Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume14 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===

Midnight.

The world was meant to be tumbling toward destruction at this time, but Academy City remained intact. But that wouldn’t last if Great Demon Coronzon was allowed to get away. Then the overtime they had earned would only delay that doom until tomorrow.

The red snow had absorbed the explosive soot, dust, and other impurities produced by a warlike situation, but it had ceased.

“Sitra Achra… I knew the theory, but I never imagined I would see it for myself,” said Index in a daze.

Othinus emerged from the white hood and moved to Kamijou’s shoulder.

Wasn’t that the thing Coronzon had used to blow away the thick clouds overhead?

The only one here who seemed sleepy was the calico cat in the girl’s arms.

“That doesn’t help us,” whispered mourning clothes Mikoto, her voice low. “A clear night sky will only allow the temperature to drop thanks to radiative cooling. The red snow has stopped, but there’s enough on the ground to keep traffic a mess. All it did is make this city even more deadly.”

Snow plowing, distributing food, distributing warm clothing – there was a lot that had to be done. But Coronzon was the greatest threat and, until she had been dealt with, everyone had to focus on her. They couldn’t afford to dedicate sufficient manpower to those other tasks.

They had to end this before someone died.

…And Kamijou was also worried about Human Aleister, who remained inside the great demon.

“Teacher!”

“Fool, explain the situation.”

A few more people approached at a run.

Alice Anotherbible, Anna Sprengel, and some more.

Coronzon had mentioned some spatial trickery preventing them from approaching this place…but that must have stopped functioning after she chose to run.

Kamijou intended to give a succinct explanation, but Index and Mikoto joined the conversation too. Even Othinus tugged on his ear from his shoulder. A lot more people than he thought had questions.

He looked up to see the friendly(?) flying pair of the Bologna Succubus and Blodeuwedd the Bouquet. The term “air support” sounded so reassuring at the moment.

He saw another winged girl too.

That one was the artificial demon Qliphah Puzzle 545.

“Wh-what about my master? Has the Board Chairman come to yet?”

“Dammit, I don’t think we can except any support from him. We’ll just have to do this ourselves.”

“~ ~ ~!!!”

With some noisy flapping, Qliphah Puzzle 545 rapidly took flight.

“Where is she going?” asked Alice Anotherbible, tilting her head up toward the night sky.

She may have been on her way to Accelerator’s secret base. Kamijou didn’t bother stopping her. He didn’t know what she intended to do, but if Accelerator was unconscious, he would need someone’s support.

A loud voice reached him from elsewhere.

It belonged to Kanzaki Kaori.

The Anglicans had to have tens of thousands of people in Academy City.

“We must set up a surveillance network centered on District 7. With her wings damaged, Coronzon will be limited to travel on foot. If you do spot her, do not attempt to face her on your own. Make sure to share the information you receive with your own eyes and ears. Losing that information will only give her a chance to escape!”

She was one of the world’s fewer than twenty Saints.

Kamijou had heard she could run at supersonic speed if she wanted to, but she was matching the others’ speed now.

“I can’t push my body too hard.” Looking composed, Kanzaki answered Kamijou’s gaze. “I will of course remove that limitation once Coronzon has been sighted, but I want to avoid breaking the sound barrier without a solid lead. Because I don’t want to be too worn out to fight by the time I do reach her.”

He doubted that was her only reason.

In the end, Kanzaki was afraid. They were up against Great Demon Coronzon. What if she moved out ahead, leaving her allies behind, and Coronzon snuck in from behind? Then the allies she had left behind in supposed safety would be killed one after another. She most feared a situation like that where only she and her Saintly luck managed to survive.

The red snow crunched below several feet.

More and more magic side pursuers were arriving: Tatemiya Saiji and Itsuwa of the Amakusas, Agnese and Lucia of the former Catholics, and the standard Anglicans.

They needed as much help as they could get.

Academy City covered around a third of Tokyo and contained a population of 2.3 million. They had to find and apprehend a single individual fleeing through that city. Kamijou had no idea if they could actually do it, but the world would be destroyed if they failed tonight.

His entire body ached.

He even felt like something was wrong with the connections between his bones.

But he clenched his teeth and spoke as if directing a challenge toward Kanzaki, who had taken charge.

“I’m going too. I’m the one fought Coronzon and let her escape. I’m responsible for this, so use me for whatever’s necessary.”

“But…”

“Aleister answered my call. He must still be fighting against Coronzon, so I can’t just go lie in a hospital bed!”

Kanzaki Kaori sighed softly.

She looked away from him and toward Index and Mikoto.

“Always have at least two people with you who you can rely on. I am not permitting you to act on your own.”

“I know I’m asking a lot! Thank-”

“Don’t push your luck. I honestly think it would be a lot simpler to knock you out with a punch to the gut, but that would be too cruel given your injuries. I don’t want to overdo it and kill you.”

…How was he supposed to react to something like that?

Kanzaki Kaori continued in complete seriousness.

“You are in a terrible state. If you refuse to let others support you, I really will knock you out. So choose whichever option you consider safer.”

She likely only made such a swift decision because of how pressing the situation was.

“Fool,” said Anne Sprengel. “Coronzon is on her way to escape Academy City even now.”

“Yes,” agreed Index. “We need to stop her before she crosses the wall and is released into the wider world.”

Kamijou nodded at them both.

Kanzaki reacted with exasperation.

“You really don’t change, do you? I don’t know if I should call you reckless or what.”

“Sorry, but I’m not going to die so easily. I swore I wouldn’t waste this life granted to me in hell.”

For some reason, the earnestness of this response made Kanzaki recoil.

But what about an ordinary high school boy could frighten a great Saint like her?

“Heyyy!” called down a voice overhead.

The Bologna Succubus had descended to circle slowly in the night sky above. With Blodeuwedd the Bouquet dangling from her. The low angle was terribly risque when the girl was only wearing a naked apron below the thick metal coat.

“Still no hints for tracking down Coronzon? Then we’ll fly back up and continue our search.”

“W-wait. I thought magicians weren’t suppose to fly! Wasn’t there some weird rule about flying being easy but bringing you down also being easy!?”

“We can survive even if we are brought down, so no worries. In fact, being brought down would tell us Coronzon is nearby, so it would actually be good news.”

With that said, the Bologna Succubus swung Blodeuwedd the Bouquet around in one hand and ascended back into the night sky.

Yet a lively voice still came from Kanzaki’s hand. …So was Kanzaki holding some kind of communication spiritual item?

“As a lover of the unloved, I’ve honestly taken an interest in Coronzon too.”

Kamijou’s jaw dropped.

(Wait, wait, don’t tell me some weird flag has been triggered in Blodeuwedd the Bouquet!)

But he was afraid a careless question about it would push her in the wrong direction.

The Bologna Succubus’s gloomy voice responded. Sounding like she was used to this.

“Side with her and I finally have the justification I need. I will murder you, satisfying years of resentment, you lewd goddess.”

“(This isn’t good, human. For the Transcendents, their salvation conditions are even more important than their own lives.)”

Othinus was right.

Blodeuwedd the Bouquet’s comments were certainly concerning, but…

“Too bad. What I’m looking for is someone who’s starved for love. When people are providing a plentiful supply at their own expense and she brushes it off as an unasked-for nuisance, it just pisses me off.”

“So maybe there’s nothing to worry about for now?”

Index did not sound very confident. It didn’t inspire much confidence either.

The Transcendents really were a challenge.

Also, why even bring the naked apron girl along? But Blodeuwedd the Bouquet didn’t seem particular bothered by it.

“Those two must be really good frien- dwah?!”

Kamijou didn’t even finish his comment before something fell from the sky.

If he hadn’t noticed it and dodged out of the way, a glass terrarium heavier than a flower pot would have struck him right in the head. Othinus, who had nearly become collateral damage on his shoulder, looked up into the sky and said something.

“That’s the same deadly prank pulled by rude city crows up on building rooftops.”

The sound of something beating at the air interrupted them.

Was the dazzling light a searchlight or something?

“This is Yomikawa of Anti-Skill! We can only perform a primitive search in the helicopter, but we can’t expect any help from drones or satellites right now!! Where should we start looking!?”

“Fool. It looks like the search can continue even if those silly magicians are brought down by an interception spell.”

And…

“Wait,” said a voice. A flat female voice. “I’m going too.”

It was the track suit girl. Wasn’t her name Takitsubo Rikou?

Her tone was flat, but the sound of her breathing showed something was wrong.

“You are injured.”

Golden retriever Kihara Noukan kept it at that. …Was that dog capable of being considerate enough to refrain from digging deeper?

It was hard to tell because Takitsubo rarely showed any expression, but she appeared to be in a fair bit of pain. Most likely, the condition below her clothing would be shocking to see.

She had contacted Great Demon Coronzon before Kamijou arrived.

Since she had collapsed, she had most likely been attacked in some way.

Kamijou’s eyes widened.

“Are you kidding me? You look closer to death than me. To be clear, the Anglicans alone have tens of thousands of people out working, so it’s no problem if an injured person or two sits this one out. We can’t bring you along in that condition!!”

“Hamazura.”

The track suit girl’s eyes were on another boy who lay unmoving in the red snow.

Hamazura Shiage.

…Kamijou couldn’t remember clearly since he had been near death, but he was pretty sure that guy had sided with Coronzon shortly before the Adikalika large-scale attack spell was activated.

He had betrayed them.

And now Adikalika had failed and Coronzon had fled on her own.

Left behind, Hamazura’s position was looking worse all the time.

“Hamazura will be in trouble. I don’t know what system of rules will punish him, but I need to create some kind of bargaining chip before that punishment can happen. So I will do whatever it takes to protect him.”

Kamijou looked to Index. This had to do with magic, so would jurisdiction fall to the Anglicans?

Kamijou couldn’t say if the “bargaining chip” Takitsubo had in mind would mean anything to them.

But that had to be the only thing left for her to rely on.

“What can you do ''now''?” pressed Mikoto in her black mourning clothes.

That wasn’t disgust in her voice. Was it a hint of fear?

“(I know she’s on our side now, but a first impression like that one is hard to shake.)”

“My AIM Stalker is useless on someone without an AIM Diffusion Field. So I can’t directly search for Coronzon.”

But Takitsubo Rikou didn’t hesitate to respond.

While looking Mikoto square in the face.

“But I also have a history gathering and analyzing information for Item. I am used to tracking down and hunting people in this city.”

“Yes, we could use a tracker from the science side. Especially with that new Board Chairman out of the picture,” said Othinus from Kamijou’s shoulder.

Whether she actually meant it or was only trying to put injured Takitsubo’s mind at ease, Kamijou couldn’t tell.

Kamijou waved both hands to call over Kanzaki who was giving instructions to Tatemiya and Agnese a short distance away. Next to him, Alice hopped up and down and waved her hands along with him.

Kanzaki sighed when she heard what he had to say.

“Then have her start at the beginning.”

She kept the instruction short.

Of course, they weren’t relying only on Takitsubo. The magicians would be performing their own magical search. But they were searching for Great Demon Coronzon, who lurked in the abyss to guard magical knowledge, so those attempts would likely be blocked at every turn.

“Coronzon has fled. However, I doubt she has continued running in a single direction. Takitsubo, was it? How can you track her?”

“That demon(?) fortunately lost the use of her wings, so she can’t cheat by flying. And if she is escaping on the surface, she will leave tracks. Especially on a snowy day like this.”

“She will notice any obvious tracks. Won’t she cover them up?”

Good point.

“So it comes down to the balance between the tracks that cannot be prevented and the tracks that will definitely be erased,” said the golden retriever in a highly refined voice.

Takitsubo Rikou plainly continued.

“It is true footprints in the snow can be easily erased. She might not have ordinary fingerprints to leave behind. And given the state of the city, we can’t hope to search for footage of her from security cameras or security robots.”

“Ugh,” groaned Kamijou. “Then how are we supposed to track down Coronzon!?”

“How about this?”