Yes, I'm alive. This chapter only took me over 9 months to release. And I thought the gap between 2 and 3/4 was unacceptable... Long story not-so-short: I was busy over the holidays, family time and all. Then my next college term started, and it ended up being my most busy one so far, the workload was overwhelming. Even after classes were out by late April, I was occupied with planning another project of mine (not fanfiction-related, I must unfortunately report), which kept me busy until the newest school term started. And here I am, in the fifth week of it. There isn't enough time in this universe to apologize to my long-time readers, there is no excuse for the stall I've put you through. If you're still here, I don't deserve you. But I will love you. For any new readers, welcome to this humble fanfiction, I'll do my best to keep you entertained. (I'm starting to sound like Kamachi now) I remember when my last chapter was put up, the novels were only up to NT 5... Now NT 8 just came out. I haven't read that one yet, but I will after I post this. I wanted to finish this before I did. Yes, I wrote most of this before it was fully translated. Well, here's Chapter 5. I'd say it was worth the wait, but then I'd be lying.
Disclaimer: I do not own To Aru Majutsu no Index/A Certain Magical Index, it is property of Kamachi Kazuma, ASCII Media Works, Dengeki Bunko, Seven Seas Entertainment, J.C. Staff, and Funimation Entertainment.
Revelation
Chapter 5
Kakine Teitoku exited the research facility in District 17; and although he didn't know it, Accelerator would be leaving the very apartment Kakine was hunting down at the same time, after receiving a call from Kamijou Touma.
When he reached the curb, there was a long black car with tinted windows conveniently parked. The darkened driver's seat window was rolled down and the person at the wheel, who was not dressed extravagantly as the vehicle would suggest, and spoke to him, "I've been requested to pick you up."
Dumbass, you really don't know the meaning of being conspicuous, Kakine internally chastised his associate in the dress, opening the rear door and stepping in.
After shutting the door, the driver took the car out of park and started down a predetermined course. "Where are you going?" asked Kakine.
The chauffeur ignored his question. "You have a call," he informed, passing a mobile phone to the passenger.
["How do you like the ride?"] inquired the girl in the dress from the other end.
"Too flashy, just like everything else you do," he answered blankly.
["And you're stale. A boy of your age should be excited over having your own chauffeur and limousine all to himself."]
"That's for brats that are still optimistic that the world they're living in isn't going to screw them over," Kakine replied bitterly.
["You're no fun at all,"] she complained.
"Get to the point, what did you call me for?"
["Thank you for proving me right. How did it go?"]
Kakine did not look any different than when he entered that Kihara laboratory, but he felt… more alive. Even more than when he returned from the line between life and death. He had the feeling that he could do anything so long as he willed it. As should the wielder of the power known as Dark Matter.
"Couldn't have gone better," he replied, allowing himself to smile. "What about your end?"
["The 'replacement' accepted our proposal, they're making preparations as we speak,"] the girl in the dress explained. ["As for the Anti-Skill woman, it took some searching, but I found her. Yomikawa Aiho is her name. She's a PE teacher for a high school in District 7, and a Lieutenant for Branch 73 of Anti-Skill. There's no official record of her being the legal guardian of Accelerator, but that's to be expected. She lives in an apartment in the 8th School District like most of the Academy City teaching staff, near the border of District 7. You're being driven there right now. I'm also on my way. Keep in mind we have no way of knowing Accelerator isn't there at this very moment."]
"We can always trigger a distraction to draw him away," Kakine brushed off. "Besides… I'm ready for him."
It had been fifteen minutes since Tsuchimikado initiated the All-Around Reality Array.
The caster was in better health than previously, his wound having been closed by his Auto-Rebirth, stopping the bleeding. Don't be fooled, the boy's psychic power contributing nothing to remedying the painful sensation that pervaded his internal anatomy.
On the other side of things, the detailed map traced out by Tsuchimikado's sheets of paper was complete, detailing out the 3 kilometer zone around them on that alleyway pavement.
Within the traced out replica of the circumventing city-space, there was a certain point…
"It appears the array was successful," Ollerus observed.
Tsuchimikado grinned through his teeth, the flavor of blood still fresh. "We lucked out. Marian Slingeneyer is within the 3 kilometer proximity."
Kamijou could not take his eyes off the coordinates indicated by the All-Around Reality Array. The layout was a miniaturized version of the city's layout, so it was hard to make out the exact location, but it was there. They had the whereabouts of the Dvergr. At the same time, he could feel a pressure squeezing at his chest. He knew there was little doubt GREMLIN was in the city limits, but it being in front of him like this made the threat all the more real.
While he was lost in his thoughts, Tsuchimikado took the time to mark the coordinates into his mobile phone's GPS application.
"We have to move fast," he pressed. "They don't appear to be moving but that could change at any time. Conversely, we can't risk making a mistake and rushing in recklessly without an idea of their situation. Therefore, I'll go in ahead and report back to you two on their current status."
"Forget it," Kamijou objected. "Not in the shape you're already in."
"That only makes it more ideal, Kami-yan. It's better to sacrifice a wounded soldier than those who are still fresh nya."
Kamijou Touma did not respond in words, but by taking a fist full of the other boy's Hawaiian shirt, slamming him against the wall. Tsuchimikado's face remained deadpan, Ollerus and Cendrillon's the same. His friend's self-destructive behavior drove him to this.
"Think about this logically," Tsuchimikado appealed. "We can't trust Cendrillon to send her for reconnaissance. Ollerus is the one ensuring she doesn't do anything suspicious, so it can't be him. And GREMLIN have been trained to counteract your right hand, leaving me. They'll recognize any of you on sight, they're actively watching out for your faces. But not mine. I'm most qualified as a spy, stealth is my specialty."
Kamijou could not argue that, reason began to loosen his emotions' hold on Tsuchimikado's shirt.
"Leave it to me, Kami-yan. Tsuchimikado-san may be a liar who likes to lie, but he always sees his missions through to the best of his ability. It's because of that that he's in the shape he's currently in."
That was true. Tsuchimikado Motoharu's conviction to complete his task of infiltrating Academy City is what brought him to enrolling in the Power Curriculum Program disregarding his position as a magician.
"He's right, he has the best credentials for this," Ollerus agreed.
"I have no complaints," Cendrillon shrugged.
"I'll call your cell when I have a good idea of their condition," Tsuchimikado said, making his way out of the alley.
"Tsuchimikado!"
The boy in sunglasses stood still upon hearing his name called by the spiky-haired boy.
"The next time I see you, you better be alive!"
That was his terms.
Tsuchimikado picked back up walking, flashing a thumbs-up to the companion to his back as a sign of agreement.
Kamijou smiled as he faded into the light at the end of the alleyway.
Screams of terror and turmoil filled the 7th District hospital.
The entire front wall of the first floor was blown away, leaving debris all over the ground floor and a screen of dust infecting the air. Under regular circumstances, most of this floor served as a large reception lobby, one wall constructed of glass to let in more light.
Miraculously, everyone survived, although not all came out unharmed. People closest to the collapsed wall had been beat down by the remains of the wall, or pushed back violently by the force of the explosion.
Hospital personnel were already carrying away the wounded while the floors above were on lockdown, an alarm blaring through the hospital walls over the intercom.
Amidst the panic and confusion, a brown girl with white braided hair, overalls, and worker's gloves slipped through the smoke and dust clouding the newly expanded entrance.
The bespectacled girl raised a hand over her eyes, moving her head from side to side as if she were looking for something across an expansive field.
Amongst the doctors, nurses, and orderlies scurrying about without organization, a lone composed worker stood out against the crowd.
His back was to Marian Slingeneyer, a phone from the front desk held up to an ear. His posture was misleading to the scene he was in, the way he held himself was that of discussing over a banal matter friendly with a neighbor.
This had to be the one.
Marian grinned in a way unbecoming of such a cute face, a hand burying into her single article of clothing, extracting a purely gold saw.
Tool in hand, she leapt to behind the short man in the lab coat with a single bound, moving her arm to hold the jagged edge of the golden saw perpendicular to the person's neck, inches away from digging into the soft flesh.
"Hang up the phone, old man," she commanded.
He acquiesced without a word.
"Heh, calling for help?" Marian quipped.
"No need," he stated calmly even with the sharpness close to kissing his throat. "Anti-Skill were alerted immediately the minute the alarm was triggered. I was relaying orders to the rest of the staff."
Marian's eyes narrowed and her ecstatic grin diminished as though it were never there. There was something off about this man. She withdrew her tool back, and her captive took this as a sign to turn around.
He was a short, plump elderly man whose face bore a remarkable resemblance to that of a frog's. The doctor seemed to be in on the joke since his hospital ID card clipped to his white coat had a tree frog sticker on it.
The magician huffed. "You're a ballsy bastard. How did you know I wouldn't kill you while you spun your body around?"
"You would have killed me while my back was turned if that was your objective," he pointed out nonchalantly, his life being on the line not moving him. "And what do you intend to do with that?" he asked with a troubled expression. "That's not a good weapon for killing, it's not a very practical tool for striking fear in people's hearts. Raw gold's solidity is too low to use as metal for a blade."
"Shut up, old fart," Marian demanded, features twisted with irritation. She took out the rest of her tool set comprised of a hammer, screwdriver, hand drill, plane, and file, all made of solid gold as the saw. "What I could do with these… is more excruciating and horrifying than any modern weapon."
The frog-faced doctor remained skeptical. "Are they the cause of that fellow's condition, then?" Marian followed his eyes to her compatriot in white. She began to sweat, did he know? How?
"It's not nice to force the dead to walk around like that," the doctor said, the Dvergr's world crumbling at his words.
Her head twisted back straight to meet his stare, mouth agape and jaw trembling.
"H-How… did you-"
"How did I know?" he finished her question. "I have seen much death firsthand in my life, most of it by my own hands. When you live around it as often as I have, you familiarize yourself with, whether you want to or not. That person may be standing on their two feet, but they reek of the scent of death."
Marian shuddered at his matter-of-fact assessment, looking down at the floor tiles as she tried to keep he closed fists from shaking. She shot a glance over her shoulder at the functioning corpse.
"I see, so it wasn't your choice. I'm sorry for implicating you for that," he apologized sincerely, his speech and visage genuinely compassionate, convincingly enough that it gave the impression he personally knew the deceased. It must have been the culmination of years of practice. "Why do you allow this to persist? He must have meant a great deal to you, to have him by your side… you must be concealing your feelings very deep. It's not healthy to suppress all that, dear. Do you want some help? This facility primarily practices physiology, but there are psychiatric specialists here that would be willing to assist you."
Marian Slingeneyer was at a loss for words. What the hell was up with this doctor? Why did he care? Why was he so kind?
"S-Shut up! What do you know!? Stop looking down on me as if I'm someone to feel sorry for! I'll turn you into furniture, I swear!"
"I know you're in pain. It's my job to make pain go away. I'm not looking down on you, I'm only concerned for your well-being and want to help you."
There was no doubt, no hesitation, no ulterior motive behind what he said. He meant what he said, he believed what he said.
She was grinding her teeth now, tightening her grip on the handle of her working tools. Sympathy, she didn't need that. Especially not from him.
Then, there was a flash of golden light.
Marian threw her screwdriver at the frog-faced doctor.
Not one part of him moved in the slightest.
The screwdriver whizzed past the unhinged physician, dangerously close to his left cheek, sticking into the wall behind him.
What followed was a span of soundlessness.
"…Hey. You're Heaven Canceller, right?" It was almost unheard.
The doctor with the facial structure of a frog lifted an eyebrow questioningly, before closing his eyes, the strain in them discernible even if they weren't visible.
"The famed doctor that saved the life of the great magician Aleister Crowley, he who helped him escape to the west. The one who planted the seeds for the blueprints of Academy City. The Board Chairman Aleister and the outcast of the Magic Side Crowley… are one and the same. The Heaven Canceller is one of his only known contacts after his exile from the world of magic. He is even said to be the one who designed a life support system that keeps the once great man alive."
Marian's head was hanging low, her face hidden and voice devoid of emotion.
The subject of her inquiry neither confirmed or denied her allegations.
"…That information came from Bersi," she said emptily.
"That's you, isn't it?!" she howled. "You're Heaven Canceller! Now tell me, how do we get to Aleister!? You're the one who invented the stronghold he's staying in, didn't you?! You're the only connection out there! If you do, then we can capture him, then I'll bake him up in the molten ash of Kilauea into a nice crisp lance, then Odin can do anything she wants! Once that's all done, it'll all be… over…"
The doctor she identified as Heaven Canceller didn't so much as open his mouth throughout her monologue.
"If you don't cooperate…" she screeched, her frame quivering. She finally straightened up, holding her hammer-holding arm out to him and face full of unchecked fury even if she looked close to crying. "I'll do whatever it takes to make you talk! I'll reconfigure your body so severely that no one will ever deduce it as being formerly human! I'll take special care to remove your entire bone structure without killing you! Make this easy on yourself and take us to Aleister…!"
The frog-faced doctor was as downcast as the heartbroken GREMLIN magician was trying and failing to camouflage.
"I'm sorry. Aleister cut the ties between us on September 30, labeling me as his enemy. He went so far as to sever my access to his life support system, there is nothing in my power I can do to reach him."
The so-called Heaven Canceller phrased and delivered this as if he were informing a person their loved one didn't make it through the surgery. Not only was the tenderness present, a sense of self-loathing could be detected. Him cursing his powerlessness could be seen. What tormented him most, however, was even if he was still on good terms with his former friend, he wouldn't disclose anything to the girl because of his Hippocratic oath. Even now, the frog-faced doctor saw the shadowy city leader as his patient. And he would do anything to protect a patient of his.
Marian's last pillar of support toppled. She was entirely frozen from her head to the soles of her feet.
The deadness between those two looked like it would linger on for eternity to an outsider. Those two who worked intimately with the human body. The one who would reshape it and the one who would rebuild it.
"Is that so?"
The Dvergr broke the ice, her outline losing all signs of life.
"Then you're worthless to me. Bersi, kill him."
The dead man in the full-faced helmet obeyed, a bluish-white laser blade several meters long was formed between his index and middle finger.
Even so, the doctor's body language did not fade.
That kindness…
Kihara Kagun, or Bersi, swung his bladed hand on mark, to cut down that kindness.
Between the lines 5
Status report for: November 15, District 7, Academy City.
Three resurgences of the different set of laws apart from our own, known herein by the codename [magic], have been confirmed in Academy City borders as of 15:04 Japan Standard Time.
The presence of [magic] practitioners, known herein by the codename [magicians], have additionally been confirmed in Academy City borders as of 15:04 Japan Standard Time.
There is reason to believe the General Chairman's life is under threat and these [magicians] are targeting him.
Permission to expel them through deadly force requested.
Permission granted by the Board of Directors, the Chairman's approval unknown.
Mobilization of a squadron of [Five_OVER Modelcase "MENTAL OUT"] Powered Suits, recently completed production of, utilizing the research material of Kihara Ransuu, to expel foreign invaders sanctioned by the Board of Directors.
Use of deadly force at the pilots' discretion authorized.
15:15 Japan Standard Time, [Five_OVER Modelcase "MENTAL OUT" expulsion unit] mobilized.
A/N: Next chapter is when the action starts, I swear!
As for when it will be out, I don't know. I want to say it won't be as long as this one was, but you never know. I will say, however, that this fic is definitely not dead by any means, not even close. I intend to finish it no matter how long it takes me, even more now that I have multiple plot bunnies now (not Index-related, sorry). This story won't be dead unless I say it is.
I can also say this for sure: no future novel releases or manga chapters will affect Revelation as far as the story goes. I may insert tiny elements from more recent novels that came after I started this, mostly for the sake of improving fight sequences, but don't expect anything major. The only bigger aspect I'm adding from NT 5 is filling something my story lacked, so it only serves to boost the quality.
As for my thoughts on the novels that came out while I was MIA…
NT 6: I thought this volume was going to be a disaster. But surprisingly and thankfully, turned out much better than I was expecting it to after the failure of NT 5. It gave us some really good fights, probably the best of New Testament so far, among other things. The only sore point was Kamachi's abysmal handling of Kakine. That was the worst character defilement I've ever come across, and can say that won't be happening in my fanfic. I think it's arrogant to say "I'm going to fix what the author did", but I think in this situation I may just have to.
NT 7: Most misleading cover and plot synopsis of all time. In the most welcome way possible. This was one of the best NT volumes by far. Every chapter felt like a separate novel, which was both strange and good. The climax was a bit of a miss for me, but it was a good all-science volume that was more than due.
Honestly, I think this was my best chapter so far in the area of writing characters. I'm quite proud of how the Marian-Heaven Canceller interaction turned out, that I wasn't planning to come out as it did. I wish I could include more, they have an interesting dynamic.
One last time, I am deeply sorry for taking as long as I did. I'll try my best to not repeat it.
And while I still can, I'd like to give my most heartfelt appreciation to those who left reviews for chapters 2, 3, and 4. The latter in particular, as I didn't express my thanks in 3 or 4. I'm sorry I got to you this late, but you have my utmost gratitude for your positive reviews. Those are easily the most fulfilling part of the fanfiction experience. I'll understand if any of my old readers don't feel like leaving a review.
I also understand my timeline in Revelation hasn't been exactly cohesive with the Kakine segments… I apologize for that, I plot it all out for the sake of format rather than organization. So allow me to clarify for your sake. Kakine's body first restored itself around midnight 1 pm range, thus Yuiitsu telling him it was November 15, while his reunion with Measure Heart was a few hours later while it was still in the early morning around the 2-4 am window, thus why it was dark out when they met. Measure Heart visiting Stephanie in jail was after sunrise, so about 7 am. Kakine attends his appointment with Gensei a little later. Kamijou lands in Academy City near 11 am, Accelerator and Shiage being called close to half past. He gets out around the time Accelerator departs to meet at the café, as this chapter revealed. Everyone is at the café after noon, ITEM leaves the restaurant to start the Hamazura Search 2.0 then too. 2 pm is when Shiage/Maria are driving, Mikoto is at the Windowless Building, and Kamijou/Ollerus in Seventh Mist. Tsuchimikado meets up with them later, and the All-Around Reality Array finds Marian the same time she reaches A Certain Hospital, 3 pm-ish. That's all for now. Future chapters will have the same issue, sorry in advance. Please forgive me for this complicated mess…
Longest A/N ever. Until next time.