Twist of Fate
Disclaimer: I do not own a certain magical index, it's characters or it's elements.
Special thanks to ADDude who let me write this chapter!
Chapter 45: A United Front - When_Darkness_Lives
It was a beautiful weekend in Academy City. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky to block its radiance. The sidewalks were bustling with students who had all decided that it was simply too nice a day to spend inside studying.
One such student was Misaka Mikoto, who had been studying so often recently that her friends urged her to leave the hall of books behind and get some sunshine. She traveled with her usual entourage, Kuroko of course sticking to Mikoto with no regard for her personal space. Saten and Uiharu hung back a bit, exchanging small talk of various rumors flying around.
"Hey have you heard the one about the one armed guy who just appeared out of nowhere in District 16?" Saten said excitedly.
"That cropped up in Judgment reports earlier this morning, how did you even hear about that so fast?" Kuroko momentarily broke her death grip on Mikoto to glance back.
Saten just shrugged, "Nothing travels faster than rumors, we've been over this."
The teleporter shook her head and sighed, "Well. There's no real evidence to back that one up beyond the two witnesses. There's a pending investigation but nobody is taking it seriously."
"I guess I could check the cameras around the time of the incident if you want. It's not like we have anything else to do today," Uiharu offered up, "After we stop by that pastry shop of course." There was a fierce spark in the small girl's eye, one that would not be denied its sweets. This made it all the more tragic when a woman staggered out of a nearby alley.
She held her hand tightly against her left side, red seeping through her beige long sleeved shirt. From where the girls stood they could see her mouth moving but none of them could read her lips through her shoulder length dark green hair.
Kuroko sprung into action, donning her Judgment arm band and approaching the strange woman.
"M'am? Are you alright? Would you like us to get you to a hospital?" The others stuck close to Kuroko just in case she needed assistance.
The injured stranger reacted slowly, moving her eyes to Kuroko before turning to fully face the four. After taking a moment to collect herself she spoke softly, "Ah. No. It's not bad. Don't worry about it-" True to her words, the wound under her left hand was not nearly as severe as the amount of blood dripping onto her jeans indicated, "You kids wouldn't know where to find a tailor would you? I seem to be in need of a new shirt."
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A highschool boy ran for his life from a group of thugs. It was a simple misunderstanding honestly, but fortune had of course conspired against the boy's hopes for a peaceful lunch. One thing was certain though, his passenger was not at all thrilled with her situation.
"What. Did. You. Even. Do?" Othinus said from within Touma's jacket pocket, her brain rattling inside her tiny skull with each furious step. "Nothing to warrant chasing me this far, I swear!" He shouted, glancing back to see five thugs still in hot pursuit. Othinus gave an angry grunt as Touma made a turn into an alley where he collided with someone. Fearing one of the thugs had intercepted him, Touma got to his knees and tossed aside his pride in favor of saving his life. "Please don't kill me! I was just trying to keep her from-" "Slow down kiddo, I'm not gonna bite your head off. It was an honest mistake," The man with short red hair responded. He was a little out of breath himself, not at all helped by Touma slamming into his diaphragm, but he flashed a smile regardless. "Oh. You're. You're not with them?" Touma looked up to the man, who had begun dusting off his gray t-shirt. "With who of the what now?" Green eyes focused on Touma before traveling behind him, "Oh."
Touma's heart dropped as he slowly turned around to face the five thugs again. "Such misfortune," He muttered to himself as he watched his options dwindle to nothing.
The first thug approached wordlessly, throwing himself at Touma. The dive forward was short lived as a fist slammed into his face and drove him backwards.
The red haired man casually shook his left hand, popping a few knuckles before taking point in front of Touma. "I really don't know what's goin' on but I've never been the kind of guy who's let stuff like that get in his way."
The thugs gathered their fallen member and moved to attack again. Touma and his new friend stood their ground.
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A black haired man sat slumped over in a dark corner of a run down building. He flexed the fingers on his left hand as yellow eyes slowly drifted across his surroundings. "I wonder how many of them made it through? Hopefully it won't be too hard to track them down." He looked towards a nearby window with a wide smile on his face, "It'd be better to look for them at night but maybe I could get some scouting done right now..."
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"I'm really sorry you had to help pay for that. I didn't realize this city doesn't take silver," The green haired woman said as she trailed behind her four new friends.
"It's fine really, are you sure we can keep this though? It's probably worth a lot more than that blouse," Saten asked, a small silver bar clutched in her hands.
"Of course, after all, you four have just been so kind to me. I wouldn't dream of leaving without compensating you."
The crisis now averted by virtue of not actually being a severe crisis, Uiharu spoke up, "Hey Reine! If you're not busy we were going to a sweets shop! Would you like to come with us?"
"I really should look for Nardi and Zypher," Reine said after a light pause, "I don't know if they wound up worse off than I did." It was clearly a bit of a struggle for the woman to refuse such an offer.
"Well it's a bit far. We could look while we walk! Five heads are better than one right?"
Reine went quiet for a little bit as the five walked before nodding mutely, "Ok that sounds good." The green haired woman then seemed to realize something, "Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting a friend's day out or anything. I wouldn't-"
"It's fine," Mikoto glanced back to her, "We're all friends now right?"
"But you barely know-"
"She said it's fine Reine!" Saten elbowed the woman's right arm playfully, "You weren't this shy a few minutes ago!"
"I just don't hang out with others very often outside of work," Reine chuckled lightly, her tension melting away.
"What do you even do anyway?" Kuroko asked.
"Oh. I'm a soldier."
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"Ya could have told me there were more than those five kiddo," The green eyed man said while rubbing the back of his head, "I wouldn't a dropped my guard if I'd known."
Something around a dozen thugs were in various states of unconsciousness around the two, Touma and the man having somehow come out without a scratch.
"I didn't think they'd all followed me!" Touma tried to defend himself, "But uh... Thanks. Without you I probably would have had another hospital visit."
"No worries," The man shrugged, hand falling back to his side. He was careful to make sure that he never let his now red palm face Touma, "The hell did you do to piss them off so bad anyway?" He leaned down next to the thug closest to him in an effort to inconspicuously clean his hand.
"They were harassing one of my friends so I drew their attention away from her so she wouldn't break all of their feet. I just figured they'd give up after about a mile..."
"Persistent lot then eh? Ah well, we took care of em," The man straightened back up. After a short pause his brow furrowed, "Wait you were protecting them from your friend? Damn. What kind of friends do you have uh... Kid?"
"Touma Kamijou," The highschooler introduced himself, "She's uh... Something else I guess?"
"Nardi Vanvelt, just stick to my first name, I've never liked formalities," The man moved to shake Touma's hand, "Anyway why don't we check on your lady friend. From the sounds of it I'm sure she's fine but it never hurts to be thorough."
"Ah, sure." Touma nodded, "I can call her and ask to meet up somewhere."
A low growl cut through the area. Nardi tried his best to maintain an aloof air despite the fact that his stomach had just howled.
"Um. Do you want to get something to-"
"Yes."
"Alright, I know a pretty good place that's sort of near by," Touma nodded, "It's cheap too."
"Even better. Quick question though, why do you have a fairy with you?"
"Er. You noticed?" Touma paled slightly, as Othinus ground her teeth together.
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The black haired man was not being particularly subtle as he made his way down the streets of Academy City. Both his attire and the fact that he was humming a jaunty tune with a gait that was closer to skipping than walking were catching eyes. The left sleeve of his white button down shirt had been completely removed at some point, a dark gray sleeveless topcoat covering his shoulders. Perhaps less noticeable was his skin, which seemed to have almost a perfect porcelain quality to it.
Yellow eyes darted every which way as he proceeded down the busy streets. That is until his foot met something solid, causing him to lose his balance. He saved himself by grabbing a nearby lamp post with his right hand. Upon further inspection, what he had assumed was a lump of sheets was actually a person clad in a white nun habit. She was gripping the side where his foot had crashed into her, her groans quickly filling the air.
"Oh dear, are you alright?" He took a knee next to her, "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"You could get me food," The small nun's eyes locked onto his, startling the man as the atmosphere took a turn for the dangerous. It was only then that he noticed the restaurant they were directly in front of.
He gave a resigned sigh before holding a hand out, "Very well, I suppose I owe you that much."
She shot to her feet and held her arms skyward, "Yay! Free food! I thought I was going to starve before Touma came back! I'm Index by the way! What's your name?"
Surprised by her astonishing recovery, the man just stared at her for a few seconds before responding, "I am-"
"Finally!" A girl with dark purple hair approached the two, "Index! Please don't run off like that again, ok?" She said, almost completely ignoring the yellow eyed man.
"But- But Itswua- I was just so hungry I collapsed! This man said he'd get me food though! So let's eat!" Index said excitedly, pointing to the now chuckling man.
"Oh. I'm really sorry about this. I can take care of her if you'd like." Itsuwa bowed her head, hoping the nun had not caused the man an excessive amount of trouble.
"It's no problem at all really," He shook his head, "You can join us if you'd like. You are friends with her correct?"
"Yes! Itsuwa is my friend!" Index spoke as she jumped up and down. "Let's go mister!"
"Yes yes. Of course," He nodded, proceeding towards the restaurant.
"If you don't mind my asking, what's your name?" The teen asked as she walked next to the man.
He just smiled as he spoke his name. It was an odd name, one both the magicians recognized instantly. It carried a sense of foreboding with it. If this man had chosen his name there was no telling what kind of dangers he could bring with him.
However, he was paying for lunch, so they ignored the those niggling doubts.
Thus, Erebos lead them into the restaurant, never for an instant dropping his smile.
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Reine sat down at the table the others had picked out. She had been stuck on trying to decide between two different items before Mikoto finally marched up to the counter and got both of them.
"I can't thank you enough for this. Seight only bakes so often and it's hard to get anything before Zypher or Adam eat it all," Reine said, positively beaming as she took a bite from one of her mini cakes.
"It's no problem Reine! And after this we can help look for your friends!" Saten said, having already devoured her own pastry, "We're great at finding lost things when we put our minds to it after all."
"Or when they're just dropped on our laps," Mikoto said under her breath.
"That happens to you guys too?" Reine looked up from her half eaten cake, "I swear, it's the people I hang out with. Whenever I'm on my own everything goes fine but if Nardi or Zypher get involved things always get much harder than they need to be."
"So they're like you? Other soldiers?" Saten asked. She'd been unusually interested in Reine's story ever since she mentioned her occupation.
"Yeah. Zypher is my senior and he's really nice once you get over his er... Rather alarming habits. Nardi is his adopted younger brother and my junior," Reine recounted with a light chuckle between bites of her desserts. "Nardi can be a bit reckless but he's a great strategist when he takes missions seriously. Sometimes."
"Are you on a secret mission now? To raid some Academy City research laboratory?" Saten said, her excitement getting the better of her.
"Er. No? We kind of. We wound up here by accident really. We were on a mission and got into a fight but we got interrupted and I woke up in that alley you found me by," Reine tried to explain. The whole event was rather fuzzy, she'd just been stabbed and Nardi was about to use his power when suddenly they were taken in by some strange light. She'd concerned herself with finding Nardi under the sound logic that Zypher would be fine. He was probably gathering information under some false name or something.
"If you were fighting... Could it have something to do with the one armed man you mentioned earlier?" Mikoto glanced to her black haired friend before turning her gaze back to Reine.
"One armed? That sounds like the condition he was in around that time. Nardi had just managed to break his left arm off." Reine nodded.
"Let's go to the Judgment branch and check the footage of the incident to make sure," Kuroko offered.
Mikoto nodded along as they hatched further plans without her input. What Reine had described sounded quite similar to something she herself had experienced. She didn't want to bring it up in earshot of the others but she wanted to help this woman as best she could.
"Come on! We need to check this out," Saten practically leaped out of her seat. Reine gave a sad look at the delicious treats she'd been slowly savoring before popping the rest of them into her mouth. If these girls really wanted to help she wouldn't object. She'd let them point her in the right direction before slipping away. There was no need to involve them in a fight against that monstrosity.
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Nardi and Touma made their way to the fabled restaurant. The middle aged man had done his best to not spend the trip complaining about his hunger but truth be told he'd been on assignment and had not had a good meal in quite some time. After an interesting conversation with the fairy, who had introduced herself after being found out, the three decided to meet up with Touma's lady friend. Which had somehow lead to their current conversation of just how many lady friends Touma had.
"So you're a dashing hero and ya got basically all of the ladies?" Nardi asked, eyebrow raised.
"I wouldn't say I'm terribly dashing," Touma said quietly, a blush having taken hold of his entire face over the course of their journey, "I just want to make people happy, that's all."
"That would be a yes," Othinus said, half sticking out of Touma's jacket pocket.
"Even you?" Nardi asked as a smug grin quickly became the most prominent feature on his face.
Othinus let out a string of noises that probably were supposed to be words before she simply decided to remain silent. Touma for his part just seemed confused, looking to the fairy and then to Nardi.
"Don' worry about it," Nardi shook his head, suppressing uproarious laughter down to a light chuckle, "So these guys interrupted a date or something? You sure ya wanna bring me along? Don' want to be a third, pardon, fourth wheel on this particular outing."
"She won't mind. I mean you did sort of save me so there's that," Touma offered, not really registering what Nardi was implying.
As they walked Nardi took the time to properly introduce himself. Since he'd grilled Othinus he figured it was only fair. At first he caught the two a little off guard. He didn't really look like a soldier from Asgard and he certainly behaved far too casually to give that kind of impression. However he'd proved himself quite capable in unarmed combat so they were willing to suspend their disbelief a little. They continued exchanging stories as they neared their destination.
"So you don't have any blood relatives?" Touma asked, having pieced together the implication from something Nardi had said before.
"Not anymore. I was born during a pretty brutal war. Thankfully big Z took me in," Nardi shrugged. Those events had happened so long ago that he felt nothing for them. The restaurant came into view, "So I'm guessin' the cute blonde heading our way is probably who we're looking for?"
"It seems my debt to you grows more every time we interact. I will be paying it back for the rest of my life at this rate," said the slender woman with long blond hair. She did not seem angry though. In fact her words came with a light blush and a soft smile, "Not that I would mind such a prospect." She added.
"How am I this jealous of a teenager," Nardi quickly buried his face in his hands. For the soldier, this was fairly painful to watch. It got even worse when Touma's only response was a stuttering denial of any debt in the first place, prompting the red head to react even louder than before, "Oh my God!"
It was this shout that finally brought the former Gremlin's attention to Nardi. She quickly took up a defensive stance between the two, "And you are?" She demanded.
"It's alright," Touma put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "He's a friend. He helped me deal with all of those guys that were harassing you."
Cendrillon seemed to relax at Touma's reassurance, "Ah, I seem to have incurred debt from you as well. Thank you for protecting Touma."
"Treat me to dinner and we'll call it even," He nodded, "Name's Nardi by the way."
"Cendrillon. Now then, shall we?" She gestured over to the restaurant.
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Erebos watched the people dining around his group just as much as he listened to Index and Itsuwa recount the events since their separation. They'd been sat in a booth against the far wall of the simple eatery. One of the black haired man's new companions quickly ordered nearly every item on the menu. Itsuwa hadn't flinched at this so it was probably a regular occurrence. In response Erebos had ordered nothing, a strategy commonly used by Touma. "How terrifying," He mused under his breath as he returned his attention to the two.
"So, Erebos. Are you a magician too?" Index flat out asked, catching the man off guard once again.
"Oh. No. I am... Just a soldier really," He said after having a swift internal debate on what word to use, "Although I am not a stranger to magic by any means. If you don't mind my asking, are you and your friend here magicians?" Yellow eyes skipped over to Itsuwa, who wasn't exactly thrilled with how much Index was giving away but could not bring herself to stop the small nun from talking.
"Sort of! I can't really cast any spells but I know a lot of them!" She helpfully informed him. Perhaps, Erebos mused, her name had a deeper meaning than he'd initially thought.
"Tell me, you say you're a soldier. What are you doing in Academy City then? There's no reason for a magic side soldier like you to be deployed here as far as I know," Itsuwa said, trying to get some information from their conversation partner.
"This land and my home are not the same," Erebos shrugged as drinks arrived, causing them to halt their conversation while their waitress was in earshot. After she left the man continued, "There are some rather... Odd circumstances to my arrival here. As such my associates and I are from a different world. I need to find them and return home."
"Hm... I think we can help with that! Your aura is pretty strange so if your friends are anything like you a simple location spell will work really well!" Index offered. Erebos barely suppressed a flinch at Index's words. If she could track them, the reverse was also probably true.
"That would be most appreciated. I would not want to be a burden on you however so I will not ask you to do so," Erebos said.
"It's no trouble, right Itsuwa?" Index turned to her friend, "We didn't have any plans beyond meeting up with Touma later, so we can help Erebos out in the mean time!"
"W-We'll see," Itsuwa nodded. She didn't seem to oppose helping the man, but his casual mention that he was a soldier has put her on guard, even more so considering he knew of magic. However he was growing on her. It was something about his smile and polite manner of speech that was slowly winning her over.
"It's quite alright either way. My own senses are rather fine tuned so even without help I won't be wandering blindly," Erebos smiled, "Our waitress has just entered the kitchen and I believe your first course is what she will bring out." Sure enough their waitress emerged with a large platter of food. Index, thus distracted, offered no comment on his expanded awareness. Itsuwa didn't either. If he really was a soldier he'd have developed that skill to keep track of opponents during combat situations.
"How long have you been looking for them on your own? Or did you just get here?" Itsuwa asked.
"I arrived late last night and spent the hours recuperating. We had been in the midst of battle after all," Erebos explained. His attention was now only loosely on the two magicians. He was more focusing on the bustling restaurant again. He watched the other patrons with great interest, "Although I do find myself distracted, the people here just seem so interesting. I am only familiar with others of my ilk. Soldiers and the like. I have never interacted with civilians so casually."
"That must be some war you're fighting in..." To have had it last so long that peaceful interaction with civilians was alien to him. Itsuwa almost began to feel sorry for the man.
"It's alright. It is my duty to protect my home from it's would be attackers. All we want to do is live in peace but apparently the world has decided to try and exterminate us," Erebos said in a seemingly rehearsed manner, "Perhaps that is just the price we pay for such different ideologies." He finished with a shrug before standing up. "If you don't mind. I require a visit to the restroom. I will be right back."
"Oh sure, take your time," Itsuwa smiled. She sort of wished she could get out of the booth herself, but Index's second round of food had just arrived and she had a feeling she'd get better results from trying to go through the wall.
Erebos moved to the men's restroom, finding another man who was washing his hands. A smile crossed Erebos's face as his left hand twitched, causing a sound that was closer to clattering dishes than popping bones. He went to wash his hands in the sink next to the man. The other occupant finished drying himself and moved to leave before a soft thud near his feet caught his attention.
"Excuse me sir. I think you dropped something," Erebos said.
"Hm? Oh, this isn't-"
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A minute or so later Erebos returned to the table, "Sorry about that, I hope I didn't miss anything too important.
"Not really," Itsuwa smiled. She then leaned leaned over the table and whispered to him, "I told Index she needed to save room for dinner with Touma."
"My wallet appreciates it kind miss Itsuwa," Erebos let out a light chuckle. The waitress came over a few minutes later, Erebos supplying her with a credit card as he'd watched so many other patrons do. She returned shortly with a slip of paper to sign and the three got up from their table, Index's hunger satiated for now.
"Thanks so much mister Erebos!" Index said happily as they left the restaurant, Itsuwa to her left and Erebos to her right.
"It's no trouble really," Erebos nodded, with his usual serene smile on his face, "After all I wanted to get to know my new friends. I hope you don't mind if I stay with you for a while longer. Being isolated in such a large city is a little unnerving."
"Yeah! Then you can meet Touma and all my other friends!" Index nodded enthusiastically. "Like short hair over there! Heeeeeey!" The nun had spotted someone. She waved to them with both arms while hopping up and down.
Erebos's own eyes scanned the party until they settled on a particular head of green hair. His smile widened.
"How fortuitous," He said.
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Mikoto spotted the white clad nun that always hung around Touma. An annoyed sigh escaped her as she returned the overly enthusiastic girl's wave.
"A friend of yours?" Reine asked.
"Yeah, her name's Index," Mikoto nodded.
"Should we bring her with us to the Judgment branch?" Uiharu asked, "She might be able to help out."
"I don't know if she'll take no for an answer..." Mikoto shook her head as the nun and her friends approached.
Reine's entire body went rigid as her eyes traveled from Index, to the man on her right. Recognition flared, especially when he raised his arm in greeting. His left arm. His left arm with a strange black band just under the shoulder which had been covered by his top coat until that moment.
All the sounds of the busy streets filtered away as every bit of her focus went to the man.
She heard him chuckle. And then she saw him move.
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"So you were on the lowest level because your ability can't be measured, even though, by what you've told me, it's actually really goddamn good?" Nardi said, flabbergasted at what he'd just heard.
Touma offered a shrug in response, "I mean it's a science thing. If they can't measure it they can't tell me where I'm at." After meeting Index, Touma's natural assumption of hunger had been skewed. Nardi had ordered a simple meal and been satisfied with it rather than cleaning out the entire kitchen like Index did when she was hungry. They exchanged stories as they ate, eventually falling on their respective abilities.
"I don't even know what my ability does, beyond jack shit more often than not," Nardi proclaimed a bit too loudly.
"Do keep in mind we're in a public venue. Perhaps watch your language?" Cedrillon chided the middle aged man.
"Ah. I- I'm sorry," Nardi kind of slumped back into his chair, "I'm just used to like. Taverns full of other soldiers. And having Zypher around when Adam was growing up."
"Did he scold you too?" Touma asked.
"Yeah, but his power is sound so he could just mute me whenever I swore around Adam. I kind of felt bad whenever Agreth and I were there because he'd have to pull double duty keepin' both of us in line," Nardi chuckled lightly, returning to his normal posture. "Ah, enough about my boring a-aaa-self," He corrected himself under Cendrillon's glare, "How long have you two been together?"
"Er, since uh. Since Valentines Day," Touma answered with a bright blush.
"Right. That was when that thing happened where you started dating basically everyone you were living with right?" Nardi asked, clearly still stuck on that topic of conversation. Touma nodded. "And how do you feel about that?" He turned to Cendrillon. Even though she was likely far younger than he was, her snaps from gentle to commanding frightened him somewhat. He figured it was a knee jerk reaction caused by his dealings with Seight.
"I am quite content. Everything worked out for everyone in the end," She smiled inching her hand closer to Touma's.
"I'll say," Nardi grumbled under his breath, "Well. I shouldn't pick on ya too hard. You are paying for my meal." He let out another hearty chuckle, "And at least from what you've said, you certainly sound like ya deserve that kind of affection."
"I wouldn't say I deserve it, I mean-," Touma started before Nardi smashed his face into the table, "-er. Are you alright?"
"Touma," Nardi said as he righted himself. His expression was oddly serious considering his rather flippant nature. "Y'need to learn how to be a little proud of yourself alright? Sometimes it's ok to look at things you've accomplished and go, 'yeah that's pretty awesome.' y'hear me?" He paused to take a sip of his soda. "I'm sure all of your lady friends appreciate the modesty but sometimes ya need to assert yourself when your life isn't on the line. It's just good practice y'know."
The spiky haired boy just nodded, "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."
"No worries man."
"Touma?" A girl with long brown hair and round glasses stood next to their table.
"Never mind, Touma if you're gonna keep pulling lady friends out of thin air I think there might be a few worries from me..." Nardi let out a low grumble.
"Kazakiri? What are you doing here?" Touma asked. Nardi wordlessly scooted over, allowing room for the student to sit with them. She hesitated at first before gladly taking the seat.
"I was supposed to meet Index somewhere around here so I was checking restaurants. She didn't tell me she was with you." Hyouka said before taking another glance around the diner.
"We were going to meet with her later. If you would like you could stay with us until then," Cendrillon offered.
"That'd be great actually!" Hyouka smiled. She turned her attention to the stranger next to her. He'd been staring at her since she'd arrived and she couldn't tell why. "Um. Are you ok?"
"No I'm fine! I'm glad I don't have dozens of attractive women throwing themselves at me! There's nothing wrong here! I'm assuming this Index is another girlfriend of yours! Just pile her on! Why not! Have a party!" He paused to recover his breath, "I'm sorry. Please continue while I pretend I said none of that."
"That's Nardi," Cendrillon decided to introduce him since he seemed to be content with digging his own grave, "He apparently helped Touma out earlier today."
"Oh. Well. Thanks for that," The glasses clad girl gave the soldier a genuine smile.
"Yeah sure no problem," Nardi said quietly as he looked out the window.
"Anyway, I'm sure Index is fine. She gets lost a lot yeah but she's smart enough to get out of harms way," Touma reassured Hyouka.
"Right. I shouldn't worry so much, I just can't help it."
"Shit!" Nardi suddenly stood up, eyes locked on something outside.
The sound of a large impact hit the windows, startling everyone in the restaurant.
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Erebos brought his left hand down. As he did, an inky black material seeped from the band on his arm taking the form of a large blade. It wasn't intended as a fatal attack, merely something to cripple his prey. It was startlingly effective considering how little warning the attack had. Index hadn't even seen it before it struck her full on. The nun was knocked unconscious and forced to the ground by the hammer blow.
Yellow eyes fell on the white clad nun as her cloths were stained red. The blade extending from his arm rearranged itself into a large maw before lurching forward in an effort to devour it's target.
A dull sound rang out.
The black jaws had stopped short of Index as if an invisible wall had erected itself around her. No. It was more accurate to say an invisible wall had been placed around Erebos.
Reine stood opposite the black haired monstrosity, holding out her left hand as she approached. "Get her out of here!" She called to her new companions, however it was Itsuwa who reacted first. She quickly scooped up the downed nun and began carrying her away from the battlefield. The black jaw continued to slowly push forward, as though the invisible wall trapping it wasn't entirely solid. It seemed to be taking a monumental toll on Erebos, but no sounds were escaping him.
"What the hell is that?" Mikoto called out, sparks already flying as she took point next to Reine.
"Erebos. What I was fighting before I got here."
"But isn't he supposed to be missing his left arm?" Saten called out from behind them. She wanted to help but was not confident enough in her undefined power to jump into a life or death situation right away.
"He was." Reine grunted out. The three looked at what they could see of his arm. His obscuring topcoat had been blown away during his first strike, leaving his bare shoulder exposed. What they had assumed to be a black band was, upon closer inspection, a gap where his severed arm had been attached by the same black substance that he was attacking with.
"What is he?" Kuroko asked, having already donned her judgment band once more.
"Dangerous, clear everyone out, I'll keep him-" Reine was interrupted when two black tendrils shot from the tip of the dragonic jaw. Erebos's entire body relaxed as the tendrils were quickly frozen in place just before they reached Reine. Electricity struck him, burning a hole through his shirt but doing nothing to wind the man. He retracted his assault and recreated the large black blade.
"Well. I wasn't expecting to run into you so soon but I suppose I can make this work. I'll go ahead and pick you off then return to my meal," The black haired man went to charge. Reine thrust her hand towards Erebos before he could take off. His right foot slid out from under him, as if he were walking on ice. The blade warped and launched forward, stabbing into the ground and pulling Erebos along as it returned to it's original shape. Once more, two jet black tentacles shot from the gap in his arm, racing towards Reine before they ran into something that could not be seen.
"All of you need to get out of here! This is an opponent from my world. None of you have any place fighting him," Reine called out, apparently focusing intently on the tentacles. This was interrupted when a garbage can suddenly appeared before her, cutting the dark tendrils in half.
"We're members of Judgment," Uiharu said, holding her phone tightly, "We help keep the peace in this city!"
Kuroko busied herself with trying to find something else to use as a weapon. She had her needles but she felt they would do little against an opponent with such a malleable attack. Her eyes fell on the damage she'd done. She had assumed the dark substance she'd severed would just return to Erebos. Which is why it surprised her to see it wither away to nothing. The darkness that had not been separated from him returned to the yellow eyed man.
It was clear he was evaluating his chances. He'd seen a bit of what most of them could do and was weighing that against what he was capable of. The smile that crossed his face said more about what he thought of those odds than any words could.
A tendril embedded itself into the ground and grew up from there, pulling the black haired man up at an alarming rate. Reine again held her hand out, bringing Erebos's flight to a halt. The tendril he'd used to launch himself tore through the ground and exploded upwards, knocking Reine off balance and freeing Erebos from her influence. Her displacement was not enough to put her out of range of the large black blade. With another loud crash Erebos slammed the attack into her. Sparks showered out from where darkness met flesh as Reine quickly righted herself and pushed the attack back.
"I figured we'd be at a stalemate one on one which is why I'm so glad you have to keep your friends safe," Erebos cackled as the tendril lurched to the side, moving to impale Kuroko.
The esper disappeared before it could even reach her.
"What?" His eyes flitted over to where she had been. A garbage can, the same one Kuroko had used earlier, slammed into him from the other side, creating the sound of shattering pottery when it struck. The metal garbage can hung in the air, giving off a few sparks indicating Mikoto's influence. Erebos skidded to a halt a few feet away and glanced to his right shoulder. Pieces of ceramic rained from his sleeve as he held his arm at an odd angle.
"I thought I told you guys to run," Reine said after taking in a deep breath. Saten and Uiharu were indeed hanging back, but Kuroko and Mikoto were now flanking her. "He's-"
"We're not just gonna let you fight that thing alone," Mikoto said simply, "I get that he's dangerous but I'm a Level Five, There's no way I'm losing here!"
"Where onee-sama goes I go!" Kuroko yelled out passionately.
"Cute," Erebos chuckled. He still had a rather aloof expression on his face as he reared back, "Teleportation, electricity, and friction. Not bad but not good enough. You cannot erase the world's shadow with powers like those." He thrust his fist forward, sending his entire right arm flying from his sleeve, darkness trailing from its base and keeping it connected to Erebos. Again Mikoto used the weighty garbage can as a weapon, slinging it towards the arm with her power. A black spike extended from the darkness, pinning it to the ground as the arm reached for Reine. She activated her power, stopping the arm just before it struck her. Which is why she was so surprised when his left arm slammed into her sternum. Air was forced from her lungs as she doubled over. Kuroko grabbed her arm before she could fall to the ground, the two disappearing suddenly.
Erebos retracted his limbs as he glanced off to the side. The two girls had not gone far, but having them retreat was never his plan to begin with. A large black tendril emerged from his left arm before dividing itself into three.
"I think I'll devour you first. You are a Level Five after all," Erebos nodded, as the tentacles launched toward Mikoto. The electromaster lashed out with her power but quickly found the inky darkness did not conduct electricity in the slightest. She used magnetism to pull herself towards the building behind her in order to evade. After slamming into the ground where she had been standing, the tendrils began tracking their target individually, attempting to head her off as she darted from building to building.
"Nimble aren't you?" Erebos said before a large sale sign suddenly appeared before him, severing one of the tentacles and causing it to evaporate. Erebos retracted the rest of his darkness, turning to see Mikoto land at Kuroko's side. He took stock of himself before continuing his approach. He recreated his blade again, this time making one for each arm.
He was not allowed to close the distance.
A blonde blur darted across the street and slammed into his side, knocking the black haired man off his feet.
"Great. More of you," Erebos turned his eyes on the girl and her companions, "Oh. Good to see you could make it to the party Nardi. I was going to get you a present but it seems you've caught me as I was making it."
Cendrillon moved, inhuman agility bringing her to Erebos's side near instantaneously. She went to strike him again but the blade covering his left arm morphed into a shield. The force sent him skidding back but he took no damage.
Touma charged in, right hand outstretched. Erebos just smirked and extended the blade covering his other hand in an effort to impale the poor boy.
The sound of glass shattering filled the air.
The black substance broke down upon contact with Touma's hand, destruction working it's way backwards before an alarmed Erebos severed the blade, preventing his entire body from breaking down.
"What." Yellow eyes widened as they focused on the spiky haired boy. "What?" He took a few steps back before jumping towards a nearby building. He embedded the darkness covering his left arm into it to remain suspended out of Touma's reach. "What?!"
"Huh. I figured Imagine Breaker would just disperse you, not destroy you," Nardi said. His casual demeanor having not faded in the face of combat. "You alright over there Reine?"
"I'm fine. We've been holding him for a while," She called back to Nardi.
"Good. Good. Let's wrap this up then." Nardi held out his left hand. A small circle of runes appeared hovering over his palm before a hilt emerged from it. He pulled out a one handed sword and spun it loosely in his right hand as the runes disappeared. "Touma wait in the wings, if he gets crazy jump in and try to nail him. Reine, Cendrillon, we're on offense. Drag it out as long as you can."
"Drag it out? I could-" Cendrillon began.
"No. We want this fight to last as long as possible. Trust me."
"What about us?" Mikoto again took point next to Reine, joined by Kuroko and Kazakiri.
"I don't know what you can do but if ya think you can help I won't stop ya."
Erebos remained silent as they consolidated their front against him. He glanced to the blackness which held him to the side of the building and sighed. His scowl said more about what he thought of his new odds than anything he could say aloud.
"Very well." He dropped from the building, reforming his blades one last time, "It would be best if I can at least eliminate-" A wire wrapped around his waist before pulling him backwards. He embedded his blades into the ground in order to keep from being thrown around again. "Where are you all coming from?!"
Itsuwa stood behind him with her spear put together and the wire in her other hand. "I won't let you get away with what you did to Index!"
The distraction she provided was enough. Cendrillon and Reine darted forward and struck at Erebos's breaks. The former member of Gremlin strengthened herself with the spells of her namesake as she attempted to crush the dark blade under foot. The blades turned to liquid before exploding outward, dozens of thin needles shooting from the ground. Despite being directly struck, Cendrillon found she had no injuries. In fact the needles that had hit her seemed to have broken completely upon contact.
Reine was not so lucky, the tiny spines had left her with many small cuts, forcing her to tumble backwards. Erebos clicked his tongue as his weapons reformed themselves, only to have to immediately block Nardi's sword strike. The wire around his waist again tugged him backwards, and as he could not block and tether himself to the ground at the same time, he was hurled back. Working fast, Erebos managed to convert one of his blades into a scissor to sever the wire. He did this at the expense of controlling his landing, and thus the sound of shattering ceramic echoed once more. The black haired man got to his feet, as shards of white fell from his left pant leg.
He looked up to face his opponents now that they were all in front of him.
"I seem to have miscalculated at some point," Erebos muttered to himself.
"Cendrillon!" Nardi called out.
Erebos crouched into a leap in order to get a head start on one of the nearby buildings. A gust of wind alerted Itsuwa to someone launching past her at a blinding speed. Before he could reach freedom a terrible shock wave tore through his entire body, shattering it completely. Shards of a ceramic material exploded backwards, leaving a vaguely person shaped darkness behind. A noise which sounded more like nails on chalk board than a scream exploded from the darkness before it seeped into the ground. A shadow like blur darted away, quickly finding a place not covered in sunlight and disappearing.
"So... What exactly was that guy?" Saten said in the odd silence that followed that decisive blow.
Something clicked in Touma's head. Panic quickly overtook him as he turned his attention to Itsuwa, "Wait. He'll pay for what he did to Index? Is she ok?"
"She's hurt but it's not serious," Itsuwa said quickly, "She'll be fine."
Touma let out a sigh of relief, "Ah. Alright. Good."
"Hey Touma. Where's a good place we can meet up, we need a plan for the next fight," Nardi said after putting his sword into the very same runic circle it had emerged from.
"Next fight? Isn't it over? He's in a million pieces!" Kuroko said.
"His shell is in a million pieces. That doesn't mean he's dead though. He can jump shadow to shadow so he's gonna find a dark place to hole up in for a while so he can recover," Nardi turned his attention to the others, "I wanna find him before he gets back to full strength and kills us all in our sleep."
0000
"You know how to find him?" Saten asked the red haired soldier. Upon confirming that Index was indeed ok they'd moved from the hospital to the Judgment branch Kuroko and Uiharu worked from.
"Essentially. The main problem is that we'll have to wait till it's dark."
"But if we wait that long, won't he have the advantage?" Hyouka interjected, "You said it yourself, he's more powerful at night than during the day."
"Yeah but he won't actually fight us unless he's got a huge advantage now. He's not an idiot y'know. The only reason he was scamperin' around during the day was so that he could catch Reine or I alone. He just didn't count on us having help." Nardi said, "Ah thanks kiddo." He turned to Uiharu, who had just placed a cup of coffee in front of him.
"So do you even have a plan for taking him down when he's a giant darkness monster in the dead of night?" Kuroko side eyed the man. She didn't want him to drag her friends onto that kind of battlefield without some sort of plan.
"Yup. Pretty solid one too. Especially now that I know what all of you can do," Nardi nodded.
"But that doesn't help until we can find him," Uiharu, having finished delivering coffee to those who had requested it, turned towards him.
"That's you're role here." Nardi smiled.
0000
The room was quiet as the occupants contemplated their parts in Nardi's grand scheme.
"So anyway, I'm gonna need to work out something with Touma," Nardi stretched as he stood, motioning for the boy to follow him. He didn't go far after leaving the room, he just didn't want to have to answer a million questions from the science side as he worked out his magic side needs. "We're gonna need something that can contain him, any ideas Othinus?"
The tiny god poked out of Touma's jacket pocket for the first time in a while and just shrugged. "Narrow it down a bit."
"His composition is gonna be vaguely soul like so anything that works on those will probably do him in. Also it needs to be something we can make by nightfall."
"Oof. Ok. How about an Orb of Thesulah?" Othinus suggested.
"I have no idea what that is."
"It fits your specifications, all I'd need is Itsuwa's help to cast some spells and a crystal ball of some kind. Just as long as one of us activates it in time it should work provided your plan goes how you think it will."
"Sounds good. Touma, you take Itsuwa and Othinus and get that together. I'm going to nap 'til Uiharu tells me she's found something," Nardi smiled. They quickly reentered the room, Touma and Itsuwa leaving shortly there after. Uiharu and Saten were huddled next to each other, looking over the monitors at Uiharu's station. Nardi had no idea how those computers worked but if they could do what Uiharu said they could then he didn't really care.
"Zypher would be proud you know," Reine said from next to Nardi. The red head let out an undignified yelp before turning to face her.
"Shiii-aaaa stop Stop sneaking up on me," He said, glancing over to Cendrillon who gave him an approving nod.
"I mean it. I don't usually see you taking charge like this," Reine chuckled. She had a few bandages but her natural regeneration had already taken care of most of her injuries.
"Well Zyphy's always got it covered so I never have to. But if we're gonna win this we need their help. And if we take their help we need to keep them safe. So big complex plan is a go," He shrugged, sitting on the couch next to Hyouka. "You sure ya can pull this off without hurting yourself kiddo?"
"Y-Yeah. It will be taxing sure but I'll be fine. I promise." She nodded.
"Good. The plan's only a success if all of us walk out of this alive so don't go burning yourself out. Hey Biribiri,"
"I only let that idiot call me that!" Mikoto lashed out, electricity sparking from her hair. She'd almost shocked Kuroko since the teleporter was especially close to her once again.
"Just make sure you stick near the idiot during this one ok? He's gonna need a fair bit of support alright?"
"Y-Yeah! I know! I'll stick with him like you said before!" Mikoto said, face quickly turning red. She was still a little frightened at the prospect of being near that hand of his knowing what she knew now. However this was a good opportunity to observe it with fresh eyes. She definitely wouldn't miss this chance.
"When do we move?" Reine asked, sitting on the back of the couch and glancing out the window. The sun had already begun to set, dyeing the sky orange.
"We need Touma and Itsuwa to get back and we need to know where he is. As soon as that's done, we're movin' I don't want to give him any more time to regenerate than necessary. Not to mention that we really don't want to give him time to find a human shell. So for now, just focus on recuperating. I want you able to protect as many of us with your little max friction trick as possible ok?"
"Scoot over then."
Nardi obliged, he and Hyouka scrunching in somewhat to allow Reine to sit on Nardi's right. He chuckled before making the most fake yawn possible, stretching his arms straight up and letting them fall around the shoulders of the two females on either side. He felt an odd tug as several white needles pinned his sleeves to the back of the couch.
"Oh come on really?!" He shouted, glancing to Kuroko. She merely gave a dark cackle at his discomfort.
0000
The construction site in District 10 was unnaturally dark. The lines which supplied the lights with power dangled uselessly from their towers. In the illuminated cityscape, this was the only area where true darkness fell.
Nardi stood at the edge of that darkness with Mikoto and Touma at his side. He asked for no confirmation on position of the others. They knew what they needed to do and he trusted that.
"Let's move," He said upon drawing his sword, "Light it up kiddo."
Mikoto nodded before facing the darkness. She fired up her power, creating several instances of ball lightning. The brightly glowing orbs were fired into the construction site. However they did not seem to illuminate anything. The living darkness known as Erebos retracted, consolidating himself in a single point under a construction vehicle.
"That's the way," Nardi smirked, "Don't bother keeping it up we just needed-"
Violence erupted from under the vehicle, several spikes twisting and turning to skewer the balls of light, allowing night to reassert itself.
They heard the sound of a train roaring to life.
A twisting black mass lurched towards the three, Mikoto quickly taking point and pumping out as much illuminating electricity as possible.
Erebos recoiled, not out of fear of the light but out of a fear he shared with Mikoto.
Touma stepped forward with his right hand out. The threat of the Imagine Breaker utterly destroying him was too great for Erebos to move recklessly. The large worm like darkness split into dozens of tendrils, each advancing on the spiky haired boy from a different direction.
Erebos did not know what power that boy held but he was willing to experiment. The night granted him enough regenerative capability to quickly make up for a lost tentacle or two.
Mikoto moved back as Nardi shot forward, the red head grabbing Touma by the back of his collar and flinging him backwards. A large metal dumpster was dropped on the tendrils as they converged, slowing them down enough for the three to run further back into the alley.
Another roar sounded as metal was shredded by an advancing black sea.
"Move it!" Nardi called out, the three of them continuing to run from the encroaching wall of darkness. They could hear every loose object in the alley being crushed by Erebos's movements. Quickly, the three exited the alley and made a hard right, Mikoto using her magnetism to pull herself up a nearby building.
"Glad you're used to running!" Nardi called out to Touma with a grin on his face before having to duck under a spike that had been fired their direction. He continued running, his stride would not be interrupted by something so simple.
"I'd better be! This kind of thing happens to me a lot!" Touma responded with a light chuckle before having to fend off his own spike, the darkness breaking down upon contact with his right hand. They continued, only barely managing to evade the constant barrage as they ran. They came upon an empty parking lot and slowed in order to catch their breath.
0000
"I think I've found him. There's a construction site in District 10 that's experiencing a power outage," Uiharu pointed to an unnaturally dark area of the city on her monitor.
"Sounds good. Can you find any wide open areas close to that?" Nardi said from his place on the couch. He of course wanted to get up but found himself still pinned by Kuroko's needles. The teleporter didn't seem to have much of an interest removing them either.
"Uh. Looks like there's a parking lot a couple of blocks away."
"Just make sure there's not much for him to hide under," Nardi nodded, "We're also gonna need a little extra fire power. Is there anything-"
0000
Within moments darkness was upon them. Nardi snapped his fingers, as a signal to the others. Three floodlights, one from atop the alley they'd just come from and two from in front of the boys, flickered to life. Erebos let out a wail as he recoiled before lashing out at the lights themselves with one tentacle each.
Cendrillon intercepted the tendril targeting the light being operated by Uiharu. A resounding blast tore through the offending blackness, ripping it to pieces.
Another black appendage was stopped just short of reaching Saten's floodlight, Reine standing with her hand outstretched to the side of it. Itsuwa shot forward and quickly wrapped a wire around the tendril before pulling as hard as she could. The thin wire cut through the darkness like butter.
A dull thud sounded as a thick sheet of metal crushed the last attempt at shutting off the lights.
"Touma!"
The hero advanced lunging towards the large mass of blackness before him.
Erebos quickly composed himself and reared up, turning his body into a large wave. At the crest were hundreds of blades. Touma had only ever blocked with that right hand of his. Even if a few blades were destroyed, as long as Touma died Erebos could flee and take his time with the others. None of them had the power to kill him with Imagine Breaker out of the picture.
0000
Finally freed from the couch by Reine and Hyouka efforts, Nardi leaned over Uiharu as he studied the map on the screen. "Alright so after we get those lights on him Touma will come into play."
"We're going to pit him up against that thing all on his own?" Cendrillon raised an eyebrow.
"No of course not. With Erebos stuck in this alley he's only going to be able to attack by crushing Touma. Meaning he's got to put a lot of his mass in the air. Which is where you come in." He pointed to-
0000
A tremendous beam of purple tore through the middle section of the wave, severing the thousands of blades from the rest of him. The living darkness was met with a massive loss of power as the blades broke down into a black smog.
He roared in anguish, collecting what little was left of himself into a vaguely humanoid form. He looked back, fixing an eyeless glare on his attacker.
Hyouka Kazakiri was wheezing behind him, leaning on the alley wall for support. During World War Three she had gained enough power to protect her friends from Gabriel thanks to a virus infecting the Misaka Network. Even though that virus's influence was no more she still had access to a limited version of those powers.
However, even limited, the power to stand on equal ground with an archangel was not to be underestimated.
Mikoto jumped down from atop the building her floodlight had been placed, landing next to Touma and Nardi. "Is it over?"
"Not quite. He won't be able to do any crazy massive attacks for a little bit but that doesn't mean-"
Another wail tore through the area, interrupting Nardi's train of thought. His body reduced to a twisting human shaped mass, Erebos formed his right arm into a blade and lunged forward. The red haired soldier intercepted, swinging his blade to meet Erebos's.
He missed entirely.
He missed because Erebos had twisted his body into an inhuman arc reaching over Nardi's head. Three slender spikes tore into Nardi's back before he could react. The living darkness hit the ground, not even bothering to retain it's human shape as it quickly darted towards Misaka Mikoto.
0000
"Once we cut him down to size it'll be way too risky for him to fight us. Given that, he'll go for a new shell. He won't pick me because my power is useless, and he can't pick Touma because the Imagine Breaker would destroy him, so he'll go for-"
0000
Erebos lunged towards Mikoto, coiling his darkness so it would be hard for her to evade or block properly. Even then her powers could not stop his darkness and he saw no refuse bins she could use to bat him away.
Mikoto pulled out the strange orb Itsuwa had given her before they'd left the Judgment branch. She could almost here a small chant coming from Touma's direction as the orb lit up in her hands.
"Checkmate," Nardi said softly.
The Orb of Thesulah activated. Inky blackness was drawn into the softly glowing crystal ball as one final desperate wail shook the air.
Silence fell for several seconds as Mikoto looked at the now black orb in her hand.
"Holy shit that actually worked..."
Nardi shot a glare towards Cendrillon, who blushed and looked away from the bleeding soldier.
"So, do you want me to-" Touma started, eyes shifting from his right hand to the orb.
"No idea if it'll kill him or just break his prison so let's stay safe and not," Nardi pulled himself up. His wounds were not terrible but they certainly hurt like hell. "I think it's alright to call this one done. Now who wants to carry me to the hospital?"
0000
Mikoto stood in the hospital hall, intently staring at a closed door.
It was Index's room and while she did want to check on the nun, she was also interested in something else.
She knew Touma was in there and she had some pressing questions she needed answers to.
The electromaster took in a deep breath and shook her head in an effort to toss all those doubts from her mind.
"Alright I'm getting answers today and nothing is going to-"
She advanced towards the door only to run into someone else. The man blindsided her since all of her focus had been on the door.
"Hm? Oh. Sorry kid," The unfamiliar man held a hand out to the fallen esper.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying-" her words died in her mouth as she looked at the man before her. She'd seen him once before.
When she was tumbling between worlds trying to get back home she'd caught a glimpse of this tired looking man. She remembered his graying hair. She remembered the scars crossing his exposed skin. She remembered the strange halberd he did not seem to have with him currently.
Grey eyes examined her carefully. Apparently he'd run into her a bit harder than he thought. "Do you need a doctor?"
"N-N-No! I'm alright. I was just. It's nothing!" Mikoto blurted out.
"You sure?"
"Hey Zypher!" Reine called out, motioning to a room a bit further down the hall.
"I'm fine really. You're Reine's friend right? You should go see Nardi," She said meekly, quickly letting go of his calloused hand and backing away from the man.
"Mh. Take it easy kid. It might seem important, hell it might actually be important, but if it makes you miss out on the things around you it's not worth it." He said before leaving her life just as suddenly as he'd entered it.
She looked back to the door leading to Index's room and sighed.
0000
"So she'll be fine. That's good to hear, wouldn't want someone I've never even met to get hurt by something chasing after me," Nardi smiled from his hospital bed.
Itsuwa nodded, "I'm glad you're alright too. After seeing your injuries last night I thought you'd be here for a while."
"Nah, we heal pretty quick. Somethin' this light isn't gonna take me down for long."
"I am fairly impressed though. When we first met I did not peg you as much of a strategist," Cendrillon said from her place leaning against the far wall, "Even though you made a fair bit of assumptions, everything worked out in the end."
"I get that a lot. Honestly though, when your power is as unwieldy as mine is you get good at other things to compensate. Strategy just happens to be what I use to compensate for that lack of skill."
"If only you got the chance to take charge more often," Another man entered the room, Reine following behind him.
"Hey Zyph, you're here too! Where the hell did you go?" Nardi asked, "I was thinking to myself, you know what would be super useful fighting Erebos, someone who could manipulate sound and was an immortal killing machine."
"You had it handled. Besides, I was busy," The man with a deep voice chuckled.
"With what?"
"Finding a way back home. I'm sure that must have slipped your mind since you were so concentrated on neutralizing Erebos."
Nardi gave a dry chuckle, "Ok, so I guess you're kind of useful after all. Although I'm a little annoyed it took you a day to do it."
"There were a few complications," Zypher shrugged.
0000
Aleister Crowley poured over the vast amount of new data he'd collected. When four alien elements entered his city he'd moved to acquire one of them. He had been ready to use force if necessary but he quickly found Zypher Vanvelt was willing to bargain.
"Beings that are essentially espers capable of magic..." Aleister said absentmindedly, "These creatures are truly fascinating. I'm loath to let them leave so soon but I suppose a deal is a deal. It's not like they'll be able to figure out the tracking device."
A soft chuckle echoed through the windowless building.
0000
Nardi's room had been cleared so he could get dressed. His injuries were not fully healed but they were no longer severe enough to justify further hospital time. There was a soft knock on the door.
"You can come in, I've got pants on."
Touma quickly entered, closing the door behind him.
"Oh hey Touman, how's the little nun doing?" Nardi inquired as he grabbed the new dark green t-shirt Reine had gotten for him.
The spiky haired boy flinched upon seeing Nardi's bare chest. The man had more than a few scars adorning his body.
"Yeah she's fine. Nothing Academy City medical science can't fix in a few days. I should know after all," Touma chuckled.
"So you're leaving huh?" Othinus popped out of Touma's jacket pocket once more.
"Yeah, Zypher's got a good lead on getting us back so we're gonna follow it. He's also got us safe passage out of the city so there's that," Nardi nodded before putting on his new shirt.
"Well. Thanks for all the help," Touma said.
"Shouldn't this be the other way around? There's no way Reine and I could have pulled that off on our own." Nardi laughed. He gave Touma a pat on the shoulder before moving past the boy. "It's been nice meeting you and all your friends kiddo. I wish it could have been during better circumstances."
"Yeah."
"Maybe I'll figure out some way to stop by again. Just to check up on you and your harem," Nardi snickered, "Maybe you'll have bagged a few more by the time I get back."
"H-Hey!" Touma shouted as a furious blush overtook his face.
"Know your limits and rely on others."
"What?" Touma instantly snapped from his embarrassment. He looked at Nardi again and saw the soldier was wearing a soft but serious expression.
"You don't need to be alone to be a hero. I'll catch you later Touma Kamijou, and Othinus too."
0000
Reine and Zypher stood to the side of Nardi's room. They glanced to their left as Uiharu and Saten approached them.
"So... This is it huh?" Saten said.
"Yeah, we need to get back," Reine nodded, "It's nice to get a vacation, but you've got to go home eventually."
"It's not like it's impossible to come back," Zypher said offhandedly.
"You mean-" Uiharu started.
"If this truly was a vacation, we might be able to arrange future ones. Maybe." The gruff man nodded.
Saten and Uiharu looked to each other before charging forward and hugging Reine.
Nardi exited the room and just looked at his companions.
"I can go back in if I'm interrupting something." He said, eyes fixed on the three girls.
"No it's fine. We were just saying our goodbyes," Reine shook her head as the three separated.
"Looks like you've got one more yourself," Zypher gestured down the hall.
Nardi followed the movement, eyes falling on Hyouka Kazakiri. "Ah good, you're alright then?"
"Yes, it was exhausting... but I'm glad I could help," She smiled.
"Good to hear. Ya really saved the day for us so get some rest and junk," He returned the expression, "Anyway we need to bounce."
"W-Will- Will you be coming back?"
Nardi raised an eyebrow, "Maybe?"
"Ok. I'll see you later then."
Nardi nodded and turned away one last time giving a wave as he and his fellow soldiers walked off.
He did not seem to notice the small blush on Hyouka's face as she'd said her goodbye.
If fate allowed it, maybe they would return to Academy City one day. But for now, the three headed home. Reine reached into her pocket as they left, making sure the black Orb of Thesulah was still safely tucked away.
"Say, when we get home, let's take a nap after tossing that stupid orb into the abyss."
"You just got a full night's rest in a hospital, why do you need more?"
"Dude, getting home isn't gonna be simple, I'm willing to bet it will take us forever! I'm totally gonna to need another nap by then."
"Oh shush, we can take as long as we'd like. Right Zypher?"
"Eh. Sure."
ExWrath – And then they walked off into the sunset. Well. I hope I did ok! This is the most I've written in a really long time so I'm probably a little rusty. Technically we've seen one of these guys before back in chapter 40! Hope you enjoyed getting to know my characters as much as I enjoyed writing them! Maybe I'll do another filler chapter some day. If ADDude lets me of course!
Authors Notes: Sure why not? Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Let get some reviews here to let Exwrath know how they did. Anyway, I'm going to take time off to work on another story I've been neglecting a little. That and I want to get a timeline set up for the rest of the arcs I have in mind for this story. To get a good idea where I'm going with everything. Anyway thanks for reading.
