[NC] War of the Roses

Day 12 Pacific Ocean
Solstice Magic accommodated 3200 passengers, travelling from the Port of Vladivostok to Port Yokohama. It's been a very smooth sailing for the most part, there were no shortage of well behaved passengers compared to the minority of drunkards on board her staff had to deal with, yet none the less the voyage from Vladivostok was nothing out of the ordinary.

Or at least that's how the public saw it. The control room however, saw things not many could immediately see. For instance, there were no way a ordinary passenger could see the bottom of the ocean floor let alone detect countless vessels travelling at the same speed as the cruise ship. The word vessel might be the wrong word as the pieces showing up on the sonar was numerous and yet too small to be a ship. Rather it was small enough to be just big enough so that they would be detected through sonar whatever it was. Yet as they approached nearer to Yokohama the worrisome dots vanished without a trace, confusing the captain and the crew to wonder what was wrong with their equipment.







Day 21 Academy City
Stiyl Magnus. Fortis931 after the events that followed from Deep Blood was no where to be found within Academy City. There were formal summons for him at the headquarters of Necessarius and while he was to be summoned on official duties to show his presence and report regarding the case of the rogue Alchemist Aureolus Izzard, there were other matters concerning him that required his immediate flight back. If Seluna had to make some guesses it was most likely the business with his encounter with the Imagine Breaker and realization of Laura Stuart's white lie. Not to mention he was currently being watched along with his Eastern companion Kanzaki Kaori, Salvare001. It would be foolish to think that Academy City didn't have spies from other organizations. Most likely it was crawling with spies and information network stretching far and thin between all the main Magic Organizations across Europe, and these people had been paying very close attention from the moment Index Librorum Prohibitorum entered Academy City.

No doubt these same eyes were watching on the night when the keeper of the 103,000 grimoires performed the unthinkable, tapping into the powers many had thought impossible. Since then the number of eyes watching every movement of the ones involved with Index Librorum Prohibitorum increased dramatically. Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori were of no exception to their faithful watchdogs.

Academy City was a threat. A Pandora's Box waiting to be opened at the most opportune moment and many leaders placed their best eyes and ears within the growing city eagers to learn any new developments. Diplomatic alliances were all ideas that crossed everyones minds yet none of these leaders dared to tread down that road in fear of brandishing themselves as a common enemy to the rest of the Magical Organizations out there. Some just didn't approve of the existence of ESP altogether and others clung zealously to their religions that their leaders could do naught but else to keep their eyes open for any competitor to make the first move. For this reason it was only natural to have Stiyl and Kanzaki pull out of their duties to avoid unnecessary attention, lest some leaders draw a premature conclusion that the Anglican Church has made the first move.

Never. Not while Laura Stuart remained seated as the Archbishop.

Every step she took, and all actions she considered, was weighed before her invisible scale to determine if all remained balanced. Neither evil nor good yet Seluna's Archbishop never meddled in affairs that seemed in the least disadvantageous for her. This was no exception as Seluna confirmed from the comforts of her apartment the departure of her fellow operatives on the computer monitor, wired and hacked into several security cameras installed at the main gateways. With all things considered an average magician might have thought something along the lines of attempting a magical infiltration and perhaps it was a natural train of thoughts that might lead one to believe magic worked in ways that allowed such things possible. If it were any other cities that is.

Academy City possessed technologies 30 years into the future and with it, brought security measures that far surpassed anything outside the city walls. Technologies that Magicians had never even dreamed of encountering let alone scheme against to infiltrate without being detected. If there was one individual that could get past Academy City's security without alerting their hightech security systems, it would most likely be the legendary courier, Route Disturb otherwise commonly known as Oriana Thompson. So it made sense that what she saw on Motoharu's computer screen wasn't a forged document but a real visitor's visa of Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori.

Diplomatic reasons aside, the truth remained that Index was unguarded and very vulnerable to the hungering eyes and ears of various sects. Despite being affiliated with Necessarius there was no way Seluna could trust the man standing at the window to take immediate action should an attack on Index become inevitable. Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

If Oriana Thompson was the world's greatest courier then it went without saying that Tsuchimikado Motoharu was one of the world's greatest spies, a feat that seemed impressive on first insight but relatively useless in Seluna's eyes for he would remain in shadows unwilling to take direct actions when it was necessary.

"Unya~! With Kanzaki Nee-chin and Stiyl-kun out of the picture who knows what's going to happen around here~?" exclaimed Motoharu and Seluna couldn't tell if the spy was sincerely worried or not due to the playful tone of his.

If Seluna's informations were correct... there were some strange movements from Russia already. Sightings of strange shiplike objects under the Russian cruise ship Solstice Magic....

"Indeeed~~ hahaha" Seluna exclaims in an also uncharacteristically cheerful tone, given the situation. Tsuchimikado Motoharu was one of the few people in Necessarius that remained in constant contact with her, given the nature of their works of one who dwells in the shadows and one who kept them clean it was pretty clear that the occasionally ran into each other. In her experience and with what little information had been provided to her, this was essentially the calm before the storm. There was never a peaceful days, just respites and save points for some like her and Motoharu. So the Irish magician felt confident enough to think that she and the Magician-Esper Hybrid got along quite well. They poked fun at each other and maintained the attitude of poking fun at others. There was enough common ground between them to be comfortable around each other, Seluna wouldn't go as far as call herself his friend or to think that the world spy thought of her as such. They trusted each other enough to not trust each other, it was a strange relationship but one that worked and one two people who risked their lives every second could mantain. "Maybe I should go all out tonight and do a full course on those buffets you told me about haha" She laughed as she places her hands on the back of her head and leans back on her chair.

The situation wasn't a nice one really. The real guardians had left and Seluna considered herself essentially on her own. No back up, no allies  and waay to many risks around her, just like every day. She had one objective and that was to keep Index away from other magicians. Last time she didn't intervene because the heroes were present, now it was just her and a bystander called Kamijo Touko who had been elevated in importance. "You know before everything gets all gloomy and tragic haha" Seluna gets out her chair and walks in a nonchalant manner to the window next to Motoharu. A few blocks down the road was a Certain Dormitory visible.

"But jaaaa don't ya think the Archbishop is being waaay too kind to me this time? I mean look at this place, soo much space I have no idea what to do with it, she even gave me some nifty science tools! haha here I was expecting a dorm like yours haha"

The reason why Seluna seemed to be taking it easy was because she could afford too in the moment. When things went 'dark' between Necessarious and Seluna, then the only thing Seluna had to do was to keep in mind her objective and act how her gut and instinct told her. The Archbishop knew exactly the extent of her capabilities and usefulness, failure or success was but another predicted adjustment in Laura's scale. So now Seluna had to take everything step by step, keep an eye the rumors from Russia and stay on guard with the Roman Catholics in the city that she had previously identified. She knew of one and by experience she knew that the Romans did not move alone and now with rumors of the Annihilatus or some Russian Cabal coming... well extra precautions were needed.

"Tell you what haha if things work out I'll treat you and your sister to some fancy Sukiyaki haha"

With Stiyl and Kanzaki out of the picture it was plain as day that Index was defenseless against whatever threat loomed within Academy City yet, by removing her guardians Laura Stuart had already removed the much unnecessary accusations from starting a serious diplomatic warfare between the magic cabals. Now that Index was unmarked by her guardians the eyes shifted from the potential alliance of Anglican Church and Academy City, their focus now fixated on the library of grimoires. All it took was one move from Laura to shift their focus away from her, some understood the meaning behind her actions while others ridiculed her actions and planned what to do with the rare opportunity.

While putting out the fire of accusations were a good thing overall, it also meant that Seluna could possible end up in complete darkness without the direct support of the Anglican Church... if push comes to shove she may even be required to commit suicide in the event she was captured during her mission to protect Index, for the sake of keeping secrecy so that Laura's actions did not go to waste. None of this however involved the spy before her yet the words she spoke visibly irritated Tsuchimikado for no longer than a fraction of a second, a detail she didn't pass up on.

Whether it was intentional or he was over thinking things didn't matter. At least when it came to Voluntatis323, Tsuchimikado knew the playful words weren't simply a passing joke regardless of how it was addressed. To outsiders who might have listened in on their conversation may have taken no notice of the subtle threat Seluna mixed into her last sentence but as the one whom she directed that threat to, it was hard not to notice for Tsuchimikado.

The smallest mention of Maika bothered him enough to suspect her to be threatening him so that in the event she requires aid and he is nowhere to be seen, Maika's life may be endangered. The assassin's subtle threats were nothing to scoff at and from the looks of things she must have done a thorough homework about him.

In response he gave her a stupid grin while pushing his sunglasses back up.

"Iyaan~! Now that's a generous offer but I'd rather prefer a intimate date just the two of us for old times sake!"

In all honesty they were treading a fine line even now. While truth remained that they both worked for the same employer, both magicians could easily kill off the other if they felt like doing so. Only reason they chose not to was because the other was technically still useful to them and violence between them now wouldn't solve the current disastrous predicament Laura Stuart placed them in.

As much as Tsuchimikado had been surprised earlier by the assassin's surprising knowledge of espionage and intel, Seluna in return felt cold sweat running down her neck as Tsuchimikado smiled back at her emitting some unexpected killing intent that seemed to mismatch his appearance and image as a spy, yet neither showed the other their true cards.

If there was one thing they could both agree on, they were more or less forced to work together like a mismatching jigsaw puzzle binded by a glue called Necessarius and as such neither could afford to betray the other now, not yet anyway.

Seluna truly liked Tsuchimikado, he was one of the few people she could maintain a "normal" conversation with in a pace that they both understood each other. However, just because she liked him as a companion and possibly saw the potential of friendship somewhere in their twisted life styles, she did not trust him fully but then again the only person who held her trust was Laura Stuart. Not because she wouldn't ever betray Seluna but because she trusted that in the long run the Archbishop would do the right thing and as a small pawn in a larger than life pawn the caretaker was satisfied with being a piece for the Angelican Church. Their conversation took an ugly turn but it was one that the assassin and the spy had to put in the table, it was mutual insurance that neither would betray the other by showing which card they would pull if things ended up in a sour mood.

They both lived in a shade of the world where mistakes equaled death and trust was fickle but above all else the most important thing. Each party had to know how important they were for each other, it was a strange dance that they danced and it could even be called a twisted thing for allies to do to each other but that was the world to them. More than one life hanged in the balance and so was the peace in the "light" for others, so as the kind of people that dwelled in the "darkness" it was important that they succeeded and for that the each must know what the other was capable off.

"Haha come back in two years and I'll consider it senpai~" One of the amusing facts about their relationship as member of Necessarius was that technically Tsuchimikado out ranked Seluna yet Voluntatis323 was a couple of years older than her superior. "I don't think you are ready for an Irish pub ahaha" Seluna chuckles as she stops leaning against the window and moves toward the kitchen compared to the Certain Dorms Tsuchimikado and Kamijou used her apartment was slightly bigger and had an independent room for sleeping separated from the living room . "But I suppose I can get you a kid meal like in the past haha" There was something to be said about the 'feeling' Maika's name could cause when uttered. Causing to Seluna to see her superiors intent as "Anything but her" it was a clear landmine that would explode into a nuclear bomb if anyone dared touched her and left the spy alive. It was frankly a mine she wouldn't willingly and possibly unwillingly would never dare step on. Just passing the information was enough to make a point and Seluna wasn't about to push the subject even more into that direction.

"Sooo~ any clues if the science side has any stand on our pickled pickle situation?"

Grand Chase at the Local Park

-Participants: Misaka Mikoto-
-NPC: Misaka10032-

The weather forecast promised rain yet the skies above told a different story contradicting the words of the weather report as not a single cloud seemed present that day. Naturally on a sunny day like this one would feel grateful that there were plenty of cool breeze brushing past their skin as it cooled them down under the heat... yet. She was not impressed. In fact she was in a state of panic as something very precious to her was stolen right before her very eyes and it somehow ended up in the hands of someone she was having a hard time against.

The embodiment of her problems ran slightly faster than her from the intensive training she received before along with many of her other sisters for an illegal research that required such sacrifices and she ran flashing the object of the protagonist's full attention. Her shorts.

"Misaka voices her assumptions that these really are Onee-sama's shorts responds Misaka as Misaka lifts her skirts to confirm the genuine article." and sure enough she did lift them high up to her waistline to take a peek at the shorts she was wearing while running away from the Academy City's Number 3 Level 5 Electromaster by running at her top speeds.

Oh god was she doing that on purpose? But just as she thought that bystanders looked at the twins as they ran to the distance, one of them wearing nightvision goggles leading by a mile while the flushing sister tried to close her gap with her younger, more daring sister. How on earth did she obtain her shorts anyway?

As if she knew what the Original was thinking Misaka 10032 answered.

"Misaka concisely estimate Onee-sama's puzzled expressions and answers that Misaka picked them up when the spatial manipulator dropped them on top of Misaka10032's black cat while teleporting away hastily says Misaka as Misaka secretly laughs in her heart."

Why won't she give them back? Like this... her skirt felt so... exposed!

"Misaka realizes this inconveniences Onee-sama but promptly refuses because this is only the second present Misaka received from Onee-sama declares Misaka as Misaka grips tightly to Onee-sama's shorts while preparing to run at full turbo EX mode."

And as she said so she lifted her skirt once more flashing her shorts to the world while gripping tightly around them as her running speed doubled creating an even further gap between Misaka Mikoto and herself.

Everywhere he looked the scene was what anyone would depict as a stereotypical seaside luxury resort found on a tropical island some place remote yet accessible only to rich VIPs. From a distance Guy could feel the warm yet cool summer breeze brushing past his toned skin and the warmth of sunlight cascading down beads of sweat from his forehead.

Though he says tropical resort it had everything and anything you can expect from a grand water park starting from the world's tallest water slide to the world's first aquatic roller coaster that defies the laws of gravity that took sliders into multiple loops going up and down jerking them violently side to side before shooting them out onto a 300 meter drop from a waterfall and into the dive pools below.


Guy himself sat on a beach chair with a cone of icecream on one hand while his temporary co-worker dressed in a school swimsuit sat across from him trying to get a tan from the artificial sun blazing from above. Blonde, blue eyes and slightly pale complexion she was most notably one of the few foreigners enjoying this aquatic center, a member of ITEM, one of the underground groups in the Science Side whose primary function is to monitor the upper echelons of the Academy City (including the board of directors) and prevent them from gaining too much power and getting out of hand. Original 4 members of the group consisted of members who relied on items in a way to assist their ability and to fight, giving the team an actual namesake.

For example, Kinuhata Saiai will always carry a small amount of nitrogen with her, Takitsubo Rikou needs Body Crystal in order to activate her ability AIM Stalker, Mugino Shizuri carries silicon cards that allow her to spread the area of effect of her attacks and Frenda who was partnered to Guy for this mission will rely almost entirely on bombs and other weapons despite being a Lv4 Esper of unknown powers.

Despite having been introduced to the advanced technology of Academy City it was still very difficult to believe that this tropical island resort was all an artificial convention built 7 miles below Academy City. The complex stretched enough to build a dozen football stadiums and it would still have enough space to build a whole city of residential area if they so choose to expand and despite being underground the area really captured the illusion of being stranded on a tropical island with artificial weather that felt real to the touch, right down to the sea water that surrounded the island.

Though technically not everything was an illusion from technology as the water used was in fact from the ocean afterall, connected to this underground island resort by multiple tunnels that lead to the ocean. Only Academy City had the resources to create such a phenomenon.

"Funyaa~ now this is the kind of jobs I can get used to." Frenda stretched her arms and legs  as she got comfortable with the free holiday. For her this was a icing on top, away from the watchful eyes of Mugino, holiday at an actual resort and a pay on top of that. It wasn't going to get any better than this. Frenda poked her spoon into a canister of reinforced steel that could have easily been opened with a can opener yet wasn't.

The words on the can read Sea Salt Ice Cream and the top portion of the can there was something that looked like PVC tape stuck around the can where the top had been burned off by an explosive with an electrical fuse stuck in it. Frenda continued to dip her spoon into the container to fill her mouth with ice cream, handing Guy a spoon to eat with.

The orders this time came from someone higher than the usual clients, possibly one of the board of directors or maybe higher as they weren't the only ones hired for the job. Order itself seemed pretty simple enough, to remain calm during a invasion, to make sure nobody gets back inside the resort once Anti-Skill and Judgment evacuated feeble civilians and to make sure the invaders don't get a chance to get out of the conflict zone.

There was no telling how the client knew when and where the invasion would occur but it's been a good 3 days of complete relaxation at the beach resort for Frenda and Guy. Who would be foolish enough to attack through here anyway. After all the only thing that connected this place to the outside world was the tunnels of sea waters being pumped through and out, and there was no sentient lifeform that could get in through those highly pressurized water system. As far as they knew, this place was safer than most and Frenda could live a day or two more with the paid holiday.

That is to say, they hoped nothing would happened but it wasn't to say they weren't prepared. Next to Frenda were oxygen tanks and scuba gear she was using all morning to apply strips of high explosive tapes in each and every pools, water attractions and many more. She placed explosives in the form of modified dolls that bore a uncanny resemblance to the aquatic resort's mascot Mr.Pickle-O, set to go off on the slightest intentions from Frenda's 'Magic' wand.

"I kind of get why I'm here but why am I partnered with someone who looks like a ordinary teacher?"

While she never mentioned her age, to Guy who was teaching students around her age, Frenda was at most several years younger. In fact he was certain she was no older than the brats he was teaching in Tokiwadai... A foul mouthed rude brat."

"Bah whatever, as long as I'm around nothing can possibly go wrong. Just hide somewhere and pretend you're a fallen palm tree if we run into any trouble!"

“Nooo! GIVE THAT BAAAAACCCKKKK!!!”

A furious roar split the eardrums of people standing nearby as a girl chased after her twin-image. Her entire face was flushed, not from exertion or exhaustion of running, but from pure embarrassment alone. She felt her heart crumble with shame every time the Sister flashed her shorts to the world.

‘Dammit, she’s too far ahead..!’

Mikoto’s slow pace couldn’t be helped. Since she wasn’t wearing her shorts, she didn’t have the luxury to move around freely. She could almost hear her junior’s despair-filled voice in her head.

“Oneesama, you and your childish panties—“

“WAAAAAHHH! This is all Kuroko’s fault in the first place~!”

Lamenting her situation that was almost bringing tears of frustration into her eyes, Mikoto continued running as fast as she could. Her hands were gripping her skirt around her legs tightly to prevent it from flapping upwards. Brown eyes narrowed determinedly upon the sight of a familiar back racing far ahead.

“I’m not gonna lose!!!!”

Her eyes darted to the side where a row of large trees neatly lined up the foot path. A smirk pulled her lips upwards.

“TRY THIS!”

Blue electricity streaked forward from her bangs, racing past the Sister up ahead. Guided by perfect calculation, it struck a huge tree trunk beside the clone with a violent crackle, shriveling the bark to black shreds instantly. A loud cracking sound was heard followed by a huge “THUMP!” as the massive tree fell across the street to block the Sister’s path. Some of the branches caught the electric lines as the tree went down, causing blue sparks to leap dangerously from above. A couple of people nearby screamed, but Mikoto hardly noticed, grinning confidently at her certain victory as she continued her pace to catch up to the thief.

“Gotcha!”

"I kind of get why I'm here but why am I partnered with someone who looks like a ordinary teacher?"

Lying on the sunbed, Guy lifted the sunglasses from his nose to spare the talkative girl a cursory glance. He had wondered much the same thing himself.

After the nightmare of getting to Academy City and the incident with the Magicians, not to mention he numerous other trials he had endured since arriving Guy had done everything in his power to convince Tsukiyomi Komoe to grant him a leave of absence.

He needed a holiday, his aching body attested to that.

And so he had spent his entire bonus (and a significant portion of the next few months pay) on a stay at a cutting edge resort the likes of which existed nowhere else on Earth. He had been surprised then, when he was informed that he would be accompanying the girl, Frenda and was to chaperon her for the length of her vacation and would be responsible for her wellbeing and happiness.

What a task. The girl was inexhaustible. He felt as though he had scarcely had an moment's rest. On occasion she would slip off to get up to one thing or another, what exactly Guy didn't care to ask.

But it wasn't all bad. He admired the view of the pretty blonde as she stretched herself out on the sunbed next to him.

"Bah whatever, as long as I'm around nothing can possibly go wrong. Just hide somewhere and pretend you're a fallen palm tree if we run into any trouble!"

What sort of trouble are we expecting?" He asked, the last piece of cone from the ice cream he had been holding vanished into his mouth. He reached for the cocktail glass beside him and sipped on the sweet, but unmistakably sour alcoholic taste. The resort's own recipe improved with several dashes of rum.

She sounded like a spy or something, he thought to himself with a wry grin.

As Frenda opened her mouth to respond they felt the ground shake beneath them. It was a subtle change but both Frenda and Guy definitely felt the small quake which could have easily been ignored by the masses. Most people thought it was the underground railways built to deliver various supplies over Academy City which would have been the first thoughts on Frenda and Guy's mind too, except both knew for a fact that this facility was built below the said underground rails.

As much as Academy City boasted about it's advanced technologies there was no way that the invaders would have access to means that would allow them to dig under the facility... And the only other entrance was through the elevators built to transport a soccer field worth of people on set time intervals. Unless...

The invaders were going through the pipelines that connected the facility to the pacific ocean. The underground resort did boast about the island being surrounded by real sea water but no living being could possibly enter through the pipes unscathed. Counting all the turbines the invaders would have to avoid it would have taken weeks if not two to make their way through the pipe system which was more than likely sufficient time for ordinary divers to run out of oxygen.


From a far distance a cloud of shadow approached at a steady pace, unyielding to the waves as it marched towards the beach now in panic and chaos as more people took notice of the unfamiliar figures lurking beneath the waters. What emerged were humanoids with cold steel plates clinging to their body as they marched out into the open, swords drawn and ready to attack anything and everything that screamed.

"Does that answer your question?" asked Frenda as she rummaged through her bag looking for her essential equipments before heading out to join the fray.

"I guess..." He seemed nonplussed, slowly lifting his sunglasses to more closely examine the intruders. "Think you can handle this while I go 'hide somewhere and pretend I'm a fallen palm tree' or something?" He commented wryly, taking refuge behind a nearby shack.

"I hope you're good at running, Fr-" He looked about for his charge. "God damn it! I was kidding! Leave this stuff to the professionals." He finished his cocktail with a single gulp and tossed the glass away.

"Can't I get a break?" He grumbled, peering out to watch the encounter between Frenda and the 'knights' "These kids are gonna be the death of me..." With those words he darted from cover to cover towards the fray.

Magicians attacked. Who were they? where were they associated with and why were they attacking? None of it really mattered to the crowd screaming and panicking as the advancing knights swarmed from the bottom of the sea water and onto the shores, each armed with weapons of medieval designs the advanced towards the holiday seekers as though they were on a maddening crusade against the blasphemers. Their tower shields raised and swords at ready, anything that came in contact with their advance came out crushed beneath their iron greaves.

As the teacher grumbled and darted across the beach he felt a sharp pain narrowly missing his head as it slid past his left cheek leaving behind a fine line of wound now trickling with blood. The arrow pierced through the LCD screen of a nearby vending machine as though it was made of paper. The armored knight bent down with his crossbow to load the next bolt onto it's stock while another Knight lunged towards Guy with a halberd chopping down on him.

From a distance he could hear set explosions of bombs going off as sand and dust exploded along with bits and pieces of armors being flung in all directions as though they stepped on a mine field. Frenda's handywork from earlier paid off as more of the invaders were put to a halt in their menacing advance, or so Frenda thought. Contrary to her predictions the Knights didn't halt their advances. True, they slowed down a little but as if they had little to no regard for their own lives they marched with no concern.

The halberd swung down into the sand in front of Guy and he skidded to an abrupt halt, his heels sliding through the sand to an unsteady halt just as the blade lodged itself between his feet. He kicked his foot up, a spray of sand filling the knight's visor. The armoured figure responded by lifting the halberd up in another attack, apparently unfazed by the sand in its 'eyes'.

Guy backpedalled, propelling himself away from the rapidly swinging blade that scythed towards his neck and darted at his torso. Caught on the back foot it was all he could do to keep the distance between him and the jagged steel weapon. It wasn't long before he ran out of room as he ducked into the interior of a small jet-ski rental shack.

There was a commotion. Crashing and the revving of a motor. The sound of metal skipping along metal many times over and a horrendous screech of sheet metal tearing open. Guy vaulted nimbly over the shop front counter and sprinted for the open beach.

Then the flames. In a rushing eruption of fire the shack was engulfed in an inferno.

He snatched Frenda by the wrist as he passed without slowing.

"Come on, young lady." He called out to her as he dragged her away from the mayhem.

With an impish smile, Seluna waved a little fan she bought at a convenience store. She didn't do well with hot weather. The Irish Necessarius magician took shelter from the sun's embrace under a tree. Voluntatis323 with a seemingly peaceful expression watched a certain nun that was walking below the miniature hill and the tree rested at. It wasn't Seluna's concern if Academy City was invaded by a crusade, the only concern that she had for the moment was the protection of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, specially now that her very well know guardians were away and a anomalous person was taking care of the small Angelican nun. Despite the peacefulness in the air, Seluna knew something loomed on the horizon. Whispers had reached her and there was also the lack of them. A group of Magicians were on the move and coming to Academy City, from which faction Seluna wasn't sure yet. But their target could only be obvious.

Either Academy City had achieved something that would warrant an attack from one of the great magical factions, then it wouldn't be Seluna's concern. But the other tempting target was, that young smiling girl. A girl that was under Seluna's protection. Voluntatis323 has been tasked by the Archbishop herself to observe and if need be protect or retrieve Index in the event that she was endangered beyond the capabilities that her current guardian Touko could protect her. Seluna was aware of the safety measures within Index and was also aware that Laura had remote control of the John Pen mode, but that was a measure for an extreme emergency. One which Seluna wishfully hoped to never be involved in.

Seluna's fetched from her pocket a strawberry coco surprise lolipop and popped it in her mouth. For now she would work as normal, and like always expected the worse to happen. She only had one information venue and that wasn't one she'd call super reliable, sure she trusted Fallere825's information but by experience and exactly because she knew Motoharou to a certain degree she knew that if the odds weren't in her favor then their link would be severed surprisingly easily. She wouldn't blame him, he is the best spy of Necessarius for a reason, to those in the shadows it was merely how things went. "Gyaah~" Seluna stretched her arms, for now it was business as usual...

Then shouting.

Seluna was up on her feet surprisingly quick. Her expression was still easy going but her eyes were a bit more alert now.

Voluntatis323 peeked around the side of her tree. Her eyes relaxing only a degree later, as she saw twins chasing each other. One flashing her shorts and the other redder than a tomato. Then, the hairs on the back of Seluna stood up. "I forgot!" Seluna jumped back. Truly she had forgotten that this was Academy City and it was full of kids with powers. Seluna barely had the chance to move away from the tree when it got strucked with a powerful ray of lightning. "Gaaaah! the whole tree!!!". So much for never being caught unaware...

Seluna jumped hard enough that she ended up in the air and with no real footing to land in, the only thing that would meet her would be the grass and the slope of the hill. "Well, this will be just peachy haha" Seluna thought as she landed, the weight of the momentun made her fall. Looking Seluna knew how to break falls, how to roll and she wouldn't get any damage. She'd just end up rolling down to the place she didn't want to end up with.

Clank!

Of course the Sweeper didn't take into account the litter bin. She knocked it off once she hit the end of the hillside. Seluna's face ended up facing the ground and her lolipop broken. What a way to appear, covered in trash.

The not for long secret guardian ended a couple of feets away from Index.

"UUuuh... haha... great way to start... haha"

It was the worst situation ever! Sure the pay was good but she never would have thought she was up against an army of zombies. What was with them anyway? How were they still moving after they got blown up into smithereens? Were they wearing some kind of state of the art anti-explosion suits under that antique armours that looked like it was a set from Lord of the Rings? Frenda was pulled around the resort by Guy, both dodging arrows and spears left and right. If only she hadn’t been so greedy with the bonus offered with the job and brought Mugino along, surely they wouldn’t be in this much of a predicament… Speaking of which. Frenda’s mind blanked out for a second…



3 hours ago at ITEM Hideout
The interiors were like that of a 5 star hotel with nice looking furnitures imported from Germany. It was a spacious suite located at the top of the 30 floor building and it contained 4 bedrooms each big enough to fit 4 king sized bedrooms. Each member of ITEM took vacancy of their own rooms and all but one room was empty at this time of day. Outside was bright and sunny with not a patch of cloud in the skies and there was a warm breeze escaping into the rooms due to the window Frenda left open in a hurry. The breeze woke up a young girl sleeping alone on a king sized bed obviously too large for her, in fact even if there was 5 of her it still would be large enough to fit more people onto the bed.

She was a 12 year old girl with a short brown hair in a bobcut and wore an oversized t-shirt as her makeshift pajamas that read I Heart NY. She crawled out from her bed to seek out the source of the warm breeze interrupting with her sleep, taking slow steps towards the source of the breeze she walked towards the hallway where the windows were left opened.

Despite her young age she was a Level 4 Esper and an field agent of ITEM, she was Kinuhata Saiai.

As she closed the window there was something the crunched beneath her foot, a piece of paper freshly printed from a fax machine. Not many people knew about ITEM’s existence and those that knew were either there to employ them for a job or were about to die a super violent death. Seeing the crunched up paper below, she bent down and grabbed the new job offers printed this morning. A job offer that came through the fax at 5am in the morning, the time most people spent in beds. What was that woman on the other end of the fax machine thinking? As she thought this she continued reading the piece of paper and came across the details and the reward being offered.

90 million Yen on top of that paid holidays at a VIP resort.

It was a jackpot to say the least. The amount could afford 3 top of the line Lamborghini and still have enough money to spend for 3 years without any worries about working. It was a huge pay out but the job requests seemed to be very easy… Speaking of which why was Frenda’s door left opened? Where was Frenda?

“Mugino will be super mad when she finds out.”

A tall shadow cast over Kinuhata at the mention of that name.

It was morning. The sun fought itself through the highly expensive curtains, lighting up the room, dispelling the night’s darkness little by little. One ray, finding its way straight through a gap between curtains hit its target directly. Tickling on the soft skin of her face, the beauty lying in a bed only made for a real princess was unable to defend herself anymore. So she woke up.
”Mh…”, was the sound passing her lips, while her eyes were opening slowly. The first thing she saw was the roof, covered by small ornament, which were actually quite detailed, yet didn’t seem like that from the distance, leaving only a shallow impression. Her eyes move throughout the room. She was tired. Dazed from sleep she slowly lifted her upper body up, looking around. It was the same as every morning.
However, the first thing she felt was different than usual. Something felt off. It was a pretty bad feeling. Maybe it was only her imagination. After some minutes she finally had left her bed worthy of a princess.

Mugino had found the printed message on the floor, read it and was now heading through the corridors of their hideout. She wore a white slightly lemon-colored dressing gone, closed by a band around her hips, already seeming completely noble, especially when looking at the material, expensive wool, imported from Italy and obviously hand-crafted as well as decorated with close to invisible embroidery, which would only show when coming into contact with light. The dressing gone however was closed, hiding what no one was supposed to see. Just a glance on that would cause a man’s mind to go wild. What kind of stores were even selling things like that? But who cared anyway? Her naked feet were moving, step for step, heading towards the main living room, which also would work as the meeting room for the whole group, still holding said papers in her hand, reading through the conditions of their next mission.
It had caught her interest, however, she wasn’t someone to be over excited of something so seemingly simple. In her eyes everything seemed to be too suspicious, way too suspicious. Such a high reward for such a simply job? Even an amateur would be able to guess that there would be a high difficulty in what was to do. This didn’t sound like a job to rush. No, absolutely not. Her intuition and experience, both, were telling her that this job was something to approach with caution.

“Mugino will be super mad when she finds out.”

Upon passing Frenda’s room the voice passed Shizuri’s ears, capturing her attention immediately. It was Kinuhata Saiai’s voice, the girl was standing in front of an open door, a door that wouldn’t lead to her own room, but to a room of a certain blonde girl. Approaching her silently, Mugino’s tired expression was also giving out a slightly dangerous vibe, backed by a very bad premonition.
”Find out what?”, Mugino asked, sounding somewhat sleepy and thus bad-tempered. There was no need for an answer coming from the small girl, as Shizuri had already decided to follow her intuition by stepping into the room next to them. The bed was empty, a cool breeze went past the brown haired woman, coming from the open window. No need for any detective to analyse this case. There was no trace of the room’s inhabitant, no trace of the papers which every member of the group should have gotten this morning. Taking all these things into account, as well as Frenda’s attitude, the answer was obvious. So obvious Mugino didn’t wish for it to be true, no one should wish for it to be true.

”Don’t tell me…”, she mumbled, it felt as if sparks slowly started to appear from her body, the tension rose. Gritting her teeth, straining her muscles the woman stood there, ignoring the girl behind her for the time being. Just now it was only her and the anger building up within her. It was just like a tremor before the actual eruption of a Vulcan. ”I’m going to kill her. I’m going to kill her. Leaving on her own like that. I’m going to kill her. Running off like that, alone. I’m going to kill her.”


The voice was echoing through the whole building, out towards the sky. It was if the whole complex was shaking due to the loud shout. Maybe even Frenda would her it in the distance, foreshadowing a disastrous future.

Her escape route was blocked by a pile of burnt tree and the Original was gaining up to her rapidly with a face redder than a ripe tomato. There was no escape, the Original had only one thing on her mind and she was going to get it even if it meant crossing paths with the entire Sister network! Far away from a distance, on top of the public library building serial number 10728 and 18372 each lay quietly with a sniper rifle aimed at the scene, ready to assist serial number 10032's get away by causing distractions if need be. Though they wielded real sniper rifles the bullets were rubber blanks, even if they were up against the Original the rifle was designed to have enough power to penetrate through the electric force field with the anti-railgun rubber pellets made to stun their older sister.

Yet the sight the witnessed through their scope told them otherwise as 10032's hand signaled them to stand down, she's got this all under control.

"It looks like you forced my hand to engage you in an honorable combat for these prized shorts Onee-sama, declares Misaka as Misaka takes the drunken tiger stance as observed in a Jackie Chan movie 3 days ago."

And sure enough there she was, a perfect imitation of Jackie Chan down to the last detail ready to engage in a fistycuffs with the Original using ancient non fiction martial arts, read upon and processed thoroughly before creating a real viable martial arts through the use of the Misaka Network. What Mikoto saw before her wasn't simply an amateur pretending to be a martial artist, it was almost like a complete beginner who downloaded a file called Master Martial Artist from the Misaka Network as you'd recall from a scene in The Matrix where the main character instantly became a Jujitsu Master. Only difference between that and what she was seeing was that while there were no such thing as a Drunken Tiger stance originally, the idea was processed and cultivated into existence until it became a real martial arts exclusive to the Sisters.

"Whash're yer lookin at shasy Mishakha as Misaka purpairs fer battal!""

She lunged towards Mikoto at an alarming speed armed with a powerful kung-fu, a punch flew out from the strange stance towards Mikoto's wrist.

Seluna on the background was completely ignored, nobody took note of her and she felt almost like a spy should, an invisible being.

If it weren't the slashing attacks that left a scar against cement walls Frenda was being pulled left and right by Guy's grip as she narrowly missed a crossbow bolt to her head. He did all this while managing to keep himself from being slashed in two or becoming a pin cushion of said crossbow bolts. Frenda had her guesses when she realized someone else was being assigned to this job other than ITEM, and that it turned out he was a regular highschool teacher. Her initial thoughts was that the man was from an Anti-Skill division. It wasn't too far fetched since alot of the teaching staff in Academy City were people from all kinds of former occupations.

Some were former military commandos, the navy, airforce, mercenaries, and while uncommon some were known to have been former terrorists though the latter were unknown by most common folks. All these people gained teaching degrees in order to find employment in Academy City as part of the agreements. For example, Frenda having worked with the Science Society before, was aware that former airforce pilots also took up positions in Academy City as a teacher in order to get themselves involved with the weapons development in Academy City. Something about a super fighter that was 80 meters in width travelling at 7000km/hr while ignoring the effects of inertia on a human body which would experience the internal organs being crushed due to the inertia. It was a top secret information and technique that Science Society was developing where they developed a technique to allow their pilots to freeze their body so that only the electrical signals from their brains was the only thing left functioning while the insane jet fighter was in flight mode. One of the agreements the pilots had with the city was that they would find employment here as a teacher.

Judging from Guy's movements, she was under the impression that he probably wasn't a Anti-Skill. Seeing him in action made it clear to her that despite his outer appearance, he was a veteran in the field Frenda was treading. An experienced agent in the dark side. It was the way he was dodging the attacks that convinced her otherwise. When he dodged, it wasn't simply for the sake of dodging as normal people would have when their life was threatened. Invisible to the inexperienced eyes, he was dodging and positioned himself so that he could have counter attacked as easily like it was second nature to him. Frenda knew the subtle difference between a desperate dodging and calculated evasions and Guy was far more skilled at it than her. So who is this guy? Secret Service? CIA? MI-5?

As she wondered about that the Knights closed distance on them yet again.

The Knights came from the underground pumps that dragged sea water into the resort. They were either equipped with some kind of breathing technology invented in Academy City or they were able to hold their breaths for a very long time. Actually were they even human? Frenda's explosives didn't stop their march but only slowed them down to buy enough time for the civilians to escape. She was certain if people were inside those suit of armor, they would have suffered quite a lethal knockbacks from the explosions yet none of the knights seemed like they were fazed by her attacks.

Their attacks effectively bought some time and eventually they had the full might of the 300 knights focusing on them.

What Frenda couldn't have known was that the enemy was a Magician. Guy was an experienced soldier and it was easy to figure out that they were being watched by the caster of the Magic from a vantage point to direct his Knights from a distance. There was no point in wasting his attacks on empty dolls which could be brought back to life, rather they needed to find out where the caster was directing his attacks.

"Ara ara...are you ok miss?"

A gloved hand extended towards Seluna to help her back on her feet.

The slender fingers belonged to a woman in her mid twenties with blonde hair peeking out from her coif. Wait... a coif? Looking at her closely she was wearing something that definitely didn't fit into the usual crowd of Academy City. A nun's habit. Unless you were a certain spy wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses who carried a vast knowledge of different fetishes such as bunny girls, maids and among his continuing list the category of nun fetish, there was no way a normal person let alone a Magician to clearly differentiate between a Roman Catholic Nun from a Anglican Church's Nun just from their habit alone. Russian Orthodox nuns deviated from the others by wearing customized red habits so the nun before her was clearly not a Russian. So the only thing that differentiates them would have to be...

The cross of the Anglican Church hung around the young nun's neck glinting in sunlight.

If Seluna from her profession had to describe the person before her she would have thought the nun looked like a kind gentle airheaded big breasted blonde dumb nun who is probably here in Academy City for a mundane task and got lost while reading the GPS on her phone upside down as most people on Magic side inadvertently make such mistakes due to their amazing affinity with technology. In one hand she was extending it to raise Seluna on her feet and the other held a mini tablet that was clearly being held upside down as Seluna guessed it.

One had to wonder why nuns and Magicians in general stood out from the way they dressed when they could be wearing normal clothes to blend in with the general crowd.

"Ahaha..." Seluna laughed awkwardly from her prone position. It was one of those few instances that the Sweeper of the Angelican Church felt well to put it in short terms 'embarrassed'. She was after all doing surveillance and now a happy accident literary blew up her cover. It wasn't easy the life she led, it had its own brand of misfortune. Of course it wasn't on the level of a certain student, but Seluna had the luck that went it turned sour it went really sour.

With a mixed feeling expression, Seluna gentle took the Nun's hand and rose up. Of course she knew this Nun was from the Angelican Church, that was one of the reasons why Seluna was in the park. She'd be a poor guardian if she didn't kept tabs on Magicians that openly walked during broad light. But being one quick on the up take and rather reliant on improvisation, Seluna gathered her composure. Hopefully she'd salvage the situation.

"Haha... Yeah haha, just tripped a bit." Seluna began to dust some strands of grass and leaves as well as the dirt that accompanied her rolling down the hill. "Oh where are my manners! I'm Seluna haha thank you sister...?" Seluna attempted to move the conversation into a salvageable direction. Seluna could recognize an Angelican miles away, some research was also enough to expose them and the cross was the final piece to the puzzle. However, by nature of her duties Seluna did not interact all that much with other members of her church. It was a necessity, nuns and priests mustn't be aware of a lonely small Sweeper. So Seluna had the advantage that she knew who stood before her, but the nun would likely have no idea who Seluna was. Though if she did, then that would complicate things and make the precarious situation even messier.

Seluna was currently cut off from the Archbishop, there was a supposed task force from another church approaching Academy City with no clear target. That was a big warning for Seluna who was tasked to protect the peaceful sunny days of a little girl. The fact that an Angelican Nun had appeared made the equation a bit more tricky but possibly favorable.

Though by no means Seluna was tech savy, she could at least look at a map, and ever so casually she sneaked a peek to see what the tablet was showing...