A Certain Magical Index New Testament Volume 2

Of course, she received no response as she spoke to herself.
Regardless, Birdway continued.
“During World War III and in your contact with Fiamma of the Right, a major deviation
occurred in your plan centered on Kamijou Touma. You are trying to correct that, but
you do not know in what direction to apply power in order to bring things back to
normal. Unless you can unravel all the conditions that are so complexly intertwined, you
cannot take any real action. That is why you did not drag Kamijou out of the Arctic
Ocean despite knowing he was sinking into it, and that is why you took no action to
secure him despite knowing that he had returned to Academy City.”
Kamijou Touma, Accelerator, and Hamazura Shiage.
They all had their social lives and their separate relationships with others, so it would
not have been hard to find someone who could easily be used as a hostage for any one of
them. And of those three, Kamijou had the widest group of people he knew and his
personality made him very easy to manipulate through the use of a hostage.
And yet Aleister had not done so.
No.
He had not been able to do so.
Technically, he could have done it had he tried, but the magician himself could no longer
calculate how much of an effect such a simple action would have on his plan.
“Osiris and Horus. Abandoning the old world bound by the rule of Christianity and the
awakening of a new world filled with new laws and freedom. That was your theory, was
it not? …Well, I have a feeling there is more to that than simple logic. I have a feeling
your history that let you see the ugly side of the believers of a certain strict Christian
denomination and of the modern magical society that claims to have abandoned
worldly desires had something to do with it.” While she stared at the night scenery that
shined even more brightly than the stars in the sky, a malicious smile appeared on
Birdway’s face.
“…That’s right, Aleister. During World War III, the ‘old’ rules were removed from this
world. And that includes the ones you controlled. The second death. Kamijou Touma’s
error. Uncontrollable expectations of what will occur in the future. Doesn’t the world
just seem like so much fun today? You should take satisfaction in this, too. Take
satisfaction in this confusion where people move around freely and you therefore cannot
be sure where things are headed.”
A dry sound rang out.
Right next to Birdway’s cheek, two or three blonde hairs were unnaturally severed.

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Seeing those pieces of gold floating in the wind, the men surrounding her finally started
to go on the alert, but Birdway stopped them with a movement of one hand.
That had been a greeting from Aleister.
Because he used cutting edge science to such a great extent, Birdway did not understand
what exactly had happened, but even so, her smile did not disappear.
It was not an issue of the detailed principles used.
She had been given an answer at a much more fundamental level.
“…There was no real reason that strike had to be only a warning,” said Birdway without
changing her manner of speaking and while still smiling. “I can see your panic in the fact
that you did not simply take off my head, Aleister.”

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AFTERWORD

Umm, to those who started buying with the very first Index novel, to those who started
buying with New Testament, to those who bought all of the volumes at once, to those
who bought both the New Testament volumes at once, and to everyone who bought this
new novel in any of the various paths there: hello.
This is Kamachi Kazuma.
This is the second volume of New Testament. This time, the contents include a bit of a
rethinking of magic which is one of the roots on which the setting is based. Also, the
view of who ‘they’ are has been made a little more clear and the meaning of Kamijou
Touma’s second death has been referenced just a bit…In both cases, I feel it is kind of
like dragging something from behind the scenes out to the forefront.
One of the themes is in the word “radiosonde”, but that just refers to a disposable
weather balloon. Given that, is it a little easier to understand what ‘they’ did this time?
A lot of people may be realizing that the power balance is crumbling both on an
individual level and on an organization level. At first glance, Aleister’s interference
seems to be hindering the protagonists, but there are also problems that occur when it is
no longer there. In a way, the construct of the children fighting while being protected by
the power of the adults has been destroyed and now they must stand up for themselves
in a world where they will receive no assistance. …When I put it that way, it kind of
makes it sound like the second death was him freeing himself from the stairway that is
the process of a boy’s growth. Of course, that is the incorrect route, but it may be fun to
enjoy that as a parallel explanation.
I had the Five Over last time and, by pure coincidence, something related to Mjölnir this
time. I can almost see Biribiri-san looking worried. But just like the science side’s
Pyrokinesis and the magic side’s flame swords are two separate things, I felt that it
would not be surprising if the magic side had its own person with a representative
electrical attack method. In fact, I felt it would be strange if it didn’t, so I made one.
Having a large scale but being difficult to use corresponds more to Mugino than to
Mikoto, though.
I give my thanks to my illustrator, Haimura-san, and to my editor, Miki-san. It’s
probably because I wanted to have a bustling atmosphere in this one, but so many
characters made an appearance. It must have been difficult to decide which scenes to cut
out. I am truly thankful.

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And I give my thanks to all the readers. I was trying to make this one overall more
lighthearted by putting in so much comedy, but I think the basic setting behind the
scenes actually made it a rather bitter story. This was yet another story that would have
been difficult to construct in a debut volume. I am thankful that I have been allowed to
just do what I want.
It is time to close the pages for now while praying that the pages of the next book will be
opened.
And I lay my pen down for now.
Mikoto is finally joining the fight!! …Although it’s because I haven’t put her in the fight
up until now.
-Kamachi Kazuma

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