Wow, such an overwhelming majority wanted two fights to go first. I expected the first one, but not the second choice. Victory by far goes to Misaki Shokuhou. Kuroko Shirai was second. I was really surprised by the runner up. I knew we have a lot of Misaki fans here after the beach arc.

To be honest, the Misaki vs Lust fight was the toughest fight to describe because it involve a lot of mental combat. I did scan the NT LN but I am going to take some liberal interpretations on some of the metal interactions between magic mind control and science mind control. I hope you all enjoy it.

Misaki: I won yay. Thanks everyone.

Mikoto: Don't get conceited. You have no combat skills if Mental Out fails.

Misaki: You don't know that.

Mikoto: Let me refer to the earlier chapters were you could barely run a couple blocks.

Misaki: You are just jealous the fans like me more for my personality.

Me: I think they just want to see you in a spider web swimsuit and a nurse outfit.

Misaki: Only if it's for Touma.

Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.

Misaki stood across the arena looking at the female called Lust. She knew she was at a disadvantage. It was impossible to tell how long these people have been gathering information on them. They most likely knew all about her power and she had no idea what Lust's power was. She glanced around at the stands again looking for more information. There was nothing else except a very large royal looking bed with red sheets and curtains. Every other space in the stands was occupied by the unmoving masked individuals. Misaki turned her attention back to Lust and watched as the six masked men carrying her thrown lowered it to the ground. Lust stood up and took a step off of it into the arena.

"You look concerned dear," Lust said smiling taking a couple steps toward Misaki. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing," Misaki said forcing a fake smile. "Just enjoying the scenery."

Lust looked around at all the masked people and laughed. "I think you might be confused dear. You see, those are just blank slates, not real people. We use them as disposable minions for missions."

Misaki raised her eyebrow in surprise. "So those masked men who accompanied Sloth into the Tournament…"

"Correct," Lust confirmed. "They were just my mind controlled puppets."

"How?" Misaki asked confused. "When I put them to sleep, their minds were definitely human."

"Oh their minds were human at that time," Lust said laughing. "But I am not surprised you could tell. After all, your power is quite similar to mine. It was the reason I chose you."

"That didn't…" Misaki started to say then changed direction. "Wait, what do you mean you chose me? I thought it was random." She shook her head as realization took place. "Of course, it wouldn't be. I was being stupid."

"Finally you understand," Lust said shaking her head. "I thought you would guess it sooner. All the others wanted to fight your other companions, so I got stuck with you. It wouldn't matter which door you entered, you would have still arrived here."

"So you are also a mind manipulator too?" Misaki asked. That's not good since she seems competent. If I let my guard down for even a moment she could control me. Attacking blindly will just lower my defenses, but that would also apply to her. What to do? Let's see how long I can keep her talking. "What did you mean their minds were human?"

"Eternal Devotion," Lust said smiling coldly and Misaki felt a shiver go down her spine. Lust took her left hand and pulled back her dress to reveal the upper left part of her chest. The black mark was quite obvious on her pale white skin. It looked like a curvy number seven with a small dot below the top. "It is quite a fascinating ability bestowed to me."

"I assume it is the power of your sin mark like the sleep affect from Sloth," Misaki said with her guard up. If that ability is anything like his, I might not be able to stop it.

"You don't need to be so tense dear," Lust said smiling warmly at her. Misaki felt her heart beat faster for no discernable reason. "My ability requires consent to use unlike Sloth's sleep. I simple ask if you will pledge your eternal life to me, if you say yes, my mark activates."

"I already see how you do it," Misaki said somewhat coldly. Even though she was use to manipulating people to get what she wanted, she didn't change someone to completely fall for her. She simply encouraged people to support her, without asking anything in return. "You control their minds to have them agree, and then you use your mark. How devious, but what does it actually do?" She figured the more she knew the better chance she would have to win. But she also took everything with a grain of salt. It is possible she is lying to me to surprise me with her actual power.

"My mark simply makes them eternally bound to my command," Lust said simply looking at the masked men still kneeling behind her. "They can never disobey me after they pledge themselves, even in death."

Misaki opened her mouth to reply, but the last part caused her to freeze. What does she mean by that? She quickly closed her mouth and made sure to hold onto her remote tightly. She watched Lust closely while guarding her mind. She didn't know why but just being near Lust was causing her problems including a faster heartbeat and butterflies in her stomach. She figured it was probably a minor affect of Lust's mark.

"I think it will be easier to show you since you seem to be questioning it," Lust said. "Tal! Come forward."

One of the masked men from behind her stood up and walked up and kneeled next to her. "Yes mistress?"

"Tal here was my first love," Lust said smiling. "But he betrayed me. I got my revenge and before his death he pledged himself to me. He died shortly afterwards but he is still here."

"W-what?" croaked out Misaki completely bewildered. "You can't say you can resurrect the dead."

"Oh no nothing like that," Lust said waving her hand dismissively. "You children of science always immediately rush to magic raising the dead. While it is true some spells can, it's not as easy as you would think. No, instead I simply bind their soul to my mark. I can then transplant it into golems. It keeps all their memories and skills intact."

Golems? Souls? Misaki was confused but she read enough books to have a basic understanding of it. Golem's are like robots I can understand, but for now ignore the soul comment. Just imagine it's a memory copy thing. It won't do you any good to question it now. Misaki was always able to think under pressure and plan ahead. Blocking out unnecessary information from clouding her thoughts was easy for her. "So these masked individuals are golems then?"

"Exactly," Lust said. "They were made by our leader for me to use as needed. They minds are controlled exactly like human brains. They also make good containers for when I want to put the souls I collected into."

So many golems, Misaki thought to herself. But if they can be controlled like normal people then I should be able to use them. But she knows my ability so why would she tell me this? Maybe it's because… I want to surrender to her…. NO. Misaki shook her head and forced the presence that had been creeping into her mind. She focused on Lust who was smiling.

"Not bad," Lust said acknowledging Misaki pushing Lust's power out of her mind. "Most people get distracted by all this and let their guards down. Maybe your brain did take some of the nutrients instead of your useless blobs of fat."

"There you go adding more wrinkle lines," Misaki said cheerfully. "Jealousy is not attractive at all. I might have some moisturizing cream I could lend you to make you look younger. I'm sure you could pass for an 80 year old."

"It's a shame I have to kill you and lose your wit," Lust said but there was a roaring fire in her eyes and her voice was ice cold. "I'm sure you will pledge yourself to me and then I will kill you. After I can leave, I will revive you into a very unattractive golem. Then I will make you clean out every dirty toilet with your tongue. You will relive nightmare after nightmare."

Misaki frowned but in her mind she was determined not to lose. Not only to avoid the god forsaken punishment Lust's warped mind came up with, but to see Touma again. She decided to turn the topic back to matters important to now, instead of the possible futures. "So why were you telling me all about these golems? Didn't it just ruin the advantage of the element of surprise for you?"

"Ah yes of course," Lust said calming down and her voice resumed the normal sultry tone. "You see it would be so barbaric for us to fight each other."

"I agree with you there," Misaki said.

"I knew you would. However, because one of us has to die before the other can leave, we really have no choice. So I came up with an interesting game. You see, we will control these golems around us and try to kill each other. The winner is the last one standing. I simply told you about the golems because this way you might be able to actually put up a slight challenge."

"It is still such a barbaric game," Misaki muttered out loud. "I assume we can still attack each other with our minds?"

"Oh I will for sure if you ever let your guard down for a moment," Lust said happily. "What you do is entirely up to you. If you want to try just to control as many dolls as you can to kill me, which works too."

"Why are you being so accommodating?" Misaki asked suspiciously. She is doing the exact opposite of what I would do in her situation. I love having advantages. Maybe she actually is a really good person and I should…GET OUT. She focused her mind and once again pushed out Lust's presence. "You really aim for even the slightest opportunity," Misaki commented twirling her remote and trying to look undisturbed. "So this is why you are full of surprises."

"I also like having a challenge in a game," Lust explained. "Unless something is really important and time is of the essence, I tend to see if my opponent will play a friendly game. It's much less barbaric then stabbing someone with a sword."

"You might end up regretting it," Misaki said smiling. "I tend to be very competitive even if I don't show it. I thank you for taking the time to explain everything to me."

Lust raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Most people look at me as if I am crazy. I am glad you seem to have a least a shred of civility…" She paused for a second then smiled. "This might actually be a fun game for once. You purposely surprised me in order to try to breach my defenses. I was right in thinking this game would be great with another manipulator."

Misaki always kept the remote in her hand and twirled it around a lot like a prop. As planned, Lust had slowly come to ignore it. People tend to ignore things that they see constantly compared to something different that occurs once in awhile. She had also purposely thanked her enemy in front of her. No one in their right mind would expect someone they are trying to kill to suddenly thank you. Misaki saw a crack in Lust's defense through her eyes and did not hesitate to try to incapacitate her. She had used her remote to channel her ability and tried to put her to sleep, but Lust managed to easily repel her in a second. "We both seem to have experience attacking weak points," she said twirling her remote around again. "I think this game might not go as smoothly as you think."

"We have yet begun to fight," Lust said raising her hand high above her head. "My minions should make this more entertaining for us all." The golem she called Tal stood up next to her and pulled out a sword. The five golems who were by her throne chair stood up too and started making their way forward. "Oh I forgot to mention, some of the golems have weapons," she said as an afterthought. "You won't be able to tell until you actually have control over them so luck is still a factor." She pointed at Misaki. "Go on dears. Bring that brat within an inch of her life."

Misaki was prepared for this right when Lust said fight. She had already used her remote to take over six golems of her own from behind her. They jumped down into the arena as Lust's army advanced. They crashed in the middle and started fighting. Misaki was lucky and two of her golems pulled out weapons. One had a spear and the other had a flail. Misaki was not new to controlling several people at once directly. However, the more people she tried to control, the harder it was. As long as it was under a dozen or so, she could easily manage it. Otherwise she would have to use only very basic commands. For now, she decided to try to get a feel on how Lust wanted to fight. Misaki was also paying close attention to any mental attack Lust might throw her way.

Misaki seemed to have the advantage as two of her golems had weapons while only one of Lust's golems had one. Misaki used the weaponless ones as shields while her weapon wielders mowed down her enemies. She managed to get a good understanding of the golems physical attributes during the fight too. While she could tell their minds were similar to humans, there was no sense of self so they were just a blank slate and easy to control. She originally had no idea how durable these golems were. During the fight they seemed to shrug off minor wounds from punches and scratches, but once they suffered a mortal wound, such as a spear into the place a heart would be, they collapsed. She frowned as her golems won easily. It can't be this easy. She must have a plan. Lust did not seem to be worried at all and merely smiled. Then Misaki heard a thud behind her.

She turned around and saw several golems jumped down from the stands. Of course she wouldn't just pull them from behind her. She quickly commanded her golems to rush to her aid and another battle started. The golem with the flail fell to a golem with a mace, but her spear wielder was keeping them back. More thuds from another direction caused her to panic slightly and quickly rush to gain control of several more golems. It seems like Lust is trying to surround me. Another couple of thuds forced her to control another handful of golems in order to protect herself. So now she had about 14 golems in a semi-circle protecting her from around 20 of Lust's. Behind her Lust was watching with an amused expression.

"You won't get anywhere by just defending dear," Lust called out helpfully. "You really must attack at some point."

"Like I need your advice," Misaki said smiling insincerely. Her only advantage at this time was she had more weapon users then Lust did and they kept her alive with that significant advantage. However, Lust kept summoning more to replace the weak ones as fast as they fell. Misaki had to alternate between protecting her weapon wielders and gathering more as the ones she controlled fell. Several times she automatically just told a golem to protect her, but it would be quickly ambushed by several golems control by Lust. She really has had more practice, no wonder she gave me so much information. Maybe I should just surrender… NO! She quickly pushed out Lust's influence. Lust was quite skillful of sneaking in the moment she let her guard down for even a moment. I need to attack her if I want to win. But if I attack her mentally, my guard will decrease and it will give her an opportunity.

She twirled her remote around so Lust couldn't pinpoint what her target was. Several golems quickly ran and attack the golems to her right from behind and quickly scattering them. At the same time she sent a simple command to two golems behind Lust. Knock her out quietly. The golems started moving, but slowly, and climbed down the wall behind Lust without a thud. Misaki quickly ignored them and focused on all the other golems slowly encroaching on her location. She sent several basic commands to as many golems as she could such as 'defend me' and 'attack them." She only directly controlled a small handful with weapons she kept near her as guards. She glanced at Lust and the two golems were standing almost directly behind her and raising fists. Misaki smirked as the golems swung their fist at Lust.

"Nice try," Lust said as the golems stopped inches from her. Misaki's smiled fell from her face. "It wasn't a bad plan but you were too obvious."

"How?" Misaki asked.

"You didn't think we could take control of golems from each other?" Lust asked. "I'm surprised at you. It is quite simple to wrestle control from others, especially if you just give them simple commands." The golems behind her walked past her and headed right for Misaki. "You seemed to catch on to the basics, but your strategy needs work."

"I see," Misaki said sarcastically pretending to consider it. In reality that piece of news was important. I don't know which golems she is controlling specifically or if she is just sending out basic commands. I might have to risk it. "Thanks for the advice," she said sweetly. "I know how much trouble it is for an obaa-san to remember all the little details."

"Your insults are as childish as your strategies," Lust said but her eyes narrowed. "But I suppose I have toyed with you for long enough."

Misaki frowned. What does she mean by that? "Have you been going easy on me?"

Lust smiled broadly. "You have no idea. Let me show you." She raised both hands. "I think you should probably run. You might last longer."

Misaki opened her mouth to respond when all the golems, besides the six she had direct control over, suddenly stopped fighting and turned to face her. "This doesn't look good," she muttered. She suddenly lost control of all the golems she had programmed with basic commands.

"You suddenly realize the position you are in," Lust replied mockingly. "If you prostrate before me and apologize for everything you said, I might forgive you and not torture you forever with my curse."

"Nah," Misaki said in the same mocking voice. "I can't serve anyone who isn't as cute as me. Besides, at your age, you really need a full time nurse maid to change your adult diaper." She was currently running through every possibility she could in her mind on how to win. Lust seems to be focusing on trying to force me to serve her with her curse. I might be able to get her to drop her guard.

Lust eyes widen in anger and her voice became much colder. "You really want to suffer that badly?" she hissed. "Maybe cleaning toilets with your tongue was going too lenient on you. I might have to ask Pride, he knows how to break people. Maybe I can make sure to show you off to the Imagine Breaker boy. I'm positive your love will enjoy watching you embarrass yourself in the worst ways possible."

Misaki froze and she grew red in anger. She didn't care for Lust threatening her, lots of jealous girls did that and most of them were just ignored, while the dangerous ones were 'encouraged' to drop their issues. However, she was angry that Lust would dare do anything to hurt Touma. She knew Touma would freak out if any of his friends were forced to do anything they did not want to. Misaki, surprisingly, decided to smile. "Well then," she said. "I guess I don't have a choice. It looks like I am going to lose so I might as well not give you the satisfaction."

Lust narrowed her eyes. "What are you planning?" she asked suspiciously.

"You want me to serve you while you torture me like you are doing to the one called Tal," Misaki pointed out and Lust gave a curt nod. "I am simply not going to give you the satisfaction."

"What do you mean?"

"Simple," Misaki said holding her remote in her right hand pointing to the side of her head. "If I completely erase my memories you won't have the opportunity to enslave me and torture me. You will simply have an empty shell just like these golems."

"You wouldn't," Lust said but her voice made her sound unsure. "No one would be brave and stupid enough to permanently erase their own memories. You know if you make it just temporary, I can find out with my magic."

"Oh it won't be temporary," Misaki said. "You researched us so you probably know how I lost Touma once already. I could not bare that pain again. So if I just permanently forget everything I won't have to suffer anymore. Then even if you use your Eternal Devotion, you won't be able to torture me or him."

"Hmm," Lust said processing this piece of news. She really wanted to torture the girl forever, but her primary mission was to just kill her. There was a possibility she was serious, but there was a good chance she was bluffing. If she in fact went through wiping her memory, Lust was pretty confident she could reawaken the memories with her magic. If she couldn't, then she would just have another puppet which she could learn to live with. She was actually interested in what Misaki would do. "Let's see if you are all talk or not girl."

"Ok," Misaki said shrugging and pressed the button on her remote. Her eyes suddenly had a glazed look and her arm fell to her side. She just stood there unmoving. The remaining golems still surrounded and protected her because she never removed her ability. Now Lust had to clear them out first before she could examine Misaki.

"Well that was a boring ending," she said walking forward slightly and reaching out to take control of the golems. "I thought she would put up a fight to the very end. I hope I can remove her memory deletion so I can enjoy this victory." She focused her magic and slowly removed the mind manipulation on the remaining golems. She might have been an annoying brat, but her mind control ability was quite powerful. I probably wouldn't be able to wrestle control from these golems if she was still conscious. After a couple minutes of removing all of Misaki's remaining control, she gave all the golems the basic command of 'stand still,' so she could examine Misaki. There was still no movement and she did indeed appear to be a mindless doll. "Shame I have to kill her," Lust sighed. "She could have been an excellent spy to use to infiltrate Academy City for future use." She pulled out a small steel dagger and reached out toward Misaki's neck.

Misaki's head immediately moved backwards while her body fell to the ground and the blade missed. 'What the…?" Lust asked shocked. Before she could completely grasp what happened all the golems around Misaki suddenly ran at her and grabbed her. Two of the golems with swords held them to her throat. "What are you useless dolls doing!?" she yelled. She reached out to turn them off but they started to shake her violently and forced her to lose focus. "What is going on?"

"I think I can explain," Misaki said slowly standing up and brushing the dirt on herself off. "I realized I needed to have you drop your guard, but you wouldn't do it unless you believed you won. So I pretended to erase all my memories. I couldn't guess how long it would take you to try to kill me so I set up a small bomb in my mind. If you approached me and got within a foot, I would fall backwards onto the ground."

'What if I didn't approach you though?" Lust asked bewildered. "I could have used a golem to stab you with a weapon."

"That was a risk I had to take," Misaki said nodding solemnly. "However, you are the type of person who wants to win completely and perfectly. I know someone just like that." Her thoughts turned to Shizuri Mugino for a moment. "So I knew you would want to kill me yourself if you could. But you are also cautious so I knew you would take over the few golems still under my control in order to see if I was up to anything."

"How did you take them all over so fast?" Lust demanded.

"When I held up the remote to pretend to erase my memories, my other hand clicked two other remotes. I sent two pieces of broken signals that, by themselves, would do nothing, but, once I sent a third signal to connect them, they will cause the golems to capture you."

"So you sent the third signal immediately after you landed on the ground," Lust mused. "Impressive. I assume it was part of faking the memory erase?"

Misaki nodded. "It was another bomb I set. My hand would immediately reach for the correct remote as I fell backwards. I knew fighting you head on in a game you prepared, and probably had a lot of experience, would not end well for me. So I simply pulled the fake, you won, strategy. Oh yes, if you try to use your ability, they will immediately shake you to make you lose concentration."

"You really thought of everything while at the same time planning several steps ahead," Lust said slightly impressed. "If you had more time to learn this game dear, I assume you would probably beat me the right way. I should have just forced you into a direct mind confrontation, but those are so boring."

"That is why you lost you know," Misaki said irritated narrowing her eyes. 'You treat everything like a game instead of trying to win with everything you have. Also, the more you taunted me the more desire I had to win. When you threatened Touma, I resolved to fight you to the death and do everything in my power to win."

"I see," Lust said thinking. "That does make sense but if that is all you can do then you are years away from being a match for me."

"What...?" Misaki asked but Lust interrupted her.

"I'm just going to cheat," Lust explained and Misaki felt her control over all the golems fade away. Before she could do anything to stop the sudden betrayal, the golems surrounded her, pinned her to the ground, and took away her bag full of remotes. "You see," she said standing over Misaki. "I don't let my guard down. I simply wanted to see what all you could do. You read me well, but you didn't see my safety net."

"How did you take them over so fast?" Misaki asked. "The instant I felt you taking them I lost control of everyone." Misaki knew she was in trouble. Lust had taken her remotes away from her, so it would be much more difficult to control her powers without them. She still could, but the efficiency would drastically decrease. She probably wouldn't be able to control more than a couple of golems now.

"Do you think I would just tell you about everything involving my pet golems dear?" Lust said laughing slightly with her hand covering her mouth. "I told you about the game and everything involving the golems so when you actually controlled them, you would believe my words. But I always have a backup plan. It is the reason it was so easy to infiltrate Academy City."

Misaki thought about this for a moment and she hated to admit it but Lust made sense. She should have believed something was off by the way Lust explained everything so clearly to her. "I assume you have some way to override all mental controls on these golems then?"

"Correct," Lust said still laughing. "With a simple thought, I can automatically gain control of every golem and erase all previous commands. If I had not made you believe my words then you might have delve deeper into their blank minds and find the tiny trace of my command. But instead, you believed me and just controlled them like puppets. You pulled some interesting counters to my game strategies but, in the end, you are still just a kid."

"So are you going to kill me then?" Misaki asked frowning. She was worried and right now she was really out of options. She didn't see how she was going to get out of this alive. Sorry Touma, I might not make it back. She looked up into Lust's eyes from the ground. Lust's eyes were filled with amusement and just a slight amount of contempt.

"No," Lust said coolly eyeing Misaki carefully. "I plan to make you my newest puppet. I hope you have prepared yourself for a life of endless suffering and embarrassment." She looked directly into Misaki's eyes and unleashed a wave of her mind manipulation magic against Misaki's defenses.

Misaki felt the mind assault from Lust and focused on keeping up her mental defenses, but Lust was incredibly powerful. She realized Lust was just toying with her since the beginning and she could have challenged her to a direct confrontation at any time. The game with golems was just entertainment for her. She concentrated on keeping the walls in her mind up and she was able to stop Lust's initial assault. "You won't take my mind that easily," Misaki said through gritted teeth. She had controlled a lot of different people's minds before, but this was the first in a long time she was on the receiving end.

"Oh I am just starting," laughed Lust. She doubled the assault on Misaki's mind. "You will slowly feel your mind slipping away as I take control."

Misaki felt her defenses began to fail. Lust's presence started to slip in through the cracks and invade her mind. She could fell Lust going through her memories and skills looking for a place to establish a foothold and dominate her. Misaki could not be sure, but she felt the invading presence was looking for memories on how she could use her power. Fear went through her mind and she doubled down. If Lust erased or blocked off access to her memories on how to use you her ability, she would be completely defenseless. I have to find a way to stop her.

Or you could simply relax and allow it to happen. Misaki's heart started racing as she heard Lust's voice in her head. No need to be so terrified dear, all you need to do is let go and accept your fate.

Never, Misaki thought. I will find a way to win. She focuses and manage to push the presence further from her mind. At least the voice stopped. Ouch. Her concentration slipped as a golem gripped her arm and twisted it causing her a sharp burst of pain. During that one instance of pain, her mental defenses wavered and Lust's presence flooded her mind.

"Hahaha," Lust said out loud laughing as Misaki went limp. "You put up a decent fight for someone in your position I will admit. However, our experience is years apart. I'm going to enjoy having you as my servant. Release her." The golems let Misaki go, stood up, and stepped away from her. Misaki manage to get up on her knees and looked up at Lust. Her eyes were glazed over and she could barely move but twitched occasionally. "Do you still want to resist me dear?"

"Yes…No…" Misaki said as her mind continued to battle the foreign presence. However, everything was so jumbled up she started to lose track of what were her thoughts and what were the thoughts Lust was putting into her.

"You still resist?" Lust asked raising an eyebrow. "I admire your perseverance, but you really should quit when you are behind." She focused her magic again and Misaki stopped twitching. Lust walked forward and stood right before Misaki who was still on her knees. "Why don't you just pledge yourself to me? You won't have to worry about anything else and you will have eternal life. All you need to do is say yes." She held out her hand. "Take it and pledge yourself to me."

"I won't have to worry about anything?" Misaki asked in a monotone.

"No dear," Lust said but an evil grin split. She obviously meant none of it. "Just take my hand and pledge yourself."

Misaki reached out slowly with her right hand and grasped Lust's outstretched hand. Lust's smiled widened. I suppose she is right, I can't win so why resist.

Let's all make it back.

Touma's voice echoed from the back of her mind and as it reverberated she felt her thoughts becoming clearer. Lust had not noticed because she was watching Misaki beginning to pledge herself, so she was overconfident she already won. I will make it back to you my prince. "I…" Misaki began to say.

"Go ahead dear," Lust said a little impatiently. "Pledge yourself to me." She watched Misaki open her mouth and still held Lust's hand with her right one. Then she noticed something strange, a smile had appeared on Misaki's face. "Why are you…?" she started to ask when she found Misaki's left hand make its way up to her head and grab hold of the back of her neck.

"I have someone important waiting for me," she whispered then focused the full power of Mental Out onto Lust's mind. Normally, Misaki had a personal rule to divide her power into preset categories, such as sleep, ignore passage of time, defend her, and more. This time she ignored it and focused all of her power through touch into the mind of the women before her. She did not care about defending her own mind. The only goal for her at this time was to defeat Lust and return to Touma's side. Lust couldn't even yell out in surprise because she had to use every ounce of concentration to keep her mind intact from the overwhelming assault. Misaki's determination, along with Lust's surprise, allowed her to overpower Lust's defenses and break into her mind. Ignoring all the undesirable information, Misaki focused on only one thing. Destroying her memories of her magic and how to use it. Every memory on training and magical applications was forcefully erased. Misaki did not leave a single memory of using magic behind. After a couple minutes of this intense battle both of them broke their mental battle. Lust took a couple steps back and Misaki got shakily to her feet.

"What did you do!?" Lust yelled. Her voice had lost the sultry tone and sounded harsher and raspier.

"I simply erased your memories of how to use magic," Misaki explained. "I don't understand exactly how your magic works, so I figured removing your understanding of magic would prevent you from using your ability."

"You have no idea what you have done you brat!?" Lust roared at her, all sense of etiquette she had disappeared. Her voice sounded old and raspy.

"You don't need to be a sore loser…" Misaki started to say smiling slightly but the smiled faded to be replaced by a look of horror. She watched as Lust's silky black hair started to turn white and straw like. Her smooth face started to dry up into wrinkles. Misaki could do nothing but stare as Lust fell to her knees. She looked like she aged 100 years in seconds. Misaki wanted to ask but was not able to form any words as she watched the strange transformation.

"I used my magic to keep my youth," Lust said weakly. "Now I don't remember how to. My age is catching up to me now. Thanks to you."

"I…didn't…I had no choice…" Misaki said weakly. She wanted to win and, even though Lust tried to kill her, Misaki didn't want to kill anyone.

"Stupid brat," Lust muttered weakly and fell to the ground. A symbol on her back started to glow brightly with white light. The glow encompassed her entire body and she started to disintegrate.

"No," Misaki yelled but it was too late. All that was left of Lust was a large pile of salt. "It wasn't suppose to… AHHHH." She suddenly fell to her knees as a burning pain appeared on the upper left part of her chest. It stopped shortly after it started. She pulled her shirt down to see what was causing the pain. The symbol that was originally part of Lust was now on her. "It's like Touma's mark. I guess they all work the same way. If you defeat them they transfer. But why?"

"What now mistress?" a voice said causing Misaki to jump. She looked around in alarm. All the other golems had collapsed where they were standing except for one. It somehow was able to talk.

"You are, I believe, Tal," Misaki asked hesitantly after she regained her composure. "How are you still here? Lust is gone."

"If I may speak freely mistress," he said and Misaki nodded. "You see, I am cursed and bound to the Mark of Lust, as are many others. Even if she is gone, as long as you do not free us, we will be bound to your orders for eternity or until the mark gets passed on to someone else."

"I take it Lust used this mark as a punishment for everyone," Misaki said and Tal nodded. "What did you do to cause her to use it on you?"

The golem looked down and Misaki felt as if the golem was feeling true remorse. "It was my fault, I fell in love with her but betrayed her for another. She killed the other and had me bound to her. I do not know about the others. They were bound before I was."

"I see," Misaki said and her head started spinning. She had to quickly sit down or she might have passed out. "I do not have any reason to keep you all bound to me because I have no intention to use this curse. How do I free you?"

"I do not know."

Misaki thought about this for a moment and remembered what Touma told her on the beach. He did not know how, but he instinctively knew how to use the curse. She tried to think but her head hurt too much from the recent fight with Lust. She laid on the hard ground and looked up at the sky. It was oddly peaceful and quiet. She felt something inside of her and the more she concentrated on it, the clearer it became. She understood how to use the mark. Anyone who pledged themselves to her while she was using the curse would be bound to her. She knew that already. A thought floated to her mind on how to release the previous bonded person. She turned her head to look at Tal who was still standing there. "I release you from your pledge and may you find peace."

"Thank you so much mistress," Tal said as the golem collapsed. She felt an overwhelming since of relief grow from deep within her. She felt a tear running down her face but it was not her own. So many emotions from the souls of the people she released were overwhelming her. She closed her eyes and tried to block them out but it was futile. She heard different voices whispering in her mind as emotions flew through her.

"Thank you!"

"We are finally free."

"No one asked you to free me."

"I can see my kids again."

Eventually all the voices stopped, Misaki took a deep breath, and sighed in relief. She opened her eyes and stared up at the sky from the ground. She shook her head slightly. I'm to kind for my own good. Touma is such a good influence on me. The sky above her started to crack, but she was to mentally drained to move right away. She felt she was going to see everyone again. I'm coming back to you Touma, just like I promised.

An entire scene devoted to a fight. Was a little tough but was definitely fun. I am glad each sin and ability users have different strategies. It will make the fights vary a lot and stretch my imagination to the limits. Each sin also has a backstory but not sure how far each one will be reveal, but just something else to add some depth. I know I changed the mental battle a lot from the books about how it affects body fluids and bioelectricity. I justified it by having magic work differently than science abilities so when they interacted, the opposite powers changed how they interacted. I think it made a good fight scene though. Also all the back and forth was really good too. Lust and Misaki are good strategists.

Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or idea. I love reading them.

Misaki: Yay I won.

Touma: Nice job Misaki, I was worried there for a moment.

Mikoto: She got lucky Lust let her guard down.

Misaki: No it was the power of love.

Sogiiha: She had a lot of guts.

Accelerator: I guess for the fifth rate, it wasn't too bad. Nothing compared to me though.

Jason: Accel-kun you are just too modest.

Mikoto: Ha, Accel-kun?

Accelerator: Shut up Jason. The teleporting brat already irritated me enough today.

Mikoto: Where's Kuroko anyways?

Me: She's the next fight so she has to prepare.