Hi everyone. This is Mikoto Misaka and I'm glad to finally have a turn to answer your questions. For some reason, the author was hesitant about me answering, but he allowed Accelerator, Mugino, and Shokuhou to do it. That doesn't make a lot of sense. I was told there are a lot of tough questions and limited time, so I will do my best to answer as many questions as I can. I know there will probably be information you can never let Kuroko know about.
naruhinasakufan1: They didn't outshine me. Mugino just kept having her attacks reflected and she was forced to defend against the debris. Her best timing was protecting Touma after the cluster bomb. They needed me to focus on tiring out the princess. Shokuhou only managed to do something near the end.
Yakutsu Zaishiro: Well, I would prefer it didn't come to it. Kuroko's my best friend, but sometimes I need to be tough on her to establish boundaries. If I can get permission to change roommates, all I need to do is find someone else who wants to change. I know a couple people who might be willing, but I rather not have someone who treats me like some celebrity, just because I'm a level five.
Haku Katsuki: There have been some close calls, like a couple times when she ambushed me in the shower… Anyway, she's still the best roommate I have had at Tokiwadai so far.
Chen: I don't know. I suppose he might like that when we get back to Academy City. He might think of me more lady-like since he likes older… Ah… about the new technique. If I learn one, it will be using my ability in a new way. I've been trying to learn to fire two railguns at once, but it's kind of hard to aim both properly.
GStride: Ah… well, I would like to hang out more and maybe have dinner alone…. Spend the night together…. Kiss… I need to be more assertive, Shokuhou is trying to monopolize him and I won't let that happen.
Banditz: Gekota Land is a real place, it just opened and I was planning to get tickets before Touma told us about the trip. Well, I hope it doesn't come to this. The best bet is to distract her until she forgets about Kamiko, but that is a long shot… sigh. Arg, why does every girl he meets seem to follow him! It's hard enough with a couple people from Academy City. She did what? That's it, I'm not going to play nice anymore. Ah, well, Touma of course, but I'm glad I don't have to choose.
dragon100977: She wasn't going to tell me even if I asked, and Touma didn't seem to know her. I wasn't sure how to proceed and forgot about it. I'm more worried about what she is doing now. I can already cook, though nothing to complicated. I technically did already at the Tokiwadai retreat, and we went on a date.
Swoob: That's for the confidence, but your suggestion might be…. A bit much. I rather not have my mom involved.
I'm really sorry I couldn't answer all your questions. There was a lot more than I thought there would be and the author wants to limit the length of the introductions. If I get another chance to answer, I'll try to do more. Have fun with the new chapter.
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.
The silence was deafening. Touma only could only stare at the unconscious form of Carissa. Lying on the ground, she looked just like a normal woman, unlike the invincible warrior they had fought so furiously moments before. His eyes traveled to the others and saw they had similar looks of disbelief. The fight had ended abruptly and everyone was still trying to process it. "Would you be so kind as to get off, I'm a little exhausted at the moment." Touma turned his head slightly to look at Kaori's slightly red face. His eyes widened as he realized he was laying his head in her chest.
"Ah sorry," he said quickly scrambling off her and standing up. His right wrist was killing him, but he didn't say anything because he saw Kaori's wounds. Her clothes were torn and her body was covered in cuts and bruises. Some of the more serious wounds seemed to be partially healed, as if they were healed with magic halfway to save time. He could put up with a possible sprain compared to the injuries the others had endured. He reached down, with his left hand, and helped her up. "It seems like I just woke up from a bad dream."
"Everyone probably feels the same way," Kaori replied, and then a slight smile appeared on her face. "Maybe they need some encouragement from the person who delivered the final blow." Touma stared at her, and she nodded slightly in encouragement. He sighed and turned to face everyone else, who were slowly approaching the scene, unsure if the fight was truly over. He wasn't sure what to do either, but he let instinct take over. He formed a fist and raised his right hand into the air.
The instantaneous roar of cheering nearly knocked him over.
A moment later he was surrounded by girls hugging him. Misaki, Mikoto, and Index were the first to reach him, but Itsuwa, Agnese, Frenda, and several others he didn't know joined in. He felt a powerful hand slap him on the back and he turned around. Zach was grinning and looked in high spirits, even with a small gash on his head. It was obviously, they finally had something to rejoice about. Even Touma was beginning to smile, the excitement was contagious, glad the issue had finally resolved and his friends were safe.
"I'm so glad you're safe Touma," Misaki said hugging him tightly.
"When I saw you flying through the air," Mikoto told him, also holding him tightly. "I didn't know what to make of it. You really do things in the most insane way, idiot." She sniffed slightly. "I'm glad you are okay."
"Touma!" Index cried. "Stop doing stupid things." She had tears in her eyes as she hugged him tightly.
"You were so cool," Frenda exclaimed, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "Basically, flying through the air and socking her in the face was perfect."
"Not bad," Zach said slapping him on the back again. "You definitely have courage. Going to celebrate with all your girls now?"
From a distance Accelerator and Jason were watching Touma get mobbed. "A single well placed blow is all it took," Jason said, grinning. "Yet he still got enough experience to have Kami Disease level up. I have to report to this Tsuchimikado and Aogami."
"That is one of the stupidest things you have ever said," Accelerator replied. "But, I hate to admit it, I agree with you completely."
"Shut up," Touma told Zach. He was painfully aware of Accelerator and Jason watching him with amused expressions on their faces. He was worried what they were going to say after this was over. He also had felt goosebumps running down his neck. A dark aura was coming from Kuroko and, to his surprise, Shizuri. "I'm glad my friends are safe, but we really should be helping all the injured now, right?"
"He is absolutely correct," Kaori said. She turned to the rest of her forces. "We can celebrate later. For now, everyone able to heal, get to work. Evacuate anyone with serious injuries first." The Anglican forces nodded and split up to help their fallen comrades. The knights followed suit, after a brief nod from Knight Leader. Kaori walked over to where Carissa was laying and looked down. Carissa's eyes were opened and she was staring up into the sky. The only sign Kaori saw Carissa noticing her presence was Carissa's eyes flickered onto her ever so slightly. A moment later, Kaori was accompanied by Knight Leader, Stiyl, and Villian. "You have lost," Kaori told her simply. There wasn't any major reason to say it, it was obvious she lost, but Kaori had said it purely as a diplomatic gesture.
"Yes." Carissa didn't utter anything else and she seemed resign to her fate. Her eyes darted to Curtana's hilt, still grasped tightly in her hand though the blade was completely destroyed, and she sighed. Even wielding one of the most powerful artifacts in history, she still lost. The power would most likely return to her mother's blade and the rest would disperse.
"What is your plan for us?" Knight Leader asked Stiyl.
"It's not really up for me to decide," Stiyl answered, looking at Villian. "Queen Elizard is still in charge, and she will have final authority. I will say this though," he paused and took a deep drag from his cigarette. "Her actions will not be forgiven easily and I don't plan to try to convince anyone otherwise."
"I understand," Knight Leader said. "I am also prepared to face judgement for my transgressions."
"No," Villian said firmly, shaking her head. "Your presence is too important. You are the linchpin that holds the knights together. We need everyone to band together, more than ever, for the future of our country. If you executed, it will only widen the strife between the factions. We need to rebuild the trust between all three of our groups. You are not allowed to die." Her normal kind expression suddenly held strength, as she looked at Knight Leader. "If you are truly sorry for your actions, then it's time to make it up to the people you betrayed."
A brief jolt of surprised showed on his face, before the shadow of a smile appeared. "You have grown Lady Villian."
"I had to."
"I agree with her," Kaori said sheathing her sword. Her eyes darted over to Touma and his friends. They had moved out of the way so the Anglicans and the knights could work uninterrupted. One of the nuns taught Jason a basic healing spell, so he was helping them out, since they needed everyone possible. "We need all of our strength to survive the trials ahead. Due to Curtana's control being broken, the protection on England will surely be diminished for a while. I have no doubt The Fallen will try to make use of this. You all know their strength and purpose. We must stop them from summoning Lucifer."
"You make it sound so easy," a girl's singsong voice rang out across the palace grounds and everyone froze. They looked up and the joy they had felt faded away, as a blonde girl slowly walking out of a dark void in the air above them. She was wearing a pink shirt and a white skirt. Since she was standing above them, they all had a view of her white panties, but she seemed to not care. "You speak of stopping us, but all you ever did was follow my plan perfectly."
"Eve!" Touma yelled in recognition. "What are you doing here?" He took a couple steps forward so he was standing in front of the others. He was aware of all them watching her too. The knights and Anglican's started to draw their weapons, but they continued to watch in silence. Every one of them knew who Eve was, and how dangerous she could be.
"Was this the girl you said created the creatures out of paper?" Shizuri asked Saiai and Frenda.
"It super is," Saiai replied.
"Definitely," Frenda agreed.
"Why is she here?" Mikoto gasped.
"Obviously," Misaki answered, her face dark. "She's taking advantage of our exhaustion."
"If she makes more of those paper humans," Kuroko said, reaching down and grabbing her needles. "We could be in trouble."
"Damn it," Accelerator growled. He had a personal vendetta against Eve, but he didn't have any more time left in his battery. If he turned it back on, he most likely would collapse almost instantly.
"Hi Imagine Breaker," she said sweetly, looking right at him. "Thank you so much for helping out more than I expected." She blew him a kiss and Touma felt several murderous auras, not just from behind him, but a couple other places scattered throughout the church forces. "I was just having fun while waiting for my plan to come to fruition. My associate is picking up the wing as we speak." She disappeared from sight, as a giant torrent of flame erupted around her.
"Then the best option now would be to remove you from the picture," Stiyl said calmly.
"Yea," Eve giggled. She had appeared directly behind him. "If you had the power to do so." Stiyl turned around instantly, rune card in his hand, but Eve disappeared again and reappeared in the middle of the destroyed palace grounds, flouting a couple feet above the ground. It almost looked like Kuroko's teleportation, but she sort of became transparent before she actually teleported. A moment later, Knight Leader, William, and Kaori surrounded her, weapons drawn. William made sure he was between Eve and Villian, who hadn't left but was staring at Eve with a mixture of shock and awe.
"Surrender," Knight Leader told her, authority resonating in his voice.
"Or we will use force," Kaori finished. William didn't say anything, but his muscles tighten in preparation. To their surprise, Eve raised her hands in the air, like she actually planned to comply. "Tell us where the wing is," Kaori demanded.
"It's in the most obvious place possible and you never even thought of it," Eve said, still giggling. She brought an arm down and pointed far into the distance. Kaori turned to look and saw black smoke rising high into the sky. "Looks like Juliet has taken it. I hope she doesn't get corrupted by its power. We all know what a little bit of power does to someone." Her eyes flickered to Carissa, who was sitting up now, leaning against a piece of debris. Carissa gave her a death glare, but did not say anything. Stiyl on the other hand frowned and slunk over to Jason, who was watching Eve closely.
"I need you to do something for me," Stiyl mumbled. Jason raised an eyebrow before Stiyl whispered his plan. Jason grinned and nodded.
"I could definitely do that." Stiyl nodded, pleased, and moved towards Eve, pulling out a rune card. He wasn't sure when Eve would try something, so he had to be prepared. While he had gotten Jason to agree to his to plan, the others continued to talk with Eve.
"What did she attack?!" demanded Kaori.
"I think it's the Tower of London," Villian said, squinting in the direction of the smoke. "The distance appears right."
"Bingo," Eve laughed, touching a finger to her nose." Now, what could possibly be in that tower I want? Think carefully, it's not that hard." It was obvious to Touma that Eve was enjoying playing around with them. She didn't have to appear before them all, but she chose too for some reason.
"No," Knight Leader said, his eyes widening in realization. "The Crown Jewels."
"Exactly," Eve beamed at him. "I'm surprised none of you realized this sooner. You knew Lord Lucifer's wings were in gems, yet you completely ignored them."
"Impossible," Villian spoke up, addressing Eve directly for the first time. She didn't know Eve's plan, but it was clear Eve wasn't planning to fight them. "Those were the first items Rimea investigated when we learned Eve was looking for the wings of Lucifer. They have cultural significance, but they didn't have any magical power."
"I have to agree," piped up Index. "I have seen the Crown Jewels and they do not have any magical power. Even a fragment of an angel would stand out."
"You both were wrong," shrugged Eve. "But for a specific reason, which leads to my very simple plan you all fell for."
"Which is?" Kaori asked. She was determined to get, as much information from Eve as possible. We barely have information on her and her organization. She seems to be in a talkative mood, so let's try. She caught Knight Leader's, William, and Stiyl's eyes. They seemed to be agreeing with her. All the other church and knight forces were waiting for the signal to attack. As long as Eve was just talking, they were holding position. The only unknown factor is Kamijou's friends. They can be quite reckless. Her eyes darted over to them, and saw Mikoto and Misaki standing firmly next to Touma. Shizuri and her friends were behind them, along with Kuroko and Accelerator.
"Well," Eve said, swaying in the air and putting her hands behind her head in a nonchalant way. "It's a long story, and the main reason I had to put this plan together." She smiled at them all. "But now that we have the wing, I'll tell you. Let's start at the beginning, so everyone can be caught up. When our lord challenged and lost to Archangel Michael, Michael severed Lord Lucifer's wings and cast them down upon earth to prevent our lord from being able to renter the domain of god, or more commonly referred to as Heaven. Our lord could not be killed, as his power was too entwined in the fabric of your world, being the first archangel. His body was destroyed and his soul sealed away. Our research told us one of the wings had found its way into England."
"But many of the jewels have been replaced over the centuries," Villian protested. "How could you guarantee his gem holding the wing would not?"
"Excellent question," Even commented, pointing at her. "You see, the Crown Jewels were supposed to be collection of more than a 100 historic ceremonial objects, correct?" Villian nodded. "That is actually incorrect. The Crown Jewels were not formed because of tradition. It was created to hide the gem in plain sight. After all, would any enemies think the most powerful item in the world will be hiding in the open? This almost fooled even us. I believe there is a long list of rules for adding and removing items from the Crown Jewels. If you took all those rules and applied them to every piece, what would you get?"
Villian frowned, because she didn't know all the rules by heart, but knight Leader did. "There are three gems and a gold relic that could not be removed unless the rules were ignored." He made a fist in recognition.
"The other three pieces are insignificant," Eve said floating horizontally to the ground, almost like she was laying down on her chest in midair. "Only one of them mattered."
"But that doesn't explain why there was no trace of Lucifer's power," Index interjected.
"The answer begins and ends with Michael," Eve told her, smiling slightly. It seemed like no matter what was talked about, Eve was always cheerful. "Each wing was sealed with a small piece of Michael's power. But over the years, with humans growing and learning magic, the seals slowly started breaking. This is when Adam and I started making our move after so long. Over the centuries, we started collecting the wings. We waited so long and now we were so close. These last few years were brutal, we had been unable to locate many of the wings, so we had to continue to watch and wait." Her eyes widened and her smile stretched farther. For the first time, Touma began to feel this girl was not quite sane. "But we know where the last ones are. This is the tenth, and Adam is currently taking the eleventh from the Roman Catholic Church. The last one's location is known to us and will soon be within our grasp."
"Centuries?" Mikoto asked unable to keep quiet. "How old are you?" Is she immortal or does she mean her organization? I can't be sure with magic. She couldn't read Eve's intentions except that she had developed an interest in Touma. I won't let her near him. There's something… off with her.
"How old do you think I am?" Eve asked, staring at her. Mikoto gave an involuntary shiver. While Eve was smiling, her eyes seemed to pierce right through her. Mikoto didn't answer and Eve shrugged. "Oh yes, where was I? The seal for the wing in England had almost broken long ago and we had begun to divine its location. Then something terrible happened." She held her hand over her heart. "England created Curtana Original and separated the UK from the rest of the world. The seal which was about to break, was suddenly saturated with Michael's Telesma. This caused our lord's power to remain dormant and we lost track of it. Over the centuries, the power continued to be absorbed by the gem, until there was no trace of his power left."
"Then why are you after it?" Touma asked. "If Michael's power destroyed Lucifier's power…"
"Not destroy," Eve interrupted, shaking a finger as if reprimanding him. "Overshadowed would be a better word. This caused a problem for us. When we finally learned of its location, we could not retrieve it."
"Why?" Kuroko asked, unable to contain her curiosity. Most of this information details were over her head, but she could follow the basic premises of the conversation.
"We had received blessings from Lord Lucifer himself," Eve declared proudly. "The issue is Michael's power and our lord's power conflict and start to annihilate each other. If Adam or I forcefully take it, the sudden burst of our lord's power would react with Michael's power, which had been saturating the wing for years. We were planning to let one of our underlings take it, but then Michael's power would overwhelm them. Even if they could remove the Telesma in the wing, it would just be replaced by the power flowing through the country. This was quite a dilemma. It took years of thinking and planning before we discovered a single flaw in the defenses. Michael's blessing on England had weakened only once, and we could have stolen it during that time if we knew."
"When was this?" Kaori asked, narrowing her eyes. She couldn't remember ever hearing about a period when England lost Michael's blessing.
"The actual affect wasn't known to most of the world," Eve admitted, nodding her head sagely. "But the protection of the country weakened during the single most important event for the royal family's history. When the people rebelled against the ruling family in the past, Curtana's control was lost, and the blade was lost in history. Well, until it was found by the second princess there" She gestured to Carissa, whose eyes had widened slightly.
"You were waiting for Curtana's control to be lost again," Kaori asked, frowning. "But even during the rebellion, there was no guarantee that happening. In fact, wouldn't you have gone after the wing hours ago when she actually lost control?"
"That is partially right," Eve laughed. "You see, we couldn't be sure the second Curtana would ever be lost, so we came up with another plan. During our research, we found out the second princess had been searching for Curtana, to further her own plans to fight the Roman Catholic Church. We decided this would be a perfect chance for us. I sent my forces to cause England as much trouble as possible, to force her to speed up her plans. Our plan was simple, for Curtana Original and Second to clash."
"That doesn't make much sense," Touma said frowning. "Unless, you wanted them to destroy each other?"
"I knew it," Eve said, smiling at him. "You are smart. That was the plan exactly. You see, when both Curtana's clashed, they would be drawing Michael's power to them, except for what was being distributed to their forces. If one of the blades was destroyed, the other would begin to draw in all the power. During this brief occurrence, my underling could grab the wing and leave the country. We could then begin to safely remove Michael's power without the risk of damaging the wing."
"How did you know Curtana's would clash," Stiyl asked. "As you can see, they didn't."
"We had assumed Curtana Original's power would force the queen to face the princess head on," Eve conceded. "We did not expect someone else to be here." Her eyes turned to Touma. "When I discovered you were in England, I was surprised, but your presence proved invaluable to us. Even without the Curtana's power clashing, the protection's distribution was interrupted by the forceful takeover. The original stole most of the power from the second, and the queen was forced to keep the remaining power in her blade, rather than spreading it out over the country. This did weaken Michael's protection, but it wasn't enough for us to guarantee success, so we waited."
"You used me," Carissa mumbled, her hand clenched into a fist.
"You did what you did for your own reasons," Eve corrected her. "We just took advantage of it and sped up the process. I was watching the fight and it was quite entertaining. I kind of wanted to jump in earlier but, as I said before, I have received Lords Lucifer's blessing. Michael's power and our lord's do not work together. People who have received his blessing find themselves weakened greatly in England. My power included. When the second princess took control of Curtana, I felt some of my strength return as the protection over the country weakened, but I still couldn't risk opposing Curtana directly. I don't know how much damage I would receive. Michael's power can cause a lot of negative side effects for our lord's followers. But then, the Imagine Breaker goes and surpasses all expectations."
"He actually destroyed the most powerful of the Curtana's," Eve laughed. "I felt the restriction of my power disappear the moment his hand hit the blade." She twirled in midair. "I have to admit, it feels good to be at full power again. It will take a little while before the Queen can regain control over the excess Telesma and reestablish the protection. I just came over to tell you the situation and enjoy your shocked expressions."
"What are you planning to do next?" Touma asked, his fist clenched tightly. He knew his friends, the church forces, and the knights were all exhausted. If Eve decided to attack, he didn't know how many causalities there would be. We need a plan to stop her, but ….
"I was planning to leave," Eve shrugged, interrupting his thoughts.
"What?!" Touma exclaimed in shock. Most of his friends wore similar expressions of disbelief, except Shizuri and Accelerator, who frowned.
"I have no real reason to stay," Eve explained, smiling. "We have the wing, I don't care about the princess's punishment, and I have no grudge against England. I need to start planning to retrieve the last wing anyway." She stopped and her grin grew. It was like she thought of something important and fun to do. "I really should reward you though," she said, staring directly at Touma. "You really made it possible for all of this to occur. I don't think a regular thank you will be enough for all you did for us."
"What are you talking abo…" Touma asked confused, when he stopped talking. Well, it wasn't that he choose to, but the fact his words had been forcefully stopped. Eve had disappeared and reappeared right in front of him. Her hand had reached up and grabbed his collar. He tried to resist, but she was incredibly strong. She was a head shorter than him and she pulled him down to her level, the force cutting off his words. Before he could ask or say anything, he was completely silenced.
Eve had leaned forward, put her lips directly on his, and kissed him passionately.
Touma's eyes went wide in surprise, before his mind could realize what happened. He wanted to push her away, but his body felt heavy and frozen. He thought his mind must still be reeling in shock, when he heard the sound of breaking glass. His body felt normal a moment after. Was she doing something to me? He decided to worry about that later and pushed her off. "Gah," he said taking a deep breath, now that he could breathe again. He looked at her, and saw her normal happy go lucky expression faltered and she was frowning. Before he could say anything, she vanished and a green light flew past him, about a foot away. He could feel the heat on his skin as it flew by. He turned to see Shizuri, with an extremely pissed off expression.
"That was rude," Eve said, reappearing in the distance. She was glaring at Shizuri.
"Shove it," Shizuri replied. "You piss me off." While this was true, she had only found herself getting pissed when Eve had ambushed a kiss from Touma. Damn, this feeling sucks. If I kill her, I bet I'll feel better. The beam she fired hadn't hit anyone, but she didn't really care. When she aimed, she made sure to avoid hitting Touma, but that was the only calculations she made.
"I was just thanking him for all his help…" Eve started to reply, crossing her arms. This time, she was interrupted by a blade being swung at her. Kaori had jumped, forward at superhuman speeds, and forced Eve to use her version of teleportation again. This was the first time Touma ever saw Kaori looking extremely angry. Kaori's covered the distance to Eve in a second and continued to unleash a barrage of strikes, along with flashes of wires. Eve, however, continued to dodge and vanish to avoid all the blows. A moment later, Itsuwa caught up and delivered several jabs, each one causing the air to explode. Between the two of them, Eve was forced to vanish and reappear high above them. Eve's shirt was now torn. Kaori and Itsuwa looked upwards, as the radiated a dark aura.
"This was my favorite shirt," Eve complained loudly. "Why does everyone attack me for no reason?"
"For no reason?" Itsuwa asked incredulously. "You tried to do something to Kamijou-kun. We heard his hand go off."
"Whatever you're planning," Kaori added. "It won't work on him. We also owe him a lot for helping us, so we will not let you try."
"I wasn't trying anything really bad," Eve admitted. "I was multitasking. He deserved a reward from me, and I wanted to acquire some information from hi…" She stopped as a lightning strike came down from the heavens, completely engulfing her. When the flash of light no longer blinded him, Touma saw Eve's clothes were burnt, and she was smoking slightly. "Ouch, why would you do that?"
"You admitted it," Mikoto yelled, red faced. She was beyond angry. First, Eve had tried to do something to her friend, even if she wasn't sure what at the time. Mikoto had also head the Imagine Breaker's power activate and realized something had to have happen. Second, was Eve's so called reward. That… that… whore. How dare she kiss him? I haven't even had a real kiss with him yet. Ours was only accidental. She suddenly realized how far she was behind the Misaki, and even Shizuri. After all, both of them had kissed him willingly. When this realization dawned on her, her anger intensified. The clouds above them started rumbling and was constantly broken with flashes of lighting.
Onee-sama's really upset, Kuroko thought, as she eyed the sky. She decided to take a couple steps back. Why don't you get this upset for me?
"I figured I could also get some information from him during that reward," Eve told them. "I wanted to see if what information he had on… a certain thing." She frowned. "I'm surprise though. I was only able to obtain less than a year's worth of memory. What happened?"
"I don't know what you mean," Touma lied, feigning ignorance. "Whatever dangerous thing you did, my hand negated it." He could feel Mikoto and Misaki looked at him when Eve mentioned the memory issue, but he kept his gaze on her. It was true he had lost all his memories last summer, but he didn't want to cause any of his friends to worry. After all, he became friends with them after he lost his memory.
"It wasn't like it was dangerous," Eve protested, and then a small missile hit her in the back. The smoke cleared and she appeared fine, but the back part of her shirt was falling apart. She turned around to see who hit her and saw Frenda holding two more missiles.
"None of us care about that." Frenda said. "Basically, we all just don't like you."
"Touma," Index cried waving her hands. "Do you feel anything?" Touma shook his head and she looked relieve.
"Should we really be trying to fight her in our condition," Touma muttered to no one in particular, but his words were heard by Accelerator.
"We outnumber her greatly," he shrugged. "Besides, maybe if you didn't go and attract the f$%#$% enemies, your harem wouldn't be starting another war."
"I don't have a hare…" Touma protested, as Accelerator rolled his eyes, but then changed direction. "What do you mean another war?"
"You know what I mean," Accelerator snapped and turned his attention back to the fight. It wasn't really a fight, just several random people, apparently mostly girls, attacking Eve who was mainly just dodging. "I still have a score to settle with that b#$%^, but I'm out of time." He was mumbling to himself, unaware Touma could still hear him, and Touma declined to speak up about it.
"I think," Misaki said, as she walked up to them. "We should use this time to gather some information."
"What do you mean?" Touma asked, while Accelerator glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. Misaki smiled and held up a remote.
"While all the others are distracting them," Misaki explained. "I'll peek into her mind to see what her plan really is. We might even get information on the last wing. I doubt very much what she told us was the entire truth."
"I have to agree," Accelerator added, looking at Eve continue to dodge the barrage of attacks from many of the church members, Shizuri and her friends, and Mikoto. "What kind of idiot would just give their enemies information like that?"
"We don't know anything about Eve," Touma protested to Misaki. "You don't know what you will find or if she has a way to stop you."
"Then wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to find out about her?" Misaki asked, patting him on the shoulder. "Thanks for worrying about me, but I'm going to do this. Who knows how many lives can be saved with information I find." Touma opened his mouth, but closed it right after. He knew she was right and it would be childish to argue. He nodded and Misaki gave him a small smile. She held up her remote, point it at Eve, and clicked it.
At first, Misaki saw flashes of the most recent memories, Eve watching their fight, talking to a girl, most likely the Juliet she mentioned, and talking to Adam about the plan to take England's wings. So far she didn't see anything they didn't really know about already. What happened next, Misaki didn't expect. It felt like she was being drawn deep into Eve's mind, almost as if she was standing in quicksand and she was slowly being pulled under.
The scenes that unfolded in her mind confused her greatly. She saw buildings and cities that were built far differently than anything she knew about today. They twisted and warped in ways that should have made them impossible to stand. She really couldn't concentrate on them though because her mind was reeling in shock and confusion. There were colors she had never seen before. There were no names for these colors, because they didn't exist. If Misaki didn't see these colors through Eve's mind, she would never have been able to imagine them. People can't just imagine a new color, it's impossible. The human brain has to use memories of colors in order to imagine them. If someone tries to invent a new color, they have to use known colors to try to describe it. You can't describe the color red without using red. But now, Misaki's mind was actually seeing new colors.
Something moved high in the sky of the memory. A large mouth descended through something gold that resembled clouds, eyes black and soulless, every shade of green rippled through its scales, along with several brand new colors. One of the eyes seemed to look directly at her. This is impossible, it's only a memory. The creature roared, and the buildings began to collapse into dust. An explosion of light appeared in the distance and engulfed everything, and then the memory disappeared.
"Misaki!"
She looked up at Touma standing over her, a look of panic on his face. She looked down and realized she had fallen on her knees. She reached up and grabbed Touma's hand to help herself stand up. She took a deep breath and looked at him, vaguely aware Accelerator stepped between them and Eve. "I'm okay," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "Her memories…. I don't think she's completely human."
"What do you mean?" Touma asked quickly. He didn't like the fact Misaki had almost collapsed completely by just peeking into Eve's mind.
"There were colors that didn't exist in her mind," Misaki continued, her strength returning as she was able to focus on her surroundings. "She either sees things differently than us, or something happened involving a monster. The only other memories involved things we already knew."
"Monster…?" Touma began to ask, but Accelerator interrupted him.
"Explain later," he said. "Right now, whatever she did really pissed off Eve." Touma and Misaki looked up at Eve and had to agree. Eve was glaring right at them, her cheerful expression gone and replaced by anger. Their friends, the church, and knights all felt the situation change in the atmosphere too. They were preparing for another violent struggle when Eve spoke up.
"You saw something you shouldn't have seen girl," Eve said, her bubbly soft voice now hard and cold. "I was going to leave peacefully but, now, I should finish you off first. What creation would be most suitable for your destruction?" Eve held out her hand and her book reappeared. "I think I know which…" She stopped when the book disappeared from her hand. "Who dares…?" She turned her head to see Jason holding her book in his hand, grinning. Stiyl stood near him, with a triumphant look on his face.
"I figured you would use your book," Stiyl said loudly, looking at Eve. "Since he still had those curse marks he acquired from your servants a while back, I knew this would be a perfect time to take your relic. With it, your powers should be diminished if you can't conjure your creations."
Eve looked surprised for a moment, and then she burst out laughing. It wasn't a kind gentle laugh, it was a mocking one, much like Carissa used. "Oh, I can't fault in that thinking," she conceded. "But I guess humans can only think along those lines." She laughed again. "While it's true, many magicians need symbols or objects to cast their spells…" She paused. "I am under no such limitation." She spread her hands and several books appeared around her. "I can make these effortlessly, but your constant attempts have irritated me slightly. I am going to show you the difference in our power." She spread her arms wide, like she was going to embrace them all, and the books started to spin around her, faster and faster. "I am not limited to creatures that exist in your world. I have access to the creatures God deemed unworthy to exist in his!"
Thousands of pages flew out from the books and swirled around her, before spreading out under her and easily covered ten meters on both sides of her. The papers twisted and folded together into what looked like wings and then roughly an outline of a large bird. Unlike her other creations, this one still looked like paper. Her older ones had the paper turn into the outer appearance of the animal she created as they combined. The large paper bird flapped its wings, while Eve stood triumphantly on its head. "I hope you appreciate this. You should be the first ones to witness this animal in this world."
The bird suddenly exploded into flames.
Even as far away as he was, Touma felt the intense heat on his skin. He could only imagine how hot it was near Kaori, Itsuwa, and the other melee specialists were. His friends, on the other hand, were looking at the creature, with varying degree of surprise. Most of them had been in London, when Stiyl used Innocentius, and had seen a large fire creation. Jason, Frenda, and Saiai had been monitoring the security cameras and had not seen it. They were the most shocked at it, while everyone else prepared for combat. Only Index was actually staring at the bird in completely disbelief.
"What is that?" Touma called out to anyone who could answer him. "Is it similar to Stiyl's magic?" Even as he said it, he knew it wasn't true. The fire bird's flame was crimson red, with streaks of a lighter red outlining it. Its eyes and core seemed to be made of a deep golden flame. Even though the creature was entirely made of see through flames, no paper was visible. The gold flames in its eyes seemed to be looking around. It seems to be alive," he though, as a shiver went down his spine.
"No…" Index spoke up. "She actually created a phoenix."
"A what?" Mikoto asked. She had retreated back toward them to get away from the heat. "Wait, that's a bird that is supposed to be born from fire, right?" Her mythology was rusty, because the schools don't teach it and the only experience she had was a random novel that mentioned them. Uiharu would know more about it then I would then. She reads those kinds of books. I only just started skimming a couple since Italy.
"I would say those don't exist," Shizuri commented. "But this trip is throwing off what use to be facts."
"What's a phoenix?" Touma asked and Index sighed. Accelerator, Saiai, and Frenda also looked curious, while the others were just listening. Mikoto, Shizuri, Kuroko, and Jason all had a rough idea what a phoenix was, but they decided to let Index explain, since what they knew may not be accurate. Eve was sitting there and appeared to be letting them finish, but Touma believed she was just enjoying basking in their shock of her creations. She always appeared to enjoy being the center of attention. I guess that could be considered her weakness.
"It's a bird that symbolizes rebirth," Index explained quickly. "Originating in Greece, it's a bird that revives through the ashes of its predecessor. Though common knowledge says it is a bird that bursts into flames when it dies, it actually is a flame that has taken on a life of its own. The bird was the most common form it took. It is believed because it gave itself the greatest amount of freedom. Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, and Isidore of Seville have all continued the story through the centuries and the story became a living bird that rises and dies in flames. They are the reason people associate it with an actual animal. Salamanders are also common forms living flames have taken in the past."
"Precisely," Eve squealed in delight, now that they knew what they were facing. "This little baby here was just born now, so it obviously wants to play." As the phoenix flapped its wings, a single strand of flames fell off. It floated gently toward the ground, like a feather. It didn't look threatening, until it hit a piece of Curtana's debris in the ground.
A dome shape explosion roared to life.
The dome was easily ten meters wide and disintegrated everything, leaving a crater in the ground. There was a small puddle of white plastic like liquid left, the remains of the debris bit by the attack. "Wow," Eve exclaimed, dancing slightly on the phoenix's head. "It's even more powerful then I remember. I wonder how you would fair if hundreds or thousands of the feathers fell."
"Are you insane!?" Touma yelled at her. "Are you really going to try to kill everyone?"
"I'm pretty sure they attacked me first," Eve replied, putting a finger up to her cheek.
"Liar," Mikoto yelled pointing a finger up at Eve. "You attacked England first."
"All forces," Kaori ordered. "Defensive spells prioritize flame resistance. Double-time."
"Do it," Knight Leader ordered all the other knights. All the forces immediately started chanting spells, throwing runes, or forming barriers. They were prepared to use all their powers to avoid being obliterated by the phoenix's power. Itsuwa, meanwhile, ran over to Touma and his friends.
"We are all going to be focused on defense," Itsuwa told them. "Can you focus on attacking? It might be possible to disrupt her magic. Everyone else should stay back."
"Maybe," Index said shaking her head. "It has a real body now, so I can't use spell intercept on it. However, because it is real, enough damage should disperse the body, like all of her other golems. The issue is, how much damage can we do to it as we are now? It should be able to regenerate if she infused the aspect of rebirth with it."
"We just need to blast it faster than it can heal," Shizuri grinned and several orbs formed around her.
"Hate to say it," Mikoto added, sparking up and smacking her fist into her palm. "But I have to agree with you."
"I guess I have no choice but to leave the violence to you two," Misaki sighed.
"Be careful onee-sama," Kuroko said.
"Good luck Mugino," Frenda said, and Saiai nodded. Both of their weapons wouldn't do much against a creature of fire.
"Do you think I can negate it," Touma asked Index, who frowned.
"I would advise not trying unless absolutely needed," Index replied. "Your hand doesn't negate her golems on touch, unless you hit their masks. Her phoenix must have a point similar to it. As for the phoenix feathers, you might not be able to negate them entirely before they explode. We are trespassing in unknown territory."
"Great," Touma muttered.
"Have fun my pet!" Eve cried, as the phoenix rose higher into the air. The phoenix flapped its great wings and hundreds of feathers fell down like snow. There were flashes of reflecting light, as Kaori's wires flew high into the air, intercepting the first wave. The air was full of fiery explosions as the feathers made contact with the wires. While the wires were disintegrated into ashes, they managed to stop over half, but that still left many more to go. Getting the idea, the knights and Anglicans unleashed a barrage of range attacks and shields, to intercept the feathers before they hit the ground. Kaori used their support to fling another protective magic circle using her wires. Eve looked down through the explosions and frowned at the lack of destruction. "Aww," she said kicking her foot. "I was hoping for more." The phoenix suddenly shock and she heard a loud boom.
Several green beams and another beam of light flew through the left wing of the phoenix, causing the wing to break apart and the bird tilted in midair for a moment. A second alter, the flames from its body stretched out and reformed the destroyed wing. Eve stabilized herself and grinned at Mikoto and Shizuri. "Aim for the body," Mikoto told Shizuri. "Wings aren't doing any good."
"Don't tell me things I already know," snapped Shizuri. They unleashed another barrage composed of Meltdowner beams and a Railgun. The body split, almost in half, as the flames were blown to the side but, just like before, the phoenix regenerated as the flames began to converge back to the body. "Damn it, it's still not working."
"No," Index disagreed. "It definitely is working. The regeneration takes a lot of its strength. When it was regenerating, the feathers stopped falling."
"Then we need to blast is even more," Mikoto said. "But how?" While Shizuri could fire more than one beam at a time, though the more she fired the smaller they got, Mikoto was limited to one. "I'm going to try just electricity," Mikoto told Shizuri. "I should be able to hit more of it then."
"Whatever," Shizuri rolled her eyes. "If it takes down that damn bird, I don't care." Mikoto nodded and began to spark up.
"On three," Mikoto said. "One, two… WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOT!?" Everyone turned to look at Touma sprinting toward the middle of the field. Because they had all been busy either defending against the feathers or attacking the phoenix itself, they missed one feather that hit the ground and didn't explode. It was sitting in the middle of the field, like an old ember. Touma was the only one to notice it and he didn't know why, but he felt, if it was left alone, someone would get hurt. He saw Itsuwa dodging one feather, which did explode, and she was moving near the first one. He had already begun moving before his brain could think of the optimal response to the situation.
"What the…" Shizuri asked, her eyes tracking his route. She noticed the feather and raised an eyebrow.
"Ape!" Kuroko yelled. "You were told to stay back!"
"Kamijou-kun?" Itsuwa asked, turning around in surprise. Touma ignored everyone as he dived past Itsuwa and reached out with his hand toward the feather, which started to glow brightly.
"Will you make it?" Eve called down from above. "That was one of the core feathers."
Come on! Touma yelled at himself as his hand wrapped around the feather, right when it started to explode. The force threatened to force his hand open, but he gripped down on it tightly. He heard the continuous sound of breaking glass, as the Imagine Breaker continued to negate the explosion. Then he felt his hand getting hotter and hotter. Damn it, it's too powerful and my hand can't negate it fast enough. He had no choice and his hand was blown opened from the force and heat. Instead of engulfing him, the fire was thrown away from him in a cone shape, melting the ground and some rubble into a puddle. It stopped and Touma sighed in relief no one was hurt, even if it couldn't be negated completely. Why did it go away from me? It's like my hand was reflecting it. The force had made his hand open up, but nothing else happened, so he was confused.
"How did you know?" Itsuwa asked him.
"It was…" Touma began.
"TOUMA!" Mikoto yelled in panic. "GET OUT OF THERE!" Touma instinctively looked up and saw several more feathers flying straight at him. Unlike the others, which fell slowly, these were coming at him like needles.
"It seems like he doesn't like you," Eve commented.
Touma mentally cussed in his head. He started to stand up to try to avoid them, but he knew he wasn't going to be fast enough. He shut his eyes, awaiting the inevitable, when he felt a hand grab his collar and pull him away at high speeds. His eyes opened when he landed with a thud, and saw Itsuwa next to him. "Thanks Kan…" He had originally thought Kaori had saved them, because she had the superhuman strength to pull both him and Itsuwa away from the explosions fast enough. He also wouldn't have been surprise if Knight Leader or William did it, they had the same power. When he had looked up to thank Kaori, his words caught in his throat and he could only stare. Itsuwa was in a similar state.
It was Princess Carissa who had saved them.
She was standing with her back toward them, looking up toward Eve. Because of the fires in the background and the giant flaming bird in the sky, she looked rather impressive to him. Still, Touma had to wonder why she saved him. "Thanks, but…"
"If you are going to try to save someone," Carissa told him, without turning around. "At least take into account your surroundings. You were right under the phoenix and in direct attack range. Seriously, how someone so stupid could beat me is a complete mystery." She made an annoyed sound with her mouth. "The fact I have so much strength means she must be nearby, damn."
"Who?" Touma asked, but Carissa didn't answer. Instead, her eyes were focused on William. During the struggle, he had moved around to the back side of the phoenix, out of Eve's line of sight, and formed a giant mace of water and ice. His presence went unnoticed because of all the other magic spells going off. Makes sense though, Touma thought when he noticed, using water to take out fire. Any other time he might have been impressed with Williams magic but, after the display from Carissa and Eve, he felt like he had his full of magic for the rest of the year. Right now, he just wanted this day to end.
"Your presence had disrupted this nation long enough," William said, as he jumped high into the air. Eve turned around in surprise and watched as the giant mace was brought down, engulfed by a massive amount of magical power, and collided into the back of the phoenix. Steam exploded from the point of impact, when the water met fire. It was so thick, even the phoenix turned to a soft glow as Touma tried to watch. He saw William fall to the ground and land with a thud. Unlike Touma, who just stood under the phoenix, William jumped sideways to avoid staying under it for too long. When the steam finally dispersed, the phoenix's head was still formed, but the shape of the rest of its body was broken. The flames were all over the place above them, held together by small strings of flames. As he watched, the flames slowly started to merge back together, but the feather's had stopped falling.
"Nice try," Eve laughed. "The phoenix's power of rebirth makes it immortal."
"Then we just need to try killing it more," Shizuri grinned and a green beam shot out of an orb through the bird's head. Eve seemed to stumble as the shape of the head broke apart, and she raised a hand to, presumably, counter attack. During the moment she turned her attention to Shizuri, Knight Leader had appeared behind her. He obviously kept his intentions hidden until Eve's focus was divided. Eve seemed to barely notice his strike in time, and one of her books appeared between them. Knight Leader's sword hit it with a loud clang that echoed loudly. It was like the book was made of steel instead of paper. A small jet of flame from the Phoenix's body forced him to block and fall back down to the ground.
"I can see why the princess constantly complained of irritations," Eve said. "It really is…." Another lighting strike fell down on her and halted the phoenix's regeneration. Eve had flinched in pain but, besides smoking, appeared to still be fine. "Seriously, will you stop that? It hurts." She noticed the church and knight forces were turning their attacks back to the phoenix, now that the feathers had been stopped completely. Their attacks didn't seem to hurt Eve, but they were constantly splitting the flames apart to prevent regeneration.
"We are slowing its recovery," Kuroko said. "But it won't go down."
"She's just as ridiculous as the princess," Mikoto mumbled. "And the phoenix keeps reforming. Can we win?"
"Regeneration is a super annoying power," Saiai muttered and across the battlefield Jason turned to look at her.
"We can," Index said, and all the girls, along with Touma and Accelerator, looked at her. "It is on the verge of breaking now. Its regeneration is barely keeping up." Her gaze was focused only on the phoenix. "We just need a single powerful attack to finish it."
"I guess he could use that mace again," Accelerator said shrugging. "It seemed pretty effective."
"It takes him a little time to charge it," Kaori said, she had been listening to Index's information. "I have something I can try while he…"
"That will not be necessary," Carissa said. Evidently, she too had been eves dropping. Everyone looked at her and she continued before any of them could interrupt. "She's arrived." Before they could get her to elaborate, a solitary figured jumped on top of a piece of debris and leaped up towards the phoenix. The figure raised their blade high. With a single swipe, the phoenix was cut in half, and Eve was forced to fly up into the air to avoid the strike. Touma's mouth fell open. The strike itself didn't stun him, it was how the strike destroyed the phoenix. The strike had created a void as the dimensions were severed.
The person was Queen Elizard.
She turned around and faced Eve, Curtana Second slung over her shoulder. "You seemed to have caused quite a mess," Elizard said. "I hope you don't mind I broke you toy."
"No!" Eve moaned, as all the flames flickered out of the existence. "He was just a child, in the prime of his life! How could you be so cruel?"
"As much as your complaining amuses me," Elizard told her. "I raised Rimea and Carissa, nothing you say could bother me." Carissa's face darkened and became annoyed. Mikoto, Shizuri, Misaki, Kuroko, Frenda, Saiai, Accelerator, Agnese, and Kaori couldn't contain their smirks.
"Oh well," Eve replied, back to her old bubbly self. "Curtana's power is greatly weakened and I bet it took most of what you had to use that strike. It's not like you can defeat me either. Maybe I should make another couple of creatures to defeat you. What do you think would be a good choice?"
"That may be true," Elizard conceded. "Curtana's power is a little overused at the time. However," she smiled up at Eve. "I didn't come alone." Eve opened her mouth, and then noticed something small and sparkling flying at her. It looked like a small piece of diamond. Eve reached over to grab it, when it exploded in a flash of light. The light lit the area up, like a giant firework.
"You… *Gasp* could have… given me… more time…" Laura panted, stepping up to them and leaning against a piece of Curtana's debris, a hand on her chest. "I don't have Telesma… strengthening my body like you…"
"You did a good job keeping up," Elizard complimented. "Plus, you managed to attack too." Everyone turned their eyes upwards as the light faded. They saw Eve's shadow first as the light slowly faded, but when it cleared, they were in for a surprise. Eve emerged, shaking her head, looking slightly drained, but there was something obviously wrong with her.
All of her clothes had disintegrated from Laura's attack.
Touma immediately felt someone cover his eyes from behind. "What…?"
"Sorry," Misaki said. "You can't see this. You can only look at me with those eyes."
"What eyes…?" Touma tried to ask.
"Don't you dare look Idiot?" Mikoto yelled at him. "Ignore everything she says too."
"Why would she do that?" Frenda asked wildly, looking at the newcomers. She, Shizuri, and Saiai had not seen the Queen or Archbishop before.
"Seems like the attack was ineffective," Shizuri answered, a cold hard tone to her voice. She obviously wasn't pleased Touma saw even a flash of Eve's body.
"Some people seem super possessive," Saiai commented, looking around. She wasn't just referring to Mikoto, Misaki, Frenda and Shizuri, but also to several other church members, including Itsuwa, Agnese, and Kaori. When they realized Eve's predicament, their first instinct was to look back at Touma.
"If you look at her!" Touma heard Kuroko shout, he still couldn't see anything. "I'm going to tell Uiharu!" Touma had to suppress a grin, imagining Jason looking away guiltily.
"EEEEEEEEEKKKK!" Eve screamed in embarrassment. "How could you?!" The sound of paper rustling filled Touma's ears before Misaki's hands uncovered his eyes. He looked up and saw Eve was wearing plain brown clothes, t-shirt and shorts. "I was seen by so many guys," she wailed, her eyes filling up with tears. Touma felt pity for her rise within him, but he had to force it down.
She did bring it on herself.
"Archbishop," Kaori said to Laura. "It is good to see you unhurt."
"Sorry I was out of touch," Laura smiled back. "The Queen and I had to take the back roads to avoid detection. I would like to hear the details later on defeating the princess and Eve's arrival." Kaori nodded. "But first, we need to deal with her."
"I don't feel like fighting anymore," Eve scoffed at them. "We have what I came for so really, there is no point." She waved to them all, but gave Touma a wink, causing several girls to radiate dark auras again. Touma began to think she was doing this on purpose. The sky behind her began to crack and a dark void appeared. Touma first thought she was going to leave, but his face turned serious when Adam stepped out, followed by an elderly man, with white beard hair and brown robes. His head was covered by a hood so Touma couldn't see the man's face. "Adam," Eve said in surprise. "Why are you here?"
"You are late," Adam said, seriousness reverberating through his voice. "Juliet arrived with the wing and I have acquired the wing from the Vatican. You should have been back by now."
"I was just playing with them," Eve laughed, and then she sighed. "Well, until they stripped me and continued to attack me relentlessly."
"Lies!" Mikoto yelled. "You attacked us and we defended ourselves. Just because you can't protect your clothes…" Her face turned slightly red and she stopped.
"I see," Adam said slowly. "They will pay for their transgressions" He raised his hands and a white mist started to flow from them. It moved eerily, like small rivers over their heads.
"No!" Index gasped. "That spell, it's the Plague on the Firstborn."
"What?!" Laura said, snapping her head toward her. Kaori, Knight Leader, Acqua, Carissa, Itsuwa, Elizard, Carissa, and most of the church and knight forces did the same thing.
"The what?" Touma asked quickly.
"It's the final plague that God sent onto Egypt in Exodus," Index said, her eyes wide. "It killed every families first born child as punishment for the Pharaoh's sins."
"What?" Mikoto, Misaki, and Kuroko gasped. Shizuri, Saiai, and Frenda looked at her too.
"He's planning to kill us all?" Kuroko asked.
"Damn," Stiyl said, from across the battlefield. "This isn't good. If we had time to set up wards… you wouldn't happen to have any defenses?" Jason, who was standing next to him, shook his head. "Well f^&$."
"Wait!" Eve yelled, grabbing onto his arms and forcing them down. The white mist disappeared. "You can't kill them yet." Everyone froze to find out why Eve had prevented Adam's attack.
"Why?" Adam asked.
"I want some of them alive for now," Eve pointed out. "Your magic can't differentiate between people. So hold your horses." Adam looked at her for a moment and then nodded slowly. "Good," Eve said, looking satisfied. "Who's your new puppet?"
"I picked him up at the Vatican," Adam said. "He helped me retrieve the wing." The man in the robes pulled his hood back to fully reveal his head and face. His hair was also white, the back part fell to his shoulders, and he was partially bald near his forehead. His eyes were brown and overall, to Touma, he looked like a rather unremarkable man. The only clues he gave to being on the magic side was his robes had crosses on them. When he heard Kaori, who was standing next to him, take a sharp breath, he knew this wasn't the case though.
"Who is that?" he asked quietly.
"It can't be," Kaori said and then she glanced at Index. Her face went slightly white when Index slowly nodded to confirm her suspicion. "That vile…"
"Who is it?" Mikoto asked, looking at Index.
"He revived St. Peter," Index whispered softly. "One of the apostles of the Son of God."
The Vatican had seen better days.
A third of the city-state lay in ruins. Buildings, chapels, shrines, and streets were crumbling. Unusually, the area was deserted, except for two individuals. One was a young man with flaming red hair, Fiamma of the Right, the leader of God's Right Seat. He was standing on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica, his arms crossed. His eyes were watching the young man, with jet black hair, an expressionless face, and eyes like coal. Even with all the defenses of the Vatican, Fiamma thought. Adam was still able to break through. Many of the church guards had been slain. Adam appeared not to be the type to take pity on his enemies. Merciless, as expected of a leader of Lucifer's sect. At least their deaths weren't pointless, I was able to observe Adam's power. If only they didn't serve him now. Fiamma saw two main powers of Adam. One was white mist of light, which passed through the guards, causing them to die instantly. While a few survived, Adam appeared next to them, his hands glowing black, and grabbed them. They gasped and fell. The second power was what was currently over powering the remaining defenses.
Necromancy.
Adam didn't appear to use any special rituals to revive the fallen soldiers. As he passed by them, a dark mist emerged from under his black pants and shirts, covering the bodies. A moment later, they all stood up, and followed him. Instead of moving straight toward Fiamma, Adam raised a hand and all the soldiers spread out and started to destroy anything they could get their hands on. Individuals who were raised by necromancy did not have their memories. They were much like golems, capable of basic orders and functions, though necromancy adds what would be considered a false soul to them. If the brains and vocal chords are intact, they can speak, but still are incapable of independent thought. Their advantage laid in the fact they did not have to control their strength. A human body subconsciously puts limits on how much physical strength to avoid damaging themselves with the backlash of their physical exertions. The risen soldiers were able to blow concrete away with a single hit, even as their bodies began to break part.
Not a bad idea, Fiamma conceded. Since the Vatican's defensive ability was directly related to the amount of relics that held significance to Christianity, Adam was breaking apart as much of the city as possible, to prevent any chance of a counter attack, as he approached Fiamma. There were two main reasons Fiamma chose to stand back and protect the basilica. St. Peter's Basilica was the greatest stronghold of Roman Catholicism. The weakness was destroying even a small part of it, like a pillar, might cause problems with its defensive functionality. Therefore, Fiamma had to prioritize its defense, since it acted as its own stronghold inside the Vatican. Second, he can't use his main power frequently, until he could complete it, for that he needed the Imagine Breaker. The Fallen had been delaying his plans for too long and he knew this would turn into an endurance game.
"Move," Adam ordered Fiamma. "Or suffer the same outcome."
"A member of God's Right Seat would never cower away from Lucifer's servants," Fiamma replied. "I am aligned with the Archangel Michael, your sworn enemy. Think of our battle as a repeat of the beginning."
"You think highly of yourself," Adam said. His expression and tone resembled one who didn't care about anything. "But you will still fail. This is absolute." He raised a hand, pointed, and all the soldiers rushed at Fiamma. They were running at speeds close to what Kaori could move at, though the sounds of ligaments tearing could be heard, as their bodies were pushed to their limits. It was clear Adam didn't care about them, he just wanted Fiamma gone. When they approached him, the soldiers jumped twenty feet into the air and begun to bring their weapons down upon him.
A moment later, every one of them had been swept away.
As first it looked like Fiamma had just knocked them all back, but the bodies started to dissolve as they flew through the air, until every one of them had disappeared. A large red hand had appeared out of Fiamma's right shoulder. Though it was a hand, it looked more like a malformed giant bird talon. This third arm of his had simply made a sweeping motion, and every of the risen soldiers had been annihilated. Adam stopped and looked at the hand. "Quite powerful for a human."
"The right hand has a lot of significance through history," Fiamma told him, as he began to descend the stair in front of the basilica. "The Son of God used his right hand to cure the illnesses of the sick and revive the deceased. It was the right hand which drew the cross and scattered the holy water used for the Baptism of Christ." Fiamma smiled. "As you probably know, the right hand has the distinction of being the greatest weapon in history. Your lord, The One Who Challenged the Light, was defeated when he was opposed by Archangel Michael, who used his right hand to wield the Sword of God. It has such overwhelming power, it can even create miracles and destroy evil."
"Then it is a shame," Adam said, emotionlessly. "This battle will be over faster than I thought." He started to walk toward Fiamma, radiating purpose. It was as if he had no purpose in his life except to retrieve the wing.
"Yet you continue despite this power," Fiamma said, as he made another simple horizontal swing with his Holy Right. Fiamma's Holy Right was absolute. He didn't have to try to win. His third hand will use the precise amount of force to defeat the enemy, no more, no less. He also didn't have to aim, his hand would always hit, whoever the target was, without fail. His hand swung at speeds no human could possibly dodge, even if they were a Saint. The hand collided with Adam. "How?" Fiamma asked shocked.
Adam had reached out with his left hand and grabbed Fiamma's Holy Right.
This should have been impossible.
"Eve's aspect is Chaos," Adam told him. His sentences were mainly short and to the point. "Her Book of Genesis is based on that power. Life is chaos. My aspect is Law." He paused. "What I do is absolute. There is only one true law in this world, eventually, all things shall pass. Death is the absolute law. You claimed your hand has the power of miracles, let me tell you this. Miracles are events that go against the laws of this world. They should not occur. I am the incarnation of law. Just like the Ten Commandments, my orders are crystal clear. Anything that goes against Law will not work around me. When two people fight, the stronger one will win. There will not be some miracle of last ditch strength or the sun blinding the one considered evil." His hand tightened on Fiamma's Holy Right, causing small cracks to spread out. "If you were the one before, Acqua of the Back, you might have had a sliver of hope. You, who rely on miracles, can never beat me." Dark mist began to flow out from under his clothes and head toward Fiamma. "The only one who can defy the laws of this world is currently in England, under Eve's supervision."
"This is a first," Fiamma said, trying to keep calm. "You b#$%^&$. You purposely came at a time Acqua was gone and only pretended to be affected by my earlier attacks." The dark mist flew over him, but his right arm had enough strength to prevent the mist from coming within a foot of him. Instead, the mist circled him for a moment, and then headed behind him into St. Peter's Basilica. "We seem to be at a stalemate. For some reason I can't move my hand or disperse it, and you don't appear to be able to approach me." There was silence for a minute before Adam responded.
"It is taking an impressive amount of strength to keep your power in check," Adam told him. "But we only need to wait a few moments longer. I can feel the power of the accursed angel in you, but I will endure."
"Accursed?" laughed Fiamma. "I'm pretty sure you are getting our angels confused. Michael is the strongest archangel, who wields the aspect of fire, the greatest of the elements. Lucifer was struck down by him, his wings torn asunder, and cast down to earth."
"Petty taunts," Adam said in a monotone. "The last act of a desperate man. Michael was only able to strike down Lord Lucifer because of the Sword of God. If he did not have God's sword of fire with him, he would have been annihilated."
"Words of a loser," Fiamma said. "Now why don't you let me go, and I will strike you down where you stand. Your organization has wasted too much of my valuable time. The timing was perfect for me to achieve the position as The One Above God. When Acqua returns with the Imagine Breaker, my plan will commence, without your interference."
"Grandiose schemes like that have been tried by countless individuals," Adam told him. "Yet they always fail, the world always returns. If you want to change the world's foundation, you need to exist outside of it, but enough about the impossible for you. I have won." Adam's eyes were no longer on Fiamma, but behind him.
"What are you blabbing on abou…" Fiamma said, turning his head to see where Adam was looking. His words were cut short when he saw an elderly man walking out of the basilica. The man had simple brown robes, with crosses embroidered on them, and white hair, though he was partially bald. In his hand, he held a dark blue gem, Lucifer's wing. "You desecrated St. Peter's grave to have him retrieve the wing?"
"Breaking through the defenses would be troublesome," Adam told him. "There is no telling how much strength I would need to defeat you, but I knew I wouldn't have enough to break the church's wards afterwards. The flaw, like most places, is they do not have defenses for people leaving. The last time I was here, I studied your wards and found a way to bypass them to revive him. He should be honored. My lord's necromancy lets me keep their power, instead of just physical puppets. He can help us retrieve the last wing." St. Peter moved at high speeds and appeared next to Adam. "My orders were to retrieve the wing as soon as possible. Your death is not required now that I have it."
"First you mock me," Fiamma said through gritted teeth. "Then you insult me by raising an apostle right under my nose. I will not take this lightly." He forcefully ripped his Holy Right out of Adam's grip. Not without injury, as the cracks in his hand spread further. The hand rose into the sky, and clamped around the air. A large thirty meter sword of pure fire extended from his hand. "I will strike you down the same way Michael struck down the Betrayer." The flaming sword was a symbol for the Sword of God Michael used. As it was also wielded by Fiamma's divine right hand, which contained the aspect of Archangel Michael, and Adam was using the power of Lucifer, the strike was probably the closest anyone had ever gotten to recreating the world shattering event.
For the first time, a flicker of worry crossed Adam's face. The air behind him and St. Peter broke apart and they stepped in it, as the strike was brought down upon them. An explosion of fire and stone flew into the air as the great flaming sword struck the ground. When the dust cleared, the only thing left was a giant groove in the street. Because Adam had the ability to block miracles, the strike was only superhuman instead of a surefire kill. Fiamma cursed under his breath, before regaining his calm demeanor. He walked over and picked up a small scrap of black fabric, burnt around the edges and a small drop of blood on it. A piece of Adam's clothes had been cut off.
"Well," Fiamma said pocketing the scrap. "Miracles may not work, but they can still be harmed with Michael's power. Acqua, return with the Imagine Breaker quickly or my plan won't succeed."
"So this guy was one of his followers?" Touma asked Index, who nodded.
"He usually is listed first when people talk about the twelve apostles," Index added. "But his body should be buried in the Vatican."
"So it means the Roman Catholic Church failed then," Kaori said.
"Fiamma said he could prevent the theft," Acqua told them. "He must have fallen."
"Is there a plan then?" Mikoto asked.
"Hit them till they die," Accelerator told her.
"I like that plan," Shizuri said with a smirk.
"You all had trouble with just Eve," Kuroko pointed out. "Do you think you can fight both at once?" She took a step back when she received several death glares.
"We may not have the option to fight," Knight Leader spoke up. He turned his eyes up to where Eve and Adam were arguing. "I think they are planning to leave." They watched Eve raise her hands in frustration, before kicking Adam through the void behind them. St. Peter turned and followed him.
"It looks like we know who's in charge," Elizard pointed out, with a small smirk. Curtana was slumped on her shoulder.
"Bye everyone!" Eve called out waving her hand, all animosity towards them forgotten. "I hope to see you all soon, especially you." She pointed to Touma and blew him a kiss before walking through the void in space. It closed immediately behind her.
"She is…" Touma sighed, and then stopped as he felt many dark murderous glares on him. He was going to say 'unpredictable,' but felt even that word was going to cause something bad to happen to him. He decided to use a slightly harsher word to avoid being hurt. "… insane."
"You can say that again," Mikoto said walking up next to him. She suddenly felt woozy and leaned up against him. "Ah my head hurts, it's been a long day."
"Umm…" Touma said, unsure what to say, as her head rested on his shoulder. Misaki noticed it and decided to lean on his other shoulder, effectively cornering him from being able to run away.
"I'm really tired," Misaki yawned, her eyes half closed. "I don't know how much more excitement I can take."
"Go," whispered Shizuri, pushing Frenda. Frenda turned around, her eyes wide, and she opened her mouth. "If you argue with me, you know what happens." Frenda gulped and nodded. Saiai watched her run over to Touma, but try to act nonchalant about it.
"Hey Kamijou," Frenda said leaning up against his back, pretending not to notice Mikoto and Misaki looking at her. "What are we going to do now?"
"I…ummm," Touma started to say, but he was having trouble thinking. What's happening here? Accelerator sighed and shook his head at the expression he saw on Touma's face, and across the destroyed gardens, Jason was laughing. "It's up to them." He pointed over to Kaori, Laura, Knight Leader, Stiyl, William, Carissa, Villian, and Elizard, who all were talking quietly. He was trying to ignore the murderous aura coming from Kuroko, as Mikoto continued to lean up against him, and Index.
"If we act fast," Elizard said. "We can disguise the coup and pass it off as an internal extremist attack. The media won't let it slide, but a couple press releases and they won't be able to argue too much."
"First thing we need to do is clear the debris caused by Curtana's dimensional severance," Stiyl said. "That can't be explained easily."
"My knights can move it to a storage area easily enough," Knight Leader said. "Then we can dispose of it secretly."
"What about the people?" Villian asked.
"They are all safe right now," Knight Leader told her. "After the debris is cleared, and as much damage is fixed as humanly possible in the short time we have, they will be released and the Queen can address the nation. Do you have anything to add Kanzaki?" Knight Leader turned to her.
"Ah… yes," Kaori said, turning her attention to him. She had been looking back at Touma, surrounded by girls, with a slightly jealous ping. She saw Itsuwa and Agnese walking toward him and sighed. "What would you have us do? Most of our forces are exhausted, but they should still be able to help."
"My preference would be for the church to move out of the way and avoid attention," Elizard said.
"You don't want anyone to think religion was involved," Laura nodded slightly, while thinking. "Clever. If you can keep only the knights in view, you can push all the magic under the rug and pretend this was a military operation." Elizard nodded.
"A wise plan," William agreed. He didn't have anything to add. He was planning to leave as soon as the conversation was over, but he felt Villian's eyes never leaving him. He knew she wasn't going to make it easy for him to escape.
"What about the princess?" Stiyl asked, and everyone turned to look at Carissa, who was also uncharacteristically quiet.
"I will not beg," Carissa told them defiantly.
"We will discuss that all later," Elizard said slowly. "As a mother, I would want to be lenient, but as the ruler, I know she must be punished for her actions."
"Then we will move out of your way," Stiyl agreed. "I suppose all that's left is to get those kids from Academy City out of here then." He sighed. "They are just like him, butting their nose were it doesn't belong."
"But Stiyl," Laura said sweetly. "We know how highly you think of him and his friends." Kaori and Elizard couldn't keep the grins off their face when Stiyl gave Laura a death glare.
"Knight Leader," Elizard told him. "Start moving your forces out. I need to talk with Mr. Kamijou and his friends and then I will head to Windsor Castle, to prepare for the national address. You know what needs to be done."
"Understood," He saluted, turned and walked toward the knights, and then bellowed orders. The knights scattered, as they begun carrying them out. Stiyl and Villian accompanied Carissa and Acqua away from the gardens. They were going to jail Carissa until her trial was formally announced. Elizard, Laura, and Kaori walked over to Touma, who now had Index biting his head. Jason had also joined them and was talking to Accelerator.
"Everything has been decided," Kaori told them all. "We are sending you all back, with our forces, to the hotel. The Queen has decided on a plan and the knights are carrying it out as we speak."
"Do you need our help?" Mikoto asked quickly. "We still have some strength left and there is a lot of damage."
"It would be best for you not to be seen involved," Laura said sincerely. "We don't want any appearances to cause incidents, but we appreciate the offer."
"What do you mean?" Touma asked.
"We don't want anyone to recognize someone from Academy City is involved after a large scale incident like this," Itsuwa explained. "It would cause diplomatic incidents."
"Basically," Frenda explained, simplifying her explanation. "We would get a lot of publicity, but it won't be good for us or Japan."
"Use your head once in a while Kamijou," Shizuri sighed.
"But you can all join us for a party later," Agnese told them. "I know many of us want to celebrate the victory, and it will cheer them up after today."
"Is a party really a good idea at this time?" Kuroko asked. "With all the destruction that needs fixed?"
"The church is not going to be involved in the actual cleanup," Laura told her. "And we have given first aid to anyone who needed it. The only thing left is for the knights to clear Curtana's debris and the Queen to give a public declaration on what happened. We are trying to avoid any mention of magic, but this has to be handled delicately."
"Sounds super reasonable," Saiai said.
"Also," Itsuwa said. "It would be a good mental break for everyone. Even we aren't use to something this big, a little rest and relaxation will be good for all."
"Also," Elizard said, a grin appeared on her face. "I would hate to try to stop the church when they have such a great excuse to cause a great deal of mess and noise."
"Best queen ever," Jason laughed, and even Accelerator gave a reluctant half smirk.
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: Something wrong with the author? He seems upset.
Jason: Ah, he didn't expect this chapter to take so long. He wanted to add something else, but it would make it too long.
Touma: Am I safe?
Me: No, plenty of misfortune for you later to make me feel better.
Touma: Why? What did I ever do to you?
Motoharu: Even the author is jealous of your harem.
Jason: If he gave Accelerator a harem, would it even things out?
Accelerator: Pssh, I wouldn't even care. I wouldn't get flustered like the stupid hero does.
Mikoto: I kind of want to see that.
Misaki: Can you make it happen?
Shizuri: This should be amusing.
Me: The party is going to be fun, I wanted to start it this chapter, but oh well. Some special guests for sure.
Touma: I have a feeling this is going to be bad.
Frenda: Oh, I have a question. Basically, who's going to be introducing the next chapter?
Me: Well, after seeing the Misaka-sans fan club face the Index fan club, and the Shokuhou-san's fan club, and every other fan club…
Mikoto: Huh?
Misaki: Oh those people are harmless.
Index: Fan club?
Me: Anyway… I was planning to let Lessar do it, but I realized that would be disastrous, funny as hell, but disastrous all the same. So I decided, next week I go back to doing announcements. I will leave everyone with the title of the next chapter, they will know what it means. "Alcohol."
Accelerator: Oh, this will be great.
Me: You aren't getting off scot-free either.
Accelerator: I'll kill you if you try.