Chapter 145: Trojan Horse
Meanwhile, after parting ways with Reicia, Kamijou and the others sprinted deeper into the research facility.
The term “research facility” might sound simple, but thanks to Kihara Amata’s deployed barrier, the spatial coordinates inside had been warped out of shape. Even a single hallway stretched as wide as a gymnasium. Because of that distortion, if they wanted to reach their targets—Shokuhou, Nayuta, Oriana, and the advance party of Index and Xochitl—within the ten-minute limit, sprinting at full speed wasn’t optional. It was mandatory.
“Damn it, how far does this go…!?”
Kamijou prided himself on his endurance, but that meant little when his side had been pierced in the previous battle. Emergency treatment had closed the wound, yet the steady throb of pain made it clear the danger wasn’t over. To put it bluntly, it wouldn’t be strange if the injury split open again and he started bleeding out at any moment.
“…It’s fine. If we keep running straight, we’ll reach the destination. Big sister guarantees it.”
“…You can tell, even with all these spatial distortions?”
“Nope. It’s just that Oriana Thomson’s real body is still feeding all kinds of forbidden knowledge to big sister here.”
Oriana gave a mischievous smile.
“From the looks of it, Kihara Amata doesn’t actually want to use magic himself. He’s been channeling it through big sister, the one he captured. But in that state, he can’t manage the calculations needed to construct complete spell formulas. So instead, he’s been borrowing the formulas etched into big sister’s body through the magical ‘Line of the Scribe.’”
Kamijou didn’t know it, but the Komaba being manipulated by Kihara Amata using Oriana’s knowledge was wreathed in the same four-colored glow as Oriana’s right arm, which had bloomed like a lotus. That phenomenon should have been impossible with Oriana Thomson’s own Short-Hand Original.
“What worries big sister more are the ‘guardians’ Kihara Amata has prepared. I doubt his offense ends with such a plain, half-hearted opening move…”
“Yeah, maybe so, but I think it’ll be fine.”
Though Oriana voiced her concern, Kamijou brushed it off with disarming casualness. His light tone made her frown, but he continued as if it were obvious.
“Kihara Amata’s using your body to turn ‘magic’ into a new weapon, right? In that case, we’ve got nothing to worry about.”
A faintly defiant smile spread across his face.
“After all, we’ve got 103,000 grimoires. Preaching to the choir doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
Finale Chapter: Ready to Make the Whole World Your Enemy? Are_You_Ready?
Episode 119: Trojan Horse Disclosed_Malice.
In the end, Kamijou and the others never made it to the deepest part of the research facility.
Not because they ran out of time before reaching their goal, despite all their efforts—
but because the rescue targets came to them first.
“Ah! Touma!”
Index, Nayuta, and Xochitl—still in her maid outfit—came running up.
Xochitl was carrying both Nayuta and Shokuhou, while Nayuta herself had a massive cross, larger than a person, slung across her shoulder.
All three were covered in dust, clear evidence that they had fought their own battle before linking up with Kamijou’s group.
“That’s…”
Kamijou trailed off, speechless. Nailed to that cross, eyes vacant and unfocused, was Oriana Thomson.
“Wait—what!? You’re…?!”
Index froze when she noticed Oriana standing right beside Kamijou. She knew nothing about the spontaneously manifested “Original,” so the situation made no sense to her. Oriana herself let out a wry smile.
“Ah, big sister comes with some complications. To put it simply, I’m a form that came into being by chance—a botched Original that Oriana Thomson was using.”
“…An Original?”
“Yeah, even big sister can hardly believe it when she says it herself~.”
When Xochitl voiced her doubts, Oriana just scratched her cheek and shrugged.
Either way, everyone was now accounted for. Shokuhou didn’t appear to be an empty shell either (though Kamijou had no way of knowing that her kidnapping had been nothing but a bluff). All that remained was to find a way out.
Kamijou already had an idea.
“…Up until now, we’ve just been running deeper inside, following the corridors. But if we’re escaping, we don’t need a proper exit. Nayuta, could you smash through a wall? Even if it’s sealed with magic, my right hand should be able to deal with it.”
After all, they hadn’t entered the facility through a proper entrance in the first place—they’d broken in by smashing a wall with the Black-and-White Jagged Edge sawblade. If the way in wasn’t normal, then the way out didn’t need to be either.
“Of course, we regroup with Reicia first. That’s nonnegotiable. If she’s still being held up, we can’t just abandon her.”
For Kamijou, it was a surprisingly level-headed plan. The spot where they had split with Reicia wasn’t far, only a few minutes away. By his calculations, they could still make it in plenty of time before the limit.
“…Mm. Sorry, but that won’t work.”
Index cut him off with a flat refusal.
“We thought about breaking through the walls too. We even considered destroying the entire facility to nullify the barrier’s conditions. But this one’s different: it allows ‘entry from the outside,’ but prevents ‘exit from the inside.’”
“…What!?”
Kamijou’s eyes went wide.
Thinking it over, though, it fit perfectly with Kihara Amata’s goals. Kamijou’s group didn’t know it, but the collapse of this barrier was meant to kill them all in one stroke and divert Aleister’s attention. If the targets detected the trap and escaped too quickly, the plan would fail.
The system had been rigged from the start: only Reicia was granted permission to freely pass in and out. No other irregulars had that privilege.
“Th-Then how the hell are we supposed to get out!? If this keeps up, the whole space is gonna collapse and crush us to death…!”
Kamijou’s voice cracked in panic. It was an absurd instant-death trap. What could they possibly do?
But Index remained calm.
“No, it’s fine. Actually… Touma, I was hoping you’d already realized.”
“Huh?”
“Do you remember Aureolus Izzard? Back then, you went inside the building wrapped in his barrier. Did the barrier collapse just because you entered?”
“…Ah.”
The sound that left Kamijou’s lips was foolish, stunned.
—August. He’d infiltrated the Misawa Cram School to rescue Himegami and Index, even though it was sealed inside Aureolus’s barrier. At that time, Imagine Breaker hadn’t destroyed the barrier outright—though it had made his presence within it glaringly obvious.
In other words—
“It’s true the distortions we’re seeing are a reaction between your right hand and the barrier. But your Imagine Breaker hasn’t actually destroyed it yet. If it had, the entire barrier would have vanished instantly.”
It was the kind of guidance only someone with the wisdom of 103,000 grimoires could provide.
But that also meant they couldn’t just smash through a wall. Unless Kamijou used Imagine Breaker directly on the barrier’s core, there would be no way out. To Kamijou, finding that hidden core under these circumstances seemed impossible. Yet Index, Xochitl, and Nayuta all remained calm.
…Seeing their composed faces, Kamijou began to put the pieces together.
“Judging from your reactions… don’t tell me you’ve already found the ‘core’ I’m supposed to break?”
“Actually, we’ve already—”
Index cut herself off, then pointed behind her. To Nayuta, who was still carrying that massive cross on her shoulder.
“It’s been right in front of you this whole time.”
The situation was painfully simple.
All the magic filling this laboratory was being controlled with Oriana Thomson, crucified in place, as its core. It was a system born of Amata Kihara’s refusal to make himself the “test subject” forced to cram otherworldly magical knowledge into his brain. In other words—if Kamijou touched Oriana with his right hand, the ritual’s nucleus would be destroyed instantly. The lab would collapse, but without imploding into nothingness. Everyone here would survive.
“…She’s quiet now, but getting her to this point was hell. They’d even cobbled together a kind of automatic defense system inside her. I had to carefully dismantle it without damaging her brain any further.”
Index muttered her complaint, but of course not just anyone could have managed that. It had taken the 103,000 grimoires in her head. One look at Xochitl’s grimace made that much clear.
Anyway—
“But you really saved us. Honestly, the rest of us were just improvising.”
“Heh. This time you’re glad I was here, right, Touma?”
Index’s smug remark earned a wry smile from Kamijou as he reached out to touch Oriana with his right hand—
THUD!!!
He was suddenly slammed sideways.
“Ghh… aAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!?!?”
The impact came from his side. It felt like a red-hot iron bar had been rammed straight into him. An agonized scream tore from his throat before he could stop it.
“Touma!!”
“Stay back, Library Witch!! Damn it, that bastard Amata Kihara left an ambush here…!”
A heartbeat later, Xochitl stepped in front of Index protectively, while Nayuta swung her massive cross onto her shoulder and backed off.
And in that moment, “it” spoke a single word.
“…Huh?”
The voice came from Oriana Thomson’s mouth.
“Huh…? Big sis…? Wh-why…?”
Staring in shock at her own hand, Oriana froze. Her palm was drenched in bright red blood.
“Damn it!! How did we miss this!? Oriana Thomson was drawing her power from a ‘Grimoire Original’!!!”
Xochitl’s shout dripped with bitter frustration. It was a devastating oversight.
A “Grimoire Original,” at its root, was an existence that desired its knowledge to spread. It would never tolerate a user who tried to hoard its contents. Instead, it actively protected those who sought to disseminate them.
Here, Oriana Thomson herself was connected to such an Original, using it to sustain the ritual. To destroy that with Imagine Breaker… from the Original’s perspective, that was interference with its very function of spreading knowledge.
Regardless of the Original’s conscious will.
Obeying what could only be called its instinct.
The “Original” within Oriana Thomson would never forgive Kamijou Touma.
(Amata Kihara predicted even this far ahead!? …No, impossible! A complete amateur in magic could never foresee something like this!!)
In other words—it was misfortune.
By sheer coincidence, the worst possible obstacle had appeared at this exact moment.
“No… I-I didn’t… Big sis, I never meant to…”
Oriana’s face went ghostly pale. Her expression froze.
──Her worst trauma had resurfaced.
Whenever she acted with good intentions, some cruel twist of fate always twisted them into harm for someone else. Oriana Thomson’s life had been nothing but a string of such tragedies. That was why she had sought a fixed system of “good and evil.” If there was one absolute standard that governed the world, all she had to do was follow it. Then her goodwill would never again become someone else’s suffering.
But now, of all times, it had happened again. Even though her true self was already reduced to a husk, even though she had acted to help Reicia and Kamijou…
“Nayuta!! What do we do!? Touma’s wound tore open—! The blood won’t stop!!”
“Ah… ah… aAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
She couldn’t accept the reality before her.
As if rejecting it outright, confetti-like scraps of paper scattered from Oriana’s body.
Each piece was a page of the “Grimoire Original.” Standing at the center of a storm of four primary colors, Oriana cried out.
“…Kill me. Just end it already. I’ll do anything, whatever it takes!! So please, erase this disgusting terminal of the system without leaving a single trace!!!!”
It was nothing less than a scream.
Good intentions that only brought misfortune to others.
What greater misery could there be? She had only ever wanted to see someone smile—just that. And yet, the result was always her stealing those smiles instead.
Oriana Thomson’s heart was on the verge of shattering under the weight of that agony.
“Don’t… you dare…”
The reply came in a boy’s voice.
Next to Index, who sat collapsed in worry, the boy with blood staining his side still stood firm.
“Look at me, Oriana Thomson. I’m still standing just fine.”
“…It’s enough now. I’ll tell you the pattern of the attacks. With the Library Witch here, you can handle it. Just destroy me, and end this revolting incident quickly.”
“Are you deaf, you idiot!? I said don’t you dare!!!”
This time Kamijou bared his fangs, roaring the words.
Despite the gaping wound in his side, he raged with a force that left no room for doubt.
“How can you despair over one damn mistake!? Yeah, that hit caught me off guard. Maybe the wound reopened. So what!? That wasn’t just on you!! Index didn’t see it, Adabana didn’t see it, and of course I never imagined it either!! So why the hell are you acting like it’s your sin alone to bear!?”
“…It’s not just once…”
Quietly, almost in resignation, the words slipped from Oriana’s lips.
“I’ve always been like this. Every time I acted for someone’s sake, I ended up hurting someone instead. Like carrying a present with all my heart, only to find out what I delivered was a bomb. Things like that… I’ve repeated them my whole life.”
“And that’s why it’s enough,” Oriana smiled bitterly.
“To begin with, I’m not even really Oriana Thomson in the strictest sense. The ‘Original’ just assembled itself by imitating her thoughts. The real Oriana Thomson is already a husk. This is nothing more than discarding a broken system throwing errors.”
And then, as if driving in the final nail, Oriana whispered:
“Please… I just… want to die.”
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