Chapter 1 Fey and Iron
"It's not just him Index, You are too" the words of Tatemiya echoed in Index's mind and she panicked "I need to get to Touma!" she turned to run off towards Touma's school but stopped when Tatemiya grabbed her shoulder
"Don't worry about him right now, he can take care of himself, and I sent Itsuwa to guard him. You know how tough he is and know that Itsuwa won't fail like she did with Acqua of the Rear '' Tatemiya flashed her a confident smile which caused Index to calm down. "Most of us Amakusas were ordered by the archbishop Dione to protect you Index. While Kamijou-kun had a way to fight back as well as a literal former god to guide him, you can't use magic to protect yourself so you take priority." Only when Index relaxed did he let go of her shoulder
Index paused for a moment and thought before looking up at Tatemiya and saying "Tell me what's going on." Her face burning with determination "I need to be able to support and protect Touma even if he can deal with it on his own, I'd rather him do it with me."
Tatemiya appeared slightly taken aback by her confidence but grinned and laughed "Very well, I like that fire you have let's head towards Kamijou-kun's school while I explain the situation" he said and turned to head off in the direction of a Certain High School.
While they walked Index noticed that there were indeed many members of the Amakusas in the area hidden in plain sight, she guessed that most of them stayed out of sight for the exact reason that she had noticed Tatemiya for. They must have figured that after Tatemiya made contact that they could come out into view be it still hidden.
"For a while the church was observing the movements of what they thought was a newly emergent magic cabal in the forests of Ireland." Tatemiya began then took a breath "what we discovered was that it wasn't a cabal at all, but a group of Celtic fey who in recent months had grown restless. However they didn't really begin to make a fuss until after the defeat of Coronzon, and It wasn't until the fall of R&C Occults that they made a move." He looked at Index worry on his face Index was a bit puzzled "What does that have to do with me and Touma?" She asked. Worry gradually built in her chest. Something felt off and it was scaring her.
"Because of why they began to grow restless Index." Tatemiya said continuing "They gradually grew more and more restless and active after each of the major incidents. Denmark, was when they first popped up on our radar. We noticed them grow more active after the fall of the Magic gods, and then as I said Coronzon and R&C Occults" his face grew to one of sympathy as he took a deep breath
Index listened and noticed something, what did each of those incidences all have in common? "Oh" she said, realization dawning on her.
"Exactly each of the incidents in which either you, Touma or most of all, both of you were involved" Tatemiya stated "From what we could gather with scrying spells, the few they didn't manage to take down that is. Is that they think that You and Kamijou Touma are on a crusade to eliminate all supernatural entities and see you two as the greatest threat to their existence." he said as he reached the crux of the issue.
Index's head whipped towards him in shock "But me and Touma have no such plans!" she shouted angrily
"But they don't know that, they don't know you. And then definitely don't know Kamijou-kun" Tatemiya stated the facts "And they aren't gonna take your words for it. All we can do is prepare. Of the few we managed to identify we found the most worrying to be." Tatemiya's face had worry written plain as day on it. "Barguests, a few Brags, and worst for Espers." he took a breath "they are led by a Leanan Sidhe." Index was not liking what she was hearing but she was curious to what Tatemiya meant when he said that a Leanan Sidhe would be the worst for espers. But before she could ask they heard a scream from a nearby park.
Upon rushing to the scene Index, Tatemiya and the Amakusa saw what appeared to be a headless man wrapped in blue-green flames in the middle of a small park playground with the young children espers fleeing. The man seemed to be walking towards a older man possibly a old scientist who was sitting on a bench, frozen in shock staring at the unscientific anomaly
"That's one of the Barguests!" shouted Tatemiya "And It appears to think that old man's time has come!" the Amakusa in the area were about to spring into action when a group of small humanoid esque creatures popped out of their hiding places in the brush, and out of manholes in the ground they were ugly furry brown creatures.
"Goblins Too?" Index was shocked to see these classic mythological beasts but checking her knowledge they were indeed related to celtic myths. Small, mischievous fey that unlike what most people believe, weren't necessarily that dumb and were capable of setting traps. How they managed to avoid detection of the Amakusas on the other hand should have been well beyond them. Meaning someone was guiding them.
The Goblins held oddly refined tools and weapons, however a common factor with all of them was that none of them had any Iron or steel in them despite being weapons one would generally make with such materials. Copper, Tin, and Lead were what they wielded, Copper swords and daggers Tin helmets and guards, and lead tipped spears
Tatemiya stood guard next to Index fending off their attacks while Index looked around for whoever was guiding these fey she needed to hurry though, as the Barguest was closing in on the old man who was now being restrained by a few of the goblins. And then she saw something odd, a small girl of around 10 years of age wearing a blue-white dress fastened with a silver brooch hiding just on the edge of an alleyway in view of the park. Maidens, in celtic folklore young human girls could capture calm and control fey the most well known examples being Unicorns but it wasn't limited to them. "Tatemiya that girl over there, she's the one guiding them" Index said gesturing with her eyes and not her hand as not to alert the young girl to the fact she had been spotted.
"Are you serious? That girl?" Tatemiya seemed a bit shocked as he glanced at the girl using his peripheral vision. When Index nodded he sighed "Very well then You're the expert" he nodded towards a few of the other Amakusa specifically Tsushima, Kouyagi and Nomozaki who directed their efforts towards the young maiden fey tamer.
Upon seeing her location was compromised the young girl ran out of sight to avoid capture but in the process causing the Goblins and Barguest to lose coordination, Tatemiya seeing a opening, leaped towards the Barguest after putting some odd shiny paint on the tip and edges, Upon slicing the Barguest with the blade it roared in agony the parts where the paint hit burning unable to hear the other Amakusa moved to fill in the gap Tatemiya left near index and managed to take out most of the Goblins as they were no longer working in a coherent fashion.
"Cold iron!" the Barguest roared as it changed it's form to a large black wolf and tried to bite Tatemiya only for him to shove the tip of his blade into the back of its mouth, spearing it's skull. It roared, then whimpered as it collapsed dying.
The rest of the goblins were easily dispatched after their leader was scared off. Index then walked up to Tatemiya "How did you kill the Barguest? Last I checked your flamberge had no metal in it!" She suspected it had to do with that paint he was wiping off the blade so that it didn't stain it. But she needed to make sure
Tatemiya smiled "Clever huh, I put magnetic paint on it before attacking that stuff uses iron particles and due to it being used on a weapon made for cutting It counted as Cold Iron"
He then turned back towards the old man and helped him up "Are you alright sir?" he asked
"Things just keep getting weirder and weirder around here, honestly I'm used to espers wrecking the city. But now we're getting beasts that should only be of myth?" the old man seemed not to really be focused. "That… thing when it got close I felt like my heart had stopped, I thought I had it replaced with a mechanical one." he then Turned to Tatemiya "I'm not sure who you are, but you and your group here appear to know more about those things than I feel anyone in this city will but you should hurry, that girl who lead them. Before she sent her beasts after me, she mentioned something about using me as a distraction to take out the greatest threat to ...fey kind?" he shook his head before walking off and muttering under his breath.
Index felt dread well up within her "They've gone after Touma!" she shouted then turn and ran off towards A Certain High School
"Kinda got that, we need to get there now, we don't know what kind of monsters that girl sent after him and until Tsushima and the others get back with her. We need to stop them without knowing what we'll run into"
Touma was sitting in his class chatting with his friends Aogami and Tsuchimikado about Idols when Aogami brought up the name of a friend Touma had yet to see in a while
"Speaking of Idol girls wearing flamboyant dresses, the Long thought Dead Megoi Arisa released 3 count them 3! New albums on her old website! I mean no one's seen her since Endimiyon but to think her once inactive account had become active again ooohhh! It makes me want to c-!"
Touma interrupted him "Okay! I do not need to hear you finish that Aogami, but really? Sounds like she's doing well." Touma glanced out the window thinking 'I wonder how she's doing, having two entirely separate sets of memories can't be easy on the body' he frowned and then felt something off as his instincts screamed for him to get down. He obeyed, bringing Tsuchi and Aogami with him. As a large tree branch smashed through the place he just occupied and two headless figures wrapped in blue-green flames leaped into the room the class panicked and ran Himegami being of the few to try and stay before Fukiyosie dragged her out
A young girl wearing a odd looking fur hood, with waist length brownish black hair, grey-black eyes, slender but curvy figure, and fairly dark skin around Touma's age stepped off the branch and stood before Kamijou "Your the Imagine Breaker, bane to all supernatural and threat to all fey kind" she said cooly keeping her eyes on Touma as she pulled out two steel daggers gritting her teeth in agony when one of their tips touched her skin. "I am Muireann Conan, and I am here to slay you."