A Certain Infinite Possibility

by Darkbetrayer

An ancient organization has emerged from hiding in order to bring the world into darkness. Will Touma be able to stop them or will his actions make everything worse. Will Touma finally develop the harem he deserves? Magic and Science will collide in ways no one thought possible. Touma X Harem (Maybe, he is really dense.)

96. S4 Battle for Australia: Guardians

Touma could do nothing as Julunggul approached him. Her divine nature prevented his body from activating his flight response. Every breath he took caused his heart to beat faster and raised his body's temperature. Her scent was permeating every fiber of his being. The goddess reached up and placed both hands on his cheeks and pressed her lips against his. Touma could taste something fruity and his mind began to fade. Electricity coursed through his entire body. A mere touch from the divine stimulated his body to a degree no drug could ever hope to match. Julunggul broke the kiss and smiled. Touma only felt like he needed more from her, a single kiss was not enough to solve the rush of emotions flooding through him. Julunggul reached a single finger and tugged at his shirt. It started to rip as she slowly dragged her finger down. In the back of Touma's mind a small voice mentioned Carissa was still there, but he no longer cared. She could join if she wanted to. Julunggul finally reached his pants and continued to drag her finger downwards…

Eve! What are you doing? Writing. I see that, I meant what are you doing to my story? You were busy with that new series RWBY your friend showed you, so I wanted to help out. I told you a million times this fic is rated T. GO write your own M rated stuff. Did you not see the comments? Your readers want this! Not if you write it! Bull, they don't care. You could have hundreds of ghost writers and as long as it was good, they would stay. Give me the laptop Eve. Never! Get back here! Unlock this door now! When I finish and not a moment before. Dang it Eve, open up! I'll shut off the power so you can't recharge it! My laptop is old and can't hold a charge! Empty threat, I can make batteries. Arg! She is so frustrating! I can at least use my desktop to answer comments.

Brosephg: I told you before, spoiling is half the fun. People should read the chapter before the reviews, duh. Those 'beasts' as you call them are ordinary Australian dangers. Carissa's and Touma's encounter could hardly be considered nasty. Love is a beautiful thing. Someone was finally going to do what is needed.

Sasga Ainz: Tsundere little sisters, what are you going to do? Since Carissa is already blonde, does that mean she's already a super saiyan?

Acpeters: I had to write down who was meeting who and who they lost to get everyone where they needed to be. As for Julunggal, she has a couple roles to fill. Magic gods have certain rules they have to follow to be a god, but the exact rules are different for each one. Othinus needed to give up an eye, so her shard would be something like that.

Iceflame55: Everyone's over reacting. Once Touma becomes a man, he will want to be more intimate with all his girls.

general ironox: The goddess could go back to AC with him in the form of a snake and fight the mighty Cat God Sphinx.

wildarms13: All the fights were carefully planned out and designed. Or I just randomly assigned them. I will let you decide, haha.

Seeker: No, no it will not. No matter what Eve tries. Woah there, I never said that. When he becomes a man, fireworks erupt everywhere and at least three girls in the bed with him.

Whwsms: I think you missed Shizuri in your fantasy.

Jujudude: There's always ways to bring people back to life if needed. You knowledge of history disgusts me. Nah just kidding, but that was an oversight on my part. Too late to fix it now though, so I shall plow onwards and pretend it wasn't important.

Guest13: This isn't Canada. It's Australia. They deal with enough pain and kill dog size spiders every day.

Agent Nine: I will not apologize for your dirty mind, but I will laugh at your comment.

MightyImpulse: That would require the goddess to follow him back to Academy City in a small enough form so she could point out… Huh, we may never know.

Simmering Teapot: Fluffy is special and can't be used to often or it loses appeal.

Guest: The goddess is an Aboriginal Australia deity. Why she is working with the Fallen was hinted at last chapter and will be elaborated a little on this one. Armor is hard to digest, so naturally the goddess removes it for her pets. Those spiders are obviously just normal breeds that live in Australia. That is why Australians are so tough. When you fight car size spiders on a daily basis, you learn how to fight. I had someone write the M rated scene for it if people wanted to see it.

Guest00: Seria is going to become important when Touma heads back to AC.

Generation Zero: You have several very good questions and I feel I should write this chapter to only give half answers and fragmented views of her power. MUAHAHAHA. Julius was pretty easy to develop his magic and it's going to make a lot of sense when you read it. St. Peter was a lot harder. What kind of magic do you give someone who is really powerful but hates violence? Luckily, I have crazy friends who we bounce ideas off each other to eventually create his main power. This chapter, you will learn exactly what he means by 'no magician can defeat him.' Hundreds of FIVE_OVERS show up to wreck divine judgement.

Salishious: Saten-san is on everyone's team. She doesn't believe in dividing her friends and allies. People seem to enjoy the nickname Snuggle-chan. Maybe she will make extended appearances. I feel if Touma becomes a man, he will be able to be more intimate with the ladies. So plenty of misfortune, but fortune with them.

MightyImpulse: It healed him, but once he lost the mark, he went back to normal. The reason is he is to OP without the time limit.

FrodoFighter: About the Ten Commandments, I thought a lot about that, but I feel like I would have to give a different spell for each one, and that's just too much work on my part. His law aspect already is similar and why on earth would he want to follow god's law? SATEN was useful! That's all we needed. Everything else is secondary. Kung-Fu-Jesus to describe Aqua, I like that. St. Peter will win without doing anything. People sure seem to be enjoying the little glimpse of Seria. There was a reason for that, I promise. I would also like to point out, Aogami would tap anything that is female, moves, and has a heartbeat… I hope he wants that last one. You do remember fluffy got owned by Othinus with a single hand right?

xaxiel1572: Anytime someone says they read all the chapters, my first thought is, dang that must have taken awhile. Glad you liked it.

Tardis42: Sexual tension might be while Carissa is so uptight all the time.

GameCguru: Aphrodite is actually canon in the Index universe. Kamisato met her and we don't talk about him here. Everything else, that's all possible.

Handsomistic1: I'm just going to imagine then your head exploded from the sheer awesomeness.

321jaz: Do you know how hard it was to NOT use that line? Way harder than it should have been.

Disclaimer: Random people do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters. Reading this story may cause you to burst out in laughter or start yelling at fictional characters. This may cause nearby people to assume you have gone crazy. Please read responsibly. Magic Gods own all so they can do what they want.

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"L-let's not g-get a-ahead of o-ourselves," Touma stuttered and took a step back once his body was no longer frozen from the shock of what he just heard. "We just met…" He trailed off as Julunggul stared intently at him with her rainbow eyes. If his concentration faltered for even a minute, he felt like he would be drawn into their divine grace, never to escape. The gargantuan snake lowered down to the ground and Julunggul stepped off. She slowly approached him, an amused look on her face.

"Hmm?" Julunggul asked and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you hessitant?" She smiled at him. "You don't even have to buy me dinner." She looked hesitant for a second. "I think that wass correct. I'm a little russty on the current sslang." She smiled at him and raised a hand up to put it lightly on Touma's cheek. His heart started beating faster as she leaned closer.

"It's not that," Touma replied quickly and diverted his eyes. His body felt heavy and it was hard to move. I have to choose my words carefully. If she really is an all-powerful magic god, I can't risk making her angry. "We only just met and don't know anything about each other." Her gaze turned curious and Touma gulped. He relaxed a fraction when eyes softened.

"You are ssweet," she hissed after a moment. "But don't worry. None of that matterss. My job iss to turn you into a man, one way or another."

"B-but," Touma stammered, as he tried to reason with her. "Shouldn't a first time be with someone you lo-…?"

"I can't watch this anymore," Carissa growled and raised her sword. Whatever foul magic Julunggul used had been dispelled by her irritation and anger. Her sword started to glow white and vibrated ever so slightly. She pulled her arm back and simultaneously leaped forward toward them. She unleashed a powerful thrust over Touma's shoulder and directly at Julunggul's face. Julunggul's rainbow eyes, previously full of amusement and curiosity, turned bored and irritable. Instead of dodging, she only shifted her head ever so slightly and opened her mouth.

Julunggul then bit down on the tip of Carissa's sword.

"How?" Carissa gasped in shock. Julunggul never even blinked. She only flicked her head to the right and the sword was yanked from Carissa's grasp. It flew across the room and clanked loudly as it hit and skidded on the ground. Julunggul opened her mouth and a forked tongue shot out at Carissa's neck. She managed to roll to the side to avoid it. A hissing escaped Julunggul's throat and hundreds of snakes pours out of the holes in the ground and began to cover Carissa. She was forced to freeze as many of them begun to bare their fangs.

"I'm getting tired of your pointlesss interruptionss," Julunggul hissed menacingly. "I sshould jusst feed you to my pet." She gestured with her head back to the giant snake. Its tongue flickered out briefly. "I'm pretty patient, but you are tessting me. If you had ssat quietly in a corner, you might have ssurvived. Actually, I am going to feed you to him." Her snake rose up and opened its mouth. Two fangs, larger than Touma's arm, emerged and it approached Carissa. The snakes around Carissa fled once more into their holes. However, Carissa did not show any fear on her face. Her expression was only one of contempt and defiance. She rose to her feet.

It was obvious her pride would not let her die on the ground. If she was going to die, it would be on her feet, but only after every available option was exhausted. She bent her knees in preparation. The moment the snake struck, she would have to jump to the side. Snakes could strike much faster than a normal person could follow, but the massive size of the snake should slow it down a bit. The snake swayed slightly as it watched her and then moved back slightly to get a better position. The fight could be over in a fraction of a second.

"Stop!" Touma shouted. Being so close to Julunggul's ear, he was surprised she didn't flinch, but she did make a slight movement with her finger. The snake stopped and slowly retreated into the vast hole in the ceiling. Julunggul must have decided neither of them were a big enough threat to warrant it. Julunggul moved her finger down Touma's neck slowly and he shivered. "Don't kill her," he pleaded, but she didn't answer. Instead, she opened her mouth and bit lightly into his neck. He felt a small pinch, like a shot, and a single drop of blood trickled down his neck. Julunggul used her tongue and licked it up. When her tongue hit the broken skin, he felt a wave of electricity course through his body. "Ah," he gasped involuntarily.

"Liked that, did you?" Julunggul asked mockingly. She knew he did, even if he wouldn't admit it. "I'm ssurprissed you are willing to keep fighting sso hard." She peered deeply into her eyes. "Why? Do you have ssomeone back home?" Touma saw images of many of his female friends flood to the front of his mind and he wasn't sure if Julunggul could see them or not.

"It's a lot more complicated than that," Touma admitted slowly. He could feel Carissa's eyes on him. Not only had he not been able to sort out his own feelings, there were plenty of other reasons why he hadn't, and couldn't, make a move on a girl. He never really had a chance to fully discuss them with anyone. "Besides," he continued. "I can't do it with someone I randomly met. If that is even what you mean." He narrowed his eyes. "I'm beginning to think this is a charade and you are trying to enact some kind of scheme." She laughed.

"If I'm not your type," Julunggul whispered softly. "I can change that." She peered deep into his eyes and he watched her change. His mouth fell open in shock, as he saw another Carissa stand in front of him. The image changed again into Mikoto, Misaki, Ruiko, Lessar, and kept alternating between all the girls he knew, including adult women. His stomach churned and his consciousness roared at him to end this.

"Please stop," Touma begged and forced his eyes away to the side. "Even if you look like people I know, you are not them. It's an insult."

"How do you ressisst?" Julunggul asked. "I can be anything or anyone you want, yet you fight. This ressisstance is why your threadss have not ssolidified. You are hurting otherss with your indecissivenesss. There iss a reasson I perform thesse ancient ritess." Touma felt a shred of guilt but said nothing. Julunggul looked at Carissa out of the corner of her eye. "Iss it her? Do you not like being watched, or…" Her eyes widened. "Sshe'ss important to you? Heh, my eyess don't lie."

"Yes," Touma said and he even surprised himself. He stared defiantly into Julunggul's eyes, so he missed Carissa's shocked and slightly confused expression. "It's hard to say we are friends, but we have history."

"Interessting," Julunggul mused. Her eyes brightened and she dropped her hand on his shoulder. Touma suddenly regained full use of his body and quickly stepped back. Julunggul didn't seem to mind and turned around. She walked over to Carissa, who immediately went into a defensive pose. She may not have had her sword, but Carissa had plenty of training in martial arts, plus whatever physical augmenting spells she had on her gear. Julunggul didn't seem to be worried at all though. A goddess was supposed to be able to manipulate the world with her will alone, so she had nothing to fear. Julunggul stopped a couple feet from Carissa and stared at her. "You are not a complete wasste of sspace," Julunggul stated. "I found a usse for you."

"Bite me," Carissa spat out. "Whatever you think is going on between me and the boy is just a sick delusion of yours."

"Don't tempt me," Julunggul hissed briefly. "Deny what you want, but the threadss are there. They actually sstrengthened ssince you arrived." She turned to glance back at Touma. "I'm going to give you a choice. You can either allow me to make you a man, and then you can leave, or you can become a man with her," she pointed to Carissa, "and then both of you can leave."

"You bitch!" Carissa fumed, but Julunggul ignored her.

"How can you say that with a straight face?!" Touma asked astonished.

"I'm a fertility goddesss," Julunggul reminded him. "That iss my primary function. All of Adam'ss orderss are ssecondary. Bessidess, by the time you finissh, I will have kept you here for a while." She snickered slightly. "Well, you might finissh quickly ssince it'ss your firsst time, though the princesss iss experienced." She snickered again and Carissa began to grind her teeth. "You might want to make a decission ssoon, before I change my mind."

"What would happen to Carissa if I went with option one?" Touma asked hesitantly, He didn't really want to choose either, but he noticed Julunggul didn't mention Carissa's fate.

"I'll feed thiss arrogant brat to my pet," Julunggul replied simply and pointed up to the vast hole in the ceiling. "Now decide quickly." Carissa made a fist with one hand and it looked like she desperately wanted to punch Julunggul in the face, but all three of them knew that action was going to amount to nothing.

"Doesn't she get a say in this?" Touma asked almost angrily and pointed to Carissa.

"Nope," Julunggul answered. "But I doubt sshe will mind. I only offered that choice becausse sshe hass feelingss for you."

"Now I know you are messing with me," Touma replied, almost shouting in disbelief. "There is no way that is true." He sighed. "Even in the middle of a large scale encounter, people still find the opportunity to make fun of me."

"It iss rather fun," admitted Julunggul. "But you dare to doubt the word of a god?" She glared at him for a moment and Touma shivered. He only relaxed when she smiled. "I ssupposse that reaction would be expected, few people ever meet an actual deity. I told you boy, I can ssee the sstringss that bind people together." Her eyes traveled to Carissa. "Bassed on itss dessign, sshe hass not come to termss with it yet." Touma felt his eyes involuntary fall on Carissa. A vein in her head was pulsing and it looked like she was ready to explode. However, faced against Julunggul's power, Touma wasn't sure she could do anything right now.

"I still think you might be mistaken," Touma muttered and the air instantly grew colder as she narrowed her eyes. "But who am I to doubt your word?" he amended quickly.

"Good recover," Julunggul said with a smile. "Now, option one, or option two?"

"I think that's obvious," Touma answered. Naturally, there was only one choice he could possibly give in this situation. He didn't like it, but there wasn't much of a choice. His only other option would be to try to convince Julunggul this entire thing was stupid and that teaming up against Adam was the better route. He opened his mouth to mention that, but he couldn't produce the words. Julunggul glanced at him suspiciously and Touma closed his mouth again. I think she's only letting me answer her question, nothing else. How will I be able to persuade her? Should I try to touch her with my hand? Would that prevent her from using magic? She was a couple steps away and he saw firsthand how fast her reflexes were. He took a deep breath and continued the only response that made sense. It was the one where they could all get out alive. "Option two," he said and braced himself for the impact.

"What?!" Carissa snapped with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"Ohoho!" Julunggul laughed and Touma was reminded of a certain ojou-sama from Academy City. "That sshould make her happy." She looked around. "But thiss area could hardly be conssidered an appropriate location for ssuch an important ceremony. In front of a goddesss no lesss. Not even a bed." She looked back at Touma. "Go sstart whatever your generation conssiderss the warmup while I find ssomething."

I'm going to die, Touma thought. When he learned what he would be helping with in Australia, this situation never occurred to him. He considered zombies, enslaved innocent people, and even for the possibility of death, but being forced to have sex with someone to live, that was a new one. Not only that, Carissa was one of the last people he could ever imagine this happening with. This was something Lessar would have set up, and it would have been a lie that his life depended on doing it. Carissa is going to kill me. He didn't know what to expect and his body started to move automatically toward her. He began to sweat profusely when she caught a glimpse of her face. Her lips were pressed tightly together, but otherwise her expression was neutral. He stopped a foot away from her and paled under her gaze.

"Do you have a plan?" she whispered softly, so Julunggul could not here.

"No," Touma admitted just as quietly. "I have no idea. Help." Carissa sighed.

"I suppose it was too much to expect you to come up with something," Carissa told him. Her voice was barely loud enough for him to here. She suddenly grabbed his shoulders and pulled him around. Hey body twisted around him and she kept her head between Touma and Julunggul. "She's watching. Don't let her see us talking."

"Okay, but what can we do? We obviously can't do what she was asking."

"Your conversation with her was childish and idiotic," Carissa told him. "But you bought time. Thanks to that, I managed to analyze her to an extent, her magic, moves, and personality."

"And you came up with a plan?" Touma asked hopefully.

"No." Touma's heart sunk at her confession. "However, there is a bright side. Her magic is not limitless, vast yes, but I could tell there was a limit. That means she's not a true god. It has to be because of the shard she mentioned she had lost."

"Can we take her?" Touma asked as he recollected everything he saw. "She seemed so confident and when she got irritated…" His voice trailed off. Carissa face darkened at his words. They had both felt the immense pressure of her power from just a look.

"Not as we are," she acknowledged. "Fighting her would require hours of planning or a squad of top tier magicians. If we had your acquaintances, William, or even George and Amelia, we might stand a chance. You can't use magic and I don't know how well your hand will work on her, especially since she knows about it."

"Then what can we do? I could act as a shield, while you-…"

"Stop," Carissa interrupted. "For now, play along." She let go of him and turned around. Julunggul was staring at them and then smiled. Something fell out of nowhere next to them. Touma turned to look at it, but Carissa barely acknowledged it. Only her eyes shifted slightly. A thick wool blanket had landed on the ground and spread out unnaturally flat. Carissa huffed and Touma could feel the aura of pride and determination he was used to seeing around her. "Really? Is that all? A goddess expects a young boy to become a man on a single blanket? And with royalty no less?"

"You sshould watch your tongue," Julunggul said dangerously. "Before I remove it." She put her arms behind her back and her expression softened as she stared at them. "I would apologize for the accommodationss, but I did not have much warning. Without my sshard, my view of the world iss limited." Touma frowned.

That's the second time I heard her mention this shard. What exactly is it?

"However," Julunggul continued. "I sstill have the honor of a god. If you become a man with thiss woman, I will let you passs." She paused. "The longer you wait, the more of your men fall." She smiled. "That cloth will be ssofter than the floor, but the choice iss up to you."

"Your kindness knows no bounds," Carissa replied and Touma could hear the sarcasm permeating her words. Julunggul obviously did too, as her eye twitched slightly, but she didn't lower herself to Carissa's taunts. Carissa turned and stepped toward Touma. Before he could say anything, she did something he never would have expected. Her hands reached up faster than he could react and pushed him in the chest. He fell backwards onto the blanket and propped himself up with his arms.

"C-Carissa?" Touma stammered in surprised. "What are you doing?"

"Is your memory that bad?" Carissa mocked. "You were the one who decided our fate." She stepped onto the blanket and knelt down over him. Her face was drawing closer to him. Amusement was etched all over it, before she grabbed the side of his head and leaned in. Touma closed his eyes and felt her soft lips press against his. Then he felt her tongue slip inside of his mouth.

If not for their current situation, he might have enjoyed it.

"I'll give you two ssome privacy," Julunggul cooed. She instantly vanished and the room was empty except for Touma and Carissa. Carissa removed her lips and Touma gasped for air. The honest part of his male mind kind of wanted the kiss to last a little longer.

"Please wait!" he begged. "I'm not prepared for this!" Carissa bent down and bit his ear, hard. He felt a mixture of pain and a little pleasure.

"Shut up and listen," Carissa ordered. Her voice was barely a whisper into his ear. "We don't have much time." Touma briefly nodded to indicate he understood. "Good job with the acting." Touma did not bother to correct her. "The point was to get her to leave, but she's probably still watching us. We only have two options available. Play her game or fight back. I'm going to leave the choice up to you."

"Why me?" Touma asked in shock.

"Normal methods are not going to work here," Carissa answered. "And I don't have the tools at my disposal to devise a counterstrategy. I'm counting on your unorthodox methods to lead us to victory. The choice is going to determine if we succeed or die." Touma was momentarily speechless, as his mind worked in overdrive. It was difficult though, because a very attractive female was on top of him and breathing softly into his ear. His body was betraying him and he was terrified Carissa would find out.

Why me? he thought. I don't have experience. Fighting seems to be out of the question. Julunggul stopped Carissa with barely any effort. Plus, we have no idea if my hand will negate anything useful on her. The other option is Carissa and I do it... No, don't even think about that. You only said that in the first place to prevent her from being killed. If you do it with her in this situation, you will be trash, even lower than trash. Think, you never accepted a choice if it wouldn't be right for anyone involved. Find the secret route that's always hidden. Fighting and intercourse are off the table, and I doubt we could run from her. This leaves only one other option for me. It's time to see what a goddess is really like. "Neither," Touma finally answered.

"Boy," Carissa hissed. "Do you realize-…?"

"I have a third option," Touma interrupted.

"Are you confident in it?"

"Not at all, but it's better than the other two options."

"I find that almost insulting." Touma realized what he had implied.

"That's not why-…" he tried to explain.

"Yeah, whatever," Carissa sighed. "Hero, virgin, idiot, give me the excuses later. What is your plan?"

"Just follow my lead."

"You giving orders now?"

"This time," Touma muttered, hoping Carissa's pride wouldn't ruin this. "I need you to trust me." Carissa looked at him for a moment and it looked like she swallowed something sour. Touma had an inkling of the dilemma that was going through her mind. Carissa was used to leading, that was obvious. Now, she had to make the choice whether to trust the boy that had once been her enemy and ruined her opportunity to rule England or go with one of her ideas. Since she had admitted neither of her ideas were likely to succeed, she would have to cast aside her pride. Touma didn't think of it this way though. He did not want to destroy her pride, but to save everyone. Finally, she gave him an answer.

"You have not given me a reason to doubt you so far," Carissa told him. "Go, I'll follow this time." Touma eyes widened ever so slightly and nodded to her. He was determined not to waste this opportunity.

"I need to get up," Touma told her first. She rolled off of him and stood up too. Touma walked toward the center of the room and looked up at the ceiling. He had no idea where Julunggul had gone, nor could he see any signs of her, but his gut told him she was still watching. "Julunggul!" he called out. "I need to talk to you."

"Do you think you have the right to call a goddesss?" Julunggul's voice echoed around the room. "When you can't even follow a ssimple order?"

"This involves all of us," Touma informed her. "Including you." There was only silence for a minute, but Touma didn't break it. Carissa looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

Huh, when did he learn the secrets to negotiation?

"Are you trying to perssuade me to join you two? How brave..." She trailed off and giggled. Touma's face paled and he determinedly kept his eyes off Carissa.

"It's not that," Touma explained quickly. "It's about all three of us being trapped here." At those words, Carissa frowned. She finally got her first insight into what he was going to try to do.

"Fine," Julunggul relented and reappeared a couple feet in front of him. She looked slightly annoyed, but mildly curious. "Let me hear it. However," her voice turned ice cold. "If thiss wasstess my time, I will kill you." Touma was surprised at how fast she could change her attitude.

This has to be worded carefully, Touma through to himself. One wrong word could spell their demise. He noticed the dirt around Julunggul began to get blown away. "I'm not sure how long you have been apart from the rest of human civilization, but time has changed when people consider it appropriate to become a 'man' as you put it." He took a deep breath when she raised an eye. "Normally, eighteen is when our society considers it okay to do those kinds of activities." He didn't want to mention that many times kids do it before then, but it was true society considered eighteen the magic number. He saw Julunggul roll her eyes and knew she could tell his words weren't completely honest.

"Lissten," Julunggul told him reassuringly. "It'ss okay to be nervouss. Mosst people are their firsst time."

"It's not that," Touma protested. He had no choice but to be honest. "I have always dreamed of my first time being with an attractive older woman, but it's not worth it if we aren't in love or being forced. It's wrong. Or maybe I'm too young for this."

"He is rather young for me," Carissa agreed. She had felt her lips twitch slightly at his compliment. "Give him two years or so to mature." Touma decided to ignore that.

"Your wordss do not affect the sstringss you have forged already," Julunggul pointed out. "Nor do they concern me. What did you mean by all three of uss being trapped here?" Her rainbow eyes drilled into his and Touma felt his mind get slightly foggy again. It was getting harder to think straight. Lying would be impossible in his condition. He would never be able to keep the lies straight. That might have actually been the purpose of her glare. Touma had been planning to tell the truth and this changed nothing.

"It's about the shard you mentioned," Touma continued and he knew he struck gold. Julunggul's face had darkened, but the room did not drop in temperature. He was on the right path, so he pushed on. "You said you lost it, but that's not really true either." Julunggul didn't confirm or deny this statement, but Carissa smirked. "I may not know what this 'shard' is, but I can tell it's important." He took a deep breath. This was the point he was worried about. "Adam took it, didn't he?" Carissa's smile faltered and Julunggul raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you ssay that?" Julunggul asked interestedly.

"We don't have reason to believe Adam has reached the level of magic god yet," Touma answered, as he recited what he had been told back at base camp. "So a majestic goddess like yourself would never serve him normally." A little flattery probably won't hurt. "That leaves one option. He stole your shard to force you to do his bidding."

"Clever boy," Julunggul purred. "If what you ssay iss true, what could you posssibly do?"

"I want to make a deal with you," Touma said and her eyes widened. She wasn't the only one in shock, because Carissa grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Boy," she hissed. "Do you understand what you are doing? Magic gods may be all powerful, but they are just as fickle as humans. Do not make a deal you can't honor with them. It will only come back to haunt you."

"I know," Touma muttered back. "But this way, our goals will coincide." Carissa looked like she wanted to shake some sense into him, but then Julunggul spoke up.

"What kind of deal?" Touma stepped toward her and Carissa let him go.

"Our goal is to defeat Adam," Touma told her. "But I'm sure you know that. However, we should be able to help you in the process." Julunggul's eyes widened ever so slightly. "In exchange for letting us go and not killing anymore of our forces, I will take back your shard from Adam." He paused for only a moment. "I'm not strong enough to keep it from someone like yourself, so even if I wanted to use the shard against you, which I don't, you would be able to easy take it from me."

"Tempting," Julunggul mused, but it was more mocking than anything else. "What makess you think you have the kind of power to sstop him?"

"Because we have to," Touma answered simply. Carissa face palmed at that response. Then, to their surprise, Julunggul started laughing.

"You are really optamisstic," she finally said when she calmed down. She stepped toward him, put a hand on the side of his cheek, and stared into his eyes. Touma almost lost himself in the rainbow colors again, but he kept his resolve. "I like that expresssion. Thosse eyess, they remind me of him. Why I became…" Her voice trailed off and Touma tilted his head slightly. "Nothing." She removed her hand and turned around. "Your offer iss tempting, but I don't know if you have enough ressolve to accomplissh that feat."

"Then let me add my weight to his deal," Carissa suddenly spoke up and stepped up next to Touma. "I am royalty of England. My word should be enough for you. I promise to help this boy achieve his end of the deal. I have the resources of an entire country deeply entrenched in magic plus an army."

"Royalty are sstill humanss," Julunggul pointed out. "But their pride and honor tendss to causse them to keep their word." She looked up at the ceiling. "I accept your deal boy." Touma's heart slowed down in relief and even Carissa relaxed. "Though, you don't have to retrieve my sshard, desstroying it iss enough."

"Don't you need it though?" Touma asked surprised.

"I can make a new one if it iss desstroyed," Julunggul answered and waved her hand dismissively. "It jusst takess time." She smiled. "I'll make a sshow of good faith too." She looked up at the ceiling and Touma's eyes followed. The gigantic snake emerged once again and placed its head right above the ground. It made a strange noise and Touma instinctively took a step back. The snake opened its mouth and another sound came from the back of its throat. Touma suddenly realized what it was and he couldn't believe it.

Is that snake choking? Is that even possible for them? The sound grew louder and louder until something began to emerged. Touma watched as four people fell out of the snake and onto the ground, three adult men and one young girl. Were those the people the armor and habit belonged to? The men, who he assumed were the knights, were only wearing shirts and tight fitting pants. The girl was not as lucky. She was only in her underwear, but all four of them were covered in… saliva? Touma didn't really want to think about it. They won't be excited about that, but at least they are alive. Why? He looked at Julunggul, who winked back at him.

"Ssign of good faith," she repeated. "Though, they won't wake up unlesss you win." She pointed to a passageway behind her on the far side of the room. "You need to go through there to meet Adam."

"Thank you," Touma said and bowed to her. Carissa merely nodded her head. Touma didn't like the fact he had to leave unconscious allies back with her, but they didn't have much of a choice. Julunggul was temperamental to say the least, but she did not appear to be a villain like Adam. She's just another pawn in Adam's plan, which is actually pretty disturbing. It says a lot about Adam's power if he can manipulate a goddess. He turned to leave in the direction Julunggul pointed, but stopped when she spoke up.

"Before you go," Julunggul said. "A bit of advice."

"Yes?" Touma asked. He was grateful for help, no matter how small.

"Beware hiss wordss."

"Huh?" Touma was confused. "I'm not going to listen to his lies."

"You don't undersstand. The truth can be much more painful than liess could ever be." She disappeared before Touma could respond to the ominous statement. The large snake also disappeared back up into its hole. Touma made a small step to reach out toward the unconscious people, but Carissa stopped him. She shook her head and Touma understood the meaning. Do not upset her. He nodded reluctantly and they set off down the tunnel Julunggul had directed them towards. When they were out of earshot from the room, Touma finally could ask Carissa something.

"What do you think her warning meant?"

"Hard to say," Carissa answered. "He could be good at manipulating people. Neither of us had prolonged contact with him, so it's best not to dwell on it too much. It will probably make sense later, so keep it in mind. I could tell she was actually serious." The tunnel began to ascend up actual stairs and there was a tiny glint of light coming from the top. "It looks like we have reached the end. Be prepared, this is going to be an actual fight." They started up the stairs. "Don't think you can get off by trying to flirt with him like you did with Julunggul. Seriously," she sighed. "You are the only idiot to actually try something like that with a god."

"You make it sound like I tried to do that!" Touma protested. "How is this my fault we run into a goddess that governs over sex?"

"Because nothing that stupid has ever happened until I met you," Carissa pointed out.

"I don't want this crazy stuff to happen to me. I would be happy with a normal high school life!"

"Far too late for that, isn't it?"

"Tell me about it." Touma sighed. "You sound like some people I know back home. They say I flirt with every girl I meet."

"Oh?" Carissa said slightly amused and raised an eyebrow. "So if you had been able to contact Academy City about what was happening here, we could not expect a couple girls with powerful science abilities to come barreling to help you?" A little revenge at the boy's expense was perfectly rational. After all, what kind of young boy would refuse to be with her like he did? She knew why he did it, and she had to admit it worked, but her pride had taken a slight hit. She would have gone through with it if it was their only option. She wasn't inexperienced like he was.

"Uh…" Touma trailed off. That was probably true. Mikoto and Misaki would definitely come, even if they had to hijack a plane. They could too. Misaki would modify witnesses and Mikoto could control a lot of Academy City's planes with her electricity. Shizuri… Well, she was hard to read. She would probably come for more selfish reasons, mainly to get revenge on Adam and show up Carissa's forces again. Thinking about revenge, Accelerator might come to try to fight Adam. Jason would follow them, purely for his own amusement if nothing else. "My friends would definitely try to come. They understand how strong Adam is because they have faced Eve. We would need anyone available."

"Clever," she mumbled, more to herself. Touma never actually denied the female strike squad who seemed to be overly obsessed with him, something Carissa did not miss. Making fun of Touma was more about calming her own nerves before meeting Adam. It wasn't something she normally did. Usually, embarrassing people was a way to destroy their ego, like when a knight got too overconfident. Touma did not have this problem. In fact, he was one of the most down to earth people she had ever met, even after being involved in all the recent magic side events. Her only complaint is his belief everyone could be saved was way too optimistic, borderline insane. Well, mother always said I needed a hobby that didn't involve the military. Making fun of this boy does sound like a pleasant recreational activity, assuming we all make it. "Jokes aside, we are almost to the top. Have you prepared yourself?"

"Yes," Touma told her. "Sooner we beat him, the sooner everyone else can get out of that maze."

"You got that look in your eye," Carissa commented. "It's a good look on you, makes you look professional." Touma decided not to say anything to her compliment. "I'll try to decipher his powers as best as I can, but you need to follow my orders immediately. A second delay could spell defeat. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Good, it's time to finish this." They reached the top of stairs and stepped out into the light. Carissa blinked and found herself in another tunnel. Touma was nowhere to be found. "DAMN IT!" she roared. They had completely forgotten about Adam's magic. Julunggul had pointed them in the correct direction, so neither of them questioned if the magic was still on the entrances. It wasn't on the one leading out of the room. He wanted to separate us, Carissa realized. Boy, hold on until backup arrives. I'm counting on you. She heard the sound of metal clanging and explosions in the distance. A fight has broken out. That's my best shot of finding reinforcements.

---

"That's a big claim," Leivinia answered St. Peter's declaration with a smirk. She twirled her wand between her fingers. "You probably never met a magician like me before." Agnese rolled her eyes, but luckily Leivinia didn't see it. William didn't move, but his fingers tightened on his mace as the far end hit the ground. Leivinia did have skills and knowledge far beyond a normal magician anywhere near her age. Being the leader of the largest magic cabal was proof of that.

"Confidence is a good thing to have," St. Peter told her. "But overconfidence only leads to one's downfall." A vein throbbed in Leivinia's head at St. Peter nonchalant words. He must have noticed her displeasure. "I'm sorry if my words offended you. I am merely trying to help."

"You can help us by getting out of the way if you don't want to die again!" Leivinia yelled and pointed her wand threateningly at him.

"This doesn't feel right," Agnese whispered to William. "Fighting one of the twelve disciples makes it seem like we are the bad guys."

"Adam is once again perverting our religion," William replied. "But we are in a very precarious situation."

"And Birdway isn't helping," Agnese added and scowled at her back.

"Her actions will not disturb him," William pointed out. "Nor will her attacks succeed."

"What do you mean?" Agnese asked confused.

"I understand his words now."

"About how no magician can defeat him?"

"Yes. We were unprepared."

"Enough of this!" Leivinia finally snapped. "He's a pawn of Adam. It would be our duty to send him back to the afterlife." Her grip tightened on her wand. "I can't say I take pleasure in this, but I always wanted to see how a fared against a saint." Her smile didn't match her words. She jabbed her wand forward to engulf St. Peter in flames. She blinked.

Nothing happened.

What? Leivinia thought in shock. How could I have made a mistake? Her wand required specific motions to use the elements, but shooting fire was one of the easiest things her weapon could do. For her to make such an amateur mistake was impossible. It wasn't like the wand was new to her. She jabbed her wand once more and again nothing happened. Her eyes narrowed when she realized what this meant. "Nun!" she turned around. "Try your weapon, quick!"

"Okay," Agnese agreed and hit the side of the Lotus Wand with a dagger. The Lotus Wand allowed its user to render attacks based on the effects that happen on the Lotus Wand, similar to the method that is used on voodoo dolls. By slashing it with a dagger, Agnese would transfer the strike against St. Peter's body. The only weakness was a very slight delay in the time between when she struck the weapon and the time it struck the location she aimed at. Touma had used that to his advantage, but St. Peter didn't even try to move. The strike should have been a perfect hit across his chest. Agnese lowered her weapons in surprise.

Nothing happened.

"My attack isn't working," Agnese told Leivinia.

"He must have disabled our weapon," Leivinia replied and then smirked to herself. "That's fine. I'm not a one trick phony like her…"

"Hey!" Agnese cried indignantly.

"…so let's see if you can handle some direct attacks," Leivinia continued as if she had not been interrupted. Her next choice of attacks was to summon a bolt of electricity. The characteristic of her electrical attack would normally bounce around like a pinball, so it was capable of taking down multiple opponents. Even if it was only one person this time, the electricity should be able to incapacitate him. She hadn't used this attack in a while, after observing the electrical powers of one of the girls from Academy City. That girl's power made her attack feel inferior, something she hated. Right now, that wasn't important. What was important was that they defeat St. Peter so they could move forward and crush Adam. Leivinia started the process of casting her magic, when she noticed the truth and stopped.

She was unable to refine mana.

That's impossible. Birdway could not believe what had happened. It was one thing to disable magical items like her Symbolic Weapon and Agnese's Lotus Wand. Magical ceremonies could be disrupted easily too. To actively disable people from refining mana, that should not happen. The only exception to that rule would be the Imagine Breaker, but that required continual physical contact. Leivinia had never detected St. Peter using any spell to disable their refinement process. Is this the level of an apostle? Or is this just the level he alone had reached? She turned around and looked back at Agnese.

"What?" she asked nervously. She saw Leivinia's face grow slightly pale and Agnese felt a shiver down her spine. She realized something dangerous and it has shaken her. What could be so powerful for someone like her to lose confidence?

"You understand our predicament?" William asked.

"You knew?" fumed Leivinia and she spun around to glare at him. "And you didn't warn us? In fact, WHY THE HELL DID YOU NOT TRY TO STOP IT?!"

"I would not have noticed if I didn't lose my strength," William pointed out calmly. He dropped the heavy mace and it hit the ground with a loud thud. His arm was shaking slightly. William was strong in his own right, but a five meter long metal mace was taxing without his saint strength. Wielding it properly would have been impossible at the moment. "It seems we are unable to use any kind of magic." Leivinia nodded and her face darkened.

"Really?" Agnese didn't believe that at first, but when she tried to refine her mana, she couldn't feel it. "Okay, so we can't use magic. Any ideas?" She was a little calmer than she should have been after her test, but only because William had pointed out the issue.

"Depends on how he actually accomplished this," Leivinia spat out and turned to him. "Coward! Removing our ability to fight with a surprise move while pretending to be person of character, what kind of magic did you use?" Leivinia didn't believe anyone would actually say, but there was a chance he would. Be an idiot like the boy and spill your secrets. I need to learn this technique.

"In a way," St. Peter started off slowly. "You are right. I can only do this because I was a coward." He put his hands behind his back and looked more depressed than Agnese could have believed possible. "I was told that I would deny the Son of God three times before the rooster crows and I replied I would never do such a thing. Then when I was confronted, I denied I knew him. I did it not once, not twice, but three times. The last one was only a moment before the cry." He looked up at the ceiling. "Those that deny the Son of God before men will have the Son of God deny them before his father in heaven."

"The Denial of St. Peter," Agnese whispered. It was a famous story and reflected the emotional turmoil, turbulent emotions, and repentance by St. Peter. It detailed his struggle to redeem himself after he betrayed the Son of God by denying being associated with him to avoid punishment. William remained quiet and Leivinia scowled.

"Many people deny him," Leivinia replied and waved her hand dismissively. St. Peter looked at her and his eyes were full of remorse.

"It was perhaps my greatest mistake," St. Peter continued. "When denying the Son of God, you will effectively be denied before God by his son. God's blessings will no longer reach you. Magic was just an attempt for mankind to mimic God's power. My mistake, even after being in the very presence of the Son of God and promising I would not deny him, is the reason I can achieve this magic. I can impose my shame upon you to prevent you from being blessed by God, and thus using magic to imitate his power will be unobtainable from you. This magic is, in a way, a reflection of my own selfishness."

Sounds like it's not something I can use, Leivinia thought angrily. Though, I suppose researching it won't hurt. Based on what happened, it prevents all mana from being refined and removes mana from weapons. Idol theory won't work either. It's even more annoying than the boy's hand. "If you think you have won just because we can't use magic, think aga-…"

Leivinia was interrupted as William rushed passed her.

He ran towards St. Peter and aimed a fist at his head. St. Peter only moved his eyes as William's fist closed in. It would have been a clean hit if William's hand didn't seem to slow down and stop about an inch away from St. Peter's face. William frowned, took a step back, and brought a knee up towards St. Peter's stomach. The same thing happened. His knee was about to make a clean hit when it slowed down and stopped. William shifted behind his target and brought an elbow down at St. Peter's neck. Again, his blow stopped about an inch away. He frowned again and jumped backwards. The force of his blows were not being deflected, like they had against Accelerator, it just sort of disappeared. "A barrier?"

"No," St. Peter corrected gently. "I deplore violence. A spell had been placed on this room to reflect that. No one may physically strike another person while inside." He glanced over at William and nodded his head slightly.

"Physical attacks are useless," Leivinia muttered. "And he disabled our magic. Yet, some of his restrictions will also affect him." Her eyes widened when it dawned on her. "He's not trying to defeat us. He wants to trap us here."

"Yes," St. Peter confirmed. "Adam ordered me to detain all who aimed for the exit. I regretfully can't go against his orders, but I can still avoid deaths."

"Agnese," Leivinia ordered. "Fighting him directly isn't going to work. See if you can identify the magic he has on the exit."

"On it," Agnese said, as she moved around the room to the far end. She didn't turn her back to St. Peter, just in case this was all an act. William was also prepared himself to jump in between them. Agnese reached the exit and started to closely examine the water blocking the passageway. The water was flowing down from the top out of nowhere and disappeared when it hit the ground. It's like part of a river. At least I can still read mana, this would be impossible without it. Running water was used for baptisms from some of the apostles. The mana seems to agree to that, but instead of being tied to God, it's being tied to the caster. Baptism saves the souls of people and can be considered the first step to the entrance … got it. "Birdway!" she called out. "We won't be able to pass without his consent. It's acting like a gateway based on baptism, where instead of entrance to heaven, it's the entrance to the outside. His consent replaces the ceremony."

"Well done," St. Peter complimented her. "You managed to identify the spell much quicker than I thought you would. A rather simple spell, but solid in its applications."

Things just keep getting better and better, Leivinia thought bitterly. With magic, we could break down that barrier blocking the entrance, but now William can't even use his saint abilities. That shouldn't be possible. Saint abilities are natural because his body is supposed to be similar to the Son of God. Though, now that I think about it, since St. Peter denied the Son of God, it's possible he can deny the saint power. Even though we know his spells, there is nothing we can do about it. Really, the best option is to retreat. She glanced at the others. William was stone-faced like usual, he rarely betrayed an emotion, but Agnese looked like how she felt.

There's nothing we can do, Agnese thought. If we had known about his magic, we could have attacked from a distance. In a confined space like this, there was no way to dodge. It was all planned out. We usually work with numbers against opponents, but that's so we can pool our magic together. We can't use physical or magical attacks now. Hmm, what if we attack with something that doesn't belong to us, like a rock? I don't really want to try because I seriously doubt a saint's magic would be so incomplete. We can either sit here and do nothing or retreat and find back up. I don't like it, but retreating seems to be the best option.

"I would not recommend going back into the tunnels," St. Peter suggested as if reading Agnese's mind. She flinched slightly. "Without the ability to use magic, you would not last long against her pets, his servants, or the magic infused local wildlife." Leivinia flinched ever so slightly at the thought of more spiders. She had actually hoped she and Lessar had taken out the nest and the numbers would be thinned out.

"I have a question," Agnese stated and turned to St. Peter. "Is it Adam who's controlling the natives, or someone else?"

"Someone else," he answered. Agnese was right in her deduction that St. Peter would answer her questions. To what point still remained to be seen. "Julius Caesar is guarding another exit. His magic enslaves those who are used to being dominated by others, regardless of by who. Friends, family, enemies, all are susceptible. The longer his magic runs wild, the larger the area affected." St. Peter paused and looked at the ground. "He is not as kind as I. Adam wants him to annihilate some of your best fighters and he was perfectly happy to accept."

"I'm surprised he didn't order you to kill us," Leivinia pointed out.

"My magic is not designed to kill. His orders cannot change something so set in stone, as much as he tried."

"Heh," Leivinia chucked for a moment. "First piece of good news since our encounter with you. Adam is definitely not a magic god. One of them would be able to force you to absolute submission." St. Peter sighed.

"If you continue to think along those lines," he warned. "You will fail in your objective. He is not to be taken lightly."

"We already saw his ability to mimic God's plagues," Leivinia snapped.

"No," St. Peter elaborated. "While that particular brand of magic is powerful, he wouldn't have gotten to where he is based on that alone."

"I thought Eve was the mastermind and Adam was the muscle," Agnese interrupted, slightly confused. "Well, until she betrayed him."

"Adam's greatest strength is in his words," St. Peter continued. "It's how he was able to manipulate a magic god." This announcement was met by silence. Agnese's face turned ashen, Leivinia gripped her hands into fists, and even William looked slightly alarmed.

"How?" Agnese asked. Leivinia and William were giving St. Peter their undivided attention.

"He tricked her out of her connection," St. Peter said cryptically. "With her power severely diminished, she had no choice but to serve him." He smiled for a moment. "Though, it is obvious she is not trying. It's more she was set to guard an exit like Julius and I were. She sent some of her pets into the tunnels, but she has no stake in our struggles. If you encounter her, best odds of survival are just to play along with her. She's pretty fickle."

"Damn it," Leivinia muttered. Normally, such a statement would be brushed off as foolish, but St. Peter hardly seemed to be one who told lies. Every option available seems to be leading to a dead end. Her eyes met William and she raised an eyebrow. He shook his head in response, and took a couple steps away from St. Peter. He's thinking of something, but hasn't come up with anything yet. She glanced over at Agnese, who shrugged back. She's useless. Leivinia walked backwards and leaned up against the wall. She crossed her arms and ran through every possibility available to them again. Retreating wasn't an option anymore because they can't use magic. Minutes passed in silence as the rest of her allies thought to themselves. St. Peter was the only one who seemed to be preoccupied with something else. He stared toward another tunnel and smiled warmly.

"Young lady," he said kindly. "Are you going to stand out in the dark tunnel all day, or would you like to come and wait with the rest of your friends?" Leivinia and Agnese were surprised and turned to see who St. Peter was talking to. William did not look surprise or, if he was, it was hidden well. There was the possibility he detected her before losing his saint powers. The person who stepped out into the room looked nervous, embarrassed, and a little scared, but still managed to give a weary smile.

Ruiko Saten finally revealed herself.

---

A couple explosions went off.

When Julius Caesar's troops charged, Frenda threw a couple grenades. Instead of throwing into the mobs, which she would have done normally if they weren't mind controlled, she threw them in front of the mobs, mainly in the center. The resulting explosions forced the people in the middle to hold up their shields and stop advancing, while the people on the side kept moving forward. This broke the solid wall of shields and spears. Exactly as planned. "Now!" Frenda shouted to the others.

"Nice job," Oriana replied and bit into the small ringlet of paper she held in her right hand. The piece of paper started to glow and a tornado of wind spun from her. The people on the left side of the mob were thrown backwards from the force. Some hit the ground and some hit the wall. It wasn't enough force to kill them, but it might be enough to knock them out.

"I got right!" Lessar declared and jumped forward. Unlike the others, she was a frontline fighter instead of a long distance attacker. She ducked under two spears and swung her Steel Glove. She connected with one of the men's legs and threw him into another. Both of them crashed into the people next to them. A man and woman from the second row jabbed at Lessar with their spears in response. She was forced to leap backwards to avoid them and then a hail of gunfire from behind her prevented the two from pursuing her. They ducked behind their shields as Lessar landed on her feet. "Thanks Sparky Junior," Lessar laughed as she looked over her shoulder. "Much appreciated."

"Misaka is going to let you get stabbed if you keep calling her that Misaka lies in order to express her disapproval."

"Aww, you like me!"

"Can you two flirt later?" Frenda asked. "Basically, they keep coming." She chucked a flash grenade into the middle of the disarray mob. The flash went off with a loud bang and a burst of white light. The people in the immediately vicinity covered their ears and shut their eyes, but those further away only covered their eyes. Oriana, Lessar, and Imouto were all far enough away, so they only had to divert their eyes.

"Unless they are completely knocked out, they will keep coming back," Oriana pointed out. One of the men had an arm twisted in a weird way and had dropped his shield because of it. Only one of the twenty people was down. A woman had collided into the wall because of Oriana's wind assault and had been knocked unconscious.

"They don't feel pain," Julius told them. "Their only purpose now is to follow my orders. They will fight until they can no longer move. Be careful though." He laughed. "They will walk through fire at the cost of their own bodies if it meant getting a chance to kill you."

"Bastard!" Lessar yelled up at him. "Why don't you shove a-…?!"

"Suck on this!" Frenda interrupted and threw a grenade at him. The explosion engulfed the balcony Julius was standing on for a moment. When the smoke cleared, he was still standing there and looked perfectly fine. "Barrier," she spat out.

"Leaders are protected by many lines of defense," Julius told her. "To get to me, you must get through all of them. Including," he held a hand out, "my subjects."

"Subjects my ass!" Lessar replied.

"Subjects are usually considered to be willing Misaka points out. As you have taken over their minds, a more correct term would be slaves or unwilling servants." Imouto aimed her gun and fired a couple shots to force one of the controlled men behind their shield.

"Not all subjects appreciate their rulers," Julius admitted. "But they are unsuited to lead. It is why they remain where they are." He held out a hand. "You no longer have to hold back! Take them out with everything you have!" The remaining men and women stood up. A couple had minor injuries and only one man was seriously injured. They raised their weapons and charged. Frenda didn't have time to use her grenades before the men had closed the gap.

I've seen this before, Frenda thought to herself. Basically, under mind control, they can go past their limit but it causes a lot of damage to their muscles and bones. If they keep it up too long, they will all be permanently injured. I don't really care about them, but my life is in danger. She ducked under one blow and then kicked upwards. She connected with the man's chin and then she spun around to avoid a jab from a woman. Frenda jumped up and delivered a blow to the woman's chest, which sent her flying backwards. Been awhile since I've gotten some exercise like this. Frenda was trained in martial arts, but recent battles had focused more on explosions rather than fists. I wish I had my shoe blades though. That's what she got for buying new boots. She kicked at another person, but he blocked it with his shield. She grabbed the man's shield and used it to slide in between his legs to avoid him spearing her into the ground. She then proceeded to kick him directly between the legs. Ha, they do feel pain! The man had collapsed, but was struggling to his feet.

"Round them up!" Oriana ordered. "I have an idea." She pulled out another piece of paper with her teeth from the ring. It started to glow green and then shot out at the ground in front of five people moving toward her. Vines erupted from the ground and began to tangle them up. The struggled to free themselves, but the vines were too thick. They were straining their muscles against it though and the vines were beginning to slowly tear. "Hurry up you three!" she yelled at Lessar, Frenda, and Imouto.

"They no longer care for their safety Misaka answers urgently. Misaka can't fire any bullets without risk of serious injuries to them." Imouto kept firing off controlled blasts of electricity to temporarily stun the people approaching her. Lessar was trying to grab someone and use them to knock others back, but they kept getting back up.

"Sparky Junior!" Lessar called out. "Just like what we did in the tunnel. Give me everything you got!"

"Okay Misaka replied indicating her understanding." Bluish-white electricity began to flow all around her body. Imouto didn't normally generate this much electricity, as she was only a Level 2. Her gun had just as much stopping power as her electricity, unless she only wanted to paralyze. She raised her hand and all the electricity began to converge. Her hair started to stand up as the voltage increased. Her eyes met Lessar, who grinned and nodded. Imouto unleashed a bolt of electricity directly at Lessar. Lessar swung her Steel Glove and caught the electricity. The bolt of electricity converged into a concentrated ball at the hand like appendage.

"It's time for a show!" Lessar boasted and jumped into the air. She twisted her body in midair while bringing the tip of her weapon down in a sweeping motion. When the tip hit the ground the hand opened up and unleashed the concentrated ball of electricity. Because of the sweeping downward motion, most of the force of the sudden explosion hit the ground, but Lessar was a very skillful magician. The blow was tilted just enough so the explosion send a wave of dirt and rock toward the mind controlled victims. The force knocked a dozen or so backwards into a pile near the others. The blow wasn't enough to be life threatening, but they sure were not going to be feeling well when they woke up. Frenda kicked one last person and dropped a flash grenade. She turned, covered her hears, and ran.

"I'm clear!" she yelled after the grenade went off and blinded her enemies.

"Perfect!" Oriana called out and bit into another piece of paper. It glowed yellow and the ground beneath the pile of people suddenly turned into mud. Their weight caused them to sink, no matter how much they struggled. The mud seemed to churn, forcing their bodies into upright positions as they continued to sink. Once every one of the controlled natives were up to their necks, the mud hardened back into stone and dirt. No matter how much they struggled, they were unable to move from their prison. "And that is how you capture your targets. This lesson was free of charge."

"Well done Misaka praises." Imouto frowned and sparked up very slightly before stopping.

"Well, they were just normal people," Frenda pointed out. "Basically, the only difficulty was trying to incapacitate without hurting them too badly." She rubbed the side of her head for a moment.

"Which is surprising," Lessar muttered and looked up at Julius. "I expected you to increase their physical endurance or something."

"A ruler can't waste all his power on every minor individual," Julius replied unperturbed his first forces had been taken out relatively easily. "Resources are valuable, including magic, and should be used for maximize results." He smiled and was obviously mocking them.

"I take it reinforcements haven't arrive yet," Oriana commented and looked around. "I expected more from you in that regard, like elite troops or something. People like you always have guards like that."

"People like me?" Julius asked and raised an eyebrow.

"She means cowards," Lessar explained. "You force others to do your dirty work because you are too lazy or weak to do it yourself." Lessar, for a moment, was reminded of Misaki using mind control powers, but Lessar somewhat liked her, so there was a difference between her and Caesar.

"I was planning to put it a little more eloquently," Oriana said with a slight smirk. "But that was the gist of it."

"That thinking is the difference between leaders and followers," Julius sighed. "If a leader entered the front line every time a fight broke out, the odds of getting struck by a stray arrow would increase. What would happen to his people at his loss? Oda may have believed inspiring people from the front line works, but I have seen too many people fall with that kind of thinking. War is not kind or forgiving."

"You call this a war?" Lessar demanded. "It's more of you guys hiding and setting traps. We have you cornered."

"Brat," Julius said coldly and his eyes narrowed. "You have tried my patience with your ignorance. At least she understands manners." His eyes darted to Oriana for a second. "But your time is up. Adam wants you dead, so I will oblige. Kill them!" The last two words were an order, but Lessar and Oriana were confused at who the order was for.

Until they heard soft clicks of weapons and were forced to turn around.

Imouto had aimed her gun at Lessar and Frenda had grabbed two of her grenades before she faced Oriana.

"Sparky-...?" Lessar started to ask, but she was interrupted by Imouto opening fire. Lessar spun her Steel Glove while sprinting in a circle around Imouto. Each bullet hitting her weapon made a loud clang sound, but no noticeable damage occurred. "What are you doing?!" Imouto didn't answer and kept firing. A loud explosion from one of Frenda's grenade caused Lessar to glance over at Oriana.

"They have fallen to his magic!" Oriana answered. She had jumped back to avoid one grenade but the second one was heading right toward her. She bit a piece of paper and it glowed light-blue before the grenade went off. The explosion directly hit Oriana and she disappeared in a flash of smoke and fire. When the dust cleared, Oriana was still standing there, but her image flickered and then disappeared. She left behind an after image because she instantly appeared behind Frenda and threw a piece of paper at her. Frenda jumped and performed a summersault to avoid the attack. When the paper hit the ground, a sphere of water engulfed the area Frenda had been only a moment before. The plan was to capture Frenda and once she lost conscious, Oriana would dispel the magic. She ducked as a handheld missile sped past her and hit the wall. The explosion shook the entire room. Those bombs sure have a kick to them. She glared at Julius, who only seemed to be amused at their plight. Oriana was forced to roll out of the way to avoid Frenda's kick to the head.

"I bet you're wondering why those two have decided to join me," Julius commented mockingly. Oriana didn't say anything and continued to dodge Frenda while occasionally delivering her own kicks or punches back. Lessar just flicked him off and avoided a couple more rounds of gunfire. "Both of those girls seemed used to following orders, rather than giving them. The blonde girl was particularly easy. She's used to not thinking for herself. The other girl was more interesting. She's been a follower for most of her life and only recently started to think for herself. Was a little more challenging, but still quite manageable." He chuckled. "I hope you enjoy fighting your allies. I cut your force in half with a single move. These are results."

"When I catch you!" Lessar yelled. "I'm going to tear you apart for what you did to Sparky Junior!" A bolt of electricity came so close it made her hair stand up. "Was that shot from being controlled or your nickname?"

"A little of both," Julius informed her.

"Sparky Junior!" Lessar called out and tried to ignore the explosions from Frenda and Oriana's fight. "Come on. You can fight it." Imouto responded by shooting at her and caused Lessar to roll to the side. "I'll stop calling you by that nickname if you break his hold." Imouto moved her gun and then stopped. She reached up and grabbed her head and one of her eyes twitched slightly. Lessar's eyes widened. Did that actually work? Imouto frowned and then suddenly spoke up in a more mechanical voice.

"Unauthorized access detected! Moderator has initiated override and reboot sequences! Misaka unit 10032 will now deactivate." Imouto dropped her gun and then collapsed unconscious onto the ground.

"What happened?!" Julius demanded. His hold on her wasn't just broken. It was more like another force from somewhere far away overrode the girl's brain. It didn't take the girl over like another mind manipulation magic, but instead just shut the girl down.

"That's what I would like to know," Lessar muttered dryly and crouched down next to Imouto. "Hey, wake up. Are you okay?" There was no response, so Lessar checked her vitals. She's alive, just unconscious. Someone helped knock her out, but who? Another explosion jolted her back to the present situation. "Hey, how are you holding up?"

"Trying to incapacitate her without using all my magic is a pain," Oriana shouted back. "And she's really good with hand to hand combat… oomph." Frenda kicked her in the stomach. Oriana flew backwards hit the ground, but sprung back up to her feet. Frenda pulled out another grenade from under her skirt and prepared to throw it. Lessar charged forward and was prepared to grab it with her Steel Glove, when a movement distracted her for a second. A red blur had burst out of one of the tunnels leading into the room. The person surprised them all and brought down the hilt of the sword against the back of Frenda's head. Frenda collapsed onto the ground and the grenade rolled away harmlessly. Oriana and Lessar were shocked to see who had joined them.

It was Princess Carissa.

"Princess?" Oriana asked and then sighed. "You're a pleasant surprise."

"How did you know Frenda was being controlled?" Lessar asked shock.

"She was being controlled?" Carissa asked and then shrugged. "I simply removed one of the people who I believed would get in my way of some stress relief." Her eyes trailed up to Julius. "I'm a little upset right now."

That's an understatement, Lessar thought. The aura around Carissa was a black void. Even though her face was rather passive, the killing intent radiating from her was almost solid. What on earth happened to her? Lessar had no way of knowing all the events that led up to Carissa's current mental state. First, she had been helpless against a goddess while Touma did everything. Then her pride took a hit when the boy would rather make deals than be with her, even if she understood his reasoning that forcing the situation was wrong. Plus, right before Carissa was about to acquire her much needed revenge against Adam, a momentarily lack of judgement caused her to be separated from the boy and arrived at another one of Adam's stooges. Her anger was directed more at herself and Adam, rather than Touma, but the others did not know this.

"Lessar," Oriana hissed and motioned toward the unconscious Imouto. With only a glance and a curt nod, Lessar picked up Imouto and threw her arm over her own shoulder. She stood up straight and dragged Imouto away from the center of the room to avoid being caught in… whatever Carissa and Julius were going to do. They were going to do something. That was obvious to everyone there. Oriana scooted around Carissa, out of range of any sudden strikes, and did the same for Frenda.

The silence permeated the air and it felt like breathing had become more difficult.

"Julius Caesar," Carissa finally spoke and her soft tense voice cut through the air. "I presume."

"At your service," Julius answered and bowed. The bow was not respectful, but only was used to mock her. Carissa's brow furrowed ever so slightly. "I'm surprised you were able to recognize me. Though, based on the fact you were called 'Princess' and by your demeanor, I assume you are Second Princess Carissa, leader of England's forces."

"The very same," Carissa replied in a voice of determined calm, her aura never subsiding. "The only reason I know who you are is because one of your associates mentioned your name and I recognize your armor's origin. Otherwise, I would never have recognized an outdated relic such as yourself." It was Julius's turn to scowl ever so slightly. "You controlled what, a small part of Europe before people turned on you?" She smiled. "Where was that again, Greece?" She smirked when Julius's face turned red.

"You dare to mock the might of Rome?" Julius fumed. "You know Greece was only a small part of its greatness."

"If it was so great," Carissa continued to mock. "Maybe your friends wouldn't have stabbed you so many times." She put a hand up to her mouth and laughed. "Et tu, Brute." A vein throbbed in Julius's head and his eye twitched. It took him a moment to calm down and his struggle amused Carissa slightly.

"You think you are so clever."

"I am."

"I don't think so," Julius continued and put his hands behind his back. The anger faded from his face. "You lead your troops into the middle of the desert, only to have Adam assault your base. Then you fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book when you finally drew near. Clever, nah. More like predictable."

"Whatever it takes to win," Carissa countered.

"You talk about winning?" Julius asked and smirked. The grin on Carissa's face slipped off. "And yet I heard an interesting story from Eve a little while ago." Carissa was now visibly displeased. Anything Eve said about her was sure to either mock or embarrass her. "You found one of the most powerful artifacts in existence and had all of England in your grasp, before you blew it. Who did you lose to again?" Carissa didn't say anything, which only amused him even more. "A single weak boy ruined your plan. How pathetic is that?" He seemed to have skipped the fact there were many church and Academy City forces who participated in the fight. "Though, all of it was exactly as Eve planned. You danced in the palm of her hand like a puppet. You know, maybe you are better suited to serving others than ruling." He laughed harshly and the only sign of irritation from Carissa was the fist she made in her free hand.

"You really have no idea," Carissa whispered.

"Huh?"

"Someone like you, who has never faced that boy in battle, has no right to call him weak."

"Have you lost your mind?" Julius asked incredulously. "He may have the Imagine Breaker, but his physical abilities are average. He only defeated magicians because they lacked the knowledge of his hand. If I stood against him, he would have fallen to my blade in seconds."

"Heh." To everyone's surprise Carissa started laughing. When she stopped, she looked up at Julius with only pity in her eyes. "You are too simple, no wonder you were betrayed. There are things that don't make sense in this world. I had to find that out the hard way. Facing that boy in battle… you can't use common sense against him. If I looked back at my plan, there were things I could improve on, but he should never have been able to defeat me. Everything was in my favor, but he managed to turn it around, even though his strength was inferior to mine. Numbers and logic do not apply to him. His words, action, and determination defy everything."

"I can attest to that," Lessar burst out laughing. "But that sure makes him hot." She shut up when Carissa turned her head ever so slightly to glare at her out of the corner of her eye.

"I fought him once too," Oriana added and seemed to be reminiscing about it for a second as she gazed off into the distance. "There's something special about him. He always stood back up, no matter how many times I knocked him down."

"Then you are just weak," Julius retorted.

"Big words coming from a tiny man hiding away on his balcony," Carissa replied. "If you never faced him, that only means you are inexperienced." She shrugged mockingly. "There's only one thing left to do. How about you come down here and face me? I have some pent up aggression I need to work out."

"Oh?" Julius mused. "Why would I do that? I could just send wave after wave of soldiers at you until you finally fall."

"Then all you would prove is how weak you are," Carissa pointed out. "I could easily defeat all your mind controlled servants, but that could hardly be considered fair. I'm prepared to face you as the princess of England. Do you not have the courage to face me as Julius Caesar of Rome?" She smiled. "Or," she couldn't resist mocking him once more, "are you chicken, Caesar?" His face flushed red in pent up anger. Got him.

"Your arrogance will be your downfall." Julius was furious and his words shook slightly with suppress rage. "I will be down in a moment. I advise you settle your affairs before then." He turned and disappeared into the tunnel behind him. Carissa smiled to herself, glad things had turned out easier than she thought.

I figured I would have to defeat at least one wave of the enslaved natives, Carissa thought and glanced at the still struggling people stunk into the ground. She turned toward Lessar and Oriana. "You two will not interfere unless he brings backup. Understand?"

"Yes," they both agreed. The fire in Carissa's eyes told them if they tried to get involved, she would smite them down herself. The minutes passed and she crossed her arms in frustration.

That bastard is taking his time. She tapped her foot impatiently and glanced around for any sign of him. Finally, she heard the sound of footsteps coming down a tunnel. Julius emerged and was wearing a full set of red and gold armor, including a helmet. Unlike the England's knights, his helmet showed his face. He also carried a large shield and a sword, which was broader than Carissa's blade. "I was beginning to think you were lost, or ran away with your tail between your legs."

"If you think I can't fight because of my magic," he replied. "You are sorely mistaken."

"Sooner we get started," Carissa continued. "The sooner we can-…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A young man's cry of pain echoed all across the room and tunnels. Carissa looked around in alarm, but did not see the source.

"Hang on!" Lessar yelled. "That sounded like Lover Boy!" Before Carissa or Oriana could reply, another male's voice echoed all around them.

"Imagine Breaker," Adam said, as clearly as if he was standing next to them. "Did you honestly think you could defeat me alone? I only require you alive, but that does not mean in one piece. It's time for you to learn the difference in power between us." Carissa's eyes went wide and she turned back to Julius.

He only smiled at her and then raised his sword.

---

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.

Pierce: Kami-yan… you bastard! You had everything right there and you ran away! Now the princess and goddess are only going to chase you down!

Motoharu: Clever plan Kami-yan, as expected of you.

Misaki: You both don't understand my prince. He knows intercourse without love is meaningless. That is why I will be his first.

Mikoto: Uh huh.

Shizuri: After that demonstration, I am beginning to think he swings the other way.

Accelerator: Oh he does.

Shizuri: Huh?

Accelerator: You should see how he acts around Kagere in class.

Misaki: Wait, what?

Motoharu: Whenever we get bored, Kagere pretends to be flirting with him, and Kami-yan, along with sensei, get really embarrassed.

Jason: Remember my first day?

Pierce: Haha, that was great.

Mikoto: You are just messing with him. That's not real.

Jason: I can tell you I have had more physical contact with him than you and Mugino-san.

Mikoto and Shizuri: …

Misaki: Uh, Uiharu-san? Your nose seems to be bleeding.