Hello again readers, another round of L,o,C,G. Now this chapter, It gets a bit over the top…. But that's kinda what happens when you deal with Magic gods. Had to scour through NT17's Between the Lines just to confirm how damn ridiculous it was gonna get. But hey, it should at least still be fun. But anyways, Reviews!
Whwsms:{I mean at least in this case it's not being done for nefarious reasons. Index honestly, truly wants to protect Touma so she traps him in a world of her own creation. And biach Please! Even if the Illusion was perfect and not created through Index's views. Touma would notice something up. That dude shatters allusions for a reason.}
fencer29:{Hmm who knows, I might bring that up later since you mentioned it. It would be an interesting way to help further Touma's suspicion.
Um… yeah Touma is the worst person to pull this on, just look at Othinus! But I mean how else is Index gonna keep Touma from nearly getting himself killed?}
5had0wHand:{Touma-Gets lucky, also Touma-'Somethings wrong, I can feel it!'
That would be some extreme Irony there but I got the irony covered already
Ahem… well, that would be the full on yandere route, the point of no return.
Well considering the fact he's stuck in a false reality created by a mentally unstable Index? Yeah I consider that really misfortunate.
This would definitely be something I want to mess around with in the future. But I'm not sure I could do that in this fic.
Don't hold your breath, Nuada may have gotten nommed, but how did he end up there?
I may absolutely use this… if such a joke does come up… you'll know where I got it from.}
Guest 1:{Yeah I noticed that a bit late, I'll be on the look out for that typo later. I won't ask you to believe me, that's something that actions need to prove.}
Thanks to Dragonrails for his aid in this story, check out his fic 'Ticket' if you feel like it. It'll be getting an extreme overhaul soon so the old cringe-worthy vision ain't long for this world. Remember constructive criticism is both encouraged and desired. Now then…. I think it's time for us to witness Index's slow descent… Let this tale of an Infinity commence once more.
Chapter 35
She who would consume the gods
"Beef stew, beef stew!"
Kamijou smiled as he saw Index skipping ahead. She had a few odd moments throughout the day. But she seemed fine now, the dorm came into view and they made their way up.
"Huh, I guess Tsuchimikado's out" Kamijou noted as he saw the lights out in Tsuchimikado's room.
"Hmph! I never really liked him, he was always getting you into trouble anyways." Index pouted as they entered Kamijou's dorm room.
Kamijou shrugged "eh, he can be a bastard but, he's still a friend I can rely on." Shutting the door Kamijou made his way over to the kitchen. Placing the groceries down Kamijou began to prepare dinner for him and Index.
"Touma, why do you think that anglican spy is someone you can trust?" Index asked as she sat down in front of the TV and turned it on.
Kamijou thought for a moment, "Well, despite the trouble he causes me. Tsuchimikado has indeed been there when I needed him." He took out the cooking supplies and began preparing the Beef Stew.
Index glanced at Touma from the corner of her purple eyes. "Touma, I think you should be more wary of such people."
Kamijou shrugged "I am, believe me, there are times I wonder if I should sleep with one eye open. Just in case he decides to sneak in and kidnap me… again." he began cutting the lettuce he planned to use.
Index rolled her green eyes, "Toumaa, that's not what I meant, but I guess that's just what makes you Touma." she turned back to the TV and continued to watch magical powered Kanami.
"Who else am I gonna be? This Kamijou-san thinks it'd be much more awkward if he was someone else." Kamijou joked as he preheated the stove.
After around 30 minutes the stew was finished and the two of them ate. Kamijou however, couldn't shake the feeling of something. Or someone, very important, was missing from that table.
As he began cleaning up after dinner, Kamijou reminisced on the events of the day.
'I was kinda lucky today' he thought to himself. But then he frowned 'Yeah… lucky… that's wrong. Not only did I not trip into someone and get beat over the head for it. But I never accidentally walked in on someone. Every time something almost caused an accident. It was almost like people were waiting to stop it.' He paused there for a moment.
'Waiting to stop…. Misfortune?' Something felt wrong, it didn't feel real. He wasn't just never this lucky. No, Kamijou physically could never be this lucky. Imagine breaker stopped all such things. It would take the act of a god to stop his misfortune. 'Wait… isn't luck, god's 'blessing' according to Index? Why do I think it would take just 'A' god to stop my misfortune'
"Touma? You've been staring at that plate for 5 minutes… are you alright?" Index's voice said. Kamijou felt himself nearly jump, why was he so scared of her?
"Oh.. ahahah! Sorry Index must have fallen into thought, I just realized I had a day without misfortune. Maybe you were wrong about Imagine Breaker negating my luck." Kamijou flashed Index a grin and she turned her head away red.
"You're just clumsy Touma!" she said, causing Kamijout to spit.
"Hey! Rude! I'm not some cliche blond!" he shouted in protest but Index merely smiled and laughed.
"Father, please forgive Touma for his stupidity." she said as she held her hands together. But, something about the action felt hollow to Kamijou. She looked like she was merely doing it to seem normal.
Index went back to watching TV and Kamijou continued washing the dishes. But he continued to think.
'Whats going on? Something feels exceedingly wrong. Im forgetting something, no, im forgetting many things. Very important things and I can't tell what they are. And that hurts my heart, what am I forgetting?' He glanced over at Index and smiled softly. She appeared happy, very happy. Once she was in bed, he'd go look around, he needed to find out what he was missing.
And in order to do so, he'd go to where he felt this all began. The hospital he had woken up in this morning.
…
"Damn it! Get a report to the Anglican church! The archbishop needs to know, Index's seals are broke and she's made herself a Magic god!" Stiyl's voice sounded strained and defeated. Muireann wasn't sure why though, they had won.. Right? Sure Index seemed a bit off but she had just saved them. And she saved Kamijou too, Murieann knew that. She knew it because she wasn't freezing, well not badly at least.
Shortly after Index had vanished Muireann felt her chest begin to freeze a little. It meant she was a little too far from Kamijou. But the fact she was able to stand showed he was most certainly alive.
"What….the hell?" The Railgun stared at the spot Index had vanished. Horror was written on her face. Muireann didn't blame her, when Index had… changed. It felt like an apex predator was looking at her hungrily.
"Stiyl! If you do that, then" Kanzaki, the saint grabbed Stiyl's arm. Both of them were shaking in fear.
"I know Kanzaki!, but if we don't… she may never be herself again. We have no other choice!" Stiyl shouted, Muireann's eyes widened in shock, she didn't know Stiyl very well. But she was positive she had never seen him this emotional.
A green beam of energy struck the ground in front of them causing them to turn towards the source. "You, the idiots in the weird clothing, stop your bickering and tell me. What the actual fuck was that… thing?" Mugino Shizuri, the Meltdowner, a close friend of Hamazura Shiage shouted.
Speaking of the end of the century emperor. "Mugino! Don't just attack those guys, believe me I've seen what they can do." Hamazura seemed to be a little panicked.
"He's telling the truth, Mugino-san, It's best we stay on their good side for now." The black bobbed haired Takitsubo Rikou, AIM Stalker said.
"I super expected Hamazura to say that because it was Super Hamazury. But you too Takitsubo?" the short brunette Kinuhata Saia, Offensive Armor said.
Mugino frowned and then sighed "If you both say so, I need to trust you. But you two need to explain what the hell you kept from me later." She then turned to the Anglicans. "Well? Cause for one thing, I know my entire team was killed by that bastard who's body is lying pathetically over there. What… the hell, was that nun girl who brought us back?"
Stiyl threw a cigarette onto the ground and ground it with his foot. "I'm not telling some random esper anything. It's against the treaty" he glared at Mugino who grinned in challenge.
"Then I'll drag the info out of you by force. Whoever that girl is, she's dangerous and I know some people who would want to know about her. I won't let a threat to ITEM stand unchecked" Mugino created multiple green electron spheres around her.
Muireann wasn't sure who to help, sure Stiyl had aided her and Kamijou in defeating Ainmire. But he was kinda an asshole, so she didn't like him. However, Mugino wasn't exactly proving much better.
"That was Index, Mugino… she from what I heard. A repository for very dangerous knowledge" Hamazura said from behind Mugino.
Mugino turned around and raised an eyebrow. "You know her?"
Hamazura shrugged "not well, she hung around the boss.. Kamijou Touma. So I know she's at least friendly, or was. I have no clue what happened to her. But I suspect it's related to all that knowledge stuffed in her head."
Mugino turned around to Stiyl who was glowering at Hamazura. "And how the fuck do you know so much?" he asked codly
Hamazura approached Stiyl "A number of people told me of your world of magic. Birdway, a couple of.. Magic Gods and of course. Coronzon, that great demon was the one that gave me the most understandable version.'' He stood in front of Stiyl and glared at him. "Guess that treaty doesn't mean much to them. Makes you wonder what the point of your treaty is if the gods at the top don't give a shit."
Kanzaki held her hand on her Nodachi, ready to pull it out. Mugino, Kinuhata and Takitsubo were ready for a fight. All it would take is for either Hamazura or Stiyl to make the first move.
Muireann couldn't wait any longer, "Could someone please tell me what's going on? What happened to Index, where's Touma? For the love of Tir' n'all this isn't the time to be fighting!" shouting she glared at the 6 who were in a face off.
"Nyahh-Neichii, she's right you know" A familiar backstabbing voice came from behind her. Whipping around Muireann found Tsuchimikado. Galistic and Baobhan were next to him supporting each other.
"Tsuchimikado! Where did you go?" Kanzaki shouted as she took her hand off the nodachi.
"Ol Tsuch-boy here was busy giving a report to the city's head honcho!" Galistic said as she sat down. Her hooved gray legs splayed to the side.
"Indeed, it appears the board has started getting a bit. On edge to say the least" Baobhan Sith said as she sat next to her sister her own hooved feet folded under her.
"What does that mean you damn spy?" Stiyl demanded.
"I think.. It means that we are running on a time limit" Celt Eyslinn said as she made her way across the broken ground with the help of Shutaura.. Or Arisa, either could be doing it.
"Until what?" Kanzaki asked
"Until the board of directors does something, exceedingly stupid." Shutaura spat.
"Bingo! Point for the assassin Idol!" Tsuchimikad remarked.
…
"What are we going to do then?" a middle aged male voice said.
"The new chairman is useless. All his actions have harmed Academy city!" an Older male voice said.
"Indeed, we need to deal with this… threat ourselves. We cannot let them damage our reputation any further. We had enough of that from Denmark, let alone the events later" A middle aged female voice said.
"The world will think we're a joke if we don't do something soon." A younger but still adult male voice said.
"Doesn't help that the board chairman's social suicide has given the UN every reason it needs to tear this city down. They only haven't because they fear us." A older female voice said.
"Then let's show them why! Once we have info on this new… threat. We take it out using one of our most advanced weapons. That'll show the rest of the world that they can't take us down." A final male voice said.
…
"Your kidding, how dumb are they?" Stiyl shouted in anger.
"A plasma bomb wouldn't even heat up her habit at this point" Kanzaki said.
"What!? The board of directors are planning on nuking the silver sister!?" Misaka shouted in shock.
"Shit, so you're saying that we need to find a solution before the decision is set in stone." Agnese muttered.
"Those… fucking monsters, do they not care about their students!?" Yomikawa growled with gritted teeth.
"Nyah! Of course not my favorite PE teacher. Why do you think I contacted Accel on this? He's talking to the archbishop of the Anglicans to hopefully formulate a plan to stop the rampaging Index." Tsuchimikado said.
"They would nuke their own city!? We can't let them do that. I haven't been able to experience this city's wonders yet!" Celt cried out.
"Talk about a nuclear option ya know" A nearly white Galistic muttered.
"Oh dear, that's not just gonna take out a building." A shaking Baobhan whispered.
Muireann's eyes were spinning at everyone's comments. She couldn't keep up, Nore could she understand what was going on.
They had moved to a temporary base that Anti-skill had set up outside the destroyed facility. After being joined by the rest of the raid group they explained the situation to the others.
Well everyone else did, Muireann was still trying to keep up.
"I saw that girl after she brought me back, I don't think any weapon on earth could phase her." Mugino said.
"The power in her was like a singularity, It would take something at least that powerful to start to damage her." Takitsubo shook her head.
"I wouldn't want to hurt her anyways, the boss would kill me if he found out." Hamazura noted.
"Aaahhhhhhhhhhh!" Muireann felt overwhelmed by all the information. "Could you all just… slow ta hel down a momant!?" she shouted her scottish accent leaking in slightly.
Everyone then turned to her as she was red in the face.
"We don't exactly have the luxury of time if you didn't realize," Stiyl growled.
"Uh, no I didn't, because you are all going at like.. Aaahhhh I can't keep up so I only know small bits in pieces! Plasma bomb? Board of directors? Board chairman? Archbishop? Can someone please explain to me what is going on. Properly, no technobabble, no overly convoluted terminology. Just straight and simple! Please. So that I'm on the same page? Otherwise I'll be useless" The young Selkie girl ranted.
Muireann was panting exhausted after her outburst. And everyone was silent for a moment, sighing as Tsuchimikado looked at her. "Alright, Because of you and the fey's attacks which took place in exceedingly quick succession. The city's board of directors, the ones who control the city. Are trying to go through with the decision on using a highly advanced weapon of mass destruction. Because of this, we need to make sure we solve the issue with Index. Before they manage to finalize their decision and locate Index herself."
Tsuchimikado grimaced "Otherwise who knows what'll happen, one that's basically them declaring war on the magic side. Two that may cause Index to change targets and wipe out the entire city. We have no idea how powerful she is, but we do know that magic gods… can't be killed by conventional means."
Muireann was silent for a moment. "okay, I think I understand, but… one more thing."
Eyebrows raised and hands slapped faces.
"Where is Touma?"
…
Index looked around the 'New World' from which the world rejector sent things. A world where after a certain point in time, everything was reset to mirror the current old world. What a joke, this place was just a garbage dump where Kamisato sent things he disliked. All it took was for her to use her newfound power to dilate time a little. And here she was, the magic gods all stared in her direction.
She could feel the fear in their eyes, they were all weakened, she was a new god. And she was hungry, she would protect Touma, she could keep him safe. But she needed more essence, more mana. She would keep Touma in the world she held within her body. The world she created using the initial spark created from Consuming Othinus, there was no way she'd let it fade. Touma was safe at the moment, a few hiccups here and there but things were going smoothly.
"I'm hungry and I need your mana, your connection to your phases. So I can protect Touma for as long as I live." Index stated as she stared at the Magic gods.
"Do not think we'll let you, Index You may have become a magic god. But you are young, do not think we'll lose so easily" A magic god with one flesh arm, one silver arm, and celtic tattoos all over him said. Nuada, how fitting the Celtic god would be the one to confront her.
She now had her next meal decided, this place was no longer the new world.
This was the slaughterhouse, and Index was the butcher.
"The die is cast!" shouted Nuada as a massive six-sided die seemed to materialize in the sky. Index tilted her head curiously as she looked at it.
The massive die fell from the sky and exploded into trillions of white grub like maggots. Darbh-Daol, they were said to have snuck between the gap between Nuada's silver arm and shoulder wound. Where they would suck the life force out of him.
The creatures swarmed and covered Index whose face was distorted in disgust. but Nuada merely ran back. The Other magic gods do the same. Scattering in all directions, up, down, left, right, forwards, backwards. Every single direction of three dimensional space. They would flee in, and for good reason too.
The maggots continue to swarm inwards, more and more. However they suddenly bulged a moment outward. They wriggled as they dried out and turned to dust. However it wasn't just them. Trees, grass and all life across the planet died instantly.
Standing where the magots once were was Index, who stomped the ground in annoyance. Each blow caused a crater to grow larger and larger beneath her feet. "Hey! No fair! Throwing disgusting bugs at me!" She pouted before her nose twitched slightly. Then she smiled.
"Oh! So we're playing hide and go seek then?" She said teasingly before she lowered herself.
And then in an instant was launched forward, the ground shattered and a portion of the planet collapsed upon itself. Knocked out of orbit, the moon fell towards it, and index watched in awe. The feeling of excitement of this new power bubbling up as the moon crashed to earth.
She had found her target, Nuada was slingshotting himself around the collapsing planet's gravity field trying to launch to the outer planets. There were Other magic gods fleeing that she could see, but her next meal was already decided.
Giggling slightly Index prepared to pursue. Massive blood red wings spread from her back. They flapped once and launched her forward.
Nuada spun around and swung his silver arm which held a glowing blade.
The aztec sun god Tezcatlipoca came up from behind her and raised his spear.
Prosperpine came from the side and threw a pomegranate into the air.
Chimera came from below and brandished whatever she had in place of hands.
The forgotten god came from above and opened one of their many abstract 'eyes'.
Index's eyes opened wide as a mass of glowing energy launched from Nuada's sword. It vaporised the portion of the moon and fragments of the earth in its way.
Glowing arrows of light rained down from Tezcatlipoca's spear as they tore apart the world around it.
Proserpine's pomegranate became a vortex which froze everything it touched to absolute zero causing them to crumble.
Chimera launched a wave of indescribable beautiful energy upwards from her replaced palms. All it touched was also converted to that energy as It continued upward.
An unseen energy came from the Forgotten god's 'eye' and all that it viewed ceased to be.
"Eh!" Index cried out as the attacks closed in on her.
The attacks all collided and the detonation was blinding. A glowing indescribable sphere was the result. But then it faltered… it distorted… It collapsed. It fell, and fell, and fell until Index was seen where it once was.
A look of shock was on her face, but it quickly turned to delight. "Time to eat!" she shouted and a pitch black sphere appeared in her hand. There was no sound as there was no longer oxygen. But they could still hear her speak "Thanks for the meal!" And then she threw the sphere at the sun, It pulled it inwards, Truly a cosmic devourer.
A black hole, the essence of hunger, Star eater. It carved through the New World Sun as Index grabbed Nuada's neck, He tried to hit her with his silver arm but she caught it with her teeth. Tearing it off, grabbing the silver arm by her free hand she turned to Nuada.
Laughing with joy of her new power, Index threw Nuada towards mars. He tumbled through the void before she was suddenly behind him. She swung her leg back and kicked him like a ball.
Nuada was launched at incalculable speeds and slammed into venus. The impact causing the planet itself to distort. Index was already there, her own impact causing the planet to give in to its own gravity. It was once a massive planet but now it was smaller than a marble. Index grabbed Nuada as the planet they just destroyed collapsed into another sphere of cosmic hunger.
Nuada looked to Index with cold eyes. "You say you are doing this for the Imagine Breaker, but tell me. Aren't you actually doing this for yourself?" he asked the great devourer.
Index froze for a moment and glared at Nuada. "Hm? What makes you think that?"
"You said you needed our mana and connection to our phases to protect him. Yet you certainly have been taking your sweet time to get what you said you needed. Are you sure you don't just want the Imagine Breaker for yourself? Like that one eyed god certainly did?"
Index's eyes went dark and her hair covered them. "I think I best finish my plate, Touma always told me to" she said.
Nuada struggled "Before you do, I've been meaning to ask. How? What did you do that allows you, as a magic god, to exist without destroying the world?" He asked, his teeth grit in pain as he gazed coldly at his to be predator.
Index tilted her head and put a finger on her chin "You're about to find out". She smiled as opened her jaws. Space distorted and Nuada found himself unable to struggle as she bit down upon him.
As Nuada vanished into Index's jaws, somehow fitting in his entirety. She caught the black hole she had thrown into the 'new world's' sun earlier. Popping it into her mouth she gazed around at the now empty Solar System as it slowly restored itself.
A second god has entered the library.
