Judging by the comments we have two main groups of people. One group wants to see Touma survive and not get caught, the other group wants to laugh at him and have his disguise wear out at the worst possible time. Let's see which direction this heads. But man, some of you are mean. You want to see him die? He went there to relax.
And, let us not forget Kuroko Shirai. Either way, it is hilarious for us if she doesn't know and if she finds out, even more entertainment for us.
Thank you everyone for commenting and reviewing my story. I am glad so many people enjoy it and even new people are beginning to read this too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.
Back in the hotel room, tensions were running high. Kuroko was clinging tightly to Touma while Mikoto, Ruiko and Misaki watched her. Touma had no idea what he should do or say. He just found out a third girl liked him and he was sharing a room with all three of them. He also was a little uncomfortable with Kuroko sitting on his lap but he was too much of a gentleman to just shove her off onto the floor.
"Umm Shirai-san," he said. "Can you get off me?"
She looked up at him and he thought he saw her debate this question in her eyes, but she nodded and moved off of him to a spot on the bed next to him. "Sorry about that," she said. "But your lap was really comfortable." She turned back to Mikoto. "Onee-sama," she cried. "Is my love not enough for you?"
The sound of a hand hitting a face was heard as Mikoto face palmed loudly. "Kuroko," she said. "You are my friend but, once again, I am not into girls."
Kuroko puffed out her chest in response. "That is fine because I am a women, not a girl," Touma and Mikoto sighed but Misaki and Ruiko had put their hands to their mouths to stop from laughing out loud. Mikoto opened her mouth to say something but Kuroko teleported behind her and wrapped her arms around Mikoto. She grabbed her chest and said, "Onee-sama's chest is still the best." This did not go well for her as Mikoto snapped and unleashed a bolt of electricity. Kuroko fell to the ground with a thud, crispy and smoking.
"Why does she keep doing that?" Mikoto complained to no one in particular.
"I'll take her back to her room," Ruiko said. "I wanted to talk to Uiharu anyways." She gave a fleeting glance at Misaki before closing the door to Kuroko's room. Misaki and Mikoto went right back to glaring at each other. Touma was trying to think of away to get them to stop fighting but at the moment Misaki's phone started ringing. Without taking her eyes off of Mikoto, she picked up the phone and answered.
"Hello?" There was a short pause then, "Ok, I will be right there." She hung up and looked over at Touma. "Sorry," she said. "I have to take care of something real fast. I will be back in a little bit." Touma nodded in understanding and she left the room.
Mikoto sighed and fell back on the bed. "I can't stand her sometimes," she complained and looked at Touma. "I don't know why you like to hang out with her."
"She is really nice when you get to know her," Touma said. "But it does feel you two have some kind of rivalry going on."
"You could say that," Mikoto conceded. "But it's more of a personality thing. She is always so manipulative." Touma could understand that but merely shrugged. Mikoto got up and went to the bathroom and Touma let out a sigh of relief.
At least everything calmed down now. He stood up stretched and went out into the balcony. He pulled out his cell phone to check his messages. He had hoped to find something from Accelerator on the status of the people who infiltrated Academy City but to his disappointment the only messages were from Motoharu. However, there were a couple of them and all were sent today. He skimmed the texts.
Touma, I know you might be busy enjoying the garden, but keep an eye out for Kanzaki, she might need your help.
There's a rumor that something happens on the beach during a full moon so keep an eye out for anything strange.
Watch out, the organization that infiltrated Academy City is rumored to be scouting the beach.
Touma frowned and was just about to text a reply for clarification when the door behind him opened. He quickly turned around while jamming his phone into his pocket. Mikoto had just walked out onto the balcony.
"Thought I would find you here," she said smiling. "I hope we didn't make you to uncomfortable tonight." Her voice indicated she was worried.
"Maybe a tiny bit," he replied, well he knew it was more than a tiny bit but he didn't want her to feel bad. "Shirai-san didn't help though."
"Well that was partially your fault," Mikoto said raising an eyebrow. "I didn't think you would say something like that after knowing her for a day." He laughed and she smiled. "You probably guessed it was the same guy I talked about last night." She said the last part with a slightly red face and Touma nodded trying not to look embarrassed. "Well anyways, he is…what is that?"
When Mikoto suddenly pointed, he turned and looked at the ocean. The sun had just set and left an orange and red tint in the horizon but the full moon was shining brightly high in the sky. However, he figured he knew what Mikoto was pointing at. Coming out of the ocean, a little offshore, was several blue strands of light which seemed to be originating from the same location. "It looks like blue lights. But why would they be there…?" He stopped and saw something he was more familiar with. A small pillar of grey smoke was drifting into the sky close to where the light was coming from. "There is smoke near it. Someone might be in trouble."
"I'm on it,' Mikoto said. "Stay here and get help." She emitted several electrical sparks and jumped off the balcony. She seemed to fly through the air to a balcony on the floor below and just kept jumping down effortlessly to each of the following floors. She must have magnetized her feet to land on each metal railing. She immediately bolted toward the source of the smoke when she was on solid ground.
Touma turned and ran through his room and out into the hotel. He didn't have any plans to get help from the supervisors. If Motoharu was right, this was probably something form the magic side. He wished Mikoto hadn't acted so rashly but it would have been hard to warn her. He bolted right past Misaki who looked confused but Touma was only able to utter a quick, "Emergency." He exited the hotel and ran out onto the beach. While he was running he pulled out his phone and called Motoharu. After two rings he picked up.
"Sup Kami-yan," he said. "You get my messages."
"Yes," he said. "And I think it is happening right now. Some lights are coming from the ocean and now there is smoke."
"Well Kanzaki is there," Motoharu said sounding like he was thinking. "Though that might pose a problem."
"What do you mean and thinking about it, how do you know where I am?"
"Who do you think helped Jason?" he asked but with the air of stating the obvious. And Touma kicked himself for not thinking of that. "Anyway, the reason is those cursed sin marks some of these guys have. You remember how Kanzaki has the Stigma marking to allow her to use some of God's power?"
"Yes."
"If what we saw back at the tournament is correct, you defeated one of the people with the sin mark and then the mark was transferred to you. Until more information is available, we have to assume all the marks work like that. There should be 6 more people with those marks. It most likely prevents the sin from disappearing from the world that way."
"So if Kanzaki beats one of them, she would have the mark and whatever power it has?"
"Exactly."
"That doesn't sound so bad. What's the problem?"
Motoharu sighed. "Well the seven deadly sins directly go against God and have historically been called Abominations unto God. So what do you think would happen to someone who has both the power of God and something that goes against God?"
"I don't know," he said truthfully but he knew it couldn't be good and he picked up his running pace.
"Well," Motoharu replied. "I don't either, but we believe it most likely would be one of two possibilities. One, the opposing forces would destroy her from the inside as they fought each other." Touma gulped. "The second option is worse. It could corrupt her yet allow her to continue to use the power of God. In this case, she would be considered a Demon God to the church and would need to be eliminated or there would be untold casualties."
"I can't let that happen," Touma said determined.
"I will count on you," he said then his voice got the old humor Touma was use to. "Let me know what happens, Kamiko-san." Motoharu hung up while Touma wanted to punch him. As he got closer to the light he saw two paths. One led him up a small cliff and the other to the water's edge. He wasn't sure which way to go until he heard several explosions coming from the cliff. He immediately ran in that direction.
Kaori landed effortlessly on the rocks below the cliff. The cool water washed over her feet but she ignored it, preferring to focus on the two boats getting closer to the shore. Her well trained eyes saw several people on both boats. There were 5 masked individuals and one unmasked individual on each boat. One of the two not wearing a mask was female with bright red hair. The other one was an older male with grey hair slicked back and a monocle. Both of them were focusing on a single spot where blue threads of light were emerging from the surface of the water. Something warned her that those two would not be easy to deal with. Not wasting any more time, she dashed gracefully across the surface of the ocean toward the nearest boat where the woman was. Her footsteps barely made any impact on the surface.
She was 50 feet away from the first boat when the women turned her head and looked directly at Kaori. When Kaori was spotted, the women broke into a wide smile. Several jets of flames erupted from her hands toward Kaori. She sidestepped the initial flames, feeling the intense heat on her skin, but when the flames hit the water, steam erupted all around her obscuring her vision and threatening to cook her alive. Thanks to all the strengthening magic she uses, it would take more than that to stop her. She swung her blade and a thin blade of blue energy left her sword in a straight line parting the steam and continuing forward, slicing the first boat in half. She heard several panic shouts but ignored them. There was still one more boat to take out, but before she could get closer to it, another jet of flame rushed toward her and she was forced to jump back ten feet to avoid it. Another cloud of steam was formed obstructing hew view again.
"Wow," a mocking female voice echoed through the steam. "Who would have thought, a legendary saint would be at this out of the way spot." Kaori said nothing and just watched as the red haired women strutted through the steam on the water. She was able to walk on water just as well as Kaori. The women's eyes were blood red and the smile on her face would send shivers down most people's spines. "He will be pleased if I destroy you here." Fire appeared and circled around her like a snake but did not leaving her side. "I would draw this out but I can't let my guard down around a saint. Suffer under the weight of your sins and learn you place before my wrath."
Kaori wasn't sure what the woman was going to do, so she held her blade out in front of her in a defensive position. She did not expect the intense pain that suddenly wracked her body and almost made her drop her sword, but her training to never let the sword go until she died, kept it in her hand. Her eyes blurred and she almost lost her concentration to continue to stand on the water. The pain did not stop, if anything it continued to grow. She felt as if every part of her body was being burned alive. She tried to focus on the women in front of her and she immediately jumped back another 10 feet to avoid another flame jet. The woman was laughing at her pain and she couldn't concentrate enough to fight and stand on the water simultaneously. She had to draw the women back to land. She might have a chance if she could focus purely on offense. The pain was getting worse and she used every bit of her concentration to ignore as much of it as possible. She turned and ran back to the shore as fast as she could, but kept her guard up in case the women tried to attack when her back was turned.
"I didn't realize saints were cowards," the women laughed mocking her again. Fire erupted behind her like wings and she flew a couple inches above the surface of the water after Kaori. When they got to the cliff, Kaori ran vertically up the cliff and disappeared over the top. The women flew over it and landed on the precipice as Kaori faced her about 30 feet away. "Finally you stand and fight like a warrior. I will enjoy roasting you alive. Though I am surprised you are still standing but judging from the look in your eyes, the curse is putting a toll on your body."
Kaori didn't want to admit it but the woman was right. The pain was increasing and she had a hard time concentrating and everything kept getting blurry if she let her guard down for even a moment. This was preventing her from using several of her abilities. Her best chance was to try to find an opening and strike with her speed. Even though she didn't show it, Kaori was worried. The woman standing in front of her was obviously a professional. There were no obvious openings while the fire circled around her. The women raised her hands and several fire orbs appeared in front of her then flew at Kaori. Using her speed, she was able to just avoid them, but her reaction speed was significantly delayed due to the pain. When the balls of fire hit the ground or nearby trees, they made ten foot diameter explosions. As the dust cleared Kaori was on one knee, she was barely standing from the pain and had several burn marks from the explosion. While her speed was still far above a normal human, she was unable to dodge all of the fire explosions the women created.
"Hahaha," the women burst out laughing. "I am sure to get praised for taking out a saint. I wonder what I will be known as after this. A god?" She raised her hands and the fire circling her grew larger and the Kaori felt the heat on her face increase. "Any last words?"
"I got some. You are going down b#%^$!"
The women looked around in surprise and just manage to wrap herself in fire before a bolt of electricity came out of the woods striking her. The fire flickered away after blocking the electricity but the women was unharmed. Standing in front of her was the girl she met before in the museum. The one who humiliated her, Mikoto Misaka, the friend of the Imagine Breaker, was standing before her. She could not believe her luck. She was going to get the opportunity to kill two of her enemies today. She burst out laughing. "I can't believe it. I get another chance to kill you for the disaster at the museum. This is going to be so much fun." The fire erupted around her and kept growing burning everything to ashes within ten feet of her.
"Same situation, same ending Wrath," Mikoto said. "I doubt your boss is going to save you twice."
Wrath grinned and raised her hand. "You are lucky I can't hit two people with my curse at once. The saint is far more of a threat then you are." Fire separated from her hand and formed orbs that started floating all around her. The orbs stretched out into the shape of burning spears then flew toward Mikoto.
Mikoto dodged several of them and released several large bolts of electricity to the entire area. The spears started to explode before they hit anything and the electricity kept flying towards Wrath. Fire erupted from the ground in front of Wrath creating a wall to block it. "You need to learn some new tricks," Mikoto called out. She held out her hand and the black iron sand started to form into the shape of a sword. "Hey, are you ok?" she asked Kaori then quickly shot several more bolts of electricity at Wrath to keep her on the defensive.
"I am thanks to you," Kaori said slowly standing. "I know you. You are friends of Touma Kamijou are you not?"
"I am, but how do you know?"
"I heard he should be around here," Kaori said panting slightly. "I need to use his hand so I can fight."
"He can't be around here," Mikoto said confused. "This is a female only area right now. No guys came with us." Now Kaori looked confused, Motoharu's information was rarely wrong, incomplete maybe, but rarely wrong. I thought crossed her mind as she processed the girl's words.
Tsuchimikado said something about Kamijou being different than usual. Could it be?
"You annoying pest," Wrath yelled as the fire around her grew in size again and threatening to engulf the entire cliff. "I am going to kill you both right now." The fire turned into a tidal wave at the top of the cliff and then flew towards them.
Mikoto reached into her pocket for a coin to use the Railgun to split the fire wall. She mentally cursed herself when she realized she left the coins back in the hotel room. After changing, she forgot to move her change to her new clothes. The firewall was getting close and she had run out of ideas and even Kaori realized something was wrong. Mikoto couldn't leave without abandoning the women on the ground and she couldn't generate enough electricity to reliably block everything. The iron sand started wrapping around them forming a shield and she also strengthened it with electricity but it might not be enough. Mikoto closed her eyes and yelled the first name that appeared in her mind, "Touma, help!"
The sound of breaking glad echoed across the cliff and the wall of fire split in half as easily as pulling back a curtain. Standing in front of her, looking impressive against the full moon, was a youth who had punched the wall of fire. She stood tall between them and Wrath. "Sorry I'm late," she said. Mikoto couldn't believe it. In her eyes, it was not Touma but Touya who split the wall of fire with a single hand.
It seems like Wrath couldn't believe it either. "Who are you and how do you have his power?" Touma didn't explain and charged forward. Wrath tried to defend herself with another wall of fire but Touma split it apart again with a slight touch. He pulled his fist back, and punched Wrath in the face with every bit of strength he could muster. She flew back several feet and slipped on the edge of the cliff. She fell cursing loudly. Touma dived to grab her before she fell but he missed. He was going to look over the edge but a giant continuous fountain of fire erupted from below the cliff's edge and he pulled his head back just in time to avoid getting incinerated. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" Wrath screamed. The fire didn't seem to stop and was easily 30 feet taller than the cliff.
Touma ran back to Kaori and Mikoto. Mikoto was still stunned but Kaori was able to talk. "I see," she panted. "You were disguised. Quick, remove the curse so I can fight." Touma nodded and touched her in the chest, well slightly above her chest, and the sound of breaking glass was heard. He had been hit by the curse before and it was a testament to Kaori's power she was able to move, let alone fight. Kaori immediately stood up and walked forward. "Thank you Kamijou, now I am going to finish this." She walked forward to the giant fountain of flame. Wrath was emerging from it, or at least what remained of Wrath. While it was in the shape of a human, it was an entity of pure fire. The flames were deep crimson red while the fire around her was normal orange. Her eyes had become white but still radiated hatred. Her red hair was now just pure strands of flame whipping around her head. The former female Wrath, now made of fire, took a step onto the cliff and the earth itself started to melt after just making contact.
"I don't care who you are. You all will die," Wraths voice echoed all around them. Kaori just walked forward without any trace of fear on her face. Faster than the human eye can follow she swung her blade as an enormous blue light came out and directly hit Wrath in the chest knocking her flying back several hundred feet into the water. Steam erupted and completely obscured the ocean from their view.
"It's not over yet," Kaori said calmly. "She will be back up here in a moment."
"You can't defeat her," Touma said trying to warn her.
"I will defeat her," Kaori said stating a fact.
"That's not what I mean," Touma said quickly elaborating. "If you beat her the sin curse mark will transfer to you and will react with your Stigma and either killing or corrupting you." Kaori stopped.
"Then what do you propose?"
"I don't know." Then they heard a scream.
"This is not over, I will have my revenge!" A giant hand made of fire emerged from the steam and came right at them.
"Salvare000," Kaori called out and Touma knew things were getting serious. Kaori did not like using her magic name unless the situation called for it. Touma saw several flashes as a large number of wires reflected the light of the moon and the wires formed a dome around the cliff. The giant flame hand hit the barrier and exploded, but none of the flames went through the barrier. After the smoke cleared they saw Wrath fly towards them with wings of crimson fire. She made contact with the wire barrier and her hand started to dissolve it. Slowly, she made a big enough opening for her to slip though and land back on the cliff floating a few inches off the ground while the earth beneath here turned into a puddle.
"Rejoice," Wrath said. "Few have seen this form and even less have survived to tell the tale. It is an honor for trash to be destroyed by me."
"Like hell we will," Mikoto yelled standing up as several bolts of electricity surrounded her. She was finally getting over her shock at the turn of events and was prepared to fight to the end. An enormous lightning bolt came down from the sky and through the hole Wrath made in the barrier. Wrath yelled in surprise or pain as she was engulfed by the electricity. When the dust cleared Wrath was still standing but her humanoid shaped flame body was a little warped like she was having trouble maintaining it.
Kaori didn't waste a single moment. The wires surrounding them disappeared and she dashed at inhuman speed and slashed her blade at Wrath along with several of the wires. Touma watched as pieces of the fire body were cut off of Wrath and fell to the ground, leaving a scorched mark as they disappeared. However, Kaori seemed to avoid giving any fatal blows. Wrath's body was slowly reforming but Touma believed there was a limit to how fast or how much it could continue. Wrath glared at them all with utter loathing. "I will not die here without taking you all with me." She started to glow and the crimson fire turned even darker red, and getting closer to black. Kaori tried to get close and attack again but she immediately retreated over 50 feet in an instant. Several wires fell to the ground with their bases melted. Kaori looked surprised but did not say anything.
"Hahaha," she laughed mechanically. "The stronger my rage, the more powerful my flames are. My black flames have never been stopped. I don't care if I die. I will take all three of you with me."
"Wrath, we have what we came for," an elderly man's voice said. "We have been here to long and need to go. He will not be patient." Everyone turned to look at who the voice was coming from was. On the edge of the cliff stood the man Kaori had seen with grey hair that was slicked back. He wore a fancy suit with a dark green tie and a monocle on his left eye. He was probably around 50 or 60 but the feeling he gave off was not something that a normal elderly person would give. He was just as dangerous as Wrath was. Touma was getting worried. They were just pulling ahead of fighting one of these guys, now a second one appeared.
"Shut up Greed," Wrath roared at him as her flame body reformed. "These pests have angered me for the last time." She waved her arm at him and one of the dark red, almost black, flames whipped at Greed and passed through nothing but air. Greed had disappeared and reappeared on the other side of Wrath.
Greed sighed. "Wrath was always temperamental but adding the fact you are also the newest member of our group. If you continue to fight I will have no choice but to take you by force and you know how much I hate to do something for nothing. I could always tell him about you ignoring his orders. That way you regret it even more if you don't die here."
Touma realized Greed's words had a noticeable effect on Wrath. The dark flames started to get lighter and her outline was slowly becoming more defined. Eventually, she looked the way she did before becoming the flame creature. "Perhaps I was too hasty," Wrath admitted. "If we have what we came for there is no reason to stay."
"Excellent," the man said then turned to the rest of the group. Mikoto, Kaori, and Touma were all watching him closely. "We are going to take our leave, unless any of you want to try to stop us. But by the looks of it, I don't think you are." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small rune card and the ground below them started to glow white. Greed and Wrath slowly descended into the white circle and disappeared. On the horizon, there was a flash of white light and it seemed like to Touma, they teleported back to the boat. The blue lines on the ocean were gone and everything looked peaceful and serene once again. A gust of wind blew the last bit of the steam away and in the distance they saw the shape of a boat drive off in the distance, away from them, which confirmed Touma's theory.
"It seems they got what they came for," Kaori said sheathing her sword. 'This is not good, I need to report this." She turned to Kamijou. "I am not sure why you were here but you were quite useful." She bowed. "I thank you for saving my life. I am in your debt once again. But If I may be so bold to ask, what is with this disguise?"
"It is a long story," Touma said depressed looking at the ground. At least Kaori looked at things a lot more rationally then others. "I kind of got forced to look like this, but I didn't expect something like this was going to happen."
"Hmm," Kaori said. Touma looked at her face and he thought he saw a slight smirk on her lips and an amused gleam in her eyes. He couldn't believe it.
She was laughing at him.
"Anyway," she continued. 'Your friend was also quite helpful. Thanks to her I survived long enough for you to break the curse on me. Tsuchimikado did mention she knew a little bit about the magic world. Again, thank you both for your help."
Touma froze when she mentioned Mikoto, he had completely forgotten about her and the unusual circumstances that were now revealed to her. He turned around slowly and saw Mikoto slowly dusting herself off, her face was bright red but she didn't seem to be hurt. He walked cautiously over to her and asked, "Are you ok?" She didn't immediately answer but nodded slowly. Her eyes did not meet his and he started to grow worried. "Well that's good," he said nervously. He didn't know what else to say. She then slowly looked up into his eyes and he was unable to read her face.
"So," she said slowly. "This entire time, Touya Kamiko was actually Touma Kamijou?"
"Yes," Touma couldn't do anything else but tell her the truth.
"And Shokuhou knew this and invited you?"
"Yes," Touma said giving the only reply he could.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"No," Touma said. "I was forced to look like this, but I could have refused to come. I take full responsibility." He was aware of Kaori standing behind them as they talked.
"I see," Mikoto said and several sparks flickered around her. Touma noticed a lot of clouds seemed to be gathering above them. Her eyes were clouded over and she had a weird grin on her face with a vein throbbing on her head. "One last question," she said slowly and Touma gulped. "Do you remember everything that happened yesterday?"
Touma knew this was going to be the straw that broke the camel's back and he slowly nodded and said the word that would seal his fate. "Yes."
"Are you prepared to die?" Mikoto asked with the weird grin on her face then she suddenly yelled. "FORGET EVERYTHING YOU SAW AND HEARD YOU PERVERTED IDIOT! I HATE YOU! JUST SHUT UP AND DIE!"
"Such Misfortune…"
The largest lightning storm ever recorded in that part of the world happened that night. The lightning strikes rained down and turned a good portion of the beach and surrounding cliffs into a pile of charcoal. It was if the sky itself despised the earth and wanted it destroyed. There were no survivors.
I warned him back in chapter 15, if he complained about his misfortune he would be struck by lightning. I never said it would be natural lightning though. I think he is really dead this time. Now we might need a new main character.
"MISAKA volunteers MISAKA says as MISAKA jumps around indicating her desire to be the new main character."
"Heh," Accelerator shrugs. "I can live with that."
"I'm ok with this," Mikoto said. "As long as I still get some scenes."
"MISAKA promises to be the best main character MISAKA declares as MISAKA prepares for her next adventure."
Next chapter finishes this arch and sets up the next one. I figured, by the comments, a lot of people enjoyed this arch. This chapter is a little shorter than the last couple but this one had such a great ending point I had to use it. I think the fight scenes are improving a lot the more I write.