Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume16 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 10===

The bent remnants of metal bars and what had once been a thick stone wall were strewn across the cold prison corridor.

The sound of heavy steel bouncing across the stone floor continued for a while.

Narthex had…not done this.

She hadn’t done anything at all.

The stone wall and metal bars imprisoning Hamazura Shiage had been blasted out from the cell to the corridor. Which only made sense if…''it was done by the person inside that cell.

“…”

Slowly, Hamazura stepped out into the damp, musty corridor.

It looked a lot like he had grabbed the sturdy metal bars and pushed them forward. But he hadn’t. This was a Tower of London cell. The bars here wouldn’t be destroyed so easily.

The distinction between cell and corridor had vanished.

It had all been destroyed.

It was all a single box now.

Narthex suddenly fell from where she had been hanging from something invisible. Hamazura caught her in his arms. As lightly as a feather.

“Khah!”

A choking sound.

A choke of restored breath.

It came from the mouth of the girl he held: Narthex Coded Cathedral. She didn’t seem to understand what had happened to her. And she looked up at the face of the boy who held her.

In utter consternation.

“Ha…ma…? Cough…krjaiv, buyanrl…”

Part of her statement was incomprehensible. But not because her voice was shaking or hoarse. She may have used words unpronounceable by humans.

“…giebdod. qgtisnkgbikl…”

The black and red sandy stuff had stopped.

Hamazura had reclaimed the girl who could cry actual tears.

But he hadn’t saved Narthex yet.

There had to be something lurking within.

He couldn’t just clean her up on the outside. Those black and red fish eggs had come from ''within her''.

And for that matter, there were the standards, the society, the world, the common knowledge – the SYSTEM – that wouldn’t leave a villain be. The giant gears keeping the world in motion were tormenting this small body.

If he wanted to save her, he had to act.

He had to do something.

Yes.

Narthex was not the one in control here.

Hamazura Shiage stood at the center.

The Eleven Court Officers were observing the phenomenon as the executors of justice.

But what had happened here? Needless to say, it was the Eleven Court Officers who ensured the Tower of London’s court operated correctly. The job and duty given to them required they manage it in that way. So how had control of this scene been taken from their hands by the puny helper who was only here to make Narthex suffer!?

Besides, it didn’t even make sense.

He broke the metal bars?

This court and prison had been built with the Anglicans’ world-class abilities in the field of imprisoning wicked magicians. This was something not even an expert magician could manage. There was no other explanation.

Sheila Judicial of the Eleven Court Officers spoke.



“Answer us. What did you just-”

“''Shut your mouth, worm.''”



That was exactly what happened.

Those arrogant Eleven Court Officers were briefly intimidated into silence.

By no more than a puny boy.

They pressured people with their strength and their numbers. Their system decided on a sentence with no concern for the truth of what had happened. If this was the true essence of justice, then Hamazura had no need for it.

He didn’t care if none of the 8 billion people out there supported his decision.

He would do what it took to save this girl who was about to be killed.

(How long…)

He was at his limit.

He felt like his anger would fry his brain.

Anger at the Eleven Court Officers? Or the Anglican Church? No.

None of them mattered.

The anger burning his brain was directed at Narthex.

He wasn’t going to accept that as a way to live your life.

He wouldn’t accept this as a favor for Coronzon.

Space itself seemed to pulsate. The black patterns scattered across the walls, floor, ceiling, and everything else here began to contract on their own, making it all look like a giant heart. Like it was trying to swallow limp Narthex whole.

Sitra Achra.

Sealing magic – the magical encryption used to hide the world’s wisdom – had been used to gather it from across the world. It was in fact a crystal of the Telesma that formed Coronzon.

The idea had been to break down the barrier between phases and create an environment where the great demon was more easily summoned, hadn’t it?

''Something'' would happen soon.

By sacrificing the life of the girl named Narthex.

…Even though Coronzon had tried to destroy the current cruel world and make a new just world in its place because she hated and couldn’t allow things like that to happen. But Coronzon’s feelings were being trampled on as ''it'' called out to forcibly awaken her from the depths. Against her wishes.

He couldn’t let that happen.

This was forcing something that shouldn’t be.

A Coronzon resurrected this way wouldn’t be the same.

If she couldn’t lament the world and proclaim her own justice from the side of evil…then she really would be an incomprehensible monster.

(How long, how long?)

Narthex trembled irregularly in his arms.

Something beyond human understanding left her lips.

“lpb…no… Wklhdmyuc…run…”

She writhed.

It didn’t feel like he was holding a young girl. She felt more like a bag packed full of hot mud.

Narthex had done this herself after being pushed so hard by those eleven.

This was Coronzon’s power.

There was probably no distinction between her and the Sitra Achra now.

Even the close relationship between mother and sister would not protect her life here. Because her power had been remade into this spell. The idea had been to turn everything in this world into a tool for the summoning, so the process here would consume the walls, the air, the people, and even the small girl herself equally.

Hamazura was beyond being surprised by the worst case scenario.

''Yeah, it figures.

He spat the words quietly.

This wasn’t the ending Coronzon had wanted.

It wouldn’t bring happiness to Narthex either.

A human being had drawn on all her strength and even decided to sacrifice her life, but the world or society had shut it all out, only allowing this one possible ending.

No matter how hard anyone tried, it would only amount to this.

With no exception or special dispensation.

Even the last shred of goodness left within a villain would be stamped out without a moment’s hesitation. Any attempt at atonement would be viewed as a nuisance and rejected.

(How long, how long, how long?)

He was a Level 0?

He was of no scientific help whatsoever?

So what?

If no one else would save Narthex, then it was up to him to face her. No matter what rules he had to break, no matter tricks he had to use, and no matter how much he had to cheat.

He wouldn’t ask permission from justice. He would do what he wanted.

He had decided so.

(''How long'' was I going to continue clinging to the very system that abandoned me, hoping it would toss me some scraps? This world, its society, its systems, and its people aren’t going to save us. If I do that, there’s no possible way a bunch of coincidences are going to come together just right to save Narthex. That’s not how life works, is it?)

Of course, none of Hamazura’s convictions would change that he was a Level 0.

Those scientific measurements could not be shaken. Nothing he did now could change them. He could pour all his efforts into it, but his esper power would never grow beyond where it was.

But.

He had met Dion Fortune. He had encountered Magic Gods Nephthys and Niang-Niang. And he had taken Coronzon’s hand in order to save Fortune after she was scattered in the wind as a deck of tarot cards.

So he had to get it by this point, didn’t he?

You didn’t need inborn talent.

He knew there was another form of the supernatural that operated an an entirely different logic from the esper development supported by scientific knowledge.

He had even been personally taught about it. By none other than Coronzon!!

So.

“…name…not…”

While holding the limp girl.

He clenched his hand as if clutching his heart through his clothes.

He completely ignored the ''rusty flavor'' spreading from deep in his throat.

And the boy roared.



“Choronzon333 – My name does not reject absolute evil!!!”

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