Chapter 178: Who Did the Trampling?

──That man had once admired the “heroes.”

Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense.

Seeing a boy who had once sunk into ultimate evil struggling and thrashing in the mud—what could drive him to such rage?

Even in the seemingly deranged words and actions of Kihara, at their core existed an emotion.

Then, in this man’s case?

In the “correct history,” he had devoted himself entirely to mocking Accelerator’s good deeds, cutting off that hope──

But in this history, he carried a profound self-denial so deep that he declared he was “breaking free from his former self”──

What, then, lies at the bottom of this man’s heart?

“…………Don’t you dare mess with me, you little brat.”

Kihara’s Grimoire’s first words—directed at Accelerator and Nayuta—came out as a low, rumbling growl, a whisper of anger that seemed to rise from the depths of his gut.

──Helping someone… that had once been the boy’s wish.

The Grimoire’s arms, aimed at the boy and girl before him, began to twist in a swirling marble pattern, laced with murderous intent.

Fire, water, earth, wind—four great elements intertwined in chaotic disarray, until his arms no longer resembled a palette but a grotesque, toxic industrial effluent.

“You really think that after committing sins that slaughtered ten thousand people, you can just run around doing good for someone else and erase everything up to now? You really think that’s possible?”

──Science was only ever a means to an end.

That was why Kihara Amata never clung to science or research itself. His focus had always been on the tangible results that could be achieved through them.

“And what if I said I could?”

Accelerator’s mocking grin met the turbulent, tainted surge of elements, which erupted in a violent torrent—discarding all neat formalities like “inheritance” and threatening to engulf them both.

Accelerator clicked his tongue, scooped up Nayuta, and leapt with beastlike agility over the wave, avoiding the assault.

──Rather than simply retaliating with brute force, he chose the deliberate action of “holding and evading,” clearly showing his intent to protect someone.

Kihara’s Grimoire clenched his teeth so hard it seemed they might shatter.

“You’re full of it, you damn──IDIOT!!!”

──Yet the results created by this hand…

Kihara’s Grimoire denied them with spittle-flecked rage. No—he had to.

Otherwise, everything would have been for nothing. Because the choices, failures, and smoldering aftermath faced by someone else in a similar position would have all been meaningless.

“You’ll spend your whole life in the mud! Even if you try to wash it off, the grime won’t come clean!! So just drown in it forever! The mere sight of scum like you wandering around only pollutes the world!!”

──Always dyed in grotesque, gaudy colors.

On Kihara’s Grimoire’s left hand, a silver staff floated. Sparks burst forth with numerical images, and two massive phantom casings fell from the sky beside him.

They bore the inscription: Five_Over OS Modelcase "JAGGED_EDGE."

Immediately, a black-and-white “crack” erupted from the void, striking toward the pair.

It seemed as though Accelerator could easily reflect it──but instead, he deliberately jumped aside to avoid the “crack” that should have been effortlessly repelled.

Then, the “crack” that had attacked Accelerator began an unnatural reversal, veering back toward his previous position.

Reverse use of reflection.

Even in the “correct history,” Kihara Amata had mastered that technique with fists and iron pipes. Likewise, Kihara’s Grimoire knew Accelerator’s calculations inside out. By reversing the vector just before impact, the attack could pierce through the “reflection.”

“You too, Nayuta! A ‘Kihara’ saving this city!? There’s no way!! Just like that guy’s emotions turned into Anti-V Arms, ‘Kihara’ converts any emotion into the worst possible output! That’s what this converter does!!”

Its very existence was twisted by the prayer of the original, Oriana Thomson—a form of Malicious Result Twister, impossible to handle without twisting oneself.

“That sick bastard… and that Kagun guy too—they all broke in the end. No matter how ‘Kihara’ struggles, wherever he goes, the conclusion is always ‘there’!!!”

──So, eventually, he had given up on admiration.

“…I won’t give up. I still don’t understand what your ‘Kihara’ really is, sir. But even so, I want to believe that Banri-nee’s and my dreams won’t be broken!!”

“……That’s right. Makes you want to cry, doesn’t it? You can’t let old fools drag young people down with tales of their own failures.”

Kihara Nayuta took that malice head-on. She could endure it.

“…………!! ‘Kihara Amata’ never escaped from there! It ended the way it did!! But I’m not ending there. I will deviate from Kihara Amata—no, from ‘Kihara’ itself! From this cursed fate, I’ll rise again!!!!”

Kihara’s Grimoire roared from his very soul. Sparks scattered as runes ignited, and the second Witch-Hunting King, Innocentius, manifested beside him.

At that same moment, the Innocentius restraining Kamijo burst apart with a splash!

“──Haa…! Haa…! The wind wall blocking the Malicious Result Twister uses the same method your sister did—combining the four major elements! So doesn’t that mean the current sister could cancel it out?”

“…!!”

By canceling the wind, the Malicious Result Twister that had been targeting Kamijo now rebounded toward Innocentius instead. As a result, the Witch-Hunting King, whose spell was disrupted, was effortlessly blown away.

The spiky-haired boy who had just scattered Innocentius called out to Kihara’s Grimoire in a deep, growling voice.

“…………So, you intend to dye Index in ‘Kihara’s’ colors—by making her read him!!”

“Yeah. That’s how I’ll pass on ‘Kihara.’”

Kihara’s Grimoire, without a hint of guilt or hesitation, accepted Kamijo’s anger with a laugh.

“It’s not that I deny the value of this vessel itself. If all humanity inherits ‘Kihara’ and we receive that feedback, that’d be ideal. Even if my own essence alone can’t find a breakthrough, gathering the essence of all humanity must provide the materials to deviate from ‘Kihara’!!”

In other words—it was the expansion of the Kihara network.

If all humanity became “Kihara,” the accumulated knowledge would be immeasurable. Just as mutation can give rise to a new species, if enough model cases were produced and the “mutations” consolidated, the repetition could evolve into something entirely new. In the same way, this could indeed become something beyond “Kihara.”

At least, that was the theory.

“How utterly ridiculous, Kihara Amata.”

And with that, Shiren spoke.

The sudden voice—or rather, the use of that name—made Kihara’s Grimoire turn in shock.

Whether the voice could even be heard through the danger zone of the Malicious Result Twister didn’t matter. What mattered was that Shiren’s words carried something that shook Kihara’s Grimoire to his core.

“If you just stay silent and listen, in the end you’re only giving up on solving things yourself—and running to rely on others, aren’t you?”

Shiren advanced, her footsteps clicking sharply, showing that strategy didn’t matter to her.

“First of all, doesn’t your method just paint all humanity with ‘Kihara’? It seems to me like putting the cart before the horse—you’re destroying the very solutions that should exist. By following the instincts of a grimoire too closely, aren’t you heading down a path where your true wish can never be fulfilled?”

“…………What did you just say, you—”

Her concern was valid.

Turning all of humanity into “Kihara” meant confining everyone’s potential within Kihara’s framework. If that happened, any possibilities that emerged would never exceed “Kihara.” Minor changes might appear, but nothing truly distinct—nothing entirely separate from Kihara—could arise.

“Moreover…”

Shiren delivered a fatal conclusion to Kihara’s Grimoire.

“Even if something different from ‘Kihara’ were to be born… anything created that way would only be a product of distortion, more tragic than Kihara, despite having a different name.”

She had pinpointed the fundamental contradiction within Kihara’s Grimoire.

Why did he wish to deviate from Kihara Amata?

To escape the effects of the Malicious Result Twister? That was certainly part of it. But it could not have been the only reason.

Kihara’s counterpart had been like that. Nayuta Kihara was also like that.

Even a cold-blooded “Kihara” carried emotion at its core. Surely, Kihara’s Grimoire, as a sentient original, must harbor emotion as well.

But did his actions truly align with fulfilling that wish?

The answer was no.

With a tone that seemed to chastise the speechless Grimoire, Shiren continued quietly but firmly—almost as if instructing a junior after a “resurgence.”

“There’s no way you can achieve a ‘resurgence’ by running away like this!! You’re just hiding behind flimsy excuses and pathetic compromises, Kihara Amata! Struggle with everything you have! Don’t hand it over to someone else from the start!! Lay out the cards you have, think and think again, and if that still isn’t enough, then reach out!! The world isn’t so cruel that no one can grasp the hand of someone who fights with all they’ve got!!!!”

“………………!!!!”

Those words snapped Kihara Amata.

“……Damn it……!”

With a Bwaaah!!!

For the third time, sparks accompanied by numerical images exploded from Kihara’s Grimoire, scattering countless runes.

“It’s over!! My world, my dreams!!!! They ended long agooooooo!!!!”

Appearing now was the Witch-Hunting King, Innocentius.

But this one was incomparably larger than before. The fiery giant, standing over ten meters tall, arose while absorbing another created entity at his side. This “abnormal form” had been realized through the repeated deployment of rune-card formations.

“Inheritance isn’t just copying. You learn it and make it your own. That’s why you can apply it like this!!”

The massive Witch-Hunting King Innocentius swung the flaming cross in his right hand.

As long as Kihara’s Grimoire controlled him, even Accelerator’s reflection countermeasures were perfect. Innocentius, even in normal form, possessed regenerative abilities rivaling the Imagine Breaker of Kamijo.

At present, the only force capable of withstanding such a massive attack was the Malicious Result Twister.

However…

(…Because Kihara’s Grimoire is raging, the wind barrier can’t be deployed. If I use my right hand now… I’d probably cause Kihara’s Grimoire to fail at its very core…!!)

Strategically, it was a mistake. But at this stage, it could choke Shiren and the others.

(…Wait. If I just prevent the sound from reaching Kihara’s Grimoire──!!)

Then.

Gichiri.

The massive Witch-Hunting King Innocentius abruptly froze in place.

It wasn’t Index.

To avoid being affected by Kihara’s Grimoire, Index was deliberately refraining from intervening in its spell. Therefore, at this moment, the only one capable of stopping the flaming giant was──

“…It seems you’ve been putting other people’s abilities to convenient use, haven’t you?”

── Inevitably, Stiyl Magnus.

The boy, cigarette in mouth, wiped sweat from his brow yet remained composed, taking a steady breath.

“Y-you…!?”

If one uses the same relic and the same spell, interference with its control is possible for someone experienced in the technique. Of course, it wasn’t easy—but Stiyl Magnus was a bona fide genius.

“Tch, but over here we have the physical abilities of a saint as well—”

“Have you forgotten? ‘That’ also carries its weaknesses.”

Before Kihara’s Grimoire could react at sonic speed, a nail had already been driven into his side.

It was a relic representing the execution of a “Child of God,” created by a magician adept at activating spells through everyday items—combining nails and a cross.

“Gah!?!?”

Instantly, the body of Kihara’s Grimoire—the original, normally impervious to ordinary attacks thanks to defense and self-regeneration—tilted unmistakably. With unsettling cracks spreading across him, he dropped to his knees.

“Damn it…!! Impossible… How did this convenient turn of events happen…!? The magicians were supposed to be trapped on that battlefield! There’s no way they could escape and come here—”

“──This cause and effect will be twisted.”

Shiren’s declaration cut through Kihara’s Grimoire’s groan. By her side stood Accelerator, lazily scratching his head.

Yes.

The one capable of manipulating the vectors of sound.

“Honestly, why go through all this trouble when you could just hit him directly?”

“…Because I want to talk.”

The Malicious Result Twister.

By having Shiren generate the vector of sound with her right hand, and Accelerator manipulate it, Kihara’s Grimoire was spared. Only the giant Witch-Hunting King Innocentius was forced into “failure.”

And to fill that gap, Stiyl and Kanzaki arrived on the battlefield.

“…Well, it’s none of our business. We have our own reasons for being here.”

Snorting in boredom, Accelerator leapt forward, closing the distance with Kihara’s Grimoire.

“If I’m going to be made the ‘Fallen Angel,’ I’m not letting that slide. Sorry, but at the very least, I’m going to crush the function made for that—the remnants of Kihara Amata’s malice.”

Before Kihara’s Grimoire could react, the Number One swung his poisonous right hand mercilessly downward—

“No, that won’t do, Accelerator.”

Thwack! His slender body was flung through the air.

“Accelerator…!?”

“Damn it!! He dodged at the last second!! But how in the hell…?”

At his side, in a state of utter defeat, stood a silver-haired figure.

His long hair brushed the ground, his enigmatic green eyes observing the world with detached calm.

His name: Aleister Crowley.

“Tch…! Of all times to show up…!!”

“Accelerator!? The Fallen Angel…!?”

“Explanations later! Right now, we need to stop him before things get messy!”

As Accelerator assumed a combat stance, Aleister smiled—and from his hand, a net of light extended, effortlessly restraining Kihara’s Grimoire.

“Thank you. Thanks to you damaging Kihara’s Grimoire, I was able to activate the virus I had prepared earlier.”

At that, Shiren recalled the earlier clash between Kihara’s Grimoire and Aleister.

In that battle, Kihara’s Grimoire had been driven to the brink of collapse by Shiren’s right hand—but someone like Aleister could easily have embedded a spell into the very core of that existence in its moment of vulnerability.

And if that spell was meant to be activated the instant Kihara’s Grimoire was weakened…

“Aleister…! Could it be that the whole point from the start was to bring the situation to this stage…!?”

“No, nothing like that. But don’t you think it’s a rather impressive plan, all things considered, for something drawn in that instant?”

Everything was a strategy to turn the irregular Kihara’s Grimoire into his own pawn.

“‘Kihara,’ even if endowed with correct wishes, outputs all actions with malice embedded. Just as the goodwill of Kihara Banri was converted into the natural enemy device Anti-V Arms. Even Nayuta Kihara’s actions this time, if viewed differently, can be interpreted as giving a justification for assault to a mass murderer who killed ten thousand for the correct wish of ‘wanting to protect the city,’ and outputting it as the erasure of a singular self-aware existence—Kihara’s Grimoire.”

Aleister spoke while shifting his gaze toward Accelerator and Nayuta Kihara.

“Kihara’s Grimoire, being a magical tome, has mechanized the ‘Kihara’ system into a near-complete functional system. Perhaps you two, who faced him directly, can relate. The nature of inheriting all knowledge and outputting it with malice—as he himself said earlier—is essentially a type of converter.”

By now, a silver staff floated in Aleister’s right hand.

But this was not the Blasting Wand of Shock.

The reason: around him, along with the staff, drifted sparks-accompanied phantasms of symbols—cups, daggers, and discs.

And he spoke:

“For instance, what do you think would happen if we introduced the divine virtue laid down by God—the Tree of Life, Sephirot—here?”

A plan befitting the world’s worst magician, one that dared to challenge the divine itself.

“Perfectly timed, in Academy City, magicians are fighting while manipulating high-concentration angelic power, Telesma. That surplus angelic power now permeates the city. Though it will eventually return to a different phase, if we consolidate it and pass it through a converter of vice… virtue will be inverted into vice.”

In other words—Fallen Angel.

“The virtue laid down by God—its counterpart vice, discovered by humanity, the Tree of Evil, Qliphoth. Channel it through the second great tree representing humanity’s negative emotions, and let it function as a nursery for demons.”

As if it had been his purpose from the beginning.

With calculated, impassive inevitability, Aleister called out:

“Fallen Angel Conversion Machine Original: ‘Kihara K.’”

Final Chapter: I Don’t Know Anything About Predestination  - Theory_"was"_Broken.
Chapter 149 Who Did the Trampling?  -  Old_Yearning.