"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 5 :Friends and Foes

"Brain dead?" Touma clenched his fist. "Who are you to decide that?"

"I'm sorry if I come a bit insensitive to you two, especially since he brought me here. My liege...since I am talking to you about this situation, I should stop calling him that, I suppose." Stepping forward, he walked past the two espers. "William Jackson was a person I encountered during my travels. When I first found him, his mind had not been completely destroyed. You were correct, by the way."

Turning his head, their guide/referee looked at Othinus. "William's body has been taken host by that grimoire you mentioned. And, said grimoire has been already destroyed. However, that grimoire was different from other grimoires, in the sense that it acts like a parasite. The 'knowledge' in this particular grimoire deals with necromancy, but the main purpose is the survival of the Will known as Death."

"Hmm...So this, entity, is called Death?" Othinus looked at the army, focusing on its commander, 'William'.

"That would be what he is commonly known as. In fact, it is a person attempting to be the greek god of death known as Thanatos." Their guide spoke in a sad tone. "This human tried to be a personification of the Death God, but ultimately, his mind before he was able to complete a spell. His back-up, the grimoire that was destroyed, worked a little too well. Not only did his conscious get transferred, his power also ended up stabilising, making him even more dangerous..."

"When I met William, a fragement of his sanity still remained. He and I travelled to Acdademy City, here, in his last moments, to ensure the complete destruction of the grimoire he had the unfortunate fate of stumbling across. Alomg the way, he talked about how he came across this grimoire, and its true nature, which ultimately led to its destruction."

"So, we're killing a God?" Mikoto asked, readying herself for battle. She had noticed that most of the soldiers were fully defined and combat ready. She estimated they had minutes at best before they attacked. She could handle maybe 5 or 6, but not 20 at once. And the army itself had numbers in the hundreds. Touma could possibly destroy them with a simple touch, but with their sheer number, he would be killed before he can finish them off.

"Correction. Something that attempted to be the incarnation of Thanatos." Their guide corrected Mikoto.

A sudden roaring caused the two espers, one Magic God, and one guide/apprentice/referee to look at the army. It seemed that all of the skeletons had finished their 'upgrades'. Mud covered almost their entire frame and weaponry. But that did nothing to disguise how dangerous they were. Their brown weapons looked heavy, their earlier rusted, chipped appearance leagues different from their now imposing, lethal look. Their armour too, despite being the same colour as their bodies, could be clearly seen. Upon closer inspection, they had similar designs as Greek Armour, complete with the domed skull and wide, flaring, down-sloping brim(see Boetian helmet)

Removing his cloak, he wrapped it up in his left arm. "Kamijou Touma. You and I will be the vanguard. Misaka Mikoto will be the rearguard, as her multiple blades would be good to help prevent these warriors from hindering our progress. Imagine Breaker may not work completely on these foes, so try to keep up, Kamijou-san."

Taking a few steps, he started to move towards the army, before he ran ahead in a full sprint. Taking that as a signal, the opposing army rushed forwards with a roar.

"Damn it!" Dashing forwards, Touma ran after the seemingly reckless guide of theirs. "Even if you know how to fight them, don't act in the heat of the moment and try to act cool, you damn idiot! You will die for sure!" Unknowingly, Touma also insulted himself as he insulted their guide.

"Oi!" Touma ran, trying to keep up with their guide. Despite the somewhat short distance between them and the army, they had a bit of time on their hands. Although the enemy was charging full-steam ahead, they were going no faster than a small kid of 3 years trying to run. "Stop!" Touma grabbed onto the shoulder of the guide. "You said Jackson-san wanted me to destroy that grimoire, right? Then let me do it!" Touma stared at the guide's eyes(or where his eyes were supposed to be).

"Heh. Sure thing, Kamijou-san. And call me Percival." Percival let out a small laugh. Behind him, Touma could hear Mikoto catching up, a little surprised by the sudden dash Pervival had made. "This was just an incentive to get you started."

What happened in the next hour would cause Touma to have a new view on the world. Similarly, all around the world, people sensed the sudden burst of energy, causing the effect more commonly known as the 'butterfly effect'. What should have never happened, happened. What is impossible, became possible. What would have occurred in the far future, occured earlier. Much earlier.

In his tank, Aleister Crowley who sensed this disturbance first tried to gather information on the phenomenon that occurred. However, he would ultimately fail. For the first time, the UNDER_LINE Network that served as Aleister Crowley's information network was unable to gather data on that particular day, forcing Crowley to revamp his network. This would later come back to bite the originator of the disturbance, but that was for the future.

In her bathtub, Laura Stuart paused in her daily scheming, sensing the sudden foreboding pressure that was released in Academy City. She would later on forget about this pressure, for she was assaulted by Stiyl Magnus minutes later when he discovered some new information that came to light regarding Index and Imagine Breaker.

And Index, who had managed to get a bus to the location of the mana spike she felt earlier, hurried even more when she felt a strange disturbance in the air. She was already panicking because of the impossibility of that grimoire somehow surviving its destruction. But, when she felt the disturbance originate from a position close to the mana spike, she ran out, not caring that her beloved cat was no longer with her. Sphynx, despite his attempts, was forced to run on the ground.

Despite his displeasure in having to walk, the young cat knew that something was amiss, having sensed his master's discomfort and uneasy state of mind, leaving his master's side, giving her no distractions whatsoever.

A brown thing falling at high speeds towards his head caused Touma to remeber the fact that there was an army in front of him.

"Shit!" Touma swiftly moved backwards, but knew it would not be good enough. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see that he was slowly being surrounded. Contrary to their slow movement speed, it seemed that the warriors were very fast when attacking. "I can dodge this, but the arrows at the back of the army would take me down before I can negate them with Imagine Breaker! And even if I did negate them, all it would remove is the mud covering the degraded arrow, provided the arrow itself is made of magic!"

"Munio057: Mimicry!" Beside him, Percival spoke what he assumed to be his magic name. It also seemed to be a trigger. His wrapped up cloak turned into a shield in-front of his very eyes. Despite his experience with magic, Touma was still surprised. Behind him, Mikoto's eyes widened in wonderment at the changing of the cloak to a shield. "So magic can do this type of things too."Having moved to Mikoto's shoulder so as to not hinder Touma, Othinus was the only one who was frowning.at the display. "It seems similar to that Birdway girl's wand, but it seems...different. Not only that, but the flow of mana is...unusual...to say the least." In the end, she decided to let it go. As a goddess of war, she was interested in Percival's fighting skills. But she did resolve to ask(more like interrogate) Percival abot his shield when she got the chance.

Othinus was not disappointed. "Ha!" With a swift movement, the shield blocked the incoming axe blow. Not only that, it caused the mud warrior to stumble slightly, having not expected a sudden force to block its attack.

"Mimic ability. Name, Negation." Suddenly, Percival spoke, the axe still locked against his shield. As Touma watched, a few arrows flew at the shield and Mikoto, while at the same time, two more weapons, a halberd and a sword this time, piled onto the shield.

While Mikoto was fine due to the whirling blades of iron sand, Percival proceeded to manouver himself such that the arrows would impact their allies instead. Said arrows, 3 in total, struck two of the mud warriors. But they did not seemed to have harmed them much. In fact, as Touma watched, the three arrows were absorbed into the warriors. Within seconds, they were gone. Nevertheless, the act of avoiding the arrows attack was achieved, and the shield did not budge.

"Incorporate ability into defensive equipment...confirmed."

With a shout, Percival pushed the three weapons off him, before proceeding to destroy the three opposing warriors facing him. But Touma felt that the word 'destroy' was wrong. It looked more like...

"Imagine Breaker?" Touma watched in stunned silence as he witnessed Percival bring down another warrior. "Its negation rate is not as fast, nor as potent as my Imagine Breaker. But its definitely similar. Did he have that ability always? Or...""Hey!" Snapping out of his thoughts, Touma looked at Percival, who was beckoning him forwards. "You need to deal the decisive blow against Thanatos! So, stick close to me, while I help clear a path for you."

"Sorry!"

Moving forwards, he smashed his fist into another warrior. The effects were immediate. The warrior immediately lost all it 'upgrades', reverting back into the skeleton that was summoned earlier. It would seem that it was one of the few in better condition. As he watched, Mikoto's iron sand blades made quick work of the scarcely protected bones of the skeleton.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the hole that Percival had made begin to close up. Dashing forwards, he managed to make it through. Yet, it was the first obstacle for Touma. Dozens more warriors were approaching. Instead of the waved pincer form from earlier, this time, they had assmeed themselves into varying formations. The first one Touma recognised, having a distant memory of seeing it once during his stay in the 'Infinite Hells of Othinus.'

A phalanx. But in place of the shields, varying weapons jutted out, creating the impression of a sea urchin instead of a porcupine.

While Percival used his shield to smash the weapons to pieces, Touma used his hand to quickly reduce their defence, the mud and gems sliding off their skeletal frames like oil and water, before the mud seemed to evaporate, while the gems crumbled into dust.

As he moved on to the next wave, his earlier query was left unanswered.

"Did he copy my ability? Or did he 'mimic' it, as he said earlier?

It took a while, but the three of them managed to get to where Thanatos was. His armour had managed to fix itself, with some slight alterations. Instead of its rigid form earlier, it was now more like a flowing robe. The parts were now interlinked with each other, allowing for better movement. And on his back, two pitch black wings were now attached. When Thanatos saw the two espers and Percival, he smirked.

"I see you managed to get pass my army." Thanatos lazily spun his bident. "Although, there are quite a few of them left. If you aren't careful, you would end up like a pin-cushion, you know?" As he spun the weapon, the warriors began to reassemble themselves once more. The ones that were not touched by Touma slowly put themselves back together, bones knitting together and reforming a skeletal shape once again.

"Still, that does not mean you are invincible, my liege." Percival spoke in a mocking tone. "After all, William knew it was a matter of time before he passed on. So he decided to leave a trap for you."

"A trap?" Thanatos did not seem disturbed in the slightest. "Do you mean the girl? I admit, I was not expecting her to shoot that...what is it called? A railgun? Not that it matters. It only served as the final attack that killed this body's original host. And Imagine Breaker would never finish me off! You should know, after all the research you did on him. He cannot kill people. And to him, I am still a person!"

Flapping his wings, he stirred up the the remains of the gems he had created. It may not have worked before, as there was only gravel around, but thanks to his warriors intuition, they positioned themselves such that when they fell, their 'remains' would go back to their master. Originally, they were meant to serve as the foundation to summon more warriors, but once Thanatos saw that his three opponents making a beeline towards him, and at a fast pace at that, he chose to lay a trap instead. By summoning his wings, he can manipulate the wind to form bindings with the disintegrated gems, restricting the three's movements and moves they could use.

For Touma, this was especially bad news. After all, his only weapon that was effective was his right hand. If it got locked in certain places, such as for example his elbow, he would immediately have a fixed attacking and defending zone. Without the ability to bend his elbow, there would be a higher chance if him getting killed or subdued by the warriors. Luckily, when his elbow was locked in place, it was bent slightly, so he could still attack and defend, albeit at a slower speed.

Mikoto was luckier compared to Touma. As she relied on her iron sand blades to attack and defend simultaneously, restricting her body would not prove too effective. However, she would be vulnerable to a large numbered attack.

See, there was a flaw with Mikoto's iron sand blade storm(method she was currently using). It was her speed when moving. As she needed most of her concentration to ensure that the multiple iron blades remained intact, as well as ensuring that no enemies got too close to her, while also defending attacking and defending simultaneously, she would have to move at a slow pace.

Compared to the two vanguards, it was a small difference in movement speed, but the fact was, the only reason she was so effective at cutting down the warriors was her moving about. Without her movement, she would have been swarmed by the enemy, and eventually, killed. This would be because as she focused only on attacking, she would not have enough concentration to defend against attacks from a distance. Right now, it was not a problem, but once the warriors recovered, they could reposition themselves and inflict damage on Mikoto via barrages of arrows. And, as these arrows were made of stone and wood, her powers as an electromaster would be unable to stop the arrows from hitting her, much less prevent them from getting near her.

As for Percival...

"Kh!"

...he was defending against attacks from Thanatos to his best ability. His movements, unlike the two espers, were not as restricted. For Touma, this was confusing. How was Percival still able to move?

The answer came from the enemy himself. "I see..." Thanatos hummed as he unleashed a barrage of thrusts. Thankfully, each thrust was not too fast, so they could be avoided. The main problem was the sheer power behind each attack. When Percival defended against a hit, a snapping sound could be heard, and he immediately retreated. Touma saw him cradling a broken finger.

"You armour is enchanted with some form of dispersion effect. So, when my gems tried to bind your limbs, it was immediately dispersed into its original form." Swinging it like a club, Thanatos tried to smash Percival. Said individual managed to avoid it. "But...this should not be possible. After all, there is only one Imagine Breaker. How could you-"

What Thanatos was about to say, Touma did not know, for in that moment, Percival struck.

As Thanatos attacked and talked, Percival had noted his movements. Out of the three of them, Percival had the lowest offensive ability. His power allowed him to use Touma's ability, but it was a degraded form of it. It did not have the original's negation speed, nor its potent negation power. At the end of the day, it was just a copy. An imitation.

But, Percival could move freely. And, he used it accordingly. When Thanatos just finished swinging yet another attack with the bident, it was then that Percival struck.

Using his shield, Percival smashed it into Thanatos's large frame. Normally, this would not have done much against him. But Percival' shield had the ability of negation. Just like Touma's hand.

"YARGH!!!"

Shouting, Thanatos tried to get away from the source of his pain. But he chose the wrong direction."Out of the pan, and into the fire." Percival smirked as he saw where Thanatos had backed into.

When Touma saw that Thanatos was fleeing to where he was, he chose to wait. He knew that if he missed, he would be unable to get another chance like this. Plus, he had to do this. Mikoto and Percival could have easily done in Thanatos, but William had asked him to do the final blow. You could say it was for his pride.

It was not fancy. It was not dramatic. All Touma did was slap Thanatos's face as he ran to Touma. But the effects were brutally powerful from that one touch.

In that moment, Thanatos screamed. Dropping the bident, he backed away from both males, a purplish smoke rising from his body. As they watched, his wings, full of life at first, stopped moving mid-flap, before they started to crumble, turning into a fine dust.

All around them, the warriors too collapsed. The mud-covered ones froze up, before breaking up into tiny chunks of rock, while the skeletal ones just collapsed into a pile of bones, before those too withered away into dust.

"You may be right." Touma panted in slight exhaustion. "I cannot kill a person. But I can destroy you. After all, you are less of a person, and more of a parasite."

As they watched in almost perverse, trance like state, Thanatos's host body became thinner, his previously tan skin losing its colour and becoming a pasty white instead. The purple smoke had stopped emitting from William's now husk-like body. It drifted in the air for a moment, before it too dispersed like its creations before. Touma thought he heard something, but he brushed it off as a hallucination. Yet, he could not help but think, if it was not a hallucination, what did it mean?

"I...AM...ALL..."

"So, Percival." Stopping, Touma leveled a firm gaze at the back of his guide's head. Beside him, Mikoto looked at him as well, expecting answers. They had moved a fair distance away from the switchyard. It was well past midnight, but that was of no concern to wither students. Touma had no school the next day, and Mikoto was no stranger to having little to no sleep. She would be able to get the night the day without much trouble. "Who are you, exactly? A member of the Anglican Church? The Russian Orthodox Church? Or...are you a rogue magician too?"

The footsteps immediately stopped. Percival hummed, seemingly deep in thought.

"Who am I?" Percival mused. "Who am I indeed. I guess...you could say that I am a magician. Or, you could say I am an esper. Whichever is more convenient for you. After all, I do love mysteries. And I would like to keep some mysteries surrounding the individual called 'Percival' just that, a mystery."

"Answer the question." Mikoto gave off a few lightning arcs in warning, some even hitting the ground. One even hit the ground near Percival's foot, causing him to jump back. "We don't have all night."

"Technically, its morning." Percival cheerfully spoke. "And I guess I should give you some info on myself. Hmm...Ah!"

Snapping his fingers, Percival stopped moving. "Well, my full name is Percival Yurei. You can call me by my first name or last name, it dosen't matter to me. Second, I am technically both an esper and a magician. Well, the natural version of an esper, seeing as most espers in Academy City get their powers from drugs and all that. And if you want to know more...ask Uiharu-san, Kuroko-san, or Saten-san, Misaka-san."

"What do they have to do with this!" Mikoto flared up. "If you harmed them-"

"Oh no. I did no such thing!" Raising his hands, Percival tried to appease Mikoto. "All I did was prepare them for the future. Academy City is about to become a warzone. And it will not be pretty."

"Warzone?" Touma clenched his fist. It may not be perfect, nor the place where he was born, but Academy City was a place that he can safely call his home. "What do you mean?"

Percival said just two words, and Touma understood immediately.

"Magic Gods."

"Haven't you wondered why there has been too little trouble surrounding you lately, Kamijou-san?" Percival asked, looking at the two with a serious gaze. "You of all people should know about your misfortune. When your luck becomes too good, an event, or events, follow immediately that is bad, depending on the misfortune you 'stacked up'. And this time, its events that would have usually come at you one after the other."

"Usually?" Mikoto took note of the wording. "What do you mean by 'usually'?"

"Oh look at the time!" Percival attempted to leave. "Kamijou-san has to get back soon, otherwise his cranium would get a crack. And Misaka-san has to leave as well, or Kuroko would get suspicious and kill the ape, as she calls Kamijou-san. Ta ta! I shall meet you both later on at Josephs And bring your friends, Misaka-san. They need to know."

"Yurei-san!" Mikoto tried to grab Percival. At the last minute, he dodged. Running at full speed, he took off, leaving the two in the dust.

As they watched, Percival's form steadily shrunk, before it disappeared behind a corner. "Great. He left." Sighing, she lookes at Touma. "What do we do? Leave?"

"Guess so." Touma sighed. "And I better head back too. Otherwise Index would bite me. Such Misfortune."

"Heh. Alright Idiot. Go home." Mikoto started to walk off. "I should too, otherwise the dorm manager." Using her powers, she made her way back.

As Touma watched her leave, his heart beat a little faster as he recalled Mikoto's smiling face. "Why am I feeling like this?" Blushing slightly, Touma tried to shrug it off. "Stop stop stop! This Kamijou-san wants a dorm manager onee-san! Not a 14 year old tomboy who challenges me to a duel every other week!"

"But..." Touma walked back to his dorm. "Then why am I acting like this?"

ANGOD DAMN THIS IS PAINFUL

I mean, its real nice writing a fanfic and all, but the main problem is since I'm doing this on my phone, the spell check is pretty damn irritating as it would either a)not work, b)underline names which I need, or C) all of the above. Plus, when I delete a letter, chances are the words I just typed get deleted too. So...painful...

But since my laptop needs an upgrade, and since its more convenient, I might as well continue doing this on the phone.Then, the next, more concerning issue. The story.

At first, this seems like "Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy, it would be a breeze!" , but after actually wrting and posting, the major speed bump is this:Character.

If the characters are too OP or too good, it would make for a rather predictable, and somewhat bland, story, with the only redeeming feature the plot. Conversely, if the Character stays true to the series, the plot is pretty much dead. So, there has to be a balance of these two aspects to ensure smooth sailing.Plus, with this chapter out, I can finally have less stress on me, since I am working on the next chapter right now. Its hard to get all the elements I want in right now. I don't want to rush it, but cause school's starting, I kinda also have to.

So, as a way to keep me sane, I might make a section for answering reviews. Hence, the more reviews from people, the better, in a sense...

And big thanks to Mr. Questionmark! I really needed that review! Helped boost my confidence in my writing. But your review still stay the same as this story progresses? No clue, but I hope I can do better.And for some readers, I know you are wondering about Misaki, since I listed her.It will take a few more chapters before I add her in. Hopefully, within 2. I wanna start on the dual Level 5 dynamics soon.

Plus, yes, there is a harem. No point hiding it. But it would be more of an end point. So the harem would be, at most, 2 girls for the start. Obviously, Mikoto and Misaki.I will follow along the lines of the story Infinite Possibility in terms of plot line. Arc, own, Arc, own, Arc, own, that sort of thing.

And to get this out of the way, I would be skipping a lot of content from where the anime last stopped, to here and now. For reference...

Touma found by Birdway -- Touma fighting Othinus -- Othinus shrunk

Those are the things I focus on. As for the rest, I would either ignore or bring foward to now. So, for example, Baggage City Arc? Delete. Ichiransei Arc? Bring forward. And, there will be major spoilers ahead, so read the LN if u want to avoid them, then read this story.

And to close this, await for the next chapter, and Happy CNY!