A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 19

by Kazuma Kamachi

  He must have fallen about three meters, down onto another suspended walkway. And below the metal grating, yet another artificial floor reached past.

  This was a very large space. It was probably over a hundred meters across just in width and likely several kilometers long. And even farther below Hamazura’s feet was a line of small jet fighters. A quick glance revealed over twenty of them.

  … Which means I’m in the aviation capital of the city, District 23…?

  It didn’t seem like any old repair yard. This was probably a testing ground for conducting trials on new models. The freight train Hamazura and Takitsubo had shared had been ferrying materials here.

  Then it happened:

  The clack of her shoe.

  It came from above, probably from the walkway Hamazura had fallen from.

  He immediately ducked for cover, diving behind a box-shaped obstacle that looked like a crane control seat.

  “Well, it looks like you’re fast to escape, at least. As usual. Are you sure? You left your beloved Takitsubo behind.”

  “Erg … !” Hamazura’s back teeth grated back and forth.

  He couldn’t see it from behind cover, but he could tell—Shizuri Mugino was probably dragging the limp, disabled Takitsubo along with her one arm. She had a simple reason for not killing her—it was to torment him as much as she could.

  In truth, he would have liked to jump out and confront her instead. But if he attacked that monster head-on, he’d never win. He’d be reduced to cinders in a moment, and that would be that, leaving no one to rescue Takitsubo. If her goal of tormenting him was gone, Mugino would kill her without delay.

  … Damn it, damn it! Damn it!! Why? Why?! Why did she have to show up now, of all times?!

  His hands trembling, he took out his gun and popped out the magazine to check how many rounds he had left. In the meantime, only the demonic voice of Mugino mocking him resounded through the jet fighter testing site.

  “Are you panicking because you don’t know how I survived? Cyborgs, cloning, and nanodevices, oh my! If you guess right, I wouldn’t mind giving you a bonus. But you probably wouldn’t get it anyway. You seem pretty dull.”

  Ga-bam!! Boom!! Several rays of light shot down in sequence. They hadn’t been aiming at Hamazura precisely, but just the vibrations from the aftermath sent fear coiling around his entire body.

  “It’s apparently an application of the ‘negative legacy’ left behind by some perverse doctor named Heaven Canceler, in any case. They said they used an oil-and-fat-based melting skeleton to stabilize my flesh’s regeneration rate, then induced rapid cell division. I don’t think the man himself would have used it like that…though I suppose that doesn’t matter. I’m having too much fun watching you cry.”

  Hamazura edged his head out from behind the box to get a look at the situation.

  “Haaamazuraaa. Hide-and-seek is nice, but would you mind coming out soon? If you don’t, I’ll start aiming at this precious Takitsubo.”

  Agh!! He heard a grunt. Mugino had grabbed Takitsubo’s hair, then held her in front of her like a shield.

  Mugino then slowly brought her other arm, the intensely flashing one made from Meltdown, a hair’s breadth away from Takitsubo’s skin.

  “Gya-ha-ha!! Now, where should I begin roasting her? Should I melt her little face off? Or should I shove it against her little pink and burn it to a black crisp?! Hey, Hamazura, what do you think? It’s about to turn black like a mummy— Will you still be able to get off if you stick it in?!”

  Damn it …

  “I’ll count to three. If you don’t come out, the punishment is a brand on Takitsubo’s . You want to abandon her? I bet you’re masturbating to the smell of burning virgin.”

  Mugino’s countdown wasn’t the usual drawn-out kind.

  In fact…

  “Three, two, one…Ka-boom!!”

  “Damn it!!”

  When she’d rattled off her countdown, Hamazura burst out from behind the crane control box. Immediately, he leveled his gun at Mugino, but she was many times faster. Plus, she was using Takitsubo as a shield.

  “There’s a good boy, Hamazura.”

  Ga-bam!! A massive burst split through everything.

  She moved her fingertips like flicking a rolled-up piece of trash. Nevertheless, what came was an attack more terrifying than even a battleship cannon. It shot straight by Hamazura, striking an oil drum sitting behind him. Whoosh!! The fuel ignited, a blast of hot wind whipped out, and Hamazura’s body flew over five meters into the air.

  If she’d wanted to, she could have killed him instantly.

  But she didn’t—because she wanted to torment him first.

  … Damn it…

  It took all his energy to flip his facedown body back up. As he did, he cursed himself. A Level Zero who beat Shizuri Mugino once before? What a joke. Now he understood very well how many coincidences and miracles had interceded on his behalf back then. This woman named Shizuri Mugino wasn’t some low-level monster he could kill many times over with ease. The factor known as Shiage Hamazura did not function as a trump card against her. He couldn’t win like this.

  “Hamazuraaa, Hamazuraaa!!”

  He heard her calling his name. When he did, he clenched his teeth and tried to get himself up.

  But Mugino moved quicker than he did.

  Still, it wasn’t to finish off Hamazura now that he couldn’t move properly. From the start, she’d been drawing out their hellish time together so she could thoroughly and completely torture him.

  She then set her sights on Rikou Takitsubo.

  “What, are you trying to hype yourself up to be a lone, tragic heroine? You’re no normal princess, are you? Didn’t you have the strength to fight at some point?”

  “?!” A noise, half gasp and half choke, struggled out of Takitsubo’s tight throat.

  Mugino tossed her limp body aside casually, then reached into her pocket with her one natural arm. Out of it she took an object that was about the size of a mechanical pencil’s graphite case.

  It was a case for Crystals.

  “Ability Stalker. If you put it to full use, you might have been able to reverse my AIM field and hijack my ability, hmm?”

  Ping. Her fingertips flicked the small Crystal case. It clattered to the floor and rolled, coming to a stop right next to the fallen girl.

  Takitsubo…and their last piece of Crystal. She was the one who could turn things around.

  But if she used it, she would surely “break down.” Even her current unenergetic condition was thanks to the side effects from Crystals.

  She couldn’t take any more. If she used them even one more time, it would be over.

  But…

  “You know, if you want to run, you can be my guest.”

  Mugino’s words rattled the near-dead girl on the ground.

  No, they didn’t just rattle her—they were so forceful they nearly broke her.

  “But then I’ll burn Hamazura to a crisp, and he’ll die. Because you abandoned him to his death. Gya-ha-ha-ha!! I don’t really care what you do. Either way, I’m sure I’ll get to see something entertaining!!”

  Rikou Takitsubo moaned and reached out a hand.

  This was a choice that she knew would bring her own destruction upon her.

  She had one reason, but it was enough.

  She had to save Shiage Hamazura, who was beaten and about to be killed.

  “Oooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!”

  She groaned like a beast and, finally, her hand grabbed the Crystal case. She flipped open the lid immediately so she wouldn’t hesitate, as though sticking a knife in her own chest. Mugino cackled when she saw it. She seemed amused beyond all else that her feelings of wanting to save someone precious to her would lead to a nightmarish outcome.

  … Hamazura…Takitsubo firmly shut her eyes and opened her mouth.

  Her shaking hand moved, trying to fling the contents of the Crystal case inside it.
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  Then it happened.

  “Muginooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!”

  Shiage Hamazura unleashed a scream.

  A moment later came the sound of a giant motor. The arm for the crane they used to do maintenance on the jets had shuddered, and when Mugino realized it, she took a few quick steps backward. The hook on the end of the arm, still holding a load, swung around in a wide arc like a giant morning star on a chain. And instead of hitting the one who had dodged it, it struck Takitsubo in the side, just as she was about to take the Crystals.

  Grkkk!!

  It was an awful noise.

  The Crystal case burst open, and Takitsubo went over the railing and disappeared into the level below.

  “Ha-ha-ha…”

  Despite herself, a grin had formed on Mugino’s lips.

  The result wasn’t in her script, but coincidences sometimes brought even greater amusement with them.

  “Gya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! What the hell was that, Hamazura?! Who were you trying to protect?! Some friend you are, finishing her off personally!!”

  But then, as Mugino laughed uproariously, a damp chill suddenly came over her.

  She’d been jeering at and mocking Hamazura endlessly, but he’d never reacted. He’d shown no humiliation or regret.

  Mugino realized it too late.

  Hamazura had been going after Takitsubo from the beginning. He’d both stopped her from using the Crystals and removed her from Mugino’s clutches. Even if it meant harming the person he wanted to protect, it would at least let her avoid a decisive, fatal blow.

  She thought back.

  The stuff hanging off the crane hook—hadn’t it been a worker-use powered suit, the kind for working with hazardous aviation explosives? Yes, one to give to the frail Takitsubo to raise her chances of survival even a few percentage points.

  “…Shizuri Mugino…”

  And why would he go that far?

  That was obvious.

  “It looks like one death just wasn’t enough for you.”

  Then, the Level Zero who had once brought down the fourth-ranked Level Five stood up once more.

  And ironically, for the same purpose—to save a girl named Rikou Takitsubo.

  3

  Accelerator switched on his choker electrode.

  Now he could use the number-one Level Five ability whenever he wanted: the ability to alter vectors. The power to reflect every possible attack, a power that could bring forth from that trivial capacity catastrophic destruction. As long as he had it, there would be no enemy he couldn’t defeat.

  Aiwass had said this to him, a hint of scorn passing across its face.

  That if Aleister’s plans continued, Last Order would “collapse” not long into the future.

  And implicitly, it had told him this as well:

  If you believe you can kill me, then do it. But I’m sure power on your level couldn’t eliminate my existence even temporarily.

  … Well, you asked for it. Manipulating his leg force vectors, Accelerator exploded forward. I don’t know if you’re a clump of AIM fields or an angel or what, but nobody who intentionally tries to harm that brat deserves any mercy. I’m wiping you out of existence and making things easier for myself, just like I said!!

  Aiwass didn’t even try to dodge. It gazed upon Accelerator, its hands still loosely spread.

  Accelerator dove straight into range. He thrust an open hand as hard as he could—and with it, all he had to do was manipulate its vectors, and he’d be able to destroy Aiwass from the inside out.

  However.

  Ga-bam!!

  An instant later, a shock wave of causes unknown pierced through Accelerator’s upper body in a diagonal line.

  He’d been cut right through, as though with a heavy katana. Immediately after he felt it, his body slammed into the floor, and he tumbled backward a few times.

  An unbelievable amount of fresh blood spewed. It wasn’t only from the gaping wound in his upper body, but from his mouth and his nose as well. All joking and metaphors aside, the wound was so huge it was strange none of his organs were leaking out of him.

  “Gh…bh, gaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!”

  He didn’t know what had just happened. Several had gotten through his reflection technique before, like Amata Kihara and Teitoku Kakine. But Aiwass was different. It wasn’t using some strange logic exception to slip through. Even after he’d taken a decisive blow, he couldn’t analyze what had just happened to his own body.

  “Oh. That was my mistake,” said Aiwass, its voice relaxed in contrast.

  Something sprouted from its back, parting through its long, blond hair. Wings. Wings that shone, radiated far too much for human eyes, brighter than a nuclear explosion. Had those wings been what sliced through Accelerator?

  They were abnormal.

  They weren’t simply golden. They glittered in a pale platinum, with white mixed at its core…Words may not have been enough to describe it, but that was the only way Accelerator’s brain could express it.

  Not being able to comprehend something he was physically seeing gave him a strong sense of unease.

  “I see you’ve planted some sort of snconstructionbozl-use virus, Aleister. You went through Last Order to embed self-defense bseouabilitygbu in my beuomanifesdnn? Well, I do indeed apologize. It seems he nbspgaddnpsir something like a suicide preventer. If you want to sbgpkillnapedv me, please do something about the nspidhwinggorws. They move of their own accord.”

  Aiwass’s words were growing stranger and stranger.

  But Accelerator wasn’t exactly listening. His eye color shifted into a red more baleful than the red of the blood spurting from his body. Still fallen, his hand reached out and found the ground, smashing the floor tiles.

  “Abeoughabaeougbaokillwobnoweuferya … !!”

  Ga-bam!! Accelerator’s back burst. Jet-black wings carved out from it. Dark wings, in contrast to the pale platinum ones Aiwass had. His upper body bleached in crimson, even his lips and teeth turned bright red, the demon swayed and rose with a gravity-defying smoothness.

  “‘Do what thou wilt.’ That shall be thy law?”

  Accelerator had no way of knowing, but that sentence was written in the Book of the Law and described the pillar central to a certain sorcerer long ago.

  “Unfortunately, you have the wrong rggtimerigeneration. Yours are, in the end, the rsgpowernophe from the eon of Osiris. You cannot hosefenemygierd me, one who lives in Horus.”

  There was a massive, thundering roar.

  It was the shock wave created by the two types of wings, jet-black and pale platinum, clashing.

  The collision created a storm.

  Ga-baaaahhhh!! Blazing-hot winds whipped up around Accelerator and Aiwass.

  But the battle was far from equal. With the first attack, Accelerator’s black wings shredded apart from their base, and with the second, they came completely off. Something more howl than scream rang out. Meanwhile, Aiwass’s pale-platinum wings swung. Fresh crimson blood scattered, dancing into the air, erased by the whipping winds.

  They were in two completely different dimensions.

  Despite the power of Accelerator’s black wings, it was like swinging around a heavy wooden club. Aiwass’s, on the other hand, were like swords of legend, thoroughly sharpened by advanced technology.

  There was the sound of something falling.

  No—a person falling.

  “Is that all?” said Aiwass simply, watching Accelerator sink into his pool of blood.

  A normal human would have died for sure, but Accelerator was still breathing. He had unconsciously used his vector-altering ability to force his blood to circulate from torn vessel to vessel. Hence, a lot of red liquid now flew around him like juice spilled in space.

  But that was it.

  All he could do was cling to life. No resuscitation, no miracle, would come from it.

  “I had mentioned Last Order as an easy way to tempt you, but this
went faster than expected. Your level of maturity wouldn’t even be able to cope with Fuse Kazakiri. You’re getting impatient again, aren’t you, Aleister? …Teitoku Kakine is worth thinking about as well.”

  Once it was finished speaking, Aiwass turned on its heel. Using its legs, it left that place. It was actually stranger than seeing it suddenly disappear or take flight would have been.

  Until—

  Grick!! Aiwass felt something small breaking at its core.

  An error had occurred in the AIM diffusion field aggregate’s bonding that governed its existence. Aiwass considered the cause and then turned around. It began to break into pieces, starting with the tips of its golden locks, and even then, Aiwass’s face remained stoic.

  “If I’m right…”

  A ragged voice.

  It belonged to Accelerator, but they weren’t indecipherable words like Aiwass’s speech. He spoke in a human language, saying, “…You’re using…Academy City’s…AIM fields…to emerge…And to control it, you made…this Fuse Kazakiri thing…and put a virus in that brat…Which means—”

  “Yes, you’ve thought this through.”

  Aiwass smiled, its fingertips crumbling and losing shape all the while.

  Its eyes gazed at Accelerator’s crutch.

  “Your jammer for blocking waves that remote control your choker—you reconfigured it for the entire Misaka network. The network is essentially a signpost for guiding all of Academy City’s AIM fields. So yes…Blocking the Misaka network’s interference from this space, in this location alone, is indeed like removing the crystal’s core and reverting it to saltwater. However…”

  As it spoke, Accelerator’s legs were trembling madly.

  Even though Aiwass hadn’t done anything.

  “Do you understand? It is also cutting off the only lifeline you have right now.”

  “…”

  There was only the continuous plips of dripping blood.

  Accelerator had been just barely stopping the blood loss by using his ability and forcing his blood to flow through broken vessels. If he blocked off his own vector-altering ability, only one thing could happen.

  “…Shut…up…,” he said, lips trembling. He’d set the jamming to grow stronger as time passed. Eventually, he wouldn’t be able to talk or walk. Mustering what strength he had left so he could finish things before that happened, he drew his gun.