Between the lines (Arc 4 Side Story)

It was like seeing the world twist before her.  It was beyond simply witnessing a noneuclidean space. Even in that, the concept of continuity would still hold weight.

It went beyond just the sight of the incoming spikes seemingly warping and becoming discontinuous.

As she stayed up midair, she could see it. The world before her had twisted. It was like the sight of a black hole’s accretion disk. The sights before her had expanded and contracted.

It was as if the spikes shooting towards her had outmaneuvered Shirai Kuroko’s, making her own dances through the expanse of space seem like mere child’s play.

And then…

90-10.

There was no time left to react.

All that was left was a singular outward force. Even as small flecks of her blazer and skirt had shredded off, there was not much left that Kuroko could do as she found herself flying towards the nearest wall.

Not a chance to move.

Not a chance to think.

Just the unceremonious shut down of her vision and her consciousness.

Finally, a clean hit. Give how the fight was going so far this was actually a bit of a surprise. As the man staggered backwards a bit to the recoil of the punch, Mio closed in again to try and hit the man with a follow up attack. Mio was not the only one eager to follow up on that blow however as the blond girl also launched an attack in the man's direction poised to bisect both the man and Mio. Before Mio had a chance to dodge the man had recovered from his brief daze and launched himself into the air with what felt like a powerful gust of wind. One strong enough in fact that cut right through both Mio and the ground itself. As if to add insult to injury, the blond girl's attack then cleaved the already split Mio into four pieces that then fell into the hole in the ground.

Chiyo still on the ground after dodging the blast of fire looked over at the blond girl with a bit of disbelief. Though an ally by circumstance, the blond girl seemed to have no issue with catching her in the line of fire, though, given what she'd seen so far it would be pretty easy to assume she'd be just fine. It still pissed her off though. Easily distracted by her anger as she was, Chiyo recreated Mio next to the blond girl intending to give her a piece of her mind, however the ground suddenly lifted up beneath them carrying the both of them into the sky chasing after the man now flying with what appeared to being angel wings.

Standing next to the blond girl onto of the earthen pillar, Mio was a bit out of range of the flying man. Fists were not particularly adept at ranged combat after all. Before she could decide on a new course of action to try and punch they flying man out of the sky, there was a sudden explosion from the building behind her. The force of the explosion nearly blowing Mio off the stone pillar but a quick grab for the edge kept her from tumbling down.  As she scrambled back up into the pillar both her and Chiyo turned to face the building which now resembled nothing like she'd ever seen before. It was like the entire building now resembled the inside of a kaleidoscope. Presented with the scene in front of her, Chiyo was thoroughly convinced that she was witnessing something beyond the scope of simple esper powers.

"Hey blond girl." Mio spoke to the girl next to her on the earthen pillar. "You got any more of those flashy swords? I don't think fists are going to cut it anymore."

Yet that shutdown of consciousness never happened. Neither was the seemingly inevitable pain of her back supposedly slamming against the wall.

Yes, despite the fact that she had been placed into checkmate, the result had been just as unceremoniously eluded. Rather than the hard sensation of the solid walls on her back, what Kuroko felt was the sensation of a single arm upon her back.

“What rotten luck,” Kuroko heard a surprisingly familiar voice say as she finally came to realize that she was still fully conscious. As she looked up, before her, she found that the voice had belonged to the girl she had met in the airport who she had tried to arrest before. “I thought I’d be able to get her to safety first but I had to fall headfirst into the enemy’s onslaught of all things.”

The Indian girl’s feet landed upon one of the discontinuous portions of the spikes as she slid down them and jumped off into the air towards another one of them.

As she did, Kuroko finally noticed the ill-appearing girl who the Indian girl was carrying on her back and supporting with her free hand.

At this point, the safest location for the girl was upon her back. But, Kuroko staying in this position would leave all three of them vulnerable. So, she teleported herself and adjusted her position so she remained by the side of the speeding girl who was now heading straight towards the gaudily dressed young woman.

There was no time to speak out a plan or coordinate so the two girls nodded to each other before rushing across the forest of discontinuous spikes towards their common enemy.

She had gone too far. That was all she understood as her breath had outgrown the heaviness she was able to handle. Spitting blood upon floor as her hazy vision realigned into something similar to reality, Stella stood alone. Or so she thought until she sensed the presence of others, closing in upon her.

Or so they had thought.

As they moved into the forest of distortion they would notice their path of motion completely trailing from what they had envisioned. The rushing girl would sway, being sent back to right where she had come from, while the teleporter would barely miss the remaings of a structural pillar by a margin.

«You don’t get it… do you… ? You should stop. Give up. Step away. Anything like that…» As she spoke her voice carried audible signs of exhaustion. The kind you didn’t wish others to hear. However, that didn’t stop her from growing all the more upbeat by the second again. «I won’t let you stop me. If it means breaking reality, so be it! Mhm ♪ Mhm ♪ Mhm ♪»

Steadily realigning herself, the magus in white and black divided by red returned to her normal form. At least that was what she pretended to have done, not waging the risk of taking another step. «There is something I need to obtain and I won’t let you stop me from that. This is more important than whatever you try to achieve. It matters more than anything!»

So she spoke, using the moment she had become unreachable to figure out her next step.

…

«You’re an annoying little brat, aren’t you?», the twelve year old barked as she stood still atop the pillar, clearly not shaken in the slightest by the explosive force that had knocked her enemy away. Albeit just temporarily, this did give her the break she needed to eye what had caused it.

Staring at the strange phenomenon, she couldn’t help but mutter: «So she can go this far?» And she had, she had begun to feel annoyed by the sudden shift in circumstances. So greatly, she would have ideally blown the entire building apart. However, she chose not to; for even she couldn’t tell the extent of what had happened «Who would have expected her to be able to mend the basic principles of reality like this? Coming this dangerously close to godhood is a new problem in and of itself.»

And yet, before she could muster any further words, the wand in her hand had become a sword. One she swung immediately to split apart the sword thrown at them by the jester, who had appeared once more floating midair as wind carried him like an angel’s wings.

«Marvellous reaction time, Miss Birdway. But will it really la—» In the process of twisting his body to invoke even greater calamity, he suddenly found a fist smash into his face, as the small kind had propelled herself forward, grasping a wand in her hand, its length sticking out to the below.

And as it did, swung in only the correct trajectory it perfectly well matched a hammer. One she had dilberately aligned with the importance of the hand and a certain speed. So powerful, it hurled the man away a couple dozen of metres.

«I’ll deal with this. You do whatever you can’t be stopped from doing.» Not even turning back, she launched herself off the pillar to give chase to the fly she had squatted away.

But for the two girls, it didn’t matter. Even if the world had seemingly distorted. Even if Sara had found herself sent back to where she was started. Even if Kuroko had found herself barely avoiding a gruesome death.

There was only one choice left.

The shortest and most direct path would always be straight forward.

Especially when the toll of all the insanity the woman had conjured had begun to show on her.

Landing her feet off against a wall, Sara crouched against it for an instant. With her free hand, she grabbed her knife.

“None of that matters.”

More important than anything?

Utter nonsense. The moment she had caused this massacre scene they had all been caught up with, none of that truly mattered.

Was whatever she was trying to accomplish worth the pain of the girl on her back who could barely hold consciousness yet still showed concern for another?

Absolutely not.

“So just shut up and fall already.” Filled with a chilling rage, she jumped off and charged forward one more time, knife in hand and aiming to smash directly atop the woman’s head.

---

It was no different for the girl from Judgement.

That young woman was the center of all of the chaos.

“Screw that.”

And she was of one mind with the Indian girl who was charging in. None of this was truly worth whatever she had deemed important.

That’s why there were no more words.

Shirai Kuroko simply teleported once again, aiming to close the gap behind her and drive a fist into the woman’s back.

Chiyo got no response from the blond girl she now shared the top large stone pillar with. It felt like she was mealy a footnote in the margines of whatever was actually occupying her attention. Chiyo couldn't really blame her though, it's not like she was any real threat to the girl. They were at least approximately on the same side, even if Chiyo had no idea what the girl's actual motivation were.

«So she can go this far? Who would have expected her to be able to mend the basic principles of reality like this? Coming this dangerously close to godhood is a new problem in and of itself.»

Chiyo sighed. Yet more gibberish coming out of the blode girl's mouth. Birdway, Chiyo assumed her name was. Or at least that's what the strange man kept calling her. Speaking of him.  

«Marvellous reaction time, Miss Birdway. But will it really la—»

Before the man could even finish his sentence, Birdway sent the man flying.

«I’ll deal with this. You do whatever you can’t be stopped from doing.»

It was an abstract order, but looking back at the work of modern art that used to be a mall, Chiyo questioned if she was really at the caliber that could 'Do whatever she couldn't be stopped for doing'. This whole situation was pissing her off. The version of her on the ground near the Judgment boy vanished as she created a new her on a piece of the shattered wall of the mall. The interior appeared somehow even worse than it looked from the outside. Not a lot of what was going on inside made sense. However what did make sense was that everything here was being caused by the women in red. Chiyo then dismissed the version of her that remained on the stone pillar and used a moment to catch her breath. There seemed to be a small lull in the action while the girl in red tried to get the others to back off.

«You don’t get it… do you… ? You should stop. Give up. Step away. Anything like that… I won’t let you stop me. If it means breaking reality, so be it! Mhm ♪ Mhm ♪ Mhm ♪ There is something I need to obtain and I won’t let you stop me from that. This is more important than whatever you try to achieve. It matters more than anything!»

"Well, you're right. I don't get it at all."

The voice emerged from a new Mio created directly behind the girl in red, along with a punch aimed right at her head. The chaos all around her was incredibly complex, but sometimes the solutions for such things were very simple.

They all had been wrong. Wrong in their assumption of the spacial conditions. But that was why Stella could even speak this so calmly that very moment. Absolutely everything thrown at her would never reach her, so long as they were unable to understand the conditions of the distorted space.

Once more they all were lost on the path to her, crossing each other instead.

Thus, within the blink of an eye all three girls collided at the pinacle and with the full force of their attacks. Those were clean hits, just not the ones they had hoped for.

In response the lady at the centre of it all chuckled in amusement. «I told you, didn’t I? I won’t let you stop me. Now perish ♪» As melody had returned to her voice, her musing dusted off the exhaustion and injury. Thus, she began to twist her form again, spinning on her heel as she flung around her arms, traversing the space herself.

And as she did, she hummed in a sing song voice. A carefully calculated melody.


«This isn’t good. Get out of there, you four!», shouting frantically from the distance Index announced her presence just as she had arrived at the scene. She didn’t need to take it all in to understand the circumstances of the woman’s actions. What she saw through the veil of warped space was all she needed. The rest came from the 103000 grimoires in her head.

Just having taken a single look, she immediately leapt to take cover behind a large enough chunk of debris.

It was immediately after that the entire floor was filled with an amalgamation of phenomena. Not a single one, but all kinds, just as distorted as the scene itself. Lighting, flames, ice, water, heat, cold, explosions, light, dark. It was all yet nothing. The foundations of the world twirling about as they consumed it all whole. Not controlled but without any sense of reason. As chaotic as the foundation she had used.

And that foundation was… «That distorted state of the world itself! She’s using it like a mandala! A ritual ground! A temple!», she shouted in hopes of reaching anyone else. «She is using the way her motions and voice interact with her surroundings to form a ritual! Or many. I’m not sure. It’s like she is blending everything the way she sees fit the very moment she does it!»

If what she had caught on to was true, that woman wasn’t even following a distinct plan. No, she was most certainly improvising.

...

Fifteen seconds had passed since he had been knocked across the city scape. From there he had quickly crashed into a bus stop, tearing through it as the trajectory of the hit didn’t let him regain control just then. Bouncing off of asphalt while his flesh was torn be the countless glass shards it had eaten, he came to a halt eventually.

Blood smeared, hurt, powerless…

Or so she had expected him to be when she landed a few metres away these fifteen seconds later.

«You sure cling to your pitful life, do you?», the small blonde asked, resting the golden sword atop her shoulder; facing the man who had already returned to his legs.

Although he had been a pitful sight as the white of his attitre and makeup had been dyed red, his bloodshot eyes hadn’t lost their fight. No, they were glowing even more than before. Anger and hatred so clearly visible.

«…cut your tongue …that’s the first thing I will do …you witch!» The lack of breath did not steal his voice’s sharpness. If at all it underlined the man’s immense will power as he faced his most hated enemy. Even though he had been completely overpowered just there, he had no intention of folding.

«I will end your legacy here, Leivinia Birdway. I’ll tear it down. All of it. Today… The Dawn-Coloured Sunlight’s downfall shall begin! I, Ambroise, will tear you down! Crush you! Burn you! Tear you to shreds! Erase you from history, just as you deserve!!!»

Screaming off the top of his lungs, he had completely lost any and all of his stature. Now, solely driven by the flames of hatred in his heart, he was prepared to do it. Throw it all away. Channel it into the power he had dedicated his lifetime to.

Hence, he spoke:

«Tomix080.»

It seemed to Chiyo that the very space in front of her couldn't even be trusted within this building, as when she tried to create Mio and throw a punch, she instead found her colliding with the others. Getting close to the girl in red would be more challenging than she had anticipated.

«I told you, didn’t I? I won’t let you stop me. Now perish ♪»

The women began to hum a tune in a sing songy voice while twirling around to traverse the space. While the outward appearance of this, wasn't innately threatening, combined with the words she had just spoken and the fact that her various movements at least seemed to Chiyo to be the causes of the chaos, Chiyo decide to dismiss Mio and remove her from the range of whatever attack was coming before hand. No sense in taking any extra hits she didn't have to. They might not kill her, but they all still hurt after all. It was then that another voice was heard screaming out a warning.

«This isn’t good. Get out of there, you four! That distorted state of the world itself! She’s using it like a mandala! A ritual ground! A temple! She is using the way her motions and voice interact with her surroundings to form a ritual! Or many. I’m not sure. It’s like she is blending everything the way she sees fit the very moment she does it!»

Mandala? Ritual Ground? Temple? Chiyo knew the words individually, but what they actually meant for this situation was lost on her. What it did confirm for her however, along with seeing the two outside the building throwing seemingly unrelated supernatural effects at each other while wielding swords and wands, was that these people weren't espers. The child outside might not have seen fit to explain what was going on, but now there was someone else who seemed a bit more willing to share information. Chiyo once more created a Mio, this time though, next to the blue haired girl dressed like a sister. Mio proceeded to then grab the young sister by the shoulder, spinning her around to face her.

"You, girl. You seem to know something about what's going on her. Explain to me what's going on here in words I can understand so I can punch her in the face. All this about a distorted world, mandelas, and temples is all gibberish to me."

There was no need for further delay. The moment Sara had heard the voice of the grimoire library, she had taken heed of her words and immediately turned tail. Things were already dangerous as is and keeping the girl on her back safe in these conditions was going to be a fool’s errand if the red woman did not go down quickly.

So, she ran towards the sound of the Library’s voice.

The girl known as the Index had likely found some cover, so the little girl would probably currently be safest by her side.

As the world behind her had distorted into utter chaos, it was evident that she could not properly do her job while protecting the girl from that.

“So she’s basically just working with whatever she gets.”

If what Index was saying was true, then there was no way to determine whether she was aware of the elements she was using and working them to her advantage or whether she was igniting a fuse and working with the results of what the black box that was producing. How much did she control? Depending on which was her methodology, the way for overturning the advantage she had over the situation would change.

“What the hell is going on?”

The teleporter girl had seemingly followed her lead and attempted to escape in the same direction.

Wait...Teleport?

Sara had come to realize something. Between the teleporter girl and the new interloper…

"You, girl. You seem to know something about what's going on her. Explain to me what's going on here in words I can understand so I can punch her in the face. All this about a distorted world, mandelas, and temples is all gibberish to me."

“Let her go.” Sara gave a stern gaze towards the young woman demanding before turning back to Index and handing over the little girl. “She’s creating various effects using her surroundings and movements. But even so, we need to figure how much of the middle steps she is aware of or if she’s just using inputting into a black box without calculating the result. Either that or cut off the first step.”

Sara motioned to her throat.

Yes, silencing her would definitely put an end to all of this, but that was far easier said than done.

“No, the better option is to throw off her results. Introduce elements into her surroundings that interfere with the end result.”

The young woman was probably a genius in her own right—the type favored by fortune if she was able to work with improvisation as well as she did. But those kinds of people were susceptible to failures. That was why they needed to just create one opening, just one failure for her that would snowball into defeat.

“My knives. Those rods you use, Teleporter. And...” Sara looked to Chiyo. “Do you have anything?”

“Let her go.”

The appearance of the and intervention of the foreign looking girl gave Chiyo a moment to realize she had let her temper get away from her again. This whole situation was aggravating to say the least, but the girl in her grasp had done nothing to be the target of her anger. Chiyo released the blue haired girl from her grasp.

"Sorry about that."

“She’s creating various effects using her surroundings and movements. But even so, we need to figure how much of the middle steps she is aware of or if she’s just using inputting into a black box without calculating the result. Either that or cut off the first step. No, the better option is to throw off her results. Introduce elements into her surroundings that interfere with the end result.”

Chiyo wasn't going to pretend that this explanation made significantly more sense then the nonsense about temples, but at least the girl confirmed for her that even they didn't have the clearest idea of what was going on. It seemed like the plan she'd come up with was to just keep throwing things at her to see if they could get her to mess up.

“My knives. Those rods you use, Teleporter. And... Do you have anything?”

If she was going to be working with this group, it's probably be best to lay out their cards on the table. Chiyo dismissed the her left behind on the edge of the building and created a new one by her side.

"All I've got is me and Mio here. Despite the craziness I've seen that women throw around so far, I don't think she's capable of killing Mio and I, so if it's a distraction or interference you're looking for I can do that much at least. My skills basically amount to punching and not dying."

«Intercepting her spells on a larger scale to overturn her randomness…», Index repeated the suggestion in her own words, chewing on it by comparing it with that infinite mass of knowledge in her head. «That could work! Even if only momentarily», she declared not shying away from the dangerous truth she saw in their opponent’s capabilities. If she was capable of adjusting this quickly, she would be able to work around interferences before long.

But that still opened a window.

«I can help, too! I cannot not die and or tele-whatever, but I should be able to use Spell Intercept far better than any of you!» The silver haired girl, more than anyone else, understood the danger that woman imposed but that was exactly why she could not sit by idly. She had to act, for that was her responsibility as a member of Necessarius. «If you can get me in there, I can participate, too!»

And yet while that group of girls jollily discussed their strategy, Stella would not waste any time. She, too, had come to a momentary standstill, her eyes set upon her enemies or rather her prey. The Index Librorum Prohibitorum had appeared at long last. Finally within her reach. Finally, she could commence her plan. All it needed was a clean victory here.

She understood the necessity of winning. The importance of overcoming this stage. And the challenge that was born from those girls’ discussion.

She understood it all oh so perfectly well.

This wasn’t the first time she had opposed an organised group, you see.

All it needed to tip the scales was an elaborate strategy of her own.

A strategy that could counter all others. In the end, she still held that trumpcard.

Thus, she hummed in amusement.

…

He had said it. Which meant he believed it was now or never. Such was the strength of a Magic Name. Such was the single line that signified the power of your will itself.

Thus it was little surprising that he set off into a frenzy the next instance. His speed having increased he began to circle around the blonde girl, dancing as he did. The way he moved had always been complex, but now that exceeded itself. To call it artful was an understatement in the same way as not interpreting it as dangerous.

With each step he took, his motions grew faster until eventually it all blurred, likely an after effect of other magicwork he had blended into the ritual. At least that was, what Leivinia Birdway assumed as she remained idle in the centre of it all.

She had been trapped already, becoming the core of a distortion, as the air around her began to crackle.

The blonde could feel the world grow heavier, as a large amount of energy was invoked by the jester. It weighed down as much as it melted through reality. And by each second the picture it formed grew clearer, invoking something otherworldly. Something powerful.

«So you’re not simply able to invoke and cleanse the elements? You can push yourself this far? Colour me impressed», she spat out false praise, not even bothering to follow that man’s cycle of movement any longer. There was no need for any of that anymore. She couldn’t stop him either way… at least she didn’t intend to.

And then it formed, right above her the magical energy invoked the substance that forced itself into the scope of the mortal world: Thelesma. Angelic energy. As red as fire. The harbinger of what was to come next.

«An Angel is quite the bold choice if you ask—» Rejecting her intention to complete her speech the ritual concluded as the gathered mass of energy assume an ephimeral shape akin to a holy figure. When it did, it immediately descended upon her, in a raging storm of flaming red energy.

Fire as pure as it could get. Embued purely with the power of the Archangel Michael.

A sight so absurd and powerful it would spread across the city sky like a shining beacon of beautiful despair.

The effect itself was bound to be so mighty, it could tear a crater into the earth, digging hundreds of metres deep simply by melting through anything in its path.

Such was the wrath of the man called Ambroise, who more than once had lost everything.

If Stella was improvising, they needed to force a result that was something she could not use to her advantage. That was the answer that Sara had come to and luckily, it seemed the grimoire library was also in some measure of agreement.

“Alright, we don’t have much time to discuss strategy further,” Sara declared while looking back to the young woman who was charging her first attack. “Teleporter, I’ll leave behind her to you. I’ll take her flanks. Other girl, take the front. Ms Index, focus on intercepting her. Our goal is to make her self-destruct, so introduce as many small elements into her surroundings as possible.”

Though Sara didn’t know it, she was trying to exploit a concept similar to the introduction of noise into a signal processor.

“Fine.” The teleporter didn’t look too pleased with the answer, but given the minimal amount of information, this was probably the best they could manage for now.

The other girl, if her proclamation of her strength in not dying was accurate, was perfect for the frontal assault, but was probably just as flummoxed about the situation as she and the teleporter were.

“Let’s get things moving then. There’s no time.”

Without hesitation, Sara unleashed two pairs of knives into each direction—a set of objects small enough to cause some noise.

And Kuroko did similar, teleporting eight pins from her holsters on her thigh to behind Stella, all at different, random directions.

They just needed one final opening for Sara to charge in and knock Stella out. Just one.

«Intercepting her spells on a larger scale to overturn her randomness… That could work! Even if only momentarily. I can help, too! I cannot not die and or tele-whatever, but I should be able to use Spell Intercept far better than any of you! If you can get me in there, I can participate, too!»

Chiyo had no idea what Spell Intercept was, but just based on the name, it sounded like something that would mess with whatever their enemy was trying to do. The blue haired girl sounded confident about this too. She definitely seemed to be the one to talk to after this was all over for a proper explanation. She'd died way to many times during this incident to not understand what was going on.

“Alright, we don’t have much time to discuss strategy further, Let’s get things moving then. There’s no time.”

"Alright, Mio will go down and cause a distraction while I'll try and protect you," Chiyo said pointing at the blue haired girl. "I don't know what spell intercept does exactly, but it sounds important."

With that, Mio vanished and Chiyo created a new copy on the ground directly in front Stella. Mio would charge forward to attempt to punch Stella in the face. Chiyo wasn't expecting this to succeed. If something like this worked on its own they wouldn't have needed to do any of this team up and strategizing. Even so for each one that Stella would swat away, Chiyo would create a new one to continue on the assault path. Each one adding to the volume of noise which she would have to deal with.

As the girls marched into to battle as a united front, the crimson Magician would smile in confidence, setting the tone for her hum. A hymn of victory.

And so did Index, as she stepped forward and opened her mouth, unveiling that which she had crafted using her knowledge: A song existing solely to oppose the melody of the enemy. If Stella’s was one of creation, hers would become one of destruction. Carefully crafted to cause a sense of interference to any sort of sound emerging from the other’s mouth.

Both their symphonies would clash in space warped by Magic.

And yet the silver haired nun did not stop there.

Being who she was, she did not only consider the spell she fighting but all those conditions that sought to do the same.

The foreign objects, the noise, the girl appearing, disappearing and reappearing; all of which was taken into account and interwoven with that counter formula.

A perfect magical disturbance.

The most powerful Spell Intercept.

But what was a perfect craft if not an illusion?

In face of what they had crafted, Stella Dellinger di Ariana did not let her mood be soured. No, her hum and dance continued undisturbed by either of those oppositions. After all, their attempt would only come to mirror hers; which meant there was a delay.

She could still produce the phenomena. She could still cause fire to burn, lightning to strike, ice to freeze, wind to cut and power to explode.

And that was not the only card she had held.

«Between force and form, black and white, enemy and ally. There stands none.»

As she uttered these words, a certain smell had long since worked its wonders. Spread all over the chaotic space, the incense had long since invaded the noses of all of them, poisoning the mind and soul only so barely it became less and less noticeable the more they fought. A smell so nice and enchanting, it would lift their spirits, ever so lightly. Yet lightly enough to make them more receptive to the spoken word and those gestures. Even if barely audible or visible.

The message had arrived at them.

Its duality becoming the credo of their mind.

Shifting them all towards the most proximal idea.

They were each others allies.

Stella was their enemy.

The enemy they had to destroy at all cost.

And yet, given it all, that urge could not rival any of those that had fallen victim to it before. The girls’ disturbance had worked that well. However, even a tiny bit of that relentless nature was more than enough to force them into carelessness.

And carelessness would become another disturbance.

A disturbance to theirs.

And then.

Just then.

Something went off the wrong way.

As the disturbances clashed and the Magic was cast, something happened.

A loud boom resonated as lightning transformed into explosion, tearing away a portion of the floor, wiping out the undying girl as well as the items flung into the fray, and striking the Magician that had cast it.

Hammering into her form the force of lightning would knock Stella from her high horse, tearing through the fabric of her dress and skin below. Screaming under the burning heat, she grit her teeth to finally grasp her answer.

«33-67!»

The pillars would shift once more as the lighting strike was forced in a standstill, no longer burning away the woman but falling into her command. Energy floating in the air as the false length of her blond hair was cut and burnt. Her dress now devoid of any elegance or beauty barely clinging to that pale skin of hers, exposing its former beauty ravished by burns and scars.

However, even as the true brown of those eyes was revealed, they had yet to lose their fight.

«You are mistaken about just one thing. I cannot be stopped. This cannot be stopped. I must reclaim their treasure! For the Golden Dawn is not dead!!!»

Her voice cracking as she broke away from finesse and melody, she readjusted her stance in one final wave.

«Implebo999» As she spoke, that madness became her power.

«67-33!!!!!!!»

Another shift, another explosion.

Mighty.

Powerful.

Unstoppable.

As it was unleashed, it tore straight through the floor to the building below. Just a single motion and they all would be consumed by the maelstrom overwhelming power. Whether or not they overcame it, they would loose their footing as they dropped down to the below. And yet, even as they would fall, the warped space would dance around them, defying any sense of spatial logic.

Within the swirling mess of chaos, the disturbances, the noise, had all amounted to something. The disturbances in that turbulent sea had taken their toll on Stella and for better or for worse, she had taken  a significant amount of damage. Everything had backfired upon the young woman.

Yet, despite all that, she refused to go down. She had cried out.

“Get me in there and get the little girl and the nun to safety.”

Sara had quickly taken command of the situation as she barked orders to both the teleporter and the weird girl with her clone. From what she had heard from Necessarius, the nun should have had her own protections in place but the injured little one absolutely did not.

The enemy before them was attempting to take everything out around her. There was no guarantee that the crazed woman would even survive, but the light in her eyes showed she had enough belief that she would survive what she was attempting. She was not taking everyone down with her.

She did not wait for any further words from the teleporter or anyone else. She turned away and accelerated before she felt the twintailed girl’s hand touch her body. It was an odd sensation as she had felt her body’s position shift to somewhere else entirely. If the teleporter’s actions were right, she would be just above and behind the magician.

So, she didn’t even take a moment to think. As the maelstrom threatened to consume all, she clenched her hands together and with the force of her small arms and the acceleration she had maintained, she attempted to slam down the into the bare nape of the woman’s neck.

Sometimes, brute force was all that was needed. After all, magicians were still human as well.

---

Shirai Kuroko had little time to react. With all that had been going on, the foreigner girl had ordered to be dropped right into the eye of the storm with zero hesitation. At this point, the situation was not going to resolve itself and everyone was in danger at this point.

“Dam—”

Before she could even cry out, the foreigner girl had already began to jump away, likely in order to maintain a position of facing her back.

Before she could let her get out of reach, Shirai Kuroko reached out her hand, brushing her fingers just by her leg before seeing her disappear.

Trusting she had made it to where she had aimed for, Kuroko focused next on jumping to where the nun and the injured girl were. Placing one hand on the nun’s hand and the other arm around the barely conscious little girl, she attempted to teleport up once to allow the group to avoid the ground crumbling beneath them before slowly teleporting down until her feet finally hit the ground.

As she had anticipated, Mio was unable to land a hit on Stella, though the circumstances surrounding that were at least somewhat beneficial. The  young nun girl had mentioned that what Stella was doing was casting spells, but what exactly all this "noise" they were making and what exactly her spell intercept would do wasn't mentioned. When Stella cast tried to cast her next spell however, it's effects were immediately apparent.

«Between force and form, black and white, enemy and ally. There stands none.»

The tension of the air changed as another powerful spell was about to be unleashed followed by a deafening boom throughout the area. An explosion tore through the center of the building, destroying parts of the floor, and killing Mio instantly. Chiyo, over by the nun, threw herself between the source of the explosion and the nun to hopefully shield her from any rogue debris. When the explosion had subsided, it seemed both Chiyo and the nun were relatively unscathed. Stella on the other hand seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage. Her clothing was shredded, hair singed, and her body scarred and burned.  

«You are mistaken about just one thing. I cannot be stopped. This cannot be stopped. I must reclaim their treasure! For the Golden Dawn is not dead!!! Implebo999! 67-33!!!!!!!»

Stella's words meant nothing to the girl unversed in the ways of the magic world, but by now the numbers she spoke at the end were a clear signifier of another imminent attack. Exactly how the numbers related to what type of attack it was was still lost on Chiyo, so she just continued interposing herself between Stella and the nun.

“Get me in there and get the little girl and the nun to safety.”

The foreign girl shouted out and the judgment girl jumped into action, teleporting her directly over to Stella and the quickly trying to teleport herself and the two other girls to safety as the ground beneath them shattered at the force of Stella's attack. Unfortunately for Chiyo, she was not among those rescued from the fall by Kuroko. Chiyo fell down to the floor below creating another copy of her on the ground and dismissing the version of her that was falling to be safely on the ground.

As gravity claimed the reigns over her fate, Stella had thrown her final trump card. A storm of destruction to eat her enemies whole, even if it would not pillow her own eventual arrival at the very bottom.

But she didn’t care. She no longer had anything to lose. Beaten and battered, her blood was flowing as her reddened and scathed flesh had been exposed from below the beauty of her dress. There was no dignity in her. No grace. Nothing. It hadn’t disappeared. It simply had never existed in the first place.

Stella Dellinger di Ariana was not that kind of woman. She was no noble. She was no child of a rich family. She wasn’t even that cultured. Her hair only dyed. Her eye colour the work of contact lenses. Even the fair texture of her skin an illusion created by cosmetics. Fundamentally she was a faker.

On all accounts. Even as a Magician.

However all that was fine. Were her intentions pure. Her greatest desire that had driven her to perform the ultimate deed: To go up against the world. To try and reach for the treasure she so strongly desired. And she would have grasped it, hadn’t it been for these people and their pesky interference.

She couldn’t take it.

She couldn’t allow it.

She couldn’t give up.

She couldn’t admit defeat.

Even if the world below her spoke of ruin. Even if the world above her harboured one to bring her ruin.

There was no choice anymore. No crossroad. It all lead down the same pathway.

And yet, she was unwilling to accept it. Unwilling to yield.

Which was why her lips parted.

«99…» Only to be met by the strike of the attacker before the speech could ever end. Sealing the disaster under the heavy force of the impact that knocked the very last ounce of strength she had left in her from her.

The world went dark just a split second before her body hit the ground, limply bouncing against it, if none would prevent it.

And when it did, silence would linger.

…

The raging fire. The colour of red. A surge of energy materialising in the sky, being pushed to assume the outline of a form. Human perhaps on the first view, but most definately otherworldly on the second. A power so great, the air felt as though it would ignite any moment. Not only when you were close to it, but spreading out into the distance.

Yet no one cared. A typical sight for a city at the brink of collapse. Were people never going to expect the bomb that would fall from the sky wiping them all out in a swift explosion. Peacefully living in obliviousness as they ate their lunch, went to a café together or switched to a bunch programs on their television, unaware that those could very well be their final moments.

Still, there as also a tidbid of Magic at work, preventing the disaster from slipping beyond the veil.

And it was the Magic of that blonde girl standing there with a devious grin plastered across her face. Unbefitting it was the expression of a villain, enjoying themselves over the schadenfreude the situation fed them with.

But why schadenfreude?

«Huh? That can’t be?» The jester’s eyes widened in shock as they found themselves glued on the powerful mass of energy above. Beautiful red as it may have been, another colour had appeared in its heart, challenging the purity. No, challenging its entire framework. What had been at the brink of a perfect materialisation had begun to flimmer. A static building up within it, as the edges of the figure grew blurry. More blurry by the second.

The red mixing with a hint of gold. Getting washed out. Loosing its identity. Ultimately growing orange. And from orange into another colour impossible to describe in simple words. And then it blew up. Not in the massively powerful explosion its master had foreseen for it, but simply popping like a soap bubble, disappearing into nothingness.

«However, you need to learn a lot still. A ritual of this make might be powerful, but ultimately, if just a single thing, a minor instance you didn’t account for, appears right at the perfect spot with perfect timing it could become enough of a disturbance to make the whole thing collapse.» Her words weren’t kind. Solely vicious and scolding. «In fact, that is why the cleansing rituals were invented in the first place. To avoid the ritual grounds to be poisoned by residual Magic that could disturb the flow of a new one. Quite ironic you ignored that possibility? But what to expect from a second rate Magician such as you.»

Whether or not he had heard wasn’t clear. He remained frozen for a while, staring at the oblivion of nothingness his grand work had been tossed into. Disbelief and shock written all over his face, even visible through the dehumanising makeup he wore.

And as he stood there his memory caught on with him. The nightmare that had chased him all those years. From a time long ago where he and his comrades, at the brink of their power and height of their cabal, encountered a group that did not take a liking to their existence. That could not allow for a new power to appear within their garden. Men in black suits had come and fought them. No, it wasn’t even a fight. It was a one sided massacre. An extermination only those with true power could perform. Not even one by one but in a single massive swipe Ambroise and his allies had been crushed. Their ambitious cabal wiped off the face of the earth.

His most horrific memory and the foundation of his very existence.

Wrath.

Wrath that would never die down.

Not even now.

Thus, he would move again. Silently setting himself onto the path of the next disaster he would bring upon them all. Another catastrophe he had kept hidden in his sleeve for when this great day would come. One that not even Leivinia Birdway could hope to overcome.

All he needed to do was move!

What had happened to Furuhashi Gou? Unable to catch up with the strange twins he had never made it into that building properly. Left behind on the ground, as everyone moved away and into the sky, he was the sole loser. The sole piece that had zero purpose in everything. At least that was what the world told him he was. But he wasn’t willing to accept that.

Which was why he had begun to run. Run after the pair dueling above the city skies. Run to catch up to them. Run to stop them. Run to see the truth behind it all. Run to chase that question that had bugged him ever since that day. Run to chase the truth he wasn’t suposed to find. And he ran at the top of his very everything.

Only to arrive at the end of everything.

But even then he didn’t stop.

Not when there was a massive force of destruction being invoked above him. Not when that force collapsed. He simply charged forward driven by only his instincts.

And it was those instincts that gave him the perfect timing. That one decisive moment to do something. To contribute. No, to save everyone and everything.

His instincts were roaring, telling him of the imminent danger that emerged from that strange man in a clown’s gown. The horror of whatever he was about to unleash.

And yet he didn’t hold back. He didn’t stop. He just ran.

And punched.

Right into his face with the full might of his arm, empowered by his ability.

So strongly, so without restraint, the impact of his fist upon his jaw echoed through the now silent city. Its force knocking the man right off his feet and a couple of metres across the asphalt, before he finally came to a standstill.

Before everything came to a standstill.

Though on opposite sides of this conflict, Chiyo had to admire Stella's tenacity. Despite their group's attempts resulting in her spell self destructing and her talking the brunt of it, Stella had remained standing, though only barely. It was clear that this fight was coming to a close. Both sides injured and tired with the building crumbling around them. With how destructive Stella's spells had been so far, it was clear to Chiyo whoever got the next shot off would be the winner. Even if She herself would be fine, there was little Chiyo would be able to do to the mage should her allies fall. It seem then for a moment, that Stella might win this, as Chiyo heard from below the telltale sound of Stella starting another spell.

«99…»

But the second number never came. With no time to spare the foreign girl appearing above the mage had managed to strike the decisive blow. With the last of her energy spent, Stella began to hurtle towards the ground. Acting quickly, Chiyo made a copy of herself to assist in catching the falling women. With two sets of arms, Chiyo and Mio were able to catch Stella before she hit the ground.

"Nice Catch." Chiyo said with a sigh as she slung the now unconscious mage over her shoulder. With Stella defeated, there was finally a moment for Chiyo to catch her breath before checking on the status of her allies.

"You all alive up there? I've got her down here. She's unconscious."

With the threat dealt with, perhaps Chiyo would finally be able to get some answers out of the others as to what was going on here. In fact, it was safe to say Chiyo wasn't going to let them leave before she got some answers.

With one single strike, it had all come to an end. It did not matter what the spell covered by the chant that would presumably be 99-1 could do as a single girl’s fists prevented that from ever becoming reality.

It was a crude end for sure. If there were any other magicians who were watching, they would say that the girl’s methods were nothing short of boorish. But results were all that mattered and in the end, her tiny fists had bore down all the force they could upon the magician in the dress.

Whatever processes had been ongoing, whatever chaos she had been spewing and maintaining. All of it had fallen apart and died with a whimper.

Though the world had not reverted to its initial state and was left distorted, there was no longer any chance of it changing any further. Sara merely slowed her descent as she watched the unconscious girl fall only to be caught by one of the strange girls who had been running around earlier. Within a few seconds, she found herself landing gently only a few feet away.

“Regardless of your will towards the Golden Dawn, it will not be you reviving that name. That’s for sure.” Sara looked to the unconscious magician as she spoke in response to her last verbalized will.

Within a few more seconds the teleporter appeared out of thin air with the nun and the little girl.

“I see you’re safe too, Miss Index. Though, how’s the girl doing?”

“She’s stable for now. The faster she gets medical attention, the better. Unfortunately, I can’t fully tell up from down in this place.”

Yes, despite the fact that the rogue magician had been knocked out, nothing had reverted. The fire may have been put out but the ashes remain.

“We’ll need to get out so the little girl can get treatment. But first, I’m going to ask you to hand her over.” Sara faced Chiyo and held out her hand. Her spell was still active but if she didn’t pick up the unconscious form of the enemy and keep her unconscious before the spell’s time limit came to an end, she was going to have a bad time.

"Huh? You taking her? She’s going to be going into the custody of Judgement. End of story. After all the issues she caused here, we can’t just let her be taken away. Not to mention you and your group. You’re not walking away from—”

“She’s not your jurisdiction. She’s ours. Even if you try to take her in, the extradition will be done without the formal process. I’m not saying your thought process is wrong. But have some discretion. There’s something in your arm that’s far more important than her that you’re better suited to helping. Focus on that.”

«Actually, you are both wrong. She is mine.» The boastful voice of a ten year old girl cut into the conversation with the delicacy of a butcher swinging his hammer upon a piece of meat. «After all, this matter is only to be resolved with her death. Or do you still assume that either of you has the capability to keep her restrained? After all your failings and stumbling?» And she said so all the while shouldering that same mighty sword of gold she had swung to slay their enemies before. An intentional mark of her unbroken strength, obviously employed to be the one barking the loudest.

Such was Leivinia Birdway, a girl that stood at the pinacle of the world.

However, there was a fool completely oblivious to that display of power. Or perhaps simply unwilling to yield to it by mere virtue of her own (childish) confidence.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f54/20/10/60/34/indexi11.png
«No! We cannot leave this task to a little child! This is important work to be conducted by the professionals of Necessarius!», Index would cut in, as she raced between the older girls and the youngest, lowering her shoulders as she pouted her lips, in a gesture that stood strongly against the adulthood and professionalism she had meant to convey.

Yet still, they had all been wrong! «Huff… huff… huff… no… huff… huff… she falls under our jurisdiction! …huff …huff… this is Academy City after all!», the figure of now hunched over grey haired boy declared, completely unable to even engage in his speech with all the heavy breathing hold him down. «Anti-Skill is already on the way!»

“We’ll need to get out so the little girl can get treatment. But first, I’m going to ask you to hand her over.”

Chiyo didn't know what authority the foreign girl thought she had over her, but she wasn't planning to give up the girl she was currently holding. At least not without a proper explanation of what was going on. She would have told that girl as much too if the judgement girl hadn't chimed in first.

"Huh? You taking her? She’s going to be going into the custody of Judgement. End of story. After all the issues she caused here, we can’t just let her be taken away. Not to mention you and your group. You’re not walking away from—”

“She’s not your jurisdiction. She’s ours. Even if you try to take her in, the extradition will be done without the formal process. I’m not saying your thought process is wrong. But have some discretion. There’s something in your arm that’s far more important than her that you’re better suited to helping. Focus on that.”

«Actually, you are both wrong. She is mine. After all, this matter is only to be resolved with her death. Or do you still assume that either of you has the capability to keep her restrained? After all your failings and stumbling?»

«No! We cannot leave this task to a little child! This is important work to be conducted by the professionals of Necessarius!»

«Huff… huff… huff… no… huff… huff… she falls under our jurisdiction! …huff …huff… this is Academy City after all! Anti-Skill is already on the way!»

Chiyo hadn't expected the issue of who got custody of this girl she was holding to turn into quite the shouting match. It seemed there were four factions here vying for her. Until this argument broke out, Chiyo had figured the blond girl, the blue haired sister, and the foreign girl had all been on the same side. They had all been using weird "spells" and had been fighting with her after all. Turns out they were three separate factions though.

"All of you shut up! Here's what's going to happen."

Chiyo raised her voice to cut through the squabbling before having Mio point a finger at the teleporting judgement member.

"You. Judgement teleporter. Go get that girl out of here immediately. She needs medical attention. Why are you even still here arguing. Besides, you've got another judgement member here to argue your custody case."

Mio then gestured to the three mages.

"You three will offer me an in depth explanation of whatever is going on. I don't care which of you does it, but until I get an explanation none of you are getting her. Whether she dies or goes to this Necessarius or whatever doesn't concern me. But there's no way I'm going to get this beaten up without knowing anything."

While Chiyo didn't think she had any real chance of taking everyone else in a fight if it came down to it, especially not the blond girl, she hoped if anyone tried to make a move on her, the other's vested interesting in the girl she was carrying would have them act as well. A sort of mutual deterrent. At least at the present moment, it was probably good for everyone that the only neutral party was holding the girl.

“Tch.”
Shirai Kuroko clicked her tongue. As much as she hated to admit it, the other girl who had caught the perpetrator in all of this was correct. Luckily, Furuhashi had come to the scene. She did not like the fact that she had to leave everything to him, but given that she was the only ally she had here, she had minimal choice if she wanted to get the little girl to safety.

At least the stuck-up idiot had stuck to protocol and called Anti-Skill. Even if that still left the problem of making sure that they got to her, she had little choice at this point.

“Furuhashi! Take care of things from here!”

Without another word, she took the young injured girl upon her shoulders and teleported herself out of the area. Even if this was not District 7, she could still probably find a good hospital somewhere outside of the wreckage.

With the hot-headed teleporter and injured little girl outside of the area and heading to safety, Sara could now focus on the more important matter at hand.

"After all, this matter is only to be resolved with her death. Or do you still assume that either of you has the capability to keep her restrained? After all your failings and stumbling?"

And unfortunately, the young girl she had been working with had made an excellent point, though she would not dignify the comment about failings and stumbling. But things had gotten to this point because they had been unable to catch her before she escaped the United Kingdom. It was not like they were going to bee able to restrict her and get her to the Tower of London with the resources or time they had. She had no way of putting the culprit into a temporary coma, sadly.

In the end, the goal of the mission was the capture and elimination of Stella.

“No, you’re right, Birdy. There’s no way to realistically keep her restrained at this stage. She needs to be executed here.” Sara sighed as she scratched the back of her head.

“So allow me to put it simply, miss,” Sara said as she took out another knife and held it by her side. She was fatigued and tired, but her spells were still active. “Do you really think you can protect her? The two of us can easily execute her at this stage. You really are not in the position to demand any in-depth explanation. Do you think you will be able to stop her if she wakes up again?”

She merely had to ready her intent to kill. She was a hunter of Necessarius, after all. Even if she had some hope the Index would come up with a way to restrain her, she was still a professional at the end of the day.

«What the hell are you saying?! Nobody’s going to kill anyone! Not under my watch!», the gray haired boy shouted, reaching to grab the girl that had drawn her dagger, attempting to shove her aside or, worse restrain her.

The blonde girl in her piano coloured attire on the other hand remained unphazed as her glance punched holes into the form of the girl trying to wring the truth out of them. «Dare to make such a demand again and I’ll have you join her in hell.»

Something the silver haired sister, kind enough to lend her protective hands out to anyone in need, would not accept. Jumping at the girl she saw as nothing else but a little kid in a simular, yet far less competent attempt of restraining her. «I won’t let you! Go home to your parents! Nobody will die today!»

With the four parties busy arguing their right to act, as well as the ethics behind the action, it was all but appropriate to assume they had been blinded.

Blinded by the sensation that had overtaken their minds, subconsciously steering their individual hostilities beyond what they should have been, making enemies mortal and one’s own position irrevocable.

Blinded to not see the that the right they had fallen out over was but fleeting.

And as it was, the ephemeral world of dreams had passed by, allowing that pair of eyelids to open up again.

When it did, it was not long until reality had caught on. Not with them blarring about their intents ever so loudly.

Hence, her response was immediate.

«5-95» Words uttered in such impossible to perceive silence that they could easily be shrugged over.

Unlike the power they commanded.

A power that drove it all apart. Collapsed the girl carrying her over her shoulder, the ground below, the light falling upon the pair and even the air itself. In fact, it was everything that came apart that instance, forming a hole in reality itself.

And then.

Just like that.

It passed.

With that woman having disappeared off the face of the earth, as only a warped remnant of the point they had bee standing on before remained.