A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 22 Read online

  Copyright

  A CERTAIN MAGICAL INDEX, Volume 22

  KAZUMA KAMACHI

  Translation by Andrew Prowse

  Cover art by Kiyotaka Haimura

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  TOARU MAJYUTSU NO INDEX Vol.22

  ©Kazuma Kamachi 2010

  Edited by Dengeki Bunko

  First published in Japan in 2010 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2020 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Kamachi, Kazuma, author. | Haimura, Kiyotaka, 1973– illustrator. | Prowse, Andrew (Andrew R.), translator. | Hinton, Yoshito, translator.

  Title: A certain magical index / Kazuma Kamachi ; illustration by Kiyotaka Haimura.

  Other titles: To aru majyutsu no index. (Light novel). English

  Description: First Yen On edition. | New York : Yen On, 2014–

  Identifiers: LCCN 2014031047 (print) | ISBN 9780316339124 (v. 1 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316259422 (v. 2 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316340540 (v. 3 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316340564 (v. 4 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316340595 (v. 5 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316340601 (v. 6 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316272230 (v. 7 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316359924 (v. 8 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316359962 (v. 9 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316359986 (v. 10 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316360005 (v. 11 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316360029 (v. 12 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316442671 (v. 13 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316442701 (v. 14 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316442725 (v. 15 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316442749 (v. 16 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316474542 (v. 17 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316474566 (v. 18 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975357566 (v. 19 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975331245 (v. 20 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975331269 (v. 21 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975331283 (v. 22 : pbk.)

  Subjects: CYAC: Magic—Fiction. | Ability—Fiction. | Nuns—Fiction. | Japan—Fiction. | Science fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Fantasy / General. | FICTION / Science Fiction / Adventure.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.K215 Ce 2014 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2014031047

  ISBNs: 978-1-9753-3128-3 (paperback)

  978-1-9753-3129-0 (ebook)

  E3-20200225-JV-NF-ORI

  BATTLE REPORT

  Fiamma of the Right.

  The project he’d been planning had finally started in earnest.

  To start with, he’d gathered all the necessary pieces from the Roman Orthodox Church’s holdings all around the world and then built the fortress his ritual needed.

  Scooped up onto this battleship as it rose, Touma Kamijou heard the voice of his fated enemy.

  “I welcome you—to my fortress, the Star of Bethlehem.”

  The mobile stronghold wasn’t the only threat, however. Fiamma had another trump card yet to be played:

  “Sally forth, Archangel Gabriel, the POWER OF GOD. Blow them all to bits.”

  Having reached a field hospital in the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations, Shiage Hamazura received help from the sorceress Elizalina, who successfully eliminated as much of the ill effects from the Crystals eating away at Rikou Takitsubo’s body as she could.

  But then Hamazura and Takitsubo read a document sent to the Alliance called the Kremlin Report, quickly learning that Russian forces were preparing to carry out a special operation: a procedure for defending nuclear launch facilities by using biological weapons—and the location where they planned to execute this inhumane plan was very close to the settlement where Digurv and the others lived.

  “I couldn’t talk much while we were in the settlement, but I remember everything those people did for me. I want to fight for their sake, too.”

  Meanwhile, Accelerator had been sojourning in the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations as well, but even Elizalina’s cleansing technique hadn’t granted him a way to save Last Order.

  Accelerator ultimately decided that if he wanted to save her, he had no choice but to decipher the mysterious parchment after all.

  Moments later, Elizalina yelled a warning at him:

  “Run away!! They’ll be here soon. If they mount a serious attack, our forces won’t be enough to stop them! Their goal is the parchment you’re carrying!!”

  An archangel’s ferocious attacks may have been assailing Russia’s skies, but the term angel didn’t refer only to Misha Kreutzev.

  There was another.

  Hyouka Kazakiri, born from scientific technology and AIM dispersion fields, was challenging the angel of water:

  “…If that is the reason you would harm my precious friends, then I’ll use all the power I can muster to stop you.”

  Another battle was unfolding in another place as well.

  In the Vatican, Matthew Reese, who had decided to abandon his very position as the pope of Rome and to fight once more as a simple Crossist, was confronting Cardinal Peter Iogdis:

  “Do you understand? We are fighting so you can survive. Promise me you will not die before this war ends.”

  In a Russian palace, Bishop Nikolai Tolstoj trembled with rage, having been completely left out of the plan.

  “Send in the reserves…I want that fortress blown up!! Right now!!”

  And Mikoto Misaka, newly arrived in Russia, was listening to a Sister as she relayed details about the movements of an independent Russian unit.

  “Nu-AD1967. They are preparing to fire an old Soviet strategic nuclear warhead, reports Misaka, summarizing the details.”

  A myriad of battles were unfolding in multiple places.

  Unbeknownst to these fighters, a great deal of people had gathered to defeat the archangel Misha Kreutzev.

  Accelerator had intervened between Misha and Kazakiri.

  Acqua of the Back had attempted to reduce the archangel’s power by redirecting the telesma comprising Misha’s body into himself based on their mutual control of the element of water.

  Touma Kamijou had tried to damage the archangel by destroying the ritual site on the Star of Bethlehem.

  And as a result…

  “…You think it’ll go that easy? You don’t have Misha anymore. I still don’t know why things went so well, but humans managed to beat an archangel. No matter how you think about it, the scales are tipping in our favor.”

  But it wasn’t over.

  Even after the enormous loss of an archangel, Fiamma’s mental state didn’t waver as he confronted Kamijou atop the Star of Bethlehem.

  “Misha Kreutzev’s role
ended when it changed these skies into night. I’d like to say phase one is now complete, but even now, I’ve gotten a little bonus.”

  Two right arms were on the verge of clashing.

  But before they did, Fiamma of the Right said only this:

  “One can only fully wield true power in a true world…It’s time I showed you exactly what that means.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Moment of the Great Distortion’s Correction

  Broken_Right_Hand.

  1

  Shizuri Mugino.

  The fourth-ranked Level Five. A bona fide monster who could freely use her terrifying ability Meltdown. And a fated rival that Hamazura had thus far defeated not once, but twice. Appearing before him now—he, who had fled Academy City to faraway Russia—was a hunting dog. It was no exaggeration to say she was one of the most infamous of her kind.

  As far as Hamazura knew, she’d lost one of her arms. Looking carefully, he saw that her yellow coat sleeve seemed strangely baggy. Maybe it was only her wrist that had a human form and the inside was something more robotic.

  “Pfeh.”

  There were no words.

  All Hamazura noticed was Mugino hanging her head, shoulders moving up and down eerily, mechanically.

  “Heh-heh-heh. Ku-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”

  “…!!”

  When she looked up, she was sticking her tongue out.

  On its tender red flesh rested a small case. A rectangular holder, the kind you might put mechanical pencil lead into. It contained some white powder. Something Hamazura knew all too well.

  Crystals.

  This stuff had tortured Rikou Takitsubo. It was almost like a drug, allowing users to intentionally cause their abilities to go berserk. Hamazura’s and Takitsubo’s wanderings in Russia were merely one part of their efforts to combat its side effects—and yet, Mugino had dug up the root of all their struggles just to throw it in their faces once again.

  She must not have even thought about it…

  …about the wall that divided a Level 0 from a Level 5.

  Come to think of it, where had Takitsubo gone? Was she truly safe? Nobody was doing anything terrible to her, were they?

  Hamazura spat out the words as they boiled up in his mind. “After all this time, you still want to use that shit on Takitsubo?! Just to make us suffer a little bit longer, just to hurt us a little bit more, without any logical reason?!?!”

  In response to his fury, Mugino gave him a scornful grin.

  Her mouth moved.

  But she didn’t answer. After all, she hadn’t opened her mouth to speak.

  Ker-crack.

  Shizuri Mugino’s upper and lower teeth crushed the case of Crystals between them.

  Hamazura’s eyes trembled; he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  Meanwhile, the soft crick-crack-crunch-crunch noise continued. There was no mistaking that it was coming from Mugino’s mouth—the sound of her breaking down and chewing the case’s sharp fragments. Human mouths, of course, were not the sturdiest things. The taste of blood was probably filling her mouth at that very moment.

  And yet.

  Only that plastered-on smile remained in the monster’s expression.

  “…Takitsubo, eh? Why should I care about every little thing that small fry does…?”

  Mrmph-mmph-hmrph…Mugino continued to mutter as the sounds of fibers tearing filtered through her mouth.

  Something was filling her.

  Something nondescript began to circulate through the body of the woman named Shizuri Mugino.

  “Crystals…A substance that allows espers to intentionally cause their abilities to go out of control. Some researcher from that crew Rescue, or whatever they call it, said it was the path to Level Six. Even ignoring the hopeless answer from the Tree Diagram, they struggled in vain, using resonance or telepathy or something like that. Clearly the Crystals still have their secrets, but I don’t think about stuff that complicated.”

  Shiage Hamazura had misunderstood.

  Misunderstood how serious it was that he’d defeated the fourth-ranked Level Five twice. And now that he stood on the same stage as the powerful, he finally began to realize what lengths they would go to for the sake of eliminating the powerless Level Zero.

  “Hey, Hamazura? If the fourth-ranked Level Five went so crazy she couldn’t control herself, how much worse do you think the damage would be?”

  Whoosh!!!!!!

  A bloodcurdling white light erupted.

  Not one light, not two.

  Thousands, tens of thousands of intense lights radiated out from the woman named Shizuri Mugino, in every direction.

  2

  Touma Kamijou and Fiamma of the Right.

  These two men confronted each other atop the Star of Bethlehem.

  An intense bloodlust filled the air, emanating from Fiamma and flooding the space around him. An abnormal power had gathered to his third arm, the symbol of his strength. It was so overwhelming even Kamijou, who knew little about the inner workings of sorcery, could easily grasp its presence.

  Kamijou had no choice but to face this terrible opponent alone. The sorceress Lesser wasn’t on the Star of Bethlehem. Sasha Kreutzev, who had been present only moments ago, had fallen through the cracks in the floor Fiamma had destroyed, dropping down to the fortress’s lower levels. Kamijou had nobody to call on.

  But he never faltered.

  He clenched his fist into a tight ball as he faced his enemy.

  A Soul Arm rested in Fiamma’s hand. It was controlling Index remotely, granting him access to the knowledge in her 103,000 grimoires.

  It was so close, Kamijou might reach it if he simply stretched out his hand.

  But the sheer wall of strength named Fiamma made that nigh impossible. This wasn’t a problem that could be easily solved by just charging in blindly, and he knew that.

  Slowly, slowly…As Kamijou gauged the distance, little by little…

  Fiamma smiled.

  It was a sign of his cold, merciless heart.

  And yet, it was also the expression of a person who believed he wasn’t doing anything malicious whatsoever.

  “The Star of Bethlehem has risen. My control over celestial bodies using Gabriel has also been completed. Each of the four planetary aspects has returned to its rightful position.”

  Shoom went the sound of something cutting through the air.

  Fiamma had casually swung his third arm; it was glowing faintly.

  “Everything is now prepared. It’s past time for me to have that right arm of yours. Once I use it as a medium to wield the power that has taken root within me, Project Bethlehem will be complete.”

  “…You would go that far to see the Roman Orthodox Church win?” Kamijou tightened his right fist.

  Fiamma shook his head. “I don’t care about the Roman Church. Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about Crossist society in a broader sense. But fundamentally, my actions are for my own benefit.” He spoke smoothly, without a single pause. “And to add to that, I am not the cause of this war.”

  It wasn’t a prepared sermon. He hadn’t simply memorized some set phrases. These were the fundamental ideals that utterly permeated the man named Fiamma. That was why his speech lacked even a moment’s hesitation.

  “Yes, I may have pulled the trigger, but the rage, resentment, and envy underpinning this war—that vortex of negative emotions—is simply something that has always inhabited the hearts of people all around the world. Otherwise, could any amount of violence incite a war that spread the flames of conflict so quickly?”

  Fiamma’s voice was the only thing flowing between them.

  “I am their indulgence.”

  “…”

  “Say I didn’t really want to do this, that someone else had ordered me to. Make an excuse like that to yourself, and you can commit even the worst atrocities. Humanity is an ugly species.”

  “And you think that’s supposed to ju
stify everything you’ve done?”

  “Not at all. And I don’t think that way, either,” Fiamma explained simply. “I had two objectives with World War III. The first was to collect every bit of the supplies and data I needed for my plan under the pretext that they were war necessities. And the second was to conduct the ritual to lure the enemy I need to defeat into the open.”

  His third arm.

  The “symbol” that made him special flickered with light, strong to weak, pulsing.

  “After all, even if you acquire a sword that can slay the king of demons, you can’t defeat it if the incarnation of evil is nowhere to be found.”

  A moment later.

  A slash came.

  An attack coming directly from the side.

  Distance didn’t matter. And it couldn’t fit within this one room anyway. The giant thing that appeared pierced the walls in its path—and in that instant, the entire room was torn apart, the resulting cut shaving off a massive piece from the Star of Bethlehem itself.

  Ba-boom!! The roar reverberated a moment later.

  There was an almost electric flash.

  Kamijou’s right hand couldn’t cancel it all. If he’d tried to take it head-on, the force would have carried his body away, blasting it thousands of meters back, possibly even sending him hurtling down to the surface.

  However.

  “Oh?”

  A smile from Fiamma.

  Touma Kamijou was still standing in the cloven room. Knowing he couldn’t nullify the impossibly massive attack, he’d struck out at the sidelong hit with an uppercut from directly below. As a result, Fiamma’s attack had veered slightly upward, scraping right over Kamijou’s head.

  In other words:

  “You not only erase—you’ve learned to parry as well, have you?” Fiamma asked, sounding impressed.

  And then:

  The next attack that came was one nobody present could have anticipated.

  Neither Kamijou nor Fiamma.

  It was someone else.

  In the skies spread past the broken ceiling, something blinked.

  A white light.

  A moment after Kamijou realized this, a gigantic pillar of pure-white light rained straight down onto Fiamma, bathing his entire body.