Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter4

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Status: Incomplete

2/10 parts completed

   

Chapter 4: Beyond the Two Choices – Duel_Against_R∴C∴O∴(for_Save_Mother).

Part 1

Continuous gunfire erupted in the Long Beach yacht harbor where even the seawater had frozen. The din signaled the beginning of a clash between the mass-produced military clones and the remote-controlled Five Overs. The Five Overs were designed to surpass the original Level 5s with pure technology and the Sisters had failed to match the original, so it should have been a difficult battle for the girls.

But the other two people present did not even turn in that direction.

Kamijou Touma and Citrinitas.

The latter included a ball-joint doll holding a thick leash and a young woman wearing the collar and crawling on all fours. The solid doll and the silver-haired, brown-skinned woman were both fakes. R&C Occultics had set a trap where saving either one would make him look like a fool.

“Gee kee ee hee hee!” The Transla-Pen was not enough to explain away the distortion in their voices. “So you built more? You built up a lot more people beyond yourself? It looks almost miraculous, but does that mean victory? In fact, the more help you borrow, the same amount you lose. Like a house of cards! Because if you lose from here, you can never crawl back out again!!”

“Let them talk.” Othinus crossed her legs on Kamijou’s shoulder and coolly shrugged off the enemy’s scorching malice. “I’m sure you can tell this is a lonely magician, who doesn’t know the first thing about friendship, imagining what it must be like and critiquing the neighborhood birthday party based on that. Don’t worry. No matter how reasonable any one of their claims might sound, it doesn’t fit together. …As your understander, I guarantee you the power you hold in your hand is great enough to reject the destruction of the world.”

“But that solid core is why I want to see your face when it breaks in twoooooooooooooooooooooooo(■A portion of the voice has left the human audible range)!!”

With a dull sound like a car’s shift lever moving, the crawling woman’s jaw joint opened wider than should have been possible and something glittered deep in her throat.

A great roar followed, but was that the sound of all the sand spewing from the pet’s mouth like a laser cannon, or was it the sound of the boy’s right hand obliterating the attack?

It happened so fast it was impossible to tell the two apart. If he had not already known Citrinitas used a spell capable of slicing through reinforced concrete, he would have been decapitated before he even put up his guard.

And negating the one attack did not end the battle.

“Upwind!!”

“I know!!”

Kamijou reacted to Othinus’s shouted warning by sliding to the right instead of charging straight ahead. That kept him from being caught in the cloud of sand that billowed out like cotton candy. Turning his back on the magician, the edge of the harbor, and the ocean was dangerous, but he could always stand on the frozen ocean if he had to.

Citrinitas referred to a type of fermentation.

That magician remade humans and all other life forms into nutrients and absorbed them into sand to trap them alive. That meant they fought by claiming territory, not by violently striking the enemy.

Kamijou would be caught by an unavoidable insta-kill attack if he was surrounded, enveloped, or swallowed up.

But on the other hand…

“I can touch the surface just fine. As long as I focus on its presence in 3D space, your magic doesn’t scare me!!”

“Is that a fact!?”

Kamijou circled upwind and then rushed in toward the enemy.

His target was the poor doll holding the leash and being pulled about by the collared woman. He clenched his right fist as tight as he could and threw a punch toward the doll’s smooth face. The owner and the pet were both highly unnatural. If they were made from magic, they could not survive his right hand.

So he could defeat Citrinitas if he got in just one direct hit.

He felt something soft.

The doll had spun around to face him.

But this did not feel like human flesh and bone. It was also strange to feel something soft on a ball-joint doll. A pillar of sand thicker than Kamjou’s torso had risen from the ground a moment earlier, distributing the impact of his fist.

The next thing he knew, the doll had spun around in midair to begin crawling like a dog. And like they were on opposite sides of a revolving door, the woman now held the leash, facing Kamijou.

Had they switched modes?

“A…sandbag!?”

“Hee hee. I thought magic doesn’t scare? Disproving yourself pretty fast there!!”

Whether it was Imagine Breaker taking effect or not, the sand pillar came apart and exploded in every direction.

“Kh.”

It was enough to force Kamijou to fall back. In that brief opening, the doll once more grabbed the leash and the woman put on the collar. She crawled on all fours, not caring that the collar of her baggy T-shirt created a tunnel toward her chest, and opened her mouth abnormally wide.

The attack was powerful enough to tear through the scenery, concrete and all. The faint curtain of sand was shredded by the compressed sand laser.

Kamijou quietly clicked his tongue while hiding behind a grounded cruiser.

“Damn, they’re indiscriminately slicing through the boats. Is a simple yacht not enough to block that?”

“A simple yacht? That boat you’re leaning against now costs about 30 million.”

“…”

On second thought, go ahead destroy all of them, silently cursed the boy with only 5800 yen to his name (that he could not currently access with the ATMs not running at the end of the year), but that would actually mean no more cover for him.

“So Imagine Breaker can negate their attacks, but the attacks remain deadly afterwards? That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a huge pain!”

“Yet Citrinitas does not keep themselves surrounded by a sandstorm at all times.”

Othinus hinted at a terrifying possibility.

If the enemy built a 360-degree barrier of deadly sand, a close-range fighter like Kamijou would have no way of approaching them.

However…

“There is no rule forbidding Imagine Breaker’s user from also using weapons,” said Othinus. “So are they hesitant to obstruct their own vision in the great gun country of America? Or are they afraid the fine sand will damage their lungs? Either way, this gives us a chance.”

“Okay, I get that it could be worse, but that doesn’t actually tell me how to win this.”

“Of course you aren’t going to find the answer to everything right away. This is a Rosicrucian elite.”

A cruiser was sliced through horizontally.

Kamijou crouched down and got to work. The sand in the air was indeed frightening, but nothing around here would work as a shield when the enemy could bring down a broadcast tower. Keeping his distance would only give them a chance to target him. That risk remained at close range, but at least he would be in punching range.

He heard a quiet thunk like a knife chopping through a radish or a carrot, but instead he saw a transparent blade stabbed into the harbor’s frozen concrete ground.

It was glittering somewhat.

Sharp glass shards were raining down from overhead.

The yacht harbor jutted out toward the frozen ocean, so there weren’t any skyscrapers with windows to break. That left just one explanation:

“Sand!? They can turn it into glass!?”

“Not just once!” shouted Citrinitas. “Did you think this was only a park sandbox debut!?”

He frantically twisted his body and knocked over the joint lever of a towing vehicle parked on a nearby road. Its yacht collapsed on its side and he rolled beneath the thick sail.

He now had a waterproof fabric roof sturdier than a tent.

The deluge of noise was even higher pitched than pouring rain. The mass of noise exploding from the concrete ground was so loud he thought it had to be directly damaging his eardrums.

“Gh!?”

He felt scorching pain in his thigh.

(It pierced the sheet!?)

Screaming would only let Citrinitas know the attack was working, so he grimaced, clenched his teeth, and touched the shard embedded in his leg. He felt the transparent blade become sand once more.

He did not have time to stop the bleeding.

“Come out.”

The crawling woman opened her mouth wide and fine sand spilled from the corners of her mouth. The wind gently swept the sand into the air and then pressurized it into a 2m box.

It was a like a sea lion playing with a ball.

“Is run away and hide all you can do? Then it can never end!”

The crawling woman jumped up to lift the cube resting on her head and the doll began to crawl instead. The standing woman slapped the falling cube with her hand.

She almost seemed to be rolling a giant die. Except that was a block of sand weighing more than 5 tons. It smashed up the fallen yacht as it rolled through.

Kamijou had no choice but to rush on out.

He covered more distance than expected because the force of the exploding yacht pushed on his back, launching him through the air.

“Gahh!?”

“Tch. Rolling would have been more fun because of you shredded by glass. Sparkle, sparkle.”

The two parts of Citrinitas kept switching the pet and owner roles while they spoke and laughed as one.

(Damn. I thought yachts were economical boats that used the wind to move!)

His back felt hot.

He tried to strip off his cheap jacket, but it caught on something. Then he realized the heat was not from burns. Some shards – glass and metal ones the size of his little finger’s tip – had stabbed through the jacket and into the skin on his back. He preferred not to imagine how many there were in all.

It looked like those two did not fight by having the crawling woman chase their target like a hound and then having the doll supply the finishing blow. If anything, they may have seen each other as weapons or tools, like a witch’s broom or a crystal ball.

Not that there was any point in asking which one was the master and which the servant.

“You failed, don’t you think you did?” The standing doll and crawling human cackled and moved in bizarre synchronization. “Your fight is empty. No guarantees are found in real battle! Isn’t that the truth!? Then you should have told the clones to quit. From the moment you agreed to their offer of help, you dragged them into inescapable battle!!”

“No.” He cut them off. He clenched his fist, stepped forward, and rid himself of all hesitation. “I believe the Sisters’ good will and kindness will be rewarded. They are far stronger people than a mere high school boy like me. I trust them enough to rest easy knowing they have my back!! So I won’t worry about them!! I refuse to believe this was wrong. They created this miracle by standing up for Los Angeles, for Melzabeth and her daughter, and for everyone’s happiness! So I’ll make sure they don’t regret it!!!!!!”

Part 2

At the same time and same place, short bursts of gunfire rang out.

In the quiet of the deserted city, only Long Beach rumbled louder than a fireworks show. An intense firefight had broken out between machines that surpassed the #3 and #4 and clone girls who had failed to reach that point.

But so what?

Firing a powerful railgun was not enough to win anything and everything. Combining railguns into a Gatling gun did not guarantee victory over espers. The ones who had fought on the front lines and the ones who had remained on standby around the world had their brains electromagnetically linked. The nearly 10 thousand Sisters formed a single massive parallel processing network known as the Misaka Network. Their overwhelming processing power could calculate out the answer.

They dodged with the smallest of margins.

They sniped joints and sensors like threading a needle with their bullets.

And during it all…

“What’s wrong? Taking a break already? asks Misaka #19559.”

A girl spoke to an identical girl seated with her back against a sliced cruiser.

The seated girl fell silent for a bit with her assault rifle still between her head and shoulder.

And then…

“Sorry,” she said. “Misaka was listening, honestly confesses Misaka #10089 while looking up into the night sky.”

The other girl understood.

That boy was not linked to them by the invisible network, but he still trusted they had his back. It was simple enough to say, but could anything be so valuable?

So the girls reflected on the words, relished them, accepted them, and whispered quietly to themselves.

“Took you long enough, baby.”

Their break was over.

The girls stood back up, readied their guns, and directly faced a headwind of death and destruction. Muzzle flashes blossomed in the cold night. The identical girls tossed each other spare magazines, bought each other time to reload, and otherwise supported each other as they destroyed their targets.

“Misaka cares deeply about someone.”

They marched across the wreckage of the obliterated yachts and cruisers.

One of them fired a finishing blow on the mantis head lying at her feet.

“And if this will help him and it will save the people of Los Angeles…”

Several clones formed a thick shield to protect another who leaned forward to aim an anti-materiel rifle.

They supplied devastating attacks and marched onward while making an announcement to the world.

“Then a threat this minor is not even worth fearing!! declares Misaka.”

That was when they heard some deep mechanical noises.

If anything, it reminded them of a precision computer operating.

A nearby cruiser shattered like glass.

If the identical girls had not immediately coordinated via the Misaka Network and gotten own on the ground as a group, they would have been shredded and bloodied by the many shards.

And they recognized this storm of blunt weapons.

It was the result of vector control.

“No, this does not appear to be vector control itself, calmly analyzes Misaka #16360.”

Several solid sounds of impact followed. After blowing away the cruiser it was using as cover, the new foe had nowhere to hide.

It looked like a crab monster larger than a van.

GT Index v04 341.jpg

The mechanical weapon held out shields that nearly covered its silhouette from the front. And those shields were its true weapon. A CD-like rainbow sheen moved slimily along its surface because it was covered with something like sea anemones too small to see.

Five Over OS – Model Case: Accelerator.

“So Misaka’s final obstacle is named after you? It would seem fate has a sense of humor, comments Misaka #19559. …But the real one would never get in his way.”

“You cannot call it fate when people were involved in setting it up, calmly retorts out Misaka #10089 while testing her reaction speed.”

The Five Overs were weapons designed to reproduce a Level 5s power through pure technology and match or exceed the original’s destructive power. The #3’s was the most obvious example there. Equip a machine with an even more powerful railgun and you had yourself a Five Over.

But those with the OS designation, which stood for Outsider, were different.

“Those weapons use a method other than the Level 5’s to produce a similar effect.”

“Does it use over a billion group-controlled cylinders thinner than hairs, or does it use a distributing electrocontractile gel? How exactly it gives the appearance of vector control should be the key to defeating it.”

“Either way, this is a product of compromise. It only exists because they could not find a way to reproduce the real power. But even if it is a failure, Misaka will not go easy on it. As a fellow failure, she knows just how painful it is to have someone condescendingly hold back, decides Misaka #16360.”

The girls all aimed their weapons.

If this machine did not actually control vectors, they had a chance. If it could only defend itself in the direction of those shields, then it felt nowhere near as intimidating as the #1.

“You are not the real one, so Misaka does not fear you. You are no reason to abandon someone who trusts us to have his back, says Misaka #10089 while she declares war by raising a choice finger. Fuck you.”


An online exchange of criticism began in a pacifist country of faraway Scandinavia. They called the girls savages for using guns and asked if they thought traveling to a foreign country and shooting up the place was their idea of a relaxing hike.

But then someone made a certain post.

It was more than enough to silence those armchair idealists.

“I bet you’re only trashing them cause you’re jealous. They’re out there looking like heroes while you’re throwing stones while hiding behind your anonymity. They look a lot more human if you ask me.”


In a fancy French hotel, a bunch of young people carrying homemade signs flooded into a press conference where some prideful academics were preparing to officially denounce the use of human cloning technology.

The scene descended into chaos, but the young people were clearly enjoying themselves as they shouted in front of the cameras.

“How can you talk about what’s ‘humane’ when you’re demanding the execution of 10 thousand girls like you’re just stamping some paperwork!? When those girls heard about the crisis in LA, they chose to fight for their fellow human beings, but you want to have them lined up against the wall and shot!?”

“Do you think you can get away with anything since none of it’s happening here!? You people are advocating mass murder just to make a name for yourselves, so I say you’re the real disgraces to humanity. We need to set an example for those clones!!”

“Yes, rules are necessary, but those rules should be punishing the people who made them, not the girls themselves. Welcome to the world, girls. Allow us to introduce you to this wonderful society of ours.”


In an American home, someone was clanking around in the garage.

“What’s going on, mom? Why are you pulling out the shotgun at this hour?”

“Oh, my fairy, haven’t you seen the online video? I don’t care if they’re clones or what – that’s a bunch of young girls out there fighting. I can’t bear to sit idly by and watch a live video of some teenagers getting gunned down when they still have such promising futures ahead of them! That’s not the American way!!”

“But LA is 300km away?”

“300 is nothing. What do you think my Harley is for? Roar down the highway on that huge-ass bike and I’ll be there in no time! I don’t know what help I’ll be, but I’ll find something to do or my name isn’t Monoetta Spring! It’s time to charge headlong into someone else’s business in the name of justice! Cause that’s the American way!!”

“Look, if you’re if you’re going to go out and smash up dad’s bike, why not go looking for him instead? No, forget dad – I want a MilliPhone! There are apps I can’t get for my Alkaloid.”


In Japan, someone used the internet to distribute instructions for a 3D mask anyone could make with some cardboard and a printer, so Shibuya and Roppongi were flooded with boys and girls wearing the same face.


In South America, a surprise club event was held where SF authors and movie directors drank beers and cheered for human equality.


In the Vatican, the Catholic Pope solemnly stated that no sin was committed in the clones’ creation since no embryos were destroyed in the process.


In China, a social media post went viral for saying their country had 1.3 billion people already, so what’s 10 thousand more?


And.


Two girls held a phone on its side and pressed their cheeks together to watch the footage.

They were Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki.

“Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. How am I ever going to explain this to Kuroko!?”

“Count yourself lucky. Kouzaku-san might actually kill me over this.”

Mikoto’s phone would not stop ringing. She was receiving a flood of messages from her parents and friends. She had never seen a number that big on the unread messages icon. They all had to be wondering what was happening.

But that aside…

No one had ordered them to do this. Those girls had had chosen for themselves to take up weapons to protect some people in need. The Ace and Queen of Tokiwadai’s eyes gently narrowed as they watched it.

The two Level 5s spoke softly while watching those girls take their first steps into a larger world.

They whispered like they were dazzled by the beauty of it all.

“You’re looking pretty cool out there.”

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

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[v d e]Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament
GT Volume 1 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword
GT Volume 2 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
GT Volume 3 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
GT Volume 4 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
GT Volume 5 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
GT Volume 6 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword
GT Volume 7 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
GT Volume 8 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
GT Volume 9 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
GT Volume 10 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
[v d e]Side Stories
Volume SP Illustrations - Stiyl Magnus - Mark Space - Kamijou Touma - Uiharu Kazari - Afterword
Railgun SS1 Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8
Kanzaki SS Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8
Railgun SS2 Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8
Road to Endymion Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5
Necessarius SS Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8
Virtual-On Illustrations - Preface - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword
Railgun SS3 Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8
Biohacker SS Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6
Agnese SS Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8
Railgun LN Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword
Item LN Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
Item LN 2 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Cold Game
Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare
Toaru Majutsu No Index: Love Letter SS
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: A Superfluous Story, or A Certain Incident’s End
Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament SS
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Shokuhou Misaki Figurine SS
Toaru Majutsu no Index: A Certain Midsummer Return to the Starting Point
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Using Final Bosses to Determine a Sociological Threat
Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament Bonus Short Story
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Thus Spoke the Kumokawa Sisters
Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On: Vooster's Cup, The Day Before
Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On: Misaka Mikoto's Dangerous Tea Party
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Birthday Through the Glass
Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament 20 Bonus Short Story
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Misaka Mikoto’s Teamwork
A Certain Magical Index: Genesis Testament SS
[v d e]Official Parody Stories
A Certain Prophecy Index
A Certain Academy Index
A Certain Gift Exchange
A Certain March 201st Novel
I Don't Want This First Story of A Certain Magical Index!! or I Don't Want This Final Story
An All-In "World" Tour of Academy City, the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion, and Ground's Nir
Kamijou-san, Two Idiots, Jinnai Shinobu, Gray Pig, and Freedom Award 903, Listen Up! …Fall Asleep and You Die, But Not From the Cold☆
We Tried Having a Group Blind Date, but It was an All Stars Affair and a World Crisis
Will the Spiky-Haired Idiot See a Piping Hot Dream of His Wife?
Dengeki Island: A Girl’s Battle (Still Growing)
Kamijou Touma Visits Another World
Toaru Majutsu no Index X Apocalypse Witch Crossover SS
Toaru Majutsu no Index X Apocalypse Witch X Heavy Object Crossover SS
I Still Want to Do a Summer Fair
A Certain Collaboration Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4
Kamachi Crossover Illustrations - Preface - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - A.E. 02 - Afterword
Durarara Crossover Preface - Academy City Chapter - Ikebukuro Chapter
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