italics - thoughts
Bold - Emphasis
Italics Bold - Magic names or titles
"normal" - speech
" underlined bold " - Mental transmissions
Underlined Bold - Flashback
{Bold}- Magic spells or abilities
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 12: The chase is on!
"Hmm..." High Priest had a few things running through his head as he ran towards the figures of the Saint and Kamijou Touma.
This boy...Percival Yurei...He is an anomaly among Kamijou Touma's associates and friends. High Priest frowned. A magician who is an anomaly...he reminds me a little of him. But... High Priest allowed a grin to surface on his face. He had caught up to the weird contraption. He is still a pest, unlike him. He is more of a bug. Yes. This boy is a flea, while he is a bug.
"Kah kah kah!" High Priest laughed as he got closer to the two figures. "I am enjoying this, Kamijou Touma! But I am getting closer~ If you don't hurry, I might accidentally squish one of the friendly ants around you!"
"Yurei-san, where are we right now?"
Percival raised the altitude of his glider so that it would be around 50 meters off the ground. "Not too sure. I am relatively new to this place. Shokuhou-san, do you know?"
"Hm~" Misaki hummed as she looked left and right. "From those kind people we moved earlier, we are nearing the edge of District 15."
"Got that Kamijou-san?" Percival manipulated the glider to fly a little lower. They were ahead of the duo, but not by much. So, Percival had to work quickly. By getting Misaki to control groups of people. he could use his speed to force them out of the way as far as possible while making them unconscious as well. To reduce the injuries they would sustain, he would heal them before he was too far away. It was a little crude, but it worked.
"Yeah." A moment of silence, then "Clear the way. We need to get to District 2."
"Shirai-san, will they be fine?"
Kuroko turned to face Ruiko. Currently, they were back in the 177th Judgement branch office. If one were to ask why, it would be very simple...
Flashback
"Yurei-san." Kuroko acknowledged Percival's presence as she teleported to the entrance of the Dianoid.
"Hello there Shirai-san." Percival's face was set in a grim face, which was very surprising, considering what he had been doing not more than a few minutes earlier. "Is something wrong?"
"Quite a few things are wrong, but for the moment, the most pressing matter would be a shriveled up old mummy."
"I'm sorry. Could you repeat that please? I think I misheard you say that a shriveled mummy is the most pressing matter right now." Kuroko asked Percival, a bead of sweat dripping down her face as she cleared her ears of wax.
"A mummy is our biggest problem right now."
"Guah!" Kurko felt like she took some actual damage from the even blunter statement. In fact, she thought that she had hallucinated, seeing two arrows of yellow pierce her body, one with the words 'shriveled mummy biggest problem' , the other with the words 'did not mishear and did not hallucinate'. "Why on earth is a shriveled mummy one of the biggest problems right now?" Is what Kuroko wanted to ask, but...
"Ohh! A mummy? Like, from the movies 'T#* Mum$y' , 'T#* retu-"
"Yep." Percival gave a short answer to the smiling Ruiko. "Yes, it is a walking, talking mummy. In fact said mummy has the power to destroy the world several times over with a wave of his hand."
That made the three girls fall silent.
"Thankfully, he is here with peaceful intentions."
"Thank goodness." Kazari sighed in relief, her hand placed on her chest.
Percival raised an eyebrow as he looked at the flower-band wearing girl. "I did not say that he would try to keep things peaceful. In fact, if he has to, he would kill and destroy Academy city to achieve his goal."
There was silence as the three took in and processed this new information. Then-
"We have to warn Judgement and Anti-SKill!" Taking out her earpiece, Kuroko attempted to call the Anti-skill, only to find Percival's metal-clad hand stop her. "What?"
"Anti-skill can't help. And even if they did arrive, they would be adding to the body count." Percival muttered, keeping an eye on the small group not too far away. Right then, they had gotten into defensive positions, only to relax a couple of seconds later.
Ruiko caught on. "Magic?"
"Magic." Percival confirmed. "Right now, we are facing a very serious danger. One called a Magic god. If you want to know more, ask Othinus."
"Othinus?" Kuroko was a little apprehensive, but she kept quiet. No sense wasting Percival's time in further explanations.
"First, get back to the 177 Judgement Branch office." Percival told the three girls. "Informant would be meeting you face-to-face, along with Othinus and Index. Word of advice: Bring lots of food that is filling, yet small. That would stop you from getting your wallet dried up as fast."
"...Right..." Kuroko, Kazari and Ruiko shuddered in fear as they recalled the sight of Index going through literal mountains of food when Percival offered o pay for one of her meals. Just one.
I know that I did it on a whim to see how much she could eat, but still... Percival had a few tears in his eyes as he recalled the mildly traumatic event. Going through 20,000 yen on food for just one person was too much!
Ruiko, however. perked up a little when she heard what Percival said. "Informant is meeting us?"
"Yep." Percival confirmed. "Also, please do not ask him to many questions. You might step on a landmine. Also, I might contact you guys later, so keep your ears open."
Flashback end
"Shirai-san, will they be fine?"
Kuroko turned to face Ruiko. Right now, she had her earpiece to her ear, as did the other two in the room with her.
"Maybe. That ape is there, as is Onee-sama, Shokuhou-san and that Saint." Kuroko worked on some of the paperwork on her desk while she waited for the call. "I am not too sure on Yurei-san. Speaking of, did he pass you that tablet and papers?" She had been eyeing the tablet and papers spread out on the table for a while now. Some of the formulas looked very simple. Others, not so much. That is, if you were a level 1 or 0. As I am a level 4, my mathematics is nothing to scoff at. But, as for Saten-san, who is a level 0...
"Oh, you mean these?" Ruiko held up the papers and tablet. "Yurei-san gave them to me. He said it might help raise my level."
"How so?"
"Erm...something about raising my calculative ability?" Kuroko felt like sweatdropping at that answer. "Even if it doesn't work out, it sure would help with my tests and stuff! Then I can help Uiharu! She helped me so much with my homework, so its time I paid her back."
"Saten-san, that's what friends are for." Kazari kept her hands moving as she looked through the documents. "...Shirai-san, remember those cases that were dome for us a month ago?"
"Yes, Uiharu?" Kuroko had nearly forgotten them, of course. After all, she had not touched them(Thank goodness for her) at all. But, thanks to Percival's warning, she recalled who had helped them do it. Informant. "Is there another case?"
"No..." Her uncertain voice made both girl currently working to stop their pencils. "The cases are all filed neatly. But, there is no trace of them in the Judgement system. Like it was wiped."
"Huh?!" Kuroko teleported to Kazari's side in her haste to reach there, despite being not more than a few meters to her right. Reaching the computer, she searched for the case files, only to meet the same files that Kazari had found. Not a single digital report on those minors cases. Yet...
"The physical reports are here, right? The ones that we made?" Kuroko asked her partner, hands gripping her chair tightly in her anxious state.
A pause. "Yeah." Kazari replied, bending down from her chair to drag out the box with the aforementioned documents. "I kept them safe because we wanted to question Informant on what he knew about the cases. Since he was coming, I thought I would bring out the digital copies, but when I searched for them, they were missing. So, I brought the physical copies out."
"...Why are they under your desk?"
"Saten-san thought there might be some things on them, like from a spy movie." Kazari pouted. "She spent HOURS on that theory, forcing me to stay with her nearly all night, which also nearly caused me to be late for school."
Said girl laughed nervously when her friends looked at her. "Eh he he. Guilty as charged?"
"Hello~ Did we come at a bad time?"
A familiar voice entered the ears of the three girls. whipping their necks to the door, so saw three very familiar figures. Well, four, if you count the cat.
"Informant?" Ruiko asked, blinking.
"Yep~" Informant gave a smile as he walked in. "Like Percival asked, I brought in Index-chan and Othinus-chan."
"Don't put '-chan' together with our names, human." Othinus scowled at Informant from her position on top of the habit which Index always wore. But, if one were to look at her face closely(for example, a certain misfortunate boy who is also an Understander of the girl named Othinus), they would realize that her glare was not as fierce as usual. Not as much...heat.
As Informant took a seat and placed the box he had brought along with him, the three girls noticed more, newer, details about him.
First, he had dirty blond hair. Well, not completely. His roots were a light brown, so it gave a clear contrast in colors on his head. His hair was also neatly combed to one side, so it left a unique hairstyle and color. Secondly, his eyes, unlike Percival's brown eyes, were of a steely grey color. His height was actually not very tall, about Percival's height. Finally, there was a pistol holstered on his left thigh, along with a glove on his left hand.
"Hmm?" Informant noticed the papers and tablet. "Did Percival give one of you this tablet?"
"Y-yeah." Ruiko stuttered a little as she responded, not expecting the tablet to be questioned. "Yurei-san gave me the tablet to help me. Why do you ask?"
"Oho?" Informant looked interested. "Is that so...I guess he cares for you guys more than I thought."
He cares for us?Yurei-san does? Kuroko thought to herself as she observed Informant. Right now, he was sitting down. He had gone up while he was speaking to boil some water, before he sat back down again, a cup with a tea bag inside. All that was left was for the cup to be filled with hot water, and the tea would be ready.
"Well?" Informant asked after a few minutes had passed, knocking the three girls out of their thoughts. "You gonna ask? Cause if ya ain't gonna ask some questions, I'm gonna start of on these doughnuts."
And true to his word, he began to raise a pink-glazed doughnut to his mouth.
Is that strawberry? Kuroko thought as she opened her mouth to start asking questions. "So, what is a Magic god, Othinus-san?" She had her reservations asking a former terrorist, but right now, she could only listen to Percival and Informant, even if she was reluctant to listen to either of them.
"Hmph. At least some of you have some manners." Shooting Informant a glare, Othinus turned back to Kuroko. "A Magic god is someone who has mastered magic, bend all things in the world without exception through magic, and has magic that transcends normal magic and steps into the realm of God. Each being has a different way to become a Magic god, but they have a few things in common. One of them being that they have to be willing to die."
"d..i..e?"
"Yes." Othinus did not even falter when she looked at Ruiko, who had repeated her. "Die. Each Magi god, before they became one, had to be willing to die to complete the ritual to become a Magic god. And in this case, High Priest is a Magic god who had become a Magic god by accident."
"Accident? Hod do you become a Magic god by accident?" Informant was surprised by this bit of information. He had just gotten back from the stove, the kettle of hot water in hand.
"He was a Buddhist priest, back when he was an ordinary human." Othinus's green eye looked over everyone present as they listened. "Buddhist priests would do self-mummification to achieve Buddhahood. They dig a room and seal it, leaving a small hole for air to circulate. A few weeks later, other priests would unseal the room and check on the priest inside. If they find all the conditions to be perfect, they would deem that priest to have achieved Buddhahood."
"High Priest, as you call him, is different. He had obviously achieved Buddhahood, yet there were certain individuals who refused to accept that he had achieved Buddhahood. What would you get from an old man who had obtained the power from self-mummification, yet was not able to achieve Buddhahood due to the stubborn mindset of those around him? The answer, surprisingly, is a Magic god."
"...How do you know all of this, Othinus-san?" Kazari asked the 15-cm former Magic god.
"I was regarded as the mythological figure Odin. And Odin was said to have hung himself from the branch of a tree of 9 days and 9 nights to obtain the power and knowledge in the nine worlds in Norse mythology. As I did the same thing, I also found out about High Priest's origin."
""You hung yourself for 9 days?!""
The three girls were shocked. Very shocked. After all, having been living in the city of Science, they did not touch mythology, what with it being regarded as past of the supernatural and religion.(which was not commonplace in Academy city)
"It is fine." Othinus waved her hand. "I found that event to be mildly entertaining at best."
"But, hanging yourself...isn't that a little too extreme for searching for knowledge?"
"And I can say the same thing about your scientists pursuit of new knowledge. Your Esper development program. Even the food you cook. Things cannot be gained, nor can progress be furthered, if we do not push the boundaries of what we already know. Besides, that hanging was essential to me becoming a Magic god. It is part of the symbolism of the myth on Odin."
" Hello? Shirai-san? You there?" A voice interrupted the conversation. It was Percival.
"What is the situation?" Kuroko motioned for Uiharu to get to her computer and turn on her comms. Pouting, said girl did as she was told, setting down the doughnut she was about to eat with no small amount of regret.
"What area is the most heavily armed in District 2? Or most heavily guarded?"
""...""
"Did you guys get that?"
"We did, and, just wondering...WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT PERCIVAL!" Informant screamed into the earpiece he had on as well, causing the others to recoil slightly at the sudden shout. Doubly so for the people in the Judgement office branch because his voice was even louder in person
"I guess Informant got there safely. How you doin buddy?" Percival's cheerful tone did nothing to reduce Informant's puzzlement and anger.
"Oh, I'm great- NOT! Did you think that that would work like in an anime, gozdanit!"
"You bit you tongue again?"
"Zhut it." Informant lisped. "Zo, pray tell, why are you guys heading sowards District 2?"
"We're gonna nuke him."
"...come again?"
"We're gonna nuke him."
"...I'm sorry, I think I misheard you. Could you repeat that?"
"We're. Gonna. Nuke. Him. "
"Okay." A pause, then Informant spoke. "...How exactly?"
"Clone wars."
"It says so much that I know exactly what you are thinking even though what you just said can be perceived as gibberish or nonsense." Informant sighed, much to the confusion of the girls that were in the office. "So, should I bring back up?"
"Shirai-san should go with you. She would need to help transport Shokuhou-san...and probably Misaka-san..." Percival asked the girl directly.
"Onee-sama! What happened to Onee-sama?" Kuroko frantically asked Perival, causing some to wince in pain(again) from the sudden high pitched vocal attack.
"...No comment..."
"WHY~" Kuroko screamed dramatically as the connection was cut, only to stop when she tasted something sweet being shoved into her mouth. "Mmfph?!"
"Less screaming, more teleporting teleporter." Informant grinned, licking his fingers clean of the sugary remains of the glazed doughnut he had just shoved into Kuroko's mouth. "Also, guys, help yourself to the donuts. You too Missy hiding behind the door." He added, much to the confusion of the two girls that frequented the Judgement office(One because she works there, the other cause she was the close friend of two Judgement officers), only to jump in surprise when the door opened, revealing Konri Mii in her blue vest, yellow tie and spectacles, a bag full of milk in her hands.
""Konori-san?!"" The two girls were shocked. Kuroko could not say much, seeing as she had a glazed doughnut stuffed in he mouth.
"Also, leave the glazed ones alone, unless you are feeling adventurous. I made the glaze out of sugar and capsaicin, so be careful."
The last things the 5 girls heard were the pained screams of a certain pigtailed girl before she teleported the doughnut out of her mouth and into a bin, before she teleported both her and Informant out of the room.
"...So, what is this I hear about a Magic god? And Magic, for that matter?" Mii asked the two girls present, glasses glinting menacingly, ignoring the nun, who had begun to devour some cup noodles that she was given by Kazari, as well as Othinus, who skillfully remained out of her sight.
""Ehehehe...""
"So, Yurei-san, this plan of yours...Are you sure no one is going to get hurt?"
"Technically, this also your plan, Kamijou-san." Percival gently steered the glider so that it would be be closer to the ground. "Also, prepare thyself. You might end up full of holes at the end of this."
"W-wait wait wait. You told Shirai-san!" Percival grinned when he saw Touma's panicked face. "I'm going to dieeeeeeeee!"
"Don't worry, I told nothing. Didn't you listen?" Percival showed a confused face for a second, then realized what happened. "Ohhhh, you have no idea on how to switch channels on this, huh."
"Excuse me, Yurei-san." Kaori spoke to the ash-blonde haired boy above her. "But please be wary. The Magic god is still chasing us."
As if to emphasize her point, two earthen fists were launched at the retreating pair. Kaori dodged it with her quick reflexes, while Percival shot ahead with a burst of speed, just managing to avoid being crushed to death. They quickly took a turn.
"Hoi!" With a shout, High Priest rammed into a building, unable to stop himself in time. Yet, he burst out of the cloud of dust that had appeared when he smashed into the building, looking no worst for wear.
"H-how is he still fine?!" Misaki exclaimed in shock, her eyes widening at the sight.
"Magic gods would not be stopped by something as small as smashing into a building at high speeds." Touma explained to the busty female, his face set with an passive expression. As if he had expected this to happen. "Even if you get Misaka-san to fire her railgun, I doubt she would do much damage."
"H-how big of a monster is that old man?" Misaki muttered in shock, looking back at the destruction caused by the running Magic god. As she had worked with Percival to clear the people, there would be a significant reduction in casualties. At most, people would get a small fracture or a broken bone, which would be healed in a matter of weeks with Academy city's technology.
"Here we are."
Percival announced to the duo on the ground after a few minutes. Touma could see the fence that separated the students from the training facilities of Anti-skill. But that left one question.
"How are we going to get in?" Touma asked the person who helped come up with the plan. "We could smash the fence." Kaori suggested. The fence was getting nearer by the second. "Please don't suggest that! With my luck, I would get blamed for the destruction of government property and have to pay for all the damages!" Touma shouted. "Kanzaki-san, could yo- yeouch!"
Touma cut himself short with a pained shout. Kaori instead gave a small gasp of shock.
"Geez, you two." Percival grunted. "Quit squirming Kamijou-san, or I'll drop you by accident. We don't want that."
"Y-yeah, with my misfortune, I might end up destroying a piece of expensive equipment or get shot." Touma agreed wholeheartedly.
Percival had grabbed onto Kaori and Touma by their arms. Touma, who was unprepared, had reflexively shouted in pain when his arm was grabbed. Kaori, being a Saint, was only shocked.
"Uh Hoi!"
And High Priest, who had been right behind the Saint and Imagine Breaker pair, crashed into the fence at high speeds.
*Boom*
The fence was destroyed with a crash. Anti-skill personal who had been training hearrd the loud crash too.
*Random POV*
When I first came to Academy City, it was solely for my personal gain.
I wanted to know about the latest technology in the field. I wanted the best equipment science could make for my hobbies.
Then, I saw the espers. The kids.
They had powers, abilities. Each of them varied, and each had differences in their usage and power. But to me, it only told me one thing. These kids, no older than 12, had abilities that could harm themselves. Or worse.
Every day on the job, I witnessed more events that I would have rather not seen.
Kids robbing experimental facilities for boosts in their esper levels
Lower level espers being bullied by higher levels just for the fun of it.
Kids becoming terrorists because of being pushed to the edge.
And that was just on the surface. The light side of Academy city, so to speak.
Low level espers used in experiments without regard for human rights.
People used as disposable pawns just to get results from a single esper.
Espers forced to do things or have things forced onto them just because of a theory.
These were things that I knew because I had been there, be it by accident or because I was hired. Of course, if any of my superiors knew about what I knew, they might fire me because of pressure from the Kiharas or the Board of Directors..
And right now, we were experiencing something that no esper could do.
For one, the attacker was an old man. All the espers in Academy city were children, so what was happening here was unlikely to be an esper himself
Secondly, I had never seen an Esper who could manipulate the minds of nearly 100 adults, unless it was the #5 Level 5 esper, and that was a stretch.
And finally, espers have no need to trick the adults or attack them for no reason. Rather, if they did, they would be found within a few days of the report by Anti-skill.
As I watched, several more of our men were brought done by the stone fists that were behind the mummy like old man.
"Hoi!" With a shout, he tossed yet 2 more of our soldiers into the air, where they landed on the ground very painfully a few seconds later. As of right now, at least a dozen had gone down, and only 5 minutes had passed!
"F-fire!" Swallowing my fear, I told my officers to use their guns on the old man.
And the same thing happened as before. Instead of being peppered by the special rubber bullets(Assault rifles against espers), or riddled full of holes(Unmanned vehicles), he did not get a single scratch on him. Not a single drop of blood was shed from the old man.
Hopefully, this nightmare will end...
Just as I thought that, my consciousness faded away to light...
"My my." High Priest sighed as he looked around him. "This is such a let down, especially for him."
It was just a few minutes after the small group had entered the Anti-skill compound. High Priest, thirsty for some stimulation, attacked the compound with some force, hoping to get some damage like when Percival had hit his body with a bash from his weapon. And he was disappointed.
It took less than a minute to down one third of the entire force that was sent out to attack him in response to his signal. And that was only taking into account the human casualties. The mechanical ones were a 90 percent wipe out.
Suppression bots(Academy city's cleaner robots, modified), unmanned tanks, and multiple drones lay around High Priest, their mangled wreckage and sparks they sometimes gave out the only indication that they were even there. The unlucky unmanned weapons had been either turned to dust by the sudden immense pressure and force that was used to smash them, or was in such small, uneven pieces, they could be mistaken as pieces of concrete that was blown out from their previous places from the force of High Priest's collision into the first building he encountered when he smashed into the complex.
Tsk. High Priest mentally clicked his tongue in annoyance as he felt some more itches on his arm and back. "Stop your pesky irritants, you ants." Swinging his arm, the earthen hand that he had recreated(His first few were blown up by rockets) into the cloud of smoke. In response, the sound of crunching parts and wrenching metal was heard, before the remains of what looked like to be yet another drone was smashed into a nearby building, where it collapsed on itself from the flying piece of wreckage.
"Hiiiiiiigggghhhhhhh Priiieeeesssst!"
A loud shout drew his attention. Oho? High Priest looked around him. The voice sounded like it was coming from multiple directions. "Kamijou Touma! If you are coming towards me, I believe it is to become our Scorer, no?"
*Gr-ack*
With a sickening crunch, High Priest felt his skull crack a little. Stunned slightly by the sudden pain he felt, he fell towards the ground.
"Not this time, High Priest." Touma stood over High Priest's downed form. "Ouch." He winced, holding onto the wrist of his right hand.
Oooooowwwww Touma mentally screamed in pain, doubling over from the huge jolts of pain that traveled up his arm. Did I break my hand?
..
Flashback
They were currently on a floating platform, from what Misaki told the group when she read some minds, it was created to with the floating cross that had appeared a few months back in mind. The idea was to create a mini-carrier that was camouflaged in order to respond to ambushes or do rescue operations. The main problem was the cost, so currently, Academy city was trying to streamline the production and reduce costs to build one. This one was something of a tester for Anti-skill to use and give feedback on.
"So, while the people Misaki-san is controlling retreat, I will fight High Priest?" He clarified once more. After they had escaped, Percival glided over the fence and landed onto a nearby building. Due to the awkward position he was in he fell face first onto the roof the building. After recovering from the fall, they went over Percival's and Touma's plan.
Touma tried to wrap his head around Percival's idea.
"Yeah. Then, while you hold onto him, we will bombard him with rubber bullets and tranquilizers." Percival confirmed, taking out the tranquilizers from his shield. having reverted back into this form after he got off the glider.(So THAT was where he got all of his stuff!)
"I am still not that happy with that part of the plan. Touma frowned. "I mean, I get that I said that we should get to District 2 to try to slow him down at the very least, but, why should we make our stand here? Three of the districts around us are not meant for esper fights and such. If we go through them there will be way too many casualties. And the remaining district has a NUCLEAR STATION, so if we get too close, we would have another incident on our hand!"
"Well, us being in this district is only half of my plan." Percival passed the darts and bullets he had pulled out to Kaori. "Kanzaki-san, pass this to the soldiers who get her." He instructed the Saint, before he face the holder of Imagine Breaker again. "Since Misaka-san is still out of commission from a certain someone's kiss," Percival glared at Touma. "We would need to stall High Priest for a while. If regular bullets have no effect, using this concentrated tranq solution and gas on him should help with keeping him knocked out while Kanzaki-san works on getting us out of Academy city."
"So, we will bring him out of here?" Touma frowned. "But that would just make more casualties."
"That is, if we exit into the districts or populated areas" Percival pulled out a map from his pocket. "Most of district 2 is near the populated area." He showed this to Touma. "But, there is a small location that is facing the sea. Right here." He tapped that location twice with his finger. "So, all we need to do is get High Priest over here."
"Okay...So we will fight him in the sea?"
"Not quite. We would make use of Misaka-san or Kanzaki-san's abilities later on to create an enclose location for us to fight outside Academy city. This way, even if we use a large-scale attack, or if the attack is an area effect type, we would be able to contain most of it." Percival explained further, before he tossed Touma something. "Here. Wear this when you fight against that geezer. It will help quite a bit."
Flashback end
Thank god Yurei-san gave me this. Touma watched as his hand had metal bits wrap around his hand, before they seemingly melted into his hand. Flexing it slightly, he was pleased to find little discomfort or pain. This nano armor sure would help me when fighting against espers or magicians. It is a shame he advised me against wearing this too often.
Before he jumped off the platform, Percival had told Touma to be careful. Any damage he gets on his upper or lower body will be healed. If it was internal, healing drugs will be injected into his body. If it was broken bones, the nano machines would work to support the area while making sure the exposed area was as large as possible to make it less visible to the enemy that they were injured in that area. The drawback however was the body's natural healing rate.
The drugs were used to speed up the body's healing rate to an abnormal level. Such that a limb which had a deep cut would heal in a matter of minutes, instead of weeks. Afterwards, the body would heal at a slower rate then usual for a few days while the drug was expelled from the body. Continual use of the drug would kill the user if the ended up hurting themselves during the drug expellation process. Even something as a tiny papercut could kill a grown man in 3 days if he overused the drug.
Another reason was the nano machines. They were harmless on their own, but if used to support an area of the body for too long, they would end up absorbing themselves into the body. And, if a person does not have a certain object on them at all times, the embedded nano machines could be hacked and used to kill the person remotely. Stopping the heart, breaking a few bones, even something like tearing through muscles to render them useless for the person.
Now I have to be careful not to get too injured. Setting away that grim thought, Touma brought up the slightly dazed High Priest, taking care to keep his right hand on him. "Do it!"
"You heard the man!" Faintly, Touma heard Percival shout. "Fire at will boys!"
*Rat-tat-tat*
Multiple gun shots were heard. Touma held the old man like he was told to, keeping him in front of him like a meat shield.
"Ho...ho...ooh?!"
High Priest stirred at that exact moment, only for his eyes to widen in surprise as he faced an onslaught of darts and special bullets.
"OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!?"
High Priest could not do much as he felt the darts and bullets impact against his skin. The darts and bullets bounced off. And that was the end...Or so High Priest thought.
The moment it was seen that the darts had failed to penetrate, the darts and bullets ceased their attacks. But only for a moment, for pellets were then shot at the two.
"Wha-"
Touma was surprised when he felt the nano machines form a familiar shape that one usually saw in action movies. A gas mask. Then, he realized why.
"Oho?" High Priest's movements started to become sluggish. "What...is...this...?"
With those words, High Priest's body fell limp. Yes! High Priest is down!
"Yurei-san!" Touma shouted out. Strangely, the gas mask did not muffle his voice in the slightest. "High Priest is out!"
"Good!" He vaguely heard Percival's voice. "Team 1, get in and secure the target! Teams 2 and 3, help with the making of the enclosed area!"
Touma saw a small group of Anti-skill soldiers approach him and High Priest. As they got closer, he noticed that they all had stars in their eyes behind their face-guards.
Is that what being controlled by Misaki looks like? Touma thought that as the group held onto the Magic God for him.
That was when all hell broke loose.
Touma's hand never left High Priest's body. Not even for a second. Yet, he found himself thrown into the air.
Eh?
Twisting his body, he somehow managed to land on his feet instead of face first. And the scene that met his eyes...
High Priest was awake. In fact, by the way he was moving, it looked like the special tranquilizers that Percival had on him had not effected the Magic God in the slightest!
"Hoi hoi!' The Magic God gleefully chuckled as he used the earthen hands he had used to throw the small group that had held him to juggle the 6 adult bodies. "This is fun, Kamijou Touma! How about it?" He glanced at the boy in question, an eyebrow half raised. "How about we play a little game? Its called, 'Be our Scorer, or have 6 innocents killed?"
Touma did not know how to respond. His mind was furiously working out ways to save the 6 men and women.
*Crack*
He winced when he saw two of the Anti-skill members get smashed heavily into the ground. From their forms, it was easy to tell they were alive. They were wearing heavily padded armor meant to soften heavy blow. It was also resistant against all of the elements, so it was hard to destroy it when facing a level 1 or 2. But that did not protect them from falling from a high height.
"High Priest!"
Dashing forwards, Touma launched himself against the Magic God, leaving everything to his instincts.
"Oh ho?" High Priest smiled. "Kamijou Touma. Shall I take it that you are being hostile? In that case, let me get rid of-"
"Try next time!" Touma shouted out as he slid on the ground, making use of the nano armor to give him a greater slide time.
Not expecting this move, High Priest momentarily stared at the level 0. And that was all the time he needed to put his plan into action.
*Ra-tat-tat*
A single gun was fired. Laughing High Priest attempted to use the remaining Anti-Skill members as shields to block the bullets. Instead, green smoke burst to life.
What? High Priest looked around him, then he realized his mistake. I see...
When Touma rushed forwards, he had done what he did best. Improvise.
He already had a gun. A semi-automatic pistol, actually. It had been heavily modified so that there was little recoil when fired, and had a decent range of fifty metres. It had also been modified to take in any type of bullets.
Pistol. Assault. Sniper. And Explosive. These four types of rounds could be inserted into the special magazine that was fitted onto his pistol. And it was given to Touma earlier(Percival forced it on him , in addition to the nano armor and a comms link in case they got separated.) so that he could use it for self-defense, however unlikely it was.
The gun itself was empty, but that was no problem. There was plenty of ammunition lying around. When High Priest had thrown the small squad into the air, it had also forced the guns to be destroyed, exposing its contents to the world.
Including the clips of ammunition.
Essentially, Touma had created a smokescreen out of the remaining pellets left in the guns. It would knock out the Anti-skill members for quite a while, but that is a much preferable alternative to death. Unfortunately...
"Uh hoi!"
"-! Gah!"
Touma's sneak attack from his blind side failed.
"Dear boy," High Priest began. "Did you really think that would be enough to stop me? I can tell where you are. I also know about your tricks. It is part of the reason we chose you to be our Scorer after all."
He watched with disinterest as Touma's body crashed into a nearby light pole. "It does not matter how I do it. We will not take a 'No' for an answer. You WILL be our Scorer."
"*cough* You think that will change my mind?" Touma struggled to get up. "If you want me to be your Scorer...Then it would never happen."
"Never say never, my dear boy." High Priest chuckled. "Perhaps a few dead bodies will do the trick."
"No!" Touma tried to stand, only to fall to his knees again. It seemed that one of his legs had been broken.
Raising an earth fist, High Priest brought it down with one swing from his golden blade.
...Only to find...nothing...
"Hmm?" High Priest used his fists to instead blow the remaining green smoke. And all that was left was a crater, some parts, and darts. But no bodies. And definitely no blood.
"Did you plan this, Kamijou Tou..." High Priest turned around to ask his future Scorer, but once more found nothing. Only empty air and a dented lamppost.
For the first time, High Priest let out a stupid sound. "...Eh?..."
"Jeez." Touma heard a familiar sounding voice amidst the haze of pain clouding his vision. "Ape, you sure know how to become a punching bag."
His eyes tried to focus on the hazy figure hovering over him. "...Shirai-san?"
"Yes, you ape." Kuroko huffed. "How on earth did you end up in this state?"
"Well," Percival's voice resounded through both his ears and skull. "He faced a Magic God with no plan. So, he ended up in this sorry state. Also, your 'Onee-sama' is lying in that bed over there."
"Onee-sama!" Through his blurry sight(It was getting better with every second), Touma saw what he assumed to be Kuroko shaking Percival back and forth. "What happened to Onee-sama!"
"C-calm down Shirai-san!" Touma's eyesight cleared up in time for him to see Percival clasp his hands firmly onto the twin-tailed girl's soldiers. "She is FINE. Aside from some sort of temporary memory loss. In fact, she is waking up right now, so you can ask her all about it."
"Onee-sama!" With a soft sound of displacing air, Kuroko teleported to Mikoto's position.
Smiling a little, Percival approached the prone form of Touma. "How you feeling?"
"...Bad..." He admitted. Wincing, he tried to sit up, only to fall back into the lying position he was in with a heavy grunt. Percival walked in a faster pace, reaching Touma to help him into a sitting position. "Careful. You have a bruised rib, two broken bones, and a sprained wrist."
"How did I get those?" As Touma asked that, he had a small inquling of how he got them, but he would prefer to get a second opinion. Especially from someone who could actually perform first-aid.
"The first broken bone is in your hand. Your right index finger, to be exact. You broke it when you hit High Priest on his crown. Seems like you put too much force on a particular spot, so it broke." Percival sighed as he sat opposite the teen. "The wrist is also from that same swing. Only difference being that you sprained it instead of breaking it, so that is a plus. Those two injuries, I more or less predicted it. It was the first time you wore body armor as heavy as this and jumped off a floating platform 5 stories up and punched someone. In fact, I am more surprised that you did not break more bones!"
"And my other broken bone?"
"When High Priest threw you into the lamppost. The bruised rib is also from that act." Percival shrugged. "These can all be healed in a few days. And some in an hour or so if I use my abilities."
"Where are we?" Touma asked as he shifted his body into a more comfortable position, wincing in pain as he did so.
"We are inside one of the moving trucks. Its been redesigned to be a camper van. Wonder why..." Percival seemed to ponder on it for a few seconds before he shrugged again. "Anyway, I got my friend Informant to drive, which is at the front. We are in the middle, which also has a kitchen opposite where you are resting. And at the back is where there the bed and shower areas are. Its a little cramped, but what can we do?"
"I see..." Touma winced in pain once more.
"Hold on. {Heal}." A green light enveloped Touma's entire body except his right arm. Touma, feeling the warm light that enveloped him, let out a breath he did not realize he had been holding in. "Wow. That feels better."
"Right?" Percival smirked, before he frowned. "Unfortunately, this also means I am stuck as a supporter for the next half-hour."
"Another restriction?" Touma guessed. He had been thinking about Percival's abilities ever since he explained them. From what he had said back then, it gave him a feeling. He had felt that feeling many times.
It was the feeling of someone leaving something out.
"Yeah." Percival sat down heavily next to the injured teen. "I said that I had four categories. Mimicry. Esper. Shield. And Magic, remember? Well, If I use one of the four categories, I will be stuck in that category for the next hour, before it 'resets', enabling me to choose another category or stick to the one i am currently using. And, since I chose my Shield category, I am pretty much a frontline attacker, with healing capabilities. And, I am unable to access my other abilities, unless I use one of my trump cards, But I would prefer to keep them hidden."
"So...what now?"
"Right now, we are just driving about aimlessly." Percival continued to heal Touma, this time working on his leg. The earlier heal had helped relive his body of pain, but now it was coming back, albeit less intense as before. "No clue when High Priest might arrive, so we are just driving about District 2 in circles near the edge. Shokuhou-san is working to keep the Anti-skill members out of this area. Kanzaki is working on that hole as we speak. In an hour, we should have a big enough hole to drive through, along with some special metal I found that might kill that Magic God."
Touma just hummed in thought as he listened to Percival's words, lost in thought.
Silence enveloped the two. Then,
"High Priest." Touma suddenly spoke up. "He said that he could tell where I am. But, if that was the case, why did he not know where I was coming from at first?"
"Maybe its because you were dragged here by me?" Percival worked on his ribs next.
"No." Touma shook his head. "If that was the case, he would have also known about my plan to reduce casualties as much as possible by leading him to a military installment. I chose to go to a military installation to slow him down, so that Kanzaki-san would prepare for us an area to fight by placing down a number of paper warding charms. If he truly knew about me, he would have predicted that and just gone on a rampage."
"Maybe he was just a batshit crazy old geezer."
"And also, how DID he know I was at the Dianoid for that matter? I could have been in school, in my apartment. Even out of Academy city! Yet, he zeroed in on my exact location." Touma continued muttering, ignoring Percival's claims of the Magic God being crazy.
A few dozen kilometres, a certain old man sneezed.
"A-choo!" He sniffled. "Where is Kamijou Touma?" He looked around him. "I could create lots of destruction at a populated area to get him to come to me, but there seems to be no one around me. Only buildings. Hmm?"
His eyes were caught by a display that was behind a fence.
"What is this?"
Touma thought back to what had occurred from then to now. When I was at the Dianoid, when I jumped him, and when I tried to knock him out again...What was the differences?
His mind went to the timing, then the locations. He also compared what he knew about magic.
...Is it? Touma's mind thought up of a single possibility. ...Perhaps it is that. But-
" 'But how will you know if your theory is correct.'. That is what you are thinking, right, Kamijou Touma?"
A new voice entered the cramped space of the van they were in.
""!?""
Shocked by this newcomer, they turned to face her.
The newcomer was female. To be precise, a beautiful woman with chocolate-brown skin and long silver hair. Under her eyes were teardrop and diamond markings. She wasn't wearing anything except the white bandages covering her body, several of which had pyramid-shaped decorations attached at the ends.
"Who are you?" Percival placed himself between the injure Touma, his shield shifting into a large shield that nearly towered over his head.
"Put that away, Percival Yurei." Another female made its presence known, appearing from behind the larger woman. She was wearing a short white China dress with very baggy sleeves, a hat and a unique charm attached to her forehead. She has an extremely pale complexion, black hair and green eyes. "We mean no harm."
"Oho?" Percival narrowed his eyes. "Since you were not in here earlier when we commandeered this vehicle, I would guess that you are Magic gods."
"That's right." The female in the China dress confirmed in a playful tone. "We came for a few things. The first of which-"
Blinking, Touma saw Percival turn around, feeling the gust of wind that had blown past his guard.
Those women had appeared, sitting on either side of the pointy-haired boy.
Percival's mouth flapped opened and closed, but the women did not seem to care.
They leaned in on Touma from either side and each grabbed one of his hands.
They then pressed those hands against their soft chests. Touma wanted to panic, but his mind had gone blank from fear and shock when he felt his hands being placed on the chests of two Magic gods
"Oh, dear. Not even Imagine Breaker is enough. I had thought I would retrieve my original power if the spell inside me was broken, but that power seems to have already completely disappeared. I suppose even this power can't remake an object that was burnt to ashes by a magical fire. ...Niang-Niang, what are you doing?"
"What do you mean, Nephthys? I'm trying Imagine Breaker on myself just like you."
"Then why are you using his left hand? It's only in his right."
"Oh, I thought any body part worked as long as you touched your breasts with it."
"Niang-Niang, that's completely backwards."
"So, your names are-" "W-what are you DOING, you IDIOT!"
Percival's sentence was cut off when another voice cut in.
Mikoto stood at the curtains that separated the compartment they were in from the bed and shower area. And right now, she had just walked in on what appeared to be Touma feeling up two new females chests.
Niang-Niang(who was still meaninglessly pressing Kamijou Touma's left hand to her flat chest) pointed her baggy sleeve towards Mikoto in annoyance.
A thick blade shot from her sleeve and mercilessly stabbed into the center of Mikoto's chest.
"Wha-?"
Mikoto's face immediately filled with confusion. As did Touma's and Percival's.
"...Ah?"
The first thing to pierce into the girl's chest looked like a crescent-shaped blade on the end of a spear. But that was not the only one. Now that Mikoto was pinned in place, a great number of weapons shot out to tear, pierce, and slice through every part of her body.
The frenzied rush of dull sounds continued for some time
The girl seemed to feel no pain and she shed no blood, but she showed confusion at the definite fact that she had been "stabbed". This was not a mental manipulation like the #5 used. This was physically happening. Unease oozed out from the depths of her mind and quickly spread in her mind, showing on her face. It was just like a shockwave reaching the surroundings only after an object had moved at supersonic speeds. It was like the rumble of thunder arriving only a few seconds after the flash of lightning.
"Misaka!"
Touma leapt forwards, batting away all the weapons that had emerged from the China dress's sleeve. Each and every single one of them shattered like fragile glass, dispersing into fine particles. To protect her now that she was freed, Touma stepped forward to hold back the brown bandaged women and the pale mini-China dress.
"Ahh, ahh. It's no use thinking about it too much. Destroying them all at once like Kamijou Touma did is the best plan."
The mini China dress girl giggled.
She did not seem bothered that her weapons had been destroyed.
"After all, each and every one of my Pao-Pei has a different effect. If I release them all at once like that, you can't exactly sit around analyzing each one, now can you?"
"Pao...?"
"Ah ha ha. Sorry. I guess using my own terminology would leave you confused, wouldn't it? They aren't from any religious or historical texts. Instead, they're the weapons used by the sages in an ancient Chinese novel, but there are plenty of similar things lying around. For example, the sages would have a fake funeral to cut their ties to their earthly life and they would place their own staff in the coffin in their place. My country is filled with tools that have no official origin. There are over one hundred legendary foods that supposedly make you immortal if you eat them. When you have so much stuff, you have to categorize them and manage them all, so I just wanted a convenient name and category."
"Niang-Niang, I don't think that's what they were surprised about."
"Neh? Then what were those shocked looks for?"
To Touma, that puzzled atmosphere felt like a different sort of pressure from any of his previous powerful foes.
"What are you two?"
He stayed in front of Mikoto as he asked, but neither of them bothered getting up as they calmly answered.
"I'm Nephthys and this is Niang-Niang."
"You can think of us as the High Priest's partners, Kamijou-chan."
"So, as I thought. You are Magic gods. And, I am guessing, part of 'True Gremlin' ?" Percival asked, having changed the nature of his shield from a tower shield to a buckler.
"Yes." Niang-Niang giggled. "One point to you, little boy! I feel that you are a descendant of mine. Know any good restaurants?"
"Nope, but I know an excellent chef." Percival nodded towards Touma. "He could cook up some fried rice after all this is over, that is, if he permits it."
"I will think about it~" Niang-Niang frowned when she saw Touma's face. "You don't have to worry, you know. We aren't like that old geezer. We aren't thinking about destroying Academy City right this instant or anything. Didn't the High Priest tell you what the true Gremlin wants?"
"You mean that stuff about having me score the distortions and destiny created when you Magic Gods fight over resources? And in exchange for a guaranteed wish or prayer. You aren't interested in world domination or wiping out the human race. You just want to give me those special privileges for some nonsensical peace of mind!"
"Are you prepared to give us your answer?" Nephthys cut in.
Would they use the High Priest's strategy and spread destruction until he changed his mind?
He tensed at that thought, but...
"C'moooon. You don't have to look so horrified. Huh? Nephthys, do you think maybe the High Priest scared him a little too much?"
"Well, he is the type that lets the blood rush to his head and ruins the plan he was working on five seconds before, so it isn't that surprising. He really does like making his own convenient interpretations of impermanence and inevitable decline."
"What are you...talking about?"
"Sorry if we scared you, boy."
Nephthys pressed her index finger against her slender chin without looking remotely troubled.
"But we have no intention of starting any kind of trouble in Academy City...or in this world at all."
"How can you be so certain?"
"Because we have no reason to."
AN
Now, hope you all enjoyed the longer chapter. I had this feeling that this was a little too short for a good chapter. So, I added some more words, among other things. This is also going to follow the canon for now. The conversation, that is, so be warned. After that...well, use your imagination, I suppose.
And, to quote Drak3n, The High Priest Arc begins!(Or rather, it is now halfway done!)
Anime is life, and keep safe!