A/N: Fact Seven: Funny enough Nia was supposed to be in my other story Shadow Soul since she is in fact a Pikachu Gijinka.
Disclaimer: I do not own To Aru Majatsu No Index/Railgun and/or Devil May Cry. They belong to their original owners. The OCs that appears in this story belongs to me.
A Certain Stylish Devil
Chapter Fifty Five: Knowing All
(Discover the truth about the demonic ritual)
The engines of the plane were roaring as it was preparing to take off late in the day. Lady and Trish were standing in front of the entrance of the plane as they were waiting for one more. Lady tapped her foot out of impatience. "What the hell is taking that guy so long? We were supposed to be in the air five minutes ago."
Trish giggled at her expression. "He'll be here." She looked at the plane behind them. "How did you manage to get us a private flight?"
Lady waved her hand. "Not through any shady deals I'll tell you that. I had a talk with Dante's client and told him that I was an acquaintance of him. Once I explained the situation, I got us a free flight to Japan."
"That's great and all but how are we supposed to go through the language barrier?" Trish asked.
The other woman shrugged. "We'll go to the guy Dante went to." Suddenly they heard a different engine roar. They saw another person riding in with motorcycle coming up to them. "About damn time." The motorcycle stopped and the person turned it off. His outfit consisted of a long black and purple coat with a red zip up vest underneath as well as dark blue pants. Two things that sticks him out was that he had a large sword adorned on his back and his right arm was glowing light blue and demonic looking. The person took off his helmet to show that he had short white hair much like Dante's. Lady crossed her arms. "It's about time you showed up Nero."
Nero put his helmet under his arm. "Sorry about that. Traffic was a bitch. So are we going now?"
"Get your motorcycle and your ass in here and then we'll go." Nero shrugged as he brought his ride to the storage. Lady sometimes wondered if Dante and Nero were related since he reminded her of the devil hunter.
B
Mikoto couldn't tell what time she woke up at but she guessed it was near around noon. The cot she slept on wasn't half as good as the bed she slept back at Riley's house. After the fire was put out, Mikoto and Kuroko were to spend the night at one of the Anti-Skill's quarters since their only place to live was now gone. The living space was small with a one cot, a bathroom, and a shower. She felt Kuroko's arms wrap around her waist. The electromaster blushed slightly but couldn't help it. They had to share the same cot and to Mikoto's surprise her friend didn't try any funny business. "Riley…" After everything they had to go through to find the young girl, the demons have gotten to her again and this time they have no idea where she is. To make matters worse, Akira was in the hospital due to severe injuries and Izumi was nowhere to be found. Not only that but Mikoto heard that the few Tokiwadai students that did survive the school's destruction were beginning to be recalled back to their parents. She didn't know when that would happen but as of right now, she's treasuring every bit of time she has with Kuroko. There was also the fact that she still hasn't figured out a way to ask the younger girl out.
Her train of thought was broken when she heard her cell phone going off. Mikoto gently removed Kuroko's arms around her and off the cot to retrieve her cell phone. It was number that she didn't recognize but she answered it anyway. "Hello?"
"Ah I wasn't sure you were able to answer Misaka-san."
Mikoto instantly know whose voice she was hearing. "The Queen. What do you want?" The electromaster remembered giving the Queen her phone number but only for important use.
"My my that's a rude tone and to think I was going to let you know about something important."
For a second Mikoto wondered what kind of info would the Queen have for her. "Is it something about the demons?"
She heard her giggle at the other line. "It is and you'll find this to quite interesting."
"So tell me already!" Mikoto's outburst managed to wake Kuroko up a bit.
"I'm afraid I can't do that over the phone. However I will tell you where to meet me."
The auburn haired girl growled. She had no choice but to play her game. "Fine where should we meet?" Kuroko sat up on the cot while rubbing one of her eyes. She saw Mikoto nod her head. "Fine we'll meet you there and this surprise of yours sounds suspicious."
"Well I will say that you will be in an ironic sense, shocked. See you soon."
Mikoto sighed as she ended the call. "That girl I swear…" She turned around to see her love interest up. "Oh hey Kuroko."
The teleporter yawned. "Good morning onee-sama. Who were you talking to?"
The electromaster put the phone in her pocket. "The Queen. She said she has something that relates to the demons."
Kuroko stood up from the cot. "So we're going?"
"Well not yet. We should shower first then we'll go." That rang a pretty big bell in Kuroko's mind.
"Oh yes and maybe I scrub your back…." She quickly jumped into the air. "And maybe your whole body!"
As much as things change, there are some that stay the same such as Kuroko getting a shock from the other girl. "I'm going first ok Kuroko." Mikoto entered the bathroom.
Kuroko twitched slightly on the ground. "Ok…onee-sama."
B
After they took separate showers, Mikoto and Kuroko headed toward the location Misaki told the other level five where to meet up. However since they were getting involved once again, they decided to add Saten and Uiharu since they had the right to know what was going on as well. "So what is it that you think the Queen has something for us?" Saten asked.
Mikoto wondered about that as well. "I don't but from the sound of her voice, she'll enjoy what she's about to show us."
"So who is this Queen person?" Uiharu asked.
"The Queen aka Shokuhou Misaki is the other level five of Tokiwadai Academy and the fifth strongest out of the seven level fives of academy city. "Kuroko explained. "She was caught up in the whole demon business on accident."
"Oh I see. Is she like Misaka-san?" The flower girl wondered.
"Well kinda sort of." Saten answered. "When I met her for the first time, she wasn't all that nice. Not to mention she looked down on me because I'm a level zero."
"In any case let's get this over with." Mikoto demanded. Even if it's something related to the demons, Mikoto knew that the Queen was going to rub it in her face. The group soon saw a very familiar blonde with an abundant chest standing around. Mikoto rolled her eyes as she saw the Queen's clothes. "Of course she would change clothes." However Mikoto also saw someone else standing behind the Queen but couldn't make out who it was but she felt a familiar feeling.
Misaki noticed the group and smiled. "Oh hello and it seems we have extras that came along." She was hinting at Saten and Uiharu.
Mikoto crossed her arms. "Alright enough. What is it that you wanted to tell us about the demons?"
As usual, Misaki smiled. "Not me per say." She looked behind her. "It's ok. You can show yourself now." For as long as Mikoto knew about the Queen, she has never heard her speak in such a kind voice before.
A hand came up from behind the level five blonde and soon the person revealed herself. Mikoto and Saten's eyes widened when they saw her. "H-Hi Mikoto-chan, Rui-chan."
The two girls could only stare at the phantom they were seeing right now. They could only say one word."Nia!?"
After that little freak out, Uiharu suggested she would get ice cream along with Kuroko and Saten for all of them while the two level fives and Nia sat down on the closest bench. Mikoto couldn't help but stare at Nia. "I was sure that attack finished her off so why is she still here and why is she with the Queen?"
She started at the other level as she suspected Misaki used her power. "I can assure you I didn't use my power on her. She came here with me on her own free will."
"I'm surprised you know what free will is." Mikoto spoke in deadpan voice.
"Mikoto-chan..." The level five ESPer looked at the other girl. "She didn't do anything to me I swear."
Mikoto still needed to be wary about her other side. Who knows when Chimera would come out and wreak another street. "I don't understand. How is it that you're still around? I thought when someone falls, they're supposed to burn up so how is it that you're still alive?"
Misaki was about to answer that question but Nia put her hand on her shoulder. "Let me explain Misaki-chan." The other girl nodded. "You see Mikoto-chan, you did defeat my sister and the flames were around us but…but…" Tears were forming out of Nia's eyes. "Just as the fire was ready to consume us both, my sister pushed me out before the fire envelope us both. She told that I should continue on living for both our sakes. After that I woke up and wandered around until Misaki-chan found me and…" She blushed a bit. "Took care of me."
It was quite a touching tale Mikoto heard. Chimera sacrificed her own life to save her younger sisters. She guessed] that's all what Chimera cared about. As for Nia ending up with the Queen, well it look liked she wasn't even treating Nia like she would with her previous party. "Is there something going on between them?"
Before that question could be answered, Uiharu and the rest came back with ice cream in hand. Everyone sat down and enjoyed the cold treats. "So…" Saten took a lick out of her cone. "Misaka-san said you have some info on the demons. So what is it?"
Misaki took a lick out of her cone as well. "My new friend here will tell you everything about her former party's little project." That right there was a golden opportunity for all of them. Finally they could get to the bottom of the mystery of the Hell Star formation and maybe find out where Riley is. Misaki smiled. "Tell them what you know Nia."
B
Meanwhile during the half way trip to Japan, Trish was lazing about reading a magazine while Nero was listening to his music. Suddenly they heard a door slam and looked back to see Lady yelling at her phone. "I can't understand what the hell you're saying! This is important Dante!" She heard the devil hunter reply back in Japanese. "Whatever. We'll meet up at the airport of this city all right?" She turned off her cell phone. "Jeez where's a translator where you need one."
"Everything all right?" Nero asked.
Lady sighed as she walked down the aisle. "Not really. I can't understand what Dante is saying and it seems like he doesn't understand what I'm saying either. I had no idea language barriers were this annoying." She closed her eyes while she pinched the bridge of her nose.
Nero crossed his legs. "So you mind telling us why we're going to Japan? You said it was pretty important."
Lady sighed as she opened her eyes. "Might as well know what kind of trouble we're getting into." She sat down onto one of the seats. "A few days ago Dante called me to check up on something called the Hell Star formation. Apparently the girl he was assigned to bring back has something to do with it. So I scrunched around what info I can get about it."
"And what did you find?" Trish asked.
"Not much at first but then someone referred me to a library where they store ancient legends. For a paying a fee, I managed to find a book about it. That's where I learned what this formation really is."
"So what is it?" Nero was eager to know since this Hell Star formation managed to bring him, Lady, and Trish into this.
Lady leaned forward. "The Hell Star formation is…"
B
"A gateway to the demon world." Nia answered.
The entire group was silent when they heard that answer for a few seconds. Saten managed to break it. "A gateway? Like a door?"
Nia nodded. "Yes. This only happens once every two thousand years and performing the ritual is really hard to complete. However if performed successfully, the doors to the demon world will open and countless demons will be able to go through them and into the human world." That was thought far worse than anyone could've imagined.
"And this Mistress is going to open them here in Academy City!" Kuroko asked.
"Somehow saying 'this sucks' really doesn't do this justice." Saten commented.
"Not only that, we can't issue a city wide lockdown because who will believe that?" Uiharu stated.
"It gets worse." Everyone looked at Nia. "The doors opening are just the first step. The next step is that the Mistress plans on making this city an example of the demon's power. They'll kill any human they'll see, destroy anything that's in their path until the city is engulf in fire and blood."
That scared the girls even more. "There's a third step isn't there." Mikoto asked.
The other girl nodded. "Yes there is. Once this city is burned to the ground, the demons will move on to the next closest cities and destroy them as well then the next one and the one after that. The worst part is that the doors will remain open and more demons will be coming through. They'll spread throughout the entire world until they claim it as they own."
A wave of demons coming out after another. That was a terrifying thought to all of them. It's just not Academy City that's at stake the entire world as well. In short, if the formation comes and everything is complete, everyone is going to die. It may as well be since the enemy has what they need. 666 containers and a key to opening the gates. "Key…that's it!" Mikoto stood up. "Nia! Can you tell us where the enemy is? If we can just get Riley away from the demons again, the gates won't open and that'll be that." It was easier said than done but it was the only option.
The rest of the girls stood up as well. "Most likely if they do have her again, she's most certainty at the abandoned astronomy research center outside the city limits. It has a large glass roof where you can see the stars clearly away from the cities' lights."
Mikoto could feel hope again. "Great so we still have a chance at saving her." All they had to do now was get Riley back.
Saten saw the people on the street looking up so she decided to look up as well. What she saw made her worried. "Hey Misaka-san, I hate to rain on your parade but take a look at the sky."
Mikoto as well as the other girls looked up to see to a bright red circle in the sky and it was closing in on the sun. "It seems that we have less time than we thought." Nia spoke. "The Hell Star formation is already upon us."
