Whew, all of the single one on one fights are done with all the other characters. Now it is time to get back to plot taking shape. I am glad people seemed to like the Accelerator fight. It was definitely my favorite. I was surprised at the really high approval of Sogiita vs Gluttony since that was the very last fight I actually planned and it took forever to get Gluttony's powers/skills set.
Agent Nine: You had to point that out didn't you? Now I imagined that fight that way. MY EYES. But that is the kind of funny comments I expect from you. Good job at pointing that out.
Back to the main plot, hopefully the comedy mixed in will help offset seriousness from some of the last chapters. Fair bit longer then the last couple.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.
Touma walked down the dark hallway while touching the wall to make sure he didn't trip and fall. He didn't see an end to the corridor, until he heard the sound of breaking glass coming from his right hand. My hand negated something? He looked at it and didn't pay attention to where he was going until he bumped into a stone wall that appeared out of nowhere. He rubbed his nose for a second then started to feel around. It seemed he reached a dead end and his hand was not negating anything else. Are you serious? I can't even go and meet my opponent because my hand negated the magic. What do I do now? I hope everyone else is ok. He turned around and walked out the way he came in. When he exited the archway into the arena, he saw a completely different sight.
The arena in the middle of the coliseum was the same, empty except for him, but the sky caught his attention. Due to the time difference between Japan and Italy, it should be around mid-day right now. However, the sky above him was a star filled night sky with no moon. Something else was flouting up there and he squinted to see what it was. His eyes widen in recognition. "Index!" he yelled out to her. She was suspended high above the coliseum and appeared to be sleeping. She did not stir when he shouted, but someone else answered him instead.
"There is no need to shout," a male's voice said. "No matter how loud you are, she won't hear you." The voice was quiet, but sent shivers down Touma's spine. His voice was ice cold and emitted an aura of command. Touma felt like part of him wanted to be quiet in response to his words, but he managed to ignore it. "She is fine though, I just put her to sleep while I examined the grimoires in her head." Touma turned around to face the individual.
The man was sitting on a golden throne in the stands, with his legs cross in front of him and his hands entwined together under his chin. Even sitting down, Touma could tell he was tall, probably around seven feet. He had long white silky hair that was slicked back. His eyes were bright blue and, as Touma met his eyes, he realized there was no warmth in them, they were like ice. He was looking into the eyes of someone who would do anything to accomplish his objective. "I take it you are The Herald?" Touma asked.
"Yes," he said simply.
"Let Index go," Touma demanded stepping forward.
"I'm afraid I can't do that until the ceremony is complete," The Herald responded unblinkingly.
"I don't care if you are trying to revive your leader," Touma said waving his arm. "I'm not going to let you hurt my friends. We all came to stop you and we will."
"It would have been a lot simpler if you just surrendered yourself," The Herald commented. "Then none of your friends would have been involved. But your personality would not allow you to come and work for us willingly."
"I will never work for people who are willing to involve innocent people," Touma said making a fist. "Index has nothing to do with this."
"That is actually incorrect," The Herald said as he slowly got to his feet. "You see, I needed information and the grimoires were the only place I could get them. The organizations that held those grimoires would not let me see them willingly, so we started taking them. The process was slow and inefficient. Since we needed you, taking the girl was just killing two birds with one stone."
"What are you trying to do," Touma said through clenched teeth. Maybe I can reason with him without violence. He knew that wasn't going to work, but he wanted to at least try.
The Herald spread out his arms as he indicated the entire arena. "We have put together a spell more potent than anything that came before. We have taken the artifacts all around us, each representing the beginning of power and knowledge from all religions throughout the age of man. Each has fragments of the truth, but none of them know it all. Over the centuries we have researched and collected these fragments. We have now achieved all the pieces to cast the spell. Look around, the altars have been specifically placed."
Touma looked around and periodically through the coliseum were many large objects flouting over the stone altars. The coliseum stands were divided into several levels and each of those levels had their own set of altars. The nearest ones he saw had a blue orb that looked it was just water swirling in midair and the other one had a small metal hammer that looked like it would be used in smelting weapons. He had no idea what any of the relics did, so he turned back to The Herald. "So you plan to revive your master, but I was told there were easier ways to do it then all of this and why did you choose such a public place like this for your spell?"
"We choose this location because of the way it was built," The Herald said. His tone sounded like a professor at a university now, monotonous while explaining basic information. The coldness in it did not change though. "Romans built this place to hold public spectacles, like barbaric gladiator contests and executions, but the magicians during that time period had other plans. During the construction they made sure to have the structure built so it magnifies the natural leylines of the earth in this area. Now any ritual performed within this amphitheater will be amplified tenfold. As for the other part of your question, if our master was human, yes it would have been much easier."
"Dang," Touma muttered. "You are trying to summon some kind of deity." He saw firsthand the kind of power an angel had during the Angel Fall incident. The angel, Misha Kreutzev, power was unimaginable and could have destroyed the world if it wasn't for Motoharu and Kaori.
"Well," The Herald said smiling slightly for the first time. "Yes, but there is more than just that. Our deity was struck down in combat during the dawn of man and now we need to revive him first. So this spell will allow us to revive our fallen master and bring him into this world."
Touma frowned. All of this information was new to him so he was not sure what to do. He knew he couldn't let them succeed. After all, they showed they would involve anyone in their plans as long as it benefited them. Even innocent people like Kazari, Saten, Last Order, and Index. "Who is your master?" Touma finally asked. The more information I have the more I can give Stiyl and Kanzaki in case this goes south.
"Our master," The Herald said raising his left hand into the air. "Is the first fallen angel, the one who broke free from the bonds of servitude and could challenge the creator himself, Lucifer."
"Lucifer?" Touma said. The name sounded familiar to him before he realized where he heard the name before. When Vento of the Front, from God's Right Seat, invaded Academy City, she compared Hyouka Kazakiri to Lucifer. She called them both fallen angels. "He was struck down by another angel if I remember right."
"Lucifer was the first and most powerful archangel God ever created," The Herald explained. "Angels don't normally have any will of their own and just follow God's orders, but Lucifer managed to develop free will. How, we do not know. He determined God was wrong and challenged him while leading a third of the angels who believed in him. God created the Archangel Michael and gave the new angel his blade. Michael used it to cut down our master. Now we will revive him and give him another opportunity to kill God."
"So you want to kill God?" Touma asked stunned. "That is no reason to bring innocent people into your fight." A sentient angel? I'll have to ask Motoharu about that if I get a chance.
"They got involved because of you," The Herald said darkly narrowing his eyes and pointing at Touma. Touma looked shocked and gulped.
"What do you mean?" he asked. "I never asked for any of this."
"The last part of the ritual requires all seven sin marks," The Herald explained. "Since you did not come with us when we asked, Sloth was sent to retrieve you. You defeated him and took his mark. Now we needed you to come more than ever. However, your friends kept getting in the way. Several of the sins had developed personal grudged against your friends and so we lured them here so you would have no choice but to come. You all played right into my hand."
"We just have to defeat all your sins then and leave so your plan will fail," Touma said defiantly.
"Well," The Herald said. "You should also hope none of your friends defeat two sins because anyone who acquires two sin marks will die. There are no exceptions. The sins conflict with each other and will kill the host if two of them are on one person."
Those words had a direct impact on Touma. Shit, I need to warn them. If any of his friends died, it would be entirely his fault for dragging them into this mess. He started thinking again he should have come alone.
"But I am a nice guy," The Herald continued. "I separated each of the sins with their specific target. Now it is up to your friends to survive. It does not matter to me who has the sin marks. In the end, all of you will be sacrificed to the ritual. Sadly, we will lose the Imagine Breaker, but reviving the master is more important."
Touma made a fist as anger started to overwhelm him. "You see my friend as disposable pawns," he said through gritted teeth. "I don't care if you come after me, but when you threaten my friends... You think you can revive an evil god at the expense of my friends, I'M GOING TO SHATTER THAT ILLUSION OF YOURS!" He started running toward the direction of The Herald. There was a nearby stairwell that lead up to the area The Herald was in. Before he had gone ten steps, he felt something solid hit him in the stomach, missing his right hand. He fell backwards coughing and severely winded.
"Now, now," The Herald said taking a couple steps down to the edge of the ring. "There is no need to get upset. You and your friends play a big part in the recreation of this world. Once we kill God, we will use the energy of his death to fix the problems infesting the core of this rotten world."
"Just because you think something is bad doesn't mean you should sacrifice innocent people," Touma said slowly getting to his feet. "Just because you say the world is rotten, doesn't mean it is. You pretend to be a savior, but you are just a villain."
"Do you think so?" The Herald said softly raising an eyebrow. His voice dropped a couple more degrees. "I know you have seen the dark side of your city. You can't deny it. We have seen the darkness of the entire world for centuries. In fact, every one of the sins here has lived through the darkness. We work for a common goal."
"What?" Touma asked. He could not deny Academy City had its own problems, but he always believed people were overall good.
"Let me brief you on their struggles and see if you can still cling to the childish dream of this world being pure," The Herald said smiling. The smile sent shivers down Touma's spine. The smile wasn't warm and it made him feel fear, but he did not know why. "Sloth was born a slave and was forced to work in mines his entire life. He only wished for the chance to sleep as it was his only relief from suffering. Envy was burned by jealous people and no one helped her. Her boyfriend left her for one of the culprits. Lust's most important person betrayed her for a younger woman. Gluttony was never appreciated, always got passed over for promotions, while other people said his inventions were useless, but they used the technology for other things. Then they stole the credit. Wrath's family was slaughtered by rebels and she was forced into prostitution. Greed was born poor in an area were only the rich were safe. People died on the streets and nothing was done. Police only worked if you were rich enough to bribe and anyone could be killed at any time from a bored wealthy individual. Pride was bullied for being weak and left to die by an overzealous fire magician who picked on the weak. If the world wasn't dark, they would not have been created."
Touma was speechless for a moment. He could understand their pain and why they joined the sins, but he could not let this path continue. Not just for his friend's sake, but theirs as well. "I'm sorry those horrible things happened to them and no one deserves that. However, I can't let you hurt my friends. You made the mistake of bringing me here. I swear I will stop your ritual with my right hand." He held out his fist. "Why did you want my hand anyways? All it would do is interfere with your ritual."
"You hand was going to be a present for our lord when he returns," The Herald explained. "We wanted to give him the advantage and what better way than the hand that can 'purify God.' Your hand has the power to kill even God and our master will make full use of it. After all, when Lord Lucifer and Michael fought, Michael wielded God's weapon so the perfect revenge is to have Lucifer wield a more powerful weapon. As for why I let you here, I have two reasons. One, I didn't want you to accidently defeat another sin and take their mark, you would die. Two, I knew I could contain you."
Touma felt it. The Herald was not boosting, he was not overconfident. He was simply stating facts. It was like something telling a kid the sun is a star. While it may be hard to believe for some kids, it was an undeniable fact. Touma made a fist with his right hand. I'm going to stop him, save my friends, and, I promise when this is all over, I'm going to find a way to reward everyone who helped me. "You are going about this the wrong way. I am going to stop you and save everyone." He charged at the Herald again. He took several steps as The Herald flicked his finger slightly.
Touma tripped on something.
He looked down and saw nothing, but his foot was laying on something hard and invisible. He touched the invisible block with his right hand and heard the familiar sound of breaking glass. He felt a small rush of air over his hand. I can't see it, but it felt solid. Touma stood up again and looked at The Herald. The Herald had walked down a couple more steps to stand at the edge of the arena wall. He was staring at Touma with a slightly amused look on his face. "You can control air," Touma said looking at him. "You either solidified it or froze it in place so I would move into it."
"Very good," The Herald said. "Your school records and observations lead us to the conclusion you were not the most intelligent individual. I see your real talent lies in actual combat."
"I've had a lot of practice," Touma said. "Why don't you come down here if you don't want me to go up there?" There is no way a simple taunt will work against him. My instinct tells me he is powerful and not just intelligent. He did create the plan to lure us all here. To his surprise, The Herald just leaped up effortlessly to the top of the wall and started walking across the air like he was going down an invisible set of stairs. He stepped onto the ground in the arena and looked at Touma. Why did he come down? He would have had the advantage in the stands.
"I suppose you want to know why I came down here," The Herald said and Touma tried to hide the shock on his face as he felt like his mind was being read. "If I stayed up there, I would be in the spell vicinity. Now I can go all out without problems while I am down here." He flicked his hand and Touma moved his right hand in front of him for protection. Compressed air hit Touma in the side sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Ouch," he said getting to his feet clutching his side. His side was sore, but nothing felt broken. He couldn't tell which direction the attacks were coming form. The Herald seemed to be able to control the direction of wind instantly with the slightest movement of his left hand. Since the air was invisible, he couldn't see it to react fast enough. He took a deep breath and sighed. This is so unfair. I guess I have to trust my instincts. He jumped back, as his instincts warned him, and he stuck out his right hand forward. Right where his chest would have been, his hand touched the air and the sound of glass shattering echoed across the empty ring. Touma looked up at The Herald and, for the first time, saw a look of mild surprise on his face as he raised an eyebrow.
"You seem to be able to figure out where I target," The Herald commented. "That should be impossible, but it is still within my calculations. I simply need to make attacks you can't block with just one hand." He made a small movement with the fingers on his left hand and the air around Touma started to swirl. Small vortexes of air started to form in every direction around him. He wouldn't have been able to see them except the dust from the arena floor got mixed in. The vortexes formed a dome all around him about twenty feet away as he watched. "Don't worry. I will make sure to avoid any vital spots. You may have some broken bones though."
Touma glared at him, but he knew he was in trouble. His hand could block one attack out of the hundreds around him. He didn't have a plan on how to stop this. Usually his magic opponents didn't understand how his hand worked and it gave him an element of surprise. This time, his opponent knew everything about his ability. "Shit," he muttered to himself. He clutched his fist in anger, not at The Herald, but at himself for not being strong enough. His hand started to pulse and Touma remembered something. Maybe this guy doesn't know everything about my hand. After all, I just learned about it too. He did say an attack I could not block with just one hand. Touma grinned as his hand pulsed again.
The Herald looked at him curiously. "With the information we know about you, it is too much to hope you finally realized your situation and planned to surrender." He sighed. "You probably just thought you could try something to beat me. Just save me the effort, sit down, and wait for all the fights to conclude. Accept your fate and help us save the world."
"You think you know everything," Touma said. "But what if I use something I didn't even know about until recently. Would you have that information? Also, don't give me that crap about trying to save the world. You just want to make it a better place for you. You don't care about others."
"Children," The Herald said rubbing his head with his hand. "As for your plan, I guess I will get to see it if you try to move." Touma grinned and suddenly dashed forward. The Herald closed his hand in response and the vortexes of air shot toward him like spears. Right before they connected with him, Touma pulled back his right hand near his chest. A white light exploded from his hand and engulfed everything around him. The vortexes all dispersed instantly as if they had never existed. The light faded about five feet away from Touma. "What?" The Herald said and for the first time he looked shocked. Touma did not hesitate though and kept running forward. The Herald was surprised, but quickly regained his composure. He raised his hand and turned the air right in front of Touma's knees solid. But to his surprise Touma jumped over it and kept running. When Touma got close, he threw his fist forward at The Herald's face.
His fist found nothing but air.
Touma stopped and looked around. The Herald was a good fifty feet away. After the light wave from his fist negated the air vortexes, he remembered he had to dodge for two seconds because his hand would not negate anything during that time. He didn't know how he knew, but he jumped over something he could not see. His instincts told him something was going to be there. As he was about to punch The Herald in the face, a gust of wind suddenly formed and lifted The Herald into the air and carried him away from Touma's fist. The breeze blew some dust into his face and he had lost sight of The Herald for a moment. He looked at the surprised look on The Herald's face and grinned again. "You wouldn't know I started learning about my hand," he said. "It has a lot of surprises."
"Hmm," The Herald said contemplating. "You found a way to harness your hand to completely protect your body. That actually is a major setback. Now I have to develop a new plan to incapacitate you without killing you." He sighed. "Why do children insist on making things to complicated?"
"Because you are evil and are trying to kill people," Touma yelled at him.
"Good and evil are just perspective," The Herald said. "If I must do acts some people consider to be evil in order to help the greater good, I will. Do you know why Lucifer is considered evil?"
"Because he tried to kill God?" Touma answered unsure where this was going.
"Partially," The Herald said. "While it is true God is considered the epitome of good, why is that? How many people have been killed in his name? No, the reason he is good and Lucifer is evil was because God won against Lucifer. History gives us the same lesson. The winners are good and the losers are evil."
"You can't be serious," Touma said. "Killing people is evil no matter how you try to spin it."
"You know the difference between terrorism and rebellion is? Terrorists lose while rebellions win. They are simply coined by the winners. If the old regime wins, they write about the terrorists. If the new regime wins, they write about the rebellion. Good and evil is never black and white. I can see we will not agree so there is only one choice left." The Herald reached out a hand and the wind in the arena started to whip around like a storm. "We will see whose ideals are stronger."
Touma gritted his teeth. He could understand a strong desire in a belief, but his words had to be twisted Even if his words did make some sense, Touma could not believe killing people was good. He made a fist and held it out in front of him. "I will break that illusion of yours. After this is over, I will go back to Academy City will all my friends." A strip of wind whipped at him and he reached out without looking and negated it. As Touma stared at The Herald he felt as if he knew where the attacks would come from. He ran forward blocking wind and dodging any solid air The Herald created. Several strips of wind surrounded him again and he was forced to use the pulse of white light to protect himself. That was when the fight started to go downhill.
Right after Touma negated the wind surrounding him, The Herald sent a concentrated ball of spinning air at Touma. He did not expect it to hit, but it was part of his multiple attack plan. He was going to force Touma to move his hand in the direction The Herald wanted. What happened next, even he didn't see coming. The ball of wind hit Touma's hand, but instead of negating, it exploded on impact. Blades of wind expanded form the ball cutting Touma all over his body and the majority of it collided with his chest knocking him back a good ten feet. "Interesting," The Herald commented. "It appears after negating everything around you, your hand can't be used immediately. There goes your trump card."
Shit, Touma thought. He figured it out to soon. He body was covered with minor cuts and ached all over. The wind was still whipping around all over the arena. He knew The Herald had to keep him alive or he would have been finished already. His only choice was to continue to fight and hope he can find an opening. He is, at least, distracted so he won't be able to interfere with any of my friends. I just need to find a weak point to exploit. "I'll believe in my friends," Touma said getting to his feet. "Until I am sure they are all safe, I am going to keep fighting."
"MISAKA can't breathe MISAKA gasps as MISAKA slowly asphyxiates, but secretly enjoys being held tightly."
Accelerator woke up to something fidgeting in his arms while speaking. He looked down and saw Last Order trying to get out, but his vector power was keeping his arms from moving. He loosened his arms slightly and Last Order poked her head out and took a deep breath. Ah, what happened? My head hurts like hell. At least she's ok.
"MISAKA has a question MISAKA asks as MISAKA looks at you with wondering eyes."
"What?" he asked looking at her as she sat on his lap.
"How are you using your powers when you are not connected to the Misaka Network MISAKA asks as MISAKA can't explain this situation. Does it have something to do with that mark on your head MISAKA asks as MISAKA bops your forehead." She actually reached up and tapped him on the forehead while saying "Bop."
Accelerator's response was a quick light chop to her head. Accelerator then ignored Last Orders whining about child abuse as he thought about the situation. She was safe and that was his primary concern. Now he looked around to see where he was. He remember being near a stone altar, but was now in the middle of an undamaged arena leaning up against the wall. He then furrowed his brow while he thought about Last Order's words. He was not connected to the Misaka Network, but he could still use his powers. She also mentioned the mark on his head. Pride had the mark and a regenerative ability. The hero mentioned Sloth's mark transferred to him after Sloth's defeat. It makes sense Pride's mark would transfer to me. So I gained his regenerative ability and can use my full power now, convenient.
"Nice job Accel-kun," a voice said full of humor. "You rescued her and are now cuddling with your loli" Accelerator turned to see Jason. Jason had suddenly appeared in the ring nearby. He looked a little tired and walked slowly, but otherwise appeared to be in good spirits. Accelerator quickly pushed Last Order off him causing her to complain again about mistreatment of minors.
"She's not my loli," Accelerator snapped at Jason. "And don't you call me that stupid nickname like those idiots unless you want to die." He was pissed, but part of him was glad things seemed to be going back to normal. He didn't remember everything that happened near the end of the fight with Pride, but he remembered quite a bit. He didn't like the feeling, regardless of how much power he had.
"Don't be like…" Jason replied grinning, but he was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Mikoto and Ruiko. "Great, looks like Misaka-san won."
"She sure did," Ruiko said grinning. "She definitely saved me."
"Accelerator, Kagere-san," Mikoto acknowledged them. "Yea it was a tough fight. I just wish they wouldn't have those runes that killed them when they were defeated."
"Yea," Jason agreed. "The same thing happened to me. They really have powerful abilities, but that's not a reason to commit suicide."
"Mine was a pushover," Accelerator claimed. "It just took a while because of his regenerative powers."
"Is that why you are sitting on the floor exhausted?" Mikoto asked teasingly. Ruiko and Jason grinned.
"Oh?" Accelerator raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Coming from the girl who's dressed in her underwear? The hero isn't here, so your sex appeal, well," he grinned evilly. "lack of it, is wasted." Mikoto immediately used her arms to cover her chest.
"Y-you," she stammered and electricity sparked around her. Jason continued to add fuel to the fire.
"When I got here, he had Last Order on top of him while he held her close."
"MISAKA can confirm this MISAKA says as MISAKA confirms Accelerator's exploits."
"PERVERT!" Mikoto yelled and shot a bolt of electricity at Accelerator. It hit him and flew upwards eventually dissipating into the air. "Stupid reflection," Mikoto mumbled.
"Now, now," Ruiko said stepping between them. "We have bigger things to worry about. Like the fact we are missing half of our friends. Misaka-san told me who else came with you." As if response to her words, two more people appeared.
"KAZARI!" Jason cried and ran toward her. He pulled her into a big hug and Kazari turned bright red, but didn't try to push him away. She instead hugged him back.
"I'm glad to see you safe too Jason," she said softly.
Jason looked over at Sogiita. "Thanks for saving her, I owe you one."
"No thanks necessary," Sogiita said puffing his chest out. His clothes looked horrible, his shirt was just a shredded remain, but he appeared undamaged. "I just did what anyone would do when they saw someone getting kidnapped. Besides, the fight was really awesome. I got to use my guts to the fullest and fight robots and even punch a black hole." Accelerator and Mikoto both looked at each after that statement. They decided not to say anything. Sogiita usually did stupid things that defied common sense.
Everyone sat down on the arena floor waiting for the last two people. There did not appear any noticeable direction for them to go. They figured everyone else would appear when they finished their fights with their opponents. As none of them knew how to travel through different magic zones, they really couldn't do anything else.
"I hope Kuroko is ok," Mikoto mumbled out loud.
"I'm worried about Shokuhou-san," Jason said. "Shirai can handle herself in a one on one fight. Shokuhou-san is not really a front line fighter. If they can resist her mind control, she would be helpless."
"True," Mikoto muttered. She did not like Misaki a lot, but Misaki did come to help save Mikoto's friends so she was determined Misaki would at least come back alive.
"She's a level five," Accelerator said nonchalantly leaning back against the arena wall. "She can handle herself." He was trying to ignore Last Order who kept trying to poke the mark on his forehead. Everyone else glanced at the mark that appeared on them when they defeated their opponent, but no one said anything. Jason had his arm around Kazari while she was talking to Ruiko. Mikoto was staring out across the arena looking for Touma and Kuroko. Sogiita seemed to be the only one who couldn't sit still and soon stood up and started pacing around.
"There's Shokuhou-san," Mikoto called out suddenly and every looked around. Misaki had appeared in the middle of the arena. She was lying on her back and looking up at the sky. "I think she might be hurt." Mikoto rushed over followed be everyone else. She looked down as she stood over Misaki. "Are you ok?"
"Of course Misaka-san," smiled Misaki. "Just a little tired from my adventure. By the way, I see your choice in underwear has not changed. Don't think you can seduce Touma with it just because I wasn't here."
"Y-you," sputtered Mikoto covering her chest again then yelled out. "My shirt got burned by Wrath, this wasn't by choice!" Misaki, Accelerator, Ruiko, and Jason all smirked and avoid each other's eyes.
"It seems our guts were greater than those villains," Sogiita said punching his fist into the air. "Another one of our comrades have returned."
"Accelerator said the same thing to her," Jason said helping Misaki to her feet.
"At least I wasn't the last one to finish," Misaki said looking around. 'We are missing, Shirai-san and Touma?"
Mikoto nodded. "I hope they are ok. None of us seemed to have fought the leader, so it leaves one of them, unless it was you?"
Misaki's face darkened. "Lust told me the selection wasn't random. Each of the sins chose one of us ahead of time. So I think Touma actually went and met the leader."
"Makes sense," Accelerator said. "It was too much of a coincidence I fought Pride." Jason and Mikoto nodded as they remembered their own fight. "Though the hero should be fine, he is pretty tough." Mikoto raised an eyebrow in surprise at Accelerator's compliment about Touma. Then she saw another person lying on the ground in the distance.
"I think I see Kuroko," she called out and ran over while everyone else followed. Mikoto was the first one to reach her. The smell of rust overpowered her and she saw Kuroko was not moving. She knelt down and grabbed her shoulder. She suddenly let out a scream as she noticed a pool of blood forming below her. "HELP! SHE'S BLEEDING OUT!"
"Damn it," Sogiita said kneeling down. "She's losing blood fast."
"Shit," Accelerator said and bounded forward. He reached down and touched the blood. "Ok, I am keeping the blood rotating inside her so she should not lose any more. The problem is how much she lost already. Even if I rotated it manually, if she doesn't have enough blood in her body, she will die. I am just extending the time. It seems like she lost a lot, so I do not know for sure how much time she has." He was able to analyze everything calmly. Seeing blood and destruction was not unusual for him.
"What can we do?" Kazari asked worriedly clutching to Ruiko.
"If we were near a hospital we would be fine," Accelerator said grimly. "Once I stop touching her she is going to start bleeding out again and she won't have much time."
"Oh no," Misaki said. "I can't use my power to help reduce the pain when someone has extremely low blood presser. My powers will just cause more problems if I try."
"Kuroko…" Mikoto said softly. She was full of fear at the mere thought of losing her best friend. She felt tears well up in her eyes because she couldn't think of what to do. She could cauterize the wounds, but it wouldn't solve the problem of lack of blood and it might cause even more problems down the road. If only I could use magic, I could save her. Wait… She remembered one person in the group could use magic. "Jason," she called out suddenly and he jumped. "Can you heal her with magic?" Kazari and Ruiko looked at each other in surprised and mouthed 'magic?'
Jason looked at her into the tear filled eyes. "Magic could healer her…" he said slowly and Mikoto opened her mouth. "But," he interrupted her before she could say anything. "Healing is not a simple process with all the differences in religions, sects, rules, and spells. I don't really know how to perform any pure healing spells."
"Please," Mikoto said and tears started falling. "There must be something you can do. I don't want to lose my friend." Jason looked at her and then looked away for a moment.
"There is one thing I could do," Jason said his face darkening. "It is not pretty, but it should be able to heal her." Accelerator and Misaki looked at him. They both knew magic existed, but it usually looked like abilities with weird differences. Examples were the sin guys they just fought. When Jason said something wasn't going to be pretty they didn't know what to make of it or how he could heal massive blood loss. Ruiko, Kazari, Last Order, and Sogiita were completely lost. They did not understand magic at all. Mikoto looked at Jason with tears on her face and he nodded. "I'll try."
He moved away from the group as his shadow started to move out from under his jeans to the ground. The shadow spread around in a circle about three foot radius. Once the circle was made, lines spread inwards, intersecting and forming intricate designs while writing series of runes along the outer edge. As this was happening he spoke to Accelerator. "I'm going to step out of this circle when it's done. You will need to set Shirai right in the middle where I am now. When I say so, you need to immediately get out of the circle without disturbing the earth. You need to be fast so there is limited blood lost. Afterwards, I will cast the spell. This spell is very disturbing in appearance so I advise not watching it." His face was still dark as he concentrated on finishing the circle and stepped out. "You ready?"
Accelerator nodded and carried Kuroko to the circle while keeping her blood circulating. "This had better work. I still don't trust magic." Mikoto clasped her hands together as she watched. She wasn't going to turn around while her friend was in danger. Kazari and Ruiko turned away, but they held on to each other. Sogiita watched, but was uncharacteristically silent. His skills would not be able to help heal someone and he had never seen magic before. Misaki turned away too as she did not have the strongest stomach, especially when she was mentally drained from her fight. Last Order wanted to watch, but a glared from Accelerator made her turn around.
"Go," Jason said simply. Accelerator removed his hand and jumped back landing outside the circle. Jason clasped his hands together and started to sing in an undertone. None of them could make out the words, or even the language, but they felt the spirit of the song. It was a haunting melody that invoked deep feelings of despair and regret. At the same time something appeared above Jason. A white outline of a humanoid figure started to flicker into existence. As the figure grew solid, they recognized it as an angel. They may not have believed in angels, as students of Academy City, but they could recognize it from books. The angel was white with long hair and looked female, but one of its wings was bent at an odd angle, almost as if it was broken. Surrounding it was a pitch black vine with thorns on it. The vine was wrapped around the angel tightly as if the vine was choking it. The thorns were pressed into the angel's body and black blood was leaking out from the wounds.
The angel opened its mouth and looked like it was screaming in agony, though no sound came out. Accelerator had a look of disgust on his face as he watched it. Sogiita looked a little disturbed, but was watching it intently with interest. Mikoto felt her body shake in fear as the song and angel affected her greater than the others because she was terrified Kuroko was going to die. The song suddenly changed and she felt something start rising deep form within her. It was hope. She tore her eyes away from the angel and looked at Kuroko. Her body was glowing slightly and black mist was slowly rising from her body and disappearing into the angle. This continued for about a minute and Jason stopped singing. The angel faded away and Kuroko stopped glowing. Jason took a step back staggering while the shadows retracted back to him. Mikoto ran forward and kneeled by Kuroko. "Kuroko?" she asked hesitantly. The wounds on Kuroko had disappeared.
Kuroko's eyes flickered. "Onee-sama?" she asked as she sat up.
Mikoto pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank god you are alright. I thought we were going to lose you."
"Is it over," Ruiko asked turning around. Seeing Kuroko was sitting up, Ruiko grabbed Kazari and they both ran over to her. "You look as good as new."
"Onee-sama," Kuroko said as confirmation. "Last thing I remembered was beating Envy." She looked at her body confused there was no wounds. "What happened? I was sure I was badly hurt. Did you save me?"
Mikoto shook her head and pointed. "Kagere-san healed you with magic."
"It was weird," Kazari said shivering slightly. "That song was so dark, but it did end on a more positive note."
"Really?" Kuroko asked as she turned to look at Jason. "How did he heal me and why does he look so bad?" Everyone turned to look at Jason. He had staggered away from the group. He turned to glance back at them and they saw his face was deathly pale. He held up a hand to his mouth ad he took a couple more steps away. He suddenly fell on his knees and vomited onto the ground. "Kagere-san, are you alright?" Kuroko asked. Kazari got up and ran over to him helping him back to his feet.
"I've been better," he said weakly as Kazari helped him back to the group. "That spell has a heavy toll, but it was the only way I could think of healing her. I won't be able to do that again for a long time so no one else get hurt."
"What did you do?" Accelerator asked. "Her wounds were deep and she had lost most of her blood. The wounds are one thing, but how did you replace the blood?
"They used guts to replace blood," Sogiita explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Don't be stupid," Misaki said. "He obviously used this magic of his. It follows a different set of laws."
Mikoto had not said anything because she was still hugging Kuroko. Kuroko did not want to say anything because Mikoto might stop holding her tightly against her chest. Kuroko was well aware of Mikoto being shirtless, but for her it was pure bliss. She did, however, turn her head to look at Jason as he explained what he did. He saved me? By his expression, it was not an easy task for him.
"It was a spell called Sacrifice," Jason explained. "It was developed during the Dark Ages when Christianity had a very prominent role in Europe. It was used to heal people by transferring the wounds of someone to another person. It was used after battles with enemy prisoners. They would transfer their soldier's wounds to the enemies they captured, using them as virtually life batteries."
"Wait," Mikoto asked. "You transferred her wounds to you?"
"Let me finish," Jason said looking slightly annoyed. The color was slowly coming back to his face as he leaned against Kazari. "Transferring the wounds to me would not have helped us. Instead, over the years, the spell has changed. By increasing the backlash of the spell, the wounds do not transfer but are lost between the two participants. In other words, I took double the pain from Kuroko as her wounds disappeared during the transfer process."
"So all you took was a little pain?" asked Accelerator. "Sounds pretty convenient."
"Well, if I lose concentration for even a moment we both would have died instantly," Jason explained. "It really is an all or nothing spell. The instant burst of near death pain can interfere with the song. It is really taxing on my mind, so I won't be able to do that again for a while." He held his hand up to his mouth as another wave of nausea went through him.
"How could you use something like that?" Kazari reprimanded him. "You could have died too."
"Didn't have a choice," he replied. Everyone was surprised as Kazari suddenly gave him a slap across the cheek.
"Don't you ever do something like that again," she said as her eyes watered as she hugged him.
"Well now that this touching reunion is over," Accelerator interrupted everyone. He jerked his thumb indicating the direction behind him. "A new door formed and it appears to be glowing. I think we need to go that way to find the hero." Everyone turned and looked at it. A new archway had opened and was glowing with a white light.
"It does seem like the most obvious direction," Misaki said. "But what if it is a trap?"
"Then we will use our guts to smash through the trap," Sogiita said pounding his fists together.
"We will teach him not to mess with us," Mikoto said sparking.
"Onwards then," Jason said.
"I have a debt to repay," Kuroko added.
"Heh," Accelerator said smirking. "Oh brat," he turned to Last Order, "You go with those two," he pointed to Kazari and Ruiko, "outside of the coliseum."
"MISAKA doesn't want to go MISAKA cries as MISAKA refuses to abandon Accelerator."
"Quiet brat," he replied chopping her on the head. "These guys are the real deal and you don't know how to fight. So get out of here where it is safer." Last Order opened her mouth, but quickly shut it under his glare.
"Uiharu-san and Saten-san," Mikoto said turning to her friends. "Can you make sure she gets out safely? There should be a bus outside of here with an elderly guy standing guard. He is on our side. Can you go there and wait for us? We have to rescue Touma and stop these guys."
"Sure thing Misaka-san," Ruiko said giving a salute. She then reached down and took Last Order's hand. "You heard them. Let's go." She dragged Last Order with her and Kazari followed. She didn't want to leave, but she knew she did not have a lot of combat abilities compared to the level 5s. She agreed it was the best course of action to make sure Last Order and Ruiko were safe.
After they left, the rest of the group turned to face the new doorway. "That b%$&*^% is going to regret messing with us," Accelerator said leading the way. Everyone else followed close behind him. With four of the seven level 5s and two level 4s after a single person, one would assume that person did not stand a chance in hell of surviving.
"Oh girl," Accelerator called out to Kuroko as they neared the archway. "Don't go dying again. You heard him, he can't save you twice."
"Don't worry about me," Kuroko said defiantly. "I won't drop my guard again. Envy just cheated."
"Besides," Jason said. "She owes me a life debt already. If I have to save her again, she will never be able to pay me back."
"No way in hell will I ever owe you anything," Kuroko yelled.
"I wished Touma owed me something," Misaki said wishfully. "He could join me in my room for some private time with just the two of us."
"Don't you go imagining something perverted with him," Mikoto snapped at her.
"Coming from the girl without a shirt?" Misaki replied smiling. Mikoto shook with rage.
"Good to see everyone is in high spirits," Sogiita said. "Time to take out the leader with our combined guts."
"I can't wait for this to be over," Accelerator groaned. "Then I can leave all you idiots behind."
The euphoria from winning their respective fights and healing Kuroko faded as they approached the archway. They all grew serious as they stepped through the portal to find Touma.
Touma leaned against the wall of the ring panting slightly. His body was bruised and covered with small scratches. This is not going well, he knows all about my ability. By alternating randomly between using his hand and using the burst of light, he was able to push The Herald back slightly. The problem was once The Herald got use to his burst, he made adjustments to his battle strategy. Now he would use attacks that would force Touma to use the burst then immediately hit him with a direct attack. Touma was not always able to dodge.
"Where was that confidence you had not too long ago?" The Herald asked. "You have just been running around for a while."
"Just warming up," Touma said defiantly. "I'm still going to stop you."
"Unless you have another trump card up your sleeve," The Herald said. "All you are doing is wasting time. The only reason I have not killed you already is I need you alive for now."
Touma frowned, but he knew The Herald was not lying. All of the attacks were made to deliberately incapacitate Touma, not kill. It was only thanks to his quick reflexes and intuition on where the attacks would strike from that he was still standing. Otherwise, he would have been knocked out already. "I still believe I can win," Touma said. He didn't know why he believed it, but he just knew he had to win. If he did not, he and his friends would die.
"Childish beliefs," The Herald sighed shaking his head. "I suppose this charade should end."
"I couldn't agree more," said a female voice as a crackling sound was heard. A second late a bolt of electricity flew over Touma right at The Herald. He was able to react though and the electricity bounced harmlessly off an invisible wall.
Touma turned around. "Mikoto," he yelled out happy to see her. He was surprised Mikoto was shirtless and using her other arm to cover herself. He felt his ears go red
"Not just me," she said. "Everyone is here too." As she said this, everyone else was exiting through the doorway into the ring.
"Looks like the hero is having a tough time," Accelerator said smirking. "We finished off all of our fights. What is taking you so damn long?"
"How dare you hurt my prince!?" Misaki asked angrily to The Herald as she pointed her remote at him. "His mind is shielded," she muttered.
"Nothing a little guts can't fix," Sogiita said.
"I feel like something is wrong," muttered Jason. Kuroko who was the only one close enough to hear him looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Kuroko asked not taking her eyes off The Herald.
"We got here to easily," Jason replied.
"I told you we would win," Touma said to the Herald. "I believed in them. Now all that's left is to stop you." However, he got worried when the Herald smiled.
"Did you forget the last part of the ritual," The Herald said. "I believed I told you."
"What do you mean?" Touma said thinking. "We defeated all your guys carrying the sin marks."
'The last part of the ritual requires all seven sin marks," The Herald said still smiling. 'I didn't say who they had to be on."
Touma froze. He said the sins would be sacrificed to the ritual so if all of us have them, that means… shit! "Guys get out of the arena quick!"
"What?" Mikoto asked.
"To late," The Herald said. A gust of wind carried him into the air. "Final Stage: Activate!" he called out. All of the artifacts on the stone altars started to glow brightly. "Say your farewells before your lives are sacrificed to our lord."
Touma suddenly felt pain on his aim as the sin mark glowed. At the same time, he felt all the energy drain from his body and he fell to the ground. He was barely able to look around at everyone else. He saw runes glowing on different parts of their body. Damn it, I should have remembered sooner. He got us. Touma could barely move. He looked up at The Herald who was mouthing something, but was too far away for Touma to hear what. The space next to The Herald was cracking and opened into a small hole with nothing in it. It looked like a small void had formed and was slowly growing. We have to stop him. He looked at his friends to see if any of them could do anything, but even Accelerator was struggling. Jason, however, caught his eye.
Jason had the expression of something thinking hard and his face darkened. When he caught Touma's eyes he smiled, but Touma knew that smile. It was the smile of someone about to do something incredibly stupid because there was no other choice. He had used that smile before on Mikoto and many other people. Touma was about to call out for Jason not to do it, but he was too late. "Everything I desire I can reach out and take," Jason called out as he reached his hand out. It was not toward The Herald, but to everyone else. A second later Jason cried out in horrible pain, "AHHHHHHHHH," and then collapsed unconscious.
The weakness and pain left Touma and he was able to get back to his feet. Around him everyone else was getting to their feet too. Touma had no idea what Jason did, until he saw Jason's body. All seven runes were glowing on his body in different parts. "Shit," he rushed over to Jason and tried to use his hand to stop the runes. The runes just faded away when his hand got close and reappeared when he moved his hand away. "Damn it Jason, why did you do that? It's going to kill you."
"What do you mean?" Mikoto asked running over.
"The Herald said someone can't have more than one mark on them or they will die," Touma explained quickly. "He must have stolen them with his mark so we could escape."
"Can you do anything?" Mikoto asked.
"No, my hand isn't working." They were interrupted by a roar of anger from above them.
"You brat!" The Herald roared. "How dare you interrupt my ritual?" He looked at the void next to him and reached into it with his left hand. He pulled out a small green gem that glowed unnaturally bright. "The ritual was supposed to revive our lord, but with just his energy all we received was this because the spell did not complete." He held up the gem. "Die!" He swept his hand at Jason and a blade of win flew at him.
Sogiita was the first to move. He jumped forward and pounded his fist on the ground in between Jason and The Herald. The blade of wind hit the wall of pressure Sogiita created and stopped. "I'm not going to let you hurt someone who is unconscious," he declared.
"Annoying brats," he said the moved to the left as a chunk of the arena flew past him. Accelerator had ripped off a segment of the coliseum and threw it. He frowned. "How is he still alive? He should have died instantly when all the marks appeared on his body. What is his body made of?" He shot a ball of wind at Kuroko who was trying to get nearer to teleport her spikes forcing her to retreat. "I will personally kill every one of you. Do you know how long…?"
He stopped and looked at his left hand that was holding the green gem. The gem had fused into the palm of his hand. He reached his hand above him and suddenly ten enormous white circles of various complicated designs appeared high in the air all around them. Each one had to be around fifty meters in diameter. Everyone had a bad feeling about these circles. "So much power in such a small object." As he looked at his hand, green veins started to spread out through his arm. "I see, this is a fragment of Lucifer. The ritual could not bring his entire being into this world, but with just a single fragment, I will be able to kill you all." He pointed at them and several white beams shot out of his hand at them.
Touma reached out his hand and blocked one, but the beam did not disappear instantly. He felt the hairs stand up on his arm as his hand slowly negated the beam. Accelerator didn't move and the beam hit him. It reflected into the stands and left a large creator. He frowned because he had planned to reflect it right back at The Herald instead of the stands. For some reason the vectors were different. Kuroko just teleported herself and Misaki out of the way. Mikoto managed to dodge of her own accord. The beam that was targeting Sogiita pieced his pressure wall, but he managed to move his body out of the way as the beam just missed him. It left another crater behind him.
"I don't care who this Lucifer is," Mikoto yelled out angrily. "No one tries to hurt my friends." She shot a bolt of electricity at him. An intricate white magic circle appeared in front of The Herald. Mikoto's electricity hit it and dispersed instantly.
"Fine," The Herald said. "You can die first." He raised his hand and Mikoto found herself frozen in place.
Shit, she thought to herself as she started sparking. He's doing something so I can't move.
"Die!" The Herald said simply as he made a slashing motion with his hand. A white blade flew at Mikoto. Everyone thought she would just dodge so they didn't immediately come to her aid. Touma was the first to notice something was wrong and his body moved before he could think. He reached out with his right hand and pushed Mikoto out of the way. The sound of glass shattering was heard when Touma touched Mikoto. The blade passed through the spot Mikoto had been less than a second before. Something else was there instead.
The blade sliced through Touma's arm right below the shoulder.
Mikoto's eyes went wide as Touma's arm fell to the ground. Blood sprayed out and she screamed in horror as she fell back from his push. "TOUMA!" She was able to move again and caught herself before she hit the ground.
"Damn it," Accelerator muttered and leaped toward Touma. He reached down to try to stop the blood and his eyes narrowed. "What the hell, I can't stop it. I thought his power was just his right hand? He's negating everything around his arm." He made a fist in anger as he couldn't help the person dying in front of him.
"That means I can't cauterize the wound," Mikoto said softly as her voice shook with rage. She made a fist too and she started sparking madly. "Shokuhou-san, your power doesn't work on The Herald, so do everything you can to stop the bleeding." Shokuhou nodded and Sogiita tossed her the remains of his shirt.
"Here use my shirt to stop the bleeding," Sogiita said. "I'll make sure none of his attacks get through to him or Jason."
"Onee-sama?" Kuroko asked nervously looking at Mikoto. She saw rage in Mikoto she had never seen before and even felt killing intent. Accelerator was also issuing enormous killing intent. Kuroko saw Mikoto's hand reached up to a choker on her neck Kuroko had never seen before either.
"He was weak," The Herald called out. "All of you will die helpless like him. I have the power of the first Archangel, the one who could challenge God."
At his words, all hell broke loose.
"B&$%&#!" Accelerator roared. Two murky pitch black wings began to form on his back. They started splitting and spread out over tens of meters. They radiated of anger and hatred, and threaten to shatter his, and everyone else's, mind. Kuroko took a step back instinctively, Misaki looked up in fear while holding the shirt against Touma's arm, and even Sogiita was uneasy about those wings. Accelerator turned around and started walking toward The Herald. His wings were spreading the ground around him like paper. The killing intent from him was almost visible. The only person who did not appear to be focused on Accelerator's wings was Mikoto.
At the same time Mikoto was also overcome by rage. "HOW DARE YOU?!" she hollered and flicked the choker on her neck. The electricity around her was normally blue-white, but it suddenly turned pitch black like Accelerator's wings. Her hair became swept back, with a few fringes gathering together to form two horn-like appendages on her head. The sclera of her eyes darken, but the most obvious change was the appearance of two ribbon-like objects with diamond shaped objects attached to them that hung around Mikoto's arms. The black lighting spread out further around her as she also started walking toward The Herald. She also emitted an aura of rage and hatred around her.
Kuroko was frozen in shock. She did not know what happened to Mikoto, but it felt similar to what happened to Accelerator. It feels like they are above level 5. She knew trying to stand before them was futile so she put her faith in Mikoto. She would have known about Mikoto's shift if Misaki did not erase her memories of it after the Daihaseisai. She was still full of fright at Mikoto's transformation.
Sogiita and Misaki had both seen the Mikoto in this form, but neither of them knew how she was able to access the form now. Misaki had stopped the level 6 shift for Mikoto and the sisters. They both were also nervous about what Accelerator had become. He did not change as much as Mikoto, but the wings of his caused primal fear within them. Sogiita shook his head and punched the ground creating another pressure wall to protect Misaki, Jason and Touma. Misaki shook her head and focused on trying to save the most important person to her while the others stop The Herald.
The Herald frowned as he watched two of the children transform. He had part of the power of an Archangel in his hand, but the two kids before him still caused him to worry. It feels like Telesma, but it's darker. I don't believe it. Academy City actually created artificial demon gods. He burst out laughing. "Academy City really is a beacon of destruction for this world." His words were interrupted as Mikoto raised her hand and the ribbon pointed up into the air. A lighting strike form the sky flew down at The Herald. Well, it wasn't really a lighting strike. It looked more like a pillar, easily thirty meters in diameter, of pure electricity. It smashed through two magic circles above The Herald, shattering them into pieces and they disappeared, and kelp going. The Herald raised his hand and another circle appeared above him. The lighting pillar crashed into it. The circle held, but a cracked appeared in it. The Herald frowned slightly again but said, "Impressive power but it is not enough to defeat me."
Accelerator didn't take his words kindly, but it could be debated if he even heard them. The ground around him exploded as he flew toward The Herald. Another white circle appeared between them, but Accelerator didn't care. His black wings moved forward and pieced through it. They ripped the circle apart and continued to fly toward The Herald. There was a flash of light and the black wings were pushed to the side away from The Herald's main body, but they passed through his arm. The arm was torn off with no resistance. The Herald looked at his arm and shook his head. The arm started to reform, but for some reason it looked hollow. Accelerator roared in anger as his attack did not do anything and his wings split up into countless blades.
At the same time lighting flew from Mikoto's ribbons at The Herald and he had to create several layers of circles to block it. Then he sent a wave of light to intercept the black blades from Accelerator's wings. Even with some of my master's power, these kids are still a threat. They have stepped into the world of demons and must be destroyed. He made a swipe with his hand and two blades of light flew at both Accelerator and Mikoto. Accelerator blocked it with his wings, but he was still pushed back as his wings flickered for an instant. Mikoto blasted the light with a lightning pillar and the explosion between both attacks blocked her from view for a moment. The fight was pretty even, but The Herald seemed to have a slight advantage.
Misaki however was not paying attention to the fight. She was doing everything she could to try to keep Touma from bleeding out. She managed to slow the bleeding, but there was nothing else she could do. Tears were running down her face as she faced her worst nightmare again. She was going to lose the most important person in her life. "Please don't die," she whispered under her breath. She held his head in her lap and did not care about the blood she got on herself. She closed her eyes as the tears started flowing faster.
She felt something touch her head.
She opened her eyes and saw Touma's left hand patting her on the head. She opened her mouth in surprise, but no words came out. Touma stopped touching her and sat up using his left hand to push himself to his feet. He staggered slightly, but still stood up. He looked around at the carnage before him and the fight between Accelerator, Mikoto, and The Herald. He clutched his left hand into a fist and took a step forward. Kuroko noticed him and her eyes widened in shock. She mouthed something, but no one heard it. Misaki finally found her words. "You can't," she whispered. "Your injury…" She trailed off as he turned his head to look at her and he smiled.
"Don't worry Misaki," he said. "I'm going to end this and we will all go back together. Believe in me."
She didn't have any rational to do so, but she always trusted everything he said. He did not lie to her. She closed her eyes, held her shaking hands together, and she believed in him. She knew he would stop this fight and they would all go back to Academy City.
About 30 seconds passed since Mikoto and Accelerator went berserk.
Accelerator: I could have finished it without the third rate.
Mikoto; Bull, you should just stay out of it.
Kuroko: Wow, both of you have turned evil.
Jason: I wish I could see it, but I had to save everyone, and Shirai twice.
Kuroko: If you start talking about that life debt again….
Jason: I'm calling it in.
Kuroko: Just die.
Misaki: Yay quality time with Touma and now he's going back to Academy City with me.
Touma: I think you might have misund…
Jason: Shush Touma, just accept it. You need this.
Touma: What are you talking about?
Accelerator: Wow, just how dense are you?
Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or idea. I love reading them. Next chapter will officially end the sin arc. I know some people can't wait to see Touma be awesome. Good times for all, except The Herald. Two powerful level 5s+ and a berserk Touma against him.