A Certain Magical Index: The Primal Spirit Descends to My Side

The door slammed shut behind him with a dull thud. Touma Kamijou rushed down the stairs of the old apartment building, his footsteps pounding in the narrow hallway, making the corridor creak.

The July heatwave was intense; the sun had already sunk below the horizon, casting a deep indigo blue sky with lingering orange-red afterglow at the edges. Streetlights gradually illuminated the streets, their glow spreading in concentric circles in the sweltering air.

Where are they?!

Touma Kamijou stood in the open space in front of the apartment building, shouting at the deserted street. His voice carried far in the quiet evening, but there was no response. Only the occasional sound of cars in the distance and the low hum of wind turbine blades turning further away could be heard.

He clenched his right fist, and the words Kanzaki and Stiyl had told him—about Index's memories, about the 85% brain capacity, about how her memories had to be erased every year or she would die—swirled wildly in his mind.

But Teacher Xiaomeng's words were clearer.

—"The human brain's memory cannot be overloaded."

—"The human brain can store more than 140 years of memories."

The conclusion about the white-haired girl was drawn from just one glance.

-"curse."

"It's like a box that can hold more, but it's cursed. The curse causes the box to break down periodically."

All the clues came together at this moment, forming a horrifying truth. The Church was not Index's protector at all, but her captor, the one who put the collar on her. They deliberately made her read those dangerous grimoires, placed a curse on her, and then told her companions that she would die if her memories were not erased every year.

In this way, Index can never leave the church. In this way, Kanzaki and Stiyl are forced to play the role of "enemies" year after year, personally stealing her memories. This despicable method prevents them from colluding and from hiding their true intentions.

"asshole……"

Touma Kamijou gritted his teeth and ran through the streets. He didn't know where Kanzaki and Stiyl were, but he had to find them. He had to confront them directly, asking why they preferred to believe the church's lies rather than question the obvious truth.

He crossed two streets and turned into a relatively quiet alley. Tall warehouse buildings lined both sides of the alley, their walls weathered and worn, with piles of discarded cardboard boxes in the corners. The twilight seemed particularly deep here.

Then he saw them.

Kanzaki Kaori and Stiyl Magnus stood deep in the alley, their backs against the wall. Kanzaki crossed her arms, her head slightly lowered, her black ponytail hanging down her shoulder. Stiyl held a newly lit cigarette between his fingers, the embers flickering in the dim light.

The two heard footsteps and looked up at the same time.

"Touma Kamijou..." Stiyl spoke first, his voice tinged with weariness and a hint of anger. "What are you doing here? Kanzaki already took pity on you and let you say goodbye properly..."

"Goodbye?" Touma Kamijou stopped about five meters away from them. "Why should I say goodbye? Index doesn't need her memories erased!"

Kanzaki raised her head abruptly, her brows furrowed. "What did you say?"

"I said, you've been fooled!" Touma Kamijou stepped forward, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Index's brain wasn't even 85% full of magic books! The human brain has enough memory capacity to store 140 years of memories, how could it be filled up in just one year?"

Stiyl chuckled and exhaled a smoke ring. "Your scientific theories again? Magic and science are two different things..."

"No, it's the same thing!" Touma Kamijou clenched his right hand. "Because Index's fundamental problem isn't that her memories are overflowing, it's a curse! The church placed a curse on her, a curse that flares up every year and causes her immense suffering unless it's lifted with specific magic! And then they told you it's a result of memory overload, forcing you to erase her memories to save her!"

The alley was quiet for a few seconds.

Kanzaki and Stiyl exchanged a glance, and their expressions subtly changed.

"What evidence do you have?" Kanzaki's voice was soft, her fingers unconsciously tightening their grip on the hilt of her sword.

"Evidence is logic! If Index's absolute memory capacity of 15% can really only store one year's worth of memories, then she should have developed symptoms at the age of six! But she's still alive!" He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Think about this carefully. Why does the Church insist on making Index memorize 103,000 grimoires? Why does it insist on her losing her memories every year? Why does it insist on having you play the enemy? Because only in this way will she forever depend on the Church and never be able to leave. You are not her protectors; you are part of the chains the Church uses to bind her!"

Stiyl's fingers, holding the cigarette, trembled slightly; he was clearly thinking, but ultimately shook his head. Kanzaki Kaori, standing nearby, stared intently at Kamijou Touma, seemingly trying to find a trace of deception, but she couldn't.

"You…" Stiyl's voice was terribly hoarse, "Do you know what you're saying? Do you know what will happen if we believe you, and you're wrong? Index will die! She'll really die!"

"What if you continue to believe in the church, and they are the ones who are wrong? Index will live in the cycle of reincarnation forever, forever forgetting you, forever believing she is alone. Is this the protection you want?"

Kanzaki closed her eyes. Her shoulders were trembling slightly, but Touma Kamijou noticed it.

"What are you spouting nonsense about?!" Kanzaki Kaori stepped forward, glaring angrily. "We say the memory erasure method works because we have a group of magicians who researched the principles and used them in practice for several years! And what do you have?! Are you trying to make me give up her life with your hypothesis?!"

"Because all of those people are members of the church, or believers in the church! You have never thought outside the box that the church has given you. You have never considered that the problem might not be Index's brain at all, but something that others have imposed on her."

He paused, then lowered his voice.

"Fine... You say I haven't taken any real action? Then I'll go back now... I'll just use this right hand to remove that curse! When I save Index, you'll all regret it!" Without waiting for a reply, Touma Kamijou turned and left.

He didn't need to answer; the answer was already in his heart, and also in their wavering eyes.

Watching Touma Kamijou's departing figure, the gray-haired girl sat down on the tatami mat. Although it was a bit old, it was more comfortable to sit on than the new one Touma Kamijou had bought.

Teacher Xiaomeng brought a basin of cold water and placed it next to Index's pillow. She busied herself wiping Index's body, trying to lower her temperature as much as possible.

"Um... teacher..."

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"Leave it to me."

Teacher Xiaomeng dipped the warm towel in the water, wrung it out until it was half-dry, and replaced the towel on Index's forehead. "Um... could I ask you for a favor? I've made plans to take a bath with a friend today..."

"Hmm...Leave it to me."

Teacher Xiaomeng took her change of clothes and went out, also taking first aid books and explaining the procedures before leaving. The gray-haired girl looked at Index's pained furrowed brows and flushed face.

She reached out and pulled back her blanket. This would significantly increase the surface area for heat dissipation, which would be more effective in lowering the core body temperature.

"Then, the next step is to pinpoint the location of the curse." The gray-haired girl's eyes sharpened, and she began to unbutton Index's clothes.

The apartment door was suddenly pushed open.

Touma Kamijou burst into the room, panting heavily. Sweat dripped from his forehead onto the floor. But he found that Komoe-sensei was no longer in the room; only the gray-haired girl was kneeling beside Index.

Index remained lying on the mattress, her face flushed, her breathing slightly more even than before. A damp towel covered her forehead; her brow was furrowed, her lips parted slightly, emitting soft moans of pain.

The gray-haired girl looked up, her gray eyes calmly meeting Kamijou's gaze. "You're back."

"Hmm..." Touma Kamijou walked to her side and knelt down. "Where's the teacher?"

"She went to the public bath," the gray-haired girl said. "She said she had plans to go bathing with friends today, so I'm here to take care of Index."

Her gaze returned to Index's face, and she reached out, her fingertips gently brushing across Index's neck.

"I examined her body. The curse isn't in her heart or abdomen, but in her head." Her voice was steady as she pointed to her head. "It's near the brain, deep in her throat. There's a very small, black symbol there."

Touma Kamijou's heart pounded. Deep in his throat? It was indeed very close to his brain, but… "You can see it?"

"Hmm..." The gray-haired girl nodded. "You can see it with your eyes. That symbol is glowing, a very faint light, but it's absorbing Index's life force."

She paused, then added to her speculation: "If left unchecked, the vulnerability will grow larger by 1 a.m. Index will die."

Touma Kamijou clenched his right hand. That right hand known as "Imagine Breaker," the right hand capable of annihilating all supernatural powers. At this moment, it was no longer a useless burden, but his only hope.

The gray-haired girl looked at him, her gray eyes reflecting his tense face. "Your right hand can dispel 'supernatural powers.' Curses are also a type of supernatural power. As long as you touch that symbol, it will disappear."

"But...it's in my throat...how can I reach it...is it very deep?" Touma Kamijou looked at Index's slightly open mouth, the depths of her throat shrouded in darkness.

"Reach your hand in," the gray-haired girl said matter-of-factly, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Touma hesitated. Reach in? Reach into Index's throat? Putting aside how bizarre the action was, what if he hurt her? What if the curse destroyed her and killed Index instantly? What if…

"Touma."

The gray-haired girl called his name. Her voice was soft, but it held a strange persuasive power. "You're hesitating because you're afraid of hurting her. But if you don't do it, she'll definitely die. If you do it, there's a chance to save her. It's a choice, not a judgment."

Looking at her calm face, Touma suddenly remembered what she had said last night: Touma never thought about reasons when he did things. Yes. He didn't think about reasons when he saved her, and he didn't think about reasons when he carried her to find Ms. Komoe.

Now, he doesn't even think about what might happen.

He only knew that he had to do it.

"I understand." Touma Kamijou took a deep breath and sat cross-legged next to Index. He extended his right hand, his fingers trembling slightly. Not out of fear, but because it was the first time in his life he was going to put his fingers down someone else's throat.

The gray-haired girl gently lifted Index's chin, making her mouth open wider. Index, still half-asleep, let out a muffled whimper, but did not wake up.

Kamijou carefully inserted his right index and middle fingers into Index's mouth.

The touch was warm and moist, the saliva unusually hot, clinging to his fingers. He felt the soft tongue, the mucous membrane of his mouth, and the narrowness deep in his throat.

His fingers continued to extend further in.

Index's body convulsed violently, a strong urge to vomit causing her throat muscles to contract sharply. Touma Kamijou gritted his teeth, forcing himself to continue.

Suddenly, he saw something. A number was floating in her throat? No, it was a combination of the numbers two and four, trembling in Index's throat and emitting an ominous glow.

Touma Kamijou swallowed hard and slowly extended his finger toward the symbol. The moment he made contact, an unusual phenomenon occurred.

In that instant, a powerful force erupted from the symbol, shooting through his fingers like static electricity, running down his arm to his shoulder. His right hand was jolted away, and he fell backward, his head slamming heavily onto the tatami mat.

"Ugh—!"

He groaned, his vision blurring with stars. But ignoring the pain, he immediately scrambled to his feet and looked at Index.

Index opened her eyes, and unlike usual, those clear, emerald-green eyes held no familiar warmth. Instead, they were filled with a cold, mechanical emptiness. Deep within her pupils, a crimson magic circle appeared. Her body emitted an eerie light and floated up from the ground.

"Warning! Chapter 3, Section 2, the first to third barriers of the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum's 'collar' have been confirmed destroyed. Regeneration preparation... failed. The 'collar' cannot regenerate on its own. Based on the current situation, protecting the 103,000 volumes of the 'library' and repelling the intruders is the priority."

"Ah... there's a problem that's been bothering me for a long time..." Kamijou Touma raised his slightly numb right hand and flexed his joints a few times. "Even though you haven't received any superpower development... you say you can't use magic..."

The reason, if any, is the same: control over Index. As long as Index cannot accumulate memories and connections normally, she cannot resist being controlled. As long as Index cannot use magic, she can be prevented from using the knowledge from those magic books to attack the church.

"Based on the information from the 103,000 books in the 'Library,' the magic formula for breaking through the defense barrier was reverse-calculated... Failed. No matching magic was found. Preparing to execute a specific spell to counter the intruder in order to obtain the magic formula..."

Index's arms were outstretched, her dim eyes scanning the people in the room. As her eyes moved, her head trembled stiffly.

"...Success. Ready to execute the most effective magic against the intruders. Next, I will activate the specific magic 'Sanctuary of St. George' to destroy the intruders."

The magic circle in Index's eyes suddenly enlarged and floated in the air. Two magic circles, each one meter in diameter, overlapped as if projected from Index's eyes and moved with her head.

"——"

What Index uttered was no longer language; it was singing.