Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume14 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 5===

A shape sliced swiftly through the night sky.

It had been given the beautiful nickname of the Swan, but that was due to the pure white paint which was a self-defense measure to deflect as much of the heat as possible when it launched a nuclear strike. Even those who didn’t know the detailed specs could imagine how many bombs and cruise missiles the strategic bomber was loaded with if they heard the 55 meter and 275 ton craft had a crew of only four.

Currently, its large bomb bay was filled with something even more dangerous.

Punishment for an Archangel.

When that magic circle struck Academy City territory, along with the bomber itself, it would swiftly take effect. The very nature of demons and angels would be affected to forcibly injure that great demon. All lives within 50 kilometers – in a circle stretching from western Tokyo to the Chubu region – would be killed, but those were acceptable losses.

If it would allow them to eliminate such inhuman beings from the earth.

“Hee hee. I’ve waited until the last second, but Coronzon’s reading is still strong. You’ve failed, Academy City. Aaaaand you too, Anglicans. You human specialists should stick to chasing after human magicians. It’s time for the monster specialists to clean up this mess.”

After all that, Vasilisa smiled in self-deprecation.

She was ultimately talking to herself.

The pilot seated next to her was an ordinary soldier(?) who knew nothing of magic, but there was nothing to worry about there since he had been thoroughly brainwashed. At greater than Mach 2, Japan’s Academy City wasn’t far away at all. And she had gotten started long before they had expected.

Vasilisa smiled quietly.

She had at times fought alongside the other sects. Protecting the earth and humanity usually meant her interests were aligned with those of other beliefs.

But not this time.

Given its purpose, the Russian Orthodox Church’s Annihilatus could not compromise on this.

This world was managed.

Thus, inhuman beings could not be allowed to threaten human lives.

That was the base assumption.

As long as they would follow that, Vasilisa and her colleagues could work with the other sects, but if they wouldn’t follow it, those other sects became her enemy.

Vasilisa did not enjoy having to do this. She was using a strategic bomber to deliver the necessary magic circle to Academy City, but the magic circle was only a magic circle. Someone had to supply it with magic power to activate it. Vasilisa would not survive when they crashed into an open park at full speed. Nor would those inside of or near Academy City. Of course she didn’t enjoy having to sacrifice her life and the lives of others.

There were so many people she still wanted to adore, Sasha and the Patriarch not least among them.

But she believed this was the right thing to do.

She was protecting the earth. Protecting humanity. Protecting justice. Protecting peace.

She was using human means to protect all humans from an inhuman threat.

…Yes, doing everything necessary to defeat Great Demon Coronzon was undeniably the right thing to do. Who in the world could resist this joy, temptation, and duty?

(I hope Sasha will see how sensible I was to keep her out of this.)

Academy City was in no state for effective air defense.

The science side angel Kazakiri Hyouka had been the one concern, but even she couldn’t act right now.

The conditions were in place.

If they had been more careful but more bold in their attempts to kill Coronzon, Vasilisa might not have had a chance to act and been stuck watching.

(But instead I get to swoop in at the end and claim the victory for myself.)

The scenery below changed from sea to land.

Academy City was dead ahead.

Strange alarms were sounding within the bomber, but based on the scouting drones they had sent in earlier, the outside troops wouldn’t actually shoot. She didn’t know why, but some rules of theirs forbade it. So a bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons was approaching, but they just let it go. That country never made any sense to her.

An open park was best for delivering the magic circle to the ground. She commanded the pilot.

A mere ten degree tilt to the nose filled the bomber with the definite sensation of falling.

They didn’t need to put out the landing gear. Slamming the fuselage into the ground and letting the surface tear it away would be perfect.

“That will make it easier for me. You can rest easy, Japanese people. Accept that Academy City never did belong here and give up on it!!”

Vasilisa’s words ended there.



A great tremor shook the entire 50m strategic bomber.



Instead of something hitting it and causing damage, it was more like its course had been forcibly diverted. Against the wishes of the control column. And so the Swan missed Academy City. It flew right past it.

“What the-!?”

The bomber’s great size and speed prevented her from commanding the pilot to make a U-turn. Its turning radius was just too large.

But this hadn’t been the scientific angel.

Academy City’s air defense should have been dead or close to it. Then what was this?

She heard a voice.

The strategic bomber was a ceremonial ground tearing through the night sky at greater than Mach 2. This shouldn’t have been possible without permission from Vasilisa, its master.

“We could just shoot you down in your confusion, but then I would feel bad.”

“We are gods, after all. Ha ha! Did anyone ever say we can’t fly!?”

“Nephthys and Niang-Niang…”

Vasilisa spoke their names in a daze before a point deep in her head suddenly boiled over.

She figured it out.

“You damn Magic Gods!!”

“Oh? But we’re not getting in the way of your Russian Orthodox work. There are two monsters right here in front of you. And full-power ones unlike Othinus. I would think we would be a higher priority than attacking Academy City.”

“C’mon, you specialize in inhuman things, right? Well, we’re the crazy Magic Gods who don’t think twice about crossing the line between life and death to obtain knowledge. So come play with us monsters, specialist!!”