Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.
"Maybe I overdid it a bit."
Styx scratched her head in front of what looked like the aftermath of a bombing.
Just to be sure, she looked around her to see if anyone was coming out into the hallway to see what was going on. It was the first day of summer break, so most of the residents of that dorm were probably out and about. However, it would be bad if some friendless shut-in was in one of those rooms.
Luckily for Styx, that did not seem to be the case. Satisfied with her look around she turned her attention back to the scene in front of her.
Her main problem was that she could not see directly ahead of her because the screen of flames and smoke.
She did not wonder whether or not the black haired girl was alive. That strike had created hellish flames with temperatures of 3000 degrees Celsius. At temperatures of just above 2000 degrees Celsius, the human body would melt before it burned. It was probable that the girl was now just a splotch splattered across the dorm wall.
Styx heaved a sigh that was a mixture of relief and distress. She was lucky to have drawn the girl away from the injured Index before she used her attack, but as things stood now she could not retrieve the boy priest.
The wall of flames blocked her from heading across to the other end of the passageway where Index was, though if there was another emergency staircase on the other side of the passageway, she could manage. However, it would hardly be of any use of her if Index was caught up in the inferno while she took such a long detour.
Styx shook her head in annoyance as she searched the smoke for a way through one last time.
"Thanks a lot you old hag. You've succeeded in annoying me."
Styx sighed but then smiled her twisted smile to herself.
"Well it's not like you could have done anything else. At that level, you couldn't beat me even if you came at me 1,000 times."
"Then what about the 1,001st time, you cheeky little brat?"
For an instant, the magician froze in place and felt her mouth drop open in disbelief.
With a roar, the wall of flames and smoke swirled like a tornado and was blown away.
Standing there, completely unharmed, was Kamijou Touka.
Kamijou took in a breath of sweet fresh air, and was happy to be alive. With that taken care of she looked down at her left hand.
"Honestly, what in the world was I so afraid of?"
Kamijou said this with a disinterested tone, but her face had a maniac grin stretched across it.
"I mean, this is the same left hand that tore Index's Walking Church to pieces."
Kamijou knew nothing about the supernatural power that was called magic.
She did not know how it worked or what went on where her eyes could not see. Most likely, she would only understand it if everything was explained to her from start to finish.
Regardless, there was one thing even an idiot like her could understand.
In the end, that fire was just another supernatural power.
"Now then…"
The crimson flames she had blown away had not been completely extinguished yet. There was a perfect circle of fire around Kamijou where the scorching flames continued to burn. But…
"Out of the way."
With that one statement, that one command, Kamijou touched the 3000 degree magical flames with her left hand and the rest of the fire vanished, like the blowing out of candles on a birthday cake.
Kamijou focused on the magician in front of her instead of the flames around her.
The magician girl was as flustered as any normal human would be facing such an unexpected turn of events.
In fact, this girl was nothing more than a normal human being.
If you punched her, she would feel that pain.
If you cut him with a knife, she would bleed red human blood.
The magician in front of Kamijou was nothing more than a mere human being.
Kamijou's legs were no longer cramped with fear of the unknown.
Her body was no longer frozen with nerves of fighting something greater than a human.
Her arms and legs moved normally.
Taking a deep breath, she charged.
"…Wha-?"
Meanwhile, Styx took a step backwards in shock from the impossible phenomenon before her.
From what had become of the surroundings, her attack could not have been a dud. But did that mean that this girl was powerful enough to withstand 3000 degrees?
If so she would not have been a human.
The charging girl paid no heed to Styx's confusion.
"Tch!"
Styx swung her right hand horizontally and a flame sword flew forcefully toward the bloodthirsty girl.
It exploded on contact, sending flames and smoke in every direction.
But the flames and smoke were blown away, and the girl continued to charge unfazed.
How in the world is possible? Could she be using magic?
Even as she thought this, Styx discarded it.
There could not be any magicians in this city where magic was simply considered a misunderstanding of the world.
Also, if Index, who lacked magic power, were to join forces with a magician, he would have had no reason to run or hide form Styx. Those 103,000 grimoires were a danger on a completely different scope even in comparison to the firing of a nuclear weapon.
But, Styx could not feel any magic power in the girl before her.
She would have been able to tell at first glance if the girl was a magician, and this girl did not have the "scent" of someone from the same world as her.
But if that was the case, why were none of her attacks affecting this bitch?
To hide the shuddering spreading through her body even though there was no chill in the air, Styx created another flame sword and threw it.
This time, it failed to even explode.
The black haired girl swatted at the flame sword with her left hand like it was an errant fly and it shattered like glass, disappearing into thin air.
This girl, this normal high school girl, shattered a 3000 degree flame sword with a left hand that should not have had any magical reinforcements of any kind.
"…Ah."
Abruptly, something floated up in the back of Styx's mind.
Index's Walking Church was Pope-class barrier that rivaled the one that protected the London cathedral in power. It should have been absolutely impossible for anything to destroy it unless the legendary dragon of St. George appeared from myth.
But Index's Walking Church had been utterly destroyed.
It had to have been destroyed since Kanzaki had sliced it like any other piece of normal cloth.
The only thing that could have done this was either a mistake in the fabric of the world, or a monster had appeared in this world.
"… … …"
By that point, the black haired girl had almost walked right up to Styx.
With one more step, she would be close enough to punch the magician.
" O. (One of the five great elements from which the world is constructed.) F. (The great flame of the beginning.)"
An unpleasant sweat began to drip from Stiyl's entire body as she began to chant in fear.
The creature before her in a summer uniform was, could not, be human, but a monster that had taken the form of a human.
" E. (It is a light of blessing that raises life and a light of judgment that punishes evil.) D. (It is overflowing with calm blessings and with freezing misfortune that destroys cold darkness.) S. (Its name is fire and its role is the sword.) P! (Be manifested and become the power that eats into my body!)"
The chest area of Styx's habit swelled out and burst open from the forces within.
With the roar of flames sucking in oxygen, a giant mass of fire shot out from within her clothes.
However it was not just merely a mass of flames.
The crimson flames had something black and dripping like fuel oil at its core, in the form of a human.
Its name was Innocentius.
Its meaning was "I will surely kill you."
The giant flame god that had suddenly appeared spread its arms and charged toward Kamijou like a bullet.
"Get out of my way."
Kamijou, unafraid, used a backhanded blow with the annoyed attitude of someone brushing aside a spider web. With a pathetic sounding explosion, the flame effigy scattered.
With that Kamijou blew away the magician's final trump card, shattering it into a million black, tar like pieces.
"…?"
Kamijou had no real reason for not taking her last step at that moment.
It was just that the magician who, instead of looking distraught at the destruction of her trump card, was smiling in an amused fashion. That expression would have been enough to make anyone hesitate before carelessly taking that last step.
The sound of a viscous liquid moving could suddenly be heard from all around.
"Wha-!?"
Kamijou jumped back in surprise, just as black tar like liquid came from all directions.
"Drat. If only you had been a tiny bit slower."
The magician voice mocked Kamijou from behind the freshly reformed flame god.
If Kamijou had taken that single last step, she would most certainly have been enveloped by those flames from all directions.
Kamijou's mind was in disarray because of the scene before her eyes.
Her left hand should have been able to negate even the systems of god with one strike. Any supernatural power, even the one known as magic, should have been negated with one touch.
Yet…
The oil like mass within the flames writhed, changing form to now be holding a sword in both of its hands.
No, it was not a sword but rather a giant cross.
The fire god lifted the cross up with both of its hands and aimed a downwards swing at Kamijou's head.
"…!"
Kamijou immediately held up her left hand to receive the blow. Disregarding her left hand, Kamijou was a simply a high school student. She lacked the battle skills needed to fight in a real battle.
With a crashing noise, the flaming cross and the erasing left hand clashed.
"So it seems that power of yours isn't all mighty."
Even though she desperately wanted to prove the magician wrong, Kamijou struggled as the mass of flames failed to even disappear.
Instantly, Kamijou knew she was going to be the one to lose this struggle.
Her opponent's entire body could be a weapon, while she could only use his left hand.
"So tell me how does it feel fighting Innocentius? I don't get to use him often, and when I do my opponents aren't in the state to talk with me."
Kamijou gritted her teeth to the magician's taunting questions, struggling to keep the flaming cross that neared her face millimeter by millimeter at bay.
Despite the insanity of her current situation, Kamijou just narrowly managed to realize one fact.
The mass of flames known as Innocentius was definitely reacting to her Imagine Breaker. However, it was being revived after it's annihilation, meaning that, most likely, the lag between its annihilation and revival was less than a tenth of a second.
"Damnit…"
Kamijou's hand had been sealed.
If she let go for even an instant, she would likely be turned to ash.
"Dammit! What the hell is going on!?"
"Runes."
Kamijou, even though there was a raging hot fire near her, shivered.
Due to the danger in front of her, she could not turn around, but Kamijou was certain that she heard someone's voice.
"Twenty four characters used as a magic language by Germanic tribes since the 2nd century and are found in the roots of the Old English language."
Kamijou could not believe it was Index's voice despite clearly knowing it was. He had to have been so beat up and bloody, yet he spoke so calmly.
"Attacking Innocentius will have no effect. Unless the runes engraved into the walls, floors, and ceiling are eliminated, it will revive as many times as is necessary to kill its target."
Kamijou's curiosity overrode her instinct to focus on the beast in front of her.
Supporting her left wrist with her right hand, she just barely managed to keep the cross from advancing any further. With that done, Kamijou timidly turned around.
The boy was still collapsed where he had fallen, but Kamijou was unable to give "that" the name "Index". It had eyes which were utterly lacking in emotion and paid no heed to the wound on its back. In that moment it seemed to truly be nothing more than a system meant to explain magic.
Kamijou could only stare in disbelief.
"You're… You're Index, right?"
"Correct. I am the grimoire library belonging to Necessarius, the nullified Parish of the Anglican Church. My full name is Index Librorum Prohibitorum, but that can be abbreviated to Index for your convenience."
The way that grimoire library named Index was acting, Kamijou almost forgot about the giant flame god trying to kill her.
"With my introduction complete, I will now return to my explanation of rune magic. Simply put, it is like a reflection of the moon on a lake. No matter how many times you strike the lake surface, it has no meaning. If you want to destroy the moon on the lake surface, you must first turn on the real moon floating in the night sky."
After hearing that cold emotionless explanation, Kamijou finally remembered the enemy in front of her.
From what Index was saying, the raging fire before Kamijou could not be destroyed just by fighting it. She somehow had to remove these "runes" before she could defeat it. However she was blocked from moving so she was unable to do anything even if she wanted to.
"Ashes to ashes…"
Kamijou looked up in shock. From beyond the giant flame god, a flame sword had appeared in the magician's right hand.
"...Dust to dust…"
Another sword, this time a bluish-white one, extended silently from her left.
"…Squeamish Bloody Rood!"
With those power-filled words, the magician swung the two flame swords horizontally so that they would slice straight through the giant flame god from left and right like a giant pair of scissors.
With his left hand sealed by Innocentius, Kamijou could block nothing else.
Before Kamijou could even shout out, the two flame swords struck the giant flame god and the forces morphed into them into one enormous, exploding bomb.
