Part 4
"More to the right!! A little more!! Get closer!!"
While leaning forward from the back seat, Misaka Mikoto was shouting at the Sister holding the stick.
Finally.
She had finally made it there.
She had made it to the same time and same space as that idiot!!
"Original, that grin is creepy, points out Misaka."
"Bfh!? N-no it isn't!! Your judgment has become skewed due to you being the comparison!!" Mikoto frantically pulled on her cheeks to check on her face. "Aahhh!! What is going on!? It was floating up just a bit ago, so why is that fortress starting to fall!?"
"Misaka apologizes for interrupting you as you heat up, Original, but your voice cannot reach him if we do not open the cockpit canopy, points out Misaka."
"How!? Which button do I press!?"
Just as she asked that, Mikoto had a sudden twinge of doubt.
They were over 10,000 meters up in the sky. The air would be below -50 degrees, the atmospheric pressure would be quite low, and there would be little oxygen. Was it really okay to just open the canopy?
If she did not open it, she could not reach him. But the conditions would not let her open it.
While Mikoto was overcome by that terrible dilemma, the Sister expressionlessly strained her ears.
"…There is something off with the roar of the engine, reports Misaka."
"?"
"It is the conduction pattern of -7 degrees and 1 atmosphere, says Misaka after completing the definite calculations. How is unclear, but it appears the area outside is being maintained as a similar environment to the surface despite being at an altitude of over 10,000 meters, says Misaka as she reports her conclusion."
"In other words…"
"It appears there would be no problem with opening the canopy, communicates Misaka."
Immediately afterwards, the canopy opened straight up like a rugby ball splitting in half vertically. It seemed the Sister had pressed the proper button.
As the Sister had said, Mikoto had no problem breathing. The air was cold, but it was not dozens of degrees below zero.
The Sister slowly moved the VTOL craft by tilting it slightly. Instead of pointing the nose toward the fortress, the craft approached vertically. In other words, the edge of the right main wing slowly approached.
Just a few more meters.
Or was it a few hundred centimeters?
Because the fortress was trembling unstably, the precise distance was irregularly changing.
However, she was remarkably closer than when she was hesitating in Academy City.
"This is the very limit…landing may be difficult, says Misaka as she grips the stick," said the Sister.
The fighter was completely frozen in midair.
It was just a bit away from reaching the fortress.
"The VTOL is meant to be used to slowly land, explains Misaka. If we forcibly land on this fortress that is moving up and down quite a bit, there is a risk of crashing the bottom of the body into the surface, says Misaka as she voices her concern."
"What about a larger spot? This fortress is huge. If we head farther up, surely we can find a space even larger than a pasture."
"As the trembling of the fortress would remain the same, there is no avoiding the risk of crashing no matter where we try to land, says Misaka giving a negative opinion. And even if we did manage to land on the fortress, we would have no way of escaping if the fighter were to lose its flight capabilities, says Misaka as she frowns."
"Then forget landing." With the canopy still open, Mikoto reached for the buckle of her belt. "Keep our balance as much as you can! I'll go directly out on the main wing and pull that idiot up!!"
Mikoto got up out of her seat and crawled out onto the main wing.
Perhaps because she was attaching her feet to the wing with magnetism, she was less afraid than she had expected.
She slowly advanced along the wing.
She was closing in on the spiky-haired boy.
(C'mon, reach him…)
A great tremor ran through the fortress.
It lowered in altitude.
The sense of stability from before was gone.
It was as if invisible strings holding up the fortress were snapping one by one. The shaking increased Mikoto's anxiety.
(Reach him!!)
The VTOL craft with Mikoto stuck to its main wing shook as it slowly approached the fortress.
That was when her eyes met with that idiot's.
That spiky-haired boy seemed to be utterly perplexed at seeing that escape method appearing before him out of the blue. Deep down Mikoto wanted to say "What were you even planning to do, you idiot?", but she did not have time to get after him about that. She would lecture him to death later.
Mikoto made it all the way out to the end of the wing and stretched her arms out as far as they would go.
Would she reach him? Or would she not?
Her fingertips made it to the point where they were on the verge of reaching.
But then the boy did something she had never expected.
He shook his head.
And then his hand, which he should have been holding out, stopped moving.
(Wha—!?)
Just as Mikoto's eyes opened wide in surprise, the boy's lips moved slightly.
She could not hear what he was saying.
However, she could tell what it was from the movement of his lips.
"I still have something I need to do."
Another great tremor ran through the fortress. The fortress moved toward the earth much more and with much less stability than before. It was like a large ball rolling down a hill picking up enough speed that it could no longer be stopped. She had to retrieve that idiot from there. If things advanced more than that, she would no longer be able to reach him. Mikoto came to that conclusion mostly with her intuition.
But then the VTOL craft suddenly moved. It shook as if it were leaving the fortress.
"Wait!! What are you doing!?"
"The trembling of the fortress has passed beyond a certain point, reports Misaka. If we remain close to it, there is a danger of crashing into it."
"…!!"
While still stuck to the trembling wing, Mikoto held out her hand and manipulated magnetism.
She didn't care if she had to force him.
She would magnetically grab his school uniform's buttons, his belt buckle, or whatever she could and pull that boy out of that fortress.
That was what she planned to do, but the magnetic thread connecting her and that boy suddenly snapped.
"Eh…?"
Mikoto stared blankly because she did not understand what had happened.
But immediately afterwards, she figured it out.
That boy had a mysterious power that could negate all of Mikoto's abilities.
He had severed his final lifeline.
He had lost his final chance.
Even though she had the power to take on a tank and even though she had the power to stop the firing of a nuclear missile, it was not enough to save that one boy.
The VTOL craft distanced itself from the fortress that continued to unstably fall. The Sister greatly shook the fighter and Mikoto fell into the cockpit from the wing. She then closed the canopy. Immediately afterwards, the blessings of the mysterious field surrounding the fortress disappeared.
The reason was simple.
They had gotten that far away from the fortress.
And they had left behind that boy who had said he still had something he needed to do.
Misaka Mikoto's cries were the only things that remained behind.
Part 5
(…I still have something I need to do.)
The VTOL craft flew away.
That fighter may have been his final means of escape.
But Kamijou turned his back on it.
It was not over yet.
If the structure named the Star of Bethlehem that had a radius of over 40 kilometers were allowed to free fall down, he had no idea how much damage would be done to the heavenly body known as the earth. As long as he had not done something about that, the war would not be over.
(And…)
Kamijou looked around in search of a certain object. It was the remote control spiritual item that could externally control Index. After the final strike, it had fallen somewhere through a crack in the floor. He had to find it and destroy it.
The fortress trembled below his feet.
The shaking agitated his unease like an elevator moving at a fixed speed suddenly stopping.
The fortress would not last much longer.
Just as Kamijou was reminded of that fact, he heard a girl's voice.
He heard a voice on that fortress that no one else was supposed to be on.
"Touma."
It was the voice he had wanted to hear for so long.
The remote control spiritual item had left Fiamma's hand, but it must have still been functioning. The girl's consciousness was no longer being held in anyone's hands and it was drifting about in the area of the spiritual item.
"Touma."
The girl's transparent body appeared as if floating up from the air. Ignoring gravity, she looked at Kamijou while still upside down.
"Why didn't you escape?" she said.
"Because none of this is over yet."
After responding, Kamijou continued further into the Star of Bethlehem. He was not searching randomly. The girl's existence was calling him toward the spiritual item he was searching for.
"Not only do I have to deal with your spiritual item, but I have to deal with this fortress itself."
After saying that, Kamijou's expression suddenly grew cloudy.
There was one thing that had not been resolved in the fight with Fiamma of the Right.
"…I'm sorry."
That was the issue of his lost memories.
That was the issue of whether it had truly been right of him to continue to hide that fact from her.
He had not wanted to hurt Index. He had wanted to be the Kamijou Touma that she had trusted. But hadn't that truly just been Kamijou himself not wanting to see Index's shocked face? Hadn't he just been afraid that she would leave him?
Now that the fight with Fiamma was over, he understood.
If he truly felt it had been for her sake, he would overcome it.
He would overcome the painful things, the difficult things, and everything else.
He could not be afraid of where he stood.
"I've done something terrible to you. I've been fooling you this whole time. I'll tell you everything now. I have no proof that I'll make it back from the Star of Bethlehem, so I'll tell you while I can."
Kamijou hung his head down just a bit.
But then he lifted his head up once more with determination.
"I…"
He would tell her.
He felt that opening his mouth for that purpose took more courage than anything he had ever done before.
"I…"
This was what he had been hiding for so long.
His memory loss.
He opened his mouth to tell that truth.
" "
As he moved his mouth and spoke, Kamijou had one thought.
(It's been so long.)
"It's fine," Index said as if interrupting him. "That…doesn't matter anymore. As long as the usual you returns from this, nothing else matters."
"…"
He fell silent for just a bit.
He strongly felt that he could not allow himself to become dependent on that kindness.
"I will come back."
However, being strict with oneself and being pessimistic were two different things.
He would definitely return alive.
To make sure of that, Kamijou Touma made the following promise.
"I won't just do this through the spiritual item. Once I return, I will make sure to bow down to you in person."
Kamijou looked over at a panel on a nearby pillar. It was a communications device with a microphone so one could speak through the speakers set up in various places across the Star of Bethlehem. He could not read the Russian writing, but he could understand the numbers written next to it.
"Tell the Anglican Church that the frequency is 50.9 megahertz. That will connect to these speakers. I have no idea how much damage will be done if a mass this large just falls straight down. We have to lower its speed in stages and get it to fall somewhere safe. I'm the only one onboard, so I need advice on what to do."
"I can't," said the girl in a troubled voice. "I can't return to my body of my own will."
"Yeah," Kamijou replied readily.
He was staring at an annoying tube-shaped spiritual item lying on the floor.
"That's why I'll be sending you back ahead of me."
He stretched out his right hand and grabbed the small tube-shaped spiritual item.
That was all it took.
The spiritual item crumbled and lost its power to bind that girl. Her transparent body disappeared as if an eraser had rubbed up against it.
He was now truly alone.
The Star of Bethlehem continued to fall. Its speed was gradually rising. Once it passed a certain point, there would be no preventing it from striking the surface of the earth at close to free fall.
That large mass with a radius of greater than 40 kilometers would directly strike the earth.
If that happened, the 21st century earth would prove that a meteorite strike could bring about an ice age. Some historians may rejoice at that, but for most people it would be nothing but a tragedy.
The final battle began.
What hung in the balance was the fate of the planet.
Part 6
"According to the information given by the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, the Star of Bethlehem floats in the sky using 20 large ascent spiritual items. Fiamma losing his power has started a chain reaction that is lowering the Star of Bethlehem's output. At the current rate, it should completely lose all of its lift in an hour at which point it will be in a complete free fall toward the surface."
Stiyl Magnus's voice was coming from the speakers placed in various places around the fortress. He had been left with the role of guarding Index, but that role was over now that the remote control spiritual item had been destroyed.
"But by destroying specific ones out of those 20 large ascent spiritual items, we can control the orientation and travel direction of the Star of Bethlehem. And your right hand is perfect for the job."
"What are the specific points I have to destroy?"
"Just a second. I just got the diagram. It just shows the expected layout, so the actual thing may be different. If you notice anything out of place, tell me."
Kamijou followed Stiyl's instructions and travelled using the fortress's monorail and then his own two feet when that did not suffice. He had no time left. If he failed, it would affect 6 billion lives.
"I'll tell you the specific locations orally, but you need to destroy numbers 3, 9, and 13 in the south. That will change the Star of Bethlehem's trajectory. You'll be heading for the edge of the Arctic Ocean. By lowering the speed down to the very end and landing on the water, the shock should be done away with to a certain extent. Given the altitude and the mass, that is the only way to avoid doing serious damage to the global environment."
"Won't the speed of descent increase if we lower the number of large ascent spiritual items?"
"They have the same power source. The fewer of them there are, the more output each individual one will have. Of course, there is a limit to what a single one can do, but you don't need to worry about that with the total power as weakened as it is. In fact, getting rid of a few of them might temporarily increase the output."
"Could dropping it in the ocean cause a tsunami?"
"The cities along the Arctic coast have been given evacuation orders. It's almost sickening how cooperative and helpful the Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church have been. Otherwise, we would have had to realize there was a minimum level of unavoidable damages."
As they spoke, Kamijou arrived at the #3 spiritual item.
It was like a factory.
A giant facility larger than a school's grounds was divided into different lined up spaces that had dozens of thick pipes running through them. There were metal stairways and passageways coiling about the area. Kamijou caught occasional glimpses of green particles of light that he thought might be what kept the giant fortress in the air.
Kamijou slammed his fist against a nearby pipe.
That was all it took. Countless cracks ran through the pipe, the rectangular stone building tilted, and plenty of flashy explosions occurred within. Kamijou got away so as not to get caught up in it all and ran toward the #9 spiritual item.
"…I never thought I would end up fighting alongside you in the very, very end," said Stiyl. "It didn't have to be me. We got bits and pieces of a report from that girl when she finally woke up. Her consciousness was in the Star of Bethlehem. Couldn't you have resolved this by relying on her knowledge?"
"You have to be kidding me. Do you really think I could let Index suffer like that for even a minute longer?"
"I see. It isn't my style to be indebted to someone like you, but just this once, I'll allow it."
"If you truly think that, then could you send a recovery team out near where I'm expected to land? I'd rather not have to wait in that freezing water."
"I'll make sure something is done about that," Stiyl responded quietly. "If the work on bringing the fortress down in stages is going well, you should survive the landing."
As they spoke, Kamijou was still desperately running through the Star of Bethlehem.
He was almost at the #9 spiritual item.
Kamijou felt that it was going to work out somehow. Everything about the great war that had started from a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church had been horrible, but it would all work out in the end. He would make sure it did. Kamijou focused on nothing but running ever forward while believing that to be true.
And then…
"What is that…?" said a panicked voice over the speakers.
Kamijou listened while continuing to run.
"This is odd. There is some kind of huge…Telesma? Why is that there…?"
Kamijou had a very bad feeling about what that meant.
But he could not stop. As Kamijou continued heading for the #9 spiritual item, Stiyl spoke.
"Why is Misha Kreutzev rising now!?"
Part 7
At that time, the archangel that had cooperated with Fiamma of the Right once more regained her body in that wintery land of Russia.
The fluctuation in the four great elements had been fixed by Fiamma. She was no longer Misha, a mix of Michael and Gabriel. She was now a genuine archangel. It was not wrong to say that her goal had been accomplished to a certain extent by that.
But it was not enough.
It was not perfect.
Her goal was to return her existence to its rightful position. Now that she had started to go off track, she could see nothing but that goal and was giving no thought to how much damage would be done in the process of carrying it out. She simply wished to return. For that reason and that reason alone, the archangel started to move once more.
The massive amount of Telesma that was scattered around the area gathered in one spot.
The archangel had been torn apart once by the power of the scientific monsters, but that had not harmed her essence. If you swung your fist down at the water, it would burst apart in a splash, but the actual amount of water would not lessen. It was the same as that.
But it was not enough.
It was not perfect.
Because her actions had been obstructed once before, the archangel wished for an increased amount of practical power. The archangel knew well what the material needed for that was. She ruled over water. Russia in winter was covered in snow, but even melting all of that would not be enough.
But it was not enough.
It was not perfect.
But it was not enough.
It was not perfect.
But…hwsr…it was not enough.
It…zvdf…was not…zdfb…perfect.
Bu…ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
That's right.
She needed to be extra sure when it came to the overwhelming power needed to turn around the situation.
It had to be a large amount of ice that had special signs and symbols.
For example, the special ice that existed at the planet's pole.
"What is going on…?" moaned a nun of about 20 within St. George's Cathedral of London.
She was the one monitoring the flow of magical power within Russia.
"Misha Kreutzev has begun to move north at high speed!! At the same time, the ice at the North Pole has begun to rapidly melt!! I have detected a powerful line of Telesma between the two! A mutual interference between them is clearly being created!!"
"Is she making a new power? …No, she might be replenishing her physical body," Stiyl muttered while frowning.
When he thought about it, if that angel instantaneously melted the ice in the Arctic Ocean, it would create a phenomenon similar to a large scale tsunami for the areas around the Arctic Ocean. And if the situation continued to its extreme, an absurd phreatic explosion covering an area with a radius of 1000 kilometers could occur.
Also, it would not just be that simple. Misha Kreutzev was already brutal, so how much would her power increase if were she to absorb enough water and ice to destroy the Arctic Ocean? Now that Fiamma had been defeated, what was that archangel after? It was possible she had no real goal. He had no idea what was going on, but what it would lead to in the end was clear.
They could not withstand it.
To begin with, he doubted the materials of the physical world would be enough to support the full capacity of an angel created by God. Even the Misha Kreutzev from Angel Fall had been in imperfect manifestation. If Misha tried to force out an output greater than the hypothesized amount, the physical body she was made of would explode emitting a massive amount of Telesma.
It would be like a planet exploding at the North Pole.
At the very least, all life would be annihilated on the northern half of the globe. It was possible that it would cause a major error in the planet's orbital trajectory that would cause it to leave the solar system.
(But how are we supposed to stop her?)
Stiyl looked over at the whiteboard that had magnets automatically moving across it.
(It's unclear whether we could hold back the former Misha even if we fought as a group. A conflict with an archangel wounded like that would only increase our damages.)
But if they did nothing, things would definitely head toward a destructive conclusion.
And then…
"…Hey, what are you doing?" muttered Stiyl without thinking.
There was a change in the Star of Bethlehem's trajectory despite it having been continuing on quite well before. It had started to move along a route clearly different from the one Stiyl and the others had planned. He thought it had to be a malfunction in the fortress, but according the data being monitored, no such problem was occurring.
Kamijou Touma had clearly done something to the large ascent spiritual items to purposefully send the fortress off of its safe route.
He had done so in order to stop Misha Kreutzev as she headed for the Arctic Ocean.
The speed of descent increased.
Kamijou Touma ran with everything he had within that fortress.
At the shore of the Arctic Ocean, at that threshold between land and sea, Kamijou had forcibly destroyed the large ascent spiritual items in order to distort the fortress's trajectory of descent. He focused on nothing but running in order to oppose the archangel.
There was something odd on the surface of the earth.
Some kind of small form was approaching at high speed.
Kamijou saw the white snow torn up along the path of whoever it was that was soaring along at low altitude with tremendous speed. The snow was not simply being blown away. All the snow within a few hundred meters…no, within a few kilometers of "her" was being absorbed.
A thick, long line was being drawn along that white land as the archangel approached. No one could stop her from advancing. There seemed to be human forms firing light that appeared to be magic, but the archangel paid them no heed. She merely passed through and the professional magicians were blown away.
The archangel passed the shore and made it to the Arctic Ocean.
At the same time, the Star of Bethlehem fell straight down from above.
With a great roar, the archangel and the giant fortress fell into the ocean. Inside the sinking fortress, Kamijou used everything he had to head further and further down. Unable to stand up to the great pressure, walls and pillars within the fortress started to break one after another. The freezing seawater flowed in, but Kamijou paid it no heed. He focused on nothing but heading lower…heading deeper. The fortress fell below sea level.
There was no longer any illumination.
There was a single point of light in the vast darkness.
The peaceful light was blue and deep. It was reminiscent of moonlight.
Kamijou Touma clenched his right fist with all of his strength. His opponent had noticed him. The light in their eyes clashed within the darkness before the real clash. The mere human boy who was overflowing with a tremendous killer intent continued forward without stopping to the very end.
A lot had happened on his way there.
It had all started at the point where he had lost his memories. He had continued forward after lying to a certain girl in order to not sadden her. He had fought an alchemist to rescue a girl who had special blood. He had fought the strongest monster in order to rescue the #3 Level 5 and her Sisters. A fight to the death had unfolded with a traitor of a classmate in a beach hut. A lot had happened on August 31st. He had stood up to a real golem in order to save his friend who was an aggregation of AIM diffusion fields. He had picked a fight with the largest denomination of the Christian Church in order to save a nun who claimed to have deciphered the Book of the Law. There had been an incident related to an underclassman of the girl from Tokiwadai Middle School. During the Daihaseisai, he had protected Academy City from the threat of the Croce di Pietro while it had gotten the coordinating committee member and his other classmates wrapped up in it all. In Chioggia of Italy, he had assaulted an ice fleet in order to save a girl who had once been his enemy. On September 30th, he had clashed with a woman from God's Right Seat in order to save his friend who had been completely changed. He had enjoyed delicious sukiyaki with his classmates and then had fought Skill-Out in order to save the mother of the girl from Tokiwadai Middle School. In Avignon of France, he had fought God's Right Seat over the C-Document. With the help of the Amakusa Church, he had fought a powerful Saint in Academy City's underground district. In London, he had stopped the coup d'etat led by the second princess.
And now…
(It's been so long.)
Not all of the things that had happened along the way had been enjoyable.
He had hurt others and been hurt by others again and again and again. It was all a cycle of those two things.
But Kamijou Touma was still able to run.
He knew those actions had saved quite a few people.
And so he was able to head straight forward to face his greatest enemy yet, an archangel.
(It's true that this world may be destroyed one day. Even planets have a lifespan and I know it will be swallowed up by the expanding sun even before that is reached. And the odds of all life being wiped from the face of the earth before even that happens may be rather high.)
Kamijou thought as he charged forward with his clenched fist.
(But it does not have to have such a tragic end. There's nothing wrong with fighting to stop this.)
With a great crash, the two forms clashed at the middle point.
At the same time, the giant Star of Bethlehem was crushed and destroyed as it had received the brunt of the shock from the fall.
And…
On October 30th…
Academy City and the Anglican Church.
The Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Third World War that had started from the conflict between those two allied forces came to an end.
At the end of the war, the aftermath of the Star of Bethlehem's fall into the Arctic Ocean had been examined.
The water had done some damage to the cities on the shore, but no one had died.
The shock from landing in the water had utterly destroyed the fortress itself.
The Archangel Misha Kreutzev had been headed for the Arctic Ocean, but no sign remained of her. It was assumed that the power supporting her existence had disappeared and she had returned to a different phase upon becoming mere energy. The melting of the ice in that area of the ocean had been confirmed to have stopped.
There were no signs of survivors in that area of the ocean.
Search teams from an alliance of the three major Christian denominations had been dispatched, but no survivors had been found in that 2 degree seawater.
Kamijou Touma ended up welcoming a second "death".