Thank you for responding to the choices. Let's begin the fic officially, then...

Enjoy...

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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[BGM: www. youtube. com(slash)watch?v=oEN3udj2dP0 ]

[Puts on loop]

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Chapter 1:

AMUZAK-SAN, GET YOUR SORRY ASS DOOOWN HEREEE!

I couldn't help but mentally scream in anguish.

Just what the hell, bro?! I thought we had a dealll... I don't remember signing up for this sh*t.

Normally speaking, I considered myself quite an aloof and adaptable character.

Having read all genres of fiction from horror, mystery sci-fi, fantasy to romcom and slice-of-life, it was my pride to think that nothing would surprise me, no matter how serious a situation becomes.

I thought I would be able to maintain a level head over my shoulders at all times.

Oi Oi Oi Oi.

But what on God's green earth is up with this f**ked up situation!? ...Please don't give me a reality check in such a messed up way.

Alright, I did believe all this to be a dream, okay. But can you blame me?! I'm just a high-school girl from the 21st century. Just what did you expect? ...My heart was not prepared to accept things like transmigration and reincarnation, y'know. Stuff like that only happens in fiction. That's just common sense 101.

But does that mean I should be confronted with something like this?

I really couldn't understand what went on inside my mind when I first looked at my palms and found them stained crimson. Warm, slick and sticky like grease, I instinctively knew what it was - human blood.

As a proud representative of the normies, I can safely claim that only blood I've seen before comes from livestock.

Seeing or dealing with human blood was none of my business, alright. I'm not the type that likes taking grizzly pictures of motor vehicle accidents. I don't even like reading guro, in the first place. Well, I agree that I did practice some kendo, but that was with a bokken.

Therefore saying that it was merely a shocking development would be an understatement. The sight was enough to cause me to stagger backward, making me wonder just what had gone down here? Just what had I done?

"You... Y..You bitc..."

The man that 'I' had apparently stabbed in the back, shot me a condemning glance. His eyes were muddled with a mixture of both incredulity and confusion

His voice was the sound of a rusty flute: his gaze lucid and heavy with condemnation. Like me, it seemed he too had trouble believing the events that transpired here.

"I...I..."

I tried to deny reality. Desperately trying to find rationality in my actions. To think what would elicit such an extreme response from me? ...But, at the same time, it was an undeniable fact that my hands were indeed stained with thick, red blood.

Whose blood was it? Mine? Or was it his? ...Does that mean I really tried to stab him? ...That I tried killing someone?

That was impossible. I was born and raised on values that treasured human life. Logically speaking, it should be impossible for me to reach this conclusion.

Stabbing in the back? ...I'm not a psychopath, you see. If you see something you don't agree with, you should always call 110. Let the police do the rest of the sorting. That's the way I tried to live.

However, at the same time, I felt oddly calm and composed. True, I wanted to pound some sense into Amuzak-san, but apart from that, I felt rather indifferent. And that fact greatly disturbed me.

Normally, I would have screamed before running off the moment I saw a corpse, my mind crumbling like a piece of delicate porcelain from hysteria. But instead, here I am- using reason to contemplate the choices that led to this outcome.

It was as if I was making light of the sheer gravity of the situation I found myself in.

Still, no matter how hard I thought... I simply couldn't understand why or how I wound up killing a man, and a stranger at that.

He was no stranger! He was a monster!

...That is until the memories of the incident began pouring back in.

Ah, right. I see. I stabbed him.

But why?

Oh. Because he deserved it.

Oi... Oi... Hold that damn phone for a second... Just what do I mean by he deserved it? ...How does anyone deserve getting stabbed to death?

And then... I truly began to see it. My memories. Her memories.

This body wasn't mine. So, the situation made a bit more sense now. I had simply inherited the memories that came with it.

And from the memories... I was able to confirm that I wasn't the promised innkeeper's daughter at all. Instead, I was someone else entirely.

I saw her memories.

I saw how deep her desire for vengeance ran. Hatred was all she had left when she saw them get dragged away. She knew what fate awaited them beyond those closed doors.

They were branded defective, and the organization didn't stand failure. So it wasn't hard to imagine what was going to happen to them after that.

They would be killed and disposed of. In that scary place, behind the chemical shed: the place they said all bad children get taken off to.

I felt her agony as her friends- her only family- was taken out to be slaughtered one by one. Being orphans, they were trafficked in from various nations. Still, they cared for each other like siblings, for they knew that they had no one else to rely upon... other than themselves.

Seeing their mental anguish, even I couldn't help but grit my teeth.

They were just a bunch of seven-year-old children, and they did nothing bad. And even if they did, what kind of monster would kill them for it?

I couldn't hide the outrage I felt in my heart. Perhaps, she was right. Perhaps, this man really needed to die. This world will definitely be a better place with one less scumbag in it.

Still, regarding the children, why did they deserve such a cruel ending?

However, the memories didn't stop there. I saw the girl question her own sanity. Like why she was the only one left alive?

The look in their eyes as they realized only she would be spared at the expense of their deaths. It was indescribable. Not only was it a complex mixture full of resentment, condemnation, and hate, but it also reflected a broken heart, hopelessness, dread, and a sense of betrayal.

It was a look that truly crushed the girl's soul.

Individually, they weren't all that different. So, why was she the only one spared... she wondered.

Knowing that she would never be able to meet her friends anymore, anger and outrage exploded inside her akin to an erupting volcano.

Unforgivable! The whole wretched lot of them! ...The ones who did this to us! ...They must pay! They have to die! ...FOR WHAT THEY DID TO US, THEY ALL HAVE TO DIE!

You can say that it was at this moment that she died. At least, on the inside.

This wasn't the level of hate a healthy seven-year-old should have. However, for some reason, whatever I was feeling now was oddly similar as well.

And, thus, when she got the chance, she did it... The only thing that she desired to do from the bottom of her heart ever since that day. As she killed the one responsible, she finally accomplished her purpose. She had killed the Warden- the one person-in-charge of this entire facility.

It had taken her quite a long time to fully gain his trust. She had to suck up to him for months to get him lower his guard around her... Suppressing her resentment to the bottom of her heart, it was a plan that burnt her from the inside. But, in the end, it was all worth it.

He was the leader of the people that abused them, therefore his death satisfied her fully.

I could feel the euphoria she felt as she heard that satisfying squish as the tip of her knife sunk deeper into his flesh, causing him to scream out in agony.

Closing her eyes, she twisted the blade in her hands, all the while sinking it deeper and deeper.

When she heard his skin being torn to shreds as the knife rotated and the sound of his muscles and nerves being gouged growing louder, she felt unparalleled ecstasy.

She sported a warped grin on her face as without warning she jerked the knife all the way into his back until the shiny metal had disappeared inside him and the black handle was pushing against his broken skin.

His cry was a brilliant sound, guttural chokes mixed with an agonized roar. However, it was just music to her ears. She simply smirked hearing that and yanked the blade out of her now deathly-pale victim.

He sank to his knees, continuing to scream, convulsing and trembling like a rabid animal.

Thick blood flowed freely from the gaping hole in his back. The cascade of the man's life source gushed out in all directions, scarlet liquid squirting up all over her.

So, he too can make such a kind of face, the girl thought. Serves him right!

The incredible sense of accomplishment she felt was being directly transmitted to me...

She had enacted her plan flawlessly. It wasn't much, but she felt like she was able to avenge her friends.

But that was all... She had paid pain with pain and death with death. It was a simple exchange.

Death by the hands of those he looked down upon as lab rats. Even I felt like it was the case of poetic justice being dished out cold.

However, at the same time, the girl seemed to desire no more. And that was literally way more than a figure of speech.

Ever since her friends were killed off one by one, I knew she had lost her will to continue being a part of this sick world.

All her drive to exist until now came from her intense desire to enact revenge for her fallen brothers and sisters. The fellow orphans of Wish House Orphanage. Her lust for vengeance transcended even her desire to keep living.

And so, as soon as the man responsible died... so too did her will to continue living.

Her heart had died a long time ago. Ever since then she lived like a living corpse, existing just for this single moment. To kill him. Excruciatingly.

But with his death, her life had lost all its purpose. It made her feel a bit hollow, but by no means was she sad.

Still, it was undeniable that the man's death was the end of everything for her, including her own existence.

Perhaps, 'satisfaction' was a word that could be used to describe her last feelings.

And, thus, having completed her sole raison d'etre, her little heart gave out, drawing curtains on the tragic life of Elaine le Fay, once and for all.

It was inevitable, I felt. The amount of grief a seven-year-old could process was just so much. It was already a miracle that she hadn't given in to chronic depression until now.

Even if she survived, there was no way her life would have been normal. Even in my original world, PTSD can only be alleviated by regular counseling and therapy, and even then its effectiveness differed from person to person. There's no way she could have got such luxury in this world.

And, thus, in the end, her heart simply gave out...

Tears trickled down my cheeks. I'd been crying for a while now.

These were my memories now. But they didn't belong to the one called Fujimi Amari. It belonged to a young orphan named Elaine le Fay from Cornwall.

Blood puddled beneath my feet. It was still warm, and in the light of the alarms blaring all across the facility, I could see the figure of someone reflected in it.

A scrawny girl with silver hair in tattered robes... One whose body was riddled from top to the bottom with scars, cuts, and bruises. That was me, Elaine.

One of the unfortunate orphans that survived the horror that was the Wish House Orphanage.

This shell of a person whose soul had already passed on, was the body that I had been reincarnated into.

The Innkeeper's daughter. I wonder what my life would be like if I just had reincarnated there.

But having a little grasp on Amuzak-san personality, there's no way he'd cheat me out of a set deal.

That meant that this was something unprecedented, even for him, as improbable as that sounds.

But one thing was certain: this definitely wasn't the peaceful life I was looking forward to.

Also, what felt more strange is that: despite my outrage and grief, I'm not really much moved by the events that transpired.

If I had to compare it with anything: it was like crying after watching a really good tearjerker.

Elaine's case was one thing. But when I inherited her memories, it seemed like something within me had changed greatly.

Murder was one of the gravest cardinal sins. Christianity sent murderers straight to the Seventh Circle of Hell for punishment, regardless of its context. But that wasn't the crux of it...

Despite seeing blood and gore, I... felt strangely apathetic to it. While it's true that I sympathized with Elaine's plight, but that shouldn't be the case for Fujimi Amari: a modern high-school girl.

As I said, this isn't the reaction I should normally be having.

It was as if I had become accustomed to seeing these kind of things on a daily basis. Like how a soldier wouldn't feel any queasy upon seeing a busted up corpse or two. I felt like my emotions had been subtly toned down.

My viewpoint of the world. That was what Elaine's darkness changed inside me when I inherited her legacy.

Despite having both sets of memories, clearly I was not Elaine, but as of now, I couldn't confidently claim to be Amari either.

I had become something else... like a median of their personalities.

I felt like I had gained something, but at the same time, it felt like I had lost something equally precious in return.

"I have changed, haven't I?"

"Indeed... A revelation seems to have graced your mind as well."

I heard a voice, and when I looked around... I found a person standing there.

Who?

I saw him smile at me, or at least I thought he did.

"...You're indeed the most beautiful in this forlorn state, Little Princess."

I do not know why, but I had incredible difficulty seeing the face or hearing the voice of the speaker.

I do not know when he appeared before me. But for some reason, I didn't feel like raising my guard up, which was kind of strange, considering both my mentality and the type of situation around me.

It was as if I was being influenced by a strange narcotic, one that clouded my cognitive judgment.

Honestly, rather than a person, it felt like I was talking to a shadow behind a curtain- a curtain thicker than any that I've seen- a wall so high and sturdy that it exceeded what human minds could conceive.

The person before me gave off the same feeling as Amuzak-san, if not something more. Perhaps, this is how fictional characters feel when they face something removed from their reality. This was a side of fiction that I hadn't given much thought to.

But what struck me the most was his androgynous tone of voice.

Looking at him, I felt overcome by the sensation an ant would have been if it tried and failed to make out the contours of men looming above it.

A devil? An angel? No... those didn't feel right... Yet what else, then? ...Another Custodian? Nope... I instinctively felt that this was a different breed of monster.

"All things in this world have their place. Those born in darkness may curse and drag those shining in light to the bottom of their swamp. Such is the rule of this world. It's human nature. How was your experience at falling from grace, Little Princess?! Not a terrible sensation, now is it? ...If there are myriad of shining stars in the sky, those crawling on the ground stained deep in the quagmire of darkness- too number in the millions, after all."

Without anticipating an answer from me, the man went on in a soliloquy. He called me a Princess, but he expected neither understanding nor comprehension from me.

Indeed, from his perspective, it should have felt like he was trying to hold a conversation with an ant. Honestly, it was no wonder that it ended up being so one-sided.

But, falling... huh? ...I somehow felt he wasn't talking about Elaine here.

"However, that being said, such is the destiny of lesser beings. They who don't have the luxury of peering beyond the hand dealt to them by Fate. We, on the other hand..."

I could not understand what the man had been saying, and I admit that I wasn't trying too much on that front.

However, I realized one thing. That this thing was trying to guide my way. Trying to turn me into something more concrete than a mere amalgamation of personalities.

And that it was merely a whim- a little game for his own amusement.

"It was you... You killed them all?"

It was strange if you think of it. The alarms have been going on for quite some time now. Normally, the guards should be swarming this place. But there was no one in sight. Or rather, it eerily felt like the entire facility had been stripped clean of anything living.

Indeed, Elaine had killed the head of this facility, the one responsible for killing all of Elaine's comrades. But what about everyone else? ...Lebensborn wasn't a project of merely one man... or facility, for that matter.

A system to create and nurture superior magicians ever since before they are born. That was the Lebensborn Project. By harnessing eugenics, the main objective of the project was to raise magicians capable of accessing powers of Original Grimoires.

Using arcane knowledge from various sources, they tried to create a superior breed of magicians.

However, they had failed.

Out of tens of thousands of children raised as subjects under the Lebensborn Project, one and only one person- Elaine had succeeded.

Still, that being said, Lebensborn's darkness wasn't something a little girl like her could take on by herself. Let alone the number of people involved, one couldn't even guess the number of facilities the Project had.

Limiting her purpose of revenge to the death of the Magician personally involved rather than the entirety of the Lebensborn itself, perhaps even the original Elaine knew the futility of having such an unattainable goal.

"Oh, my... it seems like the stench has reached even this far."

I could smell the odor of blood from all around us, and I immediately understood that all of the men responsible had been completely purged. Sent on the road ahead to hell way before Elaine.

Starting from the officers, jury, clergymen, to the overseeing magicians- everyone even remotely associated with the name Lebensborn had been instantaneously annihilated. Leaving naught but a hollow prayer on their lips. They all drowned in a pool of their own blood.

Project Lebensborn would haunt this world no more.

And at the very center of this swampland of defilement and murder... was him.

"Your destiny isn't to be broken here, Little Princess. Your choices have great consequences."

"...Just what did you mean by that?"

The man's silhouette flickered, in response.

"Will you, too, meet your end at the bottom of this dark marsh? Now, what will your choice be? ...I can only wonder."

I got no response to what I asked him. It felt like I was talking to a recording. Completely oblivious, or rather detached from everything around us.

But, at the same time, the question he asked was valid as well, I felt.

This was a very different world: one with a very loose and grey moral compass.

Would I simply choose to crumble and perish like Elaine before did me? ...To die as another wretched girl in this world? Or...

"Your vessel's already made its choice. It's time for you to make yours. You will learn nothing while being bound by the chains of indecisiveness."

"I... I will live..."

"Marvellous! Then, allow me to pray that your venture doesn't end in vain. May your journey be a fortuitous one, Little Princess of the Gods. Very few exist that can truly comprehend us. May your desire to live and get strong become a ladder for you to ascend- and then perhaps one day we may meet each other with our true forms. On our original worlds, no less..."

"Wait... What? Original World? Does that mean there's a way I can return to my world as well?"

"Definitely. Because that's what do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law truly means... Because... *static*"

The shadow of a man giggled as he disappeared completely, mumbling something inaudible as he left.

Master Therion... that was the name of the man, I came to realize. I don't know how I came to know that. But that was THE Beast of Revelations. I just simply came to know it.

This was indeed my story. A story of both a modern highschool girl and a sorcerer. There's no way I plan on dying...

"I will survive... definitely. And I will return."

With that... I took the book that Master Therion had left behind as he left, and opened it.

Ah!

And with that my consciousness faded.

A lot of things happened on this day... but history would probably remember this as the day when one of the ultimate grimoires LIBER AL VEL LEGIS [The Book of the Law] finally found itself a master.

I will indeed survive this world. For sure!

Author Notes and Trivia:

Elaine is based on Elaine of Garlot, the lesser-known sister of the legendary sorcerer Morgiana Le Fay, and the other half-sister of Arthur Pendragon. She was known to maintain neutrality in the upcoming war within her family.

Index' past has been a big question mark, perhaps due to her repeated memory wipes, unless something has been revealed in the latest volumes. I admit I'm currently reading the Magic God Arc (...I have spoiled myself through the wiki though). So, I figured there must be some dark stuff going on that no one remembers anyway.

Lebensborn is an actual project in which almost 20,000 children were bred by Nazi Germany under the name of eugenics and sophistry for the purpose of creation of a Master Race. It's like the twin sister of the Holocaust. If Hitler killed millions in concentration camps, he planned to breed millions through the Lebensborn Program. Of course, in this fic: this isn't the actual Lebensborn, but its V2.0.

Master Therion is the name Aleister Crowley used as he penned down Liber Al Vel Legis, aka the Book of the Law. He had a dozen other aliases the most notable being Babalon [His female version], the Great Beast 666 [MEGA THERION], Ankh-f-n-khonsu, and Perabduro, etc to say the least.

Even the name Therion translates to Beast, so Master Therion will be 'Master of Beasts'.

That's really it, guys...

And thanks for helping me choose this storyline. Your help is much much appreciated.

As always, read and review jaja... TC then...

VG out.