Toaru Majutsu no Index

Volume 21, War Report

Mikoto limply sat on a snowy plain in Russia.

A Sister spoke to her.

“Have you calmed down? asks Misaka.”

“Yes... Sorry about that. Could you explain that again?”

“Nu-AD1967. They are taking preparations to fire former Soviet Union strategic nuclear warheads, reports Misaka summarizing the contents.”

“Wait, wait. When you say nuclear warheads, you mean like nukes!? Has the Russian president given the go ahead on that?”

Mikoto’s face was pale, but the Sister’s was completely expressionless as she tilted her head to the side slightly.

“There is no mention of it over the standard military lines, says Misaka as she double checks. Also, there is no sign of the nuclear confirmation code having been sent, says Misaka in an additional report. It is just a guess, but this could be the actions of an independent unit under the control of the man named Nikolai Tolstoy.”

“But...” Mikoto frowned. “So you’re saying a single unit of the Russian army is bringing out missiles loaded with nuclear warheads? But I thought they couldn’t be detonated without the confirmation code from the president.”

Otherwise, some random soldier with dangerous ideas could pull the trigger dooming mankind. A country that had facilities to fire a large number of missiles needed security that solid.

“Not necessarily, says Misaka as she listens to the transmission with a worried look on her face.”

“Not even your eyebrows have moved.”

“It seems this independent unit is using exchanged warheads, says Misaka in utter shock.” The Sister shook her head. “Have you heard of the large number of nuclear warheads and radioactive materials that were leaked from Russia at the end of the Cold War? asks Misaka to make sure.”

“I’ve heard of it, yeah, but I don’t know how much of it is true and how much is just an urban legend.”

“What about the many nuclear engineers and technology that leaked out at the same time?”

“...”

“The warheads were sold with the goal of being used, but most of them could not actually be detonated due to the issue of the confirmation code, informs Misaka. However, certain warheads were an exception. For those, the warhead’s security lock was set inside the outer shell surrounding the nuclear material, explains Misaka. In other words...”

“If they removed the contents and made a new outer shell to put it in...”

“They could then detonate the nuclear material, says Misaka giving her conclusion. And it would have the exact same destructive power, adds Misaka.”

The Sister spoke smoothly.

It was unlikely the military transmission she had intercepted just then was enough to give her that much information. She may have been gathering information in real time over the Misaka Network.

“When the former Soviet Union collapsed, those exchanged warheads were mainly created by various organizations that were trying to gain independence from Russia, but Russia later hunted them all down in special military operations. They claimed this was to work towards world peace and to take responsibility for the nuclear weapons they had created, explains Misaka. The official records say those exchanged warheads were disassembled, lowered in density, and reused as fuel for nuclear reactors.”

“So this independent unit is using some reserves they had recovered? That means they have nuclear weapons they can fire at any time without the go ahead from the president.”

“They are preparing a vehicle-style launcher to fire the exchanged warheads created from Nu-AD1967s at that sky fortress, says Misaka exposing their plan.”

“This is no joke...” Mikoto muttered.

No matter how mysterious that fortress was or how many times the boy on it had survived seemingly certain death, neither of them would escape the detonation of those weapons.

And the damages would not end there.

Even if that strange fortress had insanely strong defenses allowing it to withstand the nuclear explosions, that would not be a happy ending.

The problem was the altitude of the target.

“America has been researching a safe small-scale nuclear warhead, right?”

“I assume you are referring to the project on a nuclear weapon with a destructive scale with a diameter of only 3-5 kilometers that does not send the ash of death in to the sky upon detonation, says Misaka to make sure. That is intended to be used in the destruction of underground facilities.”

Even during the superheated race in developing nuclear weapons during the Cold War, there was a taboo. That was spreading the ash of death above a certain altitude. That was why warheads like MIRV were developed that rained down smaller nuclear warheads rather than using one giant bomb.

So why did they insist on avoiding sending the ash of death above a certain altitude?

What was the fear that kept even major countries seeing the possibility of a large-scale nuclear war from even considering that?

“This goes beyond bad... If they fire nuclear weapons at a target that high up...!!”

“Given the detonation range of the Nu-AD1967, the ash of death created by the attack on the floating fortress will continually spread throughout the atmosphere in great quantities and quite possible contaminate the entire earth, says Misaka reporting the result of the simulation she ran over the network. The negative effect of the radioactive material on living creatures and the obstruction of sunlight by the ash of death would alter the environment and have a negative effect on the growth of plants which would cause a food shortage, says Misaka expressing her concerns.”

A nuclear explosion on the surface already had a risk from the ash of death, so it was unknown just how far it would spread when that explosion was thousands and thousands of meters up in the air.

“You said they were preparing a vehicle-style launcher, right? Do you know where it is?”

“Misaka has a general idea from the contents of the transmission, but they will fire the missiles from a location over 70 kilometers away in order to avoid any harm to themselves, adds Misaka.”

“Hm.”

Mikoto looked around and then pointed in a certain direction with her chin.

A group of Academy City vehicles lay in that direction. A large number of tanks and armored vehicles were moving and firing along with quite a few powered suits.

“...Let’s just steal one of those. Can you drive one?”

Stiyl Magnus ran along the underground portion of St. George’s Cathedral. He was not in a room. He ran down a long stone corridor. With that at the center, St. George’s Cathedral contained a spider web of countless escape corridors that stretched out for kilometers. Some were real, some were fake, some were traps, and some were detours in case one was surrounded. They had various uses and levels of importance.

Footsteps approached from behind.

The footsteps were very odd because the number of steps taken and distance covered did not match up.

(I can’t just continue to run.)

Stiyl gritted his teeth.

(Giving her leeway in her calculations makes it that much easier for Fiamma to use her!!)

Immediately afterwards...

“Chapter 15, Verse 4. Cutting off enemy’s escape route and carrying out the disposal of the enemy.”

The entire space shook.

The underground passageway ahead of Stiyl collapsed as if it had been crushed by a giant’s hand.

Stiyl spun around.

Two eyes glowed in the darkness.

Three more white lights floated around Index.

“Chapter 17, Verse 33. Characteristics of Norse mythology detected in the enemy. Reproducing and immediately activating the sword of the harvest god as a means of opposition.”

The three white lights flew toward Stiyl.

“Tch!!”

Stiyl immediately created a flame sword, but the three lights suddenly changed from their completely straight trajectory to movements that resembled those of a living creature allowing them to evade Stiyl’s flame sword.

(Freyr’s sword...!?)

Tools that would automatically fly through the air and certainly end the enemy’s life frequently showed up in legends from around the world and not just in Norse mythology. The sword of the harvest god Freyr was one of those. The legends said that if someone clever possessed it, it would fight on its own and bring about victory for its owner.

Norse mythology was a religion in which it was possible for both gods and people to die and be defeated. Freyr’s sword had never once been depicted as losing in Norse mythology.

That was how legendary it was.

That was how destructive it was.

The tips of the swords slipped through the gaps of the defense created by the flame sword and headed for Stiyl’s throat.

“...Innocentius!!” he yelled out ignoring the damage it would apply to himself.

The flame giant that appeared immediately afterwards both repelled the three floating swords and blew its user, Stiyl, back with an intense blast.

Stiyl’s back struck the wall of rubble that was blocking off the passageway.

He had delayed his fate, but that would not be enough to turn things around.

“Chapter 20, Verse 9. Detected a distorted Christian motif. Beginning construction of the most effective spell in response to the aforementioned spell. Preparations for the activation of the spell named Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani are complete. Activating it immediately.”

Giant magic circles originating from Index’s face floated in the air and dark red beams of light were emitted from them.

They easily ripped through Innocentius causing the giant to vanish and struck the pile of rubble right next to Stiyl gouging straight through it.

“...I see,” Stiyl said while just barely managing to stay on his feet while balancing himself with a hand on the wall. “I’m up against 103,000 grimoires. I guess it isn’t too surprising I can’t oppose you with just one Innocentius.”

However, he continued to speak.

“But I never said I had only one trump card.”

An explosive noise rang out.

There was a flame giant next to Stiyl.

However, it was not just on the right or on the left.

There was an Innocentius on both sides.

“Double.”

Index stared at that phenomenon for a bit.

Finally, she opened her mouth to speak with her eyes as emotionless as ever.

“Chapter 21, Verse 44. Constructing a countermeasure to multiple targets. Activating it imme-...”

But then...

“Triple.”

Another explosive noise rang out.

Index’s voice suddenly stopped. It seemed she was considering whether the command she was in the middle of stating would get in her way or not.

Stiyl was expending a massive amount of magic power which meant he was also expending a massive amount of his life force that was the raw material for magic power. He knew this, but he still smiled while sweating profusely.

“Did you really think I would just ignore what I was capable of just because I knew I had insufficient power back there?”

Of course, Stiyl could not use three different Innocentii at one time using just his own power. No matter how much one redesigned a spell, there were some things that were simply beyond the level of what an individual could accomplish. Stiyl had not surpassed that barrier.

Instead, he had made up for what he lacked with the spiritual items within St. George’s Cathedral.

Stiyl had been running around in order to find, gather, and use the materials he needed.

However, the grimoire library did not stop.

She continued her analysis completely mechanically.

“Chapter 23, Verse 11. Detected a Trinity construction. Confirmed that the target spell is three but bears a single role so that the magic power expenditure is lower due to the magic power circulating between the three bodies,” Index said as the three swords of the harvest god floated around her, the red blood-like wings flew from her back, and the magic circles within her eyes glowed eerily. “One countermeasure has been decided on. A focused attack on one of the three will destroy the Trinity construction.”

They had found it.

It was a bit after they had split up with Acqua. Hamazura and Takitsubo watched with just their heads sticking out from behind a distant tree. They could see figures moving about 50 meters away. Standing there were soldiers armed with assault rifles and wearing white combat uniforms that had a slightly different design from the normal military uniforms.

It seemed they were keeping guard.

Further back was the base of a small mountain. Three large tanker trucks were parked there. A number of other narrower vehicles were there as well. A number of men were working on something there.

There was something like a pole that was about 5 meters long.

But there wasn’t just the one. The men stuck over 10 such poles into the ground at even intervals and hooked thick hoses to them from the tanker trucks.

“Is that the steam dispenser...?” Hamazura muttered while hiding behind the tree.

Takitsubo nodded next to him.

“Those tanker trucks may hold the preservative gel. I guess those poles are some kind of atomizer.”

One of the guards turned his head in their direction and they hurriedly brought their heads behind the tree.

Hamazura pulled out his cell phone and called Glickin.

Since he knew the location of the village, the location of the steam dispenser, and the direction of the wind, he could figure out which way the villagers should flee.

However, there was no proof that no one would be infected if the dissemination actually took place.

He hung up and looked out again. It seemed around 10 guards were spread out in a large circle around the steam dispenser. It seemed they were not putting all the poles in one place. Instead, they were spreading them out throughout the area. However, it would still be difficult to sneak past the guards and get to the tanker trucks in the center. Even if they managed to cut through a blind spot, the guards would likely soon notice their footprints.

Hamazura’s focus turned to the cold assault rifle in his hand.

(I can’t win against that many. Not to mention that they’re professional soldiers. I probably couldn’t even manage if it were 1 on 1. Once the first shot is fired, there’s no turning back.)

However, he couldn’t just silently watch. Even then, they were carrying out the preparations to disseminate the bacteriological weapon. Once they were done, they would then make the worst possible decision. He had to stop them before that happened.

Hamazura sweated nervously amid the freezing blizzard, but then Takitsubo said something he didn’t expect.

“...Hamazura, we should wait until they leave.”

“What?”

Hamazura frowned. The way things were going, the Russian special unit would end up using the bacteriological weapon. If that happened, Digurv and the others’ village would be done for.

“Hamazura, the report said that the bacterial wall used in the Kremlin Report is the type that spreads through the air and that it enters the body through the skin as well as the respiratory organs. Also, it can break down oil content, so it can open holes in the filters used in masks and ducts to prevent contamination. As such, most defenses will not work against it.”

“And? If it’s that dangerous, there’s even more reason not to let them disseminate it!”

In response to Hamazura’s question, Takitsubo pointed in the direction of the special unit working in the snowy plain beyond the forest.

“How are they going to escape the bacterial wall?”

“Hah...?”

“Their protective masks and thick suits won’t work. It can even get into cutting edge tanks. As such, they would take the bacterial wall with them after disseminating it.”

Now that she had mentioned it, he realized she was right.

And when he looked back, he realized the guards were not wearing any giant masks or anything despite dealing with a dangerous bacteriological weapon.

“Hamazura. I think they are going to use a timed device. They will set up the steam dispenser and the bacterial wall and then hurry away to a safe place. If they’re going to survive with a bacteriological weapon that masks and suits won’t stop, that’s their only option. But then...”

“I see. We don’t have to fight them. Once they leave, there will be a bit of a lag before the timer reaches zero. If we can head over and destroy the steam dispenser device in that time, we can stop this!!”

“But there won’t be much time. That special unit wants to ensure their own safety, but they also want to disseminate the bacterial wall as quickly as possible. With such a large device, I doubt we will have time to destroy it all. It would probably be better to search for a weak point.”

Hamazura and Takitsubo only had a handgun and an assault rifle. They couldn’t exactly blow it up. The fuel tanks on the tanker trucks and the other vehicles probably had gas in them, so that was likely their best bet.

The device was roughly constructed from the around 10 steam dispenser poles and the 3 tanker trucks. The other narrower vehicles were probably for the work.

It would likely be pretty easy to blow up one or two of them using the fuel tanks, but the flames, smoke, and heat caused would prevent them from continuing. Even if they didn’t go right up to the flames, a wall of heat could easily burn human skin and even lungs just from the wind. Blowing up all of the vehicles would take planning like with the demolition of a building. Of course, Hamazura and Takitsubo did not have time for that.

That was why they needed a weak point.

If they could find a weak point that would stop the entire device just by destroying that one point, they could avoid the aforementioned problem.

Hamazura narrowed his eyes and stared through the blizzard before finally speaking.

“...There’s a power truck.”

“?”

“The armored vehicle near the right tanker. The thick power cables are centralized around it. It probably has a generator inside. In a C military movie Kinuhata showed me, they mentioned that modern military items were becoming more and more electronic with a focus on the means of aiming. With night vision and assistance from UAVs, it’s all very convenient, but having batteries constantly dying is a problem. That’s why stations to recharge on the battlefield are needed whether it’s in the desert or the jungle.”

“But it’s an armored truck. We can’t blow that up very easily. If we could stick something inside it, maybe, but if they leave the hatch locked, we won’t even be able to open it.”

“We don’t need to blow it up.” Hamazura matched his face to Takitsubo’s height and used his fingertip to guide her gaze to the back of the armored truck. “Three exhaust pipes are sticking out at the top of the back of the thing. That’s too many for just the thing’s engine. The core of the power truck is likely a diesel generator. Our goal is to stop the electricity from being sent from the power truck to the overall steam dispenser device. In other words, we just need to stop the generator.”

“?”

“Whether it’s gasoline, diesel, a truck engine, or a generator, the basic structure is the same. If we stick dirt or something in the exhaust pipe, the internal-combustion engine will stop. Academy City’s Anti-Skill has a type of jelly bazooka that similarly stalls the engine of an escaping car.”

“What if that’s a giant mass of lithium-ion batteries?”

“Then we just sever all the cables coming from the truck. I’d rather avoid that if possible though, because I don’t want to get electrocuted.”

Then Takitsubo’s small hand pulled on Hamazura’s clothes.

The special unit working beyond the curtain of snow caused by the blizzard had begun to move. They were still quickly moving back and forth between parts of the device, but they were climbing into the smaller vehicles one after another after receiving a transmission over their radios.

“Hamazura.”

“I know.”

Once the soldiers left the area, they had to hurry over toward the steam dispenser device and begin their attack on the power truck’s exhaust pipe. They didn’t have much time. It was possible that the device was set to activate after only a few minutes. The fact that they did not know exactly when it would activate accelerated their impatience.

However, they also could not afford to screw up.

They could not win against that special unit, so they could not allow themselves to be caught. They had to stay hidden until the soldiers had completely left the area.

Hamazura and Takitsubo knelt down behind the trees and suppressed their breathing.

(...Is this going to work?)

Hamazura felt the beating of his heart much more than usual.

Those soldiers had done all that. He could not deny the possibility of landmines having been set up around the device. Hamazura knew from Digurv’s village that cowardly traps like that were openly used in that country.

The sound of many different engines began.

They would be leaving soon.

If they watched the path they took, they might be able to tell if there were any traps. At the very least, they would not put any landmines in the path they would take to leave. Hamazura knelt down and focused with his eyes as wide as plates. In that blizzard, he didn’t know how long the tire tracks would remain in the snow. He had to memorize the safe route in his own head.

That was when something he had not expected happened.

A gunshot rang out.

Snow right next to Hamazura blew into the air. As soon as he realized a rifle bullet had hit there, he frantically got down on the ground. However, it was too late. He knew very well what that gunshot meant.

“Shit, they noticed us!!”

The trucks leaving the area suddenly stopped. A few doors opened and the heavily armed soldiers got out. Hamazura knew that they had no way of winning. They would be at the disadvantage even against only one of them.

In that instant, the best plan Hamazura could come up with was to let Takitsubo get away no matter what.

Hamazura made up his mind as he turned off his assault rifle’s safety and desperately tried to control his rapid shallow breathing.

But what was he supposed to do?

Sweat leaked from the hand holding the grip. His mind was blank. With his tension at its maximum, Hamazura heard a high-pitched whistle-like sound.

He looked straight up.

Flying through the air was...

(An Academy City fighter!?)

The huge aircraft was over 80 meters long. The monstrous airplane cut through the air and Hamazura had no time to think of anything else.

This was because there was an explosion immediately afterwards.

A bomb had not been simply dropped down.

It wasn’t until much later that he realized that a shell had been fired in a straight line accelerated by magnetism or something so that it struck the ground at over the speed of sound.

A tremendous explosive noise seemed to come from all directions.

The steam dispenser and the related vehicles at the foot of the mountain disappeared in a sea of flames. They were quite a bit away, but the escaping trucks were knocked over. Hamazura and Takitsubo had to bury themselves in the snow.

A radio that must have been blown there by the blast lay next to Hamazura. It had probably belonged to one of the soldiers.

He heard a voice coming from it.

It was speaking Japanese.

“Hey. From the magnetic reaction, I can tell someone’s there. If you’re someone who volunteered from the goodness of your heart, then I’d like to shake your hand. I’m pretty much the same.”

“Ghah. Dammit. Academy City...?”

It seemed odd to Hamazura.

Since he was hearing that voice from a Russian radio, the transmission must have been sent on a frequency anyone could listen in on. That wasn’t how the dark side of Academy City functioned.

Which meant...

(He’s from Academy City but not from the dark side of it...? So he’s from the normal part of the forces....In other words, he’s a teacher...?)

“Yup. It’s all thanks to Ekalielya-chan and the others opening up the way over the Sea of Japan that I’m able to carry out this philanthropic work. Since the distinction between a fighter aircraft and a ground-attack aircraft has gotten so blurred of late, there’s so much more I have to do.”

At that time, an odd chemical reaction occurred to Hamazura Shiage’s mental state.

He had fled from Academy City. He was thankful for the help, but he couldn’t do anything if that monstrous aircraft were to chase after him.

But that did not change the fact that his body was almost limp from relief. Everything before that had just not been normal. It wasn’t right for a simple delinquent to be up against privateers and a Russian special unit.

As he thought that, the monstrous fighter took a sharp turn and circled back. Along the flight path, a large number of bombs were fired with magnetism spreading flames across the ground in a straight line.

Light.

Noise.

Hamazura was quite a bit away, but he still covered his face. However, he could still feel strength leaving his body. His stiffened muscles were relaxing.

(We might be saved.)

He was being protected by a man who was supposed to protect peace yet was using unreasonable violence.

Even though that monstrous fighter’s sights might turn on him later, Hamazura felt calm and relaxed.

(Digurv’s village, Takitsubo, and I won’t be taken out by that bacteriological weapon.)

He wondered what the pilot thought.

Did he think it was already over? Or did he only know someone was down there from the magnetic reaction and he didn’t actually know who it was?

And then another problem came to mind.

“Hey, is this really okay? That bacterial wall is a killer virus, right?”

“That’s why I’m going to thoroughly burn everything away. Just lay low, shut your eyes, plug your ears, and don’t open your mouth. They’re white phosphorus-based bombs, so it won’t be too loud, but they still have a nice shockwave.”

It seemed Hamazura didn’t have time to object.

Immediately afterwards, numerous bombs struck the ground.

Despite having plenty of potential energy just by falling normally, the bombs were accelerated by magnetism.

With a huge shockwave, a crater formed at the location of the steam dispenser device and a sea of flames exploded out immediately afterwards. Unlike with a simple flamethrower, the odd flames spread out more glutinously.

In an instant, that devilish device was destroyed two or three times over.

The Russian soldiers did not fare well either.

The bombings from the sky had not been aimed directly at the humans, but they got wrapped up in the after effects of the explosions. They were knocked into the air and then fell back to the ground where they stopped moving. It seemed they had lost consciousness.

Perhaps caused by the explosions and shockwaves, a huge amount of snow crashed down from the mountain slope.

Hamazura was in an area a good bit away, but the snow that crashed into the ground and flew up into the air enveloped him all at once like the powder from a fire extinguisher.

His vision was completely obstructed. He could not even see Takitsubo who should be standing next to him. He could not even tell that he was standing within a forest.

“(...Takitsubo!? Where are you!? Are you okay!?)” Hamazura said in a lowered voice.

He stretched out his arms and searched around, but he only found the hard sensation of thick tree trunks.

What had happened to the steam dispenser, the bacteriological weapon, or the special unit?

Hamazura wandered about while left in disorder due to not being able to see.

How long had it been? Had it been more than 10 minutes?

He could not even judge the passage of time.

Suddenly, his hand managed to grab something soft.

“Takitsubo!!”

He frantically embraced her and checked her face.

It was Takitsubo Rikou all right.

The short black hair. The drowsy eyes. Her white skin was slightly pale due to the cold despite her warm clothes.

But...

“...Hamazura...”

Had Takitsubo Rikou been wearing a thin yellow autumn coat? Had her legs been covered in stockings? Had she been that tall? Had her voice been that low?

“...Hamazura...”

And had the Takitsubo Hamazura knew ever smiled at him so evilly?

“It’s been a while, Haamazuraaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

A crack appeared from the inside of Takitsubo’s face that looked almost like that of a small animal. Another girl’s face peered out from within.

A more brutal face.

A more villainous face.

A face that expressed the darkness of Academy City perfectly.

(...She’s...!!)

A white light too pure resided deep within one of her eyes.

As soon as she opened that eye so wide it looked like the corner would crack, a bombardment of light shot toward Hamazura’s face.

He swung his head to the side with all his might and a tremendous amount of light and heat passed by his ear. It plowed through some trees and flew off upwards where it grazed the main wing of the Academy City fighter there. The aircraft lost control and Hamazura could tell a long narrow box was fired from it, but he couldn’t turn his head to keep track of what was going on there.

The #4 Level 5.

Meltdowner.

“Mugino Shizuri...!!”

He thrust her away from him and frantically tried to move backwards, but his back struck a tree trunk.

Why was she there? There was no point in asking that question. The woman ripped off the special makeup and pulled a melted fake eye from the socket. From the look on her face, he felt a strong tenacity that blew away all reason from within his mind.

Where had Takitsubo Rikou gone?

What should he do in order to ensure that she and himself survived?

In response to the death that was approaching him, Hamazura’s breathing turned shallow and rapid.

He had one thought in his heart: I have to do it.

He had to settle things once and for all with that monster, with Mugino Shizuri.

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