She was his enemy.
England’s second princess spread her arms wide as if to accept the light’s
blessing. As she looked up at the 200 points of light in the night sky with
satisfaction, Carissa noticed Kamijou’s gaze. She returned his gaze and put on a
new expression that could not at all be described as a smile.
She then said something, but Kamijou could not tell what it was.
Immediately afterwards, the bunker cluster attacked Buckingham Palace.
There was no sound.
Kamijou’s eyes could see nothing but pure white.
All he could sense was that his body was being thrown somewhere. The great
number of explosives did not explode in the air or on the surface. They first dug
down into the ground and then exploded back up from under the ground.
He lost consciousness at least for a moment.
He groaned a bit, moved his fingers, and then finally realized that he was still
alive.
He could tell he was coughing, but he couldn’t hear it. He tried to turn his head,
but his body would not do what he told it to. Even so, he managed to awkwardly
move his mud-covered arms and legs in order to slowly stand up. It was the first
time he had felt that surprised that he possessed all his limbs.
He looked around.
Surprisingly, the fire and destruction had not spread into the city of London. It
may have been due to the defensive barrier Kanzaki had put up partway through.
Most of the 200 explosives had been detonated early in the sky. The ones that
had come down on top of Kamijou and the others had fallen through a gap in the
barrier that had been sliced open by Curtana Original. The destruction caused by
the ones that had made it through had been weakened by the defensive spells
cast by the magicians.
But…
“Index…?”
Kamijou ignored his own dirt covered head and looked around in shock.
No response came.
“Kanzaki, Itsuwa?”
The boy’s voice echoed in the silence.
Dirt had been torn up, buildings had collapsed, and his own footing was shaky.
Standing in the middle of a burnt field, Kamijou somehow managed to move his
trembling lips.
“Sherry, Agnese! Oriana!! Dammit…Orsola, Lucia, Angelene! Tatemiya,
Villian!! Fuck. Someone…anyone, please answer!!”
A few moans came in response, but no clear voices did.
Mostly everyone had collapsed. Some people may have been buried. That scene
caused more intense damage to Kamijou’s heart than the shockwave did to his
body. He could not even hazard a guess at how many levels of trump cards their
opponent had. Kamijou’s heart simply couldn’t keep up.
A single figure stood in the center of it all seeming to transcend the scene.
It was Second Princess Carissa.
- To Aru Majutsu no Index Volume 18 Chapter 7 Part 5
[-]
Without wiping the mud from her hair, Villian stared dimly at the back of a
certain boy as she lay on the ground. The bunker cluster bomb had just about
wiped out the remaining Anglican forces, but that boy continued to oppose
Carissa.
Villian was practically on the verge of death like most of the Anglicans when a
transmission from her eldest sister Rimea reached her ears.
Had that boy heard the transmission, too? He may have heard the same
transmission being broadcast from a spiritual item that had fallen amidst the
rubble in the battlefield, but he might not have.
Either way, he did not waver.
The Anglicans wavered upon learning of Carissa’s true aim, but he alone did not.
“What will you do now? The second bunker cluster has been fired! And unlike
last time, the magicians don’t have any power to spare in order to put up a
defensive barrier!!”
“!! Dammit. I’m not giving up!!”
“Ha ha ha!! Do you think I’ll send a self-destruct signal to the missile in order to
save my life if you destroy Curtana Original? This isn’t a nuclear missile we’re
talking about. That warhead doesn’t have a self-destruct!!”
“This isn’t over yet!! Selkie Aquarium can send a barrage to take it out!!”
“I suppose that is somewhat realistic… But if they could do that, they would
have done so on the previous shot. That might work with a piece of junk from
France that lost a good bit of its adaptability because of their stubborn insistence
to develop it and produce it in their own country, but this cruise missile will not
be so easily shot down!!”
Unlike William Orwell, he was a mercenary without complete principles or
ideologies. It was true that he could not always choose the correct option. He had
been fooled by Carissa and the knights and had been unable to prevent the coup
d’etat from happening.
But that did not stop that boy.
Even if he had made a mistake, he would not give up. No matter how bad the
situation became, he would try to find the best strategy to turn the situation
around.
That was why this boy did not waver at the current situation.
He may smile and invite in the situation, but he would not hesitate from shock.
Who was more noble, the one who made sure he was right from the beginning or
the one who made sure everyone was smiling in the end?
- To Aru Majutsu no Index Volume 18 Chapter 7 Part 7