Hello, everyone! This chapter will show the rest of the battle against St. Germain in the Dianoid.
Rekuta: Yeah, Hamazura beat Touma in canon here. Mikoto will definitely be a powerful ally in the fight. That's a cool suggestion for a scene, though Mikoto may not be able to spend a peaceful night at Touma's once the second half of NT ramps up. Good luck with your fanfic!
SuddenBetrayal: Mikoto didn't really meet Hamazura by this point in canon, but in my story, she met him in NT2. I am pretty excited to write my version of the NT13 arc, it has a lot of potential for KaMikoto moments. It'll be interesting to see how this version of Mikoto will end up feeling after those events.
MarauderPrime12: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
PhantomDiamond: I'm happy you've been enjoying the story, and that you like how I've developed the relationships between these characters. I do try to mainly focus on Mikoto and Touma, while fleshing out the other characters whenever I can. My current plan is to continue following the canon timeline, so I'm not planning a timeskip to when they're older. But that's an interesting idea for a separate fic.
dragonghoul9707: Yeah, St. Germain is still a powerful opponent. The NT13 arc will definitely have some key KaMikoto moments. Mikoto and Shokuhou's relationship will also continue to develop.
Stryper88: I'm glad you enjoyed that scene of Mikoto cheering Touma up. The shoulders slumping in that specific scene is more her reacting to Touma putting himself in danger to save Hamazura. But that sort of thing will tie in to events in NT13, since she may feel that she can't always fight by his side when he does this. The fake Aihana does appear again in the volume, and in this chapter.
xellos540: That's true, St. Germain isn't as special as he might think. The second half of NT does have a lot of Magic Gods and people about as powerful as them. Imagine Breaker can't fix the fused doorways because the effect of the magic has already taken place. St. Germain is probably not well known among the general population, but Mikoto has studied European history, so I figured she may have come across his name before. Touma told Mikoto about Tsuchimikado at some point. She is guessing about Accelerator, but she saw it in person for Sakibasu Yuri, who's a character in the Railgun SS3 light novel. I guess people started panicking more after they got trapped in the building, but maybe they did also notice the spikes going through bodies before. That match between Touma and Hamazura was definitely strange. Hamazura saw St. Germain's name engraved on his Chambord. Mikoto does know that Hamazura is friends with Mugino's group. Touma does have Hamazura's phone number, but he currently has to deal with the St. Germains surrounding him.
Meanwhile, Mikoto was still with Index and Othinus on the fifth floor. They all planned to meet back up with Touma, who they knew was on a particular mid level floor. But since St. Germain had sealed all the elevator and stairwell doors, reuniting with Touma would be somewhat of a challenge.
Mikoto first headed over to a nearby elevator area. Just to check, she pushed the button to call the elevator, but just like when Touma had tried it, nothing happened. The girl used her ability to check on the electronics of the machine, but she concluded, "The electronics are fine, but the door is physically sealed shut. I can't get the elevator working by hacking into it."
From her shoulder, Othinus noted, "Well, you can blow the doors open, though the elevator shaft may not be the best way to ascend through the building."
Mikoto nodded and elaborated, "That's right, the elevators in this building are also made out of carbon materials, not metals, so there's not much I can use my magnetism on, other than some wires."
Index then pointed to a nearby door and suggested, "What about the stairs?"
Taking the stairs would be inconvenient, since the girls would be forced to climb tens of flights of stairs, due to there not being much metal there either. Nevertheless, Mikoto didn't mind this option, replying, "Sure, let's go that way." Her athleticism meant that she could handle walking or even running up several flights of stairs, and she knew that Index at least had enough stamina to walk on her own.
The girls headed for the stairwell door, with Mikoto picking up a fire extinguisher from the wall on the way. Once they reached the door, Mikoto sent out a powerful burst of lightning towards it. The high-voltage electricity quickly burned through the carbon door, turning it to ashes. She had tried to concentrate her attack in a way to minimize the chance of setting the surrounding wall on fire, but a few small flames appeared along the scorched edges. Mikoto then activated the fire extinguisher, and the emitted foam put out those flames before they could spread any further.
Mikoto and Index then rushed into the stairwell and began climbing the stairs. Mikoto pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to her boyfriend, telling him that she was coming up to his current level. Once she was done, she muttered, "Hopefully Touma will be careful up there."
She then glanced down at the girl on her shoulder, and looked back at the nun just behind her, asking out loud, "Hey, so St. Germain can control all the carbon in the building, and even people's bodies, right? So why didn't he just tear our bodies to shreds? Is that beyond what he can do?" Mikoto hoped that their vast combined knowledge of magic would help her learn more about the strengths and limits of their opponent's powers.
Index was having a little bit of difficulty running up the stairs in her long nun's habit, but she was used to it enough that she could keep up with the more athletic Mikoto. She answered, "St. Germain can only control material that he or one of his synchronized units can directly see. So we should be safe here unless one of them comes into this stairwell too."
Othinus then added, "While St. Germain is able to manipulate organic matter and life forms, it is not absolute, especially over humans. You've probably heard of telekinetic espers who can only control inanimate objects, so this is a similar kind of limitation."
Mikoto nodded and replied, "Yeah, there's also a girl at Tokiwadai who can perform psychometry on animals but not humans. It seems a little risky to assume that St. Germain can't do worse than he did, but it would make sense. Index, do you think you'd be able to intercept his spells and free any people he ends up controlling?"
Index gave her a determined expression and told her, "Yes, if I can get close enough, I should be able to undo the synchronization."
In response to this, Mikoto smirked and gave her a thumbs-up, exclaiming, "All right! So Touma and I will fight any St. Germains that pop up, and you guys can analyze their magic and eventually stop them in their tracks!" She was confident that, once they regrouped with Touma, their combined teamwork would succeed in defeating St. Germain.
After escaping from the St. Germains at the elevator hall, Touma had run into the boy he and Mikoto had met earlier, "Aihana Etsu." "Aihana" had said that the St. Germains were interested in him, and had given him the ability to use the doors and elevators. He had then told Touma that he would talk to the magician to try and get some information, and he'd also asked Touma to investigate the upper level apartment of a girl he'd known, Frenda Seivelun, since he wanted to find any clues to how she had gone missing. Touma had immediately recognized her name, since she was one of the ITEM girls that had tried to kill Mikoto when she had been attacking a facility connected with the deadly experiment involving her sisters. He had also recalled that Frenda had formed an unlikely friendship with Mikoto's friend Saten.
Nevertheless, Touma had been reluctant to look into Frenda's disappearance in lieu of "Aihana" himself, but the other boy had run away soon afterwards, so Touma had resolved to follow through.
The boy had soon been targeted again by over a hundred carbon spears coming from all directions. But Hamazura had arrived in the nick of time, using his Power Lifter to crush some of the spikes, giving Touma an opening to escape. He had then picked up Touma in one of the machine's arms and zigzagged away by bouncing off the walls, and Stephanie Gorgeouspalace had then arrived in her own Power Lifter, coving for the two boys. They had also been helped out by one of Mugino's Meltdowner beams scorching the spears. She had also fired another one straight up to serve as a signal for Hamazura.
When Hamazura had seen that, he'd berated himself for thinking that a Level 5 and two Level 4's needed his help. Touma had then told Hamazura about "Aihana Etsu." Hamazura had been skeptical, and asked if he could have been a fake using the 6th Ranked's name. Touma had retorted that "Aihana" was a hero either way.
Touma and Hamazura had then tried to figure out what St. Germain wanted to use "Aihana" for, and Touma had mentioned him looking for Frenda Seivelun's secret in her upper level apartment. Upon hearing that name, Hamazura had immediately resolved to see this thread through to the end.
The two boys were now about to go up to the upper level. But first, Touma sent a text to his girlfriend, updating her on the situation. He wondered whether to ask her to come rejoin him or to get Index and Othinus in contact with a St. Germain while protecting them, so that they could analyze his magic. But in the end, he decided that it would be safest if they were all together, and they would be able to find a St. Germain after they found information on Frenda's disappearance and possible death. Touma was a little worried that Mikoto would have a hard time making it up tens of floors, since the building wasn't made of metal, but he figured that she would be able to find a way.
Hamazura then used his Power Lifter to break through another nearby elevator door. Touma climbed onto the back of the machine, and Hamazura began using it to climb up the immense elevator shaft. It could reach the speed of a car, so they would be able to ascend up the building very quickly.
While they were in the process of climbing, Touma told Hamazura his suspicions, "To be honest, I'm most worried about St. Germain making Aihana use magic. I think Birdway explained this to you before, but when an esper uses magic, it can damage their blood vessels and can even kill them in the worst case scenario. If St. Germain convinces Aihana to oppose us, it'll create two problems. The direct threat to our lives, and him unknowingly being forced to play Russian Roulette."
In response, Hamazura muttered, "That's not good, I can't stand how cruel that is!"
Touma nodded and said in a determined tone, "That's why we're going to do something about it!"
Hamazura put on an equally determined expression, and replied, "And that's why we'll need to find Frenda's real secret, I guess." He wasn't completely sure if anything they found would be helpful, but he was interested in finding more information about his dead friend, especially if it did have anything to do with the current situation.
By this point, the two boys had reached the correct floor, so Hamazura had the Power Lifter kick through the blocked elevator door and enter the elevator hall beyond it. They were now in the upper level apartment area. These apartments belonging to wealthy people were generally used to hide things rather than as places to live. Aneri, the AI system on the Power Lifter, searched for local information about these apartments. It turned out that they were very secure, so Touma questioned, "Hmm, how are we going to get through the lock? I guess we can wait for Mikoto to get here, since she'd probably be able to break into it."
Hamazura readily replied, "Sure, though I should also be able to take care of it with the Power Lifter. There's always another way to open the lock, in case a stupid owner loses their key. But anyway, why don't you wait for her, and I'll try to figure out which one of these is Frenda's apartment."
Touma nodded and agreed, "Sure." Hamazura walked down the hallways, muttering numbers to himself, while Touma waited patiently in the elevator hall for his girlfriend to appear.
It took a few more minutes, but he soon sensed something at the nearby stairwell door. Electric sparks appeared, and the door was soon scorched into ashes. Mikoto then emerged from behind the smoke with a grin on her face, carrying Index in her arms and Othinus on her shoulder.
The boy raised his hand with a wave and said, "Hey, Biri-Biri!" He was glad to see that she and the other two girls were safe, and he asked, "So I'm curious, how did you get up here? Was there some small amount of metal in the stair shaft that you used your magnetism on? Did you find some iron sand somewhere and use it to climb?"
Mikoto tilted her head in response to his question, and simply replied, "Huh? We just ran up the stairs. Though Index got tired halfway through, so I had to carry her the rest of the way." As she said this, she set Index down onto the ground.
The boy's jaw dropped in shock. He was speechless for a moment, but then sputtered, "B-but that must have been almost 70 flights of stairs!"
The girl wiped the sweat off her forehead and nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, it took a while to get up all the way here. I'm glad I didn't wear a thick coat in here." She took a few moments to catch her breath, before continuing, "There's not much metal besides a bit of electric wiring, which isn't enough for me to use my magnetism for climbing. So going up the stairs was the most direct option."
Touma was still a little dumbfounded, and muttered out loud, "You really are that athletic, huh."
Mikoto then placed her hand on her chin and mused, "I wonder why none of the St. Germains attacked us in the stairwell. We figured that one of them needs to be physically present to control the carbon in the walls, but they didn't send anyone to scout the stairs."
The boy hesitantly suggested, "Maybe they thought you were too strong to fight head-on? You electricity can scorch all those carbon spears, right?"
The girl was skeptical, replying, "But he attacked us head-on back then, and I doubt he didn't know about my powers when doing so."
Othinus took this moment to pipe up, positing, "Perhaps he was afraid of having the grimoire library and a former Magic God present and able to analyze his magic."
Touma's eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "That might be it! In fact, that might be why he stopped attacking us the first time! Index and Othinus weren't with us, but they could have come back at any time."
Mikoto thought that that could be possible, though she noted, "But it would've only taken a split second longer to kill us. Maybe my electric shield could've stopped all of them, but I'm not sure."
The subject was put on hold, since Hamazura soon shouted at them from the far end of the hallway, "Hey, I think I've found Frenda's apartment!" In response, Othinus jumped back onto Touma's shoulder and hid herself in his scarf. Then, Touma, Mikoto, and Index all headed to where the other boy was.
They stopped in front of an apartment, whose entrance was a sliding double door. Hamazura took the initiative on the lock. Having Aneri analyze it, he then pulled out the entire lock and pressed on a certain latch. With that simple action, the entire door unlocked, and they entered the apartment.
Touma saw the inside and commented, "Wow, this is supposed to be an apartment? It looks more like a villa, and it even has stairs!"
Index looked all around her and said in awe, "This is even bigger than Touma's dorm room!"
Hamazura replied, "Yep, it's a hideout that costs hundreds of millions of yen. I'm curious what Frenda was hiding from the rest of ITEM." He paused for a bit before adding, "We'll just have to hope that she didn't set up a self-destruct device to destroy the evidence."
It was clear that the apartment was more like a storage vault. They guessed that there were about five rooms on the first floor alone, and they would have to carefully search them to find any pertinent information. Hamazura warned, "Listen, be careful when stepping on the floorboards and opening the sliding screens, don't touch any switches or mess with any weird devices you find. Watch out for tripwires, ultrasonic waves, infrared beams, microwaves, and be careful of anything that looks like a vegetable or a potted plant."
Hearing this large list of restrictions and things to watch out for, Touma exclaimed, "Then what's left that we can do?"
Mikoto put a hand on his shoulder and reassured him, "Relax, Touma. While I can't detect ultrasonic waves, I can detect all those other things, and there don't seem to be any traps in here so far. And if any explosives do go off, I can protect us. I have quite the experience with Frenda's bombs, after all."
Touma indeed relaxed under her grip. He gave her a soft smile and said, "Thanks, Mikoto."
In any case, they would have to move the sliding screens to check out each room. Hamazura moved to the one that would lead to the ostensible living room. Aneri was unable to determine if there was any danger behind the door, but Mikoto checked through the door with her radar and concluded, "It seems safe to me." With this, Hamazura opened up the door.
They walked into a living room whose floor was covered by tatami mats. But there were no furnishings or any other signs of habitation. Instead, the entire room was filled with boxes, whose sizes ranged from about as small as bento boxes to larger than refrigerators. All of the boxes were wrapped with wrapping paper and ribbons, and Hamazura muttered, "Christmas presents?"
Touma shook his head and corrected him, "No, I think these are birthday gifts. Look, there's a calendar over there!" The dates on the calendar were marked with people's names, and in fact, the majority of days on it were marked.
Hamazura then said, "Come to think of it, Frenda was the most well-connected member of ITEM, and she said she knew over a thousand people, both within and outside the darkness. Are all of these birthday presents?"
While Touma looked over her shoulder, Mikoto flipped through the calendar, looking at all the names written on it. It hadn't been updated for a couple of months, but Frenda had written in the birthdays ahead of time, so the current date of December 1 was marked. The small photo sticker showed the boy who'd called himself Aihana Etsu, but the name was something else.
On a hunch, she flipped back the calendar towards the beginning of the year. And just like she expected, Mikoto saw a photo of her friend, and said, "Yep, Saten-san's here too." She idly thought to herself, "Well, if Frenda can gather all these presents for the people she knew, surely I can do the same for my sisters. The number of people is only one order of magnitude higher, after all!"
As Hamazura looked around at all the presents, he realized why Frenda had wanted to keep this side of her hidden from the rest of ITEM. She had undoubtedly done evil things, killing scores of people with no remorse. But there was also this considerate side to her. He tried out a few remotes in the room. One of them turned on a projector which showed a spreadsheet of what different people wanted, and another turned on a digital recorder which had a few video clips of Frenda dancing. It was hard to watch her carefree smile, since she'd had no idea what would soon happen to her. Hamazura then silently turned off the recorder.
Touma looked up and mused, "Aihana said we may find the reason Frenda Seivelun disappeared here, but it looks like he was wrong about that?"
Hamazura spat out, "I doubt she left anything like that here. But coming here wasn't entirely meaningless."
At that moment, something began flashing behind one of the piles of presents. It turned out to be a flat-panel touchscreen with an attached phone receiver. Hamazura touched the screen, guessing that it was showing a security alert due to them having broken into the apartment. But the screen then ended up showing security camera footage from throughout the entire Dianoid building. This was a feature designed to give the apartment owners security at the cost of handing over the customers' privacy.
Touma's eyes caught on a certain image, and he zoomed in on a certain camera feed. It showed "Aihana Etsu" surrounded by dozens of St. Germains on the roof of the building. The cameras didn't provide sound, but Aneri was able to extract it and provide subtitles on the screen.
A female St. Germain was telling the boy about how Touma had fought against the entire world to save a Magic God, and how he was to blame for not being able to save Frenda. She had given "Aihana" something he claimed was a magic shield related to Queen Anne and King Arthur, which he had stolen from a container at the TV station. She was now urging the boy to use it to take revenge on Touma.
Hamazura was confused by this, muttering, "What is she talking about? We did transport that container to TV Orbit, but it wasn't a shield."
Index then commented, "Such a shield isn't supposed to exist. King Arthur didn't have a sister named Anne after all. But magic can still be based on false legends, so it is still dangerous for an esper like him to use it."
Mikoto focused on another part of what St. Germain had said, exclaiming, "And what the hell was that about Touma being responsible for Frenda's death?"
Touma narrowed his eyes and mused, "It's that idea that things would've worked out if I'd been there in the final moment. I'm not that great a person, I've only achieved this much by using every trick in the book and having the support of others. But that's the way Aihana sees it."
Mikoto crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at the screen, exclaiming, "What bullshit! Like I told you back then, you're not responsible for the fates of every single person on the planet! You didn't even know Frenda! St. Germain is manipulating Aihana Etsu, and they aren't acting on her behalf!"
But Touma calmly replied, "No, they aren't. But that doesn't really matter. People out for revenge aren't always looking at reality. It's common for them to pretend like they're acting on behalf of the dead, while actually acting on their own desires."
Hamazura had to take a breath to clear his throat, before explaining, "That incident was horrific. Frenda and a lot of other people died, and the most I could do was bring it to an end. But we all put our lives on the line, and despite all being horrible people, we fought through the blood for our survival! To say that it's all decided by Kamijou Touma alone spits in the face of all our efforts!"
Touma shook his head, "I know that! The world doesn't revolve around me. It's ridiculous to think that I look down on people when I rescue them. I'm just acting on my own selfish desires and creating the future I want to see." Despite this, however, some people could still act on that illusion.
Mikoto then pondered, "So what exactly does St. Germain want Aihana to do to you? It doesn't make sense to have Aihana kill you, since St. Germain would have a better chance of doing that himself."
The boy thought for a bit, before answering in an annoyed tone, "It's the opposite. I don't know what that shield does, and I doubt it'll be that effective against me, but it is magic. St. Germain wants to pit Aihana against me and have him die from using magic as an esper. And then I would bear the sin of murder."
Mikoto's eyes widened, and she exclaimed, "Why?"
Touma replied, "That, I don't know, maybe he wants to defile that illusion that people have about me?" Perhaps using "Aihana Etsu" in this way would cause a change in Touma himself. Feeling enraged, Touma continued, "To hell with this. That bastard St. Germain is making up his own standards and deciding on his own that Aihana is weak and expendable!"
Hamazura was stunned as he began to realize what Touma was thinking. He said, "Don't tell me you're thinking of going out there and saving him? His intentions may be being manipulated, but he's still looking to kill you!"
Touma sharply retorted, "So what? Like I said before, I'm only fighting for my own selfish desires. So I'll help him even if he hates me and never asked for my help!"
Mikoto placed a hand against her hip and let out an exasperated sigh, saying, "Don't bother trying to talk this stubborn idiot out of it. Instead, let's all go and save Aihana together." She then thought to herself, "No matter how many times you deny it and say it's your own selfishness, you're still a hero, Touma."
Touma smiled at his girlfriend, glad that she was by his side and backing him up. He then stated his plan, "So to prevent Aihana from getting hit by the magic backlash, we should launch a surprise attack and get the shield away from him. After that, since he's motivated by revenge, I'll just have to get rid of that motivation."
Index suspiciously narrowed her eyes and questioned, "What are you going to do, Touma?"
Mikoto adopted the same expression as she came to a realization, saying, "Touma, are you planning what I think you're planning?"
Touma nervously gulped, knowing that she would likely scold him for this. But he explained, "All we need to do is have him fulfil that desire for revenge. So he just has to hit me until he's satisfied! It worked before with Mitsuari-san."
Mikoto glared at him and questioned, "And what about you? Mitsuari-san didn't want to kill you, but it looks like Aihana does."
Touma raised his hand and gently ruffled the girl's hair, replying, "Hey, it's not like I'm going to sit there and just let him kill me. I'm sure I can take a punch or two. But that's another reason to take that shield away. I doubt he'll stop just from me saying I don't want to die, but I do have to repay him for the false hope I gave him from Denmark."
Despite his attempt to comfort her, Mikoto was very frightened by those words, as were Hamazura and Index. Mikoto felt that it sounded rather different to Touma's heroic words from earlier, but then again, he'd always had his unique way of being a hero.
Touma concluded, "Listen, once Aihana Etsu fulfills his revenge, he'll lose the desire to fight. When St. Germain's plan falls apart, he'll attack from every side. I'll be relying on you guys from then on, to get Aihana to safety, to battle against St. Germain, and to analyze his magic."
Before the others could reply, another warning appeared on the flat-panel touchscreen. It seemed that St. Germain was now in the basement, and had taken control of the anti-gravity device that allowed the Dianoid to float in the air. He now had the potential to turn it into a gravity bomb that would destroy the building and everyone within.
Hamazura used a complicated alphabet abbreviation to warn anyone who could understand it about the gravity bomb, knowing that Mugino and Takitsubo would get it. Afterwards, Hamazura and Touma argued a bit over whether the priority was dealing with "Aihana" or with the gravity bomb. Touma realized that St. Germain's main goal wasn't either of those, but something else entirely, though he didn't reveal what it was.
Touma still wanted to save "Aihana," and asked Hamazura to deal with the gravity bomb, since Hamazura had more experience with machines. However, Hamazura then decided to follow his own plan. He pushed Touma to the ground with the Power Lifter, left the apartment, and jammed the door shut. Although he knew that it wouldn't last long against Mikoto, Hamazura declared that, as someone who had been there when Frenda had died, he would be the one to receive "Aihana's" revenge. Touma protested, but Hamazura went off in his Power Lifter, leaving Touma, Mikoto, and Index behind in the apartment.
Mikoto was amused at Touma getting a taste of his own medicine, but she knew that they wouldn't just stay there. She saw her boyfriend quickly reach down and grab one of the presents in the room. She had a guess as to what he was planning, but this also reminded her to grab a certain one of the other presents.
The girl then performed the now-familiar action of burning away the carbon door with her electricity, and the three of them ran towards the elevator hall. She then said, "I guess taking the stairs all the way down would be too slow?"
Touma gulped as he looked into the gaping maw of the elevator shaft, nervously replying, "Y-yeah." He removed his hoodie, wrapped it around his hand to provide some friction, and grabbed onto the wire that was slippery with machine oil.
Mikoto looked at the boy skeptically and muttered, "That's pretty risky, but we may have no choice." She pulled off her blazer and did the same thing as he did, gripping onto a second wire. She used her other arm to grab onto Index, pulling her tight against her own body, before announcing, "All right, let's go down together. If something goes wrong, grab onto me, since I might be able to use my electricity to cushion the fall."
The boy nodded in agreement, so Mikoto gently loosened her grip, allowing herself to begin dropping down. She also wrapped her feet around the wire to give herself more stability while doing so. Touma followed her lead and started dropping down as well.
Touma, Mikoto, and Index safely made their way down to the very bottom of the elevator shaft. They then exited through the already broken door into the basement. They hid behind a pillar, observing that "Aihana Etsu" was facing Hamazura while holding a large golden shield and being surrounded by dozens of St. Germains. The other members of ITEM had just arrived as well.
Touma had a way to potentially stop that desire for revenge. He carefully moved between the pillars in the room, trying to keep himself hidden from all the St. Germains. Once he was close enough, he took the present he'd grabbed earlier and slid it along the floor to "Aihana Etsu."
The St. Germains were about to tear the present to pieces with their sharp Chambords, but "Aihana" stopped him, since he recognized exactly what it was. It was a box wrapped in wrapping paper and a ribbon. It also had a card that played a birthday melody and a message from his friend Frenda.
Even though it didn't change the fact that Frenda was dead, seeing this began quelling his desire for revenge. In the message, Frenda said she admired him for being a crybaby, since it meant he wouldn't stray from the proper path, a quality she didn't have. She told him to be proud of himself for having the strength to cry.
With this, the boy dropped the shield to the ground, no longer having any need of a legend to stand on his own. He declared, "I remember my name now, St. Germain. My name is Kanou Shinka." Even if he wasn't a Level 5, he was still a person in this world, and at least one person had smiled at him and celebrated him. That was all he needed. He continued, "I know my true enemy now. I was the one that used her death as a tool for killing, but no longer! I won't accept you!"
St. Germain reacted immediately, utterly destroying the box. But the present inside, a cheap pocket watch, fell into Kanou's hand. He muttered, "Thank you, Frenda." Having finally taken off his mask, he now faced his true enemy.
Touma, Hamazura, and Mikoto all smiled as they saw this display. Now that Kanou Shinka had taken his true place, it was time for them all to join in the battle. They all rushed in, using Imagine Breaker, the Power Lifter, and electricity to break through the mass of spears. Touma grabbed hold of Kanou, trying to shield him.
Suddenly, a green beam of ambiguous electrons surged forward. Mikoto's eyes widened when she saw that it was targeting something besides the Chambords, and she quickly used her ability to deflect the beam away from Kanou, shouting, "What the hell are you doing?"
Mugino was annoyed to see Mikoto there, but she nonchalantly replied, "His determination and change of heart have nothing to do with me. He looked like he was working with the enemy, so why should I go easy on him, Railgun?"
Hamazura frantically retorted, "This has more to do with you than anything else, Mugino! I'm not one to talk, but you caused this mess in the first place!"
Mugino sighed, but decided to just focus back on the St. Germains. Index soon entered into the fray, with Othinus on her shoulder. Kanou Shinka, surrounded by the heroes, opposed St. Germain as a hero himself, declaring, "I'll take back my friend's pride that you trampled underfoot, St. Germain!"
The battle then truly commenced. Touma, Hamazura, Mikoto, Mugino, Kinuhata, and Stephanie engaged in direct combat to protect Kanou, while Takitsubo, Index, and Othinus watched and waited for their chance to support them.
With the St. Germains just throwing repeated spear attacks at them, it was relatively easy for them to defend themselves. However, when Mikoto and Mugino tried to counterattack the St. Germains, they used their carbon spears as shields, stopping their attacks.
A blonde St. Germain opined on how plant cells were much stronger and more durable than animal cells, and noted that their control of carbon allowed them to create beasts made of plant matter from the building material of the Dianoid. Soon, a giant insect was created, which resembled a scorpion and had a St. Germain growing from its tail.
Mugino fired a Meltdowner beam at it, but though the surface became orange from the heat, it remained intact. Mikoto then fired a powerful burst of lightning at the beast, but it was similarly futile. She gritted her teeth and wondered, "I could try using railguns, but that might damage the building."
Hamazura then tried restraining the beast's pincers with his Power Lifter, and though he was pushed back, he managed to slow its advance down. Touma then came after it with his right fist, while Kinuhata charged in with her Offense Armor, and this eventually broke the shell of the insect. The St. Germain then turned the tail into a crocodile, which tried to chomp on Touma's head, but Kinuhata punched it upwards into the air.
The crocodile then split itself, turning into a plant-like octopus. Small flowers on its head opened, releasing something with a certain odor. Hamazura and Aneri warned that this was dangerous carbon monoxide gas, so Mikoto and Mugino used their powers to burn it into the safer carbon dioxide, while the St. Germain collapsed from breathing in his own toxin.
But that was not the end. Multiple St. Germains followed the same tactic, encasing themselves in beasts made of plant matter. They were led by the blonde St. Germain, who directed the beasts to make a full assault with their spears and armor.
While the resulting battle went on, Touma went for the blonde St. Germain. Though she jumped around a lot, he was eventually able to make contact with her Chambord and destroy it. She then told him that the Magic Gods were after him, and that she as St. Germain was a being that transcended the phases, which was how she knew about his infinite hells.
Touma denied this, noting that St. Germain was just a legend, and that those Magic Gods were not real either. But she told him that legends can be real, and that St. Germain was a third category aside from regular magicians and Magic Gods.
However, Touma had already figured out St. Germain. None of the latter's actions had been logical. St. Germain hadn't needed to trap everyone in the Dianoid to trick "Aihana Etsu," he hadn't needed to trick "Aihana" to blow up the building with the gravity bomb, and he could have given "Aihana" a normal weapon rather than a magic shield to get revenge on Touma. Touma finally concluded that St. Germain had no master plan. His conflicting motives were constantly being overwritten and created anew. The reason he hadn't completed his attack against Touma and Mikoto was because he'd been scared of Index and Othinus, who would've been able to disprove his lies. St. Germain was not a third category, and it wasn't even clear if Touma was facing St. Germain or just someone using his name.
The blonde St. Germain tried to explain herself, but her reasoning was a jumbled mess that was quickly overwritten anyway. Touma told her that he felt sorry for St. Germain, not because he was an inconsistent mess with no true identity of his own, but because he couldn't escape his initial reason for becoming a magician. He could lie to and deceive the rest of the world, but he could not deceive himself.
After Touma finished saying what he wanted to say, the battle continued, with the number of St. Germains dwindling bit by bit, thanks to Mikoto, Mugino, Kinuhata, and surprisingly, Stephanie, who fired at the beasts with a PDW she'd constructed from her broken Power Lifter.
The blonde St. Germain tried one last bluff, announcing that they could infect anyone who saw footage of them on TV. But Touma knew that this was a lie, since otherwise St. Germain would have infected all of humanity already.
Meanwhile, Index and Othinus had pulled back and started to analyze one of the knocked out St. Germains. They realized that St. Germain saw himself as a diamond, with a tiny impurity in the center. Kanou Shinka provided the answer, noting that the St. Germains kept taking pills. These black pills contained microbes, which infected people into St. Germains.
With this knowledge, Index was able to sing a song to free everyone's original personalities from the St. Germain Network. She was briefly distracted by her curiosity about how the pills had been manufactured, but Othinus reminded her that this question was irrelevant, and that St. Germain used people's natural curiosity to fool them.
The St. Germain Network began to collapse. Touma announced that his ultimate mistake was not knowing the name of his true enemy. With that cue, Kanou Shinka rushed forward and delivered the final punch to the blonde St. Germain.
Now that the battle was over, everyone could relax a bit and take a better account of their surroundings. In particular, though Mikoto had noticed Mugino's presence in the battle, she was now able to take a better look, and she realized that all of ITEM was present, except for the dead Frenda. She knew from previously meeting Hamazura that he had joined ITEM well after the group had tried to kill her in August, and it seemed like the organization might not be doing that kind of mercenary work anymore. Nevertheless, Mikoto still felt a little tense being in the same room as Mugino.
While she recognized Takitsubo, Mikoto was stunned when she saw the final member of the group, a girl who she had actually met before. She pointed at Kinuhata and exclaimed, "Y-you're in ITEM?"
Kinuhata winced, knowing that she was about to be in an awkward situation. She tried playing it off, saying, "Yeah, I super am. So what?"
Touma stepped closer to his girlfriend and asked, "Do you know her, Mikoto?" As he glanced over at Kinuhata, he idly noted that she looked somewhat like Mikoto.
Mikoto turned to him and nodded, answering, "Yeah, she was the girl I worked with to find that Indian Poker card."
Kinuhata relaxed her shoulders a bit, thinking, "Okay, Mugino's going to super kill me for hanging out with Railgun, but at least she's discrete enough not to say what kind of Indian Poker card it was."
However, Touma immediately shattered Kinuhata's hopes, by saying to his girlfriend, "Oh, that Bust Upper card, right?"
Mikoto blushed a little and sharply elbowed him, harshly telling him, "Don't say it out loud, you idiot!" She also berated herself, "Ugh, why did I even bring it up in the first place? I should've known he would stupidly blab about it!"
Kinuhata became even more flustered than Mikoto. She angrily pointed at the other girl and shouted, "You're the super idiot! Why would you even tell your boyfriend about that?"
Hamazura took a moment to process what was happening, but he then started laughing uproariously, saying, "B-Bust Upper? You really thought there would be an Indian Poker card that did that? How desperate are you, Kinuhata?"
In response to his mocking, Kinuhata charged up her Offense Armor and furiously lunged at him, exclaiming, "Oh, super screw you!"
Hamazura was hit in the chest by her fist, and slumped down in pain in his Power Lifter. Touma looked over at his fellow male in sympathy, glad that he'd been careful not to tease Mikoto about her own chest size.
Mugino didn't really care about Kinuhata wanting bigger boobs, but she did care very much about her fraternizing with ITEM's erstwhile enemy. She questioned in an annoyed tone, "Kinuhata, why were you hanging out with Railgun?"
Kinuhata held out her hands in front of herself and explained, "It's okay, Mugino. We had a super common goal, so there wasn't any reason for us to fight." She'd actually enjoyed spending the day with Mikoto, even though their quest had ended up unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, Touma looked over at his girlfriend, seeing that she was feeling embarrassed by the conversation. So he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, gently rubbed his fingers over it, and said, "Sorry for blurting that out, Biri-Biri. But you're still hot no matter how big your chest is."
Mikoto blushed furiously, especially since he'd said it loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. But she just muttered, "Thanks, Touma."
Seeing this display, Kinuhata put a hand on her hip and wryly observed, "Look at that, there's a super guy who, unlike Hamazura, isn't obsessed with those giant lumps of fat! Congratulations, Railgun."
Hamazura was still groaning in pain, but his friend's insult caused him to immediately fire back, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with a man liking big boobs! You're just jealous that Takitsubo is the hottest girl here!"
Kinuhata narrowed her eyes and retorted, "Are you super calling yourself a man? Don't be ridiculous, Hamazura."
For some reason, Touma felt a little annoyed by Hamazura's comment. As a result, he pulled his girlfriend tighter against himself and exclaimed, "Actually, Mikoto is the hottest girl in the room! Her legs are irresistible, and her breasts are nice and soft!"
Mikoto's entire brain froze, not knowing how to process what was happening. Hamazura, meanwhile, immediately retorted, "Hold on, Takitsubo might not brazenly show off her legs like Kinuhata or your girlfriend, but I can assure you that they're just as good as her rack!"
This was starting to go too far for Takitsubo, so she walked up to her boyfriend and gently tugged on his sleeve, quietly saying, "Hamazura, you're embarrassing me."
Mikoto brought her hands up to her face and groaned in her boyfriend's arms, muttering, "Touma, please stop!"
Being scolded by their flustered girlfriends put a pause to the boys' argument. Touma nervously rubbed his neck and apologized, "Sorry, Biri-Biri. I was just trying to defend you, but I got carried away."
Mikoto sighed and softly smiled at him, replying, "I appreciate it, I really do. But I'm not offended that he finds his own girlfriend more attractive than me."
Hamazura apologized as well, saying, "Sorry, Takitsubo." He then turned to Touma and continued, "Oh, by the way, congratulations on getting a girlfriend who's okay with you having a harem."
Touma groaned and exclaimed, "Why do people keep saying that? I don't have a harem!"
Hamazura chuckled and recalled, "Come on, I saw you hugging those clones of hers that night you got drunk. You looked very cozy with them, and she was totally fine with it!"
Touma let go of Mikoto and waved his hands in front of him, frantically saying, "No, it's not like that, those were just friendly hugs! Mikoto would kill me if I did anything to her little sisters!"
Mikoto fervently nodded, "Yes, I would." Though it wasn't too surprising that Hamazura had been close enough to see that, it was a little embarrassing to explain it to others. She was fine with her boyfriend hugging and having other forms of skinship with her sisters, though she knew she wouldn't like him doing the same things to other girls, such as Shokuhou.
Having a funny idea, Mikoto looked over at Hamazura and said with a smirk, "Speaking of harems, it seems like you have one. All the other members on your team are girls, after all."
Hamazura began sweating nervously, since Mugino and Kinuhata were now glaring at him. He denied the accusation, "Hey, don't say weird things like that, are you trying to get them to kill me? They usually just treat me as an errand boy, Takistubo is the only one who's nice to me!"
Touma gave the other boy a sympathetic look, and said in a consoling tone, "That's rough. But at least you found your true love!"
At this point, Mugino butted in, saying in a frustrated tone, "I've been patient enough, Hamazura, but could you wrap this up soon so we can leave? I've had about enough of being in the same room as Railgun."
Kinuhata added in agreement, "I've heard enough of this super gross boy talk, so let's go, Hamazura!"
Hamazura didn't want to annoy them any further, so he said, "Okay, okay. But I'll stay behind with Stephanie for a bit so we can help Anti-Skill deal with the gravity bomb."
The ITEM girls began to leave, but Mikoto took this chance to ask, "Hey, so how exactly did Frenda die? My friend actually became friends with Frenda, and she suddenly disappeared one day without making their dinner plans."
Mugino gritted her teeth, annoyed at the question and at the fact that Frenda had been friends with one of Mikoto's friends. But she sighed and answered, "I thought that Frenda had betrayed information about us to another organization, so I killed her. But it turned out that she had been forced to do so by a psychological esper power."
Mikoto was absolutely stunned to hear that. She had guessed that Frenda had died in battle, but she would have never guessed that she had been killed by her own team leader.
Mugino was in no mood to elaborate, so she turned around and began walking away from the Dianoid's basement, and was soon followed by the other ITEM members.
Touma's group, as well as Kanou Shinka, exited the basement as well. But now that the incident was over, and all the doors had been opened, everyone in the building began rushing for the exits. Touma, Mikoto, Index, and Kanou were pulled along and forced outside by the crowd.
Once they were outside, Kanou took the opportunity to ask something he'd been wondering since the end of the battle. He looked at Touma and said, "It's too late to save Frenda, but at least I found out the truth of what happened to her, so I'm satisfied. But why did you let me give St. Germain the finishing blow, when you could have easily done it yourself?"
Mikoto had a good guess as to what Touma would say. Sure enough, he answered, "What are you talking about? The hero today was you, Kanou Shinka!"
Kanou smiled at this. He didn't need a Level 5 power or a magical relic to be a hero. He was just one person, but that was sufficient enough.
Once Kanou left a bit later, Othinus popped back up from Touma's scarf and groaned, "And after all that, we failed to get my dollhouse that we came here for in the first place!"
Touma shrugged and replied, "Maybe we can come back another day. But now that I think about it, it's probably too expensive for me to buy anyway."
Othinus slumped down on his shoulder in response, wondering, "Ugh, will I ever get proper shelter from that cat?" She was glad at least that Sphynx was currently sitting peacefully on Index's head, instead of pouncing on her.
Mikoto just chuckled at her plight. But then, she pulled out the small box from her blazer pocket and looked at it. She would have to give it to Saten soon, and tell her how Frenda had died. It would be a somber conversation, but at least her friend could get closure from it.