Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume13 Chapter4

==Chapter 4: Call That Name – Shout_the_Summon.==

===Part 1===

Not much time remained until Adikalika’s activation.

Alice Anotherbible was not here. Nor was Anna Sprengel. The Bologna Succubus and Blodeuwedd the Bouquet were apparently creating a diversion and Dion Fortune was battling the Moina Mathers released by Coronzon.

Kamijou Touma had no choice.

He had to fight.

He didn’t just observe one point on Coronzon. He observed every part of her.

It was his only option.

Because she wasn’t going to attack him swinging around a knife. It could be her lips, her arms, or her spread wings. Any of it could form an incantation, a gesture, a magic circle which would indicate an attack. He couldn’t overlook a thing.

She was smirking thinly.

At him and his foolish decision to not break free of the shell known as common sense.

“One word of warning.”

“What!?”

“Whether you resist or not is up to your excessive human free will…but it will be much easier for you if the first attack kills you.”

A golden vortex formed.

It was made of…

“Hair!?”

Was it a giant spear or a scorpion tail?

The destructive attack thrust in from an unexpected direction, bu Kamijou somehow managed to brush it aside with his right hand, negating it.

As soon as it popped like a balloon, it took an a completely different form.

It formed a giant crab, then a fat and twisted fly, and then a snake slithering along the ground before leaping at him.

“Imagine Breaker. I suppose I must admit to its power as an unshakable reference point for the world and its ability to negate any supernatural power.”

Coronzon held herself in her arms, spread her wings, and chuckled.

“Your right hand can indeed negate magic. But only one spell per attack. You haven’t forgotten I can launch a second spell too, have you?”

Not good.

Negation wasn’t enough for this enemy!

If negating one spell would lead to multiple new threats, he was in trouble. Kamijou clenched his teeth and turned his attention in her direction.

But at that very moment, he heard the air bursting.

The phases ground together, clashed, and collided with a great power, creating a deadly distortion.

The sparks became visible.

Coronzon whispered bewitchingly.

“''A great maw.''”

“!?”

They rushed in from all around him at once.

In this case, even obeying his instincts as a living creature and cowering down was meaningless. If he did that, the jaws would snap shut and he would have nowhere to escape. So instead he leaped hard to the right, approaching one of the sparks, and smashing it with his fist. Before the ring could fully close in around him, he rolled along the red snow to distance himself from the center point.

It didn’t end there.

Kamijou was risking his life with each and every move, but it was all a silly game to her.

Coronzon whispered.

“I am a demon, but not from the Qliphoth where the forces of evil gather. I am the great demon hidden by the holy Sephiroth. I dwell in the same abyss as Da’at.”

She held her left hand straight out and her right hand pulled back toward herself.

The pose resembled aiming a rapier.

“Every number is the same. My right hand contains Nuit of Resurrection. Watch as the possibilities expand and surpass the bounds of the finite. My left hand contains Hadit of Vengeance. The smallest point gathers and concentrates all forces to create a single meaning. Thus, an attack shall be released from the infinite acceleration of the Circle of Ra-Hoor-Khuit and shall appear on the surface layer of this world.”

A chill ran down Kamijou Touma’s spine.

This was bad.

He had been on the receiving end of this spell when he first clashed with Coronzon. It was a much too powerful torrent of power. Back then, he had tried and failed to stop it with his right hand and been torn apart, his bones and organs destroyed.

“But I showed this one off last time.” Coronzon grinned. “Still, weaving it into a combo should lure you into position for a hit.”

As soon as Kamijou frantically tried to jump from his position, a golden scorpion and spider rushed in from the sides.

They were only meant to hold him in place, but a hit from the venomous tail or sharp legs would still kill him.

Now he couldn’t escape.

“Oh, no.”

He should have focused on the flow of attacks instead of viewing each in isolation.

And after he had told himself at the start to observe everything as a whole.

(Damn, now I can’t dodge it!!)

Yet if he tried to stop it with his right hand, he probably wouldn’t be able to fully negate the torrent of power and it would tear his body apart.

White lightning dropped from the sky.

Coronzon didn’t even look up.

“Really, is there some rule that everyone who sits the board chairman seat must be a fool? Aleister easily deflected that one and you expect it to work on me, #1?

“Also,” continued the great demon. “If you can attack me from there, then I can attack you from here.”

===Part 2===

''Bang!!!

In the most tightly secured cell of a far distant prison, the giant LCD monitor on the wall shattered. Glass shards flew out in great quantity and shredded Board Chairman Accelerator’s body.

“Gah…”

(My reflection…didn’t work? They slipped right past my vector control barrier?)

“Dammit. So it’s a power…from that side of things…”

===Part 3===

Only static came from Kamijou’s wireless earphone, but even that ended eventually.

He was dumbfounded as he used his right hand to negate the scorpion and spider made of blonde hair.

No response.

The board chairman had been taken out too easily.

Especially considering he was Academy City’s #1 Level 5.

Great Demon Coronzon’s strength was on another level entirely!!

“His ability to attack anywhere in the city from that one point also means that one point can be attacked from anywhere in the city. Much like the rules regarding gazing into the Abyss.”

Coronzon looked like she was viewing some distant place while standing here.

Was she sneering at Accelerator who she had just defeated?

Or was she recalling the previous board chairman who had developed the #1?

“Still, for someone sniping people from hiding, it’s curious how careless you were about the standard rules for line of sight. Is that another blind spot created by your reflection, Academy City’s #1?”

Her focus shifted from the distant to the near.

Coronzon’s target was now Kamijou.

“And have you forgotten, Kamijou Touma?”

“Kh.”

“I have a winning move. As long as no one intervenes, I only need to repeat the process to pierce you.”

“Dammit!!”

She was right.

The long, long hair spear, the scattered crab and fly scouts, and the invisible maw formed from countless sparks. He knew that series of attacks was coming, but he could not break free of the rails. Position, movement, distance – Coronzon only had to use small steps to adjust those factors and Kamijou would effectively be trapped in a thick cage. It was like a shogi problem only requiring a predetermined series of moves.

And the time had come.

Coronzon made her sneering announcement.

While directing the tip of an immaterial rapier toward him.

“Magick: Flaming_Sword. Manifest thyself through descent of the Sephirah and bathe him in thy power.”



''Blam!!!



He had no choice but to block it.

This was beyond the limits of his right hand.

But rather than strike it with his fist, touching his palm to it and swinging his arm to deflect it away just barely qualified as a correct answer. His arm made a disconcerting creaking sound, but the bones were not broken.

But that was all.

Kamijou Touma’s feet left the ground. As soon as he noticed that, his body was thrown backwards.

Twice, thrice he bounced along the red snow before entering a roll.

He only tasted a rusty flavor.

He supposed still having senses at all was a plus. That meant he wasn’t unconscious.

…Unlike last time.

“I told you.”

“…”

“I only need to repeat the process. You didn’t think this was a one-time-use ability, did you? This is an elementary move. Our last battle was cut short when your right hand went nuts, but, well, this is what happens when I actually make an effort to surround you.”

She was overwhelming and then some.

Last time, the British magic experts had gathered together and somehow managed to pull out a win, so taking on this monster alone had been a mistake.

“You aren’t hoping circumstances will change if you buy enough time, are you? Could this be a stalling tactic so you can let Alice Anotherbible, Anna Sprengel, or another extraordinary member of your party deal with me?”

Great Demon Coronzon had been pure terror to begin with.

But the squeezing at Kamijou’s heart was even greater now.

“They aren’t coming. Because I set it up that way. Kamijou Touma, Hamazura Shiage, and Takitsubo Rikou. Oh, and there was that Qliphah Puzzle 545 too. You four were simply low on my priority list, so I didn’t get around to trapping you in a labyrinth before you arrived.”

One by one, Coronzon plucked away his hopes and possibilities. All with a sneer.

Almost like a child traveling all the way to a flower field, capturing a bug, flipping it over, and innocently tearing out its legs.

“So all I need to do is repeat the process, taking as much time as I need to kill you. Don’t worry about how much it will cost me. Nothing you think can help you escape now.”

“Damn…”

“You see, I can spend as much time on this as I want. But Adikalika will activate in less than half an hour. So it’s you that needs to stop playing around and seriously try to stop me.”

He was far from unscathed. In fact, he was in state of extreme tension where a wrong choice in when to blink could mean instant death.

“Dispersion? Natural decomposition? Destroying the current world?”

But still Kamijou was not broken.

His right fist was intact.

“To hell with that, Coronzon. Who alive today is going to accept that!?”

“My value is 333, my meaning is dispersion. I am the one who tears apart the bonds between people and obstructs their evolution.”

Coronzon whispered her own purpose as if rolling it around in her mouth.

And she looked up.

Once more.

“Keh heh heh. You humans were given the freedom to choose for yourselves yet you continue to let others make your choices based on ‘information’ and ‘trends’, so you can never understand those who were only given a single path.”

“Freedom?”

Kamijou frowned.

The jealousy in her voice made it sound like that was something she didn’t have.

How could she say that after everything she had done?

But before he could say so.



It all flowed out like a rotten clump.



“God made all his creation in accordance to his plan. Not a single part of his plan failed. So it naturally follows that all this world’s sin and vice function as gears in his master plan. That includes all things in this world. Yes, the scams, the theft, the violence, the murder, the swords, the guns, the poison gas, the nuclear weapons – everything!! Vices that even a great demon like me could never imagine will continue to be discovered in this world!! 333, dispersion. The one who lurks in the Abyss hidden in the Sephiroth and obstructs human evolution. God is omniscient and omnipotent. He knew from the beginning I contained the possibility to betray him, to become a hideous demon, and to lose the war! So why didn’t he stop me!?”

“…”

Did she sound like she was spitting on heaven because she was a being known as a great demon?

If so, had these very words been expected by someone?

Coronzon put on a twisted smile.

“Because a creation is no more than a creation, it is difficult for me to escape my traits and my role. Unlike the humans who were tempted into eating the fruit, we – the beings known as angels and demons – have much greater restrictions placed upon us. You could say we are god’s tools. Just as a sword is a sword and cannot be a dinner knife or fork, we can make use of – or even abuse – the abilities given to us within the bounds of our created purpose, but we can never take an entirely different path.”

What was this?

The previous diagram was breaking down.

Or could it be?

Was the very act of understanding Coronzon’s feelings and inner state enough to drag one toward vice?

“So there is but one way to bare my fangs toward heaven. Instead of futilely resisting, ''I must take my purpose farther than he ever imagined, derailing his plan in the process''!! That gives me a chance of ruining god’s plan without ever betraying my purpose in being here. I!! I am here to fight against all the tragedy that occurs in a world designed for someone else’s benefit!!!”

Coronzon spread her arms and wings wide as she made this grand proclamation.

“You’re…kidding,” muttered Kamijou Touma.

Without thinking.

She was 333, dispersion. So she could not allow anything to exist forever and would ensure all things faced natural decomposition.

That was indeed her original purpose, but it only described a method. No one had touched on what she would gain by breaking down the entire world. No one had mentioned her personal objective.

The answer was a simple one.

That being who far surpassed the bounds of humanity could be summed up as follows:



''She was sick of it.



333, dispersion. She tore apart the bonds between people and obstructed their evolution. Those were the hideous numbers and symbols within her – at her very core. When comparing herself to the many other beings who dedicated themselves to roles of bright blessings – mercy, protection, honesty, safety – she couldn’t accept that she existed only for that dark function.

So she had tried to overturn that.

Coronzon wrapped her arms around herself, doubled over, and screamed.

As if trying to forcibly seal away the source of her nausea, which just so happened to be the very core of her being.

“I makes me sick! Oh, so sick!! Both myself for being used in that way and the humans who think this power has any value and create so many spells to interfere with me! But most of all, the world that requires ''me'' repulses me!! Do you understand, good one who always strives to be righteous despite your imperfection!? God knew I would stray. So! I was robbed the chance to grasp even the tiniest sliver of freedom by rebelling of my own free will!!!”

In a way, it was like being forced into the role of telling people to fail and find misfortune.

She was a tool only expected to harm and frustrate others.

No matter how powerful she might be and no matter how important the seat she sat in, the very first assumption had distorted her. How could she find any confidence in that situation?

She had been told she was a necessary part of the world.

But when god had created her from the start as someone capable of rebelling, even that could perhaps have a purpose.

Her power was to tear people apart and prevent their evolution. That was who she was. A great demon.

This world could not exist without that despicable and contemptible system and the current age could not function without so much anger, sorrow, resignation, and infighting, so Coronzon had concluded they were far too twisted and imperfect.

So.

She had decided to use every last part of what she was to destroy ''the plan she didn’t understand and without even trying to understand it.

She had wanted the fastest way of doing that.

She had settled on something she could reach out and touch.

She thought her best option was to destroy the world that god had created and raised.

“Am I nothing more than a sumptuous feast for you humans, designed to fail in order to give you courage when you defeat me? Or am the deluge bucket, designed to succeed so that my thorough destruction can cleanse this impure world? The answer doesn’t really matter.”

Uh, oh.

This went beyond the degree of violence.

Great Demon Coronzon had something that would overwhelm others on another dimension altogether, more closely related to concepts of good, righteousness, and the mental struggle against doom!!

“Either way, if I simply take the role of my symbols and value ''too far'', I can derail and ruin it all without violating the rules. So you cannot convince me with words. I will never hold back. I will activate Adikalika here no matter what! I will bring this to a level that will make anyone – yes, even god himself –  hold their head in their hands and look away!!!”

Something exploded.

Coronzon spread her arms and roared as light exploded out from her in a dome.

Light.

A dazzling white.

As if screaming that her rebellion against heaven was the truly righteous and correct choice.

“…Ah…”

Maybe it had been a mistake to listen to her.

How could Kamijou Touma overcome this when his own position was starting to waver?



The blast struck him across his body.



He was knocked back, thrown through the air, and fell to the ground. He rolled again and again, throwing red snow into the air.

It was night and Academy City didn’t have many lights on since repairs were still slow in coming, but neither was the reason his vision rapidly grew dark.

It blinked in and out.

He felt no pain. Nor any obvious fear or panic. All of those active emotions were melting away from his mind. It reminded him of when Alice Anotherbible had killed him in his school that night. The same sensation was filling him once more. Mercilessly.

Oh, no.

This time…he really was going to…

===Part 4===

The night wind raged.

The darkness was colored by the blowing red snow.

Only a winged figure stood within it. Kamijou Touma had still clenched his right fist, but that was all. He had passed out with his fist still tight. He was completely out.

The communication line was staticky and there was no response from the person on the other end. Physical distance and thick walls were meaningless against magical curses. They provided no defense. New Board Chairman Accelerator had also been fully silenced.

It was quiet.

Divinely so.

“Qliphah Puzzle 545.”

“Kh.”

The artificial demon floating stealthily in the air shook when she was called out without even a glance in her direction.

“You could try that stunt again, but know first that I have ''already developed a countermeasure''. Leviathan was it? That sacrificial spell will only lead to a meaningless death. So settle down and watch the end of the world. That would be the better option for a lonely demon like you.”

Red snow fell through the dark night.

Adikalika’s countdown continued unabated, but no one remained to stop it.

The world’s fate was sealed.

No…

“So you’re the last one left, Hamazura Shiage.”

A voice spoke.

As if recalling old times.

Another form had gotten back up.

Quietly.

He was battered and bloody, but Hamazura Shiage was not dead yet.

With an ironic smile, Coronzon spread the wings on her back.

“I can’t imagine what an ordinary human can accomplish, but fine. As a human, you lack perfect righteousness yet work desperately to gather up the fragments of a good heart. Toying with that treasure without realizing its value to me is the height of folly. So fight back against my annihilation.”

“Y’know.”

Hamazura Shiage sat down in the red snow.

Yes, he did not duck down or dive behind cover.

Almost suicidally, he sat right in front of Great Demon Coronzon.

And he let the words spill out.

“I had a feeling it would end up this way. The last one standing wasn’t going to be Kamijou Touma or Accelerator. Coronzon, since it’s about you, I had a feeling it’d be me, even if I don’t really belong here.”

“Are you suggesting that I showed mercy to my enemy because we are acquaintances? You think I, a great demon, standing here as a concentration of vice, would do that?”

“No, I don’t think that’s it.”

Hamazura’s voice sounded somehow empty.

But also confident.

He ''personally'' knew Coronzon, not through hearsay or myth.

“You’re logical. You’re trying to destroy the world for a very rational reason. So you labeled everyone opposing you an enemy and you defeated them. It’s simple really. You eliminated them because they were trying to stop you, so ''you don’t actually hate Kamijou Touma or Accelerator''.”

Yes.

She didn’t hate them, but not for some emotional reason. There just wasn’t any connection between them.

Kamijou Touma and Accelerator were nothing more than strangers to Coronzon. What reason did she have to thoroughly hate Villager A?

“Ha ha! Then what? Have you accepted it yourself? You’re saying I forgot to even mark you an enemy because you’re just some pathetic delinquent? Even then, anyone who stands before me is an enemy. I will destroy anyone and everyone who tries to stop Adikalika. You damn gnat. You cannot stop me, Hamazura Shiage!!”

“''That’s not it either.''”

He rejected her claim again.

Immediately.

Even Coronzon had to frown now.

Could the being known as a great demon not understand this tiny truth?

“''I’m not working against you.'' I no longer have any reason to attack you.”

“I…don’t understand.”

“Go ahead.”

With those words, it was Coronzon who grimaced.

But seeing the look on her face, he spoke clearly.

“I know all too well this world is shit. I mean, I’m a Level 0. That alone means I’ve got nothing. So go ahead. If the new age you imagine is a free and righteous place where everyone can be happy…”

“Hey, wait. Dammit, Hamazura, are you saying…!?”



“C’mon, Coronzon. Go ahead and do it.”



Yes.

When Hamazura faced Coronzon and she asked what he would do about her, he had said “that depends on your answer”.

“But…back in the UK, you stopped me, didn’t you? In the very end, with some help from Dion Fortune.”

“True,” admitted Hamazura. And then, “But I hadn’t actually processed what you said back then. I stuck with my own thoughts and simply thought I could save you too if I protected the world. …But how did that pan out? The instant you were free again, you got to work trying to destroy the world again. As if to say it’s the world that’s wrong. To be honest, I agree with you there. If the fighting continues with you or without you, then it doesn’t seem like you’re the source of the problem.”

From Hamazura Shiage’s point of view, Kamijou Touma and Accelerator were success stories too dazzlingly bright to look at. It wasn’t a matter of money, education, family, or esper level. No matter how much he tried, he knew he could never catch up to them.

So they would want to protect the world. Without a second thought.

Even if it meant risking their lives.

Even if something about the world felt off.

Ultimately, they wanted to protect the current world because they were reluctant to let it go. Because they were happy people who could imagine the benefits they would find in keeping the current system going.

If they were foolish, they would be fine with that.

They would foolishly look only to their own happiness and continue to reap the benefits.

But what if they were clever? What if they were aware so many people were denied freedom and couldn’t obtain the things they had, but they continued to enjoy those benefits themselves? That was no different than trampling others in pursuit of their own happiness. It was an undeniable sin.

Protecting the world was not necessarily a good or righteous act.

If the wicked wealthy with all their injustices and dirty money said they were going to protect the world, who would praise them for it?

If the world had been rotten to the core from the beginning, then the meaning of that phrase flipped on its head.

Everyone thought of Great Demon Coronzon as an unpersuadable absolute evil.

Hamazura alone disagreed.

Because he had once broken away and fought alongside Coronzon.

And he had realized something because he saw her as a relative evil who could be reasoned with.

He suspected this world was hiding something that had pushed Coronzon to do this.

“Damn you…Hamazura…”

“You can see it, can’t you?”

That question was a rejection of everything Hamazura had believed in.

How much courage had it taken for a mere human to voice it?

It likely wouldn’t have been possible for Hamazura alone.

Which was why he was currently holding the hand of his girlfriend lying unconscious by his side.

He knew that would give him the courage he needed to face every obstacle this world could throw at him.

“You’ve viewed this world on a higher level than me and you’ve investigated this world with superior brains than mine. …If, in the end, the Great Demon Coronzon herself concluded this shitty world deserves to be destroyed, then that’s probably the right answer. If even you had to give up with all your power, then there’s really nothing we can do. At the very least, I can’t think of anything to say to stop you. So you know what? …''I think you might as well go ahead and do it.'' Why not?”

This was a destructive third view that Kamijou Touma and Accelerator could never have held.

This was Hamazura Shiage’s job.

Was it Dion Fortune who had said even Kamijou Touma was powerless against Coronzon?

“Are you kidding me!? Do you know what you’re saying!?”

“Why do you make it sound like you want me to stop you, Coronzon? I’m the all-purpose trump card. I’ll work with a great demon if it’ll save my girlfriend or just a friend. You weren’t expecting a softy like me to take on that role, were you?”

“Kh.”

“''That’s why''”

He wasn’t good or righteous. But he wasn’t fully evil either.

The ''soft'' boy continued.

“That’s why I’ll accept you. When I saved Qliphah Puzzle 545 earlier, I was even thinking this world can go to hell.”

If Takitsubo Rikou were awake here, he might have arrived at a different answer.

But he couldn’t do that now.

“Over and over, I’ve seen the depths of this world’s cruelty and how it wears down the people you love like some sick assembly line. Body Crystal? The Golden cabal? Everyone treats people’s lives like nothing more than a useful component and ''they praise that behavior like it’s a sign of strength and beauty.'' Can you believe it? And no one ever questions it. Not even the people being worn down! It’s obvious to anyone that this world is rotten to the core. …So if you’re going to get rid of all that glorification of complexity for the sake of complexity, give us nothing but an ordinary world full of ordinary things with nothing hiding below the surface, where everyone I love can laugh happily and worry-free forever and ever, then ''you’re clearly on the side of good and righteousness'', Coronzon.”

The higher being seemed taken back.

It couldn’t be.

Was someone really saying this to her at this stage?

She suddenly found herself the one pointing out the dangers.

This wasn’t right.

How did her role get so turned around!?

“Have you forgotten? Once the Adikalika large-scale attack spell activates, there is no stopping it. It will fully destroy all life in the target land. So the Italian Peninsula will be crushed and slashed into a hell of blood and bone. And after that, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, Academy City, and the Russian Orthodox Church will all join in endless war! I have set them up in pairs so they will eliminate each other like matching cards in old maid, so every part of this world will be brought to an end!! Trying to curry my favor will not allow you to survi-!!”

“It’s hopeless regardless, right? Whether nor not you use that Adi-whatever.”

He didn’t let her finish.

He wasn’t speaking all that loudly, but Coronzon still fell silent.

As if he had struck her right in the heart.

“Hey, Coronzon. You’re not stupid and you’re not wild. With you, every single action is based on your intelligence. I saw just how incredibly smart you are back in that fight where you dragged the UK and the whole world into it.”

Hamazura spoke quietly.

Yes, the boy holding his unconscious girlfriend’s hand was quiet.

He did not shout and scream.

“I’ve been thinking. You couldn’t believe what I was doing, but you still helped me save Takitsubo Rikou and Dion Fortune. You had to have thought I was a burden and an idiot, but you never did betray me, leave me behind, or let me die. So I had to wonder why you’re doing this to Academy City. …It’s simple. You decided you had to start a global war. There’s something you can’t solve without taking it that far.”

“Are you saying you can see it? But how could a mere human do that?”

“I don’t know what it is. But you weren’t the one who messed up this world. It’s already so messed up that stopping you wouldn’t fix anything. So it’s past the point of not wanting to die or wanting to make sure at least my girlfriend survives. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s definitely going to happen if nothing is done. So betting on you seems like the best option. If I want even the slightest chance of the people I know surviving, someone has to force the world off its current course.”

“…”

“Or are you going to say I’m wrong?”

It wasn’t that Hamazura Shiage doubted the world was ending.

He could already tell the world had been rotten before Coronzon began any of this. It was so bad even a Level 0 idiot like him could tell. And if it was that bad on the surface, then the invisible core or central pillar of the world must have been badly eaten away by now.

He didn’t know what the termites gnawing away at the great tree actually were, but knowing that wasn’t important.

So that wasn’t what had shaken him.

There was something else he had to be certain of.

“Am I wrong to bet on you? Are you not worth it? Were you going on and on about your importance, but it was all talk and you just want to destroy the world for the hell of it? Will you end up sticking your tongue out, laughing, and going ‘oops, that didn’t accomplish anything’? Well, in that case, you really are a villain. If you’re causing trouble for so many people without doing anything worthwhile. If you’ll just keep all the money I’d bet on you because I trust you. If you can’t stick to goodness or righteousness and stall out somewhere in the middle without ever accomplishing anything, then you’re evil! If it’s all going to be pointless in the end, you might as well not have done anything in the first place!! Do you know what that’s called? It’s called being a troublemaker, the lowest and weakest type of villain, Coronzon!!!”

She hung her head.

The monster who was understood by no one said nothing for a while.

She appeared to be biting her lip.

And.

Finally.

“''Don’t make me laugh, human.''”

When she raised her head, she showed off the most demonic of faces.

“I came up with this plan myself, but it was you who gave me the final push, Hamazura Shiage. So I hope your soul shatters from the guilt of unnecessarily making yourself responsible for the countless corpses soon to litter the entire globe! …Adikalika!! O master of death and blood, incarnation of destruction, and black goddess of the 11th letter, break the current world’s pillar of good and submerge the very planet in an ocean of black blood!!!”

The world shined.

Behind Great Demon Coronzon, at the center of the empty space where the Windowless Building once stood, space itself was emitting a pale light as if something were gathering there. The pillar of light’s glow strengthened in stages. It was already past the point of no return.

In that moment, Hamazura Shiage smiled. While squeezing his collapsed and unmoving girlfriend’s hand.

Just a bit.

As if he were at the train station sadly seeing off a friend who was moving away.



“Sorry I couldn’t give you a world you can accept.”

“~ ~ ~!!!?”



Never before.

Not even once.

No one had never accepted that great demon and even she had failed to accept her own function and thus chose to curse god and herself, so she looked like she badly wanted to say something.

She had clearly lost.

Kamijou Touma, Accelerator, Aleister Crowley, and even Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers had all failed to bring that look to her face.

Of pain.

And anguish.

She began to say something.

“Hamazur-”

She never finished.

The light exploded.

===Part 5===

Shortly before that.

Kamijou Touma lay collapsed on the ground, half buried in red snow.

Something was wrong with his body. He couldn’t seem to get up.

He actually felt no pain, making it hard to figure out what part of him was broken. In his state, the lack of a bloody smell actually seemed unnatural. So he guesses his senses were acting up too.

He had been damaged in some lethal way.

That much he was somehow certain of.

Even so, he glared out of eyes that could barely see anything anymore.

Someone was talking.

Hamazura Shiage and Great Demon Coronzon.

They were preparing to do something decisive.

He didn’t know the details.

His ears weren’t working right. Even his brain was nearly dead and he couldn’t manage to break down and comprehend human language.

Even so.

He understood.

If the current sequence of events wasn’t stopped here, then it ''truly was'' all over.

So he slowly moved his right hand.

Stretching it out.

It would never reach.

Even though it was right over there. He could see the glowing pillar of Adikalika from here, yet it was just too far away.

Was it no use?



He understood what Great Demon Coronzon had said.



Something other than his physical strength was on his mind.

He always fought using his clenched fist, but even he thought it was a raw deal.

No one would want the job of tearing people apart. All she could do was was choose to rebel. What she did wasn’t on the level of forcing someone to give up on a reckless dream because they would be happier that way in the long run. She really did just tear relationships apart. Nothing more than that. She already didn’t like it, but she wasn’t even allowed an excuse for herself as she did it. And this naturally led to everyone else loathing her. If you were told that was all you could ever do until you were dead and gone, of course you would despair. And since the angels and demons were higher beings than humans, it had to be all the more unbearable to have nothing but that function.

She would want to change it if she could.

She wanted to reject it.

Kamijou thought those were natural reactions.



He understood.



But he didn’t want the current world to be destroyed.

He didn’t want the people living there to be hurt.

He wasn’t talking about the Magic Gods, Transcendents, or other special humans whose special powers and abilities would make their deaths a great loss for the world as a whole.

He was thinking of the dumb conversations at school and all the nonsense that happened in his dorm room.

He wanted to protect those ordinary things.

He wanted the ordinary things to continue being ordinary.

Without fear.

Without trembling at the possibility of being lost.

Wouldn’t it have started out that way for Coronzon too?

Wasn’t it because she understood the importance of people’s small and ordinary feelings that she couldn’t forgive this world for requiring a person who tore people apart, that brought her despair in having that role forced onto her, and that had ultimately led her to rebel against heaven?

Was this what she really wanted to do?

Was it really right to let the victor destroy the entire world without getting any clear answers to these questions?

If the world really ended now…

If Coronzon herself wasn’t sure if she would gain anything from her victory…

Then how could the humans accept their impending deaths!?

(Someone…)

Kamijou’s throat was dry as a bone.

Maybe even the mucous membranes inside his body had been scorched.

(I don’t care who.)

Even so.

What could he do?

It could be anything, he just didn’t want to give up.

He forced his throat to move as if peeling it apart.

And still collapsed, the boy only had one thing to say. As if in prayer.

“…………H…………e…………l…………p…………”

===Part 6===

“You got it.” “You got it.”

===Part 7===

It sounded like a song.

The lovely girl’s voice controlled everything.



“ATOA. JOEAGTTA.(Alter target of Adikalika. Jump over Europe and go to the Atlantic.)”



And…

“What…?”

Great Demon Coronzon turned her gaze aside.

She knew Adikalika had ''activated''.

It had been launched.

But she didn’t understand.

Why hadn’t she sensed the result?

Her eyes widened past the limit and viewed someplace other than here before groaning.

“It was released. The Adikalika large-scale attack spell was launched… So why isn’t the Italian Peninsula submerged in a sea of blood, flesh, and bone!?”

“Because you redirected it yourself. Although it was my Spell Intercept that made you do it.”

The response was calm.

It was a girl’s voice.

“That spell targets a land named by humans and it brings slaughter to everyone there. That means it won’t have any effect if it’s sent somewhere without a name. It was short hair’s idea. She said Japan has a lot of unnamed islands that are only identified with numbers. And other countries do that too.”

“Damn…you.”

“No matter how big the spell, no matter how intricate the preparation, and even if it is carried out by a higher being far greater than humans…magic is still magic. The spells of angels and demons are based on the same foundation, but did it never occur to you that they could therefore be obstructed by humans?”

“You mean the filthy tongue of a mere human was violating my mind!?”

Coronzon raged, spread her wings wide, and began to yell, but she was forced to fall back a few steps.

Because of something flying in at three times the speed of sound.

With a “boom!!!”, the air was fiercely compressed a moment later.

After catching the projectile in her palm, she could tell what it was. It was half melted, but that was an ordinary arcade coin.

“Oh? Well, that’s unusual. I’ve seen a few people send it back with their reflection, gravity, or some other cheap ability…but I never thought I’d see an idiot catch it with pure brute strength. Oh, wait. Those Magic God people could do that, couldn’t they?”

“Damn you… Damn you both…”

Coronzon growled the words like a deadly curse.

As if the repetition would build up her resentment.

The “zap!!” of a high-voltage current burst out.

Hamazura Shiage had tried something and received a lightning spear, sending him down onto the red snow.

Now Coronzon really was alone.

She had begun this plan alone, but for some reason she now felt a hole in her heart. And not a small one either.

And.

The pillar of light was gone.

The Adikalika large-scale attack spell had been launched, but only launched.

Not a single person had died.

This miracle had not been brought about by Kamijou Touma.

But this was clearly the result that loser had asked for.

“Alice Anotherbible and Anna Sprengel never made it here. Yet you outsiders did? It doesn’t add up. If you could just walk here, they wouldn’t have used parachutes!!”

Coronzon began ranting, but she soon stopped.

Her accumulation of resentment had ceased.

She was empty.

No, she had realized there was a precedent.

Hadn’t Anna Kingsford done something similar in hell?

And hadn’t ''the other Anna'' been here?

In other words…

“No, it isn’t just that those two never arrived. Did they intentionally ''give up'' their spots!? To ensure these two could reach the center!? Did they use magical tricks to let them pass straight through the invisible labyrinth without my noticing!?”

No voice answered her.

Instead, the two girls took a step toward Coronzon.

Straight toward her.

“Do you really have time for that? Unlike Touma, you don’t have anyone coming to save you.”

“I don’t know what any of this great demon stuff is about, but I hope you don’t think you can hurt my idiot this badly and get away with it.”



Index of the magical world.

Misaka Mikoto of the scientific world.



Those two girls had heard a certain boy’s cry.

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