Chapter 105: Vessel’s Durability

"…Tch."

At that moment.
Kakine Teitoku was watching everything unfold from above.

Kamijou Touma was nothing more than a test subject to gauge Nurikae Onrei’s combat ability. Whether he was crushed or survived didn’t matter in the slightest, but if he ended up getting blown to bits along with the target, then that would be a problem.

Therefore, this was the kind of situation where Kakine should’ve used supersonic movement to pull Kamijou out of danger… but he had his reasons for hesitation.

(That bastard… he just erased my Dark Matter.)

When Kamijou pulled off his rope-less bungee jump, Kakine had no intention of letting him splatter to death. His plan was to slow Kamijou’s fall by cloaking him in Dark Matter particles. But in that very instant, Kamijou’s right hand erased every last trace of those particles.

(I saw him twist away that so-called “Dragon’s” attacks during that fight, but I didn’t expect him to erase my Dark Matter too. If that’s the case, then it’s possible he could even nullify my supersonic maneuvers. …Not worth the risk to save him.)

Since Kamijou was cooperating with Reicia Blackguard, Kakine would’ve liked to secure him as a link to her. And regarding Nurikae, he might have been a lead toward the “Legacy,” so ideally, he’d have preferred to keep him alive too. But those were only ideals.

And so, Kakine coldly decided to “abandon” them both—

The next instant, a black-and-white bolt of lightning split open the void.

(…!? This power—Another Four, the hidden Fourth!)

Seeing the mass of energy on the verge of detonating suddenly wrapped in “cracks,” Kakine immediately landed. He yanked Kamijou Touma, who was about to recklessly thrust his right hand in, down to the ground, and enclosed them both within his wings.

Immediately after.
A blast erupted—so powerful it erased sound itself.

(Tch…! Good thing I came down. Sealing away the blast was too much even for the hidden Fourth, Another Four.)

That was his first thought. But then, the mind of the Number Two calculated otherwise.

Indeed, the “cracks” alone didn’t have the durability to fully block the enhanced, chaotic-release poltergeist. Even Kakine’s Dark Matter might not have been enough.

But on the other hand—during that battle, the jagged white-black blades, the Jagged Edge, had withstood some of Fuse Kazakiri’s attacks. That meant it did have some resistance against AIM-based assaults. Looking at it from that angle… the force of this blast was far, far stronger than the calculations predicted.

“Phew… somehow, we made it in time.”

“Was that really necessary? With the Number Two here, it feels like you could’ve just sat back and watched.”

“No. …Isn’t that right, Number Two?”

“You bastards…”

In other words—Reicia Blackguard had deliberately weakened the cracks on Kakine’s side.

Most likely…

“Please don’t look at me like that. If we wanted both Nurikae and Touma to survive, this was the only way. It couldn’t be helped.”

She had purposely left one section of the “cracks” weak, directing the brunt of the self-destruction’s shockwave toward Kamijou’s side. Probably because she predicted that if Kamijou had even a chance to live, Kakine’s cold calculations would tilt toward saving him.

“Number Two, you… set me up.”

“You were trying to abandon Touma anyway, so why don’t we call it even?”

“Reicia! Kakine too… you saved me. Thanks!”

When Kamijou finally got back up, Reicia slowly turned to look behind her. After the shattered cracks and drifting smoke had cleared away—Nurikae Onrei had vanished without a trace.

“But well, that works out. My real target is you, hidden Fourth—Another Four.”

Pointing a finger at her, Kakine declared:

“Just a simple interview. Tell me everything about this so-called Personality Makeup Plan.”

“Hah? And why should I just—”
“Oh, that’s fine. I’ll tell you.”

…Kakine had been hoping for a slightly more tense exchange, but apparently such common sense didn’t apply to this airheaded noblewoman.

Chapter 3 – The Worth of a Soul Is Worthless: Double(Square)_Faith.
Episode 89: The Qualification.

"…Damn it, I walked right into it."

After hearing the details of the Personality Makeup Plan, Kakine muttered with bitterness.

In response, Reicia tilted her head in puzzlement.

"Did something happen? If it’s the research data you want, I don’t mind giving you everything. It’s not a result of my own faction’s research, so handing it over at my discretion won’t be a problem."

"…That’s not it."

Her saintly attitude—spouting things like “If lives are at stake, then there’s no helping it”—was out of the question, but that wasn’t what Kakine was referring to.

"…The Personality Makeup Plan requires two personalities."

The original attempt at Personality Makeup had tried splitting a single personality in two and forcing a resonance between them, which had failed. But this technique was meant for subjects who already possessed two distinct personalities at the experimental stage.

In that respect, Ringo qualified: she had her own personality, and another strongly influenced by her obsession with Accelerator. That met the minimum requirements.

But the problem lay in what Reicia had revealed about the experiment’s progress.

"…You said during the experiment, the Personality Makeup Plan boosted ‘ability output’ too much and nearly triggered a runaway. That the vessel—the body—wasn’t sufficient to handle the power output. I don’t fully get what that means… but in the end, it only settled down by ‘sheer coincidence.’ That’s what you said."

Since Kakine didn’t acknowledge the existence of magic, Reicia had chosen those words to explain it. She couldn’t replicate what Stiyl or Kanzaki had done, so in terms of reproducibility, her explanation wasn’t wrong.

But still…

"In other words, if I had gone ahead with the procedure just by looking at the data—without knowing the context—she would’ve inevitably lost control of her powers. And if I remember right, there’s also the risk of the personalities merging halfway, isn’t there? Meaning… in the worst case, she would’ve awakened in a fused state—with the First ranked’s personality mixed into hers."

That would’ve been a fate far crueler than death. Hope turning into despair, and the being who used to be her lashing out in a twisted frenzy. Truly, a strategy filled with the kind of malice that tore souls apart—the hallmark of a Kihara.

And yet, at the same time, Kakine saw a glimmer of hope.

"But… there’s a precedent for survival. It’s standing right in front of me now. Gensei must’ve known that if he didn’t provide some verified results, his lies would get exposed. That’s why he dangled this bait in front of me. Meaning…"

"If we can get our hands on the data inside Kihara Gensei’s head… then there might be a way to save the one you want to protect. Isn’t that it?"

It was Kamijou Touma who spoke, his voice heavy with determination.

Hearing that, Kakine’s eyes widened. In the course of asking questions, he had let slip—without realizing—that he was trying to save someone. Both Touma and Xochitl would’ve picked up on it.

Of course, harming her, who was within the School’s headquarters, would be nearly impossible even for other dark-side groups. But still, letting others glimpse a weakness was a blunder no “back alley” operative should ever make.

(…Tch. Have I been swayed by these do-gooders? Get a grip. They’re just pawns to be used.)

While Kakine silently berated himself, Touma frowned with a troubled look.

"But still. We don’t even know where this Kihara Gensei guy is right now, do we? I heard the city’s higher-ups had him taken away somewhere… Are we really supposed to start looking now? Plus, we’ve got to deal with Nurikae’s jailbreak…"

"What are you talking about?"

Touma’s worried tone was met with Kakine’s grin—sharp and battle-hungry.

"He’s right there. Kihara Gensei. …Didn’t you notice? His speech, his fighting patterns, and that malice."

Picking up Kakine’s mocking words, Reicia concluded in a heavy voice:

"…Nurikae Onrei. Most likely, right now he’s been possessed by Kihara Gensei."

“Man, still needs a little fine-tuning, huh.”

Academy City, an abandoned district.

Nurikae Onrei—or rather, the body now possessed by Kihara Gensei—stretched his young limbs as he spoke.

There was no one else around. Taking advantage of the confusion, Gensei had hidden himself inside a derelict factory.

If Reicia had swept the area with her airflow detection, a second round of battle would have already begun. But apparently, she had chosen instead to first keep in step with Kakine and Kamijou.

—AIM Thought Entity.
Or more precisely, the phenomenon known as an A.I.M.-based thought construct.

Not a binary of zeroes and ones, but a fluid computer that represents information through densities and gradients. Apply that concept to the AIM diffusion field, and the result is the theory behind the AIM Thought Entity.

Anyone aware of such an existence can, by “deepening” their own thoughts into the AIM diffusion field, transform into an AIM Thought Entity themselves.

At that moment—Kihara Gensei had cast off his fleshly vessel.

“Having experienced existence as nothing but AIM thanks to the division experiment really paid off. Thanks to that, I could instantly shift my consciousness into AIM itself.”

In other words, what Aleister currently had in custody was nothing more than a worthless lump of flesh. Once again, the General Superintendent had suffered a subtle but undeniable defeat.

The idea of possessing another body, meanwhile, had come from his battle with Reicia Blackguard.

“I don’t know where she originated, but multiple personalities don’t normally enhance ability. Splitting them doesn’t increase the core of the ability itself. Meaning—she must have some other ‘source of ability’ that was brought in from outside Reicia Blackguard.”

Gensei had already seen through this with ease.

Not that he cared in the slightest where “Shiren” had come from.

“—Possession. Normally, such a notion would be absurd. But run it through the framework of AIM Thought Entities, and it all makes sense.”

Gensei reasoned that within Academy City, the death of a human might accidentally create an AIM Thought Entity, and by further accident, that entity could have possessed Reicia Blackguard’s body.

That it actually explained everything was a testament to the abnormality of Shiren’s nature—but Gensei himself remained oblivious to that fact.

“Still, the problem is that my original flesh is in Aleister-kun’s hands. Without it, I can’t make fine adjustments to Random Release Poltergeist. Double-Persona Square Faith… what a troublesome thing.”

That was the true reason Random Release Poltergeist had grown more powerful.

By possessing Nurikae as an AIM Thought Entity, the output of his ability skyrocketed. In that state, unleashing Random Release Poltergeist meant power on an entirely different scale—enough that a single strike could conceivably split a continent in two.

However…

“…Hmm. There’s also this little problem.”

Gensei lowered his gaze.

On Nurikae Onrei’s palm ran an inorganic crack—something no living creature should have.

The Personality Makeup Plan’s amplification of the soul’s output carried multiple hurdles.

The first was the synchronization of two souls. Ringo had stumbled here—unable to amplify her output properly, with a high risk of the two souls merging and spiraling out of control. Gensei’s skill had overcome that hurdle, but another remained.

That of soul capacity.

Run Double-Persona Square Faith properly, and the soul’s output stabilized. But the human vessel still had limits. Exceed that limit, and only collapse or transformation awaited.

“…Right now, I can suppress it. But I’d say the time limit’s about three hours.”

And yet, Gensei’s mind held no parameter called “impatience.”

Because—

“If only the vessel’s durability could be reinforced, output would stabilize as well. …Come to think of it, wasn’t there a perfectly suitable case, at just the right place, at just the right time?”

His grin deepened—seasoned and cunning, forged in this very city.

“Doppelgänger. A specially prepared iron vessel would be ideal. With that… the experiments could become far more interesting.”

And with that choice, futures once scattered wide began silently converging into a single line—unnoticed even by him.