A Certain Magical Index - Arc 2

“There!”

After fiddling around and zapping away at the main power supply and its connected circuits, most of the lights in the restaurant suddenly sparked back to life. Mikoto praised herself inwardly and imagined throwing Guy’s mockery right back to him.

“Hmph! That’s what you get for underestimating me…”

Feeling proud, she haughtily sailed back to where they had been sitting earlier, meaning to drag out her victory. But Mikoto’s triumph deflated when she only found unfamiliar faces standing around.

“Eh? Where did they go?”

Annoyed, but a little worried all the same, Mikoto turned her head about frantically to search for the weird girl and the idiot teacher. They shouldn’t be hard to spot in a small restaurant, right?

“Excuse me.”

“???”

Mikoto turned towards the female voice that was addressing her. It was the cook from earlier- the one who had seemed to know Guy. The friendly smile was gone now, replaced by a look of intense frustration. Mikoto stared blankly as a long list was thrust roughly into her palms.

“What is-?” Mikoto blinked. It was the bill for their food, totalling 8000 yen. The large sum mostly constituted of Index's generous orders.

“You better pay up,” the cook said testily, as Mikoto’s eyes grew round. Her bad mood oozed out and dominated the chaotic atmosphere of the restaurant. The woman seemed a completely different person from the easy-going cook Mikoto had perceived before.

“Uhhmm… What? Sorry, I think you’ve got it mixed up.” Mikoto smiled weakly at the cook, her tone completely polite.

“It’s your bill, missy,” the cook said impatiently, looking very distracted and bothered.

“But… He was meant to pay…” Mikoto trailed off and abruptly jerked backwards at a sudden thought, “Wait, are you telling me he left without paying?!!”

The cook merely nodded, then shouted something angrily at a waitress.

“That idiot!” Mikoto cried, “What irresponsible-“

“Please pay up,” the cook demanded, cutting off Mikoto’s rant, “I haven’t got all day! I have a business to run and all this mess to clean up!”

“But-“

“Oh, and that reminds me,” the cook gave Mikoto a hard glare, “You need to pay extra for the damages you did!”

“Wh-what? I- we had nothing to do with that!” Her flustered and panicky voice only spoke otherwise.

The cook leaned in close to the Tokiwadai girl, almost towering over her. The threatening smile playing on her lips briefly reminded Mikoto of her terrifying dorm mistress. Mikoto shivered slightly.

“Don’t take me for a fool; I know who you are, miss Railgun.”

Mikoto gulped, knowing perfectly well what was coming next.

“Electrical damages, wrecked furniture and shattered crockery,” the cook quickly created the list, assessing the messy area with critical eyes, “Now pay up. That will be 18000 yen.”

The cook leaned back, glaring at Mikoto.

“But-“

“8000 plus 10000 yen,” the cook interrupted irritably. She spoke slowly, as if she thought Mikoto was slow, “18000 yen. Can’t you do some simple maths girl? Aren’t you the bloody third ranked esper or what not?”

“But I fixed-“ Mikoto’s red-faced protests continued to fall on deaf ears.

“Pay up or I’ll call Antiskill. I believe your usage of powers weren’t authorised, am I correct? Such arrogance! Kids these days!”

Mikoto reddened further, furious at having been threatened, scolded and called a kid by someone who didn’t even know her all that well.

That last one had really pissed her off.

A spark briefly escaped from her hair, but Mikoto held the rest in with all her restraint, wanting no more trouble. Tight-lipped and eyes filled with humilation and anger, she took out her wallet and silently handed over the requested money. It wasn’t the large amount of money owed that was annoying her, Mikoto could take care of that no problem. It was the fact that Guy had been the one to invite her over to lunch, and then leave wordlessly with another girl without taking responsibility of his promise.

Satisfied, the cook wordlessly took the money and turned away.

“Wait,” Mikoto said, trying to keep her own tone friendly without much success, “Do you know which way the two people who had been sitting with me went?”

The cook merely shrugged. Now that she had received the money, it seemed she couldn’t really be bothered with the brown-haired girl.

“I don’t know, do I? It was dark then, thanks to you.”

Biting back a sharp retort, Mikoto spun on her heels and stalked out of the restaurant. A dangerous (and static) aura lingered around the electromaster as she walked down the street. A stray cat that had been sitting down quietly on the sidewalk suddenly yowled loudly and fled when Mikoto came nearby. She hardly took any notice.

The electromaster's mind was set on the single most important task ahead.

She was going to find that idiot and turn him into fried charcoal.

For good.

As the man protecting Index started to talk back, Vanni's grip on the feathers between his fingers started to tighten. He focused his malice and used the Spirits of Wrath to possess the feathers he held, making them as sharp as blades. The moment he got the change he would slice that guy's throat.

"It's a little too late for that don't you think? You've already been registered for your meeting with the devil-"

But just as Vanni had made that comment, a roar of flames has surrounded him from all sides. Vanni cursed, not really because of the attack but because this was a well made opening. Even still, Vanni used the Spirit of Envy to switch his location with the feather at the exit. He wasnt sure which door they had choose, but he had thought that they would choose the easiest way out, which was the exit.

Although he couldnt see because of the sudden flashes, Vanni stood in front of the exit door and swung the the sharp feathers in front of him. In his mind he had made the image of the appearance and height of the man in front of him, aiming at the images throat, hopping to do the same thing to the real Guy.

But even if he did hit or not, it was still bad news.....

The sprinklers had been activated because of the fire, this was after all....a kitchen.

The water came raining down, not just onto Vanni, but most importantly onto the feathers. The way Vanni was able to put his 'spirits' into the feathers was by the blood he had prematurely put on them atleast a few times a day. The water from the sprinklers were washing out the blood. That means Vanni was no longer able to alter the properties of the feathers into weapons. They were now just regular feathers that could do no damage.

Realizing this, Vanni cursed

"Shit!"

He tried to move out of his opponent's range

"warble warble...war warble ble ble warble. WARBLE WARBLE WARBLE. WAR warble ble. WARBLEAJ;SDLFKJSFSJDL....He's still breathing!"

Good god, his head hurt; what was with all the commotion? The last thing he remembered before he passed out was some shiny string another pass by in front of him. He could still feel the cold chill that had passed down his back. Actually, was that a chill or was that just some sort of phantom feeling left-over? Either way, it looked like he, and his Justice, would live to fight another day. He blinked blearily, immediately squinting his eyes shut as the sun bore down heavily onto and into his vision, drilling holes into and through his skull.

Or at least that's what it felt like.

After gathering his internal bearings, Trystan pushed gently against what felt like body-armor behind him on his back, using it as support to stand himself up. Stumbling upright, he felt a pair of hands stabilize him from behind. Turning to nod his thanks, Trystan pushed himself away from whoever it was that was holding him, before opening his eyes once more. The sun still burned, but it wasn't as painful as what had burned him just a few seconds ago. He lifted his left arm, bringing it onto his right arm. At least the armband was still attached, as was his arm. Blinking a few times to clear his vision, Trystan turned behind him in an attempt to figure out who had helped him up. Even without clear vision, the distinctly colored uniform and the armaments attached told him that Anti-Skill had finally arrived at the scene.

"Why don't you tell me exactly what happened here."

Trystan blinked a few more times before his vision cleared sufficiently to see just what was going on. There was another Anti-Skill officer standing behind the boy from before, a suspicious and agitated expression on his face. Trystan turned to look at the boy, and was pretty much greeted by the same poker face as before, albeit with a slightly annoyed tinge. Blinking a few more times, Trystan finally straightened his back before coming to attention, albeit still slightly wobbling.

"As you command, sir. This one's name is Yamato Trystan, a member of the 177th Branch of Judgement. A few moments ago, this one was with a civilian dressed up as a nun. Whether she was actually a nun or simply dressed as such, this one does not know. The youth in front of you joined us shortly after, before announcing that he was with Jud-"

Trystan halted mid-sentence, before changing his sentence. That he was still alive just now was because of his intervention, and for that he owed a debt of gratitude, if nothing else. He pretended to have bit his tongue.

"Pardon me; This one is still slightly uncoordinated. The valiant youth in front of you announced that he was Just passing through and stopped for a chat. Before long, a woman armed with a Japanese-styled katana or nodachi, along with another foreign-looking youth showed up, with the intent of violently taking the civilian. The two of us tried to fight them off, but the other two overpowered us with skills that this one, at least, has never seen before. The civilian had already fled the scene before this one was overcome. Anything else after that, this one can only recommend that Anti-Skill believe this youth's words."

"No one... I should be going."

The cool breeze across her face was present only for a moment as something flickered in the sunlight mere centimeters from Touko's nose. A floating leaf hovered in the air briefly before splitting cleanly down the vein.

"Not so fast." Kaori's sword snapped shut into the plain saya at her side. There was no doubt that the attack, whatever it had been, had come from the girl standing before Touko. "No one should be able to penetrate my boundary without me knowing." She spoke with a cool, clear voice and slow pronunciation that made her sound all the more intimidating.

Her head tilted ever so slightly as she spoke her next words.

"Who are you?"

***

"As you command, sir. This one's name is Yamato Trystan, a member of the 177th Branch of Judgement. A few moments ago, this one was with a civilian dressed up as a nun. Whether she was actually a nun or simply dressed as such, this one does not know. The youth in front of you joined us shortly after, before announcing that he was with Jud-"

The officer looked at Trystan blankly as the wounded boy began to speak hurriedly, pausing only briefly.

"Pardon me; This one is still slightly uncoordinated. The valiant youth in front of you announced that he was Just passing through and stopped for a chat. Before long, a woman armed with a Japanese-styled katana or nodachi, along with another foreign-looking youth showed up, with the intent of violently taking the civilian. The two of us tried to fight them off, but the other two overpowered us with skills that this one, at least, has never seen before. The civilian had already fled the scene before this one was overcome. Anything else after that, this one can only recommend that Anti-Skill believe this youth's words."

After a second of trying to parse the information he had just been told he raised his radio to his face, once again without stripping his eyes from the boys in front of him.

"Dispatch, I'm going to need assistance here." He lowered the radio again.

"Young man, you're obviously hurt and not thinking clearly." He tried to dismiss Trystan's words. "Come with us to headquarters and we'll sort this out after you've received medical trea-" He was interrupted by the urgent sound of his radio. He lifted it to his head.

"What? You can't be serious!" He turned away, glancing back at the two over his shoulder. The voice on the other end sounded deadly serious. After another failed protest the officer holstered the radio and returned to Trystan and Haragi.

"You're both free to go." He spat, disgruntled. "Apparently one of you has friends high up. So it's your lucky day, I guess." He signaled to his cohort to join him.

***

Guy was still running when Vanni appeared before him, swinging the feather blindly in the darkness. Instinctively the young man recoiled, stepping backwards to change direction on a moment's notice. His right hand flew out, the knife slicing the now powerless feather in Vanni's hand in two in a blind swing of his own. He slashed again as he stepped back defensively, the path of the knife drawing across a bag of flour that had been sitting on a shelf beside him.

Chalky white powder filled the air and without thinking Guy lunged forward, dragging Index behind him as he led with his shoulder. At a rough estimate he was now less than a meter from the door, he was determined to break through it, and whatever stood in his way.

After listening to his acquaintance's little story that followed the spiky blacked hair boy's alibi, a small breath of air of relief released from his mouth. If a judgement officer's words didn't convince them, nothing will.

"Dispatch, I'm going to need assistance here."

Words were spoken into the petit radio held within his palms. Did this Anti-Skill officer finally get it? The fact that dangerous beings are roaming around Academy City ready to harm it's stable peace? Haragi boldly stared into the officer's eyes waiting for his next response.

"Young man, you're obviously hurt and not thinking clearly."

What? The sound of a nerve cracking was heard somewhere within his body, leaving him utterly furious. This officer's obliviousness was only wasting the Level 4's time. If those 'magicians' catch up to that girl, they will leave Academy City thus failing the assignment at hand. If that happens, the higher ups will be one step closer to involving his sister's peaceful life into Academy City's realm of darkness.

There is nothing he would be able to do about it if that happens. At the same time, he would let a innocent little girl get captured by suspicious looking people if he overlooked this situation. Who knows what they would do with her? The thought of that happening oddly pisses him off. Haragi even though about escaping from this anti-skill officer, but that would put him on the black list for a short amount of time before the higher ups would erase it. But during that time, his sister could come across it and become suspicious of the life he actually lives.

His fists clenched tightly, just as he was about to rebel against the officer, a voice abruptly spoke from within the radio once again. After the Anti-skill official had heard this, he acted quite surprised.

"You're both free to go. Apparently one of you has friends high up. So it's your lucky day, I guess."

This came to a unexpected development. Haragi slowly relieved his stress after the officer approved of his freedom. He didn't seem to act too surprised of how he was released. He heard himself mumble quietly after turning away from the officer.

"The higher ups, huh? They're faster than I thought...."

His Judgement acquaintance pushed his limits after trying to stop that swordswoman. It would be unthinkable to ask him for help. Then again, Haragi would never ask assistance in first place, even at the brink of death. For now, his objective was tracking down the upbeat magician from earlier. One of his crystallized shards was embedded into his clothes from earlier on, meaning that magician's position could be easily given away just by focusing on the exact coordinates of that specific shard if he hadn't gotten too far.

Upon activating his personal reality, the array of numbers forcefully barraged his mind filled with locations of each active crystallized OFR he previously created. Looking through each data table, he was able to pinpoint the desired shard in a matter of seconds. The location of that shard was weak but still readable. The area was a bit north of where the level 4 currently is, and it seemed that this magician was sticking around in that one area. His main focus was now of this specific destination.

Haragi reached beside the shady Judgement officer, and mumbled underneath his mouth,

"I'm going go after that peppy bastard from earlier on.... So don't follow me and get yourself involved in something that you shouldn't be getting involved with... plus you don't look so good right now to even consider doing such a thing..."

His hands had reached his pockets, just as he was about to step on 'air'.

Touko felt the gust across her face and stopped dead in her tracks. A leaf split in front of her face, diced by an invisible blade. Slowly she turned to face the swordswoman.

"Not so fast."
"No one should be able to penetrate my boundary without me knowing."
"Who are you?"

Touko felt a cold shiver run down her spine. This woman meant business, whoever she was. Everything about her, from the strange clothes she wore to the steely glint in her eyes and especially the oversized sword at her side was out of the ordinary. And in Toukos experience, anything out of the ordinary meant bad news.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She threw up her hands defensively. "I was just walking home after a long day of misfortune..." She explained, lamenting her poor luck. "Broken phones, extra make up classes, malfunctioning ATMs and magic nuns. Now this!?" She rambled.

***

Index spun her head to the exit as Vanni disappeared from sight.

"Look out!" She tried to warn Guy as he charged blindly towards the attacking Magician. But to her surprise he slashed out with the knife in his hand, severing Vanni's feather. It took her a moment to realise what had happened, the answer dawning on her as she felt the water on her skin.

Just as she was about to tell him to run for the exit when he bundled her under his arm again.

"W-wait! What are you-" She coughed in the cloud of dusty flour, completely disoriented now.

The suprised Vanni backedaway from the knife that almost gave him a make-over. But it was to no avail, though he dodged the blade another attack came from Guy. Not only did Vanni not have enough time to evade because of the short distance, but there wasn't much room for him to move in the first place. With nothing else, Vanni braced for impact

BANG

A strong blow struck Vanni's chest, it was his enemies shoulder tackle. But it wasn't just that, what was behind him was the door to the outside, sending a painful sensation from both sides. The strong force sent Vanni crashing through the door and into the outside. Bathed underneath the sun, the Magician tried to move but his body felt completely paralyzed. A look of pain and malice was shown at his foe for a split-second. It was the anger of having been taken out in such a way.

"Son....of a bit-"

His body trembled for a second before falling into unconsciousness while laying ontop of the door.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I was just walking home after a long day of misfortune... Broken phones, extra make up classes, malfunctioning ATMs and magic nuns. Now this!?"

Kaori's blade sounded in it's scabbard at the mention of a 'magic nun'. The swordswoman's expression hardened with a stony frown.

Another whiplash of air flew past Touko and a strand of dark hair fluttered in its wake, neatly severed from the girl's head.

"Explain yourself." Kaori said slowly. "What 'nun' are you talking about?" She asked, her fingers relaxed around the hilt of her sword once more. "And don't think about lying."

***

"Son....of a bit-"

Coughing from the clouded air, Guy rose to his feet and set Index down. He dusted himself down quickly.

"Sorry, better luck next time." He said, spreading his arms in a modest shrug as he tossed the knife at Vanni's feet. It clattered loudly, landing in a nearby heap of rubbish.

He ran with the white clad girl in tow. The safest thing to do at this point would be to find somewhere quiet to lie low. At least until he could figure out what was going on. He glanced back at the young girl. Had he been wrong to help her? The thought was only a flicker in his mind as he turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

Hiding in plain sight wasn't an option. Index stood out too much and even he would have trouble blending in given his current state.

But going somewhere isolated was just asking to get cornered. And he couldn't get anyone else involved. No, there was only one thing for it.

He dragged Index back towards the dormitories.

(OOC note: Mikoto’s final post for this Arc. This is much later in the day… I’ll begin Sister’s Arc SS from the day after this current date.)

Metal lamps were starting to blink on as the crimson sun began its descent. The streets were now mostly empty, Academy city’s students having scattered to return to their respective dwellings before curfew. Shops were closing down, blinds and curtains being drawn, security systems locked in.

Within the area called School Garden, a lone brown-haired girl wearing the Tokiwadai school uniform walked along a narrow cobble-stoned street decorated with strange tessellating designs. The air was now much cooler, contrastingly refreshing from the suffocating heat the day had produced.

For the girl though, the temperature still felt to be soaring high.

She had been running around for most of the past three hours, wandering around recklessly to look for a certain idiotic teacher and the strange silver-haired girl in the weird nun costume. The electromaster had restrained herself with much difficulty not to hack into all the security cameras to check where they were. But even she thought that was too extreme.

‘I’ll seriously kill him next time I see him!’

Somehow, that thought was comforting.

They say that you sneeze if someone is talking about you. The teenager girl viciously hoped her target was sneezing madly right now. Maybe it will somehow dawn upon the idiot how mad she was at him.

‘I was stupid to have relied on him! I already knew he was irresponsible!’

Mikoto energetically kicked a loose pebble along her path. It flew and hit the side of a metal lamp, making a loud clanging noise. The girl didn’t even notice the sound.

‘He just left me there like I’m the idiot! Did he seriously just leave with that girl?’

She felt a pang of jealously and the word ‘cheated’ came into mind, but immediately shook her head at the thought. A crimson flush quickly spread along her cheeks as she caught herself with much alarm.

‘Wait, what?! Why am I even thinking that?! It wasn’t like… like a d- date or anything!’

Heaving an embarrassed sigh, Mikoto dug a hand into her skirt pocket. She took out an item that had been residing there ever since she had aquired it. A Gekota toy. The one that idiot teacher had given her.

She stared at it for a moment, looking into its smiling face with an impassive expression.

“Geez… I even kept the promise we made and kept silent, but he can’t keep his promises?”

Whispering that aloud made her feel a little better. Just a little bit. Even if there was no one to hear it.

Fingers clenched tightly around the Gekota, but it was carefully returned back to its residing place. She didn’t want to sink so low as to seek vengeance by breaking her own promise to him.

Mikoto resumed her walk towards the Dormitory, not wanting to face the terrifying dorm mistress’ wrath. The woman was really the only person the electromaster had truly feared from the beginning, even if the level 5 liked to deny it. Besides, Mikoto felt exhausted; she wanted to rest.

A grim smile crossed her mouth. She’ll end up seeing the idiotic teacher again soon anyway. It was inevitable. And when that happens…

Sparks escaped from her bangs, sizzling loudly in the cooling air.

Index opened her eyes, dusting off the flour that caked her face like makeup. Some of it had already started to turn to dough where it had missed with the water from the sprinklers. While she was still busy peeling the flakes off her habit she was pulled along by her would be protector.

"Wait, do you even know where we're going?" She cried, panting from the effort of running. Her full stomach felt ready to burst.

"You should leave now while you still can." She tried to reason with him again. "...or would you accompany me to the very gates of hell itself?" She smiled sadly.

***

"Explain yourself."
"What 'nun' are you talking about?"
"And don't think about lying."

Touko's face hardened into a frown.

"You must be one of those so called 'magicians' she was talking about." Touko clenched her fists, ready to fight. Though from the look of her opponent she was clearly outmatched. The girl in front of her was certainly no typical street thug. And whatever ability she was using, it was like nothing Touko had ever seen before.

"So she was telling the truth."

She braced herself for Kaori's next move. If she couldn't figure out the nature of her attack quickly she'd probably end up cut to ribbons.

"Wait, do you even know where we're going? You should leave now while you still can... or would you accompany me to the very gates of hell itself?"

"Sorry, but hell or not, what sort of knight in shining armour would I be if I left a damsel in distress?" He flashed a confident smile in Index's direction. The sun had already set when they arrived back at the dormitories.

Guy didn't slow down for the door, barging his way through and sprinting up the staircase as fast as he could manage. Reaching the top of the stairs he extended his hand to open the door to his apartment.

"You've given us a lot of trouble." The deep voice of Stiyl Magnus spoke out and Guys hand froze on the door handle. "Huh?" Stiyl gave the boy a quizzical look as recognition washed over him. "It looks like you found what I was looking for after all." He smirked confidently and held out his hand and beckoned towards Index. "Why don't you hand it over? Or shall I take it by force?"

"You wouldn't be the first to try." Guy replied, stepping between Stiyl and Index. "Want to know what happened to the last guy who tried?" He sized up his opponent.

"You just don't get it, do you, idiot?" Stiyl gave a dry laugh. "We're magicians. Someone like you doesn't stand a chance." He shook his head with a mocking smile. "But allow me to introduce myself." He removed the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled a long breath of smoke. "I am Stiyl Magnus." He flicked the lit cigarette, ash and all over the balcony's edge. "But you may refer to me as Fortis931." He declared as the falling embers erupted into flames.

***

"You must be one of those so called 'magicians' she was talking about. So she was telling the truth."

"I did not want to speak my magic name..." She began, her voice low and measured. "But if you will not cooperate, then I have no choice."

"Nanasen." She uttered quietly.

A violent gust buffetted Touko, threatening to knock her over as another of Kaori's attacks roared towards Touko. Her steel wires whipped and lashed at the girl, inflicting shallow cuts across her body before the force of the blow blew her away.

"That was only a warning. Surrender that girl to me." She repeated herself. "Please do not make me utter that name." The serene expression on her face belied the urgency of her words.

(Double post, I know, but in the interests of keeping things from stalling, Touko and I dealt with the rest of the encounter between Kaori/Touko over IM)

Touko raised her hand at the attack, bracing herself against the gust of wind that followed. But far from cancelling the attack as shehad hoped, her right hand stung from the lashing cuts across its palm. Touko gasped in pain and her footing faltered, sending the girl tumbling backwards, skidding along the mud and grass.

What the hell? My Imagine Breaker didn't cancel it... She clutched at her bleeding hand. And I couldn't even see a single slash.

***

The confusion on the girls's face was obvious.

"The speed of my Shichiten Shichitou, 'Nanasen' can kill a person seven times in the space of a split second. It wouldn't be wrong to call it 'certain death'. Don't think you can so easily avoid it." Kaori stated. There was no pride in her voice. Simply the certainty of someone stating cold, hard fact. "Do you see now? Resistance is foolish. Surrender the girl..." She said, readying her sword again. "Before I am forced to kill you."


***

Touko didn't speak. Her mind was already racing to think up a plan.

What should I do? She concentrated on her opponent. Kaori had made no move towards her. Do I rush her without a plan? She hadn't finished that thought before sprinting forward at the sword wielding woman.

***

"Nanasen." Kaori uttered again.

And once again the ground was torn up in thick gouges that sped towards the charging girl. Another hundred cuts slashed across her unprotected body and Kaori stood back, implacable as ever. Surely that attack would have sapped whatever fighting spirit remained in the battered teenager.

"I will repeat myself as many times as necessary."


***

Touko flew backwards, hitting the ground hard this time and she groaned, lifting herself slowly back to her feet.

"You know, you're really beginning to piss me off." She wiped her cheek where Kaori's 'blade' had drawn a thin red line of fresh blood.

She charged again. Perhaps if she was fast enough, she could make it between the gaps in Kaori's attack.

***

The stoic woman frowned.

"I do not understand what is driving you to fight so hard." She sounded disappointed.

"Nanasen." The word slipped from her lips again as Touko drew close. Close enough to touch. Splashes of red burst from Touko's hand, mere inches from Kaori's face.

As the girl was once more roughly knocked back, the sun glinted against something thin like a spider's web stretched tight about Kaori's figure. A droplet of Touko's blood dangled, seemingly in the air before falling.

"Surrender." She continued to urge Touko.

***

Through blurred vision, Touko could make out something, like thread catching the light about them. It waws only chance that she saw the blood hanging suspended in thin air, but now she understood.

Wires... She's using the movements of her sword to hide the real attack.

"Surrender?" She looked down at her bloodied hand. "Like hell, I'll surrender, you emotionless bastard!"

***

"Hmm?" Kaori's face registered her surprise at Touko's continued defiance. She set her jaw, her eyes veiled beneath black hair in an unreadable expression.

"Nanasen." Another punishing barrage of wires assaulted Touko from all angles.

***

Touko braced herself again and staggered forwards, or at least she tried. Her body was battered and exhausted and she felt like she was about to collapse.

She reached out with her numb hand.

***

The gesture was returned by a sharp blow to the stomach by Kaori's saya. The scabbard slammed deep under Touko's ribs into her solar plexus and she swung a powerful roundhouse kick at the beaten girl's head.

***

She started to cough and wheeze from Kaori's strike, staggering backwards into the path of the kick that knocked her to the floor painfully. Damn. She really thought she was going to stay standing that time. Wincing at the pain in her stomach and the ringing in her ears as her brain rattled about her head, Touko struggled to focus on the swordswoman.

***

A foot stamped down hard on Touko's chest, pinning her to the floor.

"Isn't this enough?" The tall girl asked with a tone approaching sympathy. "Give up. I don't believe you're really willing to die here for that girl." She resisted Touko's weak attempts at squirming under her heel.

***

"Because I don't know where she is!" Touko shouted, enraged. "Why?" Touko asked in response. As though the question itself was absurd. "Why aren't you killing me now? You could have used your 'certain death' a hundred times already." Her defiant expression faded and she stared into Kaori's eyes with understanding.

***

Kanzaki Kaori towered over the defeated opponent as he had done many times in the past. It was a familiar sight for her, to see her enemies broken on the floor. But she felt no pride.

She didn't answer. Perhaps she had no answer.

***

Touko took the woman's silence as an answer though.

"Then you know why..." She swallowed hard. The pressure on her chest was unbearable. Had she broken a rib? "Chasing a little girl... hunting her like an animal and attacking her without mercy... It's not right." She paused, hoping her words would have some effect. "How much has she suffered because of you people? Whatever reason you're chasing her for, is it really important enough for all that?"

***

If the magician was moved by the girl's words she didn't show it. Her implacable expression of cold indifference only seemed to grow harder.

***

"I may not know what this is all about..." She started, looking away. "But if all I can do is fight desperately to protect her, then of course I'll fight." She regained her resolve. "But you. You're different. With that power of yours you could put an end to all of this!"

***

She bit her lip, averting her gaze for but a moment before speaking. Her voice was as low and measured as ever.

"You have no idea what you're talking about." She took her Nodachi in both hands. "There's more to this than you realise." She struck out hard across Touko's head with the scabbard of her sword.

Turning her attention from the fallen girl, Kaori set her sights on the city. This new development would change things. She needed to contact Vanni and Stiyl immediately. Striking out across the grass, she was careful to stay wreathed in her 'boundary of forbidden wires' until she reached the cover of the streets.

***

Touko's world went black. When she awoke it was already dark.

"Ugh..." She blinked at the darkness. "Such... misfortune..." She groaned, sitting up. How had she ended up alone in the park? Her eyes widened as she remembered and her sudden movement brought pain to her side. The shallow cuts and angry bruises made rising to her feet a chore. Index! She had to find that girl and warn her. With slow and painful steps she crept back towards the dormitory. If she was going to pick up a trail, that would be the first place to start.

The vast amount of information stored in a three dimensional array table within one's Personal Reality would be able to store various kinds of information in real time applications. For Solid Air's case, this certain Array table stores 3-D geographic points of every manipulated & currently active OFR molecule relative to his position. The specific piece of information that this esper was focusing on was the geographic point of the OFR molecule he had managed to embed within Vanni's clothing.

That information was slowly fading away from his Personal reality because of how far the magician managed to reach away from the esper's vicinity. However, this magician has been standing in the same spot for the past 30 minutes which was odd. Even if the point the Esper had tried to determine was faint, he would still have a general idea of where this person was within that point's relative position.

After arriving to a small cross road in the district, a large plethora of people had gathered in one spot in front of a shady-looking restaurant. It's as though something had caused a large commotion. Haragi Faye, who had been travelling on thin 'air', sparked his interest from seeing such an event. Logically, if anything would cause a commotion as large as that, within this time, it could be the use of the ridiculous concept 'Magic'. Or... it could be something really stupid and waste his own time. Regardless, Haragi didn't have anything important to lose so he took the risk.

Upon arriving at the crowded interior structure of the restaurant, Haragi forcefully made his way through the slabs of meat that blocked his path. It was soon he realized this large commotion was originating from the kitchen of the restaurant.

"Hmm... I can sense my target here somewhere... and as large as this commotion this is... it can't be coincidental that he has to be the cause of this...."

The Level 4 continued his way through until he made it to the front of the crowd, who stared through the half open door of the kitchen room.

"This is it...."

He continued his way through, ignoring everyone else's comments about him not entering, to find out what exactly occurred here.

(( I am sorry that I have not been around much. Due to family troubles and lack of internet I haven't been on all that much. I am now back and ready to rp some more. x3 I was told that I should at least introduce Milo into this arc so that is what I'm going to do. I'm not completely sure what time it is in this arc right now but I'm willing to change my post if something seems off. x3 ))

Milo sighed. He was just getting off from his job as a store clerk for one of the many convenience stores around. His shifts always seemed so long and they were also very boring. The job tired him out but he usually recovered after a bit of relaxation. Right now he would head back to the small apartment he was renting. It was all he could afford on the meager salary he received from his job.

The Magician stepped into his apartment and looked around. It looked as if it had never been used and it rarely was. He slept here and that was all. He ate elsewhere and he didn't really have any personal belongings that he had to worry about so the apartment never really looked like it was lived in at all. Milo stretched out upon the sofa and relaxed, allowing the tenseness to leave his muscles.

He had the feeling that something was up but he couldn't quite place it but he didn't allow himself to dwell on it for very long.

The gout of flame was the first thing Touko saw as she raced towards the dormitories. There, suspended above the streets a swirling orb of fire hovered.

"An Esper?" She wondered aloud. Or was it another so-called Magician? It was too much of a coincidence to be unrelated.

She bounded up the steps two at a time and threw herself against the door. On the other side she found Guy and Index facing off against a red headed foreigner. She didn't need introductions to tell that he was a Magician.

"Index!" She called out, relieved to see that the girl was alright. The silver haired nun spun to the sound of her name.

"Sensei, what's going on here?" Touko asked.

Guy threw up his arm to shield himself from the blistering heat that assaulted him. It was a prickly, dry heat, like a blast from an oven. For a second he was breathless, the air stolen from his lungs only to return like hot syrup down his throat.

"Magic, huh? Sounds like bullshit to me." He grimaced, wincing against the searing light of the inferno. The corner of his lip curled in a wry sneer. Perhaps he should have kept that knife after all. That though was interrupted by a familiar voice behind him.

"Sensei, what's going on here?"

"You're asking the wrong person." Guy growled, his gaze never shifting from the red-haired mage. "Think you can get the sister out of here while I have a chat with 'David Copperfield' here?"

"You're asking the wrong person."
"Think you can get the sister out of here while I have a chat with 'David Copperfield' here?"

Touko looked at him with a skeptic expression. His heart might be in the right place, but if this magician was anywhere near as powerful as the woman she had fought earlier, then he'd have his work cut out for him.

"Like I'd just leave you in a situation like this!" She stood by his side. "Index. Stay back. Let us deal with this." She held out her palm toward the girl back.

"What the hell is that...?" Meirin asked aloud, her jaw dropping. There was what appeared to be a second sun floating above the student dormitories. While it was none of her business, the sight was too out-of-place to ignore. She decided to go investigate - and to scold whoever was responsible. Creating such a large ball of fire was extremely dangerous.

She ran between buildings, through alleyways, and jumped over a fence to reach the dormitories, where she was greeted with a rather strange sight. Ignoring most of what was going on, she stepped right under the large floating fireball, pointed at it, and sternly shouted out "Who is responsible for this? Whoever it is, stop it. You're disturbing the peace; more importantly, I can't sleep with a second sun hovering around. If you absolutely must keep it, put a dimmer switch on it."

Throughout her little speech, Sakamoto had adopted a scolding tone. She looked rather upset as well, as her usual frown had deepened. She seemed completely oblivious to the scorching heat and the immense danger of such a large mass of thermal energy gathered over her head.

"Like I'd just leave you in a situation like this!"

Guy tutted.

"Typical. Well then in that case make yourself useful. I don't think I can get close to him with that thing around" He gestured to the flaming mass that hovered beside Stiyl. "That hand of yours should do the trick, right?"

Stiyl mocked them with a dry laugh, the flame spiraling into a vortex centred about his raised palm.

With a cry he slashed his hand across his body and the flames followed, lashing like a whip towards the three of them.

"The gift of pain for the giant!" Stiyl bellowed, his voice drowned out by the roaring of the untamed fire that enveloped the trio.

"Did I overdo it?" Stiyl wondered aloud as he walked through the clearing smoke towards Index. "Oh well, I guess those two never stood a chance anyway." Though as he approached something stopped him in his tracks.

The smoke cleared to reveal a single figure still standing. The spiky haired girl was still alive!

"What the?" Stiyl's choked words of disbelief caught in his throat.

"Wow. That was close!" Guy vaulted back onto the balcony from the ledge and dusted himself off. "Nice save, kid. I had faith in you the whole time." He said with a cocksure smile, straightening his collar as he heaved Index up over the edge behind him.

"Now you were saying something about us 'never standing a chance'?" He turned to Stiyl with an arrogant smirk.

(I'm going to assume Touko dispelled his attack rather than ending up extra crispy.)

"What the fu-- HEY!! What the hell are you doing?!" Sakamoto yelled. She rushed over towards the man in black. That man had just tried to kill three people. Granted, he had failed, but he had tried anyway. That made him a bad guy.

That made him an enemy.

Unleashing a war cry and activating her ability, Meirin Sakamoto charged headfirst towards the fire mage, unaware - and uncaring - of what she was getting into. All she cared about was defeating the man who had tried to kill three people.

And after all, two people could play with fire.

"Typical. Well then in that case make yourself useful. I don't think I can get close to him with that thing around"
"That hand of yours should do the trick, right?"

Touko wasn't so sure. Up until now all she'd had to deal with were Esper powers. Could she be certain that her Imagine Breaker would dispel this magic too? She didn't have long to debate it as the black robed man threw a gout of flame towards them like a whip. Instinctively Touko held out her hand against the raging inferno.

As the smoke cleared she let out a relieved laugh.

"It worked!" She looked down at her arm, still attached and completely unburnt. "What was I worried about? This is the hand that shredded those 'enchanted robes' after all." She glanced back to see Guy drag himself and Index back over the edge of the balcony. He was quick on his feet, she had to admit. Though the fact that he hadn't tried to help her as well rankled slightly.

It was then that she heard the frenzied war cry as the red headed girl made herself known, charging towards Stiyl. The black robed mage had already raised his hand for the next attack, preparing to bring down another wall of flame on top of the new interloper.

"Hey, watch out!" Touko tried to warn her and she dove at the girl, tackling her aside as the flames slashed down past them both.

Meirin charged towards the coming flames, prepared for the impact, when suddenly somebody hit her from the side and knocked her out of the way. She grunted and attempted to push the person - a girl near her own age - off. "Hey, what the hell?! Why'd you push me out of the way?! Dammit, get off me!"

Meirin cursed and got to her feet as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, her opening was gone; the man in black was now ready for an assault. "Well, there goes the element of surprise..." Sakamoto cursed at Touko. "Gee, thanks, you dumbass. I could have taken that fireball, you know."

Stiyl began to chant again. Whatever strange power his opponent was using was able to completely nullify his flames. However, he doubted they would be capable of doing the same to his greatest weapon.

"(One of the five elements that build the Earth)," Stiyl uttered the words with a low and grave voice, as though recanting the last rites of a dying man over his corpse. "(o great creator of flames), (The light of salvation that gives birth to life), ( the light of judgment that punishes evildoers)… His voice grew to a roar, the crackling of flames around him almost drowning out the words he spoke.

"Don't let him finish that incantation!" Index cried out towards the two girls. If he managed to summon Innocentius here... She let out a startled yelp as a hand snatched at her wrist.

"Come on! We have to get you out of here!" Guy tugged at her arm. He turned just in time to see the bright shimmer of a blade in front of his eyes as Kaori's nodachi slashed down, cutting off his retreat.

"You're not going anywhere with that girl." The swordswoman stepped out in front of him, sword in hand. "Hand her over... if you value your life." Her eyes narrowed.

Seeing an apparent opening, Meirin sprinted at Stiyl. He was still her target.

She reached the wall of flames surrounding him and crashed right through it; however, she couldn't reach Stiyl as easily, as the force of the flames slowed her down a bit. While the fire wasn't hot, she still had to be careful, or else she might slip up on her calculations for her ability. Should that happen, she was as fireproof as a wet blanket - not very.

It took a few moments, but Sakamoto reached Stiyl. However, by that time, he had already finished his incantation, and all she could do was stare in awe at the creature before her. Meirin had never expected some living being made entirely of flames to appear in front of her.

Then she thought "To hell with this," and tried to punch Innocentius in the face.

"Gee, thanks, you dumbass. I could have taken that fireball, you know."

Touko could only stare, dumbfounded at the other girl.

"How was I supposed to know? Hey!" She tried to reach for the girl again as Sakamoto took off running. A quick look behind her saw the young teacher facing down against the mysterious swordswoman from earlier. How had she managed to find them? "Such misfortune..." Touko lamented, scrambling to her feet.

Innocentius' roar made the walls tremble, the heat from its flames melting the corridor's fittings.