~Lightning and Wind~ Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

 

“Why?” Kamijou asked the magician standing in front of him. “Why go through all of this?”

“What? You’re expecting a confession?” Milu asked in response, pulling out a new ritual dagger. “Like I had some sob story that your words could soothe? Hate to break it to you, but there’s nothing for us to discuss.”

There was a story behind his actions, like the majority of magicians; he too had a reason to turn to the backdoor known as magic. But he would not tell that to an enemy. Milu’s eyes had the resolve of a professional magician.

He would not be dissuaded from his goal.  “I’m just trying to call down a god to destroy the enemy.”

Despite not knowing what drove him, Kamijou had been accustomed to seeing the eyes of those who had fallen down the wrong path for one reason or another. He recognized that someone needed to raise their fist to correct the man before him.

“Whatever twisted and tragic illusion is pushing you to go so far…I’ll shatter it!” Kamijou said, balling his hands into a fist.

“Hmph,” Milu smirked. “Try it if you can.”

***

The only way to described what happened once the ritual had finished was…wrong.

The skies moaned in pain, as if being twisted by an unbearable presence. The world inverted, time compressed and then expanded. As if the big bang and big crunch happened altogether, the universe collapsed on itself and then was recreated; the only difference was that something had begun falling from the darkened sky.

That something could only be described in words outside the human language. In a poor attempt of describing it in a manner that could be envisioned by the human mind, it was coated in ink-like skin that had bubbles of darkness gurgling all over, with streaks of purple marring the completely black, wet finish. All of this was wrapped in layers of green and purple gill flaps that dripped poison that corrupted the sea surrounding it.

Writhing tentacles that had a base of eight somehow split into over a dozen tendrils on each one, and seven eyes that were black as the abyss opened all at once. The oval shaped head split in two, revealing a primordial pool at the bottom of a funnel-like opening. A piercing screech rang around the world as it touched down.

It was the decent of the dark messiah, as painted by the missionaries. The once benevolent being was now an eldritch abomination that surpassed the nightmares of mankind. The worst end result of being twisted by the influence of the one religion encroaching upon another.

The corrupted god, Kanaloa, had arrived.

Everyone stared in silent shock and fear, as one of the greatest threats the world ever faced was about to be unleashed upon them. Except Mark Space, who only had three out of character words:

“We. Are. Screwed.”

***

The descent left a crushing atmosphere of dread that even the girls inside the mountain could feel. Mikoto and Eight subconsciously released large sparks of electricity from the momentary lack of control over their personal realities, due to the sheer amount of fear they felt.

“Oh, this is bad,” Lessar said, barely holding herself together from exhaustion, now that the adrenaline had worn off. “This apocalyptic feeling…it’s Kanaloa after being corrupted…”

“Sh-shouldn’t we do something to help the others?” Mikoto couldn’t stop the subconscious trembling. She once compared the thought of the god being like a bomb. That was an understatement, like saying that the Archangel was just strong. This was something that would end the world and everything on it. “Do we go fight it?”

“No,” Lessar said, clenching her Steel Glove. “If we fight, we’ll die for no good reason. We find where that core is, and we strip Kanaloa of its anchor before we do anything else.”

“There’s an electromagnetic signal coming from further inside the mountain, Misaka says while searching for an exact point.”

“They would need equipment to properly use the core, wouldn’t they?” Mikoto guessed.

“Alright,” Lessar took a deep breath before hardening her will to move forward. “Lead the way.”

***

“NUOOOOOHH!!!” Kamiijou roared, as his right fist flew towards Milu’s face. With a pop and a puff of smoke, the magician vanished and the fist flew through empty space. Kamijou eyes shifted, until Milu appeared behind him with a pop and swung the dagger down.

The dagger drew an arc, as Kamijou twisted his body and fell while striking. His right fist was launched at the magician, but it barely had any power behind it. Milu vanished before the dagger or fist could contact their bodies.

Kamijou got back on his feet and charged at the magician, who reappeared in the distance. The fierce god’s presence caused the land to shake, as loose boulders from the mountain began to roll down the side and past them. Kamijou was in full sprint when Milu disappeared and reappeared in front of him, the dagger extended to penetrate his throat.

Unable to stop and inches from meeting death, Kamijou used his left hand to intercept the blade. The dagger penetrated his left hand thoroughly, and Kamijou let out a scream before cutting it short through sheer effort, grabbing Milu with it. He roared, as his right fist contacted Milu’s face.

The sound of shattering glass—signaling the destruction of the teleportation spell woven on his body—was followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground and a grunt. Kamijou grabbed the knife and pulled it out. The hand was twitching and he could barely clench it because of the pain.

Milu was recovering quickly from the heavy punch, but began preparing an anti-impact spell just in case. When Kamijou saw this, he started to run over to knock him out. His path repeatedly interrupted by rolling boulder’s as the others faced Kanaloa. He had to go help them.

Milu grabbed a nearby rock and chucked it at Kamijou, nailing him above the eye and breaking the skin. Blood flowed from it, along with pain that accompanied a quick flash in Kamijou’s eyes. When the Imagine Breaker stumbled, Milu threw another one that hit him in the shoulder and got on his feet.

With his means of teleporting via a spell cast on his body now smashed, Milu grunted and reached behind his back. Kamijou was dashing forward when common sense told him that the magician was pulling out another weapon. So he kicked off the ground to the right, narrowly avoiding a bullet in the head. Milu had drawn a revolver.

Now, while most magicians wouldn’t be caught dead using such a modern, science weapon, GREMLIN had very little concern for that train of thought—only the fact that Milu was more comfortable with his dagger stopped him from using it before. Now, the revolver was enchanted to summon bullets when the trigger was pulled and all the chambers were empty, but a good shot would kill the Imagine Breaker regardless. Let it never be said that Milu came unprepared.

Nevertheless, Kamijou charged—not forward of course, but at an angle—at the magician. Rule #1 of gun defense: stay off the axis of the weapon. Kamijou couldn’t dodge bullets, but he could keep moving so the barrel wouldn’t line up perfectly and hit him, even if only by a bit. Really, Kamijou was lucky for once that the enemy didn’t have some military training, and the occasional boulder interfered with his aim, or he would have been royally screwed.

Kamijou swore that if he survived this, he was going to get some CQC lessons from Tsuchimikado, even if he had to beg.

The ground shook again and threw off Milu’s next shot, while subsequently tripping Kamijou, sending him into a roll. He scooped up as much loose dirt and rocks as he could in a single pass and threw all but one stone at Milu, catching him in the face. Not being fooled by the basic trick, he fired at body height towards where Kamijou was—narrowly missing him by an inch.

Because of the loud rumbling from the battle with Kanaloa, Milu couldn’t listen for Kamijou’s steps and he still couldn’t see with the dirt in his face, but the moment he heard one loud thump against the ground, he fired to his left—aiming above the step to strike the body. Luckily, Kamijou threw the remaining stone over that way while he went to Milu’s right.

Kamijou didn’t know fancy fighting moves, but he did know how to disarm someone. Instead of his trademark punch to the face, he placed his right leg behind Milu’s, braced the arm with the gun, and then nailed him in the face hard enough to shift his weight back and trip him. As Milu fell, Kamijou raised his knee and it caught Milu’s elbow while he pressed down against the braced arm.

The sudden shock caused Milu to drop the weapon, and Kamijou picked it up with his right hand—shattering the enchantment—before tossing it as far as he could. Milu wiped his eyes clean and threw a punch of his own—apparently not afraid to mix it up with his fists either. The blow caught Kamijou in the ribs, stinging a bit, but not breaking anything.

Kamijou retaliated with a punch to the face, and Milu stumbled back, before kicking Kamijou below the belt, which put him on his knees and nearly caused him to vomit. Milu grabbed a decent sized rock and tried to bash his skull in, but Kamijou tackled him to the ground and got another shot in, blacking the magician’s eye.

Milu managed to shake him off though, and fell back. Both men were bleeding and battered, but neither was ready to yield. Wordlessly, they charged each other.

***

The dark god howled.

Twisted by the thoughts of man, the being before them was lashing out at the small party that stood against it. The dark god unleashed a rain of dark strings, made of a thick ink-like substance. Flying through the air, they cut into anything they came into contact with and carved it like a turkey on Thanksgiving.

Mark Space scattered numerous One of Sword cards and jumped between them, narrowly avoiding a skewered death that would leave him ripped apart into chunks, which would drown in the nightmarish ink. Birdway relied on her speed and broadsword, using the Telesma filled blade to cut down the strands with an arched swing. Those two would survive the storm of death unharmed.

Index and Orsola, on the other hand, could only watch in terror. No defense they could summon would protect them. Even with Sebastian in front of them, it wouldn’t save them. The Kapua it overshadowed would be torn apart and run through.

As if an angel had flapped its wings and loose feathers rained down, holy white plumage floated down around them. When the harbingers of destruction touched the feathers, they forcibly bent at a sharp angle before smashing into the ground with the sound of an explosion, throwing up towers of loose debris and dust that overtook the girls ten times over.

When the wind blew, the girls were revealed to be safe—cradled in each other’s arms—as a pure white figure levitated above them by over a hundred feet, wings expanded and halo shining. Looking at the god before him, as if it was beneath himself, the figure pouted.

Accelerator had awakened and arrived, after cleaning up the rest of the trash.

Now, under normal circumstances, the act of an esper becoming an angel would have left a lot of people declaring blasphemy and heresy, but given the threat even Birdway had to say she was grateful.

Kanaloa roared.

The murderous intention became three times as thick. Raising the numerous tendrils that were attached to its body, it directed them towards the embodiment of all its hatred. It was because of the Christian influence he became twisted, therefore, the image of a Christian angel was the enemy that must be destroyed.

The tendrils were like spears, splitting the air. The white feathers were scattered and flew towards the inky tendrils, each single one capable of redirection. However, against the size and mass of the tendrils, the best they could do was slightly bend them at an angle. The laws the god followed were not magic or science, therefore perfect redirection was impossible to perform. Of the numerous tendril spears, more than half were still flying towards the angel-class esper.

However, a flash of steel wrapped in Telesma slashed through most of them, and golden-laced wind finished the rest off. Birdway and Mark Space took the offense, using Telesma infused spiritual tools and spell.

“Summon Explosion: Hundred Bullets!!” Birdway proclaimed, gathering the clusters of Telesma and firing them at the raging deity. The bullets punched a hundred holes from which slime poured out. Inside, they detonated and further tore apart the being.

“Haha…not so tough now…” Birdway started to gloat, but the damage shrunk and torn flesh mended within the space of a fraction of a second. “…are you?”

The ripped apart tendrils reform by bursting from the stump, like a Hydra’s head. Covered in slime, the tendrils enclose on the loli from all angles, as a black ink was sprayed towards her for good measure. Birdway was turned into Swiss cheese and then torn further apart, before being dissolved—

At least she would have been, if not for her faithful subordinate.

A storm of wind blades from numerous Three of Sword cards tore through the tendrils, as a One of Sword card placed him squarely between her and the splotch of incoming ink. The Eight of Sword card was infused with Telesma and created a golden-laced, spiraling shield of wind that splattered the acidic ink below, dissolving the landscape.

“Are…you alri—” he clenched his arm and winced in pain. A drop of the ink had touched his skin and chewed into it.

“Mark,” Birdway spoke with some concern, attempting the stop the corrosion from costing her subordinate his arm and fend off Kanaloa’s renewed assault at the same time. Kanaloa howled with indignant rage. The mad god summoned a cyclone that would swallow them.

Accelerator acted quickly, dispelling it with one flap of his wings. Index and Orsola could only watch on, this was out of their league by miles.

***

Kamijou coughed up blood. That last blow left the iron-like taste of blood fixed in his mouth, as the magician managed to get in a blow. At the same time Kamijou struck him in the head with his right hand, shattering the anti-impact spell

“Guah—!” Kamijou grunts. His fist has become sore and swollen from the strike. The human skull is not an ideal place to strike with the knuckles. Milu takes the chance to raise his fist to hit Kamijou with an uppercut.

Kamijou narrowly avoids it by stepping back, only to slip on a rock and lose his balance. That created an opening, and Milu took it. His leg went up in an arc and met Kamijou’s chin. The blow twisted his head and darkness came.

Inside the void, memories came flooding to the surface.

The tears Mikoto once cried, unable to stop her sisters from dying on her own.

The look of relief on Orsola’s face when she saw he was alright.

The moments he spent in Russia with Lessar, trying to save that innocent nun.

And the smile on Index’s face he had seen too many times.

This man threatened to take all of it away. Kamijou roared, his focus pushing back the darkness and reawakening his senses, and he stood. “RRRAAAAHHH!!!” he cried, blood still trickling down his face, as he threw his fist forward once again.

The first hit landed. His right fist shattered whatever defenses Milu had left on him through magical means. Kamijou planted his feet and rotated his body for the second shot.

The second hit landed. His left fist jerked Milu’s chin to the side, rattling his brain and disorientating him. The world went white, long enough for him to not see the third strike coming.

The third hit landed. His right fist struck the magician in abdomen, causing him to bend over. Kamijou shifted his right leg back and then sent it upwards for the next blow.

The fourth hit landed. His right knee smashed against Milu’s jaw and blood poured from his mouth. The magician stumbled back while Kamijou went for the final blow.

The fifth and final blow landed. An uppercut to the broken jaw sent the magician skyward. His body landed on the ground and didn’t move.

Kamijou fell to his knees from exhaustion. Finally falling into the darkness, he fell to the earth and laid still.

***

“Finally,” Mikoto said, after the three of them managed to find Milu’s room. Along the way, they had to deal with several traps that were clearly designed for magicians instead of espers, but ripping the steel doors down using magnetism was still difficult.

“Above us, says Misaka while pointing up.”

The machine that the core was placed in had been lifted up as part of the ritual and placed inside the center of a shimmering sphere. Levitating through the use of magic, it was well beyond the reach of the espers. Lessar jumped up, but was repulsed by the shimmering air, and Mikoto tried to pull the machine down by using magnetism, but it didn’t respond.

In desperation, she fired a railgun at it, only for the barrier to slow it down like it was in a ball of water. The hole it made closed up quickly and the barrier was restored to perfect form, with the hexagon tile used being dissolved. Mikoto sighed.

“A regenerating barrier using the properties of acidic water to slow and stop all intrusions,” Lessar said, while using her Steel Glove for support. “I think we can penetrate it, but even three times the speed of sound won’t do the job.”

“Then why don’t we use a coilgun to speed up nee-san’s technique, asks Misaka?”

It wasn’t impossible. Running a magnetic field and aligning the M.E.S.D.O tiles up properly could definitely work. It would outperform the railgun alone by miles.

However…

“If we use something too small, it would burn up before it even reached the core,” Mikoto said.

“We’ll use my Steel Glove,” Lessar said. “I’ll use the spell I did before to make it act like a drill, your sister can align the tiles, and you fire it as hard as you can.”

Lessar nearly fell to her knees after trying to hand it to Mikoto. She only had it in her to use one more spell. After that, she wouldn’t be able to maintain her consciousness.

With both the girls looking at her with concern in their eyes, she smiled. “There’s no second chance. Everything rides on this last shot.”

***

As if spontaneously melting, the fierce god gave birth to several black bubbles that slowly oozed down until they touched the earth.

The black, bubble-like orbs exploded out with a spurt of green slime, revealing writhing masses of tentacles. The inky, black skin that wrapped the masses of muscles were glistening underneath the black sun, running with trails of greenish-purple slime produced by the gills that seemed to spring up at random on the creatures. Their presence felt like living apocalypses that would spell the end of humanity.

The abominations writhed towards the two nuns, when Sebastian literally stepped on them. The owl used its new body to the fullest, crushing them thoroughly like a berserker. The golem was an engine of destruction, a tank on a battlefield.

However, strength alone was not nearly enough. The ones Sebastian smashed began gurgling like boiling water, bubbles of the slime began rising under the inky, tattered skin, until new monstrosities were born. Their numbers would never decrease using physical attacks.

Sebastian was soon overwhelmed, and the Kapua it possessed was ripped apart, forcing the owl out. Orsola caught Sebastian before the owl shattered upon hitting the ground. The white owl hooted softly.

As they closed in on Orsola and Index, no longer under the protection of Accelerator’s power or Sebastian, spikes erupted from deep inside the creatures’ tentacles, splashing the gelatinous slime out and onto the girls who looked on in horror. Spell Intercept would not save them now, the others were busy fending off Kanaloa, and Sebastian was no longer able to function.

As Orsola held Index tightly to cover the frightened girl’s eyes, she silently prayed for the child to survive at the very least, willing to use her body to shield her. As if her prayers were answered, green lightning rained from the heavens, causing the creatures to writhe involuntary until they exploded like pus filled pouches and fizzled, as if they were being barbequed. Waves of cresting red and black fire rolled over the remains, devouring them hungrily until not even ashes were left, before consuming themselves.

Nothing was going to respawn from that.

“That was….Múspell Fire?” Index said, comparing the grimoires in her head until she found a case that perfectly described what she was witnessing. Flames that would spell the death of the gods in Ragnarok, hot as Hellfire, and commanded by the Fire Giants, it was insanely difficult to control.

“Sorry for the delay, but we really didn’t want to get involved,” Lancis sighed.

“Still, if we left this kind of thing alone, our country would eventually be swallowed by it,” Floris muttered.

“Besides, this gives us a chance to one up Neccessarius,” Bayloupe added, a smile running across her face. “Spawn of the corrupted god, prepare yourself! New Light has arrived!”

***

“Okay, is everyone ready?” Mikoto asked, coating her hand in the iron-metal sand once again.

“The spell…is com…pleted,” Lessar said, before passing out next to Eight. The wind was rotating fiercely around the tip of the Steel Glove and would continue even while she slept.

“Ready, Misaka says while maintaining the system.”

The spear was levitating inside a single coil made by ten hexagon tiles. Along the way to the core, the remaining tiles formed several more rings that would add to the speed. The spear would become a lance that would pierced the heart of the core and shatter what was thought to be indestructible—or at least get it away from holding Kanaloa to earth.

“Alright,” Mikoto said as she charged her fist, simultaneously using magnetism to rip apart the steel around them. “FLY!!!”

She struck the Steel Glove and called down as much steel as she could to form a shell to shield them. The electric princess’s lance drilled through the barrier like it was nothing, and acid rained down. The girls were only protected by the steel shell Mikoto had formed.

The drill tip made contact with the core, and took it even further into the air. The gray and yellow blur pierced the wall of the mountain with so much force; it tore through the entire mountain and leveled not only the room they were in, but at least half the mountain.

It was probably just good luck what happened next.

***

New Light had joined the fight. Using the flames that could rival Hellfire, they set the spawn of Kanaloa ablaze. The monstrosities writhed in agony, letting out squelching noises that were disturbing on more than one level. Their numbers continuously fell.

However, New Light did not have an infinite supply of the flames.

The act of retrieving the fire was a feat that was not easily accomplished. It involved literally creating a gateway from Midgard (Earth) to Musphelheim. From there, one had to bargain with a Fire Giant to gain the flames that were to be used in the war against the gods.

Such a ritual took a lifetime, and was set up by the predecessors who started New Light before Bayloupe became the leader. It was like she held onto one of the greatest weapons in the world, only to be used at the risk of annihilation by a threat so great, nothing else would suffice.

There was no guarantee that the abominations would have disappeared if they struck down the god. If that were the case, the respawning would make them indestructible and could lead to the end of the world. So, before they could spread, they had to be contained.

If Lessar weren’t at risk, they may have allowed another faction deal with it. For all their fighting and teasing, the girls were tight knit and would never abandon each other.

Only a pinch of the flames remained, the final spawn was reduced to nothing.

“That’s all of them,” Bayloupe said.

“Umm, girls,” Lancis said, her body uncontrollably shivering from her magic alerting her of danger. “We have a problem!”

She pointed to Kanaloa, who had been fending off the three attackers. It was preparing to ooze several more black bubbles, creating more of the abominations. If it released them, then it would have been over.

Just then, the lance fired by Mikoto exploded out of the mountain and pierced through the fierce god. It howled in agony, its wound not healing from the damage. Realizing they could now damage it, Birdway, Mark Space, and Accelerator gave each other a look.

“Time to end this,” they all muttered.

Accelerator created a plasma storm and contained it using his power. Birdway gathered all the Telesma in her blade to the tip, energy spiraling in place as a giant orb. Mark Space scattered all his offensive tarot cards and unleashed a hailstorm of razor wind at the god.

All three of them threw the colliding forces at the god, where a reaction occurred due to the mixing of AIM based power, Telesma, and Magical energy. Accelerator scattered countless feathers that formed a rotating dome around the god, in order to restrain the blast from nuking everything within a thousand miles of it.

The Redirection Cage sealed in Kanaloa, who was dissipating into nothing—its flesh being burned and dissolving to the point where it wouldn’t even be dust. Accelerator coughed blood as he maintained the calculations to manage the cage, while Mark Space and Birdway could only watch, having exhausted themselves to the breaking point.

As if his mind was glass, Accelerator heard it crack from the strain. His mind could possibly shatter from the effort. Nevertheless, he let out a howl as the chain reaction reached its final phase. Changing the cage to a column, the energy was released into the sky—parting the darkness—and into space.

“What…the…hell?” Accelerator said, falling from the sky like a bird whose wings had been clipped. His eyes met the god’s, who was still there—if just barely. Kanaloa was gradually dissolving, but not gone yet.

Narrowing its eyes, Kanaloa shot tendrils at the three responsible for its current condition.

***

Milu clenched dirt as he regained consciousness. Breathing was difficult after taking that last strike. Raising his head, he saw the Imagine Breaker lying unconscious on the ground.

Strength entered his body, as he picked up a good sized stone and got to his feet. He could do little more than walk slowly; each step left him swaying and shot pain throughout his body. Still, he walked with the intention of crushing Kamijou’s head.

Now that Kanaloa was fading, that one goal remained.

Mikoto had just climbed out of the protective shell she erected to protect the three once the Steel Glove was used. Climbing over a pile of rocks to reach the other side—in order to find help for Lessar and Eight—while tired, she felt movement through electro-perception and her eyes widened at the sight of Kamijou lying on the ground, motionless. Seeing the demented magician only a few feet away, ready to drop the stone, she reflexively shot him with a bolt of electricity.

Milu fell backwards, dropping the stone. The lightning loosened a certain memory that laid dormant deep inside Milu’s mind. Like looking a movie from a projection reel, the past began to play on the landscape of his mind. Watching from a third person perspective, he saw what made him the man he was today.

***

“—?” a woman’s voice tried to reach him, but the words didn’t register. He could no longer recall the finer details of her face in memory, but he could never forget the gorgeous smile that appeared on her face. It outshined the sun, as she called for him once again. “—?”

She was sick, from a disease that science could not cure. To save her, he abandoned science and searched for an elderly man who was once said to be a Kahuna. To save her, he went beyond the laws of science and opened the backdoor called magic.

Even then, she could not be saved. She had little more than a year left, and she wanted to spend it with him. The Kahuna passed away and left him one thing: the knowledge to summon a god.

Tirelessly, he toiled to obtain what was necessary. Then, tragedy struck, as the war began. He wanted nothing to do with it, but one of those countless, unnoticed battles had left her dying from a stray weapon of science.

She smiled one last time when he comforted her. That once brilliant smile was now tainted by the blood that ran down her mouth, as she drew her last breath. Holding the dead woman in his arms, a howl that embodied all the sorrow held by the magician named “–” echoed into the darkness.

She was all that mattered to him.

She had no relation to either side.

She was innocent, yet she had died.

Why should he care about this small world? The one he sacrificed the normalcy of daily life for no longer existed in it. All he sought was to use the power of a god to save the life of the one he loved, and science took that away from him.

“Never forgive,” he said, blood running from his eyes. Forgoing a peaceful path, he discarded the name that the woman he loved had once called him and wiped it from his mind. His hatred of science became fixated on the Hero of the Science Side.

There were several paths outlined for him to walk, but to him there was only one path and he walked it without looking back or at any other path.

***

The magician refused to stop.

Holding a gaze that he would keep until the end, the magician who carried the weight of countless sacrifices clawed at the ground. He began literally dragging himself toward Kamijou until he could stand, set on killing him with his bare hands.

“Stop damn it!” Misaka swore, as she fired an even stronger bolt in front of the magician, who walked forward, only wincing as the electricity surged into him. Forgoing spells, he used his life itself as fuel to power the engine that was his body. That energy wrapped him as a flickering aura, repelling the lightning, as he fixed his sights only on Kamijou.

Mikoto tried to overwrite reality with her own personal reality once again, but she literally had nothing left to use. If she tried to overwrite reality now, it would crush her itself. Nevertheless, she tried, pushing her exhausted mind to the breaking point. As if an ocean was dropped on top of her mind, it was crushed by the pressure of the world. She fell with her sanity barely intact.

As she fell, she slid down the slope of the rock pile until she was on ground level with the magician and Kamijou. By the time she could even marshal the strength to sit up again, it was too late. The earth shook, as the magician loomed over the fallen hero, his hands in position to strangle Kamijou.

In a way, that determination reminded her of Kamijou.

Milu had suffered numerous injuries that should have stopped him. Milu had fought until he was at death’s door, carrying a huge resolve that rivaled the Imagine Breaker’s own. Milu went all out to do what was thought impossible.

Maybe it was the stress and exhaustion, but somehow she saw Milu as Kamijou—like his body was overshadowed by Kamijou’s. As the pair of murderous instruments inched their way to the unconscious throat of the enemy, they shook from the sheer effort the task took. The image of Kamijou faded, as he wasn’t a killer and wouldn’t go this far, but the same resolve that he had to bring an ending where everyone was alive, was now being used to finish him.

Once his hand were wrapped around the Imagine Breaker’s throat, he…just sat there motionless. His eyes were empty and glazing over, as if staring into the abyss that reflected the darkness of the path he walked. Even as the world around him crumbled, it no longer mattered.

The magician named Milu had passed into Lua-o-Milu—the land of the dead.

His goal, for which everything was sacrificed, came to nothing.

He passed away without accomplishing the end he sought.

Mikoto wasn’t sure how to feel. Someone had just died in front of her, but their death ensured that the one she loved would still draw breath. Whether it was his time to die, or if it was her attacks that killed the magician, it didn’t change the fact that he was dead.

The electric princess who wore a pure—if somewhat tomboyish—white dress of innocence was now covered in blood that dyed the dress crimson red. Maybe it was because she resolved to go through with it when she used her last attack against Pel, or maybe it was because she was simply too tired now and her actions hadn’t caught up to her. Either way, she felt very little about it.

And it terrified her.

How many had fallen into the darkness because they felt nothing. Her pure innocence that separated her from the darkness had now been lost in the deep red. How long until she would become an indiscriminant monster? How would she see the world from now on as a killer, even if the only other choice was to do nothing and watch Kamijou die?

Was it for him that she murdered another? Should she blame him for her coming fall to the darkness? Should she make him take responsibility?

The dark thoughts that emerged from guilt and confusion took an immediate backseat when the ground crumbled around where those two were. The magician’s corpse and Imagine Breaker both began to fall into the void.

Mikoto was too tired and could do nothing. No one would be able to reach him in time. It seemed like the Imagine Breaker would disappear from the world once again.

“Some…”Mikoto cried to the heavens, as tears fell from her heavy eyes, “SOMEONE SAVE HIM!!!”

As you wish, child with power that could one day rival Haikili, a voice rang in her head, almost as if on a different frequency.

A silver translucent tendril shot past Mikoto and wrapped itself around Kamijou’s waist, avoiding his right hand. It protected his body from the collapsing debris as it pulled him up. Mikoto looked over her shoulder, to see Kanaloa in a new light.

No longer corrupted by the ritual and fading from the damage inflicted, it had a truly divine presence now. The horror that was difficult to look at before was now too beautiful for mortals to stare at. With the waves of merciful power passively emanating from the god, it sent tears to their eyes.

Kanaloa placed the boy in front of her.

The power that seals that which lies inside him will not permit the little one to heal him, but his life is not in immediate peril, Kanaloa said by reaching out to her mind.

“Little one?” Mikoto asked absentmindedly, apparently still in shock a god was holding a telepathic conversation with her. For her first real venture into the Magic Side, that wasn’t too bad.

A tendril pointed towards the others, being healed by the same little girl that saved her and Eight before. It was the Kahuna Kapua of Koleamoku, standing over the bodies of all those who fought on her side, including Lessar—who was about to get spanked by Bayloupe for getting involved in something so dangerous and forcing her to use the Múspell fire—and Eight.

Having apparently finished on the others, she walked over to Mikoto and nodded, before extending her hands. A wave of relief washed over Mikoto’s tired body. The injuries in both her body and heart were being relieved.

She fell to her knees next to the unconscious Kamijou when the little girl had finished.

Regardless of how the one who summoned me passed away, do not run from the emotions you feel. If you bury them, then they will drag you into the depths as well. Kanaloa’s body began to completely fade.

And now, we shall return to our place.  May the sea and winds fortune you all, as thanks for freeing me.

They both vanished.

The girl and the god were no longer within the mortal realm. All the damage done by their presence also disappear—like it never occurred at all. Tranquility returned, as birds flew in the brilliant blue sky.

Still tired from everything that happened, and finally able to let herself relax, Mikoto fell asleep on Kamijou’s chest—which she noticed for the first time was extremely broad.

Those emotions that bombarded her could wait for now.

 

Notes:

• Well, that was the final battle. One more chapter and Lightning and Wind will end. I’m thinking of a sequel, but easier said than done. Plus I want to do one for Fate/Extra, so maybe after NT3 is released.

 

• Kanaloa’s summoning was supposed to impose on the readers exactly how heavy a presence a god would have, especially one painted as a being of evil. Having the universe rewrite itself to accompany the being was a figurative method of speaking—it didn’t really happen, but it felt like it did.

 

• Milu was determined, and while Kamijou has some ability to reach his opponents and offer them redemption, you can’t help everyone. No matter how tragic Milu’s past may or may not have been, he knew the road he was going down and he never looked back—like I said, you take that kind of conviction with you to the grave.

 

• One of the themes in this story is Resolve. Mikoto resolved to do what it took to protect her sister and follow Kamijou, Lessar would stand by him even if she had to do so alone, Kamijou resolved to follow through on his belief no matter how much he gets hurt, Accelerator didn’t have that kind of resolve as a villain, but once he obtained it to protect Last Order, he grew white wings and he wouldn’t look back if he died defending her. All of them are willing to die for their beliefs and just as they couldn’t be dissuaded, neither can their enemies who hold that same resolve towards a different goal.

 

• Kamijou’s fight with Milu was flat out dirty and bloody, as expected when in a fight to the death using your fists and whatever else you could pick up—Kamijou is a brawler after all. The “fist to the face equals instant knock out” isn’t as easy as you think. You need to rattle the brain hard enough with the strike, forcing it to reboot, which is difficult unless you strike with something like a hook. The human skull is fairly adept at taking head on blows, not angled blows.

 

• Power level wise, Accel is at Gabriel’s level after awakening, but his power hasn’t been shown yet. Considering it took him, Superman, FUZE=Kazakiri, the Imagine Breaker, a ton of cannon fodder, and other things to bring an Archangel down. I make no attempt to gloss over the fact that they didn’t so much as win this battle, as they survived long enough to the have the anchor destroyed and Kanaloa no longer wanted to go on a rampage. The corruption vanished when they pretty much trashed the Eye of Kanaloa and a good deal of the mountain. I was thinking about having Kamijou try to punch it, but that’d be too easy.

 

• Haikili is the Hawaiian god of lightning and thunder.

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