"Misaka-san" I said, grinning brightly at her, "You are just the person I need."

"Eh?" she asked, still panting.

"New update today", I said. "Want to test it out, and you are the only one I know", I said, grabbing her arm and dragging her along.

"W-Wait! Where are you taking me?!" she asked, digging her feet in.

I grunted in frustration. "I just need you, come on!" I said.

Her face went beet red all of a sudden at that, causing me to frown in confusion.

"W-What are you saying, you idiot!" she nearly shouted, causing me to wince. She then frowned at me, the color fading from her face. "That is extremely disconcerting", she muttered, pulling her hand out of my grip, and examining it for a second.

"What is?" I asked, confused, and also slightly panicked. I didn't want to face Innocentius alone after all, the testing session was just an excuse to drag her to my dorm.

"When you grabbed me, I couldn't feel anything..." she said, frown deepening, examining her hand. "I couldn't feel the currents..."

I nearly face palmed at my stupidity. In my haste, I had grabbed her by my right hand. The last time I did that, she had been too flustered to notice anything, but now...

"I will explain later..." I sighed. "Just...come along"

"Say, just what did you want to test out?" Misaka asked, peering at me curiously as we walked towards my dorm.

I grinned at her. "Watch." I said, holding up a finger.

"Create Party: Pikachu, I choose you!" I said.

[Party: Pikachu, I choose you! has been created]

"Send Invite: Misaka Mikoto" I said.

Misaka jumped, causing me to smirk. "Cool!" She said, marveling at what I assumed was the party request, given that I couldn't see if anything had appeared at her end

She jabbed at the air in front of her, and then her eyes widened.

"Okay, first of all, having an HUD at all times is an amazingly handy ability. Especially with a minimap." she said. "Wonder how that works though. Actually, how does your power work in the first place?! It is nothing like the esper powers developed here." she said, glancing at me for an answer.

I shrugged. "I have no clue myself. All I know is that I woke up three days ago with almost no memories of my past, and an inexplicable power that imitates an RPG"

"Huh." Misaka said, a thoughtful expression on her face. "What's a Pikachu?" She asked.

I snorted in amusement. "It's from an extremely old cartoon from the 1990's. It's apt for the situation." I said.

She glared at me suspiciously. However, before we could do anything more, I got a notification.

[A People Clearing Field has been created!]

[A quest has been created!]

[Clearing the Field (Part I)]

[You have stumbled into a mysterious people clearing field. Investigate the source of the field, and the purpose for which it was set up.

Reward: 500 EXP, Quest continuation. Failure: Loss of future prospects, lots and lots of death, maybe even yours!]

[A quest has been updated!]

[Kami the Harem God: Protection is a Must!]

[Protection is an important part of building your own harem. Prevent any and all women with an active Kami the Harem God quest pertaining to them from taking more than 10% damage when they accompany you into a battle situation

Rewards: Increased closeness to said damsels in distress, 200EXP for every percentage point above 90% that the target has at the end of the battle situation with a 1000EXP bonus for no damage taken.]

"What is a people clearing field?" Misaka asked as I started to sweat bullets, frantically dismissing notifications, depending on the Gamer's Mind to prevent me from reacting too much to the quests.

"I don't know, but I think the name is pretty self-explanatory." I said, gesturing at our surroundings, noting the lack of other people, internally facepalming at the sense of inappropriate humor that my powers seemed to display.

"If what I remember is right, Kanzaki is the one who set up a people clearing field...but the order is wrong. Will it be Stiyl who comes?"

Misaka in the meanwhile was frowning at me. "Did you get some sort of quest?", she asked. Her eyes then lit up. "Is there going to be a boss battle?!"

I scowled at her. "I did get a quest...but it's vague. And boss battles also cause you to die, and we don't get second lives" I said, causing her to sober up.

"Alright. But what is going on?" she asked.

Before I could answer, there was an explosion, which appeared to have taken place not more than a block away.

I cocked an eyebrow at Misaka. "Let's go find out, shall we?" I said.

A couple of minutes later, we found ourselves at ground zero. In the time it took us to jog down to the site of the first explosion, there had been two others.

"Index should be fine though...she still has the Walking Church..." I thought.

The street across us had been blasted apart. One of the shop fronts was completely obliterated, while the shops next to it were half gone as well. Flames licked the edges of the crater, though they had mostly guttered out.

"No esper could do this." Misaka muttered.

I glanced at her. "Why ever not? I know that there are pyrokinetic espers!"

Misaka shook her head. "The strongest pyrokinetic is a level 4. She has nowhere near enough power to cause damage in this fashion. The are other, stronger, espers who can cause this much damage, but not in this pattern." she said, gesturing to the crater and the fires surrounding it. "This looks like a giant fireball was thrown at the shop. The pyrokinetic I was talking about is a Tokiwadai student, and I know for a fact that the largest fireball she can conjure is lesser than a meter in diameter. This looks like at least four times that in size."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "How do you know all of that?"

She smirked. "Firstly, I am smart. Second, when I first joined Tokiwadai, that girl challenged me to a duel...needless to say, she lost spectacularly..."

I rolled my eyes at her, and then started scanning the minimap for any other people. Usually, it would be crowded with yellow dots, which I assumed marked neutral parties. Right now, one green dot corresponding to Misaka was on the map.

A couple of seconds later, two new dots appeared on the edge of the minimap.

"You see that? On the minimap, that is." I asked Misaka.

"Yup. What does the color indicate?" She asked.

"That they are neutral, I think. Most people show up as yellow. But given that we are in a people. clearing field, they shouldn't be there..." I said.

Misaka nodded. "Let's go!"

We made our way to the markers on the map. On the way, we came across a couple more craters, though smaller than the first.

We reached the end of the street a couple of minutes later. According to the map, the two were right around the corner, out of direct line of sight.

Motioning for Misaka to stop, we both peeked around the corner so as to not attract attention.

The two people were facing each other in a ring of flames, with us coming up directly behind them.

The person facing us as we peeked out was a short, hooded figure, making it difficult for me to make out what his face looked like.

Aries Zettour

The Scourge of Jerusalem

Lv 32

He was also wielding a ball of flame in one hand, making the source of the explosions apparent.

Opposite to the hooded guy, with her back to us, was Index. Her face was smudged with soot. More worryingly, part of her nun's habit had been burnt off on the left side, though she seemed to be fine, if out of breath.

"What happened to Stiyl? And how did the Walking Church get damaged?!" I thought, confused.

"What sort of name is Index?" Misaka whispered to me.

Before I could answer, the one labeled as Aries started talking.

"Give it up, Index. I do not wish to cause any more collateral damage, and the Walking Church cannot stop my flames." He said, sending a chill down my spine. "Can't be stopped by the Walking Church? I thought that it nullified all magical and physical attacks!" I thought. If what he said was true, then we were in big trouble.

[Quest Clearing the Field (Part I) has been completed!]

[You have gained 500 EXP!]

[A quest has been updated!]

[Clearing the Field (Part II)]

[You have found the reason for the emergence of a People Clearing Field. Rescue Index from her attacker, and find out more about her assailant and his or her purposes without making either of them aware of the existence of The Gamer and any of its powers.

Rewards: 8000 EXP, increased closeness to Index, other, nebulous benefits, quest continuation. Failure: decreased closeness to Index, quest continuation]

[BONUS: Prevent further damage to buildings within the field.

Rewards: 1000 EXP]

Meanwhile, Aries continued to monologue at Index.

"You are unable to use magic, except to interrupt my spells, and I doubt you can do that or dodge for much longer. The only reason I haven't burnt parts of your body off is that I detest having to hurt someone as young as you, especially one that has been forced to become the vessel of the forbidden library" he said.

All this time, while Aries spoke, they had been slowly circling around each other, keeping to the edges of the ring of flames.

Index scowled at Aries, and then piped up in a childish voice, "I was never forced to become the vessel for the Grimoires, and am proud to perform my duties to the Church!"

Aries snorted in disgust. "Of course you are. But that's beside the point. Surrender peacefully, or suffer my displeasure." he said, increasing the diameter of the ball in her hand.

"4BXR E56S 45IH GFU3" Index intoned.

The ball forming in Aries hand guttered out.

"That is a singularly irritating ability you have there" Aries snarled. "It matters not" he said, and lunged for Index, at the same time, forming another fireball in his left hand, forcing Index to dodge. Aries continued to chase after Index, forcing her to concentrate on dodging his strikes, not giving her time to disrupt Aries' spell. All the while, the fireball in Aries hand was growing larger.

"The quest says- explicitly- that I shouldn't reveal any of my Gamer powers. So the only way to win this fight is to use Imagine Breaker, or..." I thought as I observed the fight, my gaze drifting towards Misaka, who looked at me questioningly.

"Can you attack the flame wielder through the ring of flames?" I whispered to her.

Misaka nodded. "Easily. At least five different ways. You want it done discreetly or flashy?" she asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her, and said "Discreetly. He isn't expecting us, and I don't want him to know of our presence here. Makes it easier to hide Index."

"Is that what your quest said? To rescue the one named Index?" Misaka asked.

I nodded in response.

"Do you know why?" Misaka queried.

"No, not really. Besides, this is not the time for questions, Index is going to get incinerated." I said.

"Do you know what they were talking about?" she asked.

I gave her a look. "I get that you are curious, but save it for later. I don't know what they were talking about, and I intend to find out, but I can't do that till you knock Aries out." I said.

Misaka nodded. "I will hold you to that." she said, sparks forming across her fingers as he prepared for something.

For the next few seconds, nothing happened, except for Aries almost catching up to Index. When she missed her lunge, she allowed Index to gain some distance, preparing to throw the now massive fireball.

Suddenly, there was flash of light along the ground, and Aries muscles stiffened up and then started convulsing. A few seconds later, he dropped on the ground, clothes slightly charred and smoking, the fireball having dissipated. The moment he fell, the ring of flames trapping Index guttered out, leading me to believe that it too had been a minor spell being maintained by Aries.

"Out of curiosity, what did you do?" I asked Misaka.

"Rearranged the conducting particles in the ground such that they would form a path between me and him. The moment he was standing in one place, I could complete the path, and shocked him through the ground" she said in a bored voice.

I chuckled at that. Espers were so useful.

[Quest Clearing the Field (Part II) has been completed!]

[You have gained 8000 EXP]

[You have gained one level!]

[You now have 25 stat points!]

[You have completed the bonus quest!]

[You have gained 1000 EXP]

[By exiting a battle situation, you have gained 3000 EXP from the quest Kami the Harem God: Protection is a Must!]

[A party quest has been created!]

[Sheltering her Holeyness]

[Having successfully rescued Index from her attacker, treat her injuries and find shelter for her within the city away from prying eyes. Also discover the motives of her attacker. Bonus points for ensuring that Index doesn't claim to be hungry more than five times a day!

Rewards: 1000 EXP, quest continuation, increased closeness to Index, 200 EXP per day successfully keeping Index's appetite sufficiently satisfied. Failure: Index dies, you live a horrible, boring life, the end.]

While I was casually dismissing notifications, Misaka was staring wide eyed at some point in front of her.

I glanced at her, then in the direction that she was staring. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I asked her, "What's wrong?"

"I get quests if I party with you? I get EXP points?" she asked, looking shell shocked, pointing a finger at what I assumed where quest boxes.

I scratched my cheek at that. "Huh. I didn't think about that. It did say it was a party quest..."

Misaka snapped out of her shock, and then looked at me, grinning broadly.

"AWESOME!" she said, bouncing a little. She then jogged to Index, leaving me to catch up.

I reached them just in time to hear Misaka ask "Are you alright?"

Index groaned a little, and then, looking directly into Misaka's eyes, she said.

"I am hungry!"

Sorry for the delay, life has been busy.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Guest: Ragni, very obviously, is a pseudonym. If you search for it on google, you get it's meaning as Lovely Goddess in Norse. However, that is not what it meant to mean anyway. It has a different meaning in Sanskrit, and you won't find it easily on the web. You will find Ragini, which means music, or melody, which is a different word

EDIT 31/8/17: Betaed by JediKage96. Also, there was a bit of a confusion with Aries gender ('cause initially I wanted him to be female, then changed him to male). Should be fixed now, but if you notice anything, please PM me. (PM ONLY! Don't post it in the reviews. *pointedly looks at guest from above* :-) )