"Why?"
Even though his heart had been stabbed by the one he trusted most, Aleister's face showed no change at all. Calmly, he asked.
He truly couldn't understand. Why would Aleister betray him? They had never even met, never spoken a single word… so why would his guardian angel join the other side?
"Because she hasn't been Aleister for a long time." Anzen spoke in an even tone, unhurried. "Her name is Kazakiri Hyouka. I gave her a brand-new life."
Before everyone's eyes, Aleister's figure and features slowly took shape. She now looked exactly like Kazakiri Hyouka from the original story of Index—beautiful, with black-rimmed glasses on her face.
But her aura and expression were cold, not the naive and clueless sweetness from the original.
After a short silence, Aleister seemed to understand. With no joy or sorrow in his voice, he said, "So that's it. You replaced Aleister's core with the fuse, didn't you?"
The fuse was, in fact, a part of Aleister.
The idea of the Artificial Heaven was meant to use Aleister as the core, with the fuse as support. But now, the fuse had taken over completely, replacing Aleister's concept and existence.
"Yes." As if reading his thoughts, Anzen calmly explained, "Your fuse was originally just a conceptual being born from the Imaginary Number District. After I reshaped it with my law, it became what Kazakiri Hyouka is now."
"You knew the true nature of the Imaginary Number District all along?" Aleister realized he had miscalculated. His opponent understood his plan far better than he thought.
The Imaginary Number District was considered an urban legend in Academy City.
Students thought it was a group secretly ruling the city, while outside churches and magicians believed it was the "Windowless Building" where Aleister lived.
In reality, the Imaginary Number District was formed by the overlapping AIM diffusion fields of 2.3 million espers.
On the physical level, it existed in another phase that shared the same coordinates as Academy City. The concept of the fuse slowly condensed into being in that phase.
"Yes, I've known for a long time." Anzen nodded openly. "In fact, the first time I came to Academy City, I already gave Kazakiri Hyouka awareness and the ability to think."
"The first time?" Aleister frowned slightly.
Of course, he knew that Anzen's first arrival in Academy City had been through Saten Ruiko's body, but he couldn't understand how Anzen could have given the unconscious fuse awareness and thought back then. He hadn't done anything, right?
And it wasn't just Aleister who wondered this—the live chat was full of people with the same question. They had seen it clearly back then. Aside from swinging his sword, Anzen really hadn't done much of anything!
"I did." Anzen pulled a pitch-black orb from his chest and held it up in front of the stream camera. It was clear that a piece of the orb was missing. "See this Hogyoku? Notice how a piece is gone? Back then, I sent that fragment into the Imaginary Number District."
Doujin Artist: Holy crap, that's insane! You had this planned out from the very start?
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Of course. Anzen's schemes are always steps ahead like this.
Machete Girl: Using the Hogyoku to create Kazakiri Hyouka's form… no normal person would ever think of that.
Amegakure Village's Angel: No wonder Anzen was so confident back then, saying Aleister could never succeed. He had already dug the pit for him.
Wig Guy: Our president is terrifying. Being his enemy means getting played to death.
Curly-haired Guy: That's not terrifying, you idiot! That's called unmatched brilliance! President, you're the best!
Doujin Artist: Please, stop being a bootlicker. It's disgusting!
Curly-haired Guy: Hah? You've got no right to look down on a bootlicker. You're nothing but a loser yourself!
Doujin Artist: Being a loser is still better than being a dog who only licks and does nothing else!
Curly-haired Guy: Woof!
Doujin Artist: …
Amegakure Village's Angel: …
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Got it, Gintoki can bark too.
Curly-haired Guy: Hmph. Pathetic losers don't even know how to bark like a dog, and you still think you can look down on me? I, Gintoki, despise dogs like you!
Doujin Artist: Fine, you win.
Eiri had already given up on complaining. A good woman really can't win against a dog.
"Using a fragment of law to shape the fuse's personality, then letting it infect Aleister's true self…" Unlike the chat, Aleister didn't know what the Hogyoku was, but he could feel an incredibly strong power of law from it. "What a brilliant idea."
Even while treating Anzen as an enemy, Aleister didn't hold back his praise.
He had lost, and completely at that.
Not only had he lost in terms of information, but he had also failed to protect Aleister's weakness.
Aleister was an angel of pure physical law, his combat strength unquestionable. But Aleister had overlooked the truth—that this purity was also a shackle, and a fatal flaw.
Anzen's way of using Kazakiri Hyouka to take over Aleister's main existence wasn't anything special.
To put it simply, it was infection.
Kazakiri Hyouka was originally just a split-off cell, while Aleister was the main body. But because Hyouka had mixed in the power of other rules, she polluted Aleister's physical laws, making him impure. As a result, the main position shifted.
It was like cancer cells spreading and taking control over healthy cells.
Even though Aleister kept feeding himself through the Artificial Heaven, in the end the one being strengthened was still Kazakiri Hyouka, the cancer cell.
"You think you understand, but you really don't," Anzen said quietly as he looked at him.
Aleister looked straight back at him. "Then tell me."
"The source of your failure isn't intelligence, nor Aleister," Anzen said, his smile fading, his tone flat. "You failed simply because you're no longer human."
This wasn't an insult, but a fact.
Could Aleister even be called human anymore? He gave all his thinking to machines and threw away all human emotions. Was that still a person?
A person isn't just some abstract concept, but the sum of all social ties.
Since he lacked everything that makes someone human, even the most basic communication with his allies was just mechanical programs. He didn't even notice when his ally's core had been replaced.
Under these conditions, if he could still win, that'd be a miracle.
"Humans can never reach the end," Aleister understood what Anzen meant, but he didn't agree.
"You still don't get it," Anzen sighed. His eyes suddenly flashed with silver light, stabbing straight toward Aleister.
With a sharp sound, Aleister's whole body exploded like an overinflated balloon. Ash scattered everywhere.
Looking at the drifting remains, Anzen muttered, "The so-called end just means you'll never move forward again."
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