[Omake 2] One Thousand and One Nights

Academy City, District 6 Recreational facilities

A great number of people gathered within the popular district designed specifically aimed at tourists, artists and students with far too much money saved up for the long weekend of festivities happening around about this time.

It was one time of year when Academy City has more tourists than students studying at Academy City. The time of year when you couldn't even throw a stone in district 6 without hitting a tourist in the head.

Ordinarily the streets should have been clear of people by 3 am in the morning yet the streets were infested with people lined up next to book stores and manga cafes setup all over the town.

It would not have been wrong to call them tourists.

But given their current role, they would more accurately be referred to as otakus. The men and women both young and old who had chosen to be there were exchanging all sorts of information and communicating with other otakus in other parts of the district 6. They were doing these things with such vigor that it destroyed the normal stillness of the usually empty streets.

There were some who decided to setup camp for the night, rolled up in sleeping bags with alarms setup to wake them up before 6.

The great Biribiridengekiket was upon Academy City, a week long festivities aimed at otakus all across Japan and beyond.

If one couldn't grasp the situation with the explanation given so far then it was simpler to add numerical figures into the current situation. With Academy City's population of 2.3 million and 80% of that number belonging to students spread across all districts in Acadmey City, for this one week long holiday only there was 2 million otakus across the world jam packed in district 6 alone.

If Academy City was a small independent country, District 6 was a smaller country within that country.

In that crowd of bustling people left and right there was a group of men and women dressed up and prepared for the cosplay event. They were an impressive bunch of people that showed mad dedication to the finest detail in their cosplays that had most otakus reaching out for their digicams without even realizing it.

With the Biribiridengekiket fast approaching, it wasn't unusual to see one or two... maybe 300 or more nuns and priests walking around in District 6. Afterall, there were plenty of anime and manga series that featured characters who happened to be a nun or priest yet... these people weren't simply dressed up as a nun or priest but rather it was proper to call them magicians.

No... what stood out in that night sky was...


A beacon of light piercing through the skies like a sharp blade slicing through everything in its path.

It illuminated not just Academy City but the whole of Japan as the light passed through the stratosphere and into the outer space. A grand spectacle never before seen by all otakus, and to commemorate such events loud roaring cheers from the fans below echoed across district 6, believing it to have been a unannounced secret special event exclusive to the dedicated otakus that chose to setup camp with the rest of the stereotypical fans out there.

Unknown to those fans, this light came not from the advanced technologies of Academy City... yet perhaps it was correct to suggest they knew it to be something that neither Magicians nor Espers could comprehend.

They believed against their wildest dreams that the light was none other than an imitated replica of the great Magikana Freedom Strike Beam Punisher, a signature bombardment attack of the heroine of the show, Magical Powered Kanamin.

To Be Continued...

That's a big haul, was what everyone thought when the order came through the fax that evening.

It didn't surprise them that they received the order but rather they were amazed at the amount offered for the head of a board of director. Afterall Academy City was a hydra organization with different heads competing against each other for supremacy all the time behind the shadows. Whether they lived in the light or the dark side, the war they waged between each other was endless and often enough the "order" was related to execution of corporate employees, dismantling secret weapons and securing hidden files to use as a barganining chip for whatever the reasons.

ITEM, as these girls called themselves was a group that specialized in keeping a close watch on these numberous heads. Making sure that none of the heads gain an overwhelming advantage over others. They were there to keep them in line using whatever force necessary whenever and however. But never before in their history have they actually gotten a execution order to take out a unruly Board of Director who was pushing his boundaries.

High Commander Shuutendouji Kikudo, was a shrewed old veteran of the JSDF before the man retired only to weasel his way into Academy City. Mugino Shizuri remembered reading about the old man in bullet points against his files as highlighted by Takitsubo when she went over it in detail.

While majority of his history seemed to have been deleted off records, the man brought a vast of wealth and military powers with him that made up much of the Anti-Skill officers and weapons developers currently working inside Academy City. In some ways his background was similar to another board of directors, Shiokishi who was in charge of military aspects and R&D of military technology. There was a cold rivalry between the two men as one was in charge of the army while the other usurped the position along with a portion of what was originally Shuutendouji's domain.

Skimming through it Mugino discovered the old man had been executed twice before by Shiokishi's death machines only to make miraculous recoveries each time he was seemingly killed off.

To cut to the chase as Mugino couldn't be arsed reading the document, their target was Shuutendouji who had setup base in the Air Superiority Preservation Control Center, once thought to have been a building complex located in the school disctricts only... it wasn't a building comples but a blimp freely cruising across the sky of Academy City with fifteen different routes pre-installed.

Why was it impossible to just shoot that thing down from the ground?

As if reading what she was thinking the smart ass sitting opposite her spoke up.

She was the smallest among all the ITEM girls, wearing a orange hoodie with her short brown hair peeking out from the hems.

"That blimp won't go down because of it's super defense mechanism built into it. If it was a simple matter of spamming surface to air missiles, theres no way Shiokishi would have super commissioned us to get the dirty work done."

The blimp was constantly emitting supersonic soundwaves that disrupted AIM dispersion fields surrounding the tightly knit airspace, causing it to automatically disperse all abilities caused by an Esper regardless of their levels. As for the surface to air missiles, there wasn't a way for it to lock onto the blimp.

At least not while it was surrounded by a fleet of unmanned HsAFH-11 accompanying the blimp.

Code name Six Winds was a state-of-the-art weapon manufactured by Academy City, costing about 24 billion to 25 billion Japanese Yen. Similar to the AH-64 Apache it had one "wing" one either side that had guns and equipment on them. With a top speed of Mach 2.5 or 3,000 kilometers per hour, its wings have two rockets engines installed on them for auxiliary power.

Not only had Shuutendouji secured ultimate air superiority, there was nothing on the ground that could possibly threaten him. Whatever ground based weapons bared fangs against the ASPCC, the Six Wings would destroy it the moment it sought to lock onto their command center.

Kinuhata looked outside the window as they passed a Six Wings without raising any alarm. There was a merit to highjacking one afterall as proposed by Frenda who was currently piloting the aircraft to approach the command center without alerting their enemy.

It was around about then that Kinuhata caught a glimpse of a weird woman on top of a building, pointing something ridiculous towards the sky, towards the blimp and before she could figure out what she was pointing she was thrusted and jerked around as great turbulence shook the aircraft violently accompanied by a massive beacon of light that pierced the skies and obliterated the blimp without a trace...

What...?

Mugino Shizuri knew indeed how difficult a task they had before them. She knew indeed how difficult it would be to break through the many defensive lines surrounding one member of the board of directors. She knew indeed that even a Level 5 like her would face a challenge reaching up to her own limits.
And exactly that thought of challenge was what brought her up to high spirits. A thought rare enough to force a small grin onto her lips. Just like a child at Christmas Eve she was unable to wait for the big moment to come. Right now that great present was positioned just in front of her; to reach it she only had to run along the path, follow the lines of the plan and then see where everything would go.
This time wasn’t about any other reward than the fight itself. The big pile of money would just be another benefit, making the whole scenario even more attractive for her.

Grinning lightly, she sat there. The girl wearing the purple short skirted dress and long black stockings, didn’t pay attention to what was outside. Looking outside to her only seemed like another unnecessary action. No matter how attracted she would feel towards focusing on her target, she decided to hold back a little to save face. Actually it was the only way of holding back her growing excitement. So the very target of her stare was simply an empty space, keeping her from losing her composure.

They couldn’t just jump out of their aircraft and head for battle after all. So their very task at this moment was the classic one: Waiting.

But then the situation suddenly began to change. It was only a small action, that wasn’t even worth of taking note of. Just like most people would, Kinuhata had decided to take a look out of the window, checking the environment, something that wouldn’t turn out all too dangerous, considering the fact that their enemies were only unmanned aircrafts, allowing them to move on without being too much out of place for not wearing any kind of military clothing or typical equipment.
The signal that first gained Shizuri’s attention, the rare sight of Kinuhata expressing shock, the second thing however was something that forced even her to turn her head in surprise, the instant change of stability in their surroundings. All of a sudden that HsAFH-11 they were on had begun shaking as if caught in a heavy storm. But that wasn’t the most striking thing. The source of that storm was all that mattered to her now.

Just where their target had been a moment ago, a huge mass of golden energy had appeared, covering the whole sky in golden light. It was just unbelievable. Even for her, who usually stood above everything else that sight was something overly outrageous. ”What the hell…!?” That blimp, said to be one of the toughest and best protected fortresses Academy City possessed, was simply engulfed in that golden light, of unknown origin. Was that an Esper power? No that couldn’t have been. Was that some new kind of crazy Academy City technology weapon she had never heard about? Whatever it was...

It made her angry.

Taking away that indescribable excitement, taking away their target, stealing their job. Who was responsible? A moment later the answer was found. Just like Kinuhata had done it before, Academy City’s number 4, had found that strange person standing atop a building. There wasn’t much left to feel or to say. Everyone on board would know exactly what Mugino was about to say.

”That damn bitch. I don’t care how she did it or who sent her, but I’m going to kiiiiiiiill heeeeer!”  

With her rage flooding out of every pore of her body, the Meltdowner was no longer sitting in her seat, but standing, gripping onto some kind of handle, in order to keep her from losing balance, staring at the only person she had in mind just now. Their original target may be gone, but the new one was already set. Time for let out all of the excitement all at once!

A strong kick against the back of the pilot’s seat was meant to be the signal for the next action to be taken. ”Frenda, bring me there! Immediately!” The lack of words shouldn’t matter. After all there was no plan to follow anymore. Simply put: It would all become a game of destroying the very target before her eyes. Forcing Frenda to close in to the target and then opening fire, was all she had in mind right now.

Nothing good ever came from Jack's stay in Academy City.

Starting with the kidnapping from day 1 followed by the interrogation in the Windowless Building, he felt as though over the time he spent in Academy City, he's become Academy City's national chew toy.

Unlike the spies stationed in Academy City, Jack didn't belong in the more prominent magic cabals nor did her owe allegience to anyone in particular than serving his own personal interests. While this freedom prevented him from engaging himself in dangerous missions, it didn't exempt him from becoming the suspicious individual Mr.2 on the Magic Cabal's list whenever there was a internal investigation held in Academy City.

To be more specific and right down to the point at hand, Jack found himself strapped to a high chair. His wrists tied down to the arms of the chair using reinforced industrial duct tape, specially designed and shelved in department stores across Academy City. His legs weren't in any better situation either as they were bondaged tightly to the legs of the chair he was sitting on using the same industrial tape to go over his bondage several times so that he would not free himself easily, even if he possessed strength to match 10 people and more.

Across from him were two other nuns without counting the nun sitting on his lap.

In terms of outfits, he could easily tell that his captors this time were nuns! Which organization did these nuns belonged to? He wasn't sure! Afterall there wasn't much to differentiate them apart other than the cross they wore around their necks hidden away during an interrogation.



"What should we do Sister Maria? It's highly possible this one isn't affiliated with the man we're after." said the nun sitting on his lap, one hand grabbing him by the neck while the other held onto club in the shape of the holy cross narrow around the hilt but about as large as the man himself. It wasn't an exaggeration to say the 'club' was an accurate replica of the crucifix the son of god was impaled on.

Across from the table were 2 nuns that appeared much younger than the "nun" sitting on his lap. The one called Sister Mary spoke up.


"Drats, just when I thought we finally found a suspicious magician it turned out to be a dead end."

Sister Maria seemed like the youngest in the room yet she appeared to be the leader they answered to. Her appearance gave the impression of a child like avatar of an angel, long flaxen-golden flowing hair, serene smile all contradicted with the hand motion she was giving to the big hulking nun on Jack's lap.

A thumb slid across her throat while she smiled innocently with her tongue poking out, gesturing to the other nun to finish him off with a execution move.

They were the nuns of Necessarius, the Church of Necessary Evils affiliated with the Anglican Church one of the three denominators across the world. The name Maria only clicked into Jack's mind then, the rumors about the Abbess of London Tower, Maria the Butcher. Nobody knew what she looked like since those unfortunate enough to meet her were exposed to extreme tortures and none made it back in one piece, either gone mad or never returned at all.

Having work experience in the kitchen, Koyoko was very familiar with the sound of a sharp knife slashing through meat and bones on a busy Friday evening when his part time job was filled with customers ordering food and drinks left and right giving him no time to breathe or think before being forced to move his hands. Cold slab of sharpened steel slashing through the soft flesh and breaking into the bones, it was a sound he was used to hearing when the kitchen was overwhelmed with orders and kitchen hands were forced to work faster than the speed of light to meet the demands or risk losing customers.

What he didn't expect was hearing that distinctive sound in the middle of the empty streets at midnight on his way back home from work.

The monorail had malfunctioned and left him stranded in the streets of District 6 which had become a holy land of the otakus across the world. Most hardcore otakus setup camp on the side of the main road with tents and sleeping bags lined up so that they wouldn't miss the queue for the opening ceremonies and other events.

With the monorails estimated to be fixed in the next couple hours, there was no way he'd reach home in time to get some good sleep. There was of course the option of sleeping on the roads next to an otaku...

His stomach grumbled and growled, punishing the owner of the body to pay up it's due rent in form of digestive consumables.

Well either way it was probably the best solution to find the nearest convini store to buy some supplies, whether it was a portable tent, sleeping bag or food the convini had stocked them in advance knowing the crowd they'd have to deal with at this time of year.

Perhaps if he was lucky he could find a vacant hotel room.... provided an army of otaku already hadn't claimed it.

While he thought about the various actions available to him at this hour, he heard the noise of cutting flesh above him.

A soundless explosion ignited above on the roof of the buildings, almost as if they were filming an action movie as a man jumped from the explosion to land on the other side of the road.

What made Koyoko's head turn was the unmistakeable sound of the flesh being ripped open as slabs of sharp steel punctured through a ribcage. A sound probably too faint for most people to miss if they weren't familiar with it in the first place. He turned to see the spectacle above him along with a shadow growing rapidly as the mass of body fell.

Whoever this stuntman was, he was highly skilled as he successfully broke his fall as he rolled upon landing from 8 floors above ground, yet a fine trail of blood splattered where he lay bleeding and weak with a trowing knife plunged deep into his ribs.

Was this really a choreographed stunt? If it was, then the pool of blood was beyond anything he had seen in the movies before. But it wasn't a stunt as he saw the blood drizzling through the fresh wound which would have normally killed anyone instantly.

A tall man, with long straight hair and dressed in a black robe as though he was trying to cosplay as some kind of a judge or maybe a magician lay where he fell. He trembled with one hand grabbing the hilt of the knife while the other tried to apply pressure around the wound with no success. Perhaps the wound wasn't as deep as he originally thought.

Shit...

It was a terrible way to start the long night...

"Haaaaaaaa....What a drag..." Koyoko sighed, as he slouched his way through outskirts of District 6, stuck due to the miraculous malfunction of the rail systems, his only real ticket out of the area. He was never going to make it home on foot, and even if he did, the lack of sleep would end up causing him to collapse the very next day, and he cannot afford that. His hands tucked away in his jacket pockets, he continued down the block. Koyoko, found himself in a situation of survival. As his stomach growled and his feet started to get sore, he'd noticed the well known Otaku's of district 6, doing what they do best, failing to get an actual life. At least, in Koyoko's eyes that's how he viewed them: People wasting their life on stupid things for pointless reasons. They even go to the trouble as to camping on the filthy sidewalk just to get some rare collectible or some sort of product releasing on a particular date.

"Hmph...Rubbish." Koyoko muttered as he followed the GPS on his phone to the nearest hotel. He'll just have to pay up for a night with what money he had on him, though he'd wish he could save it for later. The best he could do after paying for the night is getting something from the vending machines, but he had to play it safe just in case the hotel was more expensive than he thought.

Now on an empty street and a reddish orange glow of the sun in the sky, he continued forward. It'd be best to get inside before it would get dark, or it might make things more difficult. Especially now that his phone was slowly losing the remaining battery. "Should be in the next couple of b-" Koyoko stopped in his tracks, hearing the unmistakable noise of sharp steel slashing through flesh. A sound he had grown accustomed to from his former work, and even having been cut by a blade before himself, but this time it was louder and seemed much more threatening. Instinctively he turns toward the noise and within an instant, a man's body fell spectacularly from eight stories, breaking his fall quickly, but leaving a noticeably dark wet trail behind him.

From the scent in the air, Koyoko could make out that the liquid itself was blood, fresh and warm, staining the street before him. The man himself, seemed to be drastically weakened, arms shaking, body trembling. And after all this, Koyoko had noticed a blade had bent sent directly into his rib cage.

"O-Oi! Are you alright?!" Koyoko called out as he ran over, instinctively running over. His conscience would never leave a situation like this, not even once. Why did his mind want to play the good guy? He himself would feel it being much easier being the sidelined nobody. (What the heck was that?! Did he seriously fall from the roof?! Did someone to attack this guy or is this some fucked up accident of a reenactment of some stupid manga?!) He noted the man's attire was just as odd as just about any other Otaku's in the district but he didn't have time to question it. The man was losing a lot of blood already, and he himself didn't know how long the man has. He quickly grabbed his phone and tried to exit of the GPS app to call for help, but the screen suddenly went dark. After pressing several buttons to try to start the phone again, he had realized that the battery had run dry. "Damnit! You gotta be kidding me!"" He cursed as he stuffed the phone away, and finally got close enough to the man. "Don't move! Or it's only gonna get worse!" He warned. With the blade still inside, moving could open the wound more and potentially deeper than it already was. Koyoko wanted to make sure the man didn't do anything such as panicking.

How did this happen? He was just walking through town, looking for a nice alleyway to sleep in, and the next thing he knew, he was assaulted by a platoon of nuns. This is the second time he'd been attacked by the mysterious creature known as a 'nun' since he came to Academy City. What's up with that? Isn't Academy City supposed to be the city of science? What's up with all the nuns?

Anyway, after being incapacitated almost embarrassingly quickly, the nuns dragged him off somewhere and tied him to a high chair using using generous amounts of rope and duct tape. There were three nuns in the room with him. One of the nuns, of larger stature than the rest, was sitting in his lap. She was quite, ah, muscular for a nun. She held Jack by the neck with one hand, and held a large cross that seemed more like a club in the other. The other two nuns appeared to be younger and signifigantly more nun-like. The first nun-like nuns he'd seen since he'd come to Academy City, as a matter of fact. As for his situation, while he thought it probably couldn't get any worse than it already was, that thought was the equivalent of signing his own death sentence, and he himself noticed that fact immediately after. He hoped and prayed that his fears would not come to fruition, but alas, the nuns proceeded to tear his desperate hopes to shreds without delay.

"What should we do Sister Maria? It's highly possible this one isn't affiliated with the man we're after." the muscle nun said to one of the other two nuns. "Drats, just when I thought we finally found a suspicious magician it turned out to be a dead end." responded the younger of the other two nuns. Though she seemed to be the youngest of the three, she also appeared to be the leader of the group if the way the muscle nun delegated the decision to her was anything to go by. A couple of days earlier, Jack would have believed this development to be sign that conversation was a possibility. Maybe not a probability, but a possibility at the very least. However, that was before the disaster that was his encounter with the red nun. He had come to that same conclusion, and it had ended with him being one-sidedly crushed, kidnapped, and puked on. So, rather than being a sign of hope, this development was, in Jack's eyes, the catalyst of a series of events that would lead to him experiencing soul-crushing despair. And his worries were quickly proven to be quickly justified.

The nun called Sister Maria had both the appearance and countenance of an angel or a saint, with flowing golden hair and a serene smile. But as you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, or you might be in for an unpleasant experience. Maria stuck her tongue out, and with an extraordinarily innocent smile on her face, slid her thumb across her throat. The meaning of the gesture was obvious. It was an order to kill him. His nervousness made him perspire, and his perspiration made his shirt stick to his back. Fighting back wasn't an option, he had zero chance of escape. And more than that, he recalled that he'd heard the two-faced nun's name before. The Abbess of London Tower, Maria the Butcher, a member of Necessarius. All those who had seen her were either dead, or driven mad after being tortured by her. As a result, no one knew what she looked like.

So, in this situation, how could one survive? By using what few seconds of his life remained to open negotiations, of course~ He'd be negotiating for his life, but Maria wouldn't just let him live for no reason, so he'd have to offer something in return. From what Ms. Muscle Nun had said, it seemed like they were searching for a magician. So, if he was going to offer something, then it'd have to be something to help with their mission. He could pretend to know something about the magician, but they'd just torture the (non-existent) info out of him, and then kill him. So, assistance in the form information was a no go. That left assisting them in the search for said magician. If Maria was wary about letting him help, then he'd just have to suggest that she give him a collar. Even if that collar was the threat of imminent death, it'd still be preferable to his current situation. In the first place, there didn't seem to be any particular reason to kill him, and another man could cover more ground, while another skill set could look at the situation in a new and different light. In conclusion, she wouldn't have any reason to refuse him, unless she prioritized indulging in sadism over completing the mission at hand. Well, if that was the case, then this situation was hopeless to begin with, so he called out to her.

"Ah, ah, could you wait just a moment before cutting off my head, slitting my throat, crushing my heart, or however you were going to kill me? I would like to offer my services to you." He spoke quickly, as his efforts would be rendered meaningless were he to be killed mid-sentence. But even then, while there was definite panic is voice, it wasn't the primary emotion. If so, then Maria would be less likely to view him as reliable, and more likely to view him a hindrance, leading to a bad end. So he spoke in as calm a voice as he could and hoped they wouldn't just kill him off without giving his offer a second thought.

Mugino Shizuri

As the one piloting the Six Wing, Frenda most definitely felt the turbulence as the beam of light flashed through the night sky and pierced their target in a single attack disregarding it's defenses. It took all she had to keep the aircraft flying as steady as possible but the worst of the turbulence came not from the source of light but the passanger sitting right behind her, threatening to kick her out of the pilot's seat along with the seat.

"Ehhhh~? Mugino please calm down!"

Mix of panic reflected on her face as she tried to hold her hands steady from accidentally crashing into the ground below. Trying desperately not to crash she quickly lowered their altitude as safely as possible to avoid receiving further harassment from her violent passanger.

But was this wise? was the thought that ran across the mind of the youngest out of the ITEM girls Kinuhata Saiai. Whatever was going down below, someone shot through a mobile fortress with a beam weapon that was about as much as dangerous as Mugino's own power. There was no telling when that ability could be used to shoot them down once their new enemy branded them as their next target.

"This is a SUPER bad idea Mugino san. Whoever shot that could target us next."

=======================================================================

-=KOYOKO INTERMISSION=-

Translucent Dreams SFX

He was a Magician down to the very core, willing to use anyone, willing to betray anyone to fulfill his greatest desires as expected of a typical creature most commonly known as a Magician. When had he gone wrong? the thought plagued him until the last minute as he jumped from the building dodging fire and sharpened dirks thrown at him with deadly precision.

He had a younger sister, a good catholic at heart and one who knew know evil unlike her older sibling that thrived on it. Yet she was born with a curse, telesma eating away at her body faster than her rate of recovery. In science they were willing to call the phenomenon as a unusual variation of a spontaneous human combustion where the flesh was simply being burnt away without a trace to the point the individual was unable to feel anything.

Only difference was that the procedure had been significantly slowed down through abuse of rituals that allowed time manipulation. Yet it was only a means to prolong the inevitable.

In due time she would extinguish into nothingness.

When the young Magician was faced with this despair he sought out new ways to cure his sister, be it the power of God or the Devil himself, if it produced the answer to solve the problem he wouldn't have cared the sacrifices he would have to make.

It was then that he brought his sister to the last bastion of hope. Academy City.

Yet even Academy City was unable to cure this supernatural phenomenon.

So the young man sought the forbidden fruit of knowledge...

Against any kind of logic, against any kind of fear, against any normal instinct. Mugino was acting against all of that, only driven by her own anger. That was what happened if somebody ever dared to really piss her off. And the target of all that anger was a single person standing atop a roof, while they were in one of the most modern and advanced helicopters existing. You could guess what was about to come next.

"This is a SUPER bad idea Mugino san. Whoever shot that could target us next."

It was Kinuhata Saiai that had decided to stop what was about to happen. Her worries may have been something that could affect Shizuri, pointing out the actual danger that would come at them if they decided to continue further. But what did it matter in the end? ”So what!? Are you trying to say my Meltdowner would be no match for such an ability!? Are you trying to say that attack could be superior to the #4 Level 5!? Are you trying to say that!?” After shouting out these words of anger, her gaze was once against attracted by their unknown enemy, as if directing all her anger back to that person.
Indeed that stranger may be strong. They may have some unexplainable power that could even take down such a fortress in only one blow, breaking through all kinds of countermeasures against Esper powers. That may indeed be something this person would be capable of. But who cared? She had never heard of anyone like that before and even if she did…didn’t it make this whole thing sound even more promising? Wasn’t this some kind of compensation?

”You may be right. That bitch may choose us as her next target.” Those seemingly calm words were really coming from her mouth, how unusual. All three present in the flying aircraft should rather be surprised, or were they already able to predict what was about to happen next?
Without any warning Mugino had moved, she simply slammed open the hatch on the side she was facing, letting in a strong air current into the passenger section. ”That simply means I need to target her first!”, she shouted it out so loud it seemed like even people on the edge of the city would be able to hear it. The expression on her face could only be described as mad. What exactly was going on inside her head? Who knew. However any safety fetishist would simply cry in agony upon her straight jump out of the open hatch into the blowing winds of the night sky, down towards the city, the rooftops, the streets, down towards the far away ground. Falling down at high speed, falling without any kind of safety measure, a certain death for any ordinary person…

Mugino Shizuri however was no ordinary person. She would never do such a reckless thing without being sure that there was something securing her. Looking at the large gap between her and the roof she wanted to reach, she already had her plan prepared. Suddenly a green explosive light erupted into the night sky, aimed towards the ground following a diagonal ankle. It was her characteristic Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannon, however not used for its original function of destruction, but to create a shockwave strong enough to launch her up into the air just like a rocket engine.
It was perfectly calculated so that she would fly in an arc that would let her land a few meters away from that unknown girl. Of course she would make use of her power again in order to dampen her own landing.

”So you are the little shit that stole my prey!?” Without any hesitation Mugino Shizui directed those words at the person she was facing. There was no fear to be seen in her eyes, everything was covered by madness and bloodlust, a definite killing intent could be felt. ”LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE UP AS A REPLACEMENT, YOU BITCH!?”

The monster was read to unleash its wrath. Another action without hesitation, the green beam was unleashed once again to bring the greeting ceremony to an end aiming straight for the new prey.

Green death ray flashed across the night, ripping away all that stood against it's projection. It could easily melt through the toughest minerals and alloys as if it were a burning red knife cutting through a block of butter. The power of the number 4, Meltdowner could easily split a person in two if those beams connected with a human body yet... the target did not take any evasive actions.

The target in twintails was wearing a ridiculous getup that Mugino never came across before. At least, never in the dark side of Academy City. Was she undercover? Or was it personal preference to run around in the odd sense of fashion? She's seen many villains that tread the same blood stained path as herself and she came across a few in peculiar flashy dresses in gothic lolita fashion but never before has she come across this crazy lunatic in a flashy cosplay.

What she held in her right hand... it seemed like a wand of some sort. Made of... plastic?

As the green beam of death cut through the night air with speeds that rivalled a bullet shot from a antimaterial rifle, the woman smiled as she waved the piece of plastic in her hand round and round as if she was trying to intercept the beam. It was a ridiculous sight to behold. Frenda almost lost control with her jaws dropped as she watched from the pilot's seat when their new enemy made no attempts to evade her certain death and instead ridiculed Mugino further.

With a push of her arm to the side along with the wand and an arm on her hips she chanted the magic aria.

"Starburst Galaxy Love Love Curier Barrier!"

....



Needless to say... it definitely caught Mugino and the rest of ITEM by surprise.

"Oh that's some super flashy ability!" cried Kinuhata Saiai as she leaned over the window in a vain attempt to take a closer look.

Though it was difficult to see from the back of a flying vehicle, she could have sworn something like a stream of sparkling stars appeared out of nowhere in between Mugino's lethal attack and the magical girl, blocking away the green beams as more noteable stars appeared from the plastic wand of immense power. There was Saturn, Earth and what could be Mars though they shared the same size despite astrology teaching her otherwise about the difference in mass between the stars.

"Is she really an Esper...?" muttered Takitsubo as she studied the enemy from distance. Try as she might, Takitsubo couldn't get a lock on her with the AIM Stalker.

Their enemy was someone with the ability to take a Level 5's attack and neutralize it. A powerful Level 4? or was she perhaps the rumored Level 5 that maintained her secrecy as the unknown Number 6?

Also... what was up with this background music playing? More importantly where was it playing from?

Despite misleading appearance, which would have caused an outrage among the hardcore otakus currently sleeping in the temporary sanctuary of all otakus, Maria the Butcher was London Tower's abbess and feared Pagan Examiner of Necessarius. Ordinarily a Magician was free to choose when and why they would dust off their robes and leave the Cabal they've chosen to work under. Necessarius was a little different in that regard as one would come across the famous bloodhound should a member of Necessarius decided to abandon the organization, especially more so if they were a prominent member with access to it's secrets.

If there was a difference in the meaning of the words Execution and Interrogation, it obviously didn't seem to exist in Maria's list of vocabulary as she didn't differentiate the two. People she interrogated generally were executed on the spot albeit slow but surely.

Jack's future was numerous but right now under Maria's grasp they all had a common ending, he would be killed. She anticipated that without proper orders, her subordinate Sister Hercule would swing the crucifix down without mercy. Landing each hit into the body parts where the Son of God was pierced with a nail, instead breaking Jack's bones until his limbs turned into jelly.

So when Jack spoke of helping them search their man, Maria was more than prepared to order his execution.

What saved him... were bells. Lots of them actually. They belonged to a new nun that entered the room, a young looking sister with bells attached to the tip of her hair, she could be heard miles away.

"Sister Maria!" yelled the nun as she approached her superior and whispered into her ear.

When she was done Maria smiled at Jack and asked him.

"As luck would have it, we are in need of someone knowledgeable in these technology called computers. Would you be willing to act as a humble servant of God and assist us in these endeavors?"

Though it would have made things convenient, there were no need for technology when the streets of London still held onto the old principles and methods of obtaining information through reliable informants. Academy City however was almost like an alternate universe in it's own right. Needless to say they lacked the same methods and means to track a magicians while they were in Academy City, and yet there was nobody in her army of nuns able to operate a computer nor check the CCTV installed throughout Academy City even if they gained access to it.

"Well?"

“This is a fucking joke…RIGHT!?”

Unable to keep her voice down anymore she faced the strange phenomenon. Even for someone from Academy City no other word than “strange” could describe its nature. The green beam of destruction was blocked. There wasn’t even some kind of special sound or anything that resembled a its destruction. It was simply stopped by something so ridiculous; she couldn’t believe it was true. Stars, and planets summoned by the movement of a wand obviously made from plastic, resembling something only a small child would toy with.

However that wasn’t all to describe how strange that girl in front of her was. Not only was the nature of her defensive trick unknown and unexplainable while seeming straight from a children’s show, her outfit put the cherry on top of it all: A magical girl. Mugino couldn’t find another word to describe what she was wearing. Maybe it was due to some weird fetish or maybe she was simply attracted by the idea of those lowlife otakus worshipping her like some kind of goddess.
Whatever it was, that shining personality in front of her had already managed to reach a new stage of annoyance. Mugino Shizuri’s blood vessels were already about to explode.

What is that trick of hers? Is her ability something similar to the number 7!? At least it’s on that level of a joke! It wasn’t unexpected for someone to think about the self proclaimed hero among the 7 Level 5s. After all there were quite many similarities between him and her, however they were two different people. And if someone like that existed somewhere on this planet, wouldn’t it be known Academy City? There truly were a lot of questions left unanswered. The #4 clicked her tongue in annoyance.
And then her rage burst out in another green beam of pure destructions. It simply went for the cosplay girl’s shoulder, then another one and another one followed directly afterwards. Firing a barrage of those attacks was the result of Mugino’s rage exploding. ”Let’s see how long your shield can hold itself against the power of my Meltdowner! Let’s see how long it will take for you to turn into some crispy leftovers not even the worst pervert among that otaku scum would like to touch! Let’s see if you can keep that joking up! Huuuh!?”
She was moving, jumping sideways, her attacks were moving as well. She was striking from many different ankles, aiming only for the arms, legs, hands, feet, shoulders and any other spot that wouldn’t be lethal right at the beginning. It seemed like she couldn’t hold it anymore and her only wish was gigantic wave of destruction those beams resembled. Destruction, the one and only keyword to describe the #4 Level 5, was turning this battlefield, the even roof of a high rise building, in something that was worthy of being called a piece of modern art.

Mugino Shizuro wasn’t that dumb. There was destruction, the battlefield would turn into a mess, taking away the safe standing points and there was this feeling of her going all out. Yet that wasn’t her true intention. She didn’t know anything about her enemy’s ability. It did seem to have two ways it presented itself, offensive destructive power and that weird defensive shield she had used. How did those work? She didn’t know, so she had to test it. Nothing would have infinite durability or defensive range. So she would break through it at some point. So she only had to find out when that point would be found…

”Guess what! I will not simply let you die! I WILL MAKE YOU BEG FOR IT ONCE I’M DONE WITH YOU!”

The wrath of ITEM, the wrath of the #4, the wrath of Mugino Shizuri, the wrath of a villain! Was our heroine ready to face it all?

Koyoko had to think fast, for if the knife had struck any main arteries, this man will bleed out fairly quickly. Treating him here was also a bad idea, because Koyoko never really had medical training. He only treated small wounds and what he's seen in movies. He should probably get nearby help, being that his phone is completely dead at this point.

Koyoko turned on his sixth sense and received a good sense of his surroundings, only to be shocked to realize no one was around for 25 meters. Wait...That can't be right, there was a bunch of people just around the corner! He denied the result, but his senses cannot lie, him and this man were practically alone. Koyoko then noticed strange movement on the roof top, a pair of shadowy figures jumping over alleyways with great speed. He felt a strange sensation through his body. Something was definitely off, and it was plainly obvious he shouldn't stay here. Are those the guys who stabbed him? He ran the possibility through his mind as he backed away from the high structures and started to move quickly through an alley, the wounded man barely keeping pace with his footing.

The man was heavy, being that he was bigger than him and Koyoko not having much muscle to begin with. After jogging a couple of blocks away, he slowed to a walking place, trying to navigate the streets of the unsettling district. No phone, no people, and no idea how to patch up this wound. All he could do was keep walking, but his main worry was the knife that was still in his abdomen. Koyoko decided to leave it in temporarily to avoid further damaging anything internal if the blade were to move, but at this point it didn't even matter for it will become worse just leaving it in there. Koyoko was tempted to take it out, but then hesitated. The only thing that's really slowing down the bleeding was the knife embedded in it, if he takes it out he'd bleed a lot faster. "Damnit, where is everyone?!..." He muttered as he wondered almost helplessly down the dimly lit sidewalk. Who was going to help them? And why isn't there any Judgement patrolling? Is this man seriously going to die right next to him, because he couldn't do anything about it? He gritted his teeth, as he gained a second wind to go a little faster. "As if I'm going to let that happen..."

Ah... It was a failure. A complete failure. The two-faced nun didn't even bat an eyelash in response to his offer. He was going to die here. It was a such a short life... But then, just as a single tear started to form in one of his eyes, he heard bells. "Ah, could it be an angel?" he murmured, in a voice audible to none but himself. "Sister Maria!" yelled the angel. Why would an angel call out to the two-faced nun?

...Eh? An angel? What?

And with that, Jack finally snapped out of his despair-induced stupor. The 'angel' was a nun with several bells in her hair that rang when she ran. She jogged right past Jack and went up to the two-faced nun, then proceeding to lean over and whisper something into her ear. Immediately afterwards, the two-faced nun turned to Jack, smiled at him, and said something that very nearly caused Jack's tear ducts to burst. "As luck would have it, we are in need of someone knowledgeable in these technology called computers. Would you be willing to act as a humble servant of God and assist us in these endeavors?"

With that, Jack re-revised his evaluation of the nun with bells in her air. She was indeed an angel. With her arrival, she created a miracle and saved his life! No matter what, he must not waste this second chance granted to him by the angel with bells! Judging from the two-faced nun's proposal, it seemed that the Nun Brigade was rather lacking in technological savvy. Ah, never before had he been so thankful that he had a computer back in his hometown...

"Well?" pressed the two-faced nun. Ah, he'd gotten too caught up in his internal monologue. Time to answer. "Well of course. How could I refuse?" he said in a cheery, determined voice. He couldn't afford to be depressed after being given a second chance at life, after all!

Biribiridengekiket had many events planned and lined up for the 2 million otakus that travelled across the world for the festival but the giant beacon of light resembling Magikana Freedom Strike Beam Punisher shooting off into the sky wasn't one of them. The beam tore through everything it came across including the mobile fortress camouflaged in the night sky. Not a single debris fell back to the cityscape below as all of it disintegrated instantly upon coming into contact with the attack. What followed wasn't the remaining destruction of the airship crashing onto the city but the loud roar of otakus that littered the district 6 below, as millions stared at the skies unable to grasp what just happened.

It would have been a simple matter to wrap up had the commotion died down with the explanation that it was a staged secret event, an opening ceremony by recreating the famous signature move of Magical Powered Kanamin.

But the sparks did not end there.

On top of a building there were flickering light that illuminated the night skies once more, only this time it was a green wave of laser beams that penetrated the skies.

Was the event still going? Where was this light coming from? Extreme die hard fans were already rushing towards the trace of light that lit up the skies. It was one thing to control a few eyes from witnessing the spectacle but with almost a million fans closing in on the battle going on between Mugino Shizuri and the Magical Kanamin Cosplayer, there was quite frankly nothing ITEM could do to hold them back. They had to retreat now or never.

"This looks super bad!" pointed Saiai in the direction of the swarm gathering below the building. Almost like a scene from a zombie horror film there was more people here than Justin Bieber concert. There was already small riots breaking out between fans trying to fit into the narrow doorway and it was a matter of time they could make their way up to the rooftops to turn this place from a battlefield to the land of the corpses. "We have to megas take Mugino and get out super fast."

As Frenda managed to land the vehicle they rushed out and as they did they stood there with their jaws hanging at what was waiting for them...

=========================================================

A strange shield blocked Meltdowner's initial attack and it seemed this only spurred her on to find other openings by moving around her, firing her beams to target different areas on her body. She was skilled and quite experienced in battle but it seemed like Kanamin was no pushover herself. As it became more and more difficult to predict where she would fire next with a large wave of her plastic staff she expanded the Starburst Galaxy Love Love Curier Barrier to completely envelope her body to the point the stars glowed so bright that you couldn't see the figure behind it.

It blocked all the shots Mugino fired off. Not a single sound or noticeable impact grazed against the strange barrier. Almost as if the beams themseves were absorbed into a infinite space firing off into the great distance of this universe. It was as if she was firing her beams into a portal that led to space as silly as that sounded.

Just as she contemplated on how to attack this time, through the corner of her eyes she picked up a sharp movement from the other side of the barrier.

Kanamin torpedoed out of it as though she was a single minded rocket, shooting out as though she was a member of a travelling circus, jumping into a hoop of roaring fire. Her slim body jumped out and before Mugino can calculate a beam, the cosplayer landed on Mugino, pushing her down onto the ground with a rude fall.

Mugino felt a sharp impact from the fall along with the weight on top of her but as she regained her composure to strike with a powerful melee, Kanamin grabbed her wrists, spreading Mugino's arms across the pavement while pinning her down.

What Mugino felt next wasn't a critical blow but softness pressing against her lips?!!

It was one ridiculous moment to next, these developments was the last thing she expected from the enemy as she lied there on the ground being kissed to death by this cosplayer. With every passing second she felt her mind freezing over and strength literally leaving her limbs as though the cosplayer was sapping power away from her with this ridiculous attack.

As if choreographed, the rest of the ITEM girls landed on the scene, as they exit the aircraft what went on their minds was... well for the lack of better words nothing was on their mind. If they had something on their mind it momentarily escaped their heads as they were confronted with the very odd sight before them playing out. What was going on?

Whatever Mugino tried, it was in vain. That strange shield her enemy used was just too unique. It seemed like no attack would even be able to penetrate it and even trying to find an opening would lead nowhere. No matter how often she fired. No matter from where she would attack. No matter how quick she could change her angle of attack. Nothing was able to change this scenario. Nothing seemed to be able to give her the advantage she was longing for so desperately.  

Rage was growing even more and more within the #4’s mind. She was trying everything she could, yet nothing seemed to work. Her attacks were strong. Strong enough to give her reputation as one of the most frightening Espers alive and yet all of them were blocked with such ease?
This humiliation was reaching a whole new level. It wasn’t like lighting a fuse with a simple match, but rather like full power firing a flamethrower at it.

She was about to stop her continuous attacks for a moment, preparing a new attack plan, when a sudden movement occurred. Leaving her wall of ultimate protection the cosplay girl once again showed how absurd her set of abilities was. Mugino was utterly shocked, once she saw her enemy’s movement speed exceeded all limits known by her, leaving her unable to even think of aiming in time.
The next thing she realised was the strong impact knocking her over, followed by human’s body weight pressing against her. Unable to defend Shizuri was now caught in a very disadvantageous position, pinned down by her opponent’s full weight and physical strength. ”Get off me you goddamn otaku’s wet dream!!” Another outburst of anger lead her to an attempt of knocking the girl off her body by swinging her right fist with full force.
And yet, even that was useless.
The arm strong enough to make a well-grown man sink to his knees were simply stopped in their movement, only to be pressed down to the ground as if they belonged to some small defenseless child. ”How the fuck…!?” She couldn’t believe it. As panicked as she was, she was about to shout and spit at the cute face in front of hers, converting all her emotions into pure hatred.

All of a sudden it happened. The finishing blow.

Something soft was pressing against her lips, the young face from before was blocking all of her vision and a strong warm breath covered her face.  Upon that her eyes widened in shock. She wished to shout, she wished to fight, she wished to beat that bitch to a pulp and yet…

…it felt as if her strength as slowly fading away. What…is…this…? That kiss felt as if it was sucking away all of her strength. Her beautiful face reddened while her breathing grew slower yet stronger. A weird feeling was rising from deep within her. Was it lust? Was she giving in to the temptation of a girl’s smooth lips. As they were about to exchange salvia, all of her defenses seemed to have disappeared. Mugino Shizuri was lost…

I will not…let it end…LIKE THIS…!!!

Forcing everything left in her body to turn her head and eyes, she was clinging to her last hope to turn everything around. There was only one thing left for her to do. One final thing was left to free her. Like that she was able to aim…
A strong beam shot out. Its form and range were not ideal. Everyone around could tell just how unstable that attack was. However it was strong enough to fulfil its purpose. Indeed Mugino Shizuri felt like smiling the second she fired her final shot. It wasn’t meant to hit any specific target, she hadn’t aimed properly after all. The thing she wanted to gain was the usual recoil, she would usually prevent by focusing as much as possible. However, in this case it was set free in the full extend of a strong shockwave, powerful enough to knock both girls a few metres into the air. It was stupid. It was ridiculous and yet it was the most useful thing to do at the moment…

But would it really work? Or would every last bit of Mugino’s strength be swallowed up by the otaku’s craving for fanservice?

"He has to be here somewhere! Find him!"

If Koyoko had to describe the scene he was experiencing it was much like a scene from a video game where you played the role of a wanted fugitive and a clan of Assassins Creed lurked in the shadows and rooftops looking for you with bloodthirst reflected in their eyes. The streets had been well lit especially even more so with that large fireworks he saw in the sky few minutes ago, probably to appease the otakus that littered the streets. His visibility was average yet all he could see above him were shadows moving at high speeds. With the trail of blood left behind by the man he was carrying there was no telling when his pursuers will find them.

Was it the right decision to help the man? Or was it better for him to save his own hide by abandoning the dying man? Every second he wasted on running through such scenarios he came to the conclusion that it was probably too late to back out of this now. There was blood stains on Koyoko's shoulder to his torso, most likely even if he abandoned him now there was a good chance he would be discovered by the pursuers and eliminated just the same. He felt as if he could feel the chill of sharpened blades slashing at his back when he smashed into someone as he carried the man through a sharp corner.


"Kyaah!"

The sudden twist of momentum and Koyoko lost his footing as he fell forward with the man's weight pushing him against the stranger he bumped into. He fell to the ground with his face first into the soft ground and felt no pain shooting throughout his face. With his vision blinded by something dark he extended his hand at the air in blind panic, grasping at anything to push himself against.

His hand clawed the air and promptly landed on something soft and bouncy. When he finally managed to push himself off whatever his face was buried in he encountered...

"Oh my...!"


There before him sat a classic kind looking nun who sat there looking more puzzled than being angry or annoyed at bumping into a pervert who just groped a holy woman in indecent places, even if said sin was albeit performed by accident.

"Ara ara... are you two ok? What's happened to you?"

With that settled Jack was freed from his bondage as the industrial grade tapes were ripped away from him by Sister Hercule's large hands. His hands were freed and that also meant he was able to use magic to make his get away. That is... if he can prevent himself from being crushed like a human pancake by Sister Hercule's crucifix towering over him. If such thoughts of a quick escape lingered in his mind it disappeared very quickly as his focus now should rest solely on how to obtain the information the Inquisition needed.

For that they would need a computer and a stable connection. Two things that seemed to be absent in the abandoned warehouse they were interrogating him. The information they likely required were security camera footage that covered a Sector of their choosing. Most likely where they had their man cornered last time would be a good place to start looking.

As Jack contemplated where would be the best place to look for the variables he needed while massaging his wrists that had once been tightly bound to the chair he was imprisoned on, Sister Maria took out a curious object from her hip pouch. On first glance it could have easily been mistaken for a very dirty looking floss candy that lost it's color and turned white...no more like dirty grayish color. Only by observing did he realize that it was human hair and not just human hair but a magical artifact.

The tiny nun known as Maria the Butcher of the London Tower took the human hair and wore it around her mouth like... yes just like a beard. Uncurling it to it's full length it reached her ankles as she stood up dusting the mismatching beard she was wearing over her habit. Jack almost expected she would pull out a red santa costume to go with it but it never happened.


The artifact was formally known as the Prophecy of Promised Lands, an artifact crafted by inspired historians of Biblical texts. It was otherwise known as Moses beard by the fellow nuns. In principle it followed simple chants that allowed it's caster and followers to instantly teleport long distance to the destination the caster sought to reach. If there was one crucial fault with the artifact it was that there was no way to reach a specific place as it would teleport the users to a random area that meets the criteria of which the caster envision.

"Our Father,
Who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us passage to our promised lands;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us to salvation. Amen."

In the split second Jack blinked he found himself in a spacious hall filled with computers. He was experienced with a similar sensation on the first day he got to Academy City when he was teleported by Musujime to the Super Intendent's office. There were 5 nuns including the large Sister Hercule and Sister Maria who looked around in amusement at the change of scenery. Certainly there were computers and working wifi for Jack to start his work... maybe one too many computers to say the least.

"Where are we?" asked one of the warrior nuns transported with the company.

"Does it matter? This should be enough computers for the maggot to work his magic!" proclaimed Maria as she took off the itchy beard from her face, proud at the great accomplishment of performing a successful teleportation spell with 8 people. With no way to determine where exactly it would have taken them she was glad that it took them with alot of computers as she envisioned.

"Don't just stand there get to work maggot!" she kicked Jack in the bum propelling him to one of the computer seats.

Sound of a neck snapping was heard in the background and in the place of a warrior nun, now unconscious and on the floor, stood a tall and slender woman with shoulder length brown hair and glasses hiding the menacing glare behind them.

With the agreement in place, the muscle nun proceeded to remove the duct tape that was binding him. She didn't bother using any tools such as scissors or a knife, instead opting to tear it apart with her bare hands. How terrifying. Now that his hands had been freed, he was tempted to try and escape using his magic, but as soon as he was freed, the muscle nun hefted her giant club over his head. The message was obvious: "Try anything and I'll flatten you." With all options of escape cut off, his only option was to make good on his offer. Just as he started thinking about how to go about it, however, Maria pulled something out of her hip pouch. At first glance it looked like some sort of really dirty candy, but upon closer scrutiny, it resembled human hair. She then proceeded to unfurl it, revealing a beard almost as tall as she was.

"What on earth...?" he said, flabbergasted. Completely ignoring him, Maria further increased his bewilderment as she put the beard on her face. Needless to say, it looked completely ridiculous on her. However, just before the temptation to ask what the hell she was doing won out, she began chanting. "Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us passage to our promised lands; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us to salvation. Amen."

The moment she finished, he felt a sensation similar to that time the skimpily dressed girl teleported him into the Windowless Building, and saw his surroundings shift from those of an abandoned factory to a large hall filled with a great many computers. Aside from Maria, the muscle nun, and Jack, five other nuns appeared to have to have been teleported alongside them. Jack tensed up for moment, remembering what happened to his shirt the last time he was teleported, but after a moment passed, he let his guard down. That was a mistake.

"Where are we?" one of the nuns inquired. She seemed confused. Unfortunately, the answer she received was not nearly as helpful as she would have liked. "Does it matter? This should be enough computers for the maggot to work his magic!" Maria replied as she removed her beard. "So I'm a maggot now, huh..." he muttered, an aura of doom and gloom beginning to take shape around him. Before he could sink any further into despair, however, Maria intervened. "Don't just stand there get to work maggot!" she yelled, kicking him in the butt with enough force to send him stumbling over to one of the computer seats.

Before he could get to work, however, he heard an odd noise. It was a crisp snap. For some odd reason, he started breaking into a cold sweat, and chills began to run up and down his spine. He slowly turned around, and where one of the nuns had once been, stood a woman with a menacing glare that was clearly the source of his trepidation. At her feet lay the missing nun, unconscious. The woman had just walked into the room, without anyone noticing, and dispatched a magician with almost comical ease. Jack had been in many dangerous situations over the years, but not even once had he felt such intense fear. "W-Who are you?" It took all his willpower just to blurt out that one sentence, and even then he couldn't stop himself stuttering.

Koyoko stumbled and pushed forward, awkwardly down the alleyway as he can sense the pursuers not too far away. The air above the rooftops was moving too rapidly to be normal. He can hear their voices in the distance, yelling as if they knew no one was around to hear...except for this poor misfortunate esper boy. They were looking for the man, he can tell that much. And with him bleeding down his shoulder and onto his torso, there would be no way to just abandon his sudden action without getting caught. No one was on the streets as far as he knew. No crowds, no otaku's, no one at all to blend into the crowd or confuse the attackers. Being that it is rather dark, people probably wouldn't notice the red liquid to be blood unless they got close enough to smell it's odor.

"He has to be here somewhere! Find him!"

Koyoko cursed under his breath, seeming that they have nailed down their general location and can feel their malicious intent. He can't run away at this rate, he has to hide. They are much faster than he is with this man holding him back. He needs to think of a way to outsmart them fast. But as he hurriedly went around the sharp corner...

"Kyaah!"

A cry was cut short as Koyoko mistakenly failed to notice the presence ahead of him and fell to the ground, with the man rolling to the side with a groan. Koyoko's eyes were closed, and for a second he had completely forgotten where he was and what he was doing. But what he could feel is a soft sensation in his hand. What the hell was he touching? He should be feeling burns and scrapes off the sidewalk, and his hand should be touching only concrete. Until he finally realized after a brief moment, that someone was actually moving under him. He pushed his head to become inches away from a beautiful face, of a certain air headed nun. And his hand just so happened to be on her left breast, in a position he'd obviously would be arrested being in right now.

"Geh!" Koyoko went into a slight panic and pushed himself off quickly, his face all flustered. "...A nun..?" After examining her clothes and seeing that she was indeed one of religious faith, this was the point where he was supposed to get slapped, kicked, stomped, punched, shot etc etc. But she did nothing. She simply smiled and blushed slightly, putting a hand to her face with an innocent face.

"Ara ara...are you two OK? What happened?" She looked between Koyoko and the wounded man, her question snapping him back to reality. Koyoko acted fast, knowing he doesn't have time to explain, nor able to just leave her alone and not get her involved. At this rate she will probably get hurt since they must be close by now. He quickly grabbed the man and jogged up to the nun and grabbed her wrist.

"Shhhh! This way!" He hushed her from talking anymore as he rather forcefully pulled her into the next alley ahead, going down to the nearest dumpster. The dumpster was rather large and it doesn't appear to have much trash around it. He'd quickly kick it and the air inside burst open the hatches that kept it closed. Luckily it was practically empty, and quickly layed the man inside, with still enough room to squeeze him and the nun in. "Sorry about this..." He quickly jumps in and grabs her, forcing her inside and shuts the lid above them. He then puts a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. This was bad. Very bad. But he needs her to cooperate if any of them were going to get out of this. "Shhhh...Don't make a sound..." He put a finger over her covered mouth, not being too forceful since he doesn't want to make her panic.

The men were now on top of them, the air becoming anxious around the alley way. Koyoko tensed up but kept firm, and listened carefully, still keeping a hand over her mouth.

Shots were fired and the two girls locked in a scene that resembled a erotic Indian Poker Card belonging to the S ranking designer BLAU were suddenly propelled towards the night skies. If this was what Mugino intended she definitely got what she bargained for as the cosplaying teenager disengaged from Mugino's lips the moment she was violently pushed towards the skies. What Mugino probably didn't bargain for was the fact that she was more than 12 metres in the air and descending rapidly while she was losing consciousness in that sleepy state after the kissing ability. She was falling and there was nothing she could do in her present state to safely make a landing. Given the fact that there was enough bewildered otaku on the top floor there could arguable be enough bodies of meat to cushion some of the fall but at 12 metres that was slightly pushing the Number 4's luck.

"This is gonna super hurt but no other super way!" Kinuhata pushed the otakus out of her way as she ran through them at her top speeds, climbing on top of them and jumped as high as she can while exclaiming

"Super Frendddddddddddddda!"

Saiai jumped 3 metres into the air while pushing the group of otakus down as hard as her small feet could, and as if on queue her lithe form exploded into the skies in consecutive explosions.

Offense Armor, the ability that allowed Kinuhata to control the nitrogen in the air in order to create a thin barrier around her body automatically. This ability's usual range was limited to a few centimetres from her skin capable of stopping bullets from penetrating her but when the effects were narrowed down to her knees down it created enough barrier to withstand a direct hit from a grenade launcher as long as she was blocking the explosion with her feet.

But this ability by itself wasn't what was propelling her towards the falling figure of the sleeping princess, like how super mario jumped higher while stepping on flying toads, Saiai was stepping and bouncing off something in the air.

Handheld anti-tank missile warhead. The device appeared as a metal rod about 30 centimeters long with masses of metal about the size of drink can at its end. Appearing like maracas or old stick grenades, the handheld anti-tank missile warhead in Frenda's hands were used by pulling the short string at the back ends of the rod, similar to have one uses a party cracker. With expert marksmanship and perfect synergy between Frenda and Kinuhata, it was possible for Saiai to reach Mugino and grab her as she sunk into the small arms ready to carry her off into the night in a princess hold.

Kinuhata Saiai dropped into the space cleared of Otakus as they pulled out their phones to record the footage of what appeared to be a live action performance of Kanamin.

As for the Kanamin cosplayer... she vanished without a trace... even Takitsubo was unable to lock onto her AIM!

Admittedly Mugino Shizuri’s last resort move wasn’t the best idea to be ever seen, but it had somehow been enough to free her, even though that newly reached freedom had turned into a freefall. A very bad freefall even. No matter how hard she would try, she was unable to muster any more strength, it all had simply disappeared into nothingness. Her battery was empty, her power zero, her mind blank. It would have been easy to stop the fall with a Meltdowner beam’s recoil and somehow use the chances presented to land on top of another building.
But that would have only been an option if she was able to use that beam. Besides that she had nothing. Who would casually carry a parachute around anyway?

While she was descending to Earth slowly her consciousness had begun fading step by step. Soon her link to reality would be lost, maybe even before her body would hit the concrete ground full force. Death would await her, wouldn’t it? Don’t…expect me to…grow sentimental all of a sudden…damn!!! Even now the flames of rage haven’t been extinguished. Actually she was burning even more than ever.

And just when her eyes that had only seen a blurred image of the world had been closed, she felt someone’s arms around her. She couldn’t exactly see what kind of miracle she had come across, but she was able to take a good guess. A slim grin had formed on her lips. Well done…you three… There weren’t that many people wishing to save her in the end, however those had been the most reliable ones either way.

A second later nothing was left. Deep sleep had engulfed the young mistress of the battlefield.

The moment she would wake up, the second stage would come. Shizuri wasn’t one to accept a loss that easily.

An enemy Magician? here? no it was just ridiculous to even imagine there would be ambush when the Beard of Moses had a very complex set of laws that worked around the teleportation magic. Due to it's randomness there was almost no chance that there would be enemy Magicians where they would be teleported so who was this enigmatic woman that easily knocked out a Magician of the London Tower? As the figure re-adjusted her cuffs and emerged from the darkness she revealed herself as a woman in her late 20s, bit young to call her old yet almost too old to find a happy marriage life like her peers.

"I was wondering what kind of ill mannered students were still loitering after the curfew and here I find 2 perverts and students cosplaying as nuns."

There was an evil glint in her glasses or Jack might have imagined it but despite being unable to tell if she was a Magician or Esper every nerve in his body was telling him she was almost if not more dangerous than the nuns that surrounded him.

3 Sisters were already cowering behind the big muscular Sister Hercule as he approached the woman with the violent intentions, the crucifix as large as his own body swung in a perfect arc where the woman had been standing a mere second ago. Unknown to Jack the magical item wielded by Sister Hercule replicated the pain and suffering endured by the Son of God before his final moments and had it made physical contact, the woman not only would have suffer from the initial impact but would have endured a similar sensation as though her entire body had been wrapped in thorns and pierced by spears. Even experienced Magician like Jack would have found it difficult to escape unscathed from the assault from the Magician of the Inquisition yet the remains of the mysterious woman was nowhere to be found.

The woman had moved out of the way just in the nick of time with very fluent movements almost as if she was re-enacting a scene from a Samurai movie. She slid out from that swing and as she placed her hands on the giant's arms just before the swing came to a halt she used the momentum to swing her assailant with a gentle and graceful throw.

THUD

Sister Hercule's face was the first thing that crashed into the hard pavement floor. She didn't display any Magical abilities yet she took down another Magician as easily, giving them no chance to cast a spell, and those who tried to utter a single chant stopped when she re-adjusted her glasses.

Was she by any chance an elite officer of Anti-Skill composed of seasoned veteran soldiers and mercenaries across the world? Or a member of Academy City's Dark Side?


Little did they know, the force they were opposing was the Dorm Supervisor of Tokiwadai Girls Dormitory. One of the urban rumors of Saten Ruiko's...

Retired S Rank agent of the Anti-Skill, One Shadow Nine Fists.

Rather than answering his query, the woman simply readjusted her cuffs and addressed them as a group. "I was wondering what kind of ill mannered students were still loitering after the curfew and here I find 2 perverts and students cosplaying as nuns." He barely heard her speak. His instincts were screaming at him, warning him of the danger the woman before him presented. Several nuns seemed to have already lost their nerve and sought refuge behind the muscle nun's intimidating form.

And for better of for worse, it didn't take long for the muscle nun to decide upon a course of action: remove the interloper. With such an objective in mind, it brandished it's gigantic crucifix towards the woman. However, instead of the expected result of the woman being crushed into a fine paste, she brought form to the fears all present were harboring. Almost casually, she avoided the blow and tossed the muscle nun over her shoulder, it's face crushing the pavement beneath it as it landed.

As of now, Jack was a hair's breadth away from simply collapsing on the spot from the stress of it all. The nuns, the beard, and now this... His mental health was well on its way to a complete structural collapse, but he forced himself to think logically. If he didn't, then it was all too likely that the probability of his survival would likely drop to depressingly low levels.

As it was, he seemed to have two choices. He could be killed by an army of murderous nuns, or by a monster in human skin.

...How did he get into this situation, again?

At any rate, if he didn't act now, and find a third option, he would die. If he simply tried to run, he would die. And judging from his recent experiences, any attempts to talk his way out of this would result in either his immediate death or complete mental collapse. With that in mind, he began inching to the side, moving incredibly slowly, but steadily, toward a door to the side of the hall.

If a certain Level 5 Esper had been in the shoes of the nun being forced to hide inside with a half dying man and a complete stranger, she would have immediately have thought that it was a unique and innovative way to hit on a girl ~☆ and she would have initially given him a high grading for his innovative pick up ability but ultimately would have reconsidered that high grade to a flat out F ranking for choosing a dirty smelling dumpster to force a girl into. Fortunately for Koyoko the nun before him was neither an Esper nor a middle schooler and despite her current situation did not scream nor did she complain.

In her eyes he was a complete stranger to both herself and the wounded man he was carrying who seemed like a Magician. Yet despite the danger he was exposed to, Koyoko was unwilling to let a stranger meet his maker. He displayed an act of selfless deeds uncommon and she admired him for it. It’s simple enough to carry a longing desire to understand the teachings of the Lord, but truly understanding that path let alone practicing his teachings was extremely difficult.

It was questionable why the wounded Magician was being chased but she chose to help him unquestioningly as he(?) would have done the same had he been present at this time.

When silence graced the alleyways again she leaned towards Koyoko slowly as not to alarm him. Even without mind reading abilities of Mental Out she could easily tell Koyoko was very nervous about the dangers surrounding the man he chose to help. He was breaking out in cold sweat and his eyes reminded Orsola of a cornered animal. Gently she leaned her body against him and whispered into his ear, completely oblivious to what other proportions she was pressing against him which caused him to break out in sweat in the first place...

"I think they're gone for now and I have an idea, if you'd like we can bring your friend to the church and treat him there."