Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume15 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 11===

Kamijou didn’t need to be told that.

But Narthex’s specialty wasn’t grimoires. That was Index’s territory. Since they were rival projects run in parallel, Lola Stuart – that is, Great Demon Coronzon – must have designed her for a different specialty.

Also, Narthex Coded Sanctuary didn’t fight with just the magic side.

“This room could use more ventilation. And so could you!!”

The air in the room groaned. District 23 specialized in high-tech aerospace technology, so the Black_Oneday hacking tool could provide any number of weapons here.

Narthex pet the head of the plush bear in her small hand.

''Boom!!!

Immediately, the underground command center’s wall was torn down from the outside. The place had to be sturdier than a nuclear shelter, but she didn’t hesitate at all!?

Birdway shouted through clenched teeth.

“That must have been a drone. She’ll have plenty of bunker killer missiles based on the marine rockets used to dig into the ocean floor and retrieve samples. Hey, Kamijou Touma. Leave the command center. Otherwise you’ll be shredded to mincemeat before you can even try to fight her directly!!”

Narthex was still standing there.

She touched the plush bear to give her next command. Again with no hesitation.

She didn’t seem to see any value in the underground command center that acted as the heart of the base.

“Wh-what about Hamazura and the others!?”

“You don’t have time to worry about them! Move out in the open and you’ll be sprayed with bullets!!”

''If'' Narthex was being rational, she wouldn’t order an attack that would hit Hamazura. …But how much could he trust the thoughts of ''a Coronzon worshiper''?

Kamijou’s group didn’t have time to work out where would be safe.

More and more of the walls and ceiling were torn down. They would be buried alive if they stayed here, so they had to keep running.

“What is this place?”

They found themselves in a wide-open space. It wasn’t well lit, but the size was the main reason Kamijou couldn’t see to the other side.

Lessar sounded annoyed.

“Is this where Academy City’s fighters and attack helicopters are managed?”

While Kamijou was from Academy City, that didn’t mean he knew all about the interior of the city’s military facilities. Especially with a drone airbase.

And Lessar had just said something he couldn’t ignore.

“Wait… If this is where the drones are kept, does that mean they could come here!?”

“It would seem you all want to die.”

They heard a voice from the entrance. It was Narthex Coded Cathedral.

Heavy metallic noises came from a different direction.

A Six Wings attack helicopter emerged from the shadows.

This was an underground facility. As large as the room was, it wasn’t tall enough for an aircraft to fly around.

But it wasn’t flying.

The six wings it was named for were forcibly moving to let it ''crawl''. Its guns and autocannons were crushed below its own weight.

“Watch out for the floor. It seems to be reinforced with steel beams, but I can see something through the gaps.”

“Is this a multilevel hangar? That means we could ''break through'' if we overdo it. This isn’t getting any easier.”

Birdway clicked her tongue.

Narthex touched the plush bear…and operated the trackball installed within it.

She didn’t hesitate to speak.



“Do it.”



The 30ton mass charged forward.

That was deadly enough on its own given a large semi-truck or tanker truck weighed 10 tons, but it was too forceful. It was effectively robbing itself of its guns and missiles this way.

No.

That was an unmanned attack helicopter, so it would have no problem with crushing its own missiles or shells and exploding from within. Because the shockwave and shrapnel would shred Kamijou.

“Weakling,” spat Birdway.

“Hee hee. Once I win, make sure to use my name when you compliment me, you dumb-as-shit little girl.”

Lessar stepped forward and threw something. Even though Kamijou could have sworn she had been empty-handed a moment before.

A flat piece of stone even more precise than a ruler drew out an erratic course like a boomerang.

“Thou art valiant yet no match for the thunder god, but I shall even make use of thy defeat. Whetstone of Hrungnir, shatter and pierce!!”

Stone scattershot flew out 360 degrees around the point it hit.

The crawling Six Wings tilted unnaturally.

Lessar appeared to have thrown a projectile at the arm’s joint to prevent anything from detonating.

But even broken and off balance, the Six Wings did not stop. It was now in a position resembling a formal bow…which meant its main rotor was tilted diagonally toward them as it made its next move.

“Uh, oh,” groaned Kamijou.

The main rotor rotated with great force. Like a giant blender blade intent on slicing through everything in the world. It stirred up the air into a gale as the Six Wings, missing a few of its arms, scraped its fuselage against the floor in its forced approach.

“Run, run, run! Get behind a pillar or something!!”

“That pillar’s too skinny. That thing can slice right through a steel beam.”

Then did they have to destroy the Six Wings?

Despite what the term “aircraft” would suggest, attack helicopters were meant to attack tanks and armored trucks on the ground. So their engine was located at the point hardest to target from below.

And with the Six Wings approaching with its main rotor tilted toward them, ''that point was now right in front of them.'' They couldn’t stop the deadly rotating blade without destroying the engine, but a magical projectile from Lessar or Birdway would most likely cause the jet fuel to explode.

Imagine Breaker was the only card in Kamijou’s deck, so no one expected anything from him to begin with. He could only shout in a panic.

“Wh-what do we do!?”

“Eliminate the threat, obviously,” spat Birdway with a glance toward Lessar. “Hey, weakling. The cabal boss’s life is in your hands. If I die because you didn’t do your job, the Dawn-Colored Sunlight will be forced to head out on a hunting picnic, so be careful.”

“Gyehhh. This is why I didn’t want to be this selfish little girl’s bodyguard. Every part of the job is a deadly gamble!!”

Birdway already held some kind of metal wand. Kamijou hadn’t even seen her pull it out. And compressed flames hovered at the end of it.

If she carelessly launched that, it would cause everything to explode, blowing them all to smither-

“Hot and dry. That is, the fire of fire. I’ll blow you away Mathers-style, small fry!!”

There was nothing Kamijou could do. He could only watch as the orange fireball was launched.

And exploded.

But there wasn’t just one explosion. The jet fuel was dangerous enough, but the shells and missiles carried within the Six Wings detonated too.

The steel beams below their feet bent and a portion of the floor groaned. The movement of the smoke was odd. A slight breeze was blowing in from the lower level. The floor was designed for aircraft weighing dozens of tons, but this had caused it to collapse.

However…

“Magic is such a threat to science because it can brute force its way through these things.”

They were all unharmed.

Because Lessar had held out her palm and activated something.

It looked like a glowing translucent wall.

If they had a way to protect them all from a military weapon exploding at close range, they could blow away as many of those unmanned Six Wings as necessary. Magic really was a brute force power found by pursuing wisdom far enough.

''But.

“Hee hee.”

The magicians surviving the scientific Six Wings had not put a dent in Narthex’s composure.

Solid snapping sounds came from her.

Did they come from the back of her neck…or from her back?

Birdway grinned.

“That would be the branches. The physical connections are used to alter her second brain’s thought circuits.”

In other words, she could switch between using magical encryption or the scientific hacking tool.

She could switch between two modes corresponding to the two worlds.

“If you would prefer to be killed by one or the other, let me know soon.”

Narthex’s bewitching smile looked out of place on her small body.

But learning this external sign gave Kamijou’s side an advantage.

She held out her empty hand – the one not holding the plush bear.

Yes. Narthex Coded Cathedral could use more than just the scientific hacking tool.

Her lips formed a smile and then whispered.



“''Seal''.”



Leivinia Birdway stiffened.

She suddenly came to a stop in the middle of battle.

“!?”

“What’s wrong, Birdway!? If you have a trump card, use it now!!”

Kamijou shouted wide-eyed, but the small girl’s eyes remained lowered to her hands.

Birdway, the Dawn-Colored Sunlight’s boss, was trembling.

“…I can’t.”

“What?”

“I was just using spells without even thinking about it…but now I don’t know how. No, ''was the neural pathway sealed, temporarily preventing me from remembering how''!?”

“Wait, wait, wait. I don’t have the talent of a powerful cabal boss. You can’t take away the one or two things an average person like me can do! Then I’ll just be a normal human!”

Lessar blanched and abandoned the spell she had been frantically trying to compose.

Memories.

Was this the opposite of Index who kept having hers taken?

If the sealer could predict what card you would play before you used it, you could never use it again.

Narthex was designed for anti-magician combat. She was a different sort of wizard killer from Grimoire Library Index. She rejected the mystical side of her enemy.

Kamijou had known this wouldn’t be easy, but she was an even more dangerous foe than he had expected!

He couldn’t bear to look at Birdway and Lessar who had immediately been taken out of the fight. He frantically raised his voice.

“Wh-what do we do? If that’s magic, I can destroy it with Imagine Breaker, but do you have a weird magic circle on your body or something? What part of you am I supposed to touch to fix this!?”

“I don’t know! Just touch me all over and give me lots of head pats!!”

He had a feeling he couldn’t trust what panicked Lessar was saying. Since he couldn’t expect much from the magicians, was Imagine Breaker all he had?

Only that. …When the enemy had her pick of magic or science!