Anna Sprengel was alive.

“Where…am I?”

Peering down at her was a doctor with a froggy face.

He gave her a gentle smile.

This doctor had lived up to the belief a certain boy had placed in him.

Heaven Canceler spoke in the same way he always did.

“You’re going to be fine. It’s all over now.”

Some who saw this might have praised it as a miracle.

The commonplace miracle of life.

===Between the Lines 4===

“''Ugh, is this for real, mistress''?”

“''Yes. As much as I would prefer not to believe it, it appears so.''”

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