"italics" - thoughts

Bold - Emphasis

Italics Bold - Magic names or titles

"normal" - speech

Disclaimer:I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index nor its characters. All rights belong to Kazuma Kamachi. Except for my own characters that I create.

Chapter 3: Duel

Touma quickly finished cooking the dinner for Index. Some instant noodles he manged to snag from the last sale, as well as an egg and leftover vegetables he had to make it a more balanced meal.

Moving quickly, he grabbed his phone, abaondoning his jacket and bag in favour of saving them from destruction lest there was a battle ahead. "Who am I kidding. With my luck, my stuff would get destoryoed by a random magic spell or item."

"Touma?"

Hand mere centimetres from the doorknob, Touma paused in his movements. If he hurried, he could make it in time to meet with this magician, factoring in his misfortune as well. He hoped they are not as radical as the past ones, but from the message, this scenario was not likely. However...

"Where are you going?" Index asked from behind him, her voice laced with suspicion. Normally, Touma was dragged into fights with magicians without her knowing until afterwards, where he would then get bitten by her. But this time, he was actively told about this, and was invited over, no kidnapping involoved. He could choose to tell Index about this, get told by her to stay put, leave, then get bitten when he returns, or he could wait until later to tell Index after ge was done, and then get bitten by Index. "Whichever route I choose, they would end up with me gettig Bad End!" Touma thought to himself, cold sweat running down his face.

"Is it a magician again?" Index asked a follow up question, having deduced a reason for his sudden attempted departure. Beside her, Sphynx mewed suspicion, mirroring his owner's tone of voice.

When he did not answer, Index sighed. "It's okay. Just go."

Not expecting this, Touma looked at her in surprise, his earlier plan of leaving quickly forgotten. "Aren't you angry? Why aren't you trying to stop me?" "Damn it Kamijou! Why are you trying to dig a deeper hole for yourself?"

"It's fine, you can go." Index smiled, although it seemed forced. "I know you would go even if I say not to. After all, you saved me even though I said you should stay away."

"Is that what happened?" Touma thought to himself. Although Index knew that he had lost all his memories prior to their meeting in the hospital after the magical incident where he had saved her, he did not hear her speak much about it.

"As long as you tell me beforehand, and more importantly, not get injured, this loving nun-in-training would be willing to overlook it." For a second, Index bragged about her kindness, lights and sparkles seemingly glowing behind her head, before she returned back to her usual self.

"Hai hai." Touma sighed at the display. He would have been more affected had she not bragged about her qualities a few times. And Touma was pretty sure that pride was considered one of the 7 deadly sins. "I'll be going now. I will make you some tempura when I get back tomorrow. I promise!"

Shutting the door behind him, he dashed off to the attached location on his phone. He would have asked Tsuchimikado about the message, but decided not to in the end when he heard him and his sister Maika having a good dinner. "Best I don't disturb them then. Besides, even if I asked Tsuchimikado for help, he might die, Auto-Rebirth or not helping to offset the effects of an esper using magic."

Because he had rushed off, he failed to hear the following conversation of Index.

"Touma is an idiot. Right, Sphynx?"

"Meow..."

"He left me behind..." Drawing her legs up to her chest, Index rested her head against her knees. "At least he told me about it this time..."

As Touma ran, his phone rang. Thanking the gods(Non-magic ones and the ones that did not seem to hate his guts.) that he had the foresight to grab it beforehand, Touma checked the Caller ID. When he saw it, he was shocked to see it was Mikoto. As he ran to the destination, he answered her.

"Hello?"

"Ah! Touma!" At the other end of the line, he could hear the sound of rustling fabric. Most likely Mikoto's bed sheets."I was just calling to tell you about the punishment I told you about."

"The cooking?" Touma was half surprised. He had expected this call to come in the next few days, not at this hour. "Why? Do you want to change it to another punishment or-"

"No!" Mikoto almost shrieked at the boy, causing him to reflexively move the phone away from his ears from the sudden high-pitched shout. "I would like you to increase the amount to be enough for my friends. We would be meeting them over lunch, so I decided that we should all meet with the lunch that you made."

"Is it fine to rely on this Kamijou-san?" Touma could not help but start to feel the pressure. "Would this lowly Level 0's food be enough to appease four ojou-samas?"

"It would be fine." Mikoto assured the misfortunate teen. "And its only two ojou-samas, not four. My other two friends are lower levels than Kuroko, so they would be fine with the type of food you would prepare. As for the funds, you would not need to worry. I would pay you the amount you need for ingredients."

"When?" Touma took a right. Normally, he would be taking a bus to his destination, so it would be faster. But unfortunately, his funds were a little tight, and the bus he wanted to take was a few blocks from where he lived. So, to make it, he would have to run full sprint for nearly 2 kilometres to reduce the bus fare as much as possible, while arriving at the area on time.

"In an hour."

THAT statement caused Touma to stop. "Huh?"

"I know that you are not in your dorm, you idiot." Mikoto's tone sounded annoyed. "I received a message. Similar to yours, I'm assumimg. So, I knew you would be leaving your dorm. But, I don't know where the place is. All it said was to ask you. So, where is it?"

"But-"

"And again, like before, no buts." Now that Touma stopped, he could hear whistling sounds from the other end. Now that he thought about it, it was most lilely Mikoto jumping from building to building using her powers. " I am only doing this now because the Dorm Manager has just checked if we were in our rooms. Plus, Kuroko told her earlier that she would be arriving late because of Judgement duties she had to do, as well as paperwork she had to fill, so I'm in the clear. Plus, even if you don't tell me, I can just find your location with my powers. So make it easier on yourself and just tell me where you are headed."

Touma debated on what he could do. On one hand, if he did not tell Mikoto, she would be delayed, probably long enough for him to settle whatever he had to do against whomever was waiting for him. But that would lead to him most likely getting shocked via a duel Mikoto would forcefully impose on him after the fight ends. But if he did tell her, he would not get a duel, but Mikoto might end up getting hurt because she involved herself in the Magic side. Telling her about it is one thing, but actual participating in a magic battle was another.

"Alright Misaka-san." Touma sighed as he started to run again. "You win."

"Good." Through the phone, he heard the whistling sound stop. "So, where do I go?"

"The place where we saved the Sisters."

"Why here?"

"Ah. Its the best place for a fight, seeing as two of the fighters' abilities are very destructive. Speaking of..." Turning his head, the fully amoured man seemed to glare at Mikoto. "Why is an esper here? I was certain I sent it without a link to ensure that she would take quite a bit of time to find Imagine Breaker, or even ignore it as a fake message."

"I know about magic. I forced Touma to tell me. Besides, if this Idiot is coming, so will I." Beside Touma, Mikoto huffed. "He owes me. And whatever you say would not change my mind."

"Its fine." Their mysterious guide waved off her concerns. "For me anyway. Besides, this is technically a fight that never happened, seeing as the magician fighting you is technically supposed to be dead. So my master has no right to conplain about involving an esper in this fight. Leading the way, the amoured person lead the two students of Academy City to their fight's location.

"Who is this man?" One might ask. The answer is simple. When the two finally arrived at the spot they had to go to, they found this man there. Dressed fully in western armour, he approached the two and introduced himself as the person who sent the two the messages. He also said that the actual fight was taking place at a different location, and not at the place they were currently at.

"But, why all the hassle?" Touma asked. He was happy that the fight was not going to be near any innocents, so no accidental deaths would occur. But the main problem for him was the fight in general. Why fight him specifically? It could be the person had a grudge against him, similar to Aureolous Izzard when he found out that Touma saved a girl within a month of meeting her, while he himself had failed to do so in three years he went into hiding.

"Its my condition for joining my master." The duo could tell they were near the actual fight location as their guide slowed down his walking speed. "The condition for him taking on me as an apprentice was that should he fight someone, there is to be no unneccessary bloodshed." Their guide abruptly came to a stop. "We're here."

When the two saw the location, they had to take a step back from the memories associated with the place.

Yes, it was the spot where Accelerator attempted to create plasma. Thankfully, Accelerator's plan was foiled by the Sisters. Standing in the exact spot where Accelerator once stood is a ginger haired man. He seemed to be about the same height as Touma. Clad in black robes like the ones cliched magicains wore, he smiled when he saw the forms of Kamijou, Mikoto and their guide/his apprentice.

"You have finally arrived, Kamijou Touma." Grinning from ear to ear, the man spoke. His voice was raspy, as if he had not used it for a while. "I have been waiting for your arrival. Let us not waste any more time, and start this match."

"This battle would be between my master, William Jackson, and his two opponents, Kamijou Touma and Misaka Mikoto." Their guide from before acted as a referee. "This match would end when one side is defeated or is unable to continue fighting." Raising his hand, their guide looked at both sides. "Any questions before the match begins?"

"I have one." Touma raised his hand. "Why on eatth is this something like a formal duel?!?" Without waiting for a response, Touma launched into something along the lines of a tirade. "I would love it if every fight I have to do is in the format of a formal duel so I can choose to not fight, but this is not the Middle Ages! So why?!" Both hands facing upwards, Touma all but screamed his displeasure at having to fight for no reason many, many times.

"I like to be an honourable sort of person." Opposite them, William spoke. "I have always preferred to have an honourable duel like this. Of course, during the match, one can use any tricks they have up their sleeve. But there is one thing I must always do if I am fighting against another person, and I am the one who wants to fight first. I must do so with a formal request." Throwing his left hand into the air, his cloak was swept to the side in a thearetical fashion. "And, I believe in the notion of fighting a person at his best, with little disadvantage to both parties. So, let the match begin!"

With that decleration, he leapt at Touma so fast, it seemed as if to one's eyes that he had dissapeared. "Fast!" Touma would have been hit, even with the evasive manouver he had done, had it not been for the bolt of lightning that struck the ground in front of the magician before he could get close to Touma.

"Have you forgotten about me?" Mikoto asked, her bangs sparking.

"Oh, not at all my dear. In fact, I was counting on you jumping in." Having evaded the attack, William smirked at Mikoto. "After all, if this is to be as fair of a match as possible, you would need to work with the Imagine Breaker, little girl."

"Are you saying that you are stronger than the two of us combined?" A vein bulged at a corner of Mikoto's head. She was already a little angry at being called a little girl, no matter how unreasonable thus thought was. "Sorry for having such a small chest then!" Like many girls, she was sensitive about her body. Specifically, her bust, or lack thereof, which can be considered as a little child's body type. Being called weak on top of that, even though she knew it was true, as well as the fact she was labelled the third strongest in Academy City...well...it can push one to the edge if they had their weakness pointed out, especially if one already has a short fuse.

"Yes."

"Go to hell!" With a flick of her hand, a bolt of lightning struck William, dust flying from the impact. Its voltage had been amped up to be enough to kill a horse, so if a human was struck with it, he would be dead before he hit the ground. But Mikoto was not that naive, having taken into account the stories she heard from Touma about magicians in the past month.

"Ha!" With a shout, a shield appeared on the left arm of William, blocking the attack.

"Wha-" Flustered by the sudden appearance of the shield, Mikoto tried to look at the man. Tried being the keyword. The second she laid eyes on the corcular shield, she immediately averted her gaze.

"Eh?"

Both students let out a noise at the same time.

"Why did you look away?" Touma continued to look at William. However, everytime he tried to look at the shield, his body would uncounciously look in another direction.

"I-I don't know!" Similar to her flushed appearance, Mikoto's voice was flustered. "I wanted to look at what blocked my attack, but then my body moved before I noticed!"

"Hmm...That must be Athena's famed shield, Aegis." A voice suddenly spoke from Touma's head, causing him to stop his movements temporarily at the sudden speaker. "It is said that the wisdom goddess's shield had the head of medusa imprinted on it. This gave the shield the ability to force her opponents gaze away from her direction. It is unknowl, however, if the imprinted head carried the same ability as when the cursed monster had when she was alive:turning people to stone, as people would look away before they could even glance at the shield."

"Waaaa!" Tilting his body, Touma managed to catch the passenger that had hitched a ride on his body. "Othinus? Why...or rather, how are you here? I left the jacket at home!"

"Hmph." Othinus did not look embarassed in the slightest. In fact, she looked a little smug. "Boy, you have a lot to learn about a woman."

"Huh?" Touma could not help but forget about the battle that was currently ongoing. "What does that have to do with anything?" A sudden impact at his body caused the misfortunate boy to remeber that he was currently fighting. "Nevermind. What was that Othinus?"

"Oh?" Othinus, having slightly superior sight to the boy due to her nature as a war goddess, voiced her thoughts. "This seems to be an arrow. Although I am not the nun, I can deduce that this arrow was fired by a bow that represents the greek goddess Artemis-"

"Hurry up!" Mikoto screamed at the pair, causing both of them to jump. Othinus especially, as the brown haired girl had used her powers to arrive at their location. Being small meant that what was a surprise shout for Touma seemed along the lines of a sudden air horn being blasted into her ears. "We don't have all night, and I need to know what the heck he is using!"

"I was getting to that." Othinus gave Mikoto a dirty look before she continued. "Artemis is the goddess of the moon, archery and hunting. From what I an guess, the bow is being symbolized as a weapon of the goddess herself, which means this person would have a source of unlimited ammunition."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?" Touma asked the question on Mikoto's mind. Sighing, Othinus explained further. "By staging this attack at night, William is able to, through Idol Theory, create arrows out of moonlight through using the bow as a medium as Artemis is a goddess of the moon. Although, I am not as proficient in the legends and myths as the nun."

"I see. So this would mean that Jackson-san would have an unlimited source of ammo..." Mikoto hummed in thought. "...perhaps we could do this...Touma." Nudging him, Mikoto whispered her plan.

"Oh where are you? I am getting tired of this." William shouted out, his bow and shield glinting in the moonlight. "This game of hide and seek is becoming more dull with every passing moment..."

"Then let's spice it up for you!" Jumping up from the shipping container he was on, Touma attempted to do an overhead attack on the unsuspecting William. Surprised, he used his shield as a barrier between him and the airborne boy. Unfortunately, he had forgotten he was holding a magic item. And the results was pretty obvious.

With the usual sound of breaking glass, Touma destroyed the wisdom goddess's famed shield lookalike, leaving behind a leather strap and a piece of wood attached. Recovering from his attack, Touma rolled forwards before leaping up with his agility, avoiding a hit with the metal rails that were scattered all over the switch yard.

"Gafuh!?!" With a sputtering sound, William ate gravel. With the sudden weight loss from the destruction of his shield caused and Touma's jump, his centre of balance was suddenly shifted, causing the man to fall over from the compensation from before to keep himself upright.

Scrambling, William let loose a few arrows from his bow in his sitting position. Despite the fact that the string was not pulled back much, the arrows flew fast and hard. Had Touma not done his last leap, he would have been hit. As it was, the arrows barely flew past the boy's body, instead landing nearly a few inches from the exposed(or clothed) body or limbs of his.

With an almost artistic backflip, Touma landed on his feet once more, before he charged at the still downed William.

Face paling slightly, William rolled away, using his momentum to bring him into a kneeling situation. One of his trump cards, the shield, was destroyed. Although he could make another one, the process was long and hard, involving sleepless nights, and many sacrifices of the animal kind. Human lives worked best, but as long as his apprentice was with him, he would do no killings unnecessarily. And the creation of his new shield was considered unnecessary. His bow was a regular one, if slightly longer than the average one commonly used. Despite its power, it was obviously not suited for close range combat. Which left...

Yes!" Touma was excited. This fight(or duel. He could not tell now.) was about to end soon. Once he was done, he would call Tsuchimikado for help on taking William away.

A chill suddenly went down his spine. "Huh?" Time seemed to slow down for Touma. "What is this sense of foreboding? It feels like...when someone walks over your grave!" Sensing the danger, Touma immediately redirected his body. Twisting it to the side, his body was now facing perpendicular to the ground instead of at a 50-degree angle parallel to the ground.

*Stchnt*

With a sharp sound, where Touma's body had been moments before, was a spire of earth, its point sharpened to pierce things. Lightning rained around Touma when the spike appeared, forcing him to raise his right hand to negate the esper made lightning strikes. The sheer power behind each strike managed to destroy the earthen spire, but Imagine Breaker protected Touma.

"Alpha and Omega."

Curling himself up, Touma used the momentum from his earlier spint and rolled a fair distance away. He looked back at William as he stood back up, hand ready to defend from magic attacks. What he saw stunned him. From their hiding place, Mikoto gasped at the sight, while Othinus hummed, deep in thought.

William had spoken. His cloak was now ripped in several places, barely held up by two straps. What lay underneath was a set of armour. Despite its metallic appearance, it did not glint under the bright moonlight, nor did it make a single sound despite his movements. Slung across his back was the bow. Now, however, a two pronged spear was held in his hand. Its prongs seemed to be made of a crystaline material, most like a form of mineral. The shaft was made of metal, gems dotting the surface of it here and there. Despite it seemingly rough surface, William handled it fine, twirling the spear in his left hand freely. But what surprised the two were not these new things on him. Instead, it was what was around him.

Surrounding William in a 3 metre radius, spikes of differing lengths and sizes were spread out, sticking out of the ground as if someone had decided to poke the earth from below. Beyond and inside this circle, fires blazed unchecked. However, these flames seemed to not hurt the magician. Instead, the stangely coloured flames seemed to act as a barrier, protecting the caster from harm.

"I am truly sorry, Imagine Breaker." Breaking into a grin, William stabbed the spear like weapon into the ground, prongs facing upwards. "It would seem that this little duel of ours has ended."

AN

Well, new chapter for all!

This chapter was kinda hard for me, seeing as this is my first fight scene. Hopefully, it is good enough, and that future ones would be better. This one took a shorter time, but content wise, ain't much. I honestly have no clue on how to do this. I already want the fight scene at night, but seeing as there is not only a curfew, but also because I had already sent Mikoto back to her dorm. Kuroko is easier, as she can actually bluff her way with work. And as the only other member is away...

Well, this is the end of a new chapter. See you next time! And more readers, please review, follow and favourite my story ;)