A Certain Magical Index - Arc 2

Kita had landed softly on the grounds beside Misawa and as she looked about for her bearings the tall woman approached her silently.

Kanzaki Kaori drew her sword and held the tip towards the girl. A show of force meant to coerce the girl through simple fear.

"I cannot allow you to leave. Come with me and you will not be harmed." Kaori spoke in her usual measured tone as she ushered the girl towards the nearest fire exit.

***

"Tch... you're saying my line, lolicon.... You know... leaving us with no information the past two days is kinda a dick move... I expected you guys to say something to us before running off like headless chickens..."


Stiyl didn't respond. His weary frown seemed to say all that needed to be said. How could he trust these two blindly after all he had been through in this city?

"You're saying this is one of the corpses of the thirteen knights of what?.... I'd like to know the details... and whatever else you know of this building..."


"I should be asking you that." He grumbled, raising his hand to his face where he took a deep breath of smoke. "But I suppose for now, if the situation requires it, I should share." He reached into his robes and held out an envelope that looked ready to burst with papers.


"Ehwaz (Go)." Stiyl uttered a strange sounding word and the envelope left his hand to drift towards Haragi and Touko. "Gebo (I allow)." Another word and the envelope split as though cut with a blade. The leaves of paper lifted into the air as the relevant information arranged itself around the two teenagers.

Seeing Touko's blank expression he decided an explanation was obviously required.


"It seems this place has become a phony religious cult devoted to science worship." Stiyl's words dripped with a bitterness and mocking quality. "If it were only that then we'd let your kind deal with it. However..." He continued "...that half-baked science cult got taken over by a real magician. An alchemist of the Zurich school to be precise. That man's name is Aureolus Izzard."


Stiyl stopped, taking a breath as he saw still more confusion written large on the girl's face. He glanced to Haragi to see if the boy was doing any better at following.


"This place also contains another person of great interest to our church. It seems likely that they're connected to whatever he plans for Index." Stiyl seemed perturbed by that thought, but continued. "I need to find her before he gets a chance to harm her." Stiyl said those words like a mantra.

Stiyl muttered incomprehensible words, which resulted in a letter floating mid-air and revealing it's contents by itself. Parts of the envelope ripped open and formed words legible to read in front of both Haragi and Touko.

Stiyl hadn't physically done anything, or activate any personal reality for the envelope to do such a thing. Thus, this must be the alternative to using abilities through psychological means. It is the use of what certain people Haragi had confronted before call 'Magic'. Even seeing that still didn't wrap around Haragi's head the fact that 'Magic' existed.'

"It seems this place has become a phony religious cult devoted to science worship. If it were only that then we'd let your kind deal with it. However...that half-baked science cult got taken over by a real magician. An alchemist of the Zurich school to be precise. That man's name is Aureolus Izzard."


So Haragi's hunch was right on the mark. Alot of what Stiyl had spoke of was similar to what Haragi had found out from researching. The man who kidnapped Index two nights ago, was now more than likely to be in this building if what Stiyl had said was absolute. However words like "Zurich school" couldn't be fully comprehensible, but that information wasn't relevant.


"This place also contains another person of great interest to our church. It seems likely that they're connected to whatever he plans for Index. I need to find her before he gets a chance to harm her."

Another person? It was definite that Stiyl knew alot more about what was exactly occurring. For now, the Level 4 could only rely on Stiyl's intentions how to correctly track down Izzard. If Stiyl wanted to harm Touko or Haragi, he would have done so a long time ago. Thus, Haragi would find it illogical for him to do such a thing.


"I see... then what's the plan?... How do we find Izzard?..."

"Finding him isn't the hard part. Getting to him, however-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the door slammed straight open interrupting their thought process. Haragi's attention focused onto the new individual the appeared in the room.

"Hah... hah... I... I made it..."

This individual wasn't someone he would recognize, so is he one of the student body after the infiltrators? Haragi didn't have time to think, but to act fast before this boy would get a chance to attack. Haragi tapped into his Personal Reality creating OFR molecules within the second after the door was slammed open. Faint glow of light particles surrounded the newcomer. Buzzing noise were made from the OFR molecules indicating it was near the state of Entropy, meaning explosions would occur controlled by Haragi.

The spiky haired boys eyes narrowed and glared at the individual, while in a dark tone he spoke,

"Make one small move... and I'll make sure your limbs won't be the way it is right now...."

Maybe this person had some knowledge about this building, assuming he was apart of the student body. Interrogating him could help formulate a effective plan to find Izzard.

"Now... I'll ask you a question... and you better give a decent answer... Do you know how to get to the person in charge of this place?.... Answer carefully...."

Haragi's eyes were fueled with intimidation attempting to threaten this boy.

Guy Li wrote:Kanzaki Kaori drew her sword and held the tip towards the girl. A show of force meant to coerce the girl through simple fear.

"I cannot allow you to leave. Come with me and you will not be harmed." Kaori spoke in her usual measured tone as she ushered the girl towards the nearest fire exit.

Kita raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Is that a pointy sword?" Kita said jokingly before turning slightly to look back at Misawa, still keeping Kanzaki in her vision.
"Sorry!" Kita clasped her hands together. "I'm not up for sword fighting at the moment.  I came to collect some papers from my locker" Kita said actually referring to her friend's locker, which was supposedly containing useful information for her.

Sounds of broken glass were heard from outside.
"What is that idiot doing in there?" Kita muttered under her breath; when technically it was her fault for leaving Itsuki in an awkward spot to begin with.

Kaori's stern gaze followed Kita's skywards and she stepped back to avoid the hail of glass shards. Her brow furrowed.

Stiyl... Don't push yourself too hard.


She glared at Kita as though weighing her usefulness against Stiyl's life. If her partner was in trouble then this girl became a distant second priority. Kaori slammed the door to the fire escape open with her foot and charged up the staircase.

***

Itsuki stood, still rooted by fear he continued to hold the door shut as best he could. 

"Make one small move... and I'll make sure your limbs won't be the way it is right now.... Now... I'll ask you a question... and you better give a decent answer... Do you know how to get to the person in charge of this place?.... Answer carefully...."

The lights around him barely registered as he stammered a few brief words.

"I just enrolled a few weeks ago!" He cringed, awaiting some retribution for his feeble answer. The door groaned under the weight of the mind controlled students beyond.

Touko jumped backwards as something stirred beside her. The knight's arm. The twisted and rent armour lurched slowly into motion, raising one arm. He was reaching towards Stiyl.

"He's alive? " The girl gasped in shock. She looked between Stiyl and Haragi. "We have to get him to a hospital!"

Wordlessly, the priest approached the fallen man and with a solemn nod drew a cross in front of his chest with his fingers.

The knight's body relaxed again as Stiyl climbed the stairs towards the upper floors.

"If you run now you might be able to make it out of here with your lives. If you don't want to end up like him, that is."

"I just enrolled a few weeks ago!"

A nerve cracked in Haragi's veins knowing they were limited on time. Index's life was at risk, and playing possum wasn't going to benefit them any longer. Haragi approached the new individual, while glaring into his scared eyes. He violently grabbed him by the collar, and forced him closer to his own emotionless face.

"Look... We don't have time play games... Someone's life is at stake here... Whether you choose to answer or not... it's completely up to you... Just don't waste our fucking time giving half-assed answers!... Now let me ask you one more time.... How do we get to the person in char-"

Haragi was interrupted by the supposedly dead person in armor weakly raising his own arm to towards the red haired priest. Touko immediately felt concerned for the near dying individual, however Haragi could see nothing could be done to help him in his condition. The priest approached the man, and gave him his blessing. He was released from his pain, just by hand motions of a cross.

As strange as it was, the priest remained unchanged. He walked up the stairs, while speaking out towards the two,

"If you run now you might be able to make it out of here with your lives. If you don't want to end up like him, that is."

Haragi stared at the priest who was about to leave. The spiky haired boy sighed in annoyance and let go of the silent boy he took hostage, beginning to ignore his existence.

"...What makes you think that'll scare me away..."

He followed behind the priest, and remained status quo.

"Oi Touko... no point in spending time around here... that brat won't spill anything... and I don't feel like wasting precious energy on him either... We need to act fast...."

"Look... We don't have time play games... Someone's life is at stake here... Whether you choose to answer or not... it's completely up to you... Just don't waste our fucking time giving half-assed answers!... Now let me ask you one more time.... How do we get to the person in char-"


Itsuki cowered, trying to shield his face from the barrage of abuse he was certain would soon be heading his way from Haragi. Just what had he walked into this time? To Itsuki's surprise the assault never came and he eventually mustered the courage to crack open a single eyelid. Haragi let him go and Itsuki's trembling legs gave way, landing him on his behind. 


"Oi Touko... no point in spending time around here... that brat won't spill anything... and I don't feel like wasting precious energy on him either... We need to act fast...."



Touko still stared mute at the now still corpse of the knight. She nodded at Haragi's words and followed him up the stairs wordlessly.


Itsuki watched the retreating trio of odd strangers with a sigh of relief. Another crash against the door jolted him to his feet as he bolted after them. 


After all, there was safety in numbers, the boy rationalised his cowardice. Besides, he was still safer with them than the students of Misawa...


***


Outside the school building a group of srmoured figures gathered in tight formation and began to chant an ominous dirge.

While climbing the stairs, something caught Haragi's attention from outside the glass window. A line of armoured figures, similar to the individual who had faced his death recently, were in a certain formation. The Level 4 paused his movement any further, to observe what exactly was going on.

A riot? No, that wouldn't have fit into this situation. Haragi felt as if they were doing something different. Something he couldn't figure out from his sense of logic.

"Oi... Lolicon... Have any idea what those guys are doing down there?"

His eyes stayed focused on the men in armour, while calling out to Stiyl.

"Huh?" Stiyl hurried to the window beside Haragi. His upper lip curled in a snarl. "That's..." He watched as the knights raised their swords skywards, the tips sparking red with light that did not seem to lose its radiance despite the distance. "The remnants of the thirteen knights!" He watched with an impending sense of dread.

"Run!" He bellowed, but it was too late. The tower around them was engulfed in that red light as the power of Gregorio's Choir enveloped the whole of Misawa. Right now monks gathered in St Peters Basilica were no doubt chanting their prayers, channeling them to one purpose. The destruction of this particular building. The building rumbled, shaking itself apart and the floor gave way.

For a moment Touko sensed that she was falling. All around her was darkness. Darkness and red light. It was then that Touko realised that it was not darkness that surrounded her, but rather the remains of the building she had once occupied.

The entire building was collapsing around her!

All of a sudden the motion stopped. Then reversed. Crumbling concrete and glass rose upwards, reforming into chunks, then into solid structures that reassembled into the shape of Misawa Cram School.

Touko watched as the ceiling above her closed up and she continued to fall...

***

Stiyl found himself lying flat on the ground. Strange. He could have sworn he had been falling. In fact, hadn't the entire building been collapsing just moments earlier? He took a moment to collect his thoughts.

Of course. Ars Magna. The weapon of his enemy, Aureolus Izzard. The ability to rewrite the simulation of the world. Stiyl managed a dry laugh. He supposed he should be thankful that man's alchemy had saved him from the might of Gregorio's Choir.

As soon as Stiyl took a brief glance at Haragi's point of interest, he looked disturbed as if he was in the sight of something he feared most. Haragi noticed his sudden change in expression, which left him curious. The priest usually kept his cool and calm expression, but something to drastically change his mood indicated something bad was about to happen.

A few seconds passed with his response from the shocked Stiyl and Haragi decided to ask,

"What's wro-"

"Run!"

Stiyl had finally spoke almost immediately, interrupting Haragi's question. However, it was too late to do anything. The ground suddenly started shaking, as the three were consumed by red light. The building around them started crumbling. Haragi suddenly felt the ground shatter right beneath him, causing him to fall.

"What the he-"

Before Haragi could comprehend what exactly was going on, he noticed Touko fell through the floor. Stiyl however was nowhere to be in sight as the whole building before them started crumbling. As of now, his concern was saving Touko. Falling from high heights were no concern to Haragi, only because his Personal Reality could enable him to float in the air but what did was Touko's inability to do the same.

"Kamijou!"

Haragi yelled for Touko, as he dove down to reach her, despite the falling rubble around him. They both were engulfed by gravity within what seemed to be the middle of the stairwell. As Haragi enabled his Personal Reality to maintain his speed downwards to Touko, something odd occurred. What seemed to be the destruction of Misawa Cram school was no more. In fact, the rubble that was once falling maintained a inactive state floating still in the air for just a second. But just right after, it seemed as though the rubble strangely reversed it's own direction causing it to rebuild the destroyed school. The stair case above them were now as it once was, without any sign of destruction.

However, the problem remained, Touko was falling to her death. Ignoring the non-comprehensible events that occured, Haragi's priority remained consistent as he dove down with the help of his OFR molecules to recover Touko. As soon as his hand grabbed her right hand, a loud high pitched noise resonated throughout the area.

Nothing had changed around them, except Haragi's expression. His eyes widened as he came to realize his OFR molecules were no more. His process of breaking down Air molecules to create more OFR molecules didn't even execute. It was as if he had no esper powers to begin with. This had meant he had no support from his Esper ability to stop the fall and save Touko. It was just as before, that one odd event back when Haragi and Touko had first met. Somehow, his OFR molecules disappeared the exact same way when she turned against him. Was this Touko's doing?

Haragi wasn't able to think right now considering his situation. He quickly acted without thinking, as he slammed the tip of his fingers to the nearest floor of the stairwell. Both Touko and Haragi were hanging by a loose thread on the tip of the stairwell. Below them was an endless fall to their death. Their only support was Haragi's weakening fingertips, as Touko's weight slowly held him down through his other arm. And as of yet, his Personal Reality was still unusable through unexplained means.

Haragi gritted his teeth tightly shut as he tried his best to spit out the words,

"Kamijou!... Wake up!... We're in a tight bind here... My Esper powers are out of juice and I can't hold on for much longer!... Any bright ideas before we fall to our death?!!..."

Haragi tried his best to struggle to hold onto the edge of the stairs. The gap between these floors were outstandingly large. Haragi couldn't think of an idea considering this factor.

Touko took a moment to get her bearings and it was only as she looked down that she grasped the peril of their situation. How far had they climbed in their frantic escape from the possessed students?

She felt the boy's strong grip on her right wrist. Whatever ability he had been planning on to save the both of them was useless as long as that hand touched his. 

"Hey..." Touko started with an unsteady voice. "On three I need you to let go of my hand." She stated. "There's no time to explain! Just do it!" She barked, preempting his protests.

"One..." She started.

"Two..." She swallowed hard.

"Three!" Touko snatched her right hand back, swinging her left forward to grip tightly onto Haragi's forearm.

"Hey... On three I need you to let go of my hand. There's no time to explain! Just do it!"

Haragi widened his eyes upon hearing her dangerous plan. Why did she want him to let go of her? Did she want to risk attempting to grab the edge of the stairwell on the level below? That would be impossible at this height, it was definitely suicide to even try.

"Wait!... If you do that-

Touko interrupted with the start of her countdown.

"One..."

"Oi! It's too dang-"

"Two..."

Haragi couldn't bare to even think about any sort of counter plan to whatever she was attempting. His mind was mostly focused on maintaining his grip onto the edge of the stairwell by only his fingertips while holding onto Touko. Arguing back to her would be pointless now. All he had to do was trust her know for whatever risky plan she had in mind and ignore any kind of scenario from letting go of her hand.

"I'm counting on you!..."

"Three!"

Haragi immediately released his grip on Touko, freeing her from his grasp only to fall from gravity's pull. However, a forceful tug on his forearm was felt, strengthening the pressure of the grip he had on the stairwell. Touko had switched her arms to grab onto Haragi for what reason? This had only endangered his situation.

The weight was too much for Haragi, he couldn't hold onto the ledge any longer. His fingertips slipped, and gravity just about force him to fall.

"Shit!..."

Immediately afterwards, he was supposed to plunge down to his death. However, he was standing still. His feet was stepping on what felt like solid ground but nothing appeared beneath him. That was when Haragi had realized his personal reality was usable once again. His Esper Ability to manipulate the stability of OFR molecules was now functioning. What Haragi had been stepping on was a thin layer of crystallized OFR molecules. This was also known as <Solid Air>. This had only formed due to his nerves reacting to the situation at hand. His own consciousness saved him without realizing.

Before thinking of anything else, he grabbed Touko's left arm and immediately forced his OFR molecules beneath him to float upwards just so he was leveled with the stairwell. He created another set of OFR molecules underneath Touko's feet for something she can step onto rather than hanging to avoid an endless fall.

Haragi jumped over the ledge and onto the stairs, sighing in annoyance. His hand was still grabbing onto Touko's arm just in case, but the support from the thin layer of air she was stepping on made it unnecessary.

"You're safe to jump over..."

Haragi retained his emotionless state despite everything that has just happened. As of now, what peaked his curiosity the most was how he lost his Esper powers in the first place. Everything else that happened could be explained by Stiyl once he finds him again. His eyes stared at the spiky haired girl, expecting an answer,

"I lost my esper powers for a few seconds exactly like how I lost them back when we both fought each other... Are you hiding something I should know about?..."

"It's my right hand... Whether its an Esper ability or magic or even a miracle of God Himself my right hand can cancel it."

Haragi stared at her clueless for a few moments. He was trying to comprehend the existence of such esper ability. But because of what had happened to Haragi twice in a row, he couldn't turn a blind eye to how reasonable this seemed.

"A esper ability that cancels out other esper abilities? Even that bullshit method of using abilities... huh?... That's a first I've heard of something like that..."

It does explain why his OFR molecules disappeared and how he couldn't create more when he was gripping onto her right wrist. Suddenly, distant chanting was heard from below the stairwell. Haragi diverted his attention to the lower levels, glancing at the slowly forming beads of light filling the stairwell upwards.

More interference only held Haragi and Touko back. If Haragi wanted, he could blow up the whole stairwell from below but he didn't want to hurt innocent people during the process.

"They found us already?"

Touko spoke with anxiety. Haragi followed up while trying to think of a way to lose them,

"This isn't good... they're just gonna hold us back if they catch up to us... And since I don't feel safe to use my esper powers to easily float upwards with you... we gotta find someway to lose them..."

The spiky haired girl slammed her shoulder against the door to the third floor, only to find herself looking at a gathering of zombie-like students. The beads of light they emanated wasn't the same as the Level 4's own light emitting OFR molecules, but something different. Even if Haragi produced a wall of Solid Air, these forms of light would easily surpass through his wall and come after them.

Haragi stepped in front of Touko, contemplating whether he should risk blowing up a portion of the hallway or not to create a hole for them to escape through. But the gathering of students were too close in range to get caught up in the explosion. This wasn't good.

Just as they were about to chant to summon those certain light particles, Haragi clenched his bare teeth, seriously considering to activate his esper ability to only injure them. But then...

THUNK.

The sight of a girl, just about both of their age, wearing her hair in a bobcut with short fringes was seen swinging a polearm towards each side. The student body was seen collapsing onto the ground, knocked out from the violent impact of the lengthy weapon.

Haragi couldn't explain what just happened. Where did she come from? Was she an enemy or an ally of Stiyl's? The girl with the polearm glared sternly at the two before speaking. She gestured the two to follow her through the hallway.

"This way!"

And it was at that moment when pain bulged from within his mind.

"Gah!"

He grabbed his forehead, weakly backing himself against the near wall, trying to endure this pain.

"That voice..."

Images sparked into his head of himself and another boy he couldn't recognize...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Haragi, you think it was a good idea meeting here without telling her?"

"Why'd we do that anyways, ***** nii-san"?!"

"Haha, calm down. I just wanted to ask you something. How do you find life in Academy City?"

"Uhh... I get to meet alot of friendly people in school. I find it pretty fun. I'm also becoming an esper soon."

"Oh really? That sounds pretty awesome. *mumbles* If only I could be that happy... *mumbles*"

The boy looked depressed after he described Academy City. But then a new person entered the scene.

"You guys!!! You didn't tell me we were meeting here!"

Tears formed within this girls eyes. The boy started to smile again upon seeing the girl.

"Oh come on, ******-san. We were waiting forever for you, hehe."

"That's soo cruel!!!"

"****** nii-san, don't tease her like that. You know she's really sensitive!"

"Ah come on Haragi, chill out. We are all friends here after all.

The girl wiped her tears and focused on what she came here for.

"Anyways! This way!"

BZZT!

Another image formed within his head. This time, Haragi found himself on the ground with the same girl unconscious beside him. His arm was reaching out to the boy standing with his eyes staring into space.

"I'm sorry we couldn't spend more time together. I wish all three of us could have grown up together. But I have to let go...."

"Where are you going... What happened to ******-san? Why are you doing this?"

"I'm sorry,  ******... Haragi ..." The boy muttered to himself.

His eyes felt dazy, and the sight of the boy was slowly disappearing. He wanted to say one last thing to him.

My heart won't let go.

~~~~~~~~~

Haragi immediately gained sight of his eyes, as reality came back to him. He had finally regained control of his mind, with the post-nerve wrecking pain indulging inside his brain. Heavy breathing followed as he tried to regain control of his own body. His mouth opened slowly forming the words,

"What... the... hell was that?..."

The images that played in his mind was something he was sure he had never experienced at any point of his life. Out of all the things he recalled from his life, he had never met those two individuals. But why did their voice sound familiar? The girl who held the polearm, he began seeing these images right after she appeared. Who exactly was she?

After collecting his thoughts, he realized his own situation in the present time. Index's life was at stake, and he couldn't sit around day dreaming, despite the fact what he had just seen. He looked at Touko, probably curious of the odd incident, and spoke, with full control of his body,

"Sorry... I guess I'm a little exhausted from earlier... But I can manage..."

Telling her what exactly happen would only waste time. The last thing Haragi wanted to do was become a burden.

"What are you waiting for?" Touko called back to Haragi as she and Itsuwa ran ahead down the now clear corridor. Already the sparkling lights of the students' makeshift choir were following the trio, quickly gaining on Haragi.

The corridors seemed endless. Itsuwa dove behind a sharp corner, quickly reaching out to snatch Touko and Haragi, dragging them behind her. Tension was etched across her tightening features as she held her breath for agonising moments before the lights dissipated.

Itsuwa lowered her hand, which had clamped down on Haragi's mouth to silence him and she whispered in a low voice whilst peering around the corner.

"I think the coast is clear." She said, cautiously tapping the wooden shaft of her weapon superstitiously. "Something else must have attracted their attention..."

"I think the coast is clear. Something else must have attracted their attention..."

The spiky haired Level 4 checked to assure that there wasn't any sign of the strangely acting student body. His eyes glanced at the empty hallways and sensed that the people consuming air within the vicinity was himself, Touko and the mysterious girl. Haragi sighed out of annoyance,

"... If that's the case then...."

The boy shifted his focus towards the mysterious girl, inspecting her stature for a moment. He approached right in front of the girl, with his face closing in on her face with only a wall of thin air to separate them. His eyes glared at the girl, filling them with intimidation.

"Mind explaining who you are... and why you helped us?... or did that red haired lolicon send you forus?..."

His suspicion about the girl still persisted, while her true intentions remained unknown. It was true that she did help Haragi and Touko out of a tough bind, but the possibility of her harming both of them was still there. For all he knew, she might be working for Auroleous Izzard.

However, something was odd about Haragi's method of interrogation. He usually threatens the other by entrapping them within his domain through his esper abilities. But, for some odd reason his conscious didn't have the will to do that to someone like her.

The girl blinked, her back straightening as she retreated from Haragi's intimidating stare. She hadn't expected such hostility...

"Itsuwa." She stated her name. "And I'm here to..." Her voice became quiet. She wasn't supposed to divulge her mission to anyone. In fact she wasn't supposed to interact with anyone at all except her target, but that had all changed the instant the alarm had been raised.

But more than secrecy, what held her tongue was not knowing how to explain herself. If these two were just outsiders like she suspected then words like 'Magic' and 'Deep Blood' would mean less than nothing. 

As Itsuwa struggled to find her words, Touko had already bolted from their hiding spot.

"Wait! We have to be careful! There may still be students on this side of the boundary!" Itsuwa called out after the other girl before clamping her hands over her mouth at her own raised voice. If she had been trying to avoid attracting attention then that had hardly helped.

"Sorry, I can't do that. Index doesn't have that much time!" Was Touko's only response as she made for the staircase again.

"Wait... Index!?" Itsuwa's jaw dropped in disbelief. If the Index Librorum Prohibitorum was here, then... What was she supposed to do? She wracked her brains for what Tatemiya would tell her to do. After a few seconds of indecision she took off after the spiky haired girl. She doubled back a second later and snatched Haragi's hand to drag him after her as they ascended towards the top floor of Misawa Cram School.

***

The building didn't seem that unusual at first glance. From the outside it was just another grey concrete and glass skyscraper. Certainly nothing out of place in Academy City.

Inside was no different. The empty corridors were clean and tidy. The classrooms were orderly and smelt faintly of bleach. All in all it was just another school after closing time.

Guy found it vaguely depressing.

He had definitely seen the 'Miko' girl and her entourage enter, and they definitely hadn't left, at least not by any route he'd seen. That meant, logically that they had to be somewhere inside.

Only he'd been wandering the halls for nearly an hour at this point and he'd not seen a soul. Wearily he pressed open the door to the fourth floor fire escape. 

He was ready to resign himself to failure and look at his options. The young man ran a hand through his hair and sighed as he pressed against the door to fifth floor.

It didn't budge.

Trying again, he threw his weight behind it but the door felt as solid as the surrounding wall. Strange... He scratched his head, puzzling over the door. Turning around to try another level he stopped dead in his tracks.

Around him a hundred floating orbs of light bobbed silently in the air like fireflies. Fight or flight had been a split second reaction and he launched himself in a suicidal leap down the staircase, catching hold of the railing to swing himself around down the next flight. He leapt at the door to the fourth floor feet first.

The shock rattled up his leg and along his spine painfully as the door refused to budge. Guy hissed, nursing his knee as heturned to see the disembodied lights inch closer to him. Preparing for the worst he braced himself to run again...

The orbs fizzled out, falling gently to the floor where they scattered like raindrops.

"Huh?" Guy voiced his apparent confusion as the 'Miko' Himegami Aisa stepped into view, looking at him without expression.

***

The doors to the top floor office of Misawa Cram School swung open for Stiyl Magnus as though ushering his arrival and he stepped slowly and deliberately. inside.

Up ahead the white suited visage of Aureolus Izzard stood over a bundle of white and silver on his desk. His eyes flickered to meet Stiyl's

"What took you so long?" Aureolus' voice sneered condescendingly.

"Itsuwa. And I'm here to..."

She remained silent after that. Her trembling stature only proved that she was more afraid of Haragi than being able to put together words. Even though Haragi had those mysterious images implanted into his head, he couldn't bring himself to find any of those flashback connected with Itsuwa. Let alone, he felt like he never had met her before. Whether she was sent by Stiyl, or his enemy, or even a third party group of individuals, Itsuwa seemed very defenseless despite her earlier expertise in fighting. Why did she help him and Touko out is what he wanted to know most.

Haragi took a moment to himself and let a breath out air out to relieve his minor stress. He was interrupted by Touko making a run for the staircase. The Level 4 sharpened his eyes, watching as Touko ran.

"Oi... we can't be reckless right now!..."

Itsuwa had yelled out as well, saying things along the lines of what Haragi had said. Touko retorted,

"Sorry, I can't do that. Index doesn't have that much time!"

Haragi clicked his tongue as he readied to chase after her seeing how Touko did have a valid point. But he noticed Itsuwa's mouth drop in shock upon hearing Touko's reponse. All of a sudden, his hand was grabbed by Itsuwa dragging him towards Touko's direction. Did she not know about Index being in danger?


He was forced to run along with her towards the staircase. However at that exact moment, Haragi had felt something familiar. The feeling of her hand was familiar, but he couldn't recall. It was a feeling that he somehow could tell that she was trustworthy. He didn't know how, but he didn't doubt it.

As Haragi was keeping up with her, he asked her with a stern look on his eyes,

"Answer me seriously... why did you help us... when you could have gone about your own business?..."

"Answer me seriously... why did you help us... when you could have gone about your own business?..."

Itsuwa seemed to have trouble answering that question honestly. She had come across them purely by accident. In the heat of the moment she hadn't the time to think.

"I guess..." She turned to him with an apologetic smile. "I wasn't really thinking!" She continued to scale the staircase after Touko. "But you two seemed to be unwelcome here too. I suppose it just seemed like common sense." She rationalised to herself.

Touko forced the doors to the office open with a shove. What she saw stopped her in her tracks.

Stiyl Magnus stood motionless as though held in place by invisible chains.

"Be torn to pieces."

The black robed priest's clothing tore from his skin just before that too shredded open to reveal the muscles and sinew beneath, miraculously intact. Touko felt her stomach turn at the sight. Within moments the Magician Stiyl Magnus ceased to exist. In his place Touko could see the man responsible.

The Alchemist, Aureolus Izzard.

"Tch. This building is home to all manner of pests these days..." The young man's lips twitched in a sneering smile. Beside him the white clad girl with silver hair was panting and gasping as though in the fit of a fever.

"I guess... I wasn't really thinking!"

She hesitated to answer as before. It was clear that she was hiding something. She continued to speak,

"But you two seemed to be unwelcome here too. I suppose..."

Haragi widened his eyes as his conscious took a turn on him yet again. His head ached, as another voice spoke in his mind being the voice of a little girl whom he couldn't recognize. As this voice spoke, it had paralleled with what Itsuwa said synchronously,

"It just seemed like common sense."

"... it just seemed like common sense."

He oddly felt as if he could trust her. His heart emitted this feeling for some reason he couldn't make out. Why? He was sure he didn't have any connections with this girl. So why did she cause all this feedback within his mind? Once again, Haragi didn't have the time to figure this out. Index was his priority, so he chose to protect that girl instead.


He focused his eyes towards the upcoming room that Touko immediately entered while speaking nonchalantly,

"If that's the case then... thanks... But now... I don't have much time to go into detail of what we have to do except that we have to save a girl who's being held hostage..."

Once both Itsuwa and Haragi had reached the entrance to the gigantic office, the sight of the prime suspect at been seen. The green haired man responsible for kidnapping Index. The man named Aureolus Izzard was there, standing still and calm on the other side of the room. Haragi sharpened his eyes towards him, filling them with intimidation.

However, the man's was deeply focused on something else, leading Haragi's eyes to track where he had been looking. Stiyl was found trapped in midair, held tightly onto the ceiling with no gravity to pull him down.

"Be torn to pieces."

The words muttered out of his mouth, leading to something unusual to occur. Stiyl's clothing and skin tore to pieces as his internal body parts and limbs were shown to be intact. It was enough for the Level 4's mouth to opened in disgust. He knew what this was. It was this man's ability to make whatever he thinks to become a reality. The whole thing started to piss him off.

Haragi regained focus of his eyes onto the man in question. Behind him, he noticed another figure lying on a desk. It was Index. The white clothed nun who both he and Touko sought after. The Level 4 stepped forward as he declared his ultimatum,

"Izzard... I don't know what you're up to... but... you got two choices....  give it up and hand that girl over now... or... we can play hard ball because... unlike last time I won't just tease you and only incinerate your eyes..."

"Izzard... I don't know what you're up to... but... you got two choices.... give it up and hand that girl over now... or... we can play hard ball because... unlike last time I won't just tease you and only incinerate your eyes..."

Aureolus's hand rose to his eyes as though reliving the fresh memory of pain. He turned to Index. The girl looked pained, her frail looking body quivering and convulsing as her condition faded steadily.

"I can't." Aureolus's voice was firm with conviction. "I won't abandon her to a never-ending twilight of a life." His hand touched to the girl's forehead. "Don't you understand? Index's mind is being corroded by the Grimoires it contains." He started. His eyebrows knitted in concern. "The human brain can only handle so much." He ran his fingers through the girl's silver hair. "In order to store those Grimoires, the church erases her memory each year. If they don't..." He couldn't finish that sentence ashis throat closed up to stop the words. Aureolus swallowed hard and lifted his trembling hand from Index's head.

"The only way to prolong her life is by erasing her memory from year to year. But what kind of a life is that?" Aureolus Izzard sounded like a man who had long ago accepted the futility of his quest, but hadn't the strength to abandon it. "Even with the magic of the Zurich and Hermes schools I couldn't save her. But what if... what if, by using the power of a vampire, an immortal monster. What if, by using that power, I could save that girl from her torment? Wouldn't that be worth it?" He didn't know why he was explaining himself to these people, but all of a sudden Aureolus couldn't stop the words coming from his mouth.

"Even with the magic of the Zurich and Hermes schools I couldn't save her. But what if... what if, by using the power of a vampire, an immortal monster. What if, by using that power, I could save that girl from her torment? Wouldn't that be worth it?"


As Izzard explained his own methods, Haragi could only recall more and more of his past. Similar to Index, his own mind was toyed with as the scientists of Academy City experimented on him attempting to see if he had any odd hidden potential. If it wasn't for his sister, he would have gone insane long ago. He gritted his teeth, thinking of the lies of promises those scientists made, thinking that those experiments were for his own benefit. But, it had only resulted in creating him into a monster. His place only remained in the darkness. Though, he could only consider it his punishment for killing his own mother.

However, seeing an innocent girl go through that and fall into darkness would only piss him off even more. Just standing idly by, and having those in the darkness harming the innocent.

Haragi grit his teeth bare, with his hair covering his eyesight.

"Fuck... that... bullshit...."

The Level 4 looked at his own hands, the hands that were forced to unlock Solid Air, the hands that were of a monster's lying deep within the darkness.

"If... I'm going to just sit by... and watch you screw around with that girl's mind... then that'll add to the sins of my burden.... Even though what you say is true... about bullshit logic such as magic and how that girl's memories have to be erased every year... How is fucking around with her more going to make it any better?!?!"

Haragi promised himself, he wouldn't let anyone innocent he sees fall into darkness. He wouldn't let his resolve falter without reason. This was his burden.

"What if... all you did ends up killing her?... What will you do then?... I understand what it's like to be toyed with... and because of that... because of all the lies I've been fed saying that it's for my own good... because of all the times I nearly got killed... because of all the times I almost went insane... because of my sins... I fell into the darkness of Academy City... the kind of darkness that live to take out bastards like you...."

The Level 4's eyes narrowed, revealing his intimidation towards the green haired man. His power was through making his thoughts into reality. Though the logic was incomprehensible, Haragi had to accept that fact. Meaning, at any point he would be able to look at Haragi, and make his death absolute through his words. Through this, the boy had prepared to blinding his eyesight.

Feint sparks of light spawned in the middle of the room, triggering a series of mini-explosions. Because of this, smoke covered the office room, giving Haragi, Touko, and Itsuwa the advantage of stealth.

"Touko... I'm gonna try to draw his attention away... Use that chance to snatch Index with Itsuwa and get the hell out of this building... This smoke won't last long, especially if Izzard has the ability to clear it... we gotta make this quick!..."

Haragi readied himself to activate <No Air Space> around Izzard's vicinity.

"Fuck... that... bullshit.... If... I'm going to just sit by... and watch you screw around with that girl's mind... then that'll add to the sins of my burden.... Even though what you say is true... about bullshit logic such as magic and how that girl's memories have to be erased every year... How is fucking around with her more going to make it any better?!?! What if... all you did ends up killing her?... What will you do then?... I understand what it's like to be toyed with... and because of that... because of all the lies I've been fed saying that it's for my own good... because of all the times I nearly got killed... because of all the times I almost went insane... because of my sins... I fell into the darkness of Academy City... the kind of darkness that live to take out bastards like you...."

"Touko... I'm gonna try to draw his attention away... Use that chance to snatch Index with Itsuwa and get the hell out of this building... This smoke won't last long, especially if Izzard has the ability to clear it... we gotta make this quick!..."

The two girls coughed and shielded their eyes from the thickening smoke. Touko just barely caught Haragi's words before the boy bolted off to face the alchemist alone.

"Wa-" She coughed again, gritting her teeth as she lost track of the Level 4. "Dammit!" Was he really planning on taking on an opponent who could kill him with a word? Touko's eyes turned towards the obsidian desk where Index lay...

Aureolus Izzard did not flinch at Haragi's stare, nor at the explosions that filled the room with a smoke screen. His was the power to change the world. He didn't need to see to imagine his opponent's destruction.

From the swirling clouds in front of Haragi a spinning blade whirled at him end over end, intent on severing his neck.

As Haragi clouded himself within the depths of smoke, he prepared himself for any surprising thing to occur. Magic was something he couldn't fully grasp himself, so using his own logic in this battle would have been pointless. Even more so, it could get him killed. He recalled the last battle he drew against someone who had defied the laws of Science and used Magic. The battle against the infiltrator who shown traces of using "Magic" on the night of June 20th. Haragi wouldn't have survived if Accelerator hadn't interfered.

This time, he wouldn't act inferior against Magic. This time, he wasn't afraid. OFR molecules formed within the vicinity ahead of him to allow him to detect any traces of movement. Right now, his plan was to avert his attention until Touko & Itsuwa is able to secure Index. Once they are able to get out, Haragi would be able to go all out. He wouldn't be suppressed by concerning for others, like he always had been. It was then, he felt something jolted directly towards him, it wasn't Izzard, but some kind of object.

In the midst of the moment, something flashed in front of him, tearing away at the clouded air. He couldn't think but act right away. A spinning blade was revealed, about to slice straight through his neck. At the last second, a blade of his own took shape, starting point blank from his neck level blocking the spinning blade from moving any further. However, should he keep his blade status quo, the opposed spinning blade would surely break through and incapacitate him.

Haragi sharpened his eyes as he held onto the handle of his crystalline sword tightly and skewed the angle of it downwards. It was just be enough to alter the blade's trajectory on an angle diagonally upwards, only for it to pass through from the side of his face and tearing a new hole in the wall behind him. However, Haragi's ill determination did not falter. His resolve was indifferent, despite the cut on his cheek just now.

"Izzard!... You didn't answer me...  What would you do if you end up killing her yourself... What makes you think possibly staking her own life would save her... Why rely on something so bullshit if you don't know for sure yourself..."

More objects composed of OFR molecules materialized beside the Level 4. The spear was tightly gripped by the palm of his hand, and aimed it upwards. He could sense the Air consumption from Izzard, which gave him his location. With that, his calculated the trajectory of his spear, making sure it hit the ceiling above him. Once the spear was thrown, <Remote-Controlled Explosion> was his intent.

Directly hitting his expected position, he triggered an explosion from the spear at a magnitude such that a chunk of the ceiling started to cave down towards Izzard.