Chapter 144: The Mystery Lurking Behind It All

—Of course, it wasn’t as if Reicia Blackguard had failed to prepare any countermeasures.

Admittedly, my focus had been badly shaken by Komaba-san’s injuries. I can’t deny that most of my attention was consumed with breaking Amata-san’s control in order to halt Komaba-san’s spellcasting.

Reicia-chan, however, was a little more cold-hearted than I was.

While I was frantically trying to save Komaba-san, she still had the composure to consider Amata-san’s true aim.

That was why, the very instant Amata-san invoked Somnolent Wind — Drop Rest, Reicia-chan had the presence of mind to deploy a Rift.

In fact, she spread the Rift before the spell had even fully manifested—and managed to block the colorless spear of wind at the core of Drop Rest.

However.

One must never forget that magic, at its heart, is a supernatural force—fundamentally different from attacks bound by ordinary physical laws. For example, even if you obstruct an air current, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will stop at once.

The conclusion? Reicia-chan’s vigilance alone wasn’t enough to defend us.

The colorless wind-spear, momentarily intercepted by the transparent Rift she had cast to keep Amata-san unaware, dispersed for an instant—only to re-form in the void. And then, once more, it poured down upon us.

Even Reicia-chan hadn’t anticipated the attack continuing in that way. And since I was entirely absorbed in trying to stop Komaba-san, I had no chance to respond either.

In the end, Somnolent Wind — Drop Rest pierced straight through our chests, mercilessly.

At that moment—

When I came to, I was standing on what looked like the main street of a massive city.

It was a world drained of color, painted only in black and white.

The sky above swirled with marbled black and white patterns. The rows of skyscrapers lining the wide avenue reflected that same monochrome haze, as if mirroring the heavens themselves.

No matter where I looked—right or left—the world had been bled of every hue.

“Shiren.”

In that colorless world, Reicia-chan stood before me. Her expression was almost serene as she called out to me.

“This is as far as I go. The rest… I leave to you.”

I didn’t need to understand the situation to grasp her meaning.

She said this softly, giving my shoulder a light pat.

I didn’t even have the chance to reply.

Even so, I hurriedly opened my mouth to speak—

Final Chapter: To Stand Against the Whole World — Are_You_Ready?
Episode 118: The Mystery Lurking Behind It All — Near-Death_Promiss.

“Hyaha!”

A vulgar laugh spilled from Komaba Ritoku’s mouth.

Perhaps that laugh itself was the greatest insult—a grin warped by twisted self-assurance, born from the certainty of victory.

Somnolent Wind — Drop Rest.

An Original Script combining the rune for wind with the color yellow, its effect was exactly as its name implied: somnolence. By forcibly turning a target’s consciousness inward, it rendered them unconscious.

Of course, this “wind” was a product of magic, not a natural phenomenon bound by physics. Specifically—this spell tracked its target.

That was why Reicia had succumbed despite her defensive Rift.

And so, the sleep-inducing spear of wind struck Reicia Blackguard head-on.

Naturally, her body pitched forward and collapsed—

—except, in that very motion, she suddenly surged forward, accelerating.

“Huh?”

Caught off guard, Kihara Amata let out a baffled sound. But in the next instant, his mind raced and reached a conclusion: a discharge.

Reicia’s combat style relied on scattering multiple cocoons of Rift during battle, releasing them as needed to manipulate air currents. Her bursts of high-speed movement often came from riding those Rift-wings—though not exclusively.

Knocking her unconscious at that exact moment meant the air current manipulation she’d been holding in reserve would discharge all at once. The most reasonable explanation: the released surge of airflow had propelled her into an uncontrolled burst of acceleration.

(…Or maybe she’s steering the release on purpose—gambling everything on a desperate tackle to force a mutual knockdown. In that case… guess I’ll just stay sharp and field this pop fly to the end.)

Reaching that conclusion, Amata had Komaba shift into a defensive stance.

The very next instant—

THUD!! Komaba’s body reeled under a crushing blow.

Amata didn’t share Komaba’s body or his pain. He only received fragments of sensation—balance, touch, sight—like playing a VR game. That was why it took him a moment to process what had happened.

Only when Komaba’s knees buckled and he toppled to the ground did Amata understand—he had just been struck by Reicia Blackguard’s full-strength right hook to the temple.

“…Ohhh, come on.”

Of course, a sudden punch like that wasn’t enough to cause serious damage.

For all her reflexes, it was still just the fist of a middle school girl. Even a clean hit to the temple wasn’t life-threatening.

But.

The sheer absurdity before his eyes drowned out such trivial details.

“Gyahaha! What the hell is this!? She took the spell head-on, didn’t she!? How the hell is she still standing?!”

“It’s not as if I escaped unscathed.”

Reicia Blackguard stood tall, her eyes gleaming a vivid emerald.

“Dual Persona — Square Face. I carry two minds within me. Your spell may have put Reicia-chan’s consciousness to sleep, but it could not touch mine—Shiren’s. That is why its effect failed to incapacitate me completely.”

“…Tch. So it comes down to how the spell was designed? Hah, there’s nothing scientific about that! Freakin’ hilarious!!”

Naturally, once he realized the fight wasn’t over, Amata snapped back into vigilance.

Rolling backward to his feet, he raised his fists in a fighting stance. In contrast, Reicia—no, Shiren—stood firm, feet planted, unmoving.

Then Shiren calmly leveled a finger straight at him.

“I know what you’re after.”

Those words alone froze Amata in place.

“From the start, your actions have been inconsistent. And I don’t mean your talk of the time limit imposed by the barrier’s collapse. On the one hand, you ordered Aiji-san to capture me. On the other, you maneuvered to remove me from the battlefield entirely. That contradiction is what I mean.”

“……”

Indeed, Kihara Amata’s behavior toward Reicia had been inconsistent.

First he unleashed Kihara Aiji on her to capture. Then, once inside the laboratory, he abruptly switched to using Komaba Ritoku to facilitate her escape. Did he want to keep her close—or push her away?

But Amata wasn’t flailing aimlessly. No, it had to be that Shiren was misreading which outcome was his true goal.

So—what was Kihara Amata really after?

“You can’t afford to let me die here, can you?”

The truth was: he wanted her close.

No—more precisely, he wanted to possess her.

“I confirmed it just now, when I experienced your spell for myself. With Oriana-san’s repertoire, you had plenty of lethal options. But instead, out of countless possible spells, you chose the one that leaves its target alive but unconscious. That proves you wanted to neutralize me—not kill me—so you could capture me.”

“Tch.”

Amata’s click of the tongue was all the confirmation Shiren needed.

Having secured her conclusion, Shiren pressed on.

“So looked at that way, your intentions become clear. The fact that you’re so desperate to help me escape this place… if you flip it around, it means you actually want the others to get caught up in the collapse.”

And who would suffer if they were swallowed by it?

Of course, Kamijou and Oriana—reduced to a living grimoire—would. And the ones who went in first: Index, Xochitl, and the cyborg Nayuta. But beyond them, in the depths of this facility, were Misaki, Oriana’s and Nayuta’s original bodies, and most importantly, Kihara Amata himself. Since Kamijou had entered, Misaki and Nayuta were still inside. Which meant if the barrier collapsed now, they would inevitably be crushed.

That should trouble Amata.

After all, his entire plan was to use Misaki’s Mental Out to extract knowledge from Oriana and Nayuta, then combine it with water manipulation to create a pseudo-magical energy circuit: the external blood path, Blood Sign.

If Misaki, Nayuta, and Oriana were to die before that was completed, his objective would collapse. And more than anything, if Amata himself were to die, it would all amount to nothing.

So why act in such a self-destructive way?

There was only one answer.

“From the very beginning, you never intended to create Blood Sign at all.”

The real conclusion was that Misaki, Oriana, and Nayuta were expendable.

“Come to think of it, the only one who ever spoke about Blood Sign was Nayuta herself. With her experience, it sounded plausible, so I believed it. But what if even that inspiration was planted by you?”

Kihara Nayuta, too, was just another piece on the board.

Information from her wasn’t guaranteed to be accurate. Especially with her real body held hostage by Amata—under such extreme conditions, it was only natural that her reports would be skewed in his favor.

And if all the pawns in play were disposable, that could only mean one thing: Kihara Amata himself wasn’t actually inside this facility. Considering the imminent collapse of the barrier, one could say with certainty that he wasn’t.

"You… no, ‘Kihara’ has never strayed from the main path. It felt odd that you were pushing the Blood Sign project while simultaneously trying to capture me… but if Blood Sign itself was nothing more than a decoy, then it all makes sense."

At her words, Amata scratched his head, clearly annoyed.

And then—

"Is this also part of the Near-Death Contract?"

He muttered it like a complaint.

"Damn it… I figured if I caused enough chaos here, ‘convergence’ would cover for the real target. Guess things don’t go that smoothly. The moment your damn ‘factor’ interferes, everything goes to hell, huh?"

"What are you talking about?"

Shiren frowned in puzzlement, but Amata only looked offended at her question.

Komaba’s rugged face twisted into a sadistic grin.

"Come on, you’ve noticed, haven’t you? Your very existence scatters the flow of this world. And your will interferes with its convergence."

"…"

Shiren didn’t answer. Not because she didn’t understand, but because deep down, she knew he was right.

For instance—her battle with Mugino.

Back then, thanks to Reicia’s and her own decisions, the fight ended with both sides intact. Even so, Shiren had felt it: the faint tug of convergence shifting slightly in response to her actions.

The Doppelgänger incident as well.

On the surface, it appeared to unfold naturally. Yet at its root, she had once again sensed her own influence nudging convergence.

Thinking back further, perhaps she had felt the same even as far back as the Daihaseisai, during her fight against Gensei.

"Exactly. That is the Near-Death Contract—Niadess Promise. A constitution that spreads history out, then pulls it back together. Hahaha! The kind of talent anyone would want at least one of in their household, don’t you think?"

Amata laughed, delighted. Like a boy talking about his favorite game—utterly thrilled.

"…Well, I only started digging deeper after the Daihaseisai. I already knew you were one of Aleister’s favorites, but I didn’t know why. Once I realized you carried something like this, though, it was a whole different story."

A power to spread the paths of history and then choose the future you like.

That was the Near-Death Contract, Niadess Promise. Of course, the differences between possible futures were minuscule—perhaps a few fewer tragedies. It wasn’t enough to alter the grand course of the world.

But that didn’t mean such "minor differences" couldn’t be exploited. They could evolve into something distinct from the Niadess Promise itself—but Amata couldn’t have cared less.

"…Damn irritating, though."

"…"

"Run thousands, tens of thousands of experiments, and sometimes numbers pop up that theory alone can’t explain. Ever since I developed that brat, I’ve had this feeling—like somewhere, in all the flawless textbook theories, there’s a hole."

This was precisely the feeling the real Kihara Amata had always carried.

It explained why he hadn’t panicked facing Vento of the Front, and why the appearance of Fuse=Kazakiri excited him rather than scared him.

So what would happen if he encountered something as explicitly "non-scientific" as the Near-Death Contract, Niadess Promise?

If, after thousands of experiments, he discovered a way to control those tiny distortions that inevitably appeared—what would he do?

"Of course I’d want it. Want it so badly I’d claw my own throat out to get it! But you’re Aleister’s toy. That’s why I built it! A stage where that bastard can’t interfere!"

At those words, Shiren finally understood.

Why he had gone through the elaborate detour of the so-called Blood Sign, why he had schemed to bury Kamijou and the others without fail.

It had been nothing more than a decoy to guide Aleister’s attention. If Kamijou were on the verge of being crushed by the collapsing barrier, Aleister would surely move to save him. Whether Aleister himself, Kihara Brainstem, or something else acted was unclear—but Aleister’s focus would inevitably be drawn there.

And in that moment, the support for Shiren—who was nothing more than a side project next to the main plan—would thin to almost nothing.

That was the opening Amata intended to use to capture her.

"That look in your eyes. So convergence has already begun, huh? But the plan isn’t finished yet. If you can choose how convergence takes shape yourself, then it means if I outmaneuver you, I can force history to converge exactly the way I want!!"

With that, Amata lunged at Shiren, resuming his attack.

Objectively, the situation was dire.

After all, Jagged Edge wasn’t true growth of ability. It only reached Level 5 through the synergistic output of Shiren and Reicia’s two souls working together. Now that Reicia had fallen into a coma, they couldn’t boost output further through Makeup, the personality ignition.

Even so—

"…I told you, didn’t I?"

Shiren hadn’t lost her composure in the slightest.

"I said I understood your intentions!!"

Faced with violence capable of crushing a person in an instant, she did not flinch. She pressed forward.

And strangely, this time it was Amata whose movements grew sluggish—no, hesitant.

"You can’t kill me! That means you can’t risk any attack that might, by chance, take my life!!"

It was the same logic Amata himself had used earlier.

Since he couldn’t kill Shiren if he wanted to obtain the Niadess Promise, conversely, if Shiren deliberately put herself in a position where she might be killed, Amata would hesitate. He couldn’t act rashly.

"…Tch. But that means your own goal can’t be achieved either! You planning to bring this whole place down with you just to ruin my plans?!"

Still, Amata sneered as he spoke. It was nothing more than a taunt, meant to provoke Shiren’s impatience. She ignored it, answering softly instead:

"‘Insert.’"

"—!"

"If you thought the same trick would work twice, you were gravely mistaken."

And then—Reicia’s fist slammed into the side of Amata’s neck.

On its own, it was a childish blow, far too weak to topple someone like Komaba, whose body was packed with armor-like muscle.

But—if that spot was the very core of the system Amata used to control Komaba—then the story changed entirely.

"—Gh, ah…"

A fist struck his neck—or more precisely, it smashed the choker-shaped converter attached there—and Komaba froze in place.

"It seems you tried to build a system modeled after the Misaka Network, but sharing its weaknesses was your downfall."

The moment it was confirmed that Amata Kihara was not physically present in this laboratory, it also became clear that Komaba was being controlled through the AIM Network. After all, Baba’s robots had all shut down. Ordinary remote control methods, like radio signals, would never work here. But an AIM diffusion field—capable of extending even to the edge of the galaxy—remained effective regardless of how distorted the surrounding space became.

Then there was the strange string of garbled words mixed into Komaba’s voice. It matched the corruption that had appeared when the Misaka Sisters were being manipulated. From that, it was evident that Amata Kihara had generated an AIM-based network through Komaba and injected a virus, turning him into nothing more than a puppet—just as he had done with the Sisters.

However, unlike the network created through the clones’ shared identity, the one running through Komaba lacked synchronized brainwaves. Here, a piece of technology designed for someone else with mismatched brainwaves came into play: Accelerator’s choker.

By fitting the device onto Komaba, the system could convert his brainwaves and allow an AIM-based network to form—all without relying on crude tools like Level Upper.

But—looked at another way—destroying that choker was all it would take to sever the leash binding Komaba.

"Insert/ B—but… the situatzzz won’t change! This place is gonna collapszzze in just a few minutes anyway! If you wannzzz survive, you’ll have to escapzzze out of here!"

"Now then… are you so sure about that?"

Even now, with Amata still clinging to his triumph, Shiren crossed her arms and spoke calmly. Almost as if bragging about her most beloved hero.

"I’ve been wanting to say this for a while now. Tell me—why is it that you think he wouldn’t be able to overcome a catastrophe of this level?"