Good day everyone, Misaki Shokuhou here. I am honored to be narrating the opening comments this week. My time is limited, but I will do my best to answer all your questions. I did notice many people listing several people I know, and I think I understand what Tsuchimikado-san asked for in his previous comments. I want to thank many of you for understanding Touma and I would be a good match. I am disappointed so many of you listed Misaka-san though. She's such a tomboy and doesn't fit with a prince.
Salishious: That is an easy question. Even with her vulgar personality, he would be able to. Touma has this way with people. No matter how far someone has fallen, no matter what things we have done, he will save us from anyone, even ourselves. It's one of the reasons I love him so much. I feel, given time, even Mugino-san can be saved. But, if she tries to take him from me….
wildarms13: I'm not submissive to him. I simply enjoy spending time with him. Being with him makes me happy, and I want to make sure he is happy too. If Touma saves her, and he really wants her around, I won't object, as long as he still prefers me. I don't trust her right now. She's obviously up to something. I bet she can't admit she likes him.
Guest 10032: That is not even a question to consider. I would give up sweets forever, if I could spend every day with my prince. I enjoy sweets yes, but Touma is far more important. Just being with him makes me forget all my troubles, and I feel like the world revolves around us. Sweets are just a food, but I love him.
Lord: Oh my… anything? A young noble lady, like myself, really shouldn't be going into those types of topics. Let's just say, nothing is off the table yet. Though, I would be happy if he just let me lie in his lap while he strokes my hair. My wildest dream would be if the two of us could just be left alone with each other.
Whwsms: I would not be opposed to such an action, especially if I can stand between him and that old lady. I think he would be opposed to it though, not because he doesn't want me to be near him, but because he would think of my future. I feel he would think my talents would be wasted in his school and I should be participating in a more accelerated institution. Always thinking about others, it's one of his most admirable traits.
Anon: Hehe…. All he has to do is ask.
I am running out of time, I hope you all appreciated my answers. I don't know when I will be up again, but I hope it will be soon. Maybe I can answer questions besides just my relationship with my prince, though, I am not opposed to talking about it. It is quite nice to talk about something that makes me happy, over dangerous things like we are facing now. I promise I will make sure everyone returns from the princess's trap alive.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters. Reading this story may cause you to burst out in laughter or yelling at fictional characters. This may cause nearby people to assume you have gone crazy. Please read responsibly.
What are these people? The knight, who commanded the first elite battalion, was watching the battle between his men and four individuals. His squad was made up of ten skilled men, each one trained specifically under Knight Leader, and himself. He was told, by Carissa, they would be intercepting a small group of possibly powerful individuals, but he had the upmost faith in his men. When they discovered there were only four individuals in the group, he was confident they could finish it up quickly. Of course, his personal feelings wouldn't cloud his judgement and they handled it by the book. I didn't expect them to go down easily, but they are holding their ground admirably. We are even powered with Curtana's Telesma. His men were fighting hard, and while the enemy couldn't take them out, they couldn't take any of them out. He sighed and made a hand signal to change their strategy. His eyes moved over each enemy as he analyzed their abilities.
He was not surprised to see the Saint, Kaori Kanzaki, among them. As one of the church's strongest members, it was only natural for her to be here. If we were in equal numbers, we might need Knight Leader to take her out. There have been reports of her taking out platoons by herself before. Her blade was faster than a normal person's eyes could follow. She also controlled numerous wires, which whipped around her, and could be used as attack and defense, along with creating magic circles to cast flame magic. As a Saint, her strength and speed were as great as, probably even greater than, one of the higher ranked knight, powered by Telesma. She was able to fight three of his knights on even grounds, so he had four of his knights fighting her to push her back. He made note of the way she moved and calculated several counter measures to use against her. He then changed his attention, his eyes shifting slightly, to the second individual of the church's group.
She was a messy, dirty blonde, dark skinned woman wearing a black gothic outfit. She appeared to have a serious grudge against the knights, as she kept screaming at them to die horrible deaths. She was standing on the shoulders of a large golem, he heard her call it Ellis, made up of earth, asphalt, concreate, and anything else on the ground. Her golem was roughly two stories high and delivered punches strong enough to crush walls, metal poles, and the street. The commanding knight saw through her weakness at once. Her golem was regenerating, no matter how much damage the knights did to it, but once the caster fell, it would too. He had three of his knight's concentrate on attacking her, and it would have worked if not for the third member.
He was a tall and skinny man, in his mid-twenties, with black messy spikey hair. He wore very lose and casual clothes, including an oversized t-shirt with a red cross, and, weirdly, tennis shoes. His aura made him appear unimpressive, but the knight commander realized it was just an act. His specialty was working alongside others and he would always strike the knights when they tried to attack the blonde woman. This allowed the woman to continue her destructive assault with her golem. If they concentrated on the man, he would slip back and lead the knights into the golem's mighty fists. It appeared the woman was just doing her own thing, and the man was just adapting his movements to fit her needs. He must be part of the Amakusa. They always were good at dealing in stealth and with others. But even their combination, didn't confuse the commander as much as the fourth member of the group.
A young white haired boy was, there was no other word for him, an anomaly. The boy had no magic powers to speak of, yet he simply strutted forward against three of the commander's knights and proceeded to utterly crush them. No matter what the knights did or how they attacked, their blows were redirected back against them, a light touch from the boy would send them flying, and the boy could effortlessly rip lamp posts out of the ground and throw them like spears. Even so, the knights kept standing back up again, causing the boy to frown. The amount of Telesma at their disposal was causing even the most serious wounds to heal almost instantly, their stamina was restored, and their determination was unwavering. The boy looked irritated at their persistence, and turned to look directly at the commander.
"Hey f#$%^%," the boy told him. "I'm sick of dealing with small fries. Those guys rely too much on the power given to them. How about you show me what you got? This fight is getting boring." The commander looked at him for a moment, thinking. He sighed and pulled out his sword. He had come to the realization this boy was dangerous and needed to be dealt with immediately. The boy grinned as they looked at each other, and then the ground beneath them exploded as they lunged with killing intent.
Back at the hotel, Jason, Kazari, Ruiko, Frenda, Saiai, and Motoharu were in the hotel conference room, where dozens of computers had been set up. Each one of them was monitoring a screen. Last Order, Worst, and Rikou were outside the room doing whatever they wanted to. After discussion, and several verbal threats and raised voices, they convinced the church to allow them to help monitor the city. As most of the church forces were occupied sieging the city, and Academy City students were skilled with computers, the church conceded. It was actually beneficial for them, because Kazari was a genius on the computer and could monitor three times more than anyone else, plus her power allowed her to control the computers temperature and prevent them from overheating. Jason and Frenda were also experienced and monitored a large area. Ruiko and Saiai had the least experience with computers, but they were still students of Academy City, thus far above what most people in the world could do. Motoharu seemed to be doing something else, but no one could spare time for him.
"Ah this sucks," Jason said leaning back in his chair. "We can't see anything near the palace or the airport. They run on separate security systems."
"You mentioned that three times already," Kazari reminded him, not taking her eyes off her screen. "We got most of London, so be happier."
"Basically," Frenda added. "Stop complaining. The cameras you accessed were more then we could have hoped for in this situation."
"Ah I got a glimpse of the rescue team moving in," a nun piped up and they all turned and looked at her screen. They managed to see a glimpse of Mikoto and Shizuri running toward the palace, but then lost sight of them as they disappeared. "They moved outside our range."
"Guess the fight super started," Saiai said. "I wish I could have joined. Mugino gets all the fun jobs."
"You shouldn't try to get into fights," Ruiko piped up. Saiai glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes.
"I happen to enjoy them," she said. "They are super fun sometimes. Don't act like you understand me."
"No need to fight," Jason said interrupting them before anything bad could happen. "There will be plenty of time to debate later about hobbies and interests. For now, focus on the task at hand."
"Should you even be able to monitor this?" Frenda asked him. "Basically, you have a hard time walking by yourself."
"But I happen to be sitting down now," Jason said grinning and Motoharu snickered.
"You really should be resting though," Kazari told him, but Jason ignored her advice after glancing over at her. The time past slowly, and nothing noticeable was happening. They talked a little to kill time, but it was pretty strained. They all were imagining what was happening in the palace. They had guided Mikoto and Shizuri as best as they could but, as soon as the girls got close to the palace, they had to implement radio silence. All they could do is wait, until they received more information. Ruiko sighed and leaned back looking at everyone else. She could tell Jason and Kazari had training, probably form Judgement, with this kind of work. She based this assumption on the fact their eyes rarely left the screens. She also noticed Frenda and Saiai seemed to be in similar situations, but she didn't believe they were part of Judgement.
I wonder what they do to be so calm in this situation. Ruiko had been in a couple of dangerous situations before, but she always ended up okay in the end. This time, she was worried for her friends, instead of her being the one worried about. If it wasn't for Kazari and Jason reassuring her, and occasionally Motoharu, she wouldn't be able to sit still, let alone help out. After what seemed like hours, though was probably only a few minutes, she frowned as she saw something move on her screen. "Guys," she called out. "Something is happening here." A couple nuns, Jason, Saiai, and Frenda turned to look at her screen. Kazari was keeping watch on her screen, as she had the area around the airport, and it was a very important location because they would have to notify Itsuwa's group if something happened near them. On Ruiko screen, a single blonde girl was standing in front of a group of knights.
"That girl matches the description of Eve," one of the nuns called over her shoulder to another one. "Camera 517." She nodded and ran out of the room. Jason and Ruiko gave each other a grim look and Kazari froze. They were the only ones from the science side in the room who knew who Eve was. Though, none of them had actually seen her in person. Frenda and Saiai had no idea who she was.
"Eve?" they both asked.
"She's the leader of a third faction fighting for power," Jason answered. "From what I heard, her group has been causing a lot of trouble around the world." Ruiko and Kazari understood how he was presenting the information. He was purposely avoiding telling Frenda and Saiai the details involving Italy.
"You sure she's a leader?" Frenda asked. "Basically, she's so young and looks harmless."
"Appearances can be deceiving," Jason mumbled distracted and glanced at Saiai, who grinned.
"You are super right about that," she added.
"What's she doing?" Ruiko asked.
"She appears to be talking to the knights," the nun said. "You know we don't have sound, so all we can do is watch." They are leaned over her shoulder and watched to see what was happening. Whatever Eve was telling the knights, they did not appear to be interested. All of them pulled out their weapons and charged at her. The first knight to reach her swung his blade down at her head. She reached her hand up, grabbed the blade, stopped it, and lifted it, with the knight, into the air. Everyone watched her use the knight as a club and smashed him into another knight. Another knight swung his blade at her neck and she responded by leaning backwards, like she was doing the limbo, and slipped under his blade. She twilled on her heel, like a ballerina, to dodge another knight's blade, and then kicked the knight in the back. The remaining knights surrounded her and she looked around at them. Eve shrugged, and then jumped, straight up, twenty feet into the air. She then stopped in midair, like she was standing on an invisible balcony. She held out her hand and a book appeared in it out of nowhere.
"Wow she's flexible," Ruiko commented, unable to contain how impressed she was.
"Basically," Frenda added. "She's had a lot of combat experience. You can tell the way she holds herself."
"She's fighting the knights," the nun said quietly. "That should be good for us, as it will split the princess's forces, but why would she help us?"
"She's obviously not helping us," Jason answered grimly. "She's doing it for her own reasons. The knights must know who she is."
"Then we can use this to observe what type of magic she uses," the nun said. Everyone stopped talking as the battle got more intense.
Paper had started to fly from Eve's book and swirl in a vortex in front of her. It was obvious she was laughing, as the knight's raised their weapons against her. The paper began to converge and a giant tentacle emerged from the paper. The tentacle reached down and slammed into the ground, causing the knights leaped away from it. The paper creation did not stop and kept expanding. Seven more tentacles emerged from the paper vortex, followed by a mouth, and then finally the head emerged. A giant octopus landed in the street, it's tentacles as thick as tree trunks and its body was like a small house. The knights reacted immediately and used the most obvious strategy against it, cutting off its tentacles, but their attacks only caused minor damage and the wounds healed almost instantly. The octopus grabbed one of the knights and slammed him into the street. Several other knights were grabbed and were squeezed until they stopped moving. They fell lifelessly to the ground. The last knight was in the back, holding a glowing spear. He threw it, not at the octopus, but at Eve. Eve raised her hand in response and the octopus jumped into the air. It used its body to block the spear.
A giant flash of light blinded the screen for a moment.
When the light cleared, the remains of the smoking octopus littered the ground, but Eve was lowering herself back to the ground, obviously unhurt. Only one knight was left, the one who threw the spear. Eve walked toward him, skipping slightly. The knight pulled out his sword and held it out in front of him. Eve looked at him for a moment, and then held out her book. The paper rose and formed into a giant fly swatter. She grabbed it and swung it down at the knight at incredible speeds. The knight tried to dodged, but the paper twisted itself unnaturally to adjust for his movements. He was squashed against the streets and did not move. The paper disappeared back into her book and the remains of the octopus dissolved into dust and disappeared. Eve stretched her arms into the air, and then stopped. She slowly turned to look at the nearby camera, and grinned. She jumped over and held up two fingers in a V-shape, while mouthing a single word, victory. A moment later, the screen everyone was watching went black.
"She knows we are watching," Ruiko said softly.
"We need to inform the others," the nun said standing up. "Eve is in the city."
"Itsuwa-san's group is moving out of the airport!" Kazari called out to everyone. They all turned to look at her. "They are driving at full speed towards the palace."
"Something must have happened," Motoharu said speaking up. "It's possible Eve did something to make them move."
"That's even worse," the nun moaned. "If The Fallen are using this war for their own purposes, we are all walking into their trap." She ran out of the room and everyone looked at each other seriously. Ruiko walked over and glanced out a window into the distance.
Be safe everyone.
Touma had no idea how they were going to get out of their current predicament. They were surrounded by easily a hundred, though probably more, knights. To make matters worse, Carissa was walking towards them. He knew the knights were powerful, but Carissa was supposed to be in a league all of her own. Touma instinctively moved in front of Index, while Mikoto and Shizuri moved to either side of him. Both of them knew how dangerous the current situation was. "Any ideas," he muttered under his breath to them.
"No," Mikoto answered. "This is the worst possibly outcome."
"I guess we resort to plan b," Shizuri said. "We take out the princess and the entire coup fails."
"It's not going to be that easy," Index informed them. "She has the full power of Curtana behind her. Her strength is going to be exponentially greater than even the strongest knight."
"Can you interfere with her magic?" Touma muttered.
"I would have to analyze Curtana Original extensively," Index replied. "It is an incredibly complicated and powerful artifact. I can't give you an accurate time frame on it."
"Then we make time," Shizuri grinned and she took a couple steps forward. "I've been interesting in meeting you face to face," she said loudly to Carissa. "I was wondering how a spoiled brat of a princess would be able to handle herself." Touma notice several of the knights flinch slightly at the way Shizuri was addressing the princess. He couldn't see their faces, but he was sure they were not amused at her tone. Since they didn't move forward to attack Shizuri, Touma guessed Carissa told them to stay back, unless she ordered them forward.
"Ah," Carissa said, her eyes narrowing in recognition. A large grinned appeared on her face. "I recognize that disrespectful tone. I have also been looking forward to meeting you. Anyone who speaks to me, as you did, deserves nothing but punishment."
"You," Shizuri snorted. "Punish me? Don't make me laugh. Some spoiled brat in a palace wouldn't know the strength of someone who lived their entire life in the dark parts of the world."
"Why don't you show me then," Carissa laughed. "I would be interested to see how strong you are. After all, speaking to me this way, you must have some skill. I will crush any hope you have and make you submit before I finish you off."
"Oh," Shizuri said raising an eyebrow. "Well, if you insist. I am never one to disappoint." She held out her hand and a green orb appeared in it. "I hope you are willing to accept the consequences." Carissa didn't say anything, but she moved Curtana off her shoulder. Touma heard Mikoto take in a sharp breath, and he realized this fight was going to get ugly. He knew he had to try to stop it any way possible, and he took a couple steps forward.
"There's no reason to fight…" Touma began trying to defuse the situation, but those two were not in the mood for his speeches.
"Be quiet boy!" Carissa yelled at him.
"Yes!" Shizuri added. "Shut up Kamijou. Get out of the way or I will blast her through you." Touma opened his mouth, but he felt two pairs of arms grab him and pull him back. Mikoto and Index both realized the situation wasn't going to end well and wanted to stop Touma from getting hurt. "Now that the interruption is out of the way," Shizuri sneered, turning her attention back to Carissa. "Let's see what you got." She held out her hand and a green orb appeared above it again. "Let's try not to end this too fast."
"I was thinking the exact same thing," Carissa replied. She didn't have a trace of fear on her face. "Show me what you can do." She did not bother sensing for mana. From the reports, she knew ability users from Academy City could not be detected like normal magicians.
"Careful what you wish for," Shizuri said. A green beam shot out of the orb in Carissa's direction. Carissa didn't move at all, except for her eyes, as the beam flew right by her and hit the ground behind her. An explosion followed, throwing dust and dirt into the air. Shizuri frowned. She had planned to spook the princess with her initial attack, but she was disappointed. The princess didn't even flinch. She followed the beam with just her eyes. Guess I can't go easy on her. Four more green orbs appeared around her. "Try to make this at least a little enjoyable." She started firing her Meltdowner beams as fast as she could at Carissa.
Carissa dodged every single one effortlessly.
It looked like she simply stepped around each beam and they flew past her. Each one caused explosions when they hit the ground, which only added to how impressive Carissa looked. The knights standing in the outside circle moved slightly, as Shizuri attacked Carissa, but after seeing how one-sided the fight appeared to be, they stood still again. Carissa's dress blew from the displaced air of the explosions but, other than that, she didn't appear to even notice them. Shizuri gritted her teeth in anger and continued to fire as fast as she could. No matter how she changed her attack patterns, Carissa appeared to instantly move out of the way. Why won't she just die?
"You have destructive power," Carissa commented. "But your execution needs a lot of work. Is this all you can do?"
"Big talk coming from someone who can only dodge," Shizuri laughed and fired another four beams. Carissa continued to dodge all four and Shizuri got pissed once again. A large green orb appeared in front of her outstretched hand. "Just die already!"
"I guess it's time to show you how weak you are," Carissa said, her eyes flashing, right before Shizuri fired a large beam directly at her. She side stepped it, turned Curtana so the flat side of the blade faced Shizuri, and swung it at the beam. Normally, Shizuri's Meltdowner would destroy any matter it came into contact with, as it was just a beam of destructive high speed electrons. Against a sword, empowered with an archangels might, it was nothing more than baseball hitting a metal wall. She swung the sword and the beam reflected back at Shizuri. Shizuri couldn't do anything in response, as the beam flew past her head. The ends of her hair got burnt and the ground behind her exploded. She stumbled slightly, but kept her footing. "Hmm," Carissa said looking at Curtana. "I forgot to take in effect the slight curvature. Would you like to try again? I promise I won't miss this time."
"You b#$%^," Shizuri growled through gritted teeth. Six orbs appeared around her as she glared daggers at Carissa. This was the most she ever created at once. They were smaller then if she just fired one, but the numbers would make it easier to box in her opponents. "I'm going to kill you!" she roared. "No one looks down at me."
"Now you're just throwing a tantrum," Carissa sighed. "I guess it was too much to think a kid could be any sort of challenge." This didn't do anything to calm Shizuri down as she fired off six beams, all different angles, at Carissa. Carissa dodged five of them, and reflected the sixth. This time, Shizuri was ready. She ducked under the returned beam and charged straight towards Carissa, quickly reducing the space between them. Several orbs appeared around her and she fired them all at Carissa. It was obvious to everyone that Shizuri was trying to reduce the distance between them to reduce the time Carissa had to see their trajectory and dodge. While this plan was sound and would have worked on a normal opponent, Carissa was far beyond the realms of using a normal plan against her. She dodged all of Shizuri's attacks effortlessly, her speed slowly increasing. It was like an adult toying with a toddler. A moment later, Shizuri found Curtana pressed up against the side of her neck, as Carissa stood behind her. "Brat," she said. "You are a thousand years too early to challenge me." Before Shizuri could respond, she heard Mikoto call out a single word.
"DUCK!"
Shizuri didn't think twice and dived to the ground, as a boom echoed across her surroundings. Carissa didn't know what Mikoto was yelling about, as she turned around, and only saw a beam of light traveling at her three times the speed of sound. Her senses were heightened to superhuman levels, but even she was barely able to move in time. A small chunk of her hair was disintegrated as a small metal object blew it away. Carissa jumped back as Mikoto, Touma and Index ran up to Shizuri. "I didn't need your help," Shizuri spat out at Mikoto, as she stood up.
"Yea right," Mikoto sniffed. "But now's not the time. She's way too powerful to fight one on one."
"You seem to have similar power to her," Carissa said to Mikoto. She didn't show it, but that attack was fast enough to hit her. She realized Mikoto didn't try to hit her directly, and instead was just firing a warning shot. Stupid girl, she might have actually done damage. "But neither of you will be able to hit me. No human can harm the leader of angels. I thought you understood that girl."
"I don't care who you are," Mikoto told her. "I'm going to fight anyone who attacks my friends."
"We aren't friends," Shizuri spat out.
"Wasn't talking about you," Mikoto muttered.
"Now's not the time to be fighting between ourselves," Touma said. "The only way we will have a chance is if we can destroy Curtana Original."
"Which is impossible," Carissa informed him. Her hearing was obvious enhanced by Curtana's power.
"Guess we go all out then," Mikoto said holding out her hands. A moment later, black metal sand erupted from the ground and spun all around them like a tornado. It then converged in Mikoto's hands as two vibrating black iron swords. Touma had seen how sharp those particles could be when they were vibrating at high speed. She could cut through rocks like they were made of paper.
"That actually looks pretty impressive," Carissa commented on Mikoto's ability. "As a gift for the show, I'll show you Curtana's real power." She held out the sword in front of her. "Curtana is a ceremonial sword that was used to cut the United Kingdom apart from the rest of the world. You may be part of the science side, but I assume by now you have a basic understanding of how magic works. By using that unique quality, I can perform something like this." She made a simple swipe in front of her.
For the first time in their lives, they saw a dimension being severed in front of them.
It was impossible to describe, as the air itself was just cut and there was nothing occupying the space from the cut. A second later, something similar to white plastic, like the kind used in models, fell out of the space and remained motionless in midair. It was about five meters long, and only as wide as Curtana was. "I am sure you are aware, a cross section of a three dimensional object, is a two dimensional object, and a cross section of that is a one dimensional object. Humans can only perceive three dimensional objects, so if a dimension higher than three is cut, we can only perceive up to three dimensions. This debris is what appears in our three dimensional world." The white plastic strip stopped levitating and fell to the asphalt below with a loud thud. "With Curtana, I can cut every dimension. It doesn't matter if they are higher or lower." She laughed.
"That's impossible," Shizuri spat out, after a moment of stunned silence. "Something that insane can't exist."
"If it's true," Mikoto said, her face growing pale. "It won't matter how many defenses we have, she can cut right through dimensions to us."
"This is the All Dimensions Severing Spell," Carissa told them, a cold grin plastered on her face as she watched. She enjoyed the way their faces turned white as the implications dawned on them.
Touma didn't say anything. His mind was trying to comprehend the power Carissa was wielding before him. It was like trying to understand the workings of the world with limited knowledge. Her power was so much greater than his mind could process, but his hands shook instinctively. He couldn't really feel fear, but his instincts were warning him they needed to run. Of course with Carissa's power, and a wall of knights surrounding them, that was impossible. If they tried to run, they would be killed. Our only option is to fight, even if it's a long shot. He mentally roared at his legs to move and he took a step forward, until he was between Shizuri and Mikoto and in front of Index. They both looked at him as he opened his mouth. "I don't care what kind of power you wield. As long as you continue to use it to hurt others, I will not sit back and watch. I won't let you continue down this path. You know what you are doing is wrong, and I'm sure many of your knights agree with me. They follow you out of loyalty, and all you do is abuse it." He made a fist and held it out in front of him. "If you insist on continuing, I… we are going to shatter that illusion of yours." Mikoto grinned, as she released what he did.
"About time you start relying on others," she said. Her face was returning back to her normal color. Mikoto was still afraid, in front of Carissa's overwhelming power, but standing next to Touma, strength was filling her up, like a warm drink on a cold winter day. She held out her iron sand swords in front of her and her eyes never left Carissa. Mikoto noticed Carissa did not pay her any attention and her focus was purely on Touma.
"You're saying some pretty idiotic things," Shizuri said sighing, her hand on her head. "But I guess there really isn't another option. I'll team up with you two, JUST to teach this b#$%& a lesson." She wouldn't admit it, but Touma's words seemed to give her a sliver of hope. For the first time, she was looking forward to fighting with him, instead of against him. Of course, most of her being wanted to slaughter Carissa and make her beg for mercy, but a part of her wanted to stand next to him. Damn, what the hell is with him? Even the stupidest things that come out of his mouth make me feel weird.
"Hahaha!" Carissa threw back her head and laughed. "Even after seeing my power, the strength still hasn't left your eyes. Let's see if you can continue to be so arrogant after you taste my true strength." She swung Curtana in front of her and a large block of the heavy white plastic appeared where she cut, about the size of a van. This time, it didn't just fall to her feet. Carissa flung the debris, at high speeds, like a projectile at them. The dimensional material blocked them from her sight, right before it collided with them. She was looking forward to seeing them either dodge or get smashed by the material's weight. She did not expect to see smoke coming from the debris, as it slowly disappeared. When the wreckage cleared, she saw what happened. A bright green shield was blocking her view. "So they had other tricks," she muttered, partially pleased the fight didn't end so early.
When Carissa had propelled the material at them, Shizuri moved up, so she was in the center of the others. An orb appeared in front of her and it started to spiral, until it formed a large enough circular shield in front of her. When the material hit it, it started to burn away as her ability turn it into dust. The shield was one of the few other ways she could use her ability. Even being a shield, anything that came into contact with it would meet the same fate as being her by one of her beams. The center faded away and the shield disappeared in a spiral originating from the same location it started at. Shizuri grinned as she effortlessly stopped the princess's attack. "Well now," she said. "Regardless if your claim is true, I still don't want to be hit something with that much mass."
"I hope you have other tricks or you are going to die," Carissa yawned. "I really should end this soon." A knight walked up and whispered something into her ear. "Ha," Carissa laughed and the knight left to take his position back into the circle. "The church forces are retreating. Soon they will be decimated and you will have no one to back you up. All you can do is surrender or die. If you get on you knees and, how do you Japanese say it, prostrate. I might be willing to let you live. Think of it as a favor from me boy." She turned her attention back to Touma. Several of the knights moved slightly, and then became still again. They were not use to Carissa showing generosity like that.
Touma might have actually done that to save his friends, if Mikoto and Shizuri simultaneously made rude gestures at Carissa. "Like that's going to happen."
Touma sighed, but he admired their determination. "I agree with them," he said. "I can't let you use force and threats against everyone. If we surrender, all you are going to do is kill your family and become a tyrant." Mikoto nodded, but didn't take her eyes off of Carissa. Shizuri grinned, glad they were planning to keep fighting, and four more orbs appeared around her.
"Stubborn to the head," Carissa said, shaking her head. "I guess I should finish it then since it doesn't seem like you can do much else."
"I beg to differ," Shizuri said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small silicon card. Mikoto recognized it when they fought so long ago. It would split one of her beams into dozens of them. It made up for her ability to only create a couple at once. Shizuri didn't care if she had to use items to win. To her, the ends justified the means. If she had to resort to cheap tricks, to cover her own weaknesses and destroy her opponents or accomplish her mission, she would do it in a heartbeat. "You remember what this does?" she asked Mikoto.
"Yea," Mikoto said. "Do you think it will work?"
"With her speed," Shizuri said thoughtfully. "Probably not." She had seen enough of Carissa's power to understand how strong she was. Shizuri would not underestimate a dangerous opponent because, in doing so, it could end up costing her life. Instead, she was going to use Mikoto and Touma to defeat Carissa. Right now, she hated the princess more than Mikoto. "It should, however, restrict her movements. This should give you an opportunity. Use your iron blades and strike the b#^$% down." Mikoto nodded.
"If I get an opening," Touma said, clenching his fist. "I will grab Curtana." Shizuri nodded, pleased, and turned her attention back to Carissa.
"Remember," Index reminded them. "Until Curtana is destroyed, her physical abilities will be exponentially higher than a normal person. Even if you can knock the sword out of her hand, don't let up until it's destroyed." They all gave a curt nod.
"Are you done with your strategy meeting yet?" Carissa asked bored. "I'm interested in trying out a couple more things with Curtana."
"Yes," Shizuri said simply and threw her card into the air. She fired one of her beams into the card. The card shattered, but it split her single beam into a torrent of multiple smaller beams. They fell down upon Carissa like deadly rain. Carissa did not know what the card's purpose was, so the attack was a surprise. Her reflexes were too good though. She could easily dodge something of this caliber. As she begun to move in between the beams, she was forced to lean back and dodge, as a black iron sand blade pelted past her. She shifted to the right and started to move diagonally through the beams, while also dodging Mikoto's iron blades, to quickly approach Shizuri's location. Mikoto realized the danger first and unleashed a torrent of electricity at Carissa.
"Oh no you don't," Carissa said, glancing at Mikoto out of the corner of her eye. She swung Curtana at the electricity and a wall of the white material rose up between them. The electricity hit it and bounced off harmlessly to the ground or dispersed into the air.
Damn it, Mikoto thought. Whatever that material is, it's not conductive. Can I control it will magnetism? Mikoto tried to push the material out of the way, but it didn't move, though Mikoto could feel her power interacting with it. Arg, what is it made of, it's not very magnetic. During the brief delay, Carissa had closed the gap between her and Shizuri.
"I've grown tired of you," Carissa said drawing her sword back.
"Eat shit and die," Shizuri replied, shooting a beam at her with one hand, while creating another shield with the other. Carissa ducked under the beam, and then used her high speed movement to bypass the shield. She stopped behind Shizuri and raised Curtana.
"You are weak," Carissa said simply and swung her blade as the dimension began to tear. She was so distracted by Shizuri's and Mikoto's assault, she forgot about the third person. This one person was quite good at predicting his opponent's moves and positions himself accordingly. Shizuri was not very far away from him, and he had started running to her side before Carissa decided to rush towards her. Carissa was faster than him, way faster due to Curtana's power, but he had less distance to travel, didn't have to dodge attacks, and he moved first. As Carissa was focused on crushing Shizuri with the dimensional material, she didn't notice Touma's hand reaching up toward Curtana. The dimension was being torn apart, Shizuri was turning around, and then Touma's hand touched the tear in space.
The sound of breaking glass was heard as the tear disappeared, leaving the space looking completely normal.
"What the…" Carissa said and then for a brief moment, she felt something she hadn't felt in years, panic. She saw his hand heading straight for Curtana and her mind froze. When his hand was less than an inch away, her mind clicked back into place and she turned on her heel, forcing Curtana away from him. Touma stumbled, as his hand missed, and barely managed to steady himself. A moment later, Carissa continued to whirl and kicked him in the back, sending him flying forward and rolling a good twenty feet. This brief moment gave Shizuri time to turn, jump backwards and fire another volley of her green beams. Carissa dodged them and was going to initiate another attack, when a bolt of electricity hit her. She had completely forgotten about Mikoto, who had climbed on top of the white debris wall. She jumped back, smoking slightly, but appeared to be unhurt. The mocking expression, she had worn, now changed into irritation, as she looked at Mikoto.
"I hope you didn't forget about me," Mikoto said proudly, as white blue electricity surrounded her. "I'm still mad at you too." Carissa looked at each one of them in turn, before her eyes stopped on Touma. She threw back her head and laughed loudly.
"I knew I chose correctly," she proclaimed. "That hand of yours can even negate the All Dimensions Severing Spell. You are way too valuable to lose in a simple squabble." She turned to the knights, who had started whispering among themselves when Touma negated Curtana's power. "I told you fools who dared to question me. He has power to even control Curtana and that power will belong to England." She turned back to him, and Touma felt sweat form. "I have been playing around, but fun and games is over. Join me, or your friends die."
"I can't join you," Touma said shaking his head and standing up. He wanted to protect his friends at all cost, but he couldn't join forces with someone who would resort to killing people just to gain power. "I won't let you kill my friends either. I'll fight you myself if I have to." He knew how pointless it would be, after seeing her strength, but he was not someone to just give up. He was determined to stop her, for her sake, as well as everyone else's.
"Then you have sealed your friend's fate," Carissa told him and then she vanished from his view. She didn't teleport, she just moved at high speed. He looked around and saw her standing at the base of the wall Mikoto was standing on. Judging by her expression, she didn't see Carissa move.
"Mikoto!" Touma yelled. "Get away!"
"Ha," Carissa laughed, and she hit the wall with Curtana. The wall lifted up into the air and flew high over the circle of knights. It landed with a resounding crash into a nearby building, crushing it into the ground. Mikoto was able to jump off at the last second and land, hard, on the ground. She rolled to minimize the impact and quickly jump back up to her feet. She back up closer to Touma and Shizuri, never turning her back to Carissa.
"That wall had to be over a ton," Mikoto said in shock.
"What the hell is with her strength?" Shizuri asked. "I would expect something like that from Accelerator, but her?"
"This is the power of Telesma," Index told them and all three of them turned around. During the excitement of the fight, they had forgotten she was there.
"Any luck analyzing it?" Touma asked quietly.
"I'm about halfway," Index replied. "She needs to use it constantly to speed up the process."
"Damn," Touma muttered. It took most of their strength to get this far, and Index wasn't even close to finishing.
Carissa looked at them and grinned. "Boy, you and the Index Librorum Prohibitorum are coming with me. You do not have a choice in the matter. You two," she looked at Mikoto and Shizuri. "I'm still in a good mood. If you turn now and leave, you may live. This is your LAST chance." Touma glanced at them, and both Mikoto and Shizuri realized what he was about to say. Both of them spoke up before he got a chance to utter a single word.
"Not going to happen," Mikoto declared. "I'm not abandoning him."
"F#$^ you!" Shizuri told Carissa, giving her another rude gesture. "No one tells me what to do."
"Idiots," Carissa sighed. "All of you. Though, I didn't really expect anything else from his companions." She raised Curtana and they could swear they saw it start to glow. Carissa lowered it slowly as her body was flowing with power. She was going to strengthen her body with Telesma and move at speeds they could not possibly defend against. The fight was going to end in two blows, one for both of the girls causing her problems. Her knees bent slightly, when she stopped and turned to look in the distance. Something was approaching her at full speed, something she hadn't felt before. It's definitely Telesma, and it's similar to Curtana's power from Michael. But why does it feel warped? Are the Fallen finally making their move?
Misaki's headache was not subsiding, it fact, it was getting worse. Her head was pounding like someone was beating her head like a drum. Her body felt like it was on fire, but she ignored the pain. Her vision kept fading in and out and it was hard to think of anything else. She wasn't able to hold onto the bus railing, whenever Itsuwa made a sharp turn. She commanded two of the knights to help steady her, as she focused her concentration on the one objective in her mind. Touma, I know you are nearby. I can feel you. She did indeed feel something, but if she was in her right mind she might have realized it wasn't him. She felt like she knew where something was, like a light beckoning and calling to her. She was definetly not thinking straight, being high on her overloaded ability and the massive amount of Telesma invading her body, would normally have realized what the massive power source, similar to what she was taking in, was.
"We have to be getting close," Itsuwa called over her shoulder to them. "Be prepared for any surprises."
"Do you see anyone yet?" Kuroko asked.
"There's something going on up ahead," Itsuwa replied. "There appears to be some smoke so someone is fighting."
"Then that is where we are heading," Misaki declared. "Hurry up. Who knows what Carissa could be doing to him?" Kuroko and Itsuwa were too focused on what laid before them, that they did not notice Misaki only referred to Touma. To be fair, Kuroko would probably have felt the same way about Mikoto. Itsuwa was the only one of those three who had experience putting aside personal feelings to rescue groups, because of her years fighting with the Amakusa. Misaki felt the source pulling her in grow stronger, as they approached, and then it suddenly surged, like it was increasing its concentration of power. Wait, she finally realized. This can't be Touma. He doesn't radiate power like this. Her mind had just started to clear when she learned Telesma started to flow into the knights. She only knew this because the knights could feel it, and she was reading their mind. Her head suddenly felt like it was splitting open and she fell to the ground clutching her head. Her control on the knights remained, but the slight modifications on Itsuwa and Kuroko broke.
"Shokuhou-san!" Kuroko called running to her side. "You shouldn't have taken that substance. You look… what happened to your eyes?"
"Huh?" Misaki said looking into the rearview mirror. "I don't know…" Another wave of pain flew through her mind, blocking out all other senses. Her mind was slowly breaking and she didn't know why.
"Itsuwa!" Kuroko called out. "Misaki's at her limit! I don't know what's wrong."
"What did she take…?" Itsuwa asked as they rounded a corner, then she slammed on the breaks, causing Kuroko to slam into a seat. "SHIT, GET DOWN!" Everyone ducked, purely by reflex, as the roof of the car was ripped off, like pulling the tab off canned food. Kuroko looked up as she pushed herself off the floor, and realized they had found Mikoto, Touma, Shizuri, and Index. The bad news, there was a great deal of knights, along with the princess. When they had turned the corner, they ran straight into the circle of knights. The knights jumped out of the way of the bus, but cut the roof off as they moved. There were now armed knights on both side of the bus.
"So this is how you planned to escape," Carissa said, looking at the bus. "It wasn't the worst plan imaginable, but you are far from being a match for me." She frowned and then growled. "Why are some of my knights with you? Are their traitors among them?"
Defend us, Misaki commanded the knights with her mind. They jumped up out of the bus and formed a circle around them. Misaki knew they were far outnumbered, so she fought through the pain and started to dominate more of the nearby knights.
"Kuroko," Mikoto called out. "Get away. You don't know what she's capable of."
"There goes our escape route," Shizuri groaned. "Seriously, they drove right into the circle? What the hell were they thinking?"
"The bus should still be working," Touma muttered. "If we can get to it, we should be able to escape."
"I'm sure the knights will let us just walk right over there," Shizuri snapped. "Besides, the princess's speed and strength could easily prevent us from reaching it. She might even crush it with her dimensional cut. I doubt she is really cutting dimensions though." She mumbled the last sentence under her breath. Several orbs appeared around her and she looked around.
"Damn," Mikoto said, staring at the bus with Itsuwa and Kuroko. "How can we get to them?" She started sparking slightly and then frowned. Wasn't Shokuhou with them too? I don't see her. But her ability would explain why the knights are protecting the bus. Maybe she's nearby. She looked around at the surrounding buildings and alleys, but she didn't see any sign of Misaki.
"We have another major problem," Index spoke up behind them, causing them all to turn slightly to look at her. "There is another source of Telesma coming from behind Itsuwa. It resembles the Telesma the knights are using, but it has been twisted to some degree. It appears the princess has also noticed it."
"What?" Touma said turning his attention back to Carissa, who was now staring, with a murderous look, at the bus. "How…?" He started to say but stopped when the nearby knights turned around and started to attack the other knights, pushing them away from the bus. Carissa didn't seem to care about them, all her attention was on the bus. They are turning on each other? It has to be Misaki, but she doesn't use magic, so what are they sensing?
"You two brats," Carissa told Kuroko and Itsuwa. "Get out of the way. I want to see what that thing behind you is." Itsuwa pulled out her spear and Kuroko pulled out some needles.
"We aren't going to let you," Itsuwa replied.
"Then you will die," Carissa said raising her blade.
"STOP CARISSA!" Touma yelled at her. To his utter surprise, and everyone else around him, her hand stopped. Then she slowly lowered her blade. "Wha… thanks…?" He was confused and not sure what happened.
"Shut up," Carissa snapped, not taking her eyes off the bus. "Look you moron." Touma, Mikoto, Shizuri, and Index turned to look at the bus and saw Kuroko and Itsuwa had lowered their weapons. A moment later Kuroko reached over and grabbed Itsuwa. They disappeared and reappeared next to Mikoto. Touma realized their eyes appeared glossed over, and he recognized Misaki's power. He tapped both of their heads and they came to.
"What happened?" Itsuwa asked looking around.
"Onee-sama!" Kuroko yelled putting her hand on Mikoto's shoulder. "I'm so glad you are ok, but how did we get here?"
"Shokuhou-san," Mikoto said, pointing to the bus. "She took control of you two so you didn't try to stand in front of the princess. She's a monster. She was just playing around with us, and we couldn't do anything about it."
"The fifth seems to be taking care of a lot of the knights," Shizuri commented, as the knights appeared to be having a civil war. If the knights got to close to the bus, they would be taken over. "When did she get this strong?"
"Ah Shokuhou-san!" Kuroko cried, as she remembered. "She took some weird drug to boost her powers and it's having some serious side effects."
"Drug?" Shizuri asked raising an eyebrow.
"What do you mean side effects?" Touma and Mikoto asked.
"She's been collapsing and her eyes change color…." While Kuroko was trying to explain as fast as she could, Carissa started walking toward the bus.
"Come out," Carissa ordered Misaki. "Or I cut the remains of the bus in half." She glanced over at her knights, and channeled more of Curtana's power to them. Suddenly, the warped Telesma coming from the bus grew in response. "Hurry up! I am not in the mood for games. This is your final warning." Misaki heard Carissa's voice and pushed herself up off the bus floor, so everyone else could see her. Touma, Mikoto, Shizuri, Itsuwa, and Kuroko gasped.
Misaki Shokuhou no longer appeared completely human.
Her bright blonde hair was lighter, closer to silver, with just a tint of the original color. The stars in her eyes were still such a dark blue, they were almost black. Above her head, there were three small black triangles, moving in a circular orbit, like a small halo. A white liquid was appearing in thin air and slowly spreading from her neck down, almost as if it was liquid clothes. The most ominous threat was dozens of blue threads, the same color as her eyes, spreading out from her body. Each thread seemed to be moving in the direction of one of the knights she controlled. They got lighter and lighter, the further away from her body they got, until they vanished. Several of the blue threads, from her back, seemed to slowly curve and connect with each other in a specific pattern, about a meter away from her. They sort of reminded Touma of fairy wings. Touma felt goosebumps as he stared at her.
"What are you?" Carissa asked. "You seem to be absorbing Telesma from my knights." A thread flickered in front of Misaki toward Carissa and she frowned. "You won't be able to control me, so don't even try. Yes, I can hear you." There was silence. "How dull. You are not in any position to make demands."
"What's happening?" Index asked.
"She appears to be communicating telepathically," Mikoto mumbled looking between Carissa and Misaki's new appearance. "But what happened to her…?" It can't be. She's just like me when I was forced to try to pass level 5. Is she in the same stage? I couldn't control myself, but will she be able to? The situation just went from bad to worse.
"Can drugs really do this?" Kuroko asked.
"There's plenty of substances that can boost an ability," Shizuri said crossing her arms, but her eyes never stopped darting around to make sure none of the knights snuck up on them. "Most likely she's losing control of her ability, or her mind, but I don't understand the transformation."
"I've seen something like this before," Touma muttered and everyone turned to look at him. He could feel Mikoto's eyes on him and he wanted to make sure he didn't mention her name. "Someone gets forced above what their body can handle they start to develop strange transformations. The stronger the ability, the more complete the transformation is. Misaki is a level 5 so…"
"The transformation could be complete," Itsuwa finished. "I can't understand why she is radiating Telesma though."
"It's possible she made a connection with the knights and the Telesma has been leaked into her body," Index said. "But I don't know how her ability allowed this to happen."
"We can worry about that later," Touma said. "Right now we need to…" he stopped when he heard a voice in his head.
Make a break for the vehicle and I will cover you. He grabbed his head with his right hand and the voice disappeared with the sound of breaking glass. His eyes widened when he realized what happened and quickly removed his hand. It will only be for a moment so you need to hurry. Touma nodded to himself and realized everyone was giving him strange looks.
"We need to what?" Shizuri said, clicking her tongue impatiently.
"What's wrong?" Mikoto asked.
"We need to make a break for the bus," Touma told them "Misaki is going to make a distraction, but it won't last long." He turned his gaze over to Carissa who appeared to be in conversation with Misaki. The only reason she didn't attack immediately, was her curiosity was aroused at the creature before her. The annoyed look on her face told Touma she was about to go back to using violence. "Everyone ready?" They all nodded and Touma looked at Misaki. For a brief moment, their eyes met. "Go!" They all bolted, as fast as they could, toward the bus. Carissa noticed them almost immediately.
"Stop them!" she yelled at the knights, and they all moved as one unit toward them. Right before they got near, and Shizuri was about to blast the closest ones, they stopped. All the knights nearby turned and attack Carissa instead. Touma thought he saw countless light blue threats, but it was too hard to tell and he was focusing on running. "Damn you all!" he heard Carissa yell.
"Get on!" Touma yelled as everyone climbed in through where the door would be normally. Luckily, the knights weapons where sharp and the windows did not shatter when the walls were cut. It was like they were in a convertible bus now. Itsuwa leaped into the driver seat and turned the bus on.
"HOLD ON!" she yelled over her shoulder, as she backed up the bus.
"Wait!" Touma yelled. "We can't leave Misaki."
"Kuroko!" Mikoto yelled, looking at her friend.
"On it." Kuroko teleported next to Misaki and grabbed her. Suddenly, all the blue threads seemed to bend in midair and swarm at Kuroko. She noticed the danger and immediately teleported them both, before Misaki could incapacitate her. She went lifeless as they touched her but, by then, they were already in the bus. Touma leaped at Misaki and grabbed her wrist with his right hand. The sound of breaking glass was heard and most of the blue threads appeared to break, and her wings started to fade.
"Damn you boy!" They all heard Carissa's thunderous yell from behind them and turned to look. Carissa blew back several of the knights with brute force, but she was surrounded and it would take time to knock them all out. Touma couldn't be sure, but there was more than anger in her eyes, maybe excitement. Then Carissa did something completely unexpected. She took Curtana and jabbed it into the ground. While it may have looked strange, Carissa was channeling the power of the All Dimension Severing Spell into the ground around her. A moment later an explosive shockwave blew all the knights away, and a couple hundred meters evenly around her were impacted. Touma could see the shockwave, as knights, earth, debris, and tress were thrown like paper. Itsuwa was going as fast as she could and the bus managed to outstrip the explosion.
"That was close," Mikoto sighed.
"What's that?" Kuroko asked pointing and they all looked up into the air. A large object was coming down from the sky toward them. It looked like a large clunk of white plastic.
"Oh crap," Touma said. "She can throw the dimensional debris this far?"
"Move it!" Shizuri said pushing him aside. He fell into the seat and, since he was still holding onto Misaki, she fell on top of him. Shizuri stood up, grabbed two metal seat rails, and green orbs appeared around her, as she looked up at the debris. She had to wait for it to get closer, to ensure she hit it, and then she fired all her beams simultaneously. Every beam made direct contact with the debris, and caused chain explosions. Pieces of it, which didn't get disintegrated, fell into the street and on nearby buildings behind the bus, as they drove further away from Carissa.
"We made it," Mikoto sighed and collapsed into a chair.
"Onee-sama!" Kuroko cried happily and jumped into her lap, burying her face in Mikoto's chest. A quick spark and Kuroko fell onto the ground.
"Seriously?" Mikoto asked annoyed. "We just got out of a dangerous situation and you try that?"
"My love for you will never waiver under any circumstances," Kuroko declared, still smoking on the bus floor.
"You two look comfortable," Shizuri said calmly, but her voice was quite cold. She wasn't looking at Kuroko and Mikoto though, she was looking at Touma. Misaki was sitting in his lap and he was still holding onto her hand. Touma gulped as Mikoto and Index also glared at him. Itsuwa was focused on driving, so she was only able to listen to their conversations and occasionally comment. Touma looked at Misaki, glad she was looking closer to being normal again. Though, her eyes were still dark and her hair was still silver. The white liquid clothing had disintegrated when Touma's hand had made contact with her hand. Her eyes started to lighten, as she gazed up into Touma's eyes.
"Are you yourself again?" he asked. She didn't say anything and continued to stare at him. "Misaki…" He started to say, looking for any response from her. She suddenly wrapped her arms around him, stared at him for a moment unblinkingly, and then gave him a deep passionate kiss, right on the lips. Touma was too stunned to do anything, and he couldn't say anything with her lips on his.
"What are you doing?!" Mikoto demanded, her face flushing.
"TOUMA!" Index yelled and she was beginning to be enveloped by a dark murderous aura.
"How bold," Kuroko said, grinning slightly. She still didn't understand why everyone seemed to like Touma, but part of her was pleased it was Misaki kissing him, instead of Mikoto. Though, she still felt slightly guilty for supporting Mikoto's rival.
"Flirting in the middle of a warzone," Shizuri said, her eyes flashing dangerously. "You really are quite carefree. But I suppose I could join in with the others and hit you a few times myself." She cracked her knuckles threateningly.
"Please don't be too hard on him," Itsuwa pleased over her shoulder. She wanted to try to help Touma, but couldn't because she had to get everyone out of the city as fast as possible.
Touma finally managed to push Misaki off him. "Misaki," he said. "This isn't like…" He stopped as Misaki's eyes flickered closed and she collapsed into his arms. "MISAKI!" She was definitely unconscious and her pulse was weak. "Misaki!" he called out again and she barely stirred. "She's really sick." He felt her head and it was burning up. A moment later, Index kneeled next to her and stared intently at Misaki.
"I think she is having a negative reaction to the Telesma she absorbed," Index diagnosed. "I still don't know how she managed to do that without dying."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Kuroko asked.
"Do any of you know anything about her ability?" Index asked her.
"It's a mind manipulation ability," Touma said, speaking up. "I don't know the specifics on how it works though."
"Wait," Mikoto said, as an idea came to her and she pulled out her cellphone. "Kagere-san does research right? He might know."
"Go ahead," Touma said nodding. "I don't think any of us can do anything."
"So he's a researcher?" Shizuri said thoughtfully and Touma nodded. Weird for someone so young to do anything major, but it's not unheard of. Her eyes widened slightly as she remembered the first time she met him. He was looking at data from the dark side of Academy City. What is he up to? She decided to remain unusually quiet, so not to draw attention to herself, and the others tried to help Misaki. Shizuri didn't really care about Misaki, now that the mission was over, and, as there was nothing she specifically could do, she was going to let events play out as they would.
"Kagere-san," Mikoto said on her phone and Touma looked at her. "Really, how much have you seen?" There was a slight pause. "We don't know what happened, but Shokuhou-san collapsed. Index said her body is reacting to the Telesma. Do you know what happened?" There was another pause. "Ok," she said. "I'll hand you over to Index." She passed the phone and Index started explaining everything on her end and asking questions.
"What did he say?" Touma asked, while Kuroko and Shizuri looked at Mikoto too.
"Since we left the palace area," Mikoto informed them. "They were able to monitor us through the security cameras. He doesn't know what happened, but is trying to get information about it." She took a breath and looked at Misaki. She did not like Misaki, for many reasons. She didn't like the way she manipulated others and flaunted her positon, plus the added fact she was also in love with Touma. But right now, Mikoto was going to do everything to help her. Not only did Misaki save her, she also saved Touma and Shizuri. She even took a drug to achieve it, risking her own well-being. She probably did it mostly for Touma, but still. She does seem to help me when the situation really is bad. Maybe she's better than I thought. I still won't let her have him though.
Kuroko was watching Index examining Misaki, while talking to Jason on the phone. She had a lot of conflicted emotions. She was glad everything worked out and they had saved Mikoto, Shizuri, and even Touma, but she didn't like the fact Misaki had poisoned herself to do so. Kuroko actually liked Misaki and she couldn't understand why Mikoto and Misaki seemed to squabble a lot. I guess they are rivals and they like hi… the same person… for now, but I can tell onee-sama is worried about Misaki.
"Ok," Index said hanging up the phone and passing it back to Mikoto. "From what we can infer, she overloaded her ability, most likely to surpass the knight's mental fortifications. Her mental ability established a connection between her and the knights. The issue occurred when this connection stayed opened. She kept control of the knights for a long period of time and Curtana was constantly feeding the knights an enormous amount of Telesma. It started to leak back through this connection, into her mind, and continued into the rest of her body. The Telesma would have fortified her ability and created those changes around her."
"So is there anything we can do?" Touma asked. "From what I've heard before, you can't use magic and science without dying, with small exceptions." He thought of Motoharu and Jason.
"The thing is," Index said looking at him. "She DIDN'T use magic. The Telesma just strengthened her ability. She was still only using science, not magic. The issue is her body is not accustomed to mana or Telesma, so it's fighting it, like an infection. As of right now, you are the only one who can do anything."
"What do I have to do?"
"Keep your right hand on her head," Index said. "Since she's not casting a spell, the Telesma won't be immediately negated. It will be negated overtime, so until we get back to the hotel, keep your hand on her head." Touma nodded and he and Mikoto helped Misaki lay on the seats next to Touma, while he kept his hand on her head in his lap. He couldn't hear the sound of breaking glass, but he was hoping this would work. After everything she did for him, he wasn't going to let her die. He could feel her soft hair and skin, as he rested his hand on her forehead. He didn't notice Mikoto and Index, even Itsuwa turned around, for an instant to look at him. Each of them had an odd combination of jealousy and wistfulness.
Shizuri, on the other hand, though she felt the same way, looked for something to distract herself from that scene. She glanced at Misaki's purse and noticed a familiar white case. "Did she seriously…?" she muttered to herself and Kuroko looked over at her. Shizuri reached down and pulled out the small white case. "That stupid brat actually stole Takitsubo's Body Crystal. No wonder she had such a reaction. She's lucky it didn't kill her immediately. It was made for Takitsubo and she can have some serious side effects herself, if she over uses it."
"What does it do?" Kuroko asked. "Shokuhou-san just said it was a drug to boost abilities."
"Pretty much," Shizuri nodded. She wasn't going to give any other information to the others, as the information was more or less a secret for them. "It was made specifically for one person. The fifth used it and she was lucky it was at least partially compatible with it, or she would have collapsed immediately. As soon as she wakes up, I'm going to have a long talk with her about stealing from my team…" Kuroko, Mikoto, Touma, and even Itsuwa felt chills run down their spines. None of them were looking forward to hearing that conversation.
Carissa watched the green beams of light disintegrate the dimensional debris she threw at the retreating bus. She sighed, but didn't really expect any different outcome. While she knew Shizuri was incredibly violent, she did have combat experience and wouldn't let her guard down during a retreat. I wonder if she learned the difference in power. That one girl, however, is definitely a problem. She could control a large group of my knights and her control didn't break their connection to Curtana. In fact, she even appeared to absorb part of the Telesma, interesting. Though they took him, this will not stand. It's time to move out in full force to crush the church. She looked over, as a knight approached her. He walked up the crater, which surrounded Carissa, because of Curtana's explosion, and bowed.
"My apologies," he said. "They are moving to the city limits and we will not be able to catch them in time."
"No need," Carissa said frowning slightly, while she looked into the distance. "They will be back."
"Are you sure?"
"The boy will not rest until he stops me," Carissa said and looked down at Curtana in her hand. "Even if he wanted to leave, the church wouldn't let him. Hmm, Curtana seems to be acting strange." It was vibrating in her grip, like it was upset. Causing that explosion wasn't the correct way to use Curtana. "I guess using it in an incorrect way causes problems," she muttered.
"I do have good news for you," The knight said and Carissa raised an eyebrow. She waved a hand for him to continue. "The former Queen has been spotted in the company of the Archbishop. Our forces are moving to capture her as we speak."
"Excellent," Carissa said, and this time a real smile appeared on her face. "Remember, even weaken, she still has Curtana Second. It probably has about twenty percent of its original power. You will need a large force to subdue her." The knight nodded. "Go and take a couple squads to intercept her. Everyone else," she looked around at all the bodies of the knights in the distance, who had been caught in Curtana's blast, "gather the others." She knew they were alive, because the blast hadn't been used to kill, only remove the obstacles in her path.
"Right away," the knight said, bowed, and turned to gather the others.
Carissa looked back into the distance Touma and his friends had fled. Looks like you were unable to stop me, shame. My plan will be carried out, regardless of your interference. I control all airports out of this country, so you have nowhere to run. She laughed and felt Curtana vibrate again, this time stronger. It gave off the ominous feeling the vibrations would destroy Curtana if she kept using it incorrectly. I guess my plans will have to be put on hold, until I give Curtana a proper tune up. She turned and walked back to Buckingham Palace.
Misaki's eyes flickered opened and she didn't know where she was. When she looked up she saw Touma's face and he had his hand on her head. Her face flushed, when Touma looked down and their eyes met. "She's awake," Touma called out to the others. Misaki tried to sit up, but Touma pushed her back down. "Don't get up," he told her. "We need to make sure you don't have any Telesma left in your body." She realized her head was in his lap, and her face turned a brilliant shade of red.
"What happened?" Misaki asked nervously. "Ah, my head is still pounding."
"You took some weird drug and almost died," Mikoto said disapprovingly. "You did save us, so I guess I should thank you."
"You are to kind Misaka-san," Misaki said smiling, a little happy Mikoto owed her.
"It's not funny," Kuroko reprimanded her. "You nearly died."
"I'm sorry Shirai-san," Misaki replied. "But I had to or we would have lost everyone."
"I know," Kuroko conceded. "But…" Her voice trailed off because she really didn't have any good rebuttal.
"I'm glad she's okay," Itsuwa called out form the driver's seat. "It will be a little bit before we get back to the hotel. We just got out of the city, but we have to take the long route back in case we are being followed. We don't want the knights to find out headquarters."
"I don't mind," Misaki told her, smiling slightly. Right now, her head was in her prince's lap and he was holding her head. She shifted slightly into a more comfortable position and snuggled her head against Touma's lap. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Mikoto giving her an icy glare, so Misaki winked at her. Misaki saw a vein throb in Mikoto's head, but she stayed unusually quiet and reserve. Misaki didn't notice Index giving her an almost equal glare. Misaki was about to be lost in her own paradise, when someone spoke up and caused her to crash back to earth.
"So," Shizuri said, her voice calm, but it sent shivers down everyone's spines. "You decided to steal from one of my girls, and then decide to use the stolen drug, without knowing the side effects. Would you care to explain yourself?" Misaki's grinned faded and she quickly prepared her excuses for the inevitable discussion that was about to take place.
Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or ideas, I love reading them. If you have a question you wish I ask and would like a quick answer, feel free to message me directly. I try to respond to those within a day or two. Comments, I tend to respond to in the next chapter.
Motoharu: I knew it would work, look at all the information we got from the fans.
Aogami: Nice, we need to total up the score and see how this season finishes it out.
Accelerator: Well, we knew the other level fives would be popular.
Jason: Though, Princess Carissa was really popular. Did you see Swoob's comment? I forgot about Mikoto's mom because I never met her in the story.
Touma: Guys, do not go there…
Mikoto: Did you all say something about my mom?
Me: Well, I was debating having her make an appearance. She would love to meet Touma again.
Jason: Hahaha.
Mikoto: NO! Don't do it! She always embarrasses me.
Misaki: Oh, I would like to meet her.
Accelerator: This will be great.
Me: Maybe I could have Touma's mom make an appearance too. Both moms hit it off when they met before.
Touma: …
Mikoto: …
Misaki: Oh, maybe not then. I would rather have Touma's mother meet my parents.
Me: Oh, nice job on the comments Shokuhou. No one got insulted too much. I need someone who hasn't done it yet to do so.
Mikoto: What did she say about me?
Misaki: Oh, you sure are conceited. Why would I say anything about you?
Kuroko: I'll do it. I didn't get a lot to do this chapter, so I rather do it now when I have time. Plus, there are others I wouldn't want to do it…
Jason: (Whistles)
Me: Sure, Kuroko will be answering questions next chapter. I'm sure the internet will ask the right question.
Kuroko: What's that supposed to me?
Motoharu: You will see.