Chapter 188: That Which Must Be Exorcised (Part 2)

Several minutes had passed since the operation began.

Two Level 5 espers were analyzing the “fissures,” their hands tracing the distortions in space, when both suddenly halted. Kakine and Accelerator lifted their heads at the same moment and spoke in unison.

“Analysis complete.”

Instantly, a 3D spherical model appeared across the surrounding monitors. A single point on its surface was highlighted. The model represented their entire world—and that marked point, the source of the crisis: the hole in reality itself.

It was most likely an adaptation of Aleister’s old “shared thought resource” system, now repurposed to visualize their calculations. By this point, the boundary between science and magic no longer existed—and considering the person responsible for that fusion stood among them, it was hardly surprising.

Having completed the operation’s core analysis in just minutes, Accelerator and Kakine exchanged dissatisfied glances.

“This is too easy. Maybe we didn’t even need the Number One after all.”

“Yeah, seems that way. According to the monitor’s progress rate, though, my contribution’s higher.”

“Oh? So the great Number One’s bragging over a few percent? Guess you’re more down-to-earth than I thought.”

“The fact you think a few percent is ‘measly’ is exactly why you’ll always be Number Two.”

Sparks practically flew between them—until Nayuta and Souji cut in.

“Accelerator, this isn’t the time to fight! You need to shut down the Misaka Network’s concentrated computation protocol. Hands, not mouths!”

“I still have to manage the permissions tied to the Exterior’s auxiliary brain, so if you two start brawling now, that’s going to be a real problem, okay?”

The two Level 5s exchanged glances. For the supposed saviors of the world, they didn’t exactly look the part.

“…What about the bullets? My team was handling that, right?”

“No need to worry,” Kihara Noukan’s voice came through the comm, mixed with the sound of rushing wind.
“They’ve been secured. Though they almost got themselves cremated by a rocket booster in the process.”

“What the hell are those idiots doing? It was just a supply run…”

Kakine sighed in disbelief. Heroes, as always, never had it easy.

Phase 1 was complete, and preparations for Phase 2 were in place. The next step was to convert the “world extension” within the Windowless Building.

“No problems here!”

Despite Spark Signal’s interference triggering the building’s launch sequence, the magic library’s calculations remained stable. Surrounded by Kihara’s Grimoire, Stiyl, Kanzaki, Oriana, and Xochitl, Index smiled confidently.

“‘Converting the world extension’ sounds fancy, but it’s really just a perceptual shift—like one of those optical illusions where you see either two faces or a vase depending on the angle. We just need to pass the correct parameters to Kihara’s Grimoire.”

“Then we share that perception through the ‘shared thought resource’ network—and boom, problem solved. Funny, isn’t it? Sharing a Kihara’s perception is what’s going to save the world.”

“In broad terms, it’s just using grimoire knowledge. Still, since it’s Kihara knowledge, we’ll have to purify it properly first. But hey, that’s what professionals are for!”

Index puffed out her chest proudly. Kanzaki and Stiyl stood beside her, equally confident—their preparations appeared flawless.

Meanwhile—

“I’ve got nothing to do,” Kamijou Touma muttered, watching the others work at full power.

Even with his right hand that could negate the supernatural, even after defeating Academy City’s strongest esper, Touma himself hadn’t changed. He was still just an ordinary high school student—someone with no special skill to offer a world-saving operation.

Then—

“I’m exhausted…”

“Misaka’s been busy fine-tuning the Misaka Network, and I’ve been assisting with the Exterior’s neural interface. It’s been nonstop… By the way, what’s with that Kihara Souji guy? Isn’t he dangerously unstable? Shouldn’t we stop him before he becomes a problem?”

“He’s with Shiren’s group, so he’ll be fine.”

Touma replied casually to the two exhausted girls who had wandered over. Then he glanced toward the monochrome world beyond the fissure, where Shiren and Reicia stood.

“Besides, if things start going out of control, Shiren and the others will handle it, right?”

“Indeed. Though if I’m to formally integrate them into my command structure, I’ll need some preparation. Hmm… perhaps I could restructure the ‘Members’ framework into a youth rehabilitation organization?”

“Spare me, please,” Baba’s exasperated voice came through the comm. “You’re right that, since we’re dismantling the dark side, we’ll have to rethink our future—but still…”

As Shiren pondered the future, an electric snap! echoed through everyone’s minds.

It felt as though a transparent film had been laid over their vision. Touma instinctively reached for his head with his right hand—

“Wait! If you touch your head now, you’ll cancel the entire shared thought resource and ruin the conversion!”

“Whoa—close one!”

Aleister’s sharp warning made Touma quickly jerk his hand away. That had been way too close—he’d nearly become the world’s biggest screw-up.

“…Couldn’t you have just left me out of the shared link to begin with?”

“You don’t like being left out, do you?”

“…”

He wasn’t wrong. Though perhaps what surprised Touma more was that Aleister Crowley—the human Aleister—actually understood something that personal.

“Looks like everything’s ready.”

The brief commotion faded, marking the completion of Phase 2. Only the final stage—Phase 3—remained.

“Well then.”

With that acknowledgment, Mugino pushed off the wall she’d been leaning against and met the eyes of Shiren and Reicia, standing in the monochrome world beyond the fissure.

“Ready, Another Four? It’s time to save the world.”

Phase 3 lasted—literally—an instant.

The fully powered Jagged Edge, a monochrome sawblade of light, sliced through a single point in one dimension. At that same moment, a singularity from the 0th dimension appeared—something Mugino immediately seized. The procedure was the same as in their previous battle, but this time, the two performed it together.

Once the 0-dimensional singularity was secured, they would use it to transport the Windowless Building to the designated coordinates. There, the building’s “file extension” would automatically convert, merging with the “Hole of the World” to fill it in.

“…Alright, Reicia. Let’s begin.”

In that black-and-white world, Shiren turned calmly to the girl beside her.

“Yes. Then, here we go.”

Reicia nodded at Shiren’s cue and lifted her left hand—the one holding Shiren’s.

And from that joined hand—

CRACK!!

A black-and-white fracture split through space—not the ominous kind that heralded destruction, but something controlled, deliberate. The rift tore straight through the void, racing toward Mugino.

“Well done. I’ve harvested the singularity.”

With a graceful motion, Mugino caught it in her hand. A brilliant, pure-white light shimmered in her palm.

In another timeline, Mugino had used that same light to compress the entire world into microscopic size—a grand act of suicide. But in this world, that future would never come to pass.

Part of it was because she had never undergone Kihara’s Grimoire modifications, which allowed stable control of the 0-dimensional singularity. But more than that—Mugino herself would never allow it. Even if she could master the singularity completely, she would never again choose that path.

To destroy the world, to surrender before the rival who had once risen from her own death to stand before her again—that would be a defeat her pride could never accept.

“This concludes the operation.”

Immediately afterward—

BOOMMMMM!!!

The white tower that once loomed over Academy City’s Seventh District vanished.

It wasn’t merely gone from its coordinates; it had transcended physicality. The Windowless Building became a metaphysical existence, visible only from a conceptual level, and in an instant, it crossed beyond the speed of light—piercing through space itself to reach the world’s edge, where it drove into the Hole.

Even without seeing it vanish, Shiren and the others could feel it.

“W-what…!? The cracks—they’re shining!?”

Mikoto’s startled voice broke the silence.

All around them, every “crack in the world” now glowed from within, like sunlight filtering through leaves.

And slowly—those very cracks began to shrink.

“We… we did it! That means the Hole of the World is being sealed, right!?”

“Yeah. Looks like the dice finally rolled in our favor.”

“Wait, excuse me!? How did this turn into ‘luck was on our side’ when we had meticulous planning!?”

Shiren scowled, a vein twitching on her temple as she glared at the relieved-looking Aleister.

Still, the result was clear—the Hole of the World was being repaired. Shiren exhaled deeply. Though the disappearance of the Windowless Building and Aleister’s exile were unexpected, they had avoided total collapse.

Her knowledge of the “true timeline” was probably shattered beyond recovery, but that was a problem for tomorrow. For now, she could afford to breathe.

However—

Shiren did not know.

The fate borne by the “human” who had orchestrated this entire plan.

Aleister Crowley was doomed to fail, no matter his achievements. Long ago, he had been cursed as retribution for the death of his own child.

And so—

The moment they enlisted Aleister Crowley’s help, this outcome was sealed.

CREEAAAK—

The entire sky warped, bending like a sheet of plastic under heat.

“W-what… is that!?”

“—Residual backlash, it seems.”

The voice from behind Shiren belonged to the Witch.

“Compared to the original World Collapse, this is nothing,” she said with a shrug. “At worst, it’ll blow away the Seventh District. …Of course, everyone outside is probably doomed.”

“Why!? How could this happen!? We already stopped the collapse, didn’t we!?”

“That’s because it’s Aleister Crowley.”

The Witch’s tone softened, almost pitying.

“Mmm, well—it’s a spoiler, but I’ll tell you anyway,” she continued. “Aleister once had a daughter. She died from illness, but the real cause was the small distortions in fate caused as side effects of magic. Aleister cursed the ‘Golden’ organization that had allowed such distortions—including himself, one of its members.”

That curse became the Curse of Failure.

Everything Aleister attempted would ultimately be sabotaged. His plans were designed to continue regardless of success or failure—because failure was guaranteed.

“So yes. The curse targeted ‘Golden’—and Aleister himself, who was part of it.”

“What…!?”

This entire situation had been impossible without Aleister’s cooperation. The Windowless Building that bore the mark of the world’s end, the preparatory rituals, the shared computation—all of it existed because of him.

And because of that, fate now bared its fangs.

“Even if the entire Seventh District gets wiped out, it’s still manageable!” Reicia declared sharply. “If we gather the Level 5 espers, we can contain it!”

“…You’re misunderstanding,” the Witch said quietly. “What you’re facing isn’t the aftershock of the World Collapse. It’s the result called ‘Failure’ itself. Even if you neutralize the backlash, the failure remains—and something else will take its place.”

Reicia’s defiance faltered, swallowed by despair.

It was like a twisted Result Twister, forcing upon them the inevitable—failure itself.

And at that moment, Shiren finally understood why Aleister had always been so wary of her right hand.

Aleister knew—better than anyone—how dangerous “Failure itself” could be to him.

“Then I have a plan!” Reicia shouted.

If Aleister’s curse was the root cause—then Shiren had one way to break it.

“Touma!”

That hand—

The right hand that had been useless throughout this operation. It couldn’t calculate the position of the World’s Hole, convert its extensions, or deliver the plug to the world’s edge. It had been dead weight—almost enough to jeopardize the entire plan.

But that right hand once had a name, bestowed by the world’s greatest magical cabal, Golden.

Crafted from the hand of a saint—
A sacred relic shielding humanity from the sparks of colliding fates—
The treasured artifact of Blythe Road—

Imagine Breaker, the Slayer of Illusions.

“That distortion… No—this damned fate!!”

Shiren turned to the spiky-haired boy who clenched his right fist tight, her voice somewhere between a queen’s command and a desperate plea.

“With that right hand of yours—kill it for me!!!”

Final Chapter – I Don’t Know Anything About Predetermined Harmony  -  Theory_"was"_Broken.
Episode 159: That Which Should Be Exorcised – Part II: Misfortune.

"Preparations are complete! Everyone’s in position!!"

The voice that answered the queen’s command through the comms belonged to Sashika. From her vantage point overlooking the Seventh District’s skyline, the figures of Shokuhou’s “largest faction,” who had been gathered there moments ago, were nowhere to be seen—or rather, they hadn’t vanished. They had dispersed across the area.

"We’ve issued orders to members of Shokuhou’s faction. Using their abilities, we’ll send Kamijou Touma—you—into the sky!!"

"I’d say you’re acting on your own… but since this is a high-level emergency, I’ll let it slide~," Shokuhou replied with an exasperated sigh.

A soft tap echoed beside her as a shadow landed gracefully. It was her faction’s number two—Junko Hokaze. Sparks of violet electricity flickered around her as she smiled gently.

"I’ll take you part of the way. Now, if you please."

As she spoke, Hokaze presented something resembling a basket. It was a transport device she had prepared in advance—engineered to carry Kamijou safely, complete with countermeasures against Imagine Breaker.

Shokuhou’s faction. G.M.D.W.

Their raw power might not rival the top-tier elites gathered here. They lacked the authority to command the destruction of the Windowless Building, the intellect to calculate the world itself, the artistry to craft secret rites beyond reality, or the means to hurl matter across galaxies. No—these girls couldn’t shake the world on that scale.

They couldn’t perform a hero’s miracle like saving the world.

But that didn’t matter. Even without such impossible power, they could still protect someone—by doing something simple, something human: helping each other.

"Yeah. We’ve all worked so hard to get this far. Let’s grab that no-miss, happy-ending clear together!"

Despite standing on the brink—where the Seventh District, and perhaps everyone within it, could be annihilated—Kamijou still wore a smile.

His right hand was useless. It couldn’t earn him good grades, win him fights, or make him popular with girls.

But that right hand was convenient—because with it, he could protect everyone’s dreams.

"It ends here. By our own hands."

Boom!

The basket carrying Kamijou shot upward, propelled into the sky by Hokaze’s electromagnetic power. Unable to keep up with the sudden inertia, Kamijou tumbled inside as the scenery below blurred into streaks of color—until the velocity began to stabilize.

The momentum from Hokaze’s electrically-boosted leap was fading, and gravity was starting to pull them back. But, of course, that wasn’t the end of it.

Debris—likely launched by her ability—shot out from behind nearby buildings, forming makeshift footholds. Hokaze vaulted from one to the next with graceful precision, carrying Kamijou ever higher, until—

"Lady Hokaze! This is as far as we can support you!!"

They had reached nearly a hundred meters in altitude. Up here, rooftops were scarce, and even a high-level esper’s range couldn’t reach much farther. However—

"Thank you for your help! Kamijou-sama, are you ready?"

"Yeah. I’m good to go."

Receiving his answer, Hokaze steadied the basket. It was far too large for any normal person to throw, yet she lifted it easily, her body suspended in midair through electromagnetic control.

Thud—wham!

With the force of a major-league fastball, she hurled the entire basket toward the distortion in the sky.

Once, this operation had been so unstable that even maintaining form was a struggle. But this time, with full preparations complete, the spiky-haired boy fixed his gaze on the distortion before him and raised his right hand.

That distortion—the culmination of a world-ending crisis that began with a friend’s condition—now stood before him. Backed by the cooperation of all his allies, Kamijou Touma faced it alone, his right hand extended.

And in his heart burned a quiet anger.

Of course it did. Everyone—literally everyone—even the mastermind lurking deep within the city—had joined forces to protect the world. And yet, despite all they had done, despite saving everything, this cruel reality had come to crush those who had fought so hard.

That was far too much to forgive.

So—

"If this story—this world—"

Kamijou Touma wished with fury.

"—is just running according to the miracle system that God created!!"

Then Kamijou Touma screamed his prayer to the heavens.

"Hey, Shiren."

At that moment, the pure-white sister looked up toward the sky—toward the boy she loved, defying God Himself—and called out to Shiren.

"...Yes."

Shiren already understood, without needing to be told.

The distortion’s aftershock carried enough power to obliterate the entire Seventh District. And no matter how potent Imagine Breaker might be, it could never completely nullify the sheer physical destruction capable of leveling a city. Perhaps it could erase Aleister’s “failure” itself—but it could not guarantee Kamijou Touma’s safety as he faced that phenomenon head-on.

In both their minds, that night returned.

The death of a single boy.
A story that had reached a bitter, unwanted end.
For both of them, it was the memory of painful defeat.

"I do not intend to regret that failure."

Shiren’s voice was firm, her eyes unwavering.

"Because of that incident, we have the Kamijou Touma of today. Because of it, he was able to walk his own path, and we are here now. To face forward and walk toward the future, I refuse to mourn the past."

But then, her tone sharpened—defiant, determined.

"That doesn’t mean I’ll accept the same ending again. Isn’t that right, Index!!"

In answer to Shiren’s shout, countless Five Over units simultaneously raised their guns toward the sky.

Once, Shiren had warned Misaka Mikoto: since Aleister had deployed the Five Over pieces at this stage, there was a chance they had been infused with magical mechanisms. If Mikoto activated them, she might be considered to have “used magic” and suffer the backlash herself.

But if that were true—if there truly was magic within them—then the girl who carried 103,000 grimoires could perhaps take command of it directly.

"Honestly… with just that little toy-level electromagnetic power, it’s not enough, is it?"

"You’re trying to save him, right? Touma. Then let us contribute too, won’t you?"

Mikoto and Shokuhou’s voices overlapped.

Electromaster Phase = NEXT.

Crackling with divine electricity like a thunder goddess, Mikoto channeled her power through the countless gun barrels of the deployed Five Over units, feeding their rail systems with overwhelming current.

Even if the Five Over machines had once been designed to surpass espers, that standard had been set by comparing them to Level 5s of the past. Mikoto and her allies had already stepped into a new domain—their power now far beyond that outdated scale.

"...Yes. If we’re doing this, we’ll do it together."

Then it began.

KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-KRAK—KRRAAAAAAAAK!!

A storm of gunfire roared as countless Five Over units unleashed enhanced rounds toward the heavens.

The barrage was so ferocious that even its aftershocks could have shredded Kamijou’s body below. Yet as he reached his right hand toward the distortion in the sky, neither bullets nor shockwaves touched him.

Why?

Because surrounding the spiky-haired boy was a black-and-white “fracture”—a shimmering crack shielding him from the onslaught.

At its source, Shiren stood beside Reicia, their hands clasped tightly together.

"This time, together. We’ll seize a complete, flawless happy ending—and only then will our comeback truly be complete!"

Her voice rang out, proud and resolute.

And above them, the boy who defied the miracles of God thrust his right hand forward, colliding with the distortion in the sky.

"First of all—let’s destroy that ridiculous illusion!!!"

And thus, the world was truly saved.

Without needing the “death” of a single boy.

There was, however, one problem left unspoken.

"Well then… now that the issue with the ‘Hole in the World’ has been resolved, the runaway effect of the Divine Contract: Near Death’s Promise has started to calm down as well…"

Murmuring softly, Shiren turned toward the girl standing beside her—Reicia.

Looking a little embarrassed, Reicia replied, "I suppose… it’s time to close this."

Her gaze rested on the closing “crack” before them. From the beginning, it had been narrow—barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through. And now, after the Hole in the World had been sealed, they had been too occupied with managing the aftermath and ensuring Kamijou’s safe landing to notice their window of escape closing.

And so—this was the result.

"Wait, wait, wait!? How can you be so calm!? Once the Hole in the World disappears completely, the Crack will vanish too! That means you’ll be left stranded out here—in the expansion layer beyond the world’s boundary!!"

The “Witch,” who shouted in panic from behind them, was already beginning to fade. The solid presence she’d held moments ago was slowly dissolving, like the tide receding from the shore. It seemed the catastrophe had truly been averted.

Yet, because of that, a new problem had emerged.

In contrast to the panicking Witch, Shiren and Reicia remained composed, showing no sign of distress.

"It’s all right. You’ve already seen it yourself, haven’t you?"

Reicia exhaled softly, her shoulders relaxing—as if she were waiting for something.

"I used the ability granted by the Divine Contract: Near Death’s Promise to draw on its potential and summon Reicia by tracing the bond between us. I don’t fully understand how the ability works myself, so bringing her through was the best I could do."

Shiren spoke as though revealing a secret long kept behind a veil.

"But—the ones on the other side aren’t so limited, are they?"

Beyond the Crack waited their companions—each deeply connected to Shiren and Reicia, and each far more skilled in magic. Unlike Shiren, who could only imitate magic through the quirks of her ability, those on the other side were true practitioners—capable of manipulating the laws of other worlds and producing the desired result with precision.

Which meant—

"We’ve come this far. There’s no way we’d be missing from the final happy ending. That’d just make the story too sloppy."

Their figures began to blur faintly. More precisely, their existence was being drawn out of the “expansion layer” and back into the original flow of history.

"…Ah. That’s right," the Witch murmured with a soft, wistful smile. "It’s been so long that I nearly forgot."

Their connection to the Witch had always been peculiar. She was a being born from the fusion of Shiren and Reicia’s existences—an impossibly transcendent entity. She had appeared before Shiren by disregarding causality itself, simply because she was Shiren’s “possibility.” Without her, Shiren surely would have failed.

So Shiren spoke to her.

"Thank you—our future selves."

"Yes, indeed. This time, we truly were saved by you… so allow me to thank you as well."

"Hehe, that’s fine. It seems I’ve already received your thanks anyway. From my perspective, it happened in the future—but from yours, in the past."

"…What?"
"…Huh?"

At that sudden, cryptic remark, both tilted their heads in confusion. But the Witch came from a future neither of them had experienced. Her understanding of time and causality likely existed far beyond their grasp. Accepting that, they decided not to dwell on it.

Watching their puzzled expressions, the Witch smiled softly once more.

"Well then—goodbye. And please, don’t get into another crisis so dire that I have to show up again, okay?"

…That sounded suspiciously like a flag being raised.

Before they could even comment, their vision warped—and Shiren instinctively pulled Reicia close.

The next instant—

"Ah! It looks like it worked perfectly!"

The first thing I heard as my consciousness cleared was the bright, innocent voice of a cheerful sister.

…Keeping my eyes closed like this, it almost feels as though I’ve just woken from a long, long dream. But the pain and exhaustion lingering in my body aren’t illusions—they’re undeniable proof that today’s fierce battle truly happened.

"Honestly. You’re always a bit careless at the very end. What would you have done if we hadn’t been there?"

"Hehe… I never even imagined such a ‘what-if’ future. After all, you two are right here with me."

When I opened my eyes, she was there—the sister dressed in pure white.

And not just her.

The spiky-haired boy, the members of his faction, our classmates, and our fellow magicians were all gathered around. Even those who had once stood against us were, in their own way, welcoming us back.

Representing all of them, Touma-san spoke up.

"Welcome back, Shiren. Reicia."

"It’s good to be back, everyone."

We answered together—and then I placed a hand over my chest, calling out to the other half of myself I could so clearly feel within.

"Welcome home, Reicia."

"Welcome back, Shiren."

And just like that, peacefully—as if to mark the end of our long, intense day—

"We’re home."