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- A sticky sound rang out.
- The sound moved inside the stabbed magician and the being known as Coronzon had a
- new avatar. The hole in the chest did not vanish, but that was a convenient location. As
- long as no one touched it from above the clothing, no one would notice it was there. And
- he stayed holed up in his fortress anyway, so there was little chance of that happening.
- He remained on his back and his sprawled out silver hair began moving on its own. It was
- not visible because he was lying on top of it, but there was likely a demonic face in that
- hair.
- “Heh heh.”
- And.
- This time, there truly was no one else in this cold space, so the demon contained in a
- beautiful woman laughed.
- “Heh heh heh!! Hah hah!! Hee hee!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
- ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
- ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
- ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”
- Coronzon had her own objective.
- But for a while, she felt enough joy to forget even that. She simply could not help but savor
- the delight of having carved out a father’s dignity using the hand of his beloved daughter.
- (Now, I’ve finally cut my ties to that piece of shit Mathers. I no longer need to keep my
- good deeds and bad deeds in tune. And just as I hoped, Aleister raised an interesting toy.
- It was worth waiting this long.)
- Lola Stuart had always been known as someone who kept her good deeds and bad deeds
- balanced as if to keep the scales level.
- But that restriction had only been to provide an explanation and to calm the waves when
- she took an action that seemed out of character. But now that she had fulfilled her contract
- with Mathers, that restriction was gone. And a summoned being would not just disappear
- on its own. They would only leave once the spell user took responsibility and exorcised
- them.
- At that moment, a communication spell chirped and a voice reached Lola’s ears from a
- remote location.
- “Archbishop, it’s an emergency!!”
- The giant face disappeared into the golden waterfall on her back and its roaring ceased.
- The beautiful leader picked up the gold hair accessory from the floor and almost seemed
- to be humming as she asked a question.
- “What kind of emergency? After today, I wouldn’t even be surprised to hear London had
- fallen.”
- She made a joke on a whim.
- But the very next moment...
- “You knew!? Word really does reach you fast!!”
- “...Huh?”
- “A largescale attack is underway in Canada, Australia, and the other British
- Commonwealth nations! Britain itself has taken some damage. The Knights are currently
- holding it back, but the outskirts of London have already fallen!! They say if the enemy
- constructs a base here, it could become a long-term battle!!”
- “W-wait, what, hold on! What exactly is happening over here!?”
- “I repeat: simultaneous largescale attacks are underway in the British Commonwe—
- bgyuh!?”
- The transmission ended.
- No, someone else began speaking over the communication spell.
- “...Do you still not understand?”
- It was an impossible voice.
- But Lola Stuart did not look toward the communication spell or toward the empty shell of
- an avatar pinned to the floor. She looked in a different direction.
- Someone stood where no one had been before.
- Her long, long blonde hair began to wickedly writhe once more.
- “...The Thoth Tarot? A grimoire that borrows people’s forms?”
- “Is that what you think, or what you hope?”
- There was not just one person there.
- There was a man. There was a woman. There was an adult. There was a child. There was
- a saint. There was a sinner.
- Aleister’s generic appearance had left those who saw him with a variety of impressions,
- but this very strange scene looked like each of those different faces had been isolated and
- brought to life.
- “My soul shined with many colors.”
- What was this?
- Lola Stuart’s cheeks twitched as she made some guesses.
- “That is because I had always sealed many different possibilities within my single body.
- But once I released multiple versions of myself into the world, it became apparent they
- would only clash and I could not expect them to work together. That is why I had to bind
- myself and contain every version of myself to a single coordinate. So as usual, I did not
- think it through and regretted my actions.”
- The group spoke.
- “Although when I punished Fiamma of the Right and other such times, a momentarily
- branched-off alternative version of myself would have been observable. I appear in an
- instant and disappear in an instant. And not through the use of teleportation. Yes, did you
- never think it could be explained using the obsolete concept of faxing?”
- “Wait a second. You mean...?”
- “This was bound to happen from the moment I left the life support device to resolve the
- Karasuma Fran and Kihara Yuiitsu problems. Even if Kamijou Touma and Lola Stuart
- had not appeared, I would have branched out almost endlessly. This will create every
- version of me born from the various ‘ifs’.”
- Smiles surrounded her.
- And they undoubtedly belonged to the “human” named Aleister Crowley.
- “If the number calculated out by the former Tree Diagram and proven by the Reading
- Thoth 78 is accurate, the number of options available to me and the number of branches
- to which those would lead are 1,083,092,867. In other words, that many Aleister Crowleys
- exist as those many possibilities. You have witnessed that moment. Yes, no matter what
- you do now, you have only witnessed it. As if you are watching fireworks being launched
- from this single spot.”
- “...”
- “Now, now. How many times does it have to be said? Aleister Crowley does not care if he
- succeeds or fails. If I succeed, that’s wonderful. If I fail, I use that to continue forward.
- That is the plan based on my Thelema. So why did you relax just because you had won? It
- is true I did not arrive at the truth of Lola and Coronzon. You can even say I failed from
- the moment I had to once more dirty my hands with that loathsome magic. But did you
- really think you could change the trend I had created just because I did not know the
- answer and you outwitted me???”
- “..........................................................................................................................................!?”
- A wet sound burst out.
- But even though one of him was crushed and killed, the writhing whole declared war all
- the same.
- “My plan has failed again. I will give you the alternatively-shaped temple known as
- Academy City.”
- “My plan has failed again. I will give you the alternatively-shaped temple known as
- Academy City.”
- “My plan has failed again. I will give you the alternatively-shaped temple known as
- Academy City.”
- He said it far too readily.
- And he overturned everything.
- “And instead, I believe I will take your toy: all of the nations belonging to the British
- Commonwealth...including the United Kingdom itself.”
- “And instead, I believe I will take your toy: all of the nations belonging to the British
- Commonwealth...including the United Kingdom itself.”
- “And instead, I believe I will take your toy: all of the nations belonging to the British
- Commonwealth...including the United Kingdom itself.”
- ♦
- Kamijou Touma was thrown out into the empty air.
- It took him a while to realize he had been tossed out through the damaged portion of the
- Windowless Building’s wall.
- Even after he began to fall, he did not immediately slam into the ground.
- Mikoto was flying through the air in the A.A.A. and collecting a few people from the air.
- But she could not arrive in time for the very last one: Kamijou.
- He did not even have time to scream.
- But his life was not crushed and lost.
- Even though Mikoto’s hand did not reach him, something did suddenly interrupt his fall.
- “Gweh!?”
- He felt intense resistance in his neck. Only a little later did he realize the tip of some kind
- of stick had caught on the back of his collar at several dozen meters above the ground.
- He heard a voice like a small bell.
- “Do not swing your right hand at random. Destroy the broom now and I will have trouble
- ensuring either of our lives.”
- “...Wha-?”
- The voice was not at all similar.
- This one definitely belonged to a girl of middle or high school age.
- “The city’s core functions have been taken, but your Imagine Breaker and the #1
- Accelerator are needed to contact Aiwass’s core. We will also receive backup from Aneri,
- the version of the Reading Thoth 78, aka Mina Mathers, which I had spread throughout
- the city after lowering it to a consumer level. Lola...no, Coronzon seems to think she has
- reached checkmate, but there are plenty of holes in her encirclement.”
- However, a completely different name appeared in the back of Kamijou Touma’s mind.
- Yes, the name of that magician.
- “Allow me to introduce myself again.”
- The girl smiled.
- And that nemesis spoke like they were old acquaintances.
- “I am Aleister Crowley. Or, one of his many possibilities.”
- -Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 18 Epilogue
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