A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 22

by Kazuma Kamachi

  “…”

  The situation wouldn’t get any better if the enemy himself was the only thing Hamazura looked at.

  He checked the surrounding area, searching for usable weapons.

  Since Mugino and Takitsubo wouldn’t be any help, fighting together wasn’t a good idea. He had the girls evacuate to a cave near the woods. Hamazura had to fight the attacker while drawing the attention of the rest away from the cave.

  Gripping his assault weapon in both hands, he flicked the bulky safety with his thumb.

  …Did they want light, nimble movement in exchange for armor?

  Hamazura stared between the trees at the unknown masked assailant from dozens of meters away.

  With how thin his gear was, it seemed unlikely there would be a ballistic plate in it, but given the situation they’d brought this stuff out in…Maybe it was better to assume some good-for-nothing effects had been added with good-for-nothing tech.

  Special fibers might hold the bullet back, but would the impact still get through? If it can, then 7.62mm bullets will get him. I think Anti-Skill’s armor is thicker, at least. He can probably move pretty fast in it, but maybe I can manage if I get him before he notices me.

  Then it happened.

  Whoom! The assailant’s neck turned his way.

  He wasn’t holding anything that seemed like a firearm, but if he had electronically contracting springs reinforcing him—like Hard Taping—then he could rip a person in two with just his bare hands.

  There was no delay. Hamazura’s hands bounced up, aimed the gun at the assailant, and pulled the trigger.

  He felt an impact like he’d been punched in the right shoulder.

  His first shot had hit a tree trunk on the way. His second headed straight for the attacker.

  A shrill noise rang out as sparks flew.

  The rifle bullet didn’t pierce his target, however. Wings, which had an extremely biological appearance, had suddenly extended out from the middle of his flat gold-and-white mask, unfurling like a shield and covering his slim frame.

  “Wha—?!”

  Hamazura thought he’d stop breathing, but not simply at how those organic wings had appeared.

  Letters had appeared—letters he knew—lighting up the mask covering the attacker’s face.

  “Equ. Dark Matter.”

  Wasn’t that the nickname of the second-strongest Level Five in Academy City—the one Shizuri Mugino had faced?

  He heard a clack.

  The assailant was getting ready to charge toward him.

  “Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

  Screaming, Hamazura kept firing bullets on full automatic.

  Ping-ping-ping-ping-ping-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!! Sounds of little pieces of metal getting shaved away rang out in succession. The spat-out cartridges ran into one another in midair, adding noises to the gunfire that were similar to bells ringing.

  However, they were not the sounds of the attacker’s body being pulverized.

  They were the sounds of every single rifle bullet bouncing off the multiple white wings that had poured out of his big, flat mask.

  They wouldn’t reach.

  As despair began to swirl in Hamazura’s breast, the assailant moved.

  Roar!!

  Flapping all his wings, he closed a dozen meters in a mere instant.

  There was no room to dodge.

  He continued, ramming into Hamazura like a cannonball.

  A dull creaking noise burst out from inside Hamazura’s upper body.

  “Gahhhh?!”

  Maybe it was a good thing that he could even scream.

  His body flew several meters through the air before falling onto the snow. He felt hard roots pushing up against his back. With that attack alone, the taste of blood spread through his mouth.

  Swoosh. The sound of something cutting through wind rang in Hamazura’s ears.

  Multiple wings extended from the assailant’s gold-and-white mask, undulating like whips, lashing out into the entire surrounding area.

  Hamazura rolled on the ground, stifling the scream clinging inside his throat.

  Several of the conifers comprising the forest were torn through like paper. The ground nearby was gouged out, and a thick tree began to fall with a craaaaack toward Hamazura as he continued to roll.

  The white wings and mask were made of the same stuff.

  They spread out unnaturally, like heat extending sculptured candy.

  “No…,” muttered Hamazura.

  He’d never actually seen Teitoku Kakine use his ability. But something fundamental was wrong about this that let him understand it anyway.

  “That’s not Dark Matter—that’s not even an Academy City ability…?”

  The assailant didn’t respond.

  Instead, he slowly brought his white wings to bear on Hamazura.

  “?!”

  Hamazura frantically got up and tried to retreat to gain distance, but then a different impact hit him from directly behind. This set of assailants wasn’t alone. Hamazura had only just now realized that, but it was too late. The trunk of the conifer behind him was torn through in one swipe as multiple white wings attacked from right behind him.

  It was probably fortunate that the cut-down tree trunk hit him instead of the white wings.

  However, the hammer-like impact still slammed into him.

  This time, he couldn’t even scream.

  After falling onto the white snow, he noticed the red stains around him. He’d been hurt so badly it had taken him a few moments to realize his own body was bleeding.

  Lying there, he looked around to check his surroundings.

  Three of them, and those were only the visible ones.

  He had no idea when or where the last one had been hiding.

  “Esper abilities are like flames.”

  One of the attackers spoke.

  Because he was wearing the same mask, Hamazura couldn’t tell which of them was opening his mouth.

  “Flames are a powerful weapon only humans can control, to be sure. But simply flailing flames around makes it no more than a primitive man’s torch. The civilized use flames to strike metal—and so it is with abilities.”

  I see, thought Hamazura.

  Level Five abilities, like Shizuri Mugino’s Meltdown and Teitoku Kakine’s Dark Matter, produced effects that didn’t obey the regular laws of nature. So what about the new matter produced using that power? Didn’t it create an entirely new structure of matter, one which entirely ignored the derivation of elementary particles, atoms, and molecules that had been going on since the Big Bang?

  Just like how carbon nanotubes were different from simple lumps of carbon. Just like how semiconductors using advanced calculations were different than lumps of glass. Just like how steel processed at high heats was different than soft metal.

  A new substance created using energy not of this world would have properties not of this world.

  Enough to disparage a true Level Five ability as a primitive man’s torch.

  “…Don’t get too comfortable,” spat Hamazura. “Did you give the Crystals to Mugino so you could use the flame called the fourth strongest as a weapon, making her into some kind of flamethrower stuffed with naphtha? And it didn’t work out, so you came to grab her before the embers went out. Now what will you do? Hook her up to medical equipment and change her into a blast furnace for manufacturing a new form of matter?”

  If that was the case, the project would have no need for Hamazura.

  He was already on the run from Academy City. They’d kill a Level Zero without a doubt.

  The masked assailants closed in on him from three directions.

  He couldn’t beat them with just one assault rifle. Plus, the Level Five they were based on was strong enough to tackle entire army units by himself. Whether he brought out tanks or hand grenades, he’d never be able to take down even one of them.

  That w
as right.

  So if he wanted to fight them head-on…

  Shiage Hamazura hadn’t stood up against them just to stay quiet and be killed.

  “Hey,” he said, still on the ground, relaxing his arms and legs. “I was rolling around like that for so long that my pocket spilled out somewhere. Know where it went?”

  The assailants ignored him.

  They’d swiftly kill the two rebels, recover Shizuri Mugino, and return home.

  That was the only thing on their minds—but then, suddenly, they felt a hard, gravelly sensation at their feet.

  It had sharp, clear shards. Like the remains of a broken glass container.

  “Damn it. That was my only hope,” he murmured as though he’d given up on something. “…I finally picked up the item I needed to negotiate with Academy City—and now you’re ruining it!”

  A bad premonition swelled within them.

  Still lying on the ground, Hamazura said this next to the assailants who were supposedly in a position of absolute superiority:

  “That package was the bacterial wall the Russian saboteurs were trying to spread around. You didn’t have to go and crush it right in front of me like that.”

  The air around them immediately froze. The assailants, too, being part of Academy City’s underworld, had heard about the bacterial wall used in the Kremlin Report and how it worked.

  It was an airborne pathogen, and the mortality rate of those infected was over 80 percent. It was extremely resistant to high heat as well, so simply boiling it would be ineffective. Because of that, sterilization required the usage of toxic, high-density ozone. Also worthy of note was that the effects of the germ were strong enough to decompose oil, meaning there was a risk it would eat through the filters and such on existing biochemical weapon masks, vehicles, and buildings. When preserving it, most of its activity was apparently contained by keeping it in a super-low-moisture container, but once it left the package and came into contact with the moisture in the air, it wouldn’t be possible to keep it in check any longer.

  Yes.

  Even with special masks and suits covering their whole bodies, they could still be infected!

  “Shit!!”

  For the first time, the assailants panicked. Even realizing it would do them no good, they began to move, trying to get as far away from the broken glass container as possible.

  And then it happened.

  Shiage Hamazura quickly waved the hands grabbing the assault rifle.

  “I lied, morons. It’s a can of fizzy water.”

  “?!”

  By the time his attackers figured it out, it was too late.

  From his prone state, Hamazura got up onto his knee on the snow and forced his body forward. He shoved the rifle’s barrel in between the white wings, forcing open a line of fire toward a spot near the attacker’s waist.

  He didn’t have time to hesitate.

  He pulled the trigger.

  After a sharp crack of gunfire, one attacker fell down into the snow like a door being violently kicked in. He’d been protected by the white wings before. It was plain as day what would have happened had the bullets hit the attacker anywhere else.

  “You bastard!!”

  They’d probably never even considered one of their own might die. The other two attackers flapped their wings hurriedly.

  At that rate, Hamazura’s body would have been torn to shreds. Not even the thick conifer trunks would obstruct their pearlescent wings.

  However, a dead human body outfitted with the same technology now rested at Hamazura’s feet. He turned around, then dove behind the white wings that were still extending from the grounded corpse. Their wings, which would shear through anything, were blocked by wings of the same material and bounced away.

  Hamazura kicked the dead body, drastically changing the angle of its neck—or more specifically, of the wings coming out of the mask. In the direction the head was facing, the white wings rushed down at the attackers from directly overhead like a guillotine.

  Their weapons were the same, so of course, his foes could block the white wings swinging at them, too.

  One attacker produced several wings from his mask, using everything he had to stop the onslaught. Yes—everything he had. His dire straits left him no room for anything else. And then, Hamazura thrust his assault rifle’s muzzle toward him from the side.

  A scream rang out.

  With a short burst of fire, red fluid sprayed, and the second assailant fell to the snow.

  But that was as far as he could go.

  The third assailant went on the counterattack. Several white wings writhed, not going for Hamazura but instead gouging out a huge chunk of the ground at his feet. If Hamazura lost his balance, he wouldn’t be able to aim his assault rifle; he’d be completely disabled. After securing his own safety first, the assailant unwaveringly went forward. He grabbed Hamazura’s neck in one hand. Then, with one side of his body positioned in front, he slammed him into the trunk of one of the conifers still barely standing from the battle.

  “Gah?!”

  The impact shot through him, his breathing stopped, and his assault rifle slid from his grip. Hamazura’s feet were floating off the ground. The assailant, saying nothing, spread the white wings from his mask wide. Not a shred of mercy could be felt from them.

  “…Aren’t you forgetting something important?”

  But Hamazura grinned.

  He grinned, and he spoke.

  “No matter how unstable her physical balance got because of the Crystals, Shizuri Mugino is still number four. She can manage to fire a few times.”

  “…” The assailant, still holding Hamazura up by one hand, shook his masked face slightly. “You’re bluffing. You can’t trick me like that twice. Shizuri Mugino’s power was clear the moment she lost to scum like you.”

  “I see. That’s too bad.”

  Hamazura relaxed his hands.

  With his limbs hanging down, he said one last thing.

  “At least you’ll die proud of yourself, then.”

  An enormous ray of light burst forth.

  By the time the assailant had perceived it, it was already over.

  His right side was forward, and his right arm, which was grabbing Hamazura’s neck, was blown off at the shoulder. That’s what it seemed like, at least—but that wasn’t actually what happened. His right chest had been completely torn off along with the right arm. Everything up to right under his neck had transformed into a cavern.

  With a thump, Hamazura’s body fell to the ground. The severed arm was still digging into his neck.

  “Wha…what…?”

  In shock, the attacker looked back along to where the light ray’s firing source was and, a few hundred meters away, saw two girls standing there. One looked exhausted, wearing a yellow coat, and the other one was in a pink tracksuit. The one in the tracksuit had her shoulder under the yellow-coated girl’s arm to hold her up.

  Shizuri Mugino’s balance was unstable because of the Crystals, and she was not in any state to fire precisely. Even if she’d had the strength in reserve to fire a few shots, she wouldn’t have been able to hit, so there shouldn’t have been an issue.

  Which was why…

  Rikou…Takitsubo…You’re telling me number four borrowed someone else’s help to correct her aim…?

  The assailant didn’t realize his own words were no longer coming out of his mouth.

  No, that’s not all. Even that bacterial wall bluff…It was only an opening move. If we’d had the information that Shizuri Mugino would be coming after us, it would have been easy to deal with them…He made us think it was a crazy possibility, just a bluff…and that put us off our guard, giving them the opportunity to take careful aim so they could hit for sure…

  A few shots would have been able to wipe out the assailants.

  If they all hit exactly where they needed to…

  If they’d dodged even one, it would’ve been over. Actually, if they used the whi
te wings coming out of their masks, they would’ve been able to repel it, seeing as it was only Meltdown.

  So he…

  Hamazura had taken the assailant down with the assault rifle out of nothing more than pure luck, beyond their plan. His job was to slow them down, buy time, and let Mugino’s power finish them off.

  The wounded number four couldn’t have fought alone.

  So they’d altered the playing field so that she could, even injured.

  The assailants had fallen for every last one of their schemes.

  “Damn it…all…”

  The assailant’s deeply gouged body swayed unsteadily before sinking into the snow.

  But his mask still moved.

  With the power he had left, he tried to take Hamazura with him.

  Until the assailant felt something hard on the side of his mask—on the side of his head.

  It was the muzzle of an assault rifle.

  “I can’t…believe it…”

  The man belatedly regretted his mistakes.

  Their orders had stated their first goal was to kill the Academy City rebels Shiage Hamazura and Rikou Takitsubo. Underestimating their opponent as a Level Zero meant they had failed to properly analyze their true combat strength.

  “So this is…Shiage Hamazura…”

  “No, it’s not.”

  The young man pointing his assault rifle muzzle downward as he wobbled cut him off with a few words.

  Then he said:

  “This is Item. And don’t forget it, even if you end up in hell.”

  3

  There hadn’t been any reason.

  His right arm just had a special power.

  For example, assume a nuclear missile was about to be fired right in front of you. Say in your hand you held the control key, and the console that controlled its launch was in front of you.

  In that situation, would it be strange to insert the key and stop the launch? Wouldn’t it actually be stranger to say something like I’m not an expert, so I don’t understand or It’s not my responsibility to risk my life when I’m not a soldier or police officer and just stand there idly without doing anything?

  Someone like that wouldn’t be human.