Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Epilogue
Epilogue: Saving Her is Unconditional – Join_to…?[edit]
Shortly before the ending.
“Gh,” someone groaned.
It was Aradia, goddess of the night and the moon.
She had been quickly cut down by H. T. Trismegistus in the clash between Transcendents, but she remained vaguely aware of how the battle progressed afterwards. Since Alice made an appearance toward the end, perhaps she should have been thankful the young butler had cut her down when he did.
She found it hard to believe she now found herself in a carefree morning with an ordinary sunny sky overhead.
She slowly sat up.
(Good, Old Mary’s skill is as scary as ever.)
Her witch’s clothing was torn and bloody, but her skin didn’t have a single scratch. Although Good, Old Mary herself claimed the way she used death for her own purposes differed from a doctor who solely fought to save the patient’s life.
Aradia grabbed a needle and some thread from among the scattered rubble and sewed up her torn clothing while the entire consulate grounds continued to shake.
That boy was one of the witches Aradia was meant to protect.
The eyepatch god had informed her that he met her conditions for salvation.
But if Alice Anotherbible had released the seal of her safe and friendly children’s book, then a normal Transcendent like Aradia would be killed instantly if she tried to intervene. That would be meaningless.
(So what else can I do?)
Waterproof duct tape was crudely wrapped around her feet.
She would regain her power as a Transcendent if she removed that, but she frowned. She took a deep breath and stopped herself. She would be removing the tape eventually, but she could wait until she had put that boy’s mind at ease first.
She had already detected something else.
(Alice isn’t the only threat here!!)
She used her unsteady legs to take her away from the consulate where all the fierce fighting was taking place. It would have been impossible not to notice these people. They were probably hiding their presence to an extent, but they had to know it wasn’t enough to fool a magician with good instincts.
She could sense their insolent intent to silence anyone who discovered them.
She could hear them.
They blended into the crowd like they belonged there, but their group was possibly even more horrific than the Transcendents. They were whispering with a thin smile on their faces.
“I see it now.”
One was a woman in a beige habit with blonde hair roughly cut to shoulder length.
One was a golden retriever.
One was a goddess of wisdom created by stuffing a preserved corpse full of precision machinery.
One was…what even was that? A villain’s face sealed inside a large film canister?
And it almost looked like someone else’s face was visible in the shining hair on the back of the beige habit woman’s head.
“Aradia uses the triple goddess, Trismegistus creates a false god, and Good, Old Mary has her Tribikos. I can’t say for sure about the Bologna Succubus, but I can make some guesses based on the data we have so far. And it looks like Alice is using a children’s book as a seal.”
Not a single member of that bizarre group was an ordinary human. They were all monsters who could bring disaster or pestilence upon you if you so much as laid eyes on them, but they were rationally analyzing the world’s darkness.
They were revealing the secrets of the Transcendents.
“They might be an unlucky magician who was born to the human world yet acquired a spell that most people wouldn’t dare even consider because it breaks all the limits, is much too risky to use, and should kill you the instant it is activated. They might never have been human to begin with. And they might be a cunning priestess who can safely draw on the power of an abnormal being like that.”
The relevant terms had been seen in the magic side a few times already.
Even that boy may have heard them, although he may not have known the great meaning they held.
“They are all linked to the Holy Guardian Angels or Secret Chiefs in some way. Some by controlling them, some by receiving their grimoires or knowledge, and some by allowing one to reside in their body.”
Aradia was close enough to clearly hear the voice containing a self-deprecating smile.
“Come to think of it, my Aiwass was much the same. And he moved from me to you during the confusion of the battle against Coronzon in the UK. Whether you call him an intelligent extraterrestrial lifeform or a messenger of Thoth, you did indeed deserve the title of Transcendent if you had become his priestess.”
The film canister sang.
Almost like it was enjoying its own ruin.
“He belonged to me to begin with. And you don’t think that’s all there is to it, do you?”
Aradia froze while listening in.
But not because Anna Sprengel was leaking their information. No, this information clearly came from the woman in the beige habit.
“Yes, if Aiwass was all it took, then I would have taken the title for myself. Even if I was only temporarily borrowing him from you, Miss Sprengel. Trying to brag about him does seem kind of silly at this point, though.”
She didn’t hesitate to touch on the crux of the issue.
“All people can create a monster and become a god. Wasn’t that how you defined the Aeon of Horus before?”
The film canister laughed in response.
“But I was not talking about Alice Anotherbible.”
The beige habit woman clicked her tongue in annoyance.
And she said more with the look of someone being presented with a past failure.
“The microcosm and macrocosm are always linked. So anything that can be done in an individual human body can also be done in the world as a whole. For example, the magicians who serve the rose believe they can create a medicine to heal the world’s sickness in the same way ordinary medicines can heal human sickness.”
She did not stop.
She revealed even more.
“Are the Transcendents of the Bridge Builders Cabal a group meant to create a special being? Just as the position of the moon affects the tides, the positioning of those extraordinarily powerful Transcendents in their lab is meant to create something with an otherwise impossible deviation.”
That led to an obvious question.
And if she got past that question, Aradia and the others were truly done for.
“Every man and every woman is a star. If each of the Transcendents stands in the ceremonial ground with a perfect understanding of their role, they could act as a complex device to create something extremely powerful. An understanding of Crowley-style Magick is enough to reach that conclusion. …But what is it the Bridge Builders Cabal is trying to create? What is the intended end result of the precise positioning of all their powers, including Alice’s?”
That was where they stopped talking. They had noticed Aradia’s presence. And what did the witch goddess herself think that meant?
That group hadn’t thought they could remain hidden to the end. Their plan was to keep their secret by killing any troublemakers who discovered them.
Their eyes met.
The beige habit woman frowned just a bit while holding the film canister in her hands.
“You?”
“Uh, oh,” said Aradia, too late.
Anna Sprengel had made such a mess of the Bridge Builders Cabal, yet she had been so thoroughly defeated. Even if Aradia had been in top form, she may have had trouble escaping the onslaught of the beige habit woman and her gang.
But.
That wasn’t what concerned her at the moment.
“Quick question.”
“What makes you think we will answer it?”
“Since you’ve turned her into a face on a film canister, I can assume you and Miss Sprengel are enemies, right? This isn’t some big moral issue. I just need to know: is Kamijou Touma one of the people you hope to save?”
“Again, what makes you think-”
“If so, you need to get out of here immediately!! Damn, I really screwed this one up. This isn’t an issue of logic or rules. If he notices I’ve disappeared without a word to him, he’s going to follow me here. And that will bring him to the hidden side of the world where he doesn’t belong!!!”
But it was too late.
If Aradia had been told then that the beige habit woman was in fact Aleister Crowley, this may have made a lot more sense to her.
That human worked out his plans more carefully than anyone and they always ended in failure.
No matter where he started from, he would always fall victim to misunderstandings and confusion.
And this was no exception.
Kamijou Touma had chased after Aradia, so he saw everything here.
He didn’t know how it had happened, but he saw what remained of Anna Sprengel pasted to the surface of that film canister.
He roared.
By the time that mass of sound exploded out, Kamijou Touma was already rushing in with fist clenched.
Alice and the Bridge Builders Cabal had made it clear they intended to kill Anna Sprengel. They had prepared the Shrink Drink spiritual item for that purpose and called Mut Thebes, an execution expert, to Academy City.
And now he found Aleister’s group had taken away Anna’s body to hold her captive.
This was the boy who had clenched his fist and opposed the young butler and even Alice herself in his fury over their treatment of the witch who had personally killed him several times.
He of all people would do this.
He didn’t need a reason. He didn’t even need to like her. He only needed to learn of a cruelty playing out before his eyes and see someone backed into a corner.
He could find a reason to want to save her later.
He had said as much already.
Ordinarily, Aleister could have fought back in any number of ways. Or if that human couldn’t act, he could have given a command to the preserved corpse magician by his side and she could have defeated the boy without lifting a finger.
But he was caught off guard.
He had the look of a child after being struck out of nowhere by a trusted family member.
But Aleister wasn’t even Kamijou’s target.
Kamijou was focused on the film canister in Aleister’s hands.
His punches could destroy any illusion. With a comical “poof!!” sound, the little villain reappeared, clutching her baggy dress to her flat chest.
“Damn.”
Kamijou himself appeared to be biting his lip.
Miss Sprengel was undeniably a bad person for all the suffering she had caused on a whim.
But Aradia knew exactly what the boy was going to say next. He wanted to eliminate all hard feelings between him and his defeated enemy. He wanted to avoid a situation that would require killing her. The waterproof duct tape around Aradia’s feet was in fact a reaction to his failure with that villain.
So…
His hand moved right past the human to grab someone else’s hand.
“Run away with me, Anna Sprengel!!!”
Kamijou Touma ran through Academy City, pulling the little villain along by the hand.
Witch Goddess Aradia was with him too.
(Where are Index and Othinus? They were with me at the consulate, but what happened after that, dammit!?)
He was worried, but there was no turning back now.
A lot of people were gathering at the consulate, so he had to hope those two could escape in the confusion.
For now, he had to ensure Aradia and Anna were safe. Once that was done, he would have attention to spare on seeing if Index and Othinus were alright.
That said, he wasn’t sure where he could actually go.
Academy City, Alice’s Bridge Builders Cabal, and now Aleister. Too many people wanted Anna Sprengel dead. There might not be anywhere she would be safe.
“Why?”
Anna Sprengel was baffled.
She had chosen the path of evil for her own enjoyment and looked arrogantly down on everyone else, but now she had encountered something that made no sense at all to her.
“Why would you put yourself at risk to help me escape?”
“Shut up. I’m not happy with you, but I can yell at you once we’ve escaped. Make no mistake. I haven’t forgiven you for what you did to St. Germain, what you did to Helcalia and Melzabeth, or anything else! But that’s not enough of a reason to take someone’s life!!”
“But you have no reason to help me. Do you have any idea how many enemies you’ve made with this move? You should have stayed out of it and let me die, or at least pointed and laughed while I was shown off as some kind of living mouth of truth.”
“I don’t care!! Maybe I don’t have a reason now, but that just means I have to find one later!!!”
Kamijou crouched and reached for Aradia’s feet. Or more accurately, toward the waterproof duct tape covering everything from her ankles on down.
“Are you ready? I’m going to remove this, Aradia.”
Aradia narrowed her eyes.
It was true that relying on Aradia was about his only option at the moment. This was well past the point where Imagine Breaker alone was enough.
She assumed that was his reasoning, but…
“I can’t get you caught up in this. I’ll unlock your magic, so get as far away from here as possible. Do you think the Bridge Builders Cabal would let you back in? If not, find somewhere else to go.”
“…”
“Just please don’t hurt any innocent people while you- gyahhh!?”
His weird shout at the end came from Anna and Aradia punching him simultaneously.
“O-owwww…”
“This fool’s nonsense doesn’t count obviously, so what are we really going to do?”
Aradia winked and directed the question toward the villain who even she saw as a traitor.
“There’s something off about his neck and arm. That one sleeve is torn away too. It’s hard to tell since the arm is back, but I’m guessing his right arm was severed. I would suggest we not use this idiot who’s so fired up about saving anyone and everyone. Not when he can’t get Good, Old Mary’s help anymore. Besides, I’ve seen reports that the body starts rejecting her resurrection if she uses it too many times.”
“So the body remembers something about it like with anaphylactic shock?”
“More or less.”
Good, Old Mary’s resurrection only magically tricked the body. If she could truly resurrect people without any risk or downside, she would have been deified under a different name.
Furthermore…
“The Bridge Builders Cabal has more Transcendents than just the ones in the consulate. One word from Alice and plenty more dangerous characters will gather from around the world. And don’t forget that the ‘drink me’ Shrink Drink and Mut Thebes are still out there. Not even you can avoid all of that.”
(Technically speaking, the group that was binding Anna is not Kamijou Touma’s enemy. For now anyway.)
Aradia understood how twisted the big picture had gotten here.
And with that in mind…
(But if Kamijou Touma tries to convince them to let Anna Sprengel go free, they’re going to say no. She escaped them even after they went as far as to turn her into a film cannister, so they won’t have many options left. They won’t see any option but to kill next time.)
Meanwhile, Anna Sprengel whispered to herself.
“That’s right.”
They were surrounded by enemies on all sides, but there were holes in that encirclement.
For example, Academy City was Anna’s enemy, but what about Kamijou’s personal friends? The same applied to the Bridge Builders Cabal. The Bologna Succubus and Good, Old Mary had chosen to stay with unstable Alice, but Kamijou might be able to convince them to take his side.
No one else could do it.
But after coming this far, Kamijou Touma had a chance.
The odds were not zero. And taking the life of someone stupid enough to fight for the losing side would not satisfy Anna Sprengel’s mischievous heart. For better or for worse, she was searching for a ruler, so she wasn’t interested in adding insult to injury.
The little villain made up her mind about something and then raised her hands as if in surrender.
“Fine, fine. Just this once, I will use my trump card.”
“Anna?”
“I had been saving this one to wipe the smirk off Aleister’s face after he used Kingsford to seal me in that film canister, but your right hand dealt with all of that for me. Using my trump card here seems like a fair trade.”
She made it sound so simple.
Then she pulled out her trump card for battling Kingsford.
In other words…
“Hear the voice of the Secret Chiefs’ priestess and show yourself, Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass. Behold the power of the Transcendent who refuses to side with the Rescuers or Killers and is, in a way, even more unusual than Alice within the Bridge Builders Cabal☆”
Between the Lines 5[edit]
However, the witch’s story is not over yet.
The girl of the red rose continues her journey even now.
