A Certain Influx of Time Traveling Mishaps

by NeoShadows

Kamijou Touma's tale has ended. A New Magic God has risen in the future, taken over the world, and set its sights to the past for more power. Luckily, or unluckily for one unfortunate high school boy, those who have inherited Imagine Breaker's will have chased after it. When Future meets the Past, a new story is created. All to the misfortune of a certain Kamijou.

5. The Resolve of Those With No Power

Busy, busy, busy, that's all I've been feeling lately. NeoShadows back again with a nicely edited fresh chapter of A Certain Influx of Time Traveling Mishaps.

Seeing as Chapter 7 is almost done and I'm getting ready to type up the final battle, along with the Epilogue, I decided to update this early. Mostly though, I'm doing this because I'm going to be very busy these next two months since I have to find a new house. Moving be one hell of a bitch. Hopefully I can finish this Arc before I have to begin with the heavy lifting.

At least I had some time to finish reading NT 22 once it was done being translated on Reddit. Man, what an ending! I wonder what the new morning will bring to Imagine Breaker and The One Who Purifies God and Slays Demons? I just can't wait for what Kamachi has in store next!

For now, let's get to our reviews and get our own show moving along.

DN Works : Hmm, good eye. There is much more to it than that though. After all, what they were facing was a Magic God. None of them can be called idiots and are very cunning. As we go into the Sisters Arc, we will see more of that miasma come into play and learn of just how much thought was put into the curse the Magic God put into it.

BlueJack22: Ohohoh! The Sisters Arc is going to be fun! It's going to intertwine with A Certain Scientific Railgun's own story as well. Trust me, it's going to be crazy.

Nguyen Thanh Long: That's what I want though. For you guys to have your own ideas of how this and that are going to happen next. I like the idea, but I do have my own plans with Misaki and Touma already planned out for future arcs to come. Especially when we get to their own kid brought into the picture with his own plans. And to answer your PM, that's a good idea. But there is more to it than just a gift to the children as he was trapped. Much more.

ArmoredCoreNineBall: A swing! And a miss! Sorry, but it ain't Fukiyose's kid, but that child will be brought up as we enter the new term, among a few of my other favorite's. Can we say, Delta Force Neo!? Better luck next time. Yeah, there is definately something up with the future children. But it's much more than we ya can believe. After all, this is a Magic God we're talking about. Do ya think it's nothing more than some kind of trigger based berserk curse? Once we get into the Sisters Arc, you'll see what I mean. Ah, I can't wait for that! One of my favorite girl's from the future will be introduced to cause her own mischief. Oh, and we've only just seen the peak of all the swirling chaos. Misaki's time will come, trust me, but it won't be now. Doesn't mean we won't see her here and there. Oh, you'll get your description of our dear Index in time, my friend!

Lordrednight: Well, that's good to hear. I thought I would have trouble handling Touma's unique character. That's the thing about him, if you're not too careful, you'll write him off as some overly heroic type who can only preach and punch. I didn't want that, I wanted to keep him as just a boy who was struggling to do what the person before him would do while fighting with his own wants. It's still too early to see much of that though. As for the age of Touma when he fathered Angela, he was in his early twenties for her, so 23. As a small spoiler, Touma was 20 when he had his first child, though that's a story for another day. I hope to get back to RWBY once I've got all this covered and get more free time to edit the finished chapters.

TheWookie1: Ya think that's 11? Pfft! We going over in this chapter and it's only going to climb up higher to the peak of the climax.

TazalTerminals: Ya got an idea of what all that's about, huh? I'd like to hear it. Because it's much more than just your average curse as we'll see here. Overwork myself? Hah! I do that everyday as is.

Now, let's get to it already and get scrolling ahead! We got some action in store waiting!

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Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to A Certain Magical Index, all rights are reserved to Kazuma Kamachi. Nothing much to say today. Got my hands full with finding a new home and preparing to move. Hopefully this time I can find a home with a pretty, older sister type living next door. I want my male fantasy, damn it!

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Chapter 5: The Resolve of Those With No Powers.

War_On_The_Streets.

To the little knowledge of Academy City, District 10 was boiling over and spilling with war on its streets involving the many factions of Skill-Out that resided within. A literal gang war was beginning to take place. And no one was a doing a thing to stop it. Not Anit-Skill. Not Judgement. No one.

One would ask; Why? Yes, District 10 was often overlooked as the city had left it to be tarnished by the Level 0s who had a problem with the System. Nothing majorly important was held in the district other than the well maintained and guarded nuclear facilities that the delinquents never bothered to harm. Even they were not so stupid to poke at an active and radiating bomb. Not to mention the main leader of Skill-Out had had well enough control over the zeroes, acting as the controlling force that placed his own laws to abide by. Any trouble to rise up in District 10 would be swiftly taken care of by the leader of Skill-Out in place of Anti-Skill or Judgement, even if they also created their own brand of crime outside of their district.

But what was currently brewing in the streets overrun by said Skill-Outs was being caused and fueled by Skill-Out. This was a large scale problem, one that could eventually flood out from District 10 to the streets of the bordering districts if nothing was done. And it didn't seem that the figure head, Komaba Ritoku, would be enough to quell the infighting of his own organization. This was officially an Academy City problem.

"Clear the area of all civilians, NOW! Set up a perimeter as quickly as possible, and shut those things down! Call in Judgement if you have to, we need all the help we can get to deal with these things!"

"This is Branch 32, coming in! Reporting attacks on the junior campus facilities! Requesting back up!"

"This is Branch 55! They're taking heavy fire!"

"Branch 20 is calling in! They've lost control of the trams! They're asking to abandon the fight and gather up more men for a second assault!"

"Reporting on Branch 28's Captain, they're struggling to evacuate the civilians! Where the hell is Judgment!?"

"Sir! They're breaking down the barriers before we can even set them up! Our weapons aren't having much effect either. So far, we've only been able to take down seven of them. We might need to consider heavier artillery!"

"Damn it, just what the hell's wrong with those things?! They're cleaning bots for crying out loud!"

Unfortunately, it was not Academy City's only current problem on the streets.

In the student populates districts of Academy City, a bug had seemed to enter the programming of all the cleaning and security bots that freely roamed the streets on their usual patrol. It was believed that a hacker had somehow bypassed all the security walls and implanted their own code, their 'bug', into the bots main programming, overriding their initial settings to run a new task. The simple, cute, and faithful bots that's sole reason for being was to watch over the students and clean up after them had been corrupted with its new objective.

ATTACK.

The scene of several grown adults decked out in SWAT gear, wielding guns, and riot shields was a familiar sight in other districts at the moment. Those who protected the students were known as Anti-Skill, an adult task force of teachers that also acted as a form of law and military force in place of the police or government army in Academy City. They were well trained to handle situations that plagued the city like any other city on earth. They even knew how to handle Espers, but when they weren't enough, there was Judgement, a special student task force made up of students to handle out of control Espers and aid however possible. Together the two maintained the normal everyday lives of the residences of Academy City for the better.

But right now, said task force was being overwhelmed by the sudden attack of bots that were proving to be more durable and relentless than they first believed.

Behind the hole peppered defense line they had set up, a certain Anti-Skill officer was scowling irritably as she reloaded her rifle. The woman had smooth, silky dark blue hair tied back in a ponytail, wore the standard Anti-Skill uniform, and underneath possessed the body of a fashion model. Her name was Yomikawa Aiho, a teacher of A Certain High School, who worked as an Anti-Skill officer for the other half of her career. And right now, she was cursing under her breath as the top half of the deployed metal cover was torn off by a riddle of bullets.

"We've discovered a weakness! Search for an odd symbol on the bots body, it looks like an occult symbol of some kind! Destroying it seems to stop them dead! Focus your fire on that spot before you waste bullets and hold the line! Judgement is on their way to assist!"

That was the last thing Yomikawa wanted. She couldn't help but grimace at the need to bring in more students to assist with something as riot control against a swarm of machines. The enemy wasn't an Esper, it was better for the students to focus on helping with the evacuation of students than having them join in on the battle. Not when enough blood had already been spilled in the crossfire.

With the top half of her cover gone, the blue haired officer was forced to remain low as she peeked around the edge. There she saw the enemy.

A mini army, a swarm, of the simple bots that helped maintained Academy City's streets marched forward with their single security cams that acted as an 'eye' burning red. Alongside them were the security bots that were used by Anti-Skill, gone rogue and now aiming their built in automated weapons at them. The scene reminded Yomikawa of a robot uprising she would see in movies. She wasn't sure she could distinguish the two scenes at the moment as fantasy or reality.

This was more than just a hacker's work though. As she watched other Anti-Skill fire away at the bots with bullet after bullet, she saw how their ammunition struggled to rip the metal drones apart. It was almost like firing at stone walls, all they were doing was chipping away at them. It was only the occasional bullet that seemed to be enough to take one out like a random critical hit in games. With the new piece of information though, she could understand why. The symbol that she could spy on a few of the bots that weren't as much scratched by the mad riddle of metal appeared to be the cause for their corruption.

Yomikawa didn't understand how something as a symbol could take over the machines, perhaps it was some new kind of hacking technology, but that was beside the problem she could see. What really got here was how said symbol could grant the bots an increase in durability. That and-

The bots stopped their march, growing still as their camera lens grew incredibly red. The burning intensity seemed to act as a warning. From the red eyes, a wide spread barrage of laser fire was unleashed upon the barricade created by durable automated covers that could withstand Level 2-3 Abilities. And like paper, the lasers burned right through, hitting the unfortunate Anti-Skill personal who hid behind the lines.

Yomikawa grit her teeth, feeling the thin beam with the width of a pencil graze her shoulder. She was one of the lucky few to not have suffered a hole to her body it seemed. Ignoring the wound, she quickly took up aim, finding the laser fire down the bots for a few seconds before firing round after round at the exposed weak points on the machines bodies.

The laser carnival had pretty much destroyed her own cover, so there was nothing much else to do but go on the attack. She couldn't afford to run and hide like a few others. Not when-

"Someone, help! My friend can't move, she's badly wounded! I-I can't stop the bleeding! PLEASE, HELP!"

Not when there were children right behind her.

"Shit!"

Taking out one more of the bots that were beginning to reboot, Yomikawa dropped her empty rifle to the ground and quickly ran in search of the cry for help. A spray of metal followed after her, nearly clipping her head before she slid into a roll. She reached for the pistol on her thigh, took aim under the heavy gunfire, and fired off a few quick shots that luckily struck two weak points. She grit her teeth, turning back to search for the students that were caught up in all this mess.

Now, she couldn't help but wish Judgement could arrive. This was beyond something even Anti-Skill could handle. Even she wasn't so stupid to believe that the students wouldn't be of help.

"Branch 73! We report that we can no longer offer anymore reinforcements at the moment! All other Branches are to hold down their own districts and be aided by their respective Judgement branches for the foreseeable moment! Requests for use of Powered Suits has been denied! I repeat, denied! All autonomous machinery is to be forbidden!"

Yomikawa was ready to grip her P-Phone and argue in protest of the denied request. Of all times, the Powered Suits would be a welcomed boon. Why would they deny use them now of all times?

The answer to that question came in the form of several powerful shotgun rounds fired into the last of the remaining barricade. The explosive force shattered the remains, leaving whoever had survived the attack defenseless as the the attacker stomped over.

Parting their way through the small army of bots, three large, bulky, pieces of military armor with wide cylindrical helmets stood at the front in a variety of camouflage colors. They were known as Powered Suits, large weapons in the form of western armor that helped to increase the pilots strength and movement. Said weapons required human pilots to operate though. And it didn't appear as if anyone was manning the suits from within. She could see why though in the form of the glowing red occult symbol on the very top of the Powered Suit's helmet the size of half a penny. It was almost unnoticeable if it wasn't burning so intensely.

'Just what the hell is going on? From the chatter on the other end, this is happening in the other districts too? Why? Who would go through all this trouble and for what purpose? This is nothing short of pointless rampage! Why bother with causing all this mayhem if the perpetrator isn't even out here making demands!?'

This entire attack had begun out of the blue. It had been a normal summer morning here in District 7 when the chaos had begun. It had started from one cleaning bot tripping over a couple of students. Than it had escalated with several of the bots bashing into whoever passed them by. And it had gotten out of control as one of them had fired a beam of unnatural energy to pierce a student's thigh.

This incident had been a hacker's doing, there was no doubt about that. But why? There was no one making any demands, no one spouting their reasons for attacking the students, no one going on about some unjust crime or failure of a system they were trapped in, no one wishing for revenge. It was an attack without any motive.

Sadly there was no time to wonder why. Not as all three of the Powered Suits loaded their heavy shotguns and marched forward to attack whoever was in their line of sight. Yomikawa went on the move, abandoning going up against such machines to instead focus on the students. That was her top priority.

In the background of all the chatter on her P-Phone, she heard mention of District 10. Whatever it was was drowned out by the majority of the other Anti-Skill branches requesting aid or more solutions to dealing with the up rise in machines. The signals of war on the streets of the zero ridden district were ignored, dying away in the chaos of the rest of the city.

---

A haggard cough broke out from Touma's lips as he found his body thrown back against one of the concrete beams that held up the floor of this level of the parking garage. Blood ran down his split lip as he clutched at the bruising area around his chest from the blow that could have cracked his chest bones. He was surprised he had made it this far without breaking anything yet. Just how durable was his body? Seemed that the previous Kamijou was used to getting his ass kicked regularly. A nasty habit he had left behind to the newest Kamijou Touma.

"Is that all? You showed more resilience when you faced thirty of my comrades with the same suit and even with abilities. Just how weak have you become since that monster cleaned your brain out?!"

Touma's ears twitched. He could hear the roar of small powerful jets burst. Instincts warned him to move out of the way. Now. And since he had no idea how to properly fight, he fell back to listening to the one good thing the past Kamijou had left him. And that was his hard wired instincts.

Deadlock was like a blazing missile of pure speed, firing off in a straight and forward line that steam rolled through the many thugs in his way. Before the hired mercenary could strike, Touma rolled out of the way, leaving the red suit boy to punch the concrete beam. The impact was enough to leave behind a crack of webs. Clenching his fist, Deadlock spun around to find the dodgy boy, only to be thrown back by Touma's infamous right fist. His head spun, disorienting him and leaving him wide open to the charging spiky haired boy. Before Deadlock could put his arms up to block, Touma broke into his guard with a quick series of right cross punches to the face of the red suit's helmet. Each blow was enough to rattle Deadlock's thoughts, repeatedly ringing his head like a gong.

"ENOUGH!" Breaking out from the punches with a deflected blow to the unlucky Level-0's chest, Deadlock prepared the pile bunker on his arm. The weapon whirred to life and slid down his shoulder's to align along his left arm for a devastating and fatal piercing blow.

Touma's grunted as he stumbled back from the blow. The punch hit him directly in his chest wound, causing the wound to open up. And once again his damaged white shirt was beginning to soak with red. Facing back to the red suited boy crowded by the various other delinquents and thugs fighting out in the food court, he grew alarmed at the sight of several of the thugs running away from his line of sight. He wasn't sure he should be standing around either.

"You've done this before, so let's see if you can block this!"

Thugs threw themselves out of the way of the jet propelled red suited boy skating straight forward with a stabbing pile bunker aimed intently at Touma.

Touma stared at the rushing explosive nail incredulously. He blocked that before? How?! Just what the hell was he capable of before he lost his memories? There was no time to think as the pile bunker was ready to collapse his chest with the force of an erupting jackhammer in a matter of seconds. Despite the imminent death facing him, Touma found his body positioning itself to counter.

Shoulder facing the incoming attack and feet spaced apart, Touma swore time itself slowed down as his left hand flew right at the deadly nail. His hand just barely missed the nail as his leg shot up and kicked Deadlock's shins just as his hand clutched onto the red suit boy's pile bunker wielding wrist. The kick to the shins knocked Deadlock's unsteady balance off as he lost control of the direction of his firing nail. Before it could fire, Touma manipulated Deadlock's weapon upward. An explosive bang rang out in his ears as the nail fired up into the ceiling, erupting in a blossom of flames and smoke that rained down pieces of rubble onto all those fighting below.

Touma wasn't done yet. Right fist clenched tight, he cracked the red suit boy's jaw with a strong uppercut that lifted him off his feet and into the falling cloud of smoke and debris about to cover the area.

"Hopefully that knocked him out." Touma panted as he waved away the smoke and dust from the explosive nail.

Since this was Touma we were talking about, it was not meant to be.

With a vengeful roar, Deadlock flew out from the cloud of debris with a diving stomp from the new hole in the ceiling. Several cracks crawled around on his helmet's visor along with a few of his skate wheels broken off. Touma bounced back, evading the stomp before going on the evasive again as Deadlock abandoned firing his weapon to go fist to fist. Riding on the full force of the jets of his Queen Diver suit, Deadlock sped past Touma, knocking the high school boy around like a pinball as he ran over all the Skill-Outs in his way to bash his fist into his opponent's battered body. The blitz attack quickly came to an end though as Touma ducked at the last second, sweeping Deadlock's legs out from under him, before knocking the Queen Diver boy off his feet with a straight punch to the face.

It was the same as before. Just as their fight had gone a year before, Deadlock found himself sweating and struggling against a simple high school boy with no real power. Even with the Queen Diver, also known as The Spear of Usurpation, a suit that had been designed to counter against one of the seven Level 5's known as Mental Out, he couldn't over power the boy. Last time had been different, Deadlock had his comrades fighting alongside him and it was thanks to them that they had brought Touma to near death. Though he had chalked their failure up to Shokuhou Misaki since the honey blond girl had found a way to control them with her ability. It was the only reason why someone with no ability, no weapons, no training, could have kept up with them and beat them.

Deadlock found respect for someone who constantly referred himself as a normal high school boy. Kamijou Touma was proof that one in a city of science, technology, and abilities could become more and actually live a happy life. Maybe the zero was right? Maybe they were just using the Level 5's as an excuse for their lack of control in their life? Maybe, just maybe, if they had met earlier in their life, Deadlock would have been capable of walking the same path as a normal high school boy. The proof was right in front of him.

But the world was made of maybes. Deadlock had made his decision, he had his ideals, his own way of life, and his own road to travel. He had come to terms with who he was, what he wished for from the unfair world. As the only one who had survived the memory erasure by that honey blond haired monster, this was his role. And he wouldn't be so easily shaken to go back on his words and actions.

It was a with a deep roar from his chest that Deadlock broke through Touma's guard with a savage high kick to the forehead that snapped the spiky haired boy's head back. Jets roared like a violent bark from Deadlock's back as he tackled the spiky haired boy with the force of a rocket. Grabbing a tight hold of his opponent, he shot forward on his skate wheels with a powerful burst of his jets, charging through any of the thugs in his straight wild and aimless charge.

Touma's back screamed at him with every thug that he was plowed through. He wasn't sure how long he was being tackled for, each second was followed by more pain as he openly grit his teeth to stop himself from screaming. The world passed him by in a blur before he found his body thrown into a food cart. He fell back against the cart with oil soaked fries and hot dogs drenching his bloody shirt with a strained, wheezing gasp.

"Have you had enough yet?!" Deadlock shouted as he loaded another nail into his pile bunker. "Or will you force my hand to finish what I started a year ago?! Because trust me, this time I won't make the same fucking mistake twice!" he swore before focusing his sights on the slowly rising high school boy.

Touma coughed violently into his hand as he tried to steady himself on his shaking feet. Everything at this point hurt. His chest, his arms, his back, his face. It was like every inch of his body had been beaten senseless. By the end of the day, he wouldn't be surprised to find that his whole body had become a bruise. Despite it all though, all the pain, the fact he was finding it harder and harder to stand up, and the light headiness that was slowly beginning to cloud his thoughts, Touma grinned stubbornly.

"What? Getting tired already!? Because I can keep going as long as possible. Because you can bet that I haven't grown tired of getting in your damn way!"

All around the two boys, the fighting had grown to envelope the entire lower levels of the Food Stand Spire. Gang warfare had erupted once the unspoken rule of no fighting had been broken. Unknown to Touma, the fighting had begun to spread out of the building and into the streets. No matter where they would turn, they would be greeted with war among delinquents. War among zeroes.

Inwardly though, Deadlock was pleased with the results. Attacking in the middle of the Food Stand Spire was by no chance a coincidence. He had planned to make move like this at some point in the day. It just so happened that his two missions had perfectly aligned themselves. Part one of his mission had been a complete success. All that was left was part two.

A heavy clang echoed as the nail mounted on his arm locked in securely. An annoying obstacle was all that stood in his way. One he couldn't just turn away from.

"We've done this before, you know?"

Touma grimaced, both from pain, and at the jab of the lack of memories the scarlet Queen Diver spoke of. Of course he didn't know. Whatever history the two of them had was gone one bright morning in July.

Deadlock didn't seem to wait on an answer, casually addressing Touma in the midst of all the fighting.

"I and my organization were on the hunt for one Shokuhou Misaki."

A name was said, it brought an erupting pain in Touma's forehead. And it was gone a second later.

"We had everything we needed to take her down, these very suits were designed to combat her annoying Mental Out Ability, coupled with her weak physique and lack of real combat skills, and she was as good as dead. Than you showed up."

A deep, scorning, tone of resentment was mixed in with Deadlock's casual address. It was enough to put Touma on edge again as the scarlet suited boy continued, mindlessly toying with the deadly pile driver on hand.

"At first, I truly believed that you were just another one of her pawns, one she had taken up at the last second to shield her from harm. It certainly looked that way to my eyes. You even held yourself up against us, better than a normal civilian, all to that girl's manipulations no doubt. But than you began to speak, planting doubt into my mind that you were another one of her toys. You made me realize my own weakness of heart, that this was all just a creation of my pitiable core that would rather blame others than accept responsibility for what this world had done to us. You had a way of speaking that forced us to see what we had desperately tried to hide."

Deadlock spoke wistfully, his voice soft as he reminisced to a past Touma could no longer recall. Like an old friend trying to catch up with someone who had moved away years ago, only to show up one day on the street.

"But that was simply a distortion too. I realize that now."

Jets burning, Deadlock raced forward in a heartbeat. Touma felt his breath hitch as he moved to evade, ducking under the wide swing of the pile bunker on the Queen Diver's arm. He stepped to the side, avoiding the deadly firing weapon stabbing him through before Touma began to fall back into dodging the wild swings of the forgotten enemy.

"That's all it was! Just a distortion in reality created by the AIM Dispersion Fields of those who stand above all us! It's their realities that bend the very world to their whim! Its those distortions that create tragedy after tragedy! At the hands of someone who could freely control the minds of whoever she pleased, didn't you think it was odd that my doubts, your doubts and will, were for the benefit of someone else?! Of course not, because the very memory of doubt was erased from that weak mind of yours!"

Abandoning throwing around the weight of his pile bunker, Deadlock settled for fighting with his right fist. As did Touma. The two boys charged forward, slamming their knuckles against the other. Seeing an opening, Deadlock stabbed his pile bunker forward, firing the nail to finish the job it had failed a year ago. But once again, the weapon found itself being smacked away at the last second to fire straight ahead at the wall behind them, causing a rush of heat and smoke to blow back against them as the wall shattered apart.

"What you see before you, is just another distortion related to that annoying bee. Even after she finished with you, you're left to finish her problems, all because of the reality she imparted on you. Though she's erased herself from your memory, she still has you following along to her commands! All for her benefit! What other reason would you and I have for fighting?"

"What other reason!?" Touma spat incredulously, "Are you completely out of your mind? It's because of you, isn't it? It's because of you that a girl and man were forced to runaway from a group of thugs who would harm them if they didn't come along! Distortions?! Don't go making up fucking excuses as to why I'm standing in your way of harming others! You're the one who's spouting a bunch of nonsensical crap that has nothing to do with now!"

Biting back a shout of pain from the struggle aggravating the bleeding wound on his chest, Touma twisted his fist in its struggle against Deadlock's, causing it to slide past the Queen Diver's arm and strike his shoulder. Deadlock shouted in pain, stepping back to gain some distance, only to find himself being struck by several swings of Touma's right and left fist. Deadlock quickly grew sick of being smacked around, breaking through the swings and slamming his pile bunker's weight against Touma's side. The spiky haired boy gasped hoarsely as he felt the weapon impact against his ribs, threatening to break them as he was sent rolling on the ground.

Deadlock breathed heavily, reloading the next nail as he warily watched Touma slowly get back up with his arms against the side of his ribs. And despite the pain, the spiky haired boy continued to glare at him with those defiant dark eyes. Staring at those eyes, Deadlock found himself noticing something odd about them. The confidence, the defiant will, and the stubbornness he had encountered before weren't as strong as they were before. They were different. As if he was speaking with a completely different person. Even with the memory wipe the spiky haired boy suffered, nothing more than his memories should have been erased. Right?

"You still don't get it. No, it's more than that. You. . .you're different than before. I had thought that erasing the memory of the event was all that monster did to you, that it would finally sink in now that you were free of her manipulations. But perhaps that was just wishful thinking. After all, she erased your memory, didn't she? It's why you no longer recognize me. It's why you can't relate to me even though you and I are the same! It's all because of her and those Level 5s. But it's also why I won't lose again."

Completing the rearming of his Queen Diver's weapon, Deadlock took aim again, his eyes firmer and filled with determination.

"You were a fake then. The boy I thought was just like the others and I, was just a creation of the dirty bee's distortions. The Kamijou Touma I thought I knew was never real. Which means now, I know, that my conviction will stand above your own. Because I am much more than just the lingering doubt of a monster."

"Can't you shut up?"

Deadlock flinched back, his words failing as those damned Level 0s eyes only grew stronger and bolder.

"I don't know what you believe, but that Kamijou Touma that you had fought long ago was no fake! I still have no idea what the hell your spouting, going on about distortions, an execution of a girl, and memories being erased, but I know one damn fact for sure!"

Slapping his right hand against his bleeding chest, Touma spoke fiercely with utter conviction in his voice.

"That Kamijou Touma was real! Whether he was being manipulated or not, he stood before a group of idiots who could only place the blame of their problems on one girl! Who couldn't stand by and let those idiots kill a girl because of weakness of heart! That Kamijou Touma didn't mind being used as a shield that would have been tossed aside, not as long as that person who stood behind his back could walk away and live their life with a smile again! Even if that Kamijou Touma was erased, I know for damn sure he was real!"

That Kamijou Touma was dead. Forgotten in his rescue of the smile of one silver haired nun. The Kamijou Touma who now stood here in his place was just a husk, a leftover of the original who ran around in his body and name. He had no idea of what the previous Kamijou had done, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt, that he was real and would never be forgotten.

Fake? As if! The one who stood before Deadlock may have settled for that title, but not if it addressed the Kamijou who he now tried to live by. Even now, Touma still didn't understand a single thing Deadlock was rambling on about. It was a story he would never remember. But from what little he understood, he knew one thing for sure. The Original Kamijou Touma had fought to protect someone. That was all that he needed to understand. Every other detail didn't matter one bit. Because Kamijou Touma was known for one thing, and that was protecting whoever cried out for help.

To call that treasured person in his heart an illusion was no better than shitting on their grave. And Touma would never stand for it!

With renewed energy running through his battered body, Touma smirked as he rose his right fist against the dumbfounded scarlet Queen Diver.

"And I'm the same. This Kamijou Touma will get in the way of another idiot who could only mean harm to the people in your sights. Even if this is just the distortion created by someone else, the emotions that remained of that Kamijou Touma prodding me along, as long as it allows me to stand here and protect someone else, it really doesn't matter to me. If that's just an illusion to you, THAN GO AHEAD AND JUST TRY TO SHATTER IT!"

Deadlock snapped. Anger took control of him as he grew fed up with talking with the shadow of a distortion. With the last of his mercy drained, he fired the deadly nail without hesitation. The range was perfect, it was a one shot kill. No one, no matter how stubborn or durable they were, could survive a foot long nail fired with the force of a piston to their chest. Not at this range.

Touma had been prepared though. Reacting quickly, he had reached for the food cart behind him and threw a certain canister that had been knocked over and hit his feet. Funny thing about greasy food carts, they carried a bunch of flammable oils and gas tanks underneath. One could say they were a mini bomb packed with explosive potential.

The firing nail pierced the propane tank with a momentary hiss. What happened next came should come as no surprise.

An explosion of blue and orange flames erupted between the two boys, blocking their sights as the tank detonated before their eyes. The small bomb was enough to stop some of the fighting close by as everyone ran away from the explosion that sent flames and burning debris flying everywhere. It wasn't long until all those who had been fighting in the third level of the garage building ran away from the slowly burning food stands. The radius of the explosive blast was enough to send everyone scrambling towards the lower levels.

Flames began to carpet the asphalt. Smoke clouded everything in sight. And in the aftermath of the explosion, one red suited boy could be seen laying back against a column, his Queen Diver suit licking with embers and tears. Deadlock struggled to rise, breathing heavily as he pushed his damaged body up.

'T-The crazy b-bastard!' Who the hell was stupid enough to set off an explosion like that?! They were both right in the middle of it for crying out loud! It was nothing short of a suicidal tactic!

Wincing sharply as he felt his left arm slump, indicating a dislocation, Deadlock popped it back in with a guttural yell as he stood back up. Scanning the flaming surroundings of the warzone that was once a garage full of food stands and parked RVs, he clicked his tongue at the lack of spiky hair knocked out on the ground. The sneaky bastard must have made it out of the blast to runaway.

Oh well. Flexing his hand to get the feeling back, Deadlock escaped the burning lower level with a seething glare behind his helmet's visor.

This was just a part of his employer's plans. He was hired to bring discord to District 10 and hunt down a certain scientist. His mission didn't involve battling an old enemy. Even if he would so gladly enjoy it. He still had a mission to complete. He could allow Kamijou Touma to escape with no worry.

Because this plan seemed to involve that boy's meddling. As long as Deadlock continued on chasing after the scientist, he would meet Touma again. And this time, he wouldn't lose. Not to the shell of someone who had been nothing more than the creation of a monster.

---

Moments ago, Angela and Index, with the company of Dr. Tatsumi and a still unconscious Toka, fled the Food Stand Spire to escape the pursuing thugs Deadlock had ordered after them. Being weighed down by a sleeping Level 0, a nun with no magical power, and a scientist that didn't seem to know how to fight back in any way, Angela was left with little way to actually defend against the men with various weapons in their hands. Sure, she had her own magic, spells, and had no problem with using them in self defense, but with the extra weight on her back in the form of her sister, she wouldn't be able to do much. Unless they could find a space with enough room to fire away, or set her sister down, they were in for a lot of trouble.

To her surprise though, she didn't have to worry about those no good thugs for much longer. As they made their way onto the streets, the gang of delinquents were cut off from reaching either one of them by what looked like a zip of lightning. A familiar head of chestnut brown hair stood in the middle of the surprised thugs with what could only be described as a ticked off grin. Sparks went off on the boy's body that quickly grew in volume until he became a pillar of scorching lightning that struck every single one of the thugs in his way. Screams of pain mixed with surprise could be heard until the men fell back like charred beef.

"Seriously! I knew Academy City use to have a roach problem, but I didn't think it was this bad!" Hana complained as he kicked one of the smoking unconscious thugs head with a sneer.

"SPARKY!"

"Eh?" Hana blinked. He seemed to have forgotten why he had charged in for a moment before a flying white missile with raven locks hit his back. His eyes flew open in surprise as Angela nearly knocked him down. The damn nun should know better than to charge at someone like that! Just what the hell were they teaching nuns these days? And since when did she feel like she gained almost a hundred pounds?

Glancing back at the happy faced raven haired nun, Hana was surprised to see another dark haired girl hanging off her back.

"Wait, is that Toka-onee-san? What is she doing sleeping on your back?"

"Where have you been, Sparky!? Do you know how long it's been since I've seen any of you?! I would have thought that you would have at least gone to look for me once you were dropped off! But instead I find you roaming the streets like some no good delinquent?! Do you even know how worried I was!? HUH?! DO YOU?!"

Hana's face scrunched up in annoyance as Angela went off on a scolding tirade that hurt his ears. This really wasn't something he wanted to deal with right now. Not to mention his holier than thou little sister was really heavy with the extra added weight of his older sister on her back. His legs were already wobbling from the strain, damn it!

"Oi! Quit chew off my ear and get off! I don't know what you think you weigh right now, but-"

"ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT!?"

Oooh, wrong thing to say.

To the sides of the squabbling siblings, Index and Dr. Tatsumi watched as Angela began to furiously pound at the brown haired boy's head, eventually toppling them both down along with the still passed out Toka. The silver haired sister wasn't sure what she was suppose to do in this situation. Right now, they were in the middle of being chased by delinquents but to the two in front of her, the situation didn't appear as dire as it should have been. Not when Angela was more concerned with beating up some random stranger she appeared to be acquainted with.

'Wait. Something doesn't feel right.' Index narrowed her eyes as she stared at the boy apparently known as Hana with suspicion.

Earlier she had seen something strange. When Touma had touched Toka with his Imagine Breaker, she had finally gotten an answer to the strange mana she had felt trickling from the unruly haired girl. Before the miasma like magic had disappeared from the girl's body, Index had studied what she could from it. She got a feeling towards it and could now recognize it and come to a conclusion. A curse, a powerful one at that. One that seeped deep into the target's body. She wasn't sure what the curse did without further studying it, but she was able to memorize the feeling of the curse magic that had affected Toka.

Right now, just by glancing at Hana, who Index had never met before, she could feel the same mana that had cursed Toka in his body. It was very faint. Any other magician wouldn't have thought twice if they were to have been in the same room as the chestnut haired boy. But Index had studied a literal library of tomes dealing in magic. If there was one thing she could recognize if she was blind, it would be magic.

'First Toka-san, now this boy? It seems that the people Angela-san knows are being affected by a curse I've never seen before. I wonder if she even notices?' Did that mean Angela was cursed too? No, that couldn't be right. Angela had spent the last few days with her. Just on their first meeting, she would have been able to detect the same mana that was seeping into Toka's and Hana's body. How strange.

Having had enough of the beating from a nun of all people, Hana kicked off his sister with a tired grunt. He ignored the huffy glare Angela sent him for not only knocking her off, but Toka. It was her fault anyway. Finally taking notice of the company around him, Hana found his eyes glued to the silver haired nun in white robes and golden highlights. For some reason, he was getting the strangest sense of de ja vu.

"Who's the shortstuff?" he blurted out. His comment earned him another whack to the head from his huffy virtuous sister.

"That's Index Librorum Prohibitorum."

For a good minute or so, Hana stared at Index with disbelief. His eyes went up and down her figure as he tried to come to terms with whatever illusion he was seeing. It wasn't that he didn't know who said silver haired nun was. No, he knew who Index was. After all, it wasn't everyday that your morning breakfast was ruined by a nun of all things dropping onto your dinning room table before dragging you along on an adventure that covered a large part of the world in only four days. It was said nun, or archbishop as she was known in their time, that had sent his normal life into a downward spiral of magic and mayhem.

No, the reason he staring at Index with disbelief was the fact that she was short. And flat.

'This is the busty, tactical, Archbishop of the English Puritans?! What the hell! How does someone that short, cute, and flat turn into a bombshell in the future?! Did she use magic to make her self more sexy and mature or something?!'

"Why is he staring at me?" Index wasn't sure why, but she had the sudden desire to bite down at the gaping chestnut haired Esper until he screamed out for mercy.

Angela laughed nervously as she smacked Hana to snap him out of his staring, "Oh, don't mind him! I think he's just a bit dazed is all!"

Hana winced as he got the hint. Right, he couldn't go doing anything suspicious to draw attention. Which is exactly what he had been doing for the last few days when he thought about it. He couldn't help but scratch his head irritably. Maybe it was better if he didn't tell Angela what he had been doing before she found him. In his defense, he was just blowing off some steam. And what better way to do that than beating up a bunch of thugs?

Besides, someone had to take care of the problem that was known as Skill-Out. Not like his bum of a father would go out of his way to do it.

"Should we really be standing around like this? I don't mean to be that kind of character, but we are currently being chased by various thugs after me."

Hana spun to meet the dark comb over scientist next to Index. He pointed his thumb over to the stranger.

"What's he talking about? And who's the fancy suit?" he asked curiously, earning an eye roll from Dr. Tatsumi.

Seeming to remember where they were and what was happening, Angela jumped up in alarm, shaking Toka's sleeping body around as she paced around in panic.

"We forgot about Kamijou-san! He's still fighting that weird red skater suit boy! We have to go after him!" she shouted urgently.

Index gasped as she was reminded of her beloved caretaker. She mirrored her fellow holy sister as the both began to pace about frantically. All the while Toka's body was being flailed about like a rag doll hanging around her neck.

'Kamijou. . .Kamijou Touma.'

A deep, resonating pulse grew in Hana's head at the mention of his father. A growing sense of aggravation, agitation, and anger formed at his very name. He couldn't help but grit his teeth.

"Tch, who cares about that bum? I'm sure he can take care of himself just fine."

Angela frowned disapprovingly as she stopped her pacing.

"Hana. . ."

"THERE HE IS! GET THE BASTARD BEFORE HE RUNS OFF AGAIN AND QUICK!"

The rush of several heavy footsteps brought the small party's attention to the large number of delinquents rushing after them. Seeing the ambush coming their way, Angela quickly grabbed onto the back of Hana's collar and began to run the opposite direction along with the others.

"We can talk later! Right now we have to lose all these thugs first!"

"Wait! Why are they even chasing you guys?! And let go of me! I can deal with these small fries easily! I don't need to run away!" Hana squirmed only for Angela to look back at him with a stern glare.

"We can't fight them like this! You may be strong, but there may be more behind them! Besides, we still have some questions that need answering from a certain scientist as to why they are after him." she explained while glancing back at Dr. Tatsumi. The well cleaned scientist gulped, sweating as he found himself under the judgmental eyes of a nun.

"I'll. . .explain as best I can later. I myself don't understand why they're all pursuing me with such fever. Though as a character who holds much classified information, they could be after something. That alone makes me less happy to be caught." Dr. Tatsumi muttered darkly.

A sudden explosive boom echoed behind their retreating backs from the Food Stand Spire. As they left the area, the streets were flooded by more members of Skill-Out. The fighting from inside the building had spilled out to cover the streets.

It wasn't long until the rest of the streets of District 10 followed suit.

---

"A-Am. . .I. . .a-alive?"

Through some unknown means, Touma found himself cracking his eyes open after being caught right in the middle of a propane explosion. Not exactly his brightest ideas, but he improvised as best he could. In that moment where everything had been clouded by scorching orange flames, he had been knocked out, not by the fire. but the explosive force. The last thing he remembered was the searing flames and his head hitting the back of what he guessed was either a wall or car. With the circumstances at hand, he wasn't expecting to actually have survived his suicide tactic. The fact that he was must have meant he had drove off Deadlock. Or worse.

'Hopefully the guy's still breathing too.' Touma thought with a wince as he tried to get his bearings. Deadlock may have been trying to kill him and been after the girls, but that didn't mean he wanted the red suit boy dead.

Where was he? As Touma fully opened his eyes, he discovered that he was no longer in the large parking garage that was the Food Stand Spire. With his senses returning, he realized that he wasn't laying down on the hard concrete floor but something much softer. A sofa? As he sat up slowly from the pain his body was in, he was right and found himself resting back on a ripped maroon three seat sofa.

"You up already? Man, you must be made of some durable stuff if you're able to get back up after taking an explosion head on like that! Just wait until Komaba hears about ya!"

Touma was feeling groggy after waking up, wincing from the searing burns he could now feel crawling around his arms as he tried to find the voice's owner speaking to him. From what he could make out, he was in some kind of warehouse. It seemed to serve as some kind of hideout from what he could tell from the various worn down furniture laying around. He could see sofas adorned with used up bags of junk food and empty cans, tables and seats with cards and ammunition just laid out without a care, crates full of who knows what, and a few TV sets with consoles. Just where was he?

A sharp wince escaped his lips as his hand held the right side of his face. He could feel bandages? Bandages were wrapped around his face with more focus on the right side of his face where he could feel some of the more burned skin taken care of. Than there was his right arm, which he felt had suffered the brunt of the explosion, wrapped up in what oddly looked like tape? His white button up uniform was gone, most likely reduced to burnt rags as he could feel a few second degree burns on his chest. His orange shirt, which had been sliced down the middle already, resembled some tattered vest of rags as he could see some burned holes showing off the wounds below.

"I'd be careful moving around. Didn't have a lot of bandages with me when I brought you over, so I had to make due with some Hard Tapping and some alcohol that was laying around. Put too much stress on those muscles and you'll be suffering from more than just burns."

Walking over to the beat down sofa, Touma saw who had pulled him out of the literal fire. The man looked like your typical delinquent that roamed the streets of District 10, wearing dark clothing designed with white crosses, a heavy duty vest, and a dark beanie cap over his short dark hair. His face was sharp with onyx eyes that looked back at Touma with something akin to respect. For what, he had no idea.

"Hard Tapping? What's that?" Touma couldn't help but ask as he accepted the soft drink the stranger was handing him. Now that he thought about it, his voice was a bit hoarse and still had the taste of blood. He was grateful for the fuzzy soda before grimacing slightly. What was that? It tasted like apples mixed with tomatoes. It would have to do though if he wanted to clean out that copper and grime in his mouth.

The delinquent snorted with a laugh at the reaction, "Yeah, Applemato usually takes you back on the first sip. Better than the Soybeankiwi Cider. That one is really gnarly." he smirked before sitting back on a wooden crate close by and popping open his own drink, "As for what Hard Tapping is, it's an elastic band used for Powered Suits that gives it its mobility to move ten times the speed of a vehicle. It's for military use, but we've found an even better way to use it. But I'd be careful, the taping puts a heavy strain on the muscles and joints when used, tearing them to shreds. It can really screw you up." he explained off offhandedly.

". . .And you decided to bandage my arm with that?!" Touma shouted incredulously, "What the hell were you thinking?! Couldn't you have used bandages like a normal person!"

"I told you I didn't have much on me! Even when I brought you back to one of our hideouts, I couldn't find enough to patch you up with other than some gauze! I improvised with what I had. You should be thankful for even patching up your lousy ass!"

Thankful for bandaging his body up with some military taping used for the joints of a mech suit that could cripple him? He was better off with his burns unattended! But as much as Touma wasn't thrilled with the dangerous taping over his body, the delinquent was right. He did treat Touma as best he could with what he had. Sighing grudgingly, he thought to at least thank the delinquent.

"Thanks, I guess. Not sure what would have happened to me if I was left back there too. Deadlock might have finished me off if I was left behind in the aftermath. Just wished you could have used something better than military taping to bandage me up." Touma winced as his burns flared up. Well he would have been worse off if he wasn't patched up, so he couldn't be too upset. He did frown as a question came to mind, "Why did you save me? Not that I'm not grateful, but it just seems a bit odd that you would pick up a random stranger. . ."

"Names Hanzou Hattori, member of the true Skill-Out!" Hanzou introduced himself, "As for the reason why I pulled you out, I just did. When all that fighting broke out between all the smaller factions that call themselves Skill-Out because of that red suit bastard, I saw your fight with him as my boys and I dealt with the fakers causing all the trouble. Than you broke up all the fighting by setting off a big explosion in the middle of the battlefield that sent everyone running. You were passed out and burned all over, so I brought you back out of the goodness of my heart." he smirked.

Something about that didn't seem to assure Touma that Hanzou had done it out of being a good person. He couldn't help but be suspicious.

"Really? You did it because you thought it was the right thing to do?" Funny coming from him. Touma was the kind of person to help others without asking for anything in return. But he had seen from others that his way of thinking was rare. Something uncommon that made others sneer at him., "You said you're part of Skill-Out, right? Aren't you guys a bunch of delinquents who go around harassing Espers with abilities? Why would a thug like you save me? Is it because I'm another Level 0 or because you were expecting something out of it?"

The smirk on Hanzou lips grew as he grew impressed. He chugged the remainder of his soda with a sigh mixed with a grimace before tossing the empty can back with a grin.

"I guess you're not wrong. I'll be honest, if you were some random guy who had been knocked out by the explosion, I would have left you there to burn for all I care. I ain't got much respect for weaklings who can't hold their own even if their zeroes; especially if they're zeroes! But I saw how you handled that red suit wearing asshole with nothing but your fists! The guy was a literal red blur and you were able to keep up with him to the point he fired a damn pile bunker at you, and you dodged it! With nothing but your fists, you fought back against someone who could have killed any normal Level 0 or higher! That earned my respect!" Hanzou proclaimed eagerly with such passion he moved back in his seat.

Hanzou wasn't lying the slightest. The Level 0 sitting in the beat up couch in front of him, patched up with dangerous military tape and visible burns, who had no power whatsoever, had earned his respect by simply putting up his fist against some punk. But it was the way the spiky haired boy had done it. It was obvious who was at a disadvantage in the fight. The red suit boy covered in roller skates was ridiculously fast, wielded a pile bunker of all things, and clearly had no problem with killing his opponent. And than there was this normal looking guy with nothing to combat such an opponent.

The spiky haired boy fought with such tenacity that even had Hanzou taken back. It made him wonder; for what reason did that boy fight? Why would he put his life on the line against such an opponent that would kill any normal thug associated with Skill-Out? Just where had that strength that allowed the spiky haired boy to blow away such a deadly opponent come from?

Hanzou had no idea. But he did know one thing. That boy was strong.

Skill-Out was more than just a group of delinquents with no powers. At least the true Skill-Out was. What they did was not harass Espers indiscriminately. No, they picked out the worst of the lot that got their thrills out of picking on Level 0s and taught them a lesson. Since no one else in the city bothered to protect those Level 0s who were seen as useless, they had decided to take it up on themselves to be the one to step in for those who could not protect themselves from those with power. That was the Skill-Out their leader, Komaba Rituko created. And it was the only true Skill-Out there were.

They were always on the look out for others to join their cause. They would take in just about anyone as long as they followed Komaba's rules and were strong. Unfortunately man power was man power. To Hanzou's distaste they had allowed some weak punks to join to help out with some of their other jobs that didn't involve taking out Espers. But he made sure to only bring in those who proved to him that they were strong.

The grin on Hanzou's face was smug. He found a piece of coal, one that could be polished into a diamond. He had a feeling Komaba would approve of their newest recruit no problem.

"I like your stuff, kid! What do you say? Want to join the one and only Skill-Out?" Hanzou asked as he stood in front of the stunned spiky haired boy. "You're a Level 0 like us. Aren't you tired of being looked down on like you were trash. Of having no power? Of struggling to get by with the lousy resources the Academy gives you? Well that can end if you joins us! Join us, and all those problems will go away! You can live a better life if you fight alongside us to protect those who can't protect themselves!"

Hanzou offered his open hand to the spiky haired boy bandaged up with burns peeking out of the military tape. The grin on his face only grew as he noticed the boy stare at it. Surely he would-

"No thanks. I know I look like a delinquent to some, but I'm just your average high schooler. I really don't think joining a gang is a good idea."

Hanzou's face twitched, his face frozen with a smug grin that was slowly dying. What?

"Did. . .did you say no?" Now his right eye was twitching. It didn't help that the spiky haired boy just looked at him casually as if he had just turned down an offer a snack while on a full stomach.

"I mean, I guess appreciate the offer and all, but I don't want to be part of a gang that just causes trouble for other Level 0s. Plus, I don't even have time to join a club at school with how busy I already am; I think? Not to mention I'm sure my parents would be pissed if I dropped out to join a gang." Touma said flippantly.

"So, you're turning my offer down? Just like that? Why?" Hanzou narrowed his eyes as he clenched his fist. "You can't tell me that your just happy living your life as some lousy Level 0! Aren't you tired of being seen as lesser than by the higher ups? Of being pushed around by even Level 1s?! Don't you want to fight back against them and prove to them that we Level 0s aren't anything to scoff at?!" he said in frustration.

"And how would joining a bunch of thugs who think violence will do them any good be any better?" Touma frowned as he gingerly stood up. He winced from the burns flaring up, meeting the delinquent's eyes as he spoke sternly, "I've seen what Skill-Out has done. My friends were chased by a couple of your goons, threatened, and they didn't even have abilities! Not only them, but I've had to deal with people who call themselves Skill-Out before. Attacking innocent students just because they have an ability! You talk as if you guys are protectors, but all I've seen are a bunch of bullies who think that if they're pushed around they have a right to do the same."

Hanzou scoffed with an expression of disgust.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We don't attack other Espers unless we're provoked or are on our list. You've probably dealt with more fakers. That's the problem. There are a bunch of others groups who call themselves Skill-Out. They carry the title but they don't follow our rules. If they're not following under Komaba, than they're just impostors abusing what we originally stood for. Nothing but a lot of weaklings who act out on their own selfish desires and want to screw things up." he spat.

"You don't have to worry about that though. We'll be fixing that soon enough."

Touma didn't like the sound of that. Something was up. He had seen all the fighting between all the delinquents in the Food Stand Spire while in the middle of his fight with Deadlock. For some reason, he couldn't help but feel unease. It was then that the words of the blonde foreign girl rang through his head.

'Just be sure that once you find them, you leave immediately. Otherwise you'll find yourself stuck in the middle of a warzone.'

A warzone? That girl couldn't have been serious. Could she?

"What are you talking abou-"

Before Touma could understand the situation, both boys heard the loud sound of shattering glass, as if something heavy had broken through. They both stared out to the window panels on the left that allowed the suns rays through to find some odd black canister no bigger than a baseball responsible for the broken shards of glass. It was Hanzou who first realized what it meant. His face grew panicked as his body recoiled.

"Shit! Don't tell me those bastards already-!"

BOOOOM!

Feeling the danger of the canister, Touma had already moved and tossed the beaten down couch over to act as a shield as the grenade went off. It was unlike the explosive force created from the propane tank, but the blast was still enough to rock the entire room. Seeing the make shift barrier, Hanzou knelt down behind Touma as the flames washed over the three seat sofa, leaving licking fire to crawl over. Having survived the explosion, they both stood up to find the entire wall and mirrors where the grenade had flew in from collapsed. And in the wake of the burning wreckage they saw several figures standing by.

Hanzou quickly reached into his pocket for a handgun he kept on him as he glared at the group of delinquents who dared to attack. He set his sights on one delinquent who walked in ahead of the others with what looked like chains in his hands.

"Didn't even bother knocking, huh? I guess even the idiots of Drop Out have begun to make their move. Too bad you've attacked an empty hideout, Viper!" Hanzou sneered.

The mentioned Viper spat to the side with a foul scowl on his bandaged face. Now that Hanzou got a look at the leader of the gang, he noticed that the dark skinned boy was hurt. Gauze could be seen on his forehead and his face was scuffed up with a few bruises. Seemed he had already gotten into a fight earlier.

"I wouldn't say empty, would you?" Viper said dangerously as he rattled his chains, "That fool Komaba left behind one of his top boys all by himself. Wouldn't that stick a thorn in his side if you were to be found a mangled mess. You might say it would even fuck up his operations!" he grinned darkly.

Hanzou subtly ground his teeth. This was bad. While he had dealt with other thugs by himself just fine, he found himself at a disadvantage. Drop Out was a gang of delinquents who specialized in fighting with all sorts of weapons. Bats, crowbars, switch blades, knuckle dusters, grenades, guns, you name it. You would never see one of their members fight with only their fists. And most of them knew better than to flail their weapons around like idiots.

Than their was their leader, known only as Viper. Some dark skinned foreigner who created the group out of Level 0s who dropped out of school due to their lack of progress in developing an ability. The thug was no slouch and knew how to fight. He would be a problem.

Eyes glued to Hanzou, Viper's eyes suddenly dipped to find the other person who was with the Skill-Out. The dreadlocks haired boy's lips pulled back with a furious growl.

"YOU! YOU'RE THE FUCKER WHO COST US OUR JOB! FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Viper yelled madly with a flail of his chains.

Touma glared back at the thug leader as he stood next to Hanzou, "Still up to your crap, huh? I thought I dealt with you earlier. Don't tell me you're still after the girls!?" he shouted threateningly.

Viper was seething, his eyes staring at the spiky haired high school boy with nothing but hate.

"Does it look like I'm after those bitches? Because of you, I lost sight of them, got chewed out by that red suit wearing dick, and lost our chance of getting some sweet Yen for simply capturing some lousy scientist! I'm pretty sure it won't be long until I find that bastard hunting me down for failing the job. All because of you." he said with loathing. He took a step forward, followed closely by the eight other thugs he brought along. His face grew manic, grinning widely as he began laughing like a broken man facing his imminent doom. "I should have known better than following after that blonde prissy bitch. She was like fucking honeypot! Now I'm dead. But not if I focus on doing what she asked of me. I may have lost the scientist, but I can still continue hitting up the other Skill-Outs! If I do that, if I can fuck up the other groups like they asked, than maybe they won't kill me because of the fault of one dumbass!"

Hanzou suddenly grew livid as he seemed to connect some dots in his mind. What Viper had said sounded like they had been apart of some coordinated attacks. The entire day, they had been given word of several of the groups in District 10 being attacked by other gang members in some kind of move to take over their territory. Even Komaba's Skill-Out had been hit in several of their spots. They had lost fellow brothers due to the attacks. It was almost as if someone had been trying to agitate the entire district.

No one knew who was doing the attacks. Everyone was pointing their finger at the other. In a matter of hours fights began to break out. Without answers, blame was thrown and action was taken. Old beefs were brought up, rivalries had escalated, and power moves had been played. And in the act of attacking in the middle of the Food Stand Spire, the only real neutral territory between all those who called themselves Skill-Out, the peace they had unspoken held was broken.

"Are you telling me, that you dumb as brick idiots, are responsible for all the attacks on all the territories?!"

Viper smirked, "Not just us in Drop Out. Red Horns, Devil's Mouth, Vile Dogs, and The Gunners were a part of it. We all gathered together for a little job that paid very well and promised us something that idiot Komaba could never give!"

"And what would that be?" Hanzou hissed as set his gun's sights on the deranged dark skinned thug.

"To prove to all those bastards up top that we zeroes are nothing to laugh about! And the downfall of their precious System!" Viper grinned wildly before lashing out with his chains.

Before Hanzou could pull the trigger, the gun in his hand was snatched from his hand by the coiling metal links. With a swing of the chains, his firearm was tossed aside onto the ground crawling with flames. Even if he was to reach for it, he would only burn his fingers from the heat of the metal. With the weapon out of the way, Viper ran ahead with his chains reeling back for a wide swing of his metal links.

Reaching into his pocket, Hanzou leaned over to Touma just before the thug leader reached them.

"Shut your eyes and run!"

"What?"

Viper was only a few steps away. Swinging his right chains way back, he was ready to knock one of the two back from the blunt force hitting their face. That was until something small and black flew up. A bright flash of light suddenly blew up right in his face, engulfing the entire warehouse.

"What the fuck!?"

A flash bang had gone off right in his face. Not only had he and his followers been blinded, but another bomb had gone off a second later with an odd hiss. An uproar of smoke began to blanket everything in sight as a smoke grenade followed next. His hands flew for his burning retinas as he heard running footsteps pass him by along with the sounds of a few of his men being knocked down.

Even as his eyes began to regain their ability to see clearly, nothing but a room full of smoke and dying flames greeted Viper.

---

Touma found himself running through the littered streets of District 10 once again as the smoke bellowing warehouse behind him disappeared from their sights as they escaped. He coughed as some of the lingering smoke had entered his lungs. Today just seemed like it was going to involve explosions, wasn't it? Just his rotten luck at play.

Staring ahead, he found his eyes on the back of the delinquent who helped him escape. Hanzou, was it?

"Why did you help me out?" he couldn't help but ask as they rounded a corner and ran into a narrow alley. Both boys who could have passed of as no good delinquents pressed themselves against the wall, hiding in the shadows to avoid the rushing footsteps of their pursuers passing them by.

Hanzou was not happy. Not in the slightest. He clicked his teeth, watching the members of Drop Out pass their hiding spot over and turn their sights ahead. This was certainly unexpected. His eyes briefly glanced over to the spiky haired boy who rejected his offer before reaching into his pants for his cell.

"You got nothing to do with this. Just because you're a Level 0 like the rest of us, doesn't mean you ya got to be dragged into the shit with us. Even though I would have liked for you to join our cause, you apparently don't want that." Hanzou said with some scorn as he began to dial a number, "I told you, Skill-Out isn't what you think it is. We protect our fellow zeroes from those who wish to abuse us. Even if we look like a bunch of thugs, punks, delinquents, or gangsters, we only mean to defend those who can't defend themselves. Those guys who just attacked us? They have no right to call themselves Skill-Out." he spat with a face of disdain.

Touma stared at the delinquent with some surprise. While he may have only had a good two weeks worth of memories, he had met plenty of delinquents in his short life. All of them unpleasant. Each run in was with someone who was harassing someone weaker than them. Whether it was to have some fun in picking on someone lower than them, taking their money, or something more unsettling that usually involved a girl who couldn't defend herself from a group of sick bastards, he had come to realize one thing through it all.

The concept of Levels didn't matter. His fist had struck back against Skill-Outs and Espers all the same. It didn't matter what powers they were or were not capable of. They were all capable of cruelty just the same. Which meant they were also capable of good too.

To actually met a Skill-Out who acted out with a sense of moral justice was certainly new. He actually felt bad for misjudging him as some other no good delinquent. After all, he had bothered to help Touma escaped from the other delinquents after them when he could have just left him. That was enough to prove to him that Hanzou wasn't all that bad.

Hanzou's cell rang for several moments to no answer. The delinquent ninja frowned uneasily.

"What the hell? Hamazura should have picked up by now. It's not normal for that idiot to ignore my calls, especially at a time like this. Just what the hell is he doing?"

Recieving no answer, he was ready to give up. Until a message was sent over.

'Stop 'N Run.'

That was an old run down convenient store. Like many of the stores in the district it was nothing more than an empty husk of a building that served better as a hideout for one of the many factions that called themselves Skill-Out' this one belonging to them. The message was short and simple. To others it would be cryptic and make no sense to send over a meaningless name of some random broken down store. But Hanzou knew better.

His friend was in trouble.

The entire district as he knew it was probably in the middle of gang warfare because of some dumb asses for who knows what. It didn't surprise him that Hamazura, and most likely everyone else in Skill-Out, was caught up in the mess erupting on the streets. He growled as he shut his cell and peeked out the corner of the alley. Running away never suited him. If one of his friends was in trouble, than he couldn't stand around hiding.

"If I were you, I'd get out of District 10 as fast as I can. These streets are no place for some high school brat."

Hanzou wasn't going to pester the kid to join his cause. Not now. Not when his comrades were caught in the middle of war with some fakers. Besides it would be pointless to recruit someone who didn't even believe in their cause. Someone without conviction didn't belong in Komaba's Skill-Out.

He didn't need to hear anything from the spiky haired boy as Hanzou found the coast clear. He ran out of the alley to go to the aide of his friend without another thought, leaving behind the boy who he thought was worthy to join Komaba's just Skill-Out.

Left alone, Touma sighed as he walked out to the open, relieved to see that their were no delinquents on the streets. Several sounds of gunshots and even explosions rang out in his ear, putting an uneasy frown on his face. The whole reason he was even in this district was because of their tram dropping them here. And the reason he was still here was due to his friends being chased by a couple of bastards wishing to capture some scientist. As mush as Touma would have loved to leave, he couldn't. Not when Index and Angela were running away from people who sought to get rid of them simply because they were among the pursuers targets.

He didn't like, not one bit, but he was now involved in whatever was going on right now. Even worse was the fact that their was some boy who had once fought the 'original' Kamijou Touma who stood in his way. Knowing his luck, it wouldn't be the last time he saw the red suited boy today.

"Such misfortune." Touma muttered lowly before running off to who knows where.

He wasn't familiar with the streets of District 10. To some, it was pointless to go running around when he had no idea where he was going. But that didn't matter to him right now. Even if he had to run through this entire district ten times over in one day, he would find the others.

Pain raced up the right side of his body, Touma's burns and various wounds shouting back at him to the point he nearly stumbled in his directionless run. He fought past the pain though with a stern scowl on his face.

He truly had no idea what was going on. Not one bit. But if anyone thought that they could harm his friends for their own means, than he would do what he did best.

Kamijou Touma would shattered those fucked up illusions.

---

"Where are we?"

Kicking down the worn down double doors, Hana answered Angela back with a grunt as the others followed him. A weak ding rang out as they stepped into the building, everyone noting the empty shelves, trash littered checkered floor with the occasional cracks, and sparking vending machines next to the cashier register at the back of what they guessed was a store. Though unlike the many abandoned shops it looked like someone had made an attempt to clean the place up. Almost like someone had made it their home.

Throwing out his right hand, Hana activated his Electromaster abilities to attract a can of soda to his waiting reach from a dented vending machine. He didn't wait for the others, hopping over the register line to a worn out leather brown seat before kicking up his feet on the counter.

"Welcome to Hana's Hideout! Been hanging around here since our. . .trip misplaced us." Hana answered carefully as he drank. Ah, sweet grapefruit odan. He would never understand why people disliked the experimental flavors Academy City created. Sure, they were odd and had strange tastes, but that's what he loved about them! "Originally some Skill-Out punks ran around here as their base, but I cleared them out like roaches. Man, you should have seen them! Their legs were twitching like them too!" he laughed loudly.

Angela frowned as she walked over to her brother. Something wasn't right in her siblings recent behavior. She may have only recently met him among her many other siblings as of a week ago, but she was sure she a good idea of the boy she liked to refer to as Sparky.

Misaka Hana was a boy who loved nothing more than to laze about his home, play soccer, read action manga, had a strange taste in drinks, and preferred to stay out of a fight, finding them pointless and saying that such things were better left to heroes, not middle schoolers. For a Level 4 who had control of electricity, he was rather lazy. Kinda like a sparking sloth. Even though he had shown her that despite his lax nature he knew how to fight to the point he could keep up with one of their more ferocious siblings, Kaen, he still would rather do anything but get into such situations.

The chestnut boy leaning back without a care in front of her wasn't anything like the sparky sloth she had come to happily call brother. Who she was looking at appeared bloodthirsty, relishing in fighting others and leaving them as smoking, twitching messes. The boy who laughed and grinned at the memory of electrocuting a couple of delinquents wasn't anything like the Misaka Hana who stood alongside her in facing a Magic God. After all, she had seen how he looked like when fighting another to the point he reduced them to a burning crisp.

Regret. Shame. An emptiness had stared back at her as she remembered her brother harming another person who stood in their way, a complete stranger who had no ties to them. She still remembered the words he had uttered only to himself.

'It didn't have to be this way. There's no need for violence when we could have just talked, damn it. Just what the hell does this even get either of us?'

It was almost funny when you thought about it. How could a child born from a certain Level 0 and the Level 5 Railgun hate fighting? Both parents were excellent fighters and had no problem bloodying their knuckles. Misaka Mikoto was well known for being more than eager to get into a fight. You would think the offspring of the two would be the same. But Hana had shown he wasn't like his mother in that regard. Fighting wasn't something he enjoyed. He would have loved nothing more than to find a peaceful solution. Just because he had the power to hurt others, didn't mean he had to use them for that reason. Having power was more than beating others up.

That was the Misaka Hana that Angela knew. Who she met was akin to a stranger.

"Are you feeling alright, Hana?" Angela asked in concern as she set Toka down beside the front of the register. Index and Dr. Tatsumi stood right behind her, the latter eyeing the hideout in disgust while Index scrutinized the Electromaster for some reason.

Hana quirked a brow at his sister before scoffing.

"What makes you say that? I'm perfectly fine. The better question is, are you alright? We got separated from another when we got here. I got dropped off in a literal trash can in District 9! Where did you find yourself?" he asked with concern in his eyes.

Angela sighed in relief. Something was definitely wrong with him, she was sure of that. But it seemed he was still himself in that regard.

"District 7 actually. I was lucky I guess. I found myself with some good people that night." she said with a smile aimed back to her future mother.

Hana found his eyes landing on the silver haired nun, still dumbfounded at her stature. It was hard to put the image he had come to know of the busty Archbishop with the flat chested nun in training. Not to mention, he slightly frowned, he found himself anxious around her. Weird.

"I guess you did. That's good to know at least. Though that makes we wonder how Toka-onee-san's been doing. Hopefully she hasn't been hanging around here like I have. She may be older than me, but she doesn't have an ability. And knowing how much she takes after that bum, she's bound to get into trouble with all the punks running around." he said with concern.

Angela gave the electromaster a flat stare.

"You remember what she did to both Kaen-onii-san and Hachi-onii-san when they got into a fight over bunny girls and cat girls, right?"

Hana shuddered in his seat. He'd never seen a girl capable of holding to high school boys in their final year in a headlock like that before in his life. And the two older brothers in question were candidates for Level 5 in their timeline! Just how the hell did a girl with no abilities knock them out!? Guess that did answer his concerns of whether his older sister could take care of herself.

"Just how many siblings do you have?" Index asked curiously.

Angela scratched the back of her head nervously. That was a hard question to answer. She couldn't even count the number on both her hands.

"More than our bum of our father could care about." Hana spat, earning his a disapproving glare from his sister. He rolled his eyes in return before getting off his seat and walking over to the group. He stopped in front of the dark haired scientist with a scowl up at the taller man.

"More importantly, why is this guy here? From what I can guess, he's the whole reason you girls were being chased by Skill-Out. Don't tell me," his eyes suddenly snapped open wide in anger before he grabbed the front of Dr. Tatsumi's dirtied white coat with a snarl, "He's the reason Toka-onee-san is knocked out!? You fucking bastard!"

Sparks began to pop off his gripping hands, more than ready to light up the scientist with glee. Angela quickly went to his side, easing Hana back with a hand on his shoulders.

"No! It's nothing like that! In fact, it was Toka-onee-san who was protecting him from Skill-Out!"

"So, it was those assholes who knocked her out!?" Hana spat as his entire body reacted to his volatile state as electricity crawled all over him. Angela found herself stepping back as a few sparks hit her, causing her to flinch in pain.

"It wasn't them either! I don't understand why, but when fat-I mean Kamijou-san touched her, she fell unconscious!"

Index nodded along as she explained the strange reason why the unruly haired girl had been knocked out.

"For some reason, Touma's Imagine Breaker activated when he touched her. Something was negated. Something magical that had been seeping into her body, causing some kind of odd effect on her." Index explained, eyeing Hana strangely.

It was there. The same odd magical energy that had infected Toka before Touma had negated the magic. Like a small hissing leak from a tank, Index could feel the same energy attributed to a curse on Hana's body. She couldn't identify it though. It was something completely new to her, a new spell that wasn't cataloged in the many grimoires she had memorized in her library. Now that she was up close to the chestnut boy, she couldn't help but feel goosebumps on her skin. Whatever that magic was, it wasn't right. Curses never did feel right.

Dr. Tatsumi rose a brow at what he was hearing. Magical? He couldn't help but scoff at the very idea. Leave it to kids to say some odd things.

"So, once again it was that idiot's fault, huh? Why am I not surprised?"

The tight grip on Dr. Tatsumi's lab coat was released with a hiss of loathing. The nuclear scientist quirked a brow at the electromaster's behavior, sensing the pure hostility he was emitting as if they were sparks produced from his electricity. What a volatile child. That was just your average Esper for you, in his opinion anyway.

Angela scowled unhappily as Hana stared at the tiled floor, the chestnut boy's shoulders trembling as electricity bounced around his body. She had just about enough of her younger brother's behavior. Now was not the time for him to be throwing a tantrum. He was acting just like Toka!

Sharp green eyes widened as Angela made a connection between her two siblings. That's right, Toka had reacted the same way when their father was brought. Acting hostile and resentful at the mere mention of his name. That wasn't right. It was completely unlike them when the ebony nun thought about it clearly.

It was no secret that a few of Kamijou Touma's children hadn't the best opinion about him. What child would? It wasn't that their father was a horrible person, it was the opposite. Kamijou Touma was the hero found in the stories they had all been told of in their childhood. A man who fought for what he thought was right, willing to stand before the entire world as the villain for the mere wish of protecting one girl who had caused him nothing but grief. He was someone who traveled the world in search of others who were in need of saving, to find that one cry that was too pained to even utter a whisper of help. When one thought of Kamijou Touma, one could only think of a hero above heroes.

But Kamijou Touma was human. And he had flaws as all humans did. One of his biggest being that he would never stick around one place for long. Always choosing to leave and continue on his way, leaving the people he truly loved and cared about to live their lives without him by their side. A man who seemed to always seek out solitude despite all the love that welcomed him at his back. When one truly thought of Kamijou Touma, one word resounded perfectly clear.

Isolated.

Through events Angela wasn't clear on, Touma was responsible for the birth of more than a handful of children. His heart had touched many others and those who had loved him dearly had bore his children. Angela's own mother was one of the many. Which of course left Touma as the father of more than a dozen children who only ever had asked for one thing in their lives. A father.

Touma wasn't a bad father. At least not in Angela's honest opinion. After all, she understood what his thelema pushed him to do. To save whoever was in his sights. To fight against the cruelty of the world with nothing but a fist. And that lead him to always be on the move doing what she felt was god's work. Which was kinda ironic when you realized there was no one as truly as godforsaken as Kamijou Touma. And despite his busy work, he always did his best to stop by their home in London to visit her and her mother, especially during the holidays if he could.

But there were others who didn't think so highly of their heroic father. A few who had held grudges even in his death. Their were some bitter feelings and wounded hearts among his children. Some would even react violently when they confronted their father for all that they had gone through. It was to be expected. But nothing that couldn't be healed.

Hana though wasn't like their more resentful siblings. Neither was Toka. Sure, Hana didn't think too highly of his father, always acquainting him to that of a bum. But he loved him all the same, even if he wouldn't admit it. He was kinda of a tsundere in that regard, just like his mother had been. Toka was different, she loved her father the most and took after him the most. It was almost like she was a gender bent version of him. She would never curse out her father even if she too had held her own bitter feelings despite how much she loved her hero of a father.

Since they had arrived in the past and reunited, Angela had bore witness to the drastic change in behavior her siblings had displayed when she brought up their father. She had never seen them act that way before even though they had only known another for a few days. Something was clearly wrong. Something had changed within their hearts once they stepped through the magical gate that lead them to the past. But what?

"You're cursed."

Index's voice had spoken firmly, catching both Angela and Hana off guard. Dr. Tatsumi looked at the silver haired nun skeptically. She didn't pay any of them any mind, stepping closer to the sparking chestnut haired boy with a firm scowl as Hana felt the sudden need to step back from the silver haired sister. His hand began to tense without his notice.

She could clearly see it now. For just a millisecond, Index had caught sight of the corruptible magic that was seeped deeply into Hana's body. To anyone else, it would have been missed. But she had a perfect memory, able to see even the frame rates of her favorite anime with ease to spot the simplest of detail. She had an inkling to what was effecting Hana as a curse, but now that she had seen it up close as it reacted to something Angela had said, she could identify it as an honest to god curse. She could even state the effects to some degree now.

Anger. Agitation. Violent tendencies. Like a dog who was constantly being poked at, he was snapping and growling at the mere mention of a trigger word. She wasn't pleased with what that word was.

Kamijou Touma.

Wasn't Toka the same as well? She didn't appear as violent as Hana did, but she clearly wasn't friendly when she met Touma earlier. She had seemed to have been angered at his very appearance, almost as if he had done some kind of unforgivable act she couldn't forgive. And then Touma's Imagine Breaker activated upon contact with her, dispersing the magic Index was now a hundred percent sure was curse related. Did that mean the two were connected?

Hana began to sweat, an action that confused him as he blinked wearily. What was wrong with him? Why was he suddenly so nervous? He didn't have any reason to be backing away from Index. But for some reason, his body was unconsciously stepping away from her as if she was some sort of enemy. A mad surge of sparks began to go off in his right hand as his fingers clawed and his lips snarled.

A deep, powerful, corrupting pulse grew from the center of his body.

"Get back."

Index and Angela both frowned deeply as Hana stepped back against the register counter, hitting the counter tops edge as his left hand reached for his temple and gripped it in sudden discomfort. He had no idea why, but he was losing his composure. A strong sense of loathing hit him, his eyes narrowing into slits as he swore he could feel something hot in his eyes threatening to burst out like a broken water tap. Like some automatic feature was activating in defense of something.

"Hana, what's wrong? Why are you acting like this!?" Angela shouted in worry as she took a step towards her younger brother.

Unlike her mother, Angela wasn't born with perfect memory or the ability to detect and analyze magic upon a single glance. Even if she herself was adept at magic and held her own magic name, she wasn't on the same level as her mother. But even she could detect the anomaly of magic that was surging out from Hana's body. She wondered if the electric Esper could even tell that the colors of his azure sparks had begun to shift into a sick emerald green hue. It wasn't right. Small paper thin nicks opened along his skin, spurting blood as he lost control of his ability. It was like poison was spewing out.

After all, magic energies and AIM weren't suppose to mix together like this. It was impossible.

"I SAID GET BAAAAAACCCCKKKK!"

Like a lit grenade, Hana's body exploded with streams of lashing emerald lightning to strike the space around him. They acted like rampaging tendrils that electrocuted everything they smashed. The area around the chestnut Esper was broken apart by the tendrils of corrupted lightning, leaving smoking scars along the tiled floor. One of the emerald tendrils of sparking energy stabbed forward, intent on driving itself towards the cause of the rampage.

Index.

The silver haired nun was too stunned by the sudden appearance of taboo energy born from the mixture of two opposite worlds to move. It wasn't until a rough grown hand had held her shoulders did she begin to step back. Dr. Tatsumi was quicker than the girl, pulling her away from the stabbing tendril as Angela moved in front of the two with her arms spread wide open protectively. The last thing both Index and Dr. Tatsumi saw was the protective back of the older ebony nun in face of the deadly tendril of piercing electricity.

"ANGELA!"

---

Hamazura Shiage was tired. Both mentally and physically. It was safe to say today was one hell of a day that had constantly been draining him of everything he was. He wondered if this was how Komaba felt on a regular basis as leader of Skill-Out. It certainly wasn't easy leading even a small group of his fellow Level 0's across District 10 to stomp out the bastards who had caused the sudden street war consuming their home.

At the moment, the shaggy dirty blond delinquent was carefully leading his own party of Skill-Out's that followed under Komaba's leadership to handle the many individual groups of Skill-Out that went against their leader's law and rules. The district abandoned by the city, home to the many Level 0's who had turned their backs against unfair rules and customs of Academy City, was currently in the middle of what you would call a turf war. The peace they had all settled on had been shattered and a war among the streets had erupted. All in a single day.

Skill-Out was a name of an organization that defended Level 0's, and punished those who mistreated and abused their kind based solely on higher levels. That was the true and proud Skill-Out. The one that truly ruled over District 10 for the better of their fellow zeroes without any real power to protect themselves.

But thanks to the city that created them, all those who lacked an ability and caused any trouble were automatically labeled as Skill-Out. What had been a single minded organization had eventually bore splintered factions and groups who took the name for their own agendas that went against what they stood for. It became groups of no good punks picking on Espers who had never attacked zeroes, stealing for their own greed, vandalizing other districts for fun, and attacking innocent students for their own sick pleasures. Those fakers had taken the name Skill-Out and tarnished it.

But among those fake Skill-Outs, there were those who still stood along with Komaba's ideals. Not all of the factions were bad. At some point, all those who called themselves Skill-Out in different names had come to form a wordless peace treaty among them. Certain rules were put in place in District 10 that prevented the groups from attacking another and devolving their home into gang warfare. Despite how many of the factions didn't see eye to eye, they had come to an understanding. After all, no one wanted war.

Yet all that they had agreed on was trampled over the moment one of the factions decided to spill blood over territory. No one knew which factions had started all the bloodshed, some believed it was Devil's Mouth or Drop Out, but one of the groups running around the streets had hit one of Komaba's territories. All those who had resided there had been wiped out in the aftermath of bullet shells carpeting the blood soaked streets. And there was anger.

Hatred. Loathing. And revenge.

It wasn't a surprise that some of Komaba's Skill-Out had retaliated against who they believed had attacked them. From there a chain reaction had been born. Retaliation coveted retaliation. Back and forth the factions began to blame another for all the blood spilled as some of the more vicious gangs took the opportunity to settle some bad blood and settle some scores. And then all that bubbling violence had exploded as the peak of the mayhem burst out into the streets once the neutral grounds that was the Food Stand Spire was broken.

Various members of Skill-Out had been at the spire when a random faction had opened fired on the third floor. Fighting had broken out and it quickly spread to the point someone had caused an explosion that harmed many of the delinquents and brought flames to consume several of the lower floor in the aftermath. From there the fighting had spread from small attacks that had begun in just the first few hours of the first hit to all out brawling on the streets.

"On your left!"

Hamazura headed the words of one of his comrades as he stopped abruptly. From the shadows of an ally a muzzle could be seen stabbing out of the darkness with its sights locked on his small party of five. He clicked his teeth at the threat before his eyes found the back of one of his men shielding him from the spray of bullets. He would have panicked for the safety of his friend but he could make out the large rectangle frame of a see through riot shield along with a few others standing side by side for wider protection. Metal shells peppered the makeshift wall they had created with no sign of breaking through.

The riot shields they were using weren't your ordinary shields. They were Anti-Skill riot shields, designed to withstand the attacks of Espers who could throw hurling balls of metal scorching flames and hunks of solid stone. Whatever ammunition they were firing at them didn't appear to be anything special, just standard and cheap bullets. It just went to show what small fry their enemies were.

Skill-Out, the true Skill-Out, wasn't your average group of delinquents. They knew how to fight and had some tactics. And when it came to weaponry, they always made sure to get their hands on some of the best stuff Academy City had to offer. Of course how they got the equipment and weaponry did take a heist or two.

The shields were strong, but not invincible. Even a steel wall would crumble when it was being battered by countless rapid fire small pebbles eventually.

Reaching for a standard Anti-Skill rifle that was slung across his back, Hamazura carefully aimed through a small space between the riot shields and found his target. He didn't hesitate as he pulled the trigger.

In the end it had only taken a single bullet to end the rain of enemy bullets. Idly Hamazura could make out the dull thud of something heavy hitting the ground in the dark alley. He wasn't sure if he had inflicted a fatal wound or not. Frankly he didn't care. Why should he?

He didn't see the same care when he had found his friends back against a dumpster with bloody holes drilled into their body. It would stupid for them to expect nothing less than the same treatment shot back at them.

With the latest threat out of the way, they continued on their way to their latest destination. The Stop 'N Run. It was one of their bases that they used for stock piling explosives and ammunition. With all the fighting going on, they were in need of reloading their weapons and securing one of their caches. It wouldn't be good for them right now to have one of their bases taken over this early in the war.

Despite feeling his anger take over him, Hamazura couldn't help but grimace. War. To think it had gone this far.

From the northeast of their position several rumbling explosions resounded in the streets of District 10. He could already make out the highlight of flames and smoke rising from wherever the blasts originated. It looked like one of the factions was already busting out some heavy plays. Which meant they had to hurry on over and secure their caches.

Up ahead, Hamazura could see the familiar run down convenient store only just a quick run away. He breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't look like any of the enemy factions had made any moves on their spot yet.

BOOOOOOOMMM!

Spoke too soon.

The front of the store blew up by an unknown blast from within, blinding the small party of Skill-Out's from the offenders as a rush of both smoke and rubble was thrown out to obscure their view. Bits and chunks of the front of the small store pelted everything in its front direction like the spray of a shotgun. Hamazura shielded his face with his forearm from the whipping gust created from the explosion from inside the store before trying to find the cause of the blast from the newly created smoking hole. Something flew out from inside, flung out to be sent rolling onto the streets. His eyes went wide at what he found sprawled out on the ground with wisps of smoke lingering from their bodies.

A nun. Two to be exact. And some lab coat wearing man too. The three were sent flying out from the blast to find themselves on their backs, clearly injured from whatever caused the explosion. He could see visible burns on their body from where he stood. How they survived what he guessed was a point blank blast, he had no idea. It was honestly a miracle to come out that unscathed.

"What the hell is going on?" Hamazura breathed in shock as he made out a silhouette walking out from the hole. He grew alarmed, motioning everyone in his party to ready themselves for trouble. He was expecting a lot of things. A huge thug packed like a tank. A random punk who got a hold of one of their stolen rocket launchers. Even some kind of robot that was on a rampage in their district for some odd reason. What he wasn't expecting was to see a rich middle school boy in a tan blazer vest strolling out.

He grew even more on edge when he noticed the emerald sparks crawling over the boy's body. What he was seeing was a live wire Esper on a rampage.

Groans could be heard from the three knocked back on the streets. Glancing at them, Hamazura noticed that the chestnut haired Esper's eyes were locked exclusively on the two nuns and the adult man. It was obvious who had attacked who. And it didn't look like the three were in any condition to escape from some out of control Esper.

Hamazura grit his teeth at the scene as he held his party from acting. They had no reason to get involved with whatever the hell was going on. They had one objection, secure the cache. There was enough trouble going on around them. What was important was protecting their own. The last thing they needed was an Esper getting mixed into all of this and taking them out this early in the mess.

"Focus on the cache. Leave the Esper alone and secure the explosives!" Hamazura ordered.

No good ever came from helping others. No one ever helped them. Why bother turning a leaf now? The world was cruel. This was just another example in this world controlled by those with absolute power.

"H-Hana. . .please. . .stop."

The five Skill-Out's following along with Hamazura quickly passed by the scene and entered their hideout to complete their objective. Hamazura was close behind them. Until his body came to a stop with the plea falling on deaf ears. His fingers cracked loudly, the sound drown out by the sound of crackling electricity and the monotone voice responding back to the dark haired nun.

"New Objective Detected. Index Librorum Prohibitorum has been locked on as the top priority target." The chestnut haired Esper said robotically as some odd red occult like sigils glossed over his eyes. His movements even came off as robotic, stiff and twitchy as he came closer to the three. Glancing back, Hamazura saw the older nun stand over her friends, who were struggling to get back up, protectively, acting as a shield. She was no better off then them. He could see that the front of her robe had nearly been torn through and burns marred her skin. It looked like she was struggling to even stand.

That nun was standing up against an out of control Esper. It didn't look like she may have had an ability either. She was someone without power. Just like them.

So. . .why the fuck was she smiling?

Weakly with visible strain, the ebony haired nun spread her arms out wide to shield those behind her from harm. All while smiling at the Esper who showed nothing but hostility to her. He couldn't help but stare with a gaping mouth.

'Is she. . . an idiot?'

Was she asking to die?

"Hana. . .please snap out of it. I know you don't mean to hurt us. That's not the Sparky that I know."

Idiot. God damn idiot.

The sparks of sickly emerald electricity weaved together to form six twitching tentacles around Hana. The Esper had no words to respond. Only action. The lightning tentacles paused before aiming forward in stabbing motions, intent on acting swiftly.

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!

"Vestige of Imagine Breaker detected. Proceeding with execution."

God. Damn. Idiot!

Before the lightning spears crossed the space between the Esper and the nun to stab her through, they whipped wildly around Hana to deflect the gunfire locked onto him. Hana's neck creaked in the direction of the ensuing gunfire to find a dirty blond haired delinquent sweating nervously, panic clear on his face.

"Idiot, I'm a god damn fucking idiot!" Hamazura roared over the sound of his automatic gunfire.

What the hell was he doing?! This had literally nothing to do with him! Right now, he could have gone ahead and secured the cache, safe from harm instead of dealing with an Esper. All this could have been avoided if he had just turned his damn back! Instead here he was, firing madly at an Esper that was batting away his bullets without so much as a sweat. He wasn't sure he had ever done anything more stupid.

". . .New Target Identified. Hamazura Shiage has become top priority along with Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Proceeding with elimination of targets."

More sweat ran down Hamazura's face as his heart pounded against his chest. How the hell did the creepy sparky kid know his name? He thought he was a electromaster, not a telepath! The magazine clicked, signaling the empty case that was quickly swapped out for a new one before the lowly Level 0 returned fire. Against an Esper who was probably a Level 4 from what he could see, firing his rifle was all he could do.

Like flailing accurate whips, the lightning tentacles easily deflected ever bullet fired upon Hana's way. It wasn't long until the pepper spray of metal shells ran dry as Hamazura ran out of ammunition. The dirty blond zero clicked his teeth. The rifle was useless. Throwing it aside, he flung his left arm out, allowing a concealed small handgun the size of his fist to slide out of his sleeve into his open hand. It wasn't much but it was all he had. Among a few small tricks.

Hana's eyes locked onto the small handgun with complete focus of the threat, albeit small. Then something small and black was flung at him in his small moment of distraction. It was cylinder in shape and emitted an odd sounding hiss. One of the crackling tentacles snapped, flying through the air to quickly deal with the unknown threat. But before he could strike it, a single shot was fired and the cylinder erupted into a blast of scorching flames in his sight. The roaring torrent of fire crashed over him quickly, consuming the tendril of electricity corrupted by magic and soon flooded over him. A crop of fire soon blocked his body from sight of all those watching by.

Left arm trembling as Hamazura held it still after firing the shot, he couldn't help but laugh weakly, "H-Holy shit. That actually worked!?" He couldn't believe it. He was actually thinking that the Esper would have reacted faster than him and swatted the small explosive propane cylinder away. The plan wasn't suppose to work. He was going to have to thank Hanzou for teaching him that trick later. At least that dealt with the Esper.

Too bad that was just wishful thinking.

Just as quickly as the flames had consumed the sparking live wire Esper, they were dispersed by the tendrils of crackling electricity fanning out. A strong wind was kicked up that seemed to slightly push everyone close by back. Hamazura grunted with a foul curse on his lips. He should have known better. If the kid was a Level 4, than even something like this wouldn't be enough to even knock him back. Eyes fighting to see as the wind continued to push him back, he found them snapping wide open as his vision was blocked by a vile colored wall of crackling electricity in the form of a clawed hand made from the six tentacles. He couldn't do a thing as the large hand snatched him up, wrapping its fingers around his abdomen before clenching tightly. An audible strain of bones threatening to break could be heard as he screamed in pain. The hand of burning electricity lifted him off the ground before spinning his body around, tossing him back like a pitched baseball at the front of the battered convenience store with a boom that shook the small store.

A curtain of rubble and dust fell over the store front, settling down a moment later to reveal the dirty blond teen laying back against the dented, cracked wall. Burns marred his favorite hoodie in the shape of a large hand wrapping around him, blood ran down his lips among bruises and small cuts. His head rested against the wall as he struggled to breath after being tossed with such force. His vision swam as he fought to keep his eyes from shutting. The moment they did, he would be out for the count. And at the hands of a monster.

"S-Shit. . .this is what a I get for. . .sticking up for someone else. . .h-huh?" Hamazura gravely chuckled before coughing up blood onto the ground. He smiled grimly as he heard the crunch of footsteps making their way over along with the crackle of electricity ready to fry him up now that he was beaten tender. With what strength he still had, he rose his left arm up and fired the last of his small handgun's bullets at the approaching electromaster. Just as before, the bullets were deflected without any effort.

So, this was it? Dying to an Esper, huh? He should have seen that coming. He really should have. In this world ruled by those with power, it was only natural for the weak to be rid of by the strong. He was an Esper with no real power, having never awakened his own Personal Reality that would have granted him a power as simple as bending a lousy plastic spoon. No matter what kind of drugs they had him take, no matter what kind of mental tests they had him run, no matter how much time and effort they had put into him, he couldn't develop any signs of growing a power of his own.

Hamazura was a Level 0. Someone with no true power, no value, no worth. Just another nobody stomped out by someone with all the power to do whatever they felt like. Just a piece of trash to be thrown out when his time came up.

But. . .at least he had done something of worth. As his eyes continued to fight to stay open despite his imminent death coming closer, his eyes wandered past the sparking Esper to the three people who stood away. Away from harm, still breathing. Still alive.

His lips trembled, wanting to speak up as loud as he could. To shout at the slow headed nun who stood by, watching Esper approach Hamazura with an expression of panic and worry, to run away as fast as she could with her friends. He was going to die. The last thing he wanted was for his death to be pointless. Serving as a distraction was the least he could as a good for nothing Level 0.

'Sorry, Komaba, Hanzou. Looks like you're going to have to count me out of the party this time. Cause this Level 0 is going to have to sit out from our all the fun.'

The shadow of the live wire Esper fell over Hamazura's beaten body, signaling his nearing end. Though he was too weak to lift the empty handgun, he still looked up at the odd Esper known as Hana with a melancholic grin. He wondered, if that boy who produced lightning and had an empty gaze would remember a Level 0 like him. Probably not.

The six tentacles of corrupted emerald electricity wrapped around in a complex motion to form the large deadly clawed hand that stretched out from Hana's back. The crackling hand flexed it's fingers, more than eager to plunge them deep into their target's body like a giant lance. It reared back, ready to strike.

Hamazura released a deep sigh as his body slumped back.

"Guess this is it then. Nothing more a Level 0 like me could do."

The hand made of sparking, crackling, watts of electricity moved swiftly, plunging its fatal claws into the dirty blond delinquent in a blur.

At least, that was the plan anyway.

Too distracted by his target, Hana was unable to react in time to the fist drilling into the right of his face. His eyes bulged as his face was mashed by the knuckles of the fist knocking him off his feet and away from the Level 0. His body hit the street, rolling over several times before coming to a stop that left him facing up at the sky. The sudden attack left the boy stunned, his body twitching erratically like a machine that had its functions interrupted by a wedged wrench in its gears.

Hamazura was in a similar state, sans the large bruise on his face. He stared up at his savior, stunned at their sudden appearance as they cracked their knuckles with a fierce grin.

"I take a nap for a bit and this is what I wake up to? Seems I'm going to have to step up and act like a proper onee-san, huh?"

With a grin of determination on her face, Toka turned around to face the slowly rising Hana. She punched her right fist into her palm, ignoring the gaping dirty blond behind her as she squared her shoulders.

A constant stream of toxic electricity flowed from Hana's body as he turned his eyes to the newest threat to enter the picture. The tendrils created from his ability quickly flew up to form a large clawed hand, crackling wildly with an eagerness to thrash its target. His neck creaked, cracking as his eye glowed a deep read.

"New target acquired. Proceeding to eliminate Vestige of Imagine Breaker."

Another explosion erupted close by as Toka and Hana stared off. And like others in the street of District 10, another fight broke out.

---

A red, rusted wrench swung a few inches away from Touma's sweaty face as he backed away in time to avoid the attack. A delinquent who's face was shadowed by his dark blue hoodie swore loudly before swinging erratically at the dodging high school boy. But each swing missed by a hairs margin. It was pissing him off! The hoodie wearing delinquent was growing fed up of the annoying game of wrench tag. It was time to pull out the literal big guns!

Reaching into the back of his pants waist for the concealed gun on his person, the delinquent was ready to empty his entire magazine into the spiky haired boy's face. That is, until the soon to be dead high schooler used his single moment of distraction to reach for his gun to dig his knuckles deep into his stomach. The delinquent's lungs rasped with the loss of his breath from one direct punch. He couldn't believe it. How was some random, normal looking punk capable of hitting that hard?!

Rage turned into jarring pain as the delinquent found himself eating a knuckle sandwich in the face from a left straight punch to his face. His face was mushed together, a single tooth flying out as he quickly fell back to the streets. Among other thugs like him.

Sweat now running down his face in small streaks that hit the pavement with soft plings, Touma could now breath a sigh of relief now that the latest thug had been dealt with. He couldn't help but lean on his knees, ignoring the other thugs scattered around him, unconscious and groaning. And in some cases deathly silent. He grimaced, spying the still slick red puddles underneath some of the Skill-Out thugs.

It was utter war at every corner Touma ran into. With no clear direction to go on in his search of the two nuns, a high school girl, and a scientist, he was left to search every street in District 10 for any signs of his two roommates. Instead of finding either one of them though, he found himself running into fights between different factions of Skill-Out. And those faction didn't seem to care about some random student accidentally stumbling into their fights. Bullets and knives didn't ask questions, and neither did they. Even though Touma had nothing to do with any of the fighting going on in the streets belonging to Skill-Out, he was still dragged into their fighting and forced to beat down whoever got in his way. How he had ran out of the chaos without getting shot, he had no idea.

Was that lucky? Considering he instead got punched, kicked, cut, grazed by bullets, shocked by stun batons that would cause Himegami's eyes to sparkle, and even spat on in one case, he wasn't completely sure. With an annoyed grunt, Touma quickly picked himself up and continued his aimless running. But just as his feet hit the streets in a sprint, he felt the shaking of earth underneath his shoes from what he could guess was another explosion close by. Again. Just what the hell had happened to District 10 to leave it as a war zone? Shouldn't Anti-Skill have moved out already to deal with all those fighting? Even if this district was generally avoided by them and Judgement, they still should have acted to keep the peace and make sure the trouble didn't cross out into the other districts. This whole situation just didn't seem right.

"All I wanted to do was go out for a simple breakfast for crying out loud! How the hell does that devolve into crossing into a gang war!? Seriously, just how shitty is my luck!? It's only been three days since I left the hospital and I already feel that I'll be visiting it again!" Touma screamed out in frustration to the sky.

Touma scratched his head furiously, feeling his sanity begin to crumble at the situation. At this point, what else could possible go wrong at this point?!

"Get back here, you fucking little brat! Just come with us peacefully and we won't have to hurt you!"

"Nyaa! Get away from me, you disgusting lolicons!"

"L-L-Lolicons!? You little bitch! Just for that, I'm going to strip you naked! You'll be so humiliated, you're going to wish you were nicer! Than we'll see who the lolicon is!"

"Essentially, you!"

"Now you're just asking for a spanking!"

A spastic twitch grew on Touma's annoyed face. Running across from him, he suddenly found a little blond girl in some frilly dress reminiscent of an idol and red beret running away from a Skill-Out delinquent who was spouting some very lolicon-ish threats to the teary eyed elementary school girl. Seeing this, the normal high school boy's patience snapped. Along with his knuckles following in suite with a crack.

So, he couldn't even go searching for his friends without running into another stroke of bad luck? What were the chances of running across a pervert preying on a poor little girl in the streets of District 10? If you were a certain Kamijou, pretty high. If not definite. And of course he couldn't just ignore what he just saw. Finding the girls was important, very important with all the fighting spreading around the district, but he he had no choice but to intervene.

"I think I'm going to enjoy this one. I really did need something to vent my frustrations on. And what better punching bag than a no good pervert?" Touma grinned evilly before chasing after the pair.

Such misfortune. But in this situation, it was the delinquent's misfortune.

---

Between The Lines #3.

Top Secret.

Project #2874479: Code Name

Reality Giver.

Status: Hiatus.

Head of Development: N/A.

Subject: General report detailing the experimentation of further developing the remnants of Level Upper using the base formats of Five_Over, The Misaka Network, and The Dark May Project to eliminate the concept of Level 0s.

After the destruction of the previous Level Upper Network created by Kiyama Harumi, Board Member _ has authorized the further study of the Level Upper Network to understand its limitations and potential, under the eyes of Academy City. By using the research and blueprints concerning The Misaka Network, along with the Five_Over experiment and The Dark May Project, the study is to reach a level that surpasses the capabilities of The Misaka Network to create a machine that can replicate and perform all the Abilities tied to its network. By using the Reality Giver, there is hope to permanently implant a specific ability onto the subject, granting them their own Personal Reality. If successful, plans are in development to mass replicate the technology to eliminate the concept of Level 0s from Academy City.

Given the Code Name, Reality Giver, the device has shown progress in recent experiments using the subject's brainwaves, duplicated, to be implanted into the other subjects brainwaves, using the resource of forgotten Child Errors with ability Levels ranging from 2-3. The subject, a Level 0, has proven to show signs of gaining Personal Reality after days of application with the Reality Giver, seeming to have copied one of the afflicted subjects own ability or discovering their own after rejection. Further study is needed before findings can be brought up to the other Board Members.

. . . . .

Addendum: Project #2874479: Code Name

Reality Giver[Level Eater].

As of today, development of Project #2874479: Code Name, Reality Giver, has been ceased by orders of _ and _.

Reasons for project's development ceasing are detailed in _ report. Due to the new nature of Reality Giver's power, it has been code named, Level Eater.

Report #0003.

Written by, _.

After further research of the Reality Giver, it has been discovered that just as the previous Administrator of the Level Upper Network, the stress of the networks hosts become far too much for not only the subject to handle, but those connected to the network. Despite attempts to reduce the creation of an AIM Burst, an Illusion Beast is still born. Procedures were in place to swiftly eliminate the birth of the entity. Though a new phenomenon has been discovered in due to the new nature of the Reality Giver's format and power; AIM After Burst, AIM AB.

Those who were connected to the new network has lost control of their Personal Reality, their AIM Diffusion Fields seeming to twist and deform the Esper's body in the after birth of the AIM Burst. What's left behind are entities of pure AIM, reminiscent of walking corpses, that act solely to devour Espers with similar Personal Realities. Further study of these beings are to be later visited if possible.

The Administrator of The Reality Giver Network has shown to go through a new form of AIM Burst. It is unknown what this new entity could entail as each burst is quickly brought down before it is fully birthed.

The Level Eater has shown to do more than just connect itself to the other users of the network. While those who are connected to the Administrator share their Personal Reality, it has been discovered that the Administrator 'devours' one Level of all those connected to the network. The Administrator seems to build up all the Personal Realities strength using the devoured Levels, digesting the gathered realities to further strengthen the Abilities to the level of 4, possibly 5. In theory, a simple ability such as Telekinesis at Level 1, with the gathered consciousness of countless Espers of similar Personal Realities, can rise to Level 5; the first of its kind.

It is at this stage in the experiment, where the Administrator of the Reality Giver is to discover their own Personal Reality, that things go awry. Details are stricken due to the nature of the backlash. All those who have participated in the experiment are to be removed from the records. If must, plans have been made to stage kidnappings and death of those who have disappeared.

Until further cautions and solutions to the problems can be created, the development of Reality Giver has been put on hold until further notice. And if must, its research will be left to remain dormant in the recesses of District 10's main nuclear reactor, Hoshi.

---

A city wide attack has begun to envelope Academy City. The center point of all this chaos? District 10.

Deep within a facility that creates radioactive energy, a hidden threat resides, waiting to devour whoever frees it from its cage. The power to consume the very System that created it and leave nothing behind.

The clock has begun to tick. Eventually, all those involved will meet in the middle for the climax of this story. What awaits is not for the faint of heart. Only those with no power could ever understand.

What guides that fist of yours? Is it just the memory of someone you can no longer reach out and save? Or would it be selfish to call those emotions your own? What answer could a husk ever reach?

When a star burns, what is left behind?

There we go! Things are escalating with every chapter, don't ya think? I'd say we're two chapters away to reaching the very peak of all this chaos! The final showdown is coming! Which begs the question; what will be left behind in the aftermath of all this violence?

Now that this is done, I'm going back to taking a break. Which means it's time for games, and if I got the time, going out for sushi! I'm eating Udon and Spicy Girl's tonight!

Remember to read and review! It's common courtesy.

NeoShadows fading in and out.