Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume13 Epilogue

==Epilogue: Another – 4th_HERO.==

“Phew.”

Alice Anotherbible let out a white breath.

Even she, the prototype Transcendent, had used so much power she had to catch her breath.

Index and Misaka Mikoto.

She had sent those two girls on ahead.

While ensuring the source of all this trouble didn’t notice.

That had opened a “hole”, but she remained trapped inside the invisible labyrinth. That modern labyrinth kept her from her destination no matter how far she walked and it was a much bigger problem than the blonde hair scouts which appeared more threatening.

She had done it with brute force, but she had opened a hole.

She understood the logic behind it.

Next to her, Anna Sprengel released a white breath of her own and looked up into the sky with annoyance. She was another extreme, a being too irregular to call a Transcendent.

Red snow fell from the night sky.

Cold concrete buildings surrounded them in all four directions.

Meaning…

“Dammit, Coronzon. She used the gray concrete as a replacement for the thick screen of freezing snow that causes people to get lost in a mountain blizzard, didn’t she? And so we’ve been wandering a labyrinth where we think we’re walking in a straight line but end up circling the same block over and over again.”

“Right.”

Tonight was snowy and thick clouds covered the sky above. There were no landmarks.

However, it likely wouldn’t have mattered if there was a moon in the sky. Knowing the direction wouldn’t be enough to escape this dungeon.

Human senses were fragile.

It was simplest to think of it like a room with green screens covering the walls, floor, and ceiling, but people could easily lose track of distance and direction when their vision was all colored a single, unchanging hue. When pushed to the limit, people would wander into places they shouldn’t be and even begin to doubt the accurate data provided by their map or compass. Once that happened, they would only sink further. Strange things happened in the mountains. Maybe so, but a few of them were the result of people unwittingly passing the limits of their body’s functions.

Magician Aleister, the creator of Magick, had also been a mountain climber. That may have played a role in how he shaped his spells.

“But the girl opened a hole once, so she can do it again in the same way. Let’s try again once the girl has managed to charge up again.”

“Assuming Coronzon hasn’t applied any countermeasures.”

Which she would have. She wasn’t a foe you could use the same move against over and over.

These two were out of the loop now.

They hadn’t been fully driven from the scene, but their arrival would be much too late.

The two young(-looking) girls heard a voice from overhead.

“Oh?”

That was the Bologna Succubus with Blodeuwedd the Bouquet hanging down by one huge arm of her metal coat.

Not even looking down from the sky was enough to escape the labyrinth. Just like you couldn’t rescue people from a mountain blizzard using a helicopter.

The super skinny apron girl looked surprised.

“What are you doing, Alice? It’s not like you to give up your feast to someone else☆”

“She’s finally maturing,” remarked the Bologna Succubus.



“Heh heh.

Silently, the red snow continued to fall.

Great Demon Coronzon looked up into the starless night sky and laughed.

It was a laugh of pure scorn.

“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 ha!!!”

“Oh, was there some funny joke I missed?” asked an exasperated Mikoto.

Coronzon answered with her fit of laughter continuing.

“Funny? Yes, funny indeed! My, my. Adikalika really was a poor choice. The spell structure was a bit too delicate, so it could have broken or even shattered had I poured my full strength into a defense at this close range. …But that ends now. No longer will I be disturbed by such trifles. I can finally draw on my full strength. Gya ha ha, and what could be funnier than that!? Bfh, gh, ha ha ha hee!!”

“Full strength?”

Mikoto frowned and Coronzon came to a complete stop and explained.

Without reservation.

“Everything before was just a rehash from the previous battle. Did I do anything new?”

A rehash.

“Some of my power nearly overflowed with Qliphah Puzzle 545, but that was all. If not for that, Kamijou Touma and the rest of you would have been instantly smashed into meatballs before you even arrived here. Grimoire library, do you perhaps understand the relevant values and units here? Heh heh. You should know all too well that Great Demon Coronzon is at least an international threat and not someone any individual should attempt to fight. Bwa ha!! Oh, I can’t help it. Sorry, but I just can’t. Hwa ha ha ha ha!!”

Index didn’t bother answering.

She cut right to something more important.

“You mean Adikalika wasn’t your goal?”

“Not really, no.”

Once again, Coronzon admitted it with terrifyingly little reservation.

Despite everything.

“Adikalika was just one possible method. I wasn’t all that attached to it. Make no mistake. My priority is the ends, not the means. I can begin the end of the world somewhere else. In the very near future.”

“How near…?”

“''Tomorrow if I wanted to.'' From somewhere on the other side of the world from Academy City. Yes, maybe from Brazil in the Southern Hemisphere.”

Coronzon sounded almost puzzled.

And then she burst out laughing.

“Bwa ha!! Wait, don’t tell me. You didn’t think Adikalika was my one and only trump card, did you? I am Great Demon Coronzon, guardian of wisdom in the great tree and the traitor who stole that knowledge. Kee hee hee hee hee hee. Every last one of my fingers and toes wouldn’t be enough to count the ways I know to submerge the planet in a sea of blood!! Bwa nya ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Coronzon had several cards in her deck.

She had no pressing reason to insist on victory here at this moment.

She was already the strongest and she wanted to rid herself of that loathsome power. No failure for her would weaken her. She might be interrupted and driven to failure by humans, but she would retain her full power.

So as long as she was willing to keep going, she could accept any number of losses.

She wasn’t like Fiamma of the Right or Magic God Othinus who had bet everything on a single opportunity.

Coronzon’s evil nature was stickier, harder to get rid of, and hopeless.

Had she had her fill of laughter?

After wiping a tear from her eye, Coronzon finally returned to a serious expression.

“Hee hee. But now I know what to do next. …You two are first on the list. I seriously doubt you could disturb any of my other trump cards, but you did manage to stop me this once. So I will eliminate you before this silly countermeasure can spread to the rest of the riffraff. Then I can take my time as I get to work. And without having to look after Adikalika, I won’t have any limits holding me back!! Or do I need to put it plain words for you? From now on, I will be at my full power!!!”

This was all the more reason for Index and Misaka Mikoto to fight.

Great Demon Coronzon.

The destruction of the world didn’t even come into it. Did she realize that the mess she had made of the city was unforgivable enough? That destruction of their ordinary and everyday was sufficient. Index and Mikoto weren’t trying to rack up a high score by saving people all around the globe. They couldn’t stand to see just one nearby person die.

Something audibly beat against the air.

The great demon had spread her enormous wings wide.

She had readily abandoned the Adikalika fight. Which gave her freedom.

There was an exaggerated element to her behavior, like she was only enjoying an event.

“Now, come!! One of you is the Grimoire Library full of knowledge gathered to fight back against the modern Western magic developed by Magician Crowley and the other is a Level 5 produced by former Board Chairman Aleister. …The perfect combination for the world’s final attempt to fight back. It is time I went around crushing each and every sliver of hope he left in this world so that I can wring the bloody tears from his soul and watch that soul turn blacker and blacker!!”

A high-pitched cling rang out.

It came from the arcade coin flicked up by Misaka Mikoto’s thumb.

“I don’t understand anything you’re going on about, but I hope you don’t think you’ve defeated everything the #3 can throw at you just because you stopped a Railgun head on. These powers are all in how you use them. There are only seven Level 5s, but that isn’t because no one else has this kind of firepower. I’ll show you the wide range of applications that sets the seven of us apart!!”

“…”

Misaka Mikoto was eager to get started, but Index looked pale.

Perhaps because she was from the magic side.

And therefore had a better understanding of what they were up against.

Great Demon Coronzon was still confident enough to play around. As she had said, sporadically throwing individual power against her was not the appropriate strategy for full-power Coronzon.

Othinus whispered from Index’s shoulder.

“(Don’t be intimidated. That will only guide you in the wrong direction. As a god of war, I know that all too well.)”

“Right. But…”

“(You find it disturbing how easily she gave up on Adikalika after putting so much effort into it? She claims she doesn’t care because she has plenty more options for destroying the world? Nonsense. She can laugh, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s panicking after her plan fell apart. She’s currently trying to recover from that failure and is desperate to stay in control ''so she can reuse as much of her plan as possible.'' So as a god of deception, I tell you: do not be deceived. You’ve driven her right up to the precipice. You have no reason to let up now.)”

“Even so…”

“(And if Coronzon is a great demon of knowledge, than you of all people have no reason to fear her. As a god of magic, I assure you: the knowledge in your head is in no way inferior to the knowledge she clings to so preciously. The two of you are equal.)”

“…”

All of this had occurred to Index already.

The problem was Index’s inability to refine her life force into magic power. That meant she could not use the knowledge of her 103,001 grimoires to wield magic herself.

She also couldn’t force that role onto Misaka Mikoto since that girl was a scientific esper. If an esper did force themselves to use magic, it could easily cause severe damage to their blood vessels and nerves. Othinus also couldn’t do it after being shrunk to 15cm and Index couldn’t expect anything from the cat in her arms.

So they weren’t enough.

Grimoire Library Index knew that before the fight even began.

Battling that great demon on even footing would require a clash of knowledge against knowledge.

That required a magician.

A human magician.

They were missing a crucial piece needed to battle Great Demon Coronzon head on!!



Just then.

She heard a voice.



“There’s…still…”

It came from Kamijou Touma.

Coronzon frowned. She supposedly contained all the world’s knowledge, yet this truly baffled her.

He couldn’t even get up, much less fight, so why wouldn’t he just play dead?

Why would he draw attention to himself? What could he do at this point?

He had already lost.

Kamijou Touma had lost. Accelerator had lost. Even Hamazura Shiage was no longer moving.

But…

“There’s still…someone…” whispered the puny boy.

Was that all he could manage even after gathering the very last of his strength?

Even so…

“Long before us. Long, long before any of us were born, there was a hero who’s been fighting this cruelty all along. Fighting against the world and losing, but refusing to give up and getting back up. There’s ''another'' who eventually built this city and gave so many people the power to fight without having to give up!”

“What…?”

“Isn’t that right, ''Aleister''!!?”

Great Demon Coronzon froze.

For just one definite moment.

And.



''Crack!!

The sound of cracks running through something rang out from within Coronzon’s chest.

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