Chapter 168: The One Who Awaits Upon the Hollow Throne

“…And so, it seems that Amata Kihara had already died. However, he apparently revived in the form of Kihara = K.”

Afterward—

Once things had finally settled down, Shiren gave a brief explanation of everything that had happened so far to the two girls and Kamijou.

All three were “allies” she had called for help. Misaka and Shokuhou were her schoolmates and had been involved from the beginning, while Kamijou had personally taken part in defeating every member of God’s Right Seat—his presence here needed no justification.

Still, with the Front (Vento) and the Left (Terra) already defeated, only the Rear (Acqua) remained. And with the mysterious “Kihara” and Aleister both moving behind the scenes, the situation surrounding how best to make use of Kamijou Touma was changing rapidly.

Kamijou’s compatibility against an opponent like Acqua—who specialized purely in physical strength—was poor. Yet it also seemed risky to pit him against someone like “Kihara,” whose expertise lay in advanced science and technology.

As for Aleister… after everything that had happened, Shiren had begun to assume that things would somehow “work out” again. But with that man, it was always what happened after things “worked out” that was truly frightening.

After taking the full assault of God’s Right Seat, he’d fled from the Windowless Building only to start scheming again immediately afterward. Even after being defeated by Shiren, he managed to recruit Reicia into his ranks. And when he later lost to Kihara = K, he twisted that defeat into an excuse to drag Shiren into his mess, forcing her to draw the short straw once more. At this point, Shiren understood better than anyone—Aleister never truly lost.

Throwing Kamijou Touma—someone who always won but never killed—against a man like that? There was no predicting what kind of chaos Aleister might unleash afterward.

“…Still, that so-called Result Twister or whatever—what a weird thing to make, huh? It’s kinda like your right hand or something.”

“I believe the underlying principle may be similar, though the phenomena it produces are completely different.”

“Personally, it makes sense to meee. I can’t read your mind at allll, and there are all these effects that clearly can’t be explained by simple mental interference like White–Black Jagged Edge. Honestly, having this new power of yours makes you easier to understand.”

(…Wait, if my right hand clashed with hers, which one would take priority…??)

Leaving aside the idiotic student whose mind had wandered off into a “who-would-win” debate mid-conversation—

Shiren continued, using their shared knowledge as a base.

“So, apparently, my right hand is particularly effective against Kihara = K—no, against all ‘Kiharas’ in general.”

“Huh? Isn’t that just because any attack against you automatically fails? Wouldn’t that make it effective against anyone?”

“No, that’s not quite what I mean.”

Misaka tilted her head in confusion. Shiren gave a small shake of her own before elaborating.

“When I fought Vento of the Front earlier, the one fighting beside me—Mr. Souji—told me that even his hostile thoughts failed to activate, leaving him completely paralyzed. In other words, every movement or action of a ‘Kihara’ inherently carries malice. …So, if that’s true, and Kihara = K operates on the same principle—”

“! …Then even though Kihara = K acts independently, it’s still a byproduct of Amata Kihara’s will, right? Meaning its very existence—born from Kihara’s malice—would fail to sustain itself?”

“Exactly. That’s likely what’s happening.”

Earlier, Kihara = K had severed a part of itself, probably to prevent that failure from spreading and consuming its entire existence.

If that was true, then Shiren’s compatibility against Kihara = K was absurdly high—almost guaranteeing victory upon contact. However—

“That actually sounds like a problem,” Kamijou muttered, frowning.

“You mean, sure, Shiren could just snap her fingers and end it in one go—but if she did, that Kihara = K thing would die instantly, right? My right hand would probably do the same. Our powers are so overkill it’s actually hard to use them properly.”

“That’s exactly it…”

To an outsider, their conversation might have sounded absurdly tone-deaf for the situation—but both Shiren and Kamijou were completely serious.

Misaka and Shokuhou could only smile wryly at how those two still treated nonlethality as a given. Yet neither of them objected.

Of course not. These were the same four who had once defied adult logic—risking their lives to protect mass-produced clones and soulless mechanical dolls. To abandon that principle now was unthinkable.

“Aleister, on the other hand, seems to be ignoring all that and assuming that since I have the Result Twister, victory’s guaranteed. That’s… slightly worrying.”

“……I dunno what you mean, but isn’t that fine? I mean, he’s supposed to be some big mastermind or whatever, right?”

“……………Yes, I suppose so!”

Still uneasy, Shiren forced herself to brush the thought aside. Worrying about the unknown wouldn’t help. More importantly, there was a more immediate concern.

“In any case—as I mentioned earlier, we still haven’t found the whereabouts of Kihara = K—”

And then—

A SHRIEKING CRASH!!! A sound like glass and steel being crushed by a tidal wave tore through the Celestial Aquarium.

“What the heck was that!?”

“Ah… I underestimated the situation! The battle between Acqua and ITEM must’ve spilled into the Celestial Aquarium!”

Holding her head and curling up in alarm, Shokuhou yelped as Shiren replied with a horrified look. A fight between a Level 5 esper and a member of God’s Right Seat—of course it wouldn’t stay contained for long.

“What do we do!? At this rate, we’ll be dragged into it! If that happens, Kihara = K will be the least of our worries!”

Aside from Misaka, neither Shokuhou, Kamijou, nor Shiren could keep up with a battle fought at supersonic speed. If they rushed in carelessly, they might even hinder ITEM instead of helping.

“Aah, in that case… why not try the back entrance? When we came in, we didn’t use the front—there’s a private access point.”

“…How do you even know that kind of thing??”

“Well, you know, with Misaka’s zap-zap, we kinda—”

“Don’t call it zap-zap! And without my power, you wouldn’t have gotten in at all!”

Once again, the Railgun proved to be the most reliable weapon in modern warfare.

If they used the back entrance, they could avoid getting caught up in Acqua’s fight. For now, the four decided that escaping through there was their best option.

“…Still, this battle’s a lot fiercer than I imagined…” Kamijou muttered from the front of their single-file line.

It had been only a minute since they started moving, yet the four were already growing accustomed to the constant thunderous booms. The entire facility was built like a glass aquarium, amplifying every sound and weighing down the air with oppressive tension.

“Let’s just move quickly,” Misaka urged, quickening her pace. “That Acqua guy can manipulate water, right? Then he’ll probably try to flood the place as much as he can.”

She sounded impatient as she pushed Kamijou from behind. Ideally, they should’ve been running, but Shiren had pointed out, quite reasonably, “If we do that, won’t Shokuhou-san tire out before long?”

Thanks to that painfully logical observation, they had no choice but to proceed at a brisk walk.

The single-file formation was to minimize risk—if they were attacked, they’d be able to react immediately.

“Ah, here it is!”

Misaka pointed toward a door marked Emergency Exit—the same path they’d taken earlier upon arrival. Kamijou broke into a jog and pushed it open.

Beyond it lay a maze-like chamber filled with countless water channels tangled together like a nest of cables.

“It’s basically the same concept as a biotope,” Misaka explained. “When you try to build a self-sustaining ecosystem inside a closed space like an aquarium, stagnant water becomes a real problem. If the water stops moving, bacteria start forming, and that would completely ruin the glass aesthetic this place is built around.”

“So they made a massive network of water circulation systems to keep it all moving,” Shokuhou added. “Apparently, they even use the flow for power generation—selling the electricity on the side, I think?”

In Academy City, where renewable energy was far more advanced than in the outside world, such a setup wasn’t unusual at all.

Still, since the entire facility relied on water, escaping without crossing it was impossible. Ironically, that meant Acqua was fighting on home ground.

Then—

BOGON!!!

A thunderous crack erupted from above. Something had pierced straight through the ceiling.

They could only describe it as “something” because it moved too fast to identify—though, by shape, it was clearly a spear. What made it incomprehensible wasn’t its form, but its speed.

Moving at several times the speed of sound, the icy projectile was far too fast for the human eye to follow. To the four onlookers, it was nothing more than a blur—a “something” that ripped through space itself.

And then—

The ice spear brought with it a secondary effect.

A sonic boom.

The shockwave that followed tore through the entire chamber, smashing apart the surrounding network of pipes.

Countless pipes, pumping and circulating massive volumes of water without pause—

were now bursting all at once.

Final Chapter: I Know Nothing of Predetermined Harmony  -  Theory_"was"_Broken.
Episode 141: The One Who Awaits Upon the Hollow Throne  -  Last_One.

At the exact same moment that massive destruction erupted within the Celestial Aquarium,
Aleister Crowley—having completely left the handling of Kihara = K to Shiren—was taking separate action.

He now stood atop a building overlooking the Windowless Building in District 7, having just reunited with Reicia, who had been operating independently.

“…My, you certainly took your time. I trust you managed to meet with Touma and the others?”

Dressed in her black-and-white night dress, Reicia spoke with clear boredom, her cool gaze fixed on her current ally—Aleister.

“You told me it’d be troublesome if I met that Acqua fellow face-to-face, so I left the contact with Touma to you. Don’t tell me nothing came of it.”

“About that… I wasn’t able to make contact with Kamijou Touma. My apologies.”

Thud! Thud! Thud!—a series of loud impacts echoed.

“Don’t you dare mess with me! You can’t even handle a simple errand, you useless fool!? Aren’t you supposed to be the world’s most infamous magician!? You couldn’t distract Acqua for even a moment!?”

“Wait! You’re misunderstanding!”

The great Board Chairman, Aleister Crowley himself, was now on all fours, fending off Reicia’s sharp-heeled kicks.

Straightening up again, his expression a mix of amusement and exasperation, he finally spoke.

“Actually, I was intercepted by Kihara Amata. …I recorded the encounter—see for yourself.”

At his words, a floating monitor flickered into existence in the air.
Displayed on it was the image of a man in a white lab coat standing before Aleister—Kihara Amata.

“…!? Kihara Amata!? But wasn’t he supposed to be possessing Shiren!?”

“It seems… the inheritance of ‘Kihara’ has already been completed.”

Aleister’s tone was grave as he replied to Reicia’s shocked reaction.

“‘Kihara’ isn’t a matter of bloodline—it’s more accurately described as an informational meme. One of my former subordinates, that old dog, serves as a good example. In that sense, Kihara Amata is the ultimate case. He even imprinted fragments of ‘Kihara’ onto his own Hound Dog unit through fear and violence.”

The so-called Dark May Project had never been a central theme, so its results were incomplete—but still, Aleister continued:

“By possessing Shiren and constantly feeding her inspiration from within, Amata gradually shifted her thought patterns toward that of a Kihara. That’s likely why he eventually separated from her body and began acting independently… presumably to eliminate me, since we’re both after control of the Divine Contract—Near Death’s Promise.”

“…………”

“Of course, my own plans to use Near Death’s Promise have already collapsed. I have no intention of interfering with Shiren anymore. But he doesn’t know that. More importantly—for you at least—Amata is trying to exploit Shiren’s physiology for his own purposes.”

Reicia’s hands clenched tightly into fists.

—Of course, Aleister’s words were heavily distorted to suit his own narrative.

In truth, Shiren hadn’t been influenced by the “Kihara” mindset at all, nor did Aleister have any real understanding of Kihara = K’s purpose.
However, it was true that “someone appearing as Kihara Amata” had obstructed his meeting with Kamijou Touma.
And it was equally true that “Kihara = K” was currently moving to eliminate Aleister.

Presented with such “evidence” through recorded footage, Reicia had little choice but to accept what she saw as the truth.

“…Which brings us to the Windowless Building. That’s my base of operations. If we can reclaim it, my range of action will expand considerably.”

“I already know. I’ve been keeping a close watch. But from what I’ve seen, everyone who tried to infiltrate the Windowless Building while you were away was completely repelled.”

“Excellent. That saves me the trouble of cleaning them out. Now then, we should hurry back and prepare to—”

Aleister never finished the sentence.

Because in that instant, a fierce beam of heat erupted from below with a deafening roar—

SHHH-BOOM!!!

—and completely engulfed him.

“A–Aleister!?”

“I’m fine! I dodged it just in time!”

Reicia’s eyes widened in shock. A few meters away from where he’d been standing, Aleister was now kneeling on one knee.
His face showed strain but no serious injury.

Before she could even process it, Aleister raised his voice again—

“More importantly—jump off right now! If you take a hit from that thing, even your body won’t withstand it!”

Before he even finished speaking, Aleister had already leapt from the rooftop.

Reicia didn’t understand what was happening, but rather than waste time thinking, she dove after him without hesitation.
Midway down, she jammed her fingers into the wall of the adjacent building—

GOGOGOGOGAKKIGIGI!!!

The impact sent out a grinding roar as her fingers tore into the concrete, bleeding off her momentum as she slid downward.

"…You’ve gotten quite used to that body, haven’t you?"

"Humans are adaptable creatures, you know."

Trading quips, Reicia turned her gaze toward the origin of that earlier heat beam.

There, a man stood.

He wore loose, flowing garments, walking casually down the main avenue of Academy City’s Seventh District—as if showing off the strange haze drifting from his right shoulder.

Then he spoke.

"On the contrary."

He wasn’t particularly muscular—his build was neutral, almost delicate.
At first glance, he carried a calm, almost refreshing air… but beneath it seethed the pressure of a living volcano.
Every movement radiated unshakable confidence, as if the concept of fear itself was foreign to him.

There were many ways to describe such a man.
But if one had to choose the most concise expression—

It would be Red.

Crimson hair, straight and semi-long.
Loose clothing dyed in shades of the same hue.
And from his right shoulder, an immense, otherworldly arm protruded.

"The kind of grand scheme that required sacrificing three members of God’s Right Seat—and I, of all people, wasn’t involved? How could you possibly justify that?"

The innermost being of God’s Right Seat.
The one who governed the Right.
The strongest among them—

Fiamma of the Right.

"Didn’t expect to meet like this," Aleister remarked. "A bit of a surprise, I’ll admit."

"Of course it is. This entrance was my own decision," Fiamma replied with a grin. "Still, the timing’s perfect, wouldn’t you say? Now I can kill you without worrying about interference."

"…You think you can kill me?"

"Don’t bluff."

Fiamma sneered at Aleister’s calm tone.

──In established history, Aleister Crowley had defeated Fiamma of the Right.
That alone made most assume Aleister was the superior—that his calculations had surpassed Fiamma’s.

But a closer look at the circumstances painted another story.

At that time, Fiamma was already wounded.
Aleister had ambushed him, severed his right arm, and weakened his Holy Right.
Only then did their duel begin.

With Fiamma’s ability to “defeat any opponent” incomplete, Aleister could counter it using his Blasting Rod—a weapon that amplified the enemy’s imagined attack power tenfold.

Yet—what if Fiamma had been at full strength?

The fact that Aleister struck first, targeting his arm before anything else, left only one conclusion:
In a fair, direct confrontation, Aleister would have been at a disadvantage.

"Tell me," Fiamma said sharply.
"Why didn’t you people ever once account for my involvement?"

He continued, voice steeped in venomous amusement.

"I’ll tell you why. You probably thought, ‘Three members of God’s Right Seat are already enough trouble. Surely that’s the worst it can get.’"
A low chuckle escaped him. "Wishful thinking."

As if passing judgment, he raised his right arm high.

"The truth is this: reality piles one worst case atop another, crushing the weak beneath its weight—until there’s no room left to breathe."

And then, the man who bore the Right of God—the embodiment of Victory—declared:

"Unfortunately for you, the time for wishful thinking ends here."