This work is based (mostly) on the work of Kazuma Kamachi and other writers. A translation from Baka Tsuki was used in its creation and I claim no ownership over their work. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy.


... Hmmm… I wonder... It has been a while since I left Index alone in that idiot's house… I wonder how he is doing. I just got the feeling that something bad has just happened… though it could just be my imagination…

Styx took a long, unconcerned draw from the lit cigarette in her, staring up at the ceiling with no visible care to what was going on around her. The female magician's mind was stuck on the idea of the white haired boy priest, and she made no attempt of shifting it to another thought.

Now that I think about it… I did make the temple for Innocentius, quite poorly compared to my normal work. I mean for the purpose of guarding that area around Index, it was a great setup that balanced the power of the spell, its ability to be controlled, and its ability to be hidden. However, in terms of total protection, that spell was completely lacking…

Styx took another draw from her cigarette, sighing as she continued to glare at the ceiling.

Perhaps using Innocentius as the spell that would defend Index wasn't the best idea, considering the number of spells I have at my disposal, even if it was the most discrete. I should have gone with something more traditional trap, like a spell that exploded into an unquenchable sea of flames, or maybe even some sort of spray of flames that would consume all who passed by. Those sorts of spells would have been much more reliable in the destruction of threats… but… Index would have instantly noticed them once they went off… and they wouldn't be able to be hidden with as ideally as I had managed to get the temple for Innocentius… and it would most likely cause a large number of civilian casualties…

Styx sighed aloud at the unchanging ceiling, putting the cigarette into her mouth and leaving it hanging there in a lazy fashion. With her now free hand, she reached up and placed a hand over her face in visible exhaustion.

Lately… I've been feeling that my magic style is growing more and more limited in its applications… perhaps it's the result of me not putting more time into researching additional runes. Over the past few years... between the missions given to me by Necessarius, and my tracking of Index… I've devoted no time to improving my magic style. Of all the things that I could have done in that time… that was most likely the worst. Neglecting ones art… That is an affront to magicians everywhere.

Styx sighed yet again, and used the hand on her face to reach down and grab ahold of the cigarette that lazily hung in her mouth, blowing out a pillar of smoke into the air above her.

"Really now… there has to be a limit to how out of touch with my native environment I can be… Perhaps I should do more of these missions… Just so I could get back into the feel of things…"

Styx shrugged her shoulders in a form of resignation, before finally turning her head away from the ceiling to look at the hallway in front of her, an annoyed expression forming on her face as she did so.

"What do you say, Miss Fake? What do you think is the best way for me to shake off this rust of mine? I doubt that you could offer any real sort of advice, but hearing an idea or two right now wouldn't hurt me much I think."

In front of the magician was the immaculate battlefield where she had been fighting for the past few minutes. Thanks to the barrier, Styx's flames had not caused any damage to the building yet, though thanks to that the only sign that a battle was going on in the area was a visible layer of ash that covered the floor and walls, and a few potholes where it looked like the material had been cleanly ripped out.

On the floor, brought to her knees by combat with the magician, the woman who called herself Trisha Elric turned her head up to stare at Styx, her rage fully apparent to the calm red haired magician.

"You… You god damn bitch! How dare you… Where do you get off…"

The woman who called herself Trisha balled one of her hands into a fist while gritting her teeth, lifting it up and slamming it into the ground. In response to her fist slamming into the ground, a piece of the building shot out of the wall and hurtled towards Styx at a speed that would have caused death to a normal person if it collided with them.

Styx watched the piece of building hurtle toward her with an unconcerned expression on her face, taking a short draw from her cigarette. Reaching into her robes, the magician pulled out one of her many rune cards, holding it flat in the palm of her hand. Underneath the covering of her habit, the rune cards for both blade and chain activated and slid to rest just below her wrist, her long black sleeves hiding the two cards from view.

With the air of one swatting a fly from the air, Styx muttered a word that she had said many times before.

"Kenaz…"

After saying that word, Styx raised the hand holding the fire card up into the air as magic energy began to accumulate at a spot just above the card, growing and growing until a massive amount was being held above Styx's head. The moment that enough magic energy had gathered in that spot, a flame suddenly caught in the air and rocketed upwards to form a massive flaming sword.

Swinging the blade down through the air with a feeling of aloofness, Styx caught the chunk of building material in the flames, and turning the projectile into a fine ash that gently fell everywhere around the magician, covering her hair and habit with gray powder.

Sighing to herself, Styx brushed off some of the ash that was covering her before reaching up and plucking her burnt out cigarette from her mouth and tossing it to the ground. With its purpose fulfilled, the flaming sword suddenly sputtered out, burning away the rune cards which she had used to summon the sword. Styx looked at the burning fragments of the rune cards with an annoyed look on her face, before turning her gaze back to the woman who called herself Trisha.

"Well… I hope you are happy. Once again you have made me waste some of my precious rune cards in a pointless fashion, so if that is part of your grand plan to try and defeat me, rejoice."

Styx's mocking tone was not lost to the woman who called herself Trisha, who grimaced as she forced herself to stand up. Once the black haired woman was on her feet, she looked like she was going to fall over instantly, her legs shivering and buckling underneath her. Her now singed clothes did little to preserve her modesty, though that was obviously the least of the persons worries.

Styx gestured at the woman who called herself Trisha, holding her hands out as if she were asking a question.

"So… Miss Fake… Are you quite done wasting both my resources and time? You have done the exact same thing multiple times, and every time it has ended with you failing to do anything at all."

The woman who called herself Trisha glared at the red haired magician who was the source of her torment, with a grimace that bared the black haired woman's canines. The rage that the woman felt was readily apparent in her voice once she started talking.

"Where in the world… Where in the world do you get off you stupid bitch!? How in the world… How in the world do you think you can ignore me like I don't matter!?"

Styx lazily reached up and began to rub the side of her head as if she felt a slight headache come on out of nowhere, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the woman who had absorbed all of her precious time.

"Well… If you think about it logically… You really haven't done anything for me to really consider you a threat, don't you think? I mean, during our battle, I managed to knock you down twice, and the second time I was able to go through half a cigarette before you even managed to regain your composure. So… If you wonder why I think I can ignore you so easily… Then it would have to be because you have shown me nothing that would make me worried."

The black haired woman ground her teeth to the point where Styx could audibly hear the sounds of bones scraping against each other. The woman began to ball her hands into tight fists where Styx could see the veins popping in her fists.

"I have shown you… nothing that you can take seriously, Styx? Are you… Are you fucking joking with me!? You… You of all people should know what I am capable of Styx! You of all people should know why you have to fear me!"

Styx instantly began to chuckle to herself and gestured at the black haired woman as she wiped a joyful tear from her eyes.

"No… No I don't actually know what you are capable of Miss Fake, since this is the first time that we have actually met. Though don't worry, I have a fair understanding of your abilities just from out brief round of battle. You have the ability to manipulate the building around us in a multitude of ways, either by raising or lowering pillars from the ground, or taking a piece off and launching it towards me, only to have it burnt to ashes by my flames. Not a most robust skill set, especially considering that you have the barrier to help you out as well… I must admit, you are quite terrible at the whole magic battle thing, Miss Fake."

The black haired woman gestured at the red haired magician, her rage practically bubbling up in her voice as she yelled at Styx.

"Fake… Fake… Fake, Fake, Fake! Is that all you will ever call me Styx!? Every time you address me you refer to me as a Fake! Do you like joking around with me at every opportunity, or do you have even a speck of proof regarding my authenticity?"

Styx reached up with her cigarette free hand and placed it over her eyes, pushing her head back so that her gaze would have gone back to the ceiling. Sighing, the magician finally decided to respond to the question.

"Miss Fake… Why are you so set on making an absolute fool of yourself? If you have any idea about who it was that you are pretending to be, then you would instantly know that you have completely lost when it comes to your impersonation. The fact that you think that you can still use it against me is just sad really."

The black haired woman angrily gestured at the magician as her leg began to twitch in anger.

"Well isn't that a surprise! Again I ask you to provide me with evidence on why you think I am a fake, and yet again, you refused to give me even a single bit of legitimate proof! How in the world are you so certain that I am a fake when you won't even give me a reason to believe you?!"

Styx sighed yet as she slowly sunk into an annoyed daze, her gaze turning from the ceiling to the wall just off to her side.

This is… such a fucking joke right now. I could just kill this bitch right now and go on to examine the rest of this place… but… Considering that she is continuing to give out that name even though it wouldn't benefit her at all… I'm guessing that this is the person I'm here to deal with.

Styx inwardly sighed as she cast a stray gaze to the black haired woman in front of her, who was shivering in what looked to be a deep and unquenchable rage. The magician took another draw from her cigarette as she turned her gaze back to the wall to her side.

That has to be the most logical conclusion to come to, looking at the circumstances surrounding this event. This fake looks to be some low level magician that decided to pull some stupid stunt, and decided to use a stronger magician's name to try and scare away people who were weaker than her so they wouldn't interfere… Really now… What a boring outcome this was…

Styx returned her gaze to the black haired woman, whose shivers of rage had yet to subside in any form of the word. Styx stared at the woman for a few moments in silence before a sinister smile began to form on the magician's face.

Well then… If that is how this event is going to end… I guess I can have a bit of fun with this idiot before I deal with her once and for all. After all… with all the stuff I've had to put up with, I deserve something.

Styx continued to smile maliciously at the black haired woman, who seemed to understand the emotion behind the smile quite clearly. The shivering of the black haired woman continued, but it was now not solely fueled by rage.

"Well then… 'Trisha', if that is what you want to be called… If you truly want as specific bit of proof from me, then I guess I can give you some as long as you agree to my process… In other words… If you are willing to be exposed as the poor imposter you are."

The black haired woman momentarily stopped shivering, and she smiled over Styx, her fear completely forgotten.

"So… You are finally going to give me a chance to prove that you are the one who is acting crazy? That took you much too long Styx."

Styx shrugged at the black haired woman, before she launched into her so called 'process'.

"So then… 'Trisha'… If you would be so kind to… could you tell me what you magic specialty is?"

The black haired woman looked momentarily confused at the question, but then a look of understanding crossed her face.

"I see… You are going to start asking me questions that only I would know, each one getting closer and closer to my deepest secrets. Quite a boring method if I must say so Styx."

Styx glared over at the black haired woman, her annoyance growing visibly deeper with the fake's comments.

"I'm sorry, but are you going to simply dodge the very first question, or do you want to prove me wrong like you said you would be able to?"

The black haired woman did not even begin to respond to the asked question, instead deciding to answer the former question.

"If you truly wish to know Styx, my specialty is commonly known as Offensive Tuned Alchemy, an oddity considering that I am currently the only practitioner of the style. If I had my way, I would have the style renamed to Elric Style Alchemy."

Styx sighed a bit at the long windedness of the black haired woman's answer, noting the girl's need to insert her pride into her answer.

She certainly does have the act of Trisha down, I'll give her that. If I wasn't in the same room as her, I would most likely believe that I was dealing with the real thing.

Sighing again, Styx launched into her second question.

"Anyway… 'Trisha'… I would like to know where we both met each other. It was a rather simple meeting between the two of us, but that has really been start of all our problems with each other."

The black haired woman chuckled at Styx's question, puffing out her chest with a sense of bravado behind her actions.

"Come on now Styx! What is with these simple questions that you keep asking? Do you really not know that much about me? When we meet I was working in Vatican City under the employ of one of the Cardinals there. It was a fairly simple job for someone of my expertise, but I am not above assisting someone who specifically asks for my help."

Styx felt her blood pressure rise along with the annoyance the woman before her was generating, and she slowly took a deep breath before staring directly at the dark haired woman.

"Fine then. If you feel that the questions I am asking are much too easy for you, then I guess I can ask a question that only me and Trisha would know. Are you truly ready to be exposed, Miss Fake?"

The black haired woman shrugged at Styx and grinned in a cocky way, crossing her arms under her puffed out chest.

"If your question is at all like the ones that you have asked me already, then there should be no problem with me answering it. I'm just wondering if you are wondering if you are ready to find out how crazy you have been acting."

Styx shrugged at the black haired woman, and grinned just before she began to ask her question.

"Well then… Trisha… For my last question… Tell me. What were the last words you ever said to Index?"

Styx watched the black haired woman's expression, waiting for it to change from the cocky grin to the panicked one that she knew was coming. Even if the fake was answering all the questions perfectly, they were questions that anyone could have known if they did even a little bit of research on their target for impersonation.

However, when the black haired woman's expression did change, it did not change as Styx had expected it to. Instead of a panicked expression, the woman had a confused look on, staring at Styx with a tilt to her head.

"What… What in the world are you talking about?"

Styx was a tiny bit unsettled at that response, but she shrugged it off and grinned over at the now obvious fake, certain of her victory.

"Well now… I knew you would fail with this question, but still I find it quite funny that you managed to fail on the third question. How poorly did you research Trisha that you couldn't even get past a simple line of questioning?"

The obvious fake's expression began to change, her confusion rapidly being replaced by rage again.

"What the hell are you talking about!? How in the world can you act so smug when you randomly bring up some bullshit question that I would know nothing about?!"

Styx continued to smile over at the obvious fake, still not understanding where she was getting the feeling of unease from.

"What in the world are you saying Miss Fake? Are you mad that you didn't do your research thoroughly enough to try and be convincing? Any true impersonator of Trisha would have to know the exact last words she said to Index to even have a chance to-…"

For the first time in the entire conversation, Trisha choose to interrupt the magician in the middle of her bravado, and asked a question that showed Styx the source of her unease.

"Tell me you nonsensical bitch… Who in the world is this Index you are talking about? I am assuming it is a person by the way you are referring to it… but how in the world do I know someone with such a bizarre name?"

Styx blankly stared at the obvious fake, her mouth slightly ajar from the shock generated by the woman's words. After a few moments of staring, Styx slowly placed a hand over her face to hide the now overly malicious smile that was on her face.

"Really now… Here I was thinking that you were just some idiot who had decided to use Trisha's name to defend yourself, and that you were just to prideful to admit defeat… Now I can see you for what you really are…"

Holding out the palm of her hand, Styx will a fire rune to produce itself between her index and middle finger. Underneath her sleeves, the cards for chain and blade rushed to her forearm. Styx lowered her other hand from her face, revealing the sadistic smile which she had held back.

"You are nothing more than some insane bitch… Who doesn't deserve any more of my time to be wasted on."

The obvious fake took a step back; the panic that Styx had originally wanted was now making its way across the fake's face.

"H-Hold on a moment! How in the world can you decide to kill me when it was your question-…?"

Styx shook her head at the fake, chuckling menacingly as her sadisitic smile grew to its full glory.

"Please… just stop trying. You have already proven to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are not Trisha. Putting up any more of the charade, no matter how hard you try, is just embarrassing to watch."

The fake took another step back, fear finally reaching her eyes, causing her entire body to shiver.

"So… So does that mean… that you are…?"

Styx began to maniacally chuckle at the fake, the hand holding the fire rune card twitching with anticipation.

"What, you didn't expect this when you started fighting me? Not only are you crazy, but you are also too stupid to realize the ramifications of your actions."

Styx extended her arm above her head, staring directly at the fake's fear filled eyes as she did so.

"Now that you've shown me how useless you are… I've decided that the only real way of dealing with you is death."

As the final word rolled of Styx's tongue, the magician saw the shivering of the fake stop, and a terror sweat begin to slide down the woman's brow.

However, amidst all of that, the fake slowly began to smile at the magician, a smile that said that the fake thought that she had won the battle.

"Is that really what you think Styx? Is that the conclusion that you arrived at? That is very strange…"

Styx tilted her head in confusion as the fake lifted up her leg a few centimeters off of the ground, her smile slowly affecting her eyes, filling them with a scant hope.

"That conclusion… Is the exact same one that I arrived at on how to deal with you!"

Slamming her foot to the ground with a loud resounding snap, the fake glared at Styx with murder in her eyes.

As if in response to the fake slamming her foot to the ground, five meter sections of wall on either side of Styx began to vibrate, before breaking off from the wall and rushing directly towards each other, with the clear purpose of catching the magician between them.

With the size of the sections, and the speed that they were moving at, it was clear that Styx would be unable to escape the inevitable crushing death that was approaching her from both sides.

However, the magician did not react to the development in any way like a normal person would react to it if placed in the same situation. The magician simply raised an eyebrow once the walls started moving toward her, sighed, and began to stare directly at the fake with a smile. Just before the sections of walls collided with each other, Styx muttered a single word.

"Kenaz."

With a resounding crushing noise, the two sections of wall collided with each other, bringing a ringing silence to the scene the moment after it happened.

The obvious fake stared at the wall in a blank stupor, staying completely silent for a few moments as she looked at the newly formed wall. When there was no sign of any reaction from the wall, the fake began to softly chuckle, her laugh growing more and more until it was a maniacal cackle.

"That is what you get Styx! All of your crazy talk… All those times that you called me a fake… And look at where it landed you! Crushed into a fine paste between two walls!"

The fake glared at the unresponsive wall with a sadistic grin on her face, her smile wide enough to fully bare her canines.

"I would apologize to you for this Styx, if you still had ears or a form to speak of, but since you don't I guess I'll just have to not do so and move on with my-…"

In the center of the newly formed wall, a dull red patch suddenly appeared, causing the fake to stop speaking and turn her attention to it, a confused look on her face.

"What in the world is-…?"

The patch of glowing wall slowly began to grow brighter and brighter, going from a dull red to an almost shining white. Out of fear for what the patch represented, the fake took a step back for protection.

However, that step back did little to protect the fake from what came next.

Starting from the glowing white patch in the center of the wall, cracks rapidly formed across the surface, making the pattern of a distorted spider web. The second the pattern reached the furthest parts of the wall, the wall burst in open, sending shards of building rocketing out in every direction.

The fake raised her arms up to protect her face in a gesture of defense and fear.

"What the hell is-…?!"

The fake's voice was cut off as a mass of flames in the shape of a sword pierced the woman's abdomen, burning a hole through to the other side of the woman's body. The fake suddenly felt her breath instantly go, as most of the organs needed for breathing were taken away by the burning blade.

It was then that the wielder of the burning blade, Styx, decided to reply to the fake in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Really now… Why in the world did you think that would work? Every other time you tore a piece of the building off, you took away the protection of the barrier. Even if the building was originally tough… Once you saw me burning your attacks, you should have known that crushing me between two pieces of wall wouldn't have worked."

The fake heard all of this, bore the magician's berating to her ears while in her almost catatonic state, and felt the intense urge to struggle against her rapidly escaping life. Reaching out with a shaking hand, the fake grabbed ahold of the hand holding the flaming sword in her gut.

"… St-Styx… How… Why… did you do this to me? What… What did I do-…?"

Before the fake could finish speaking, Styx swung the burning from its resting place in the fake's gut, causing the flames to consume the woman's entire mid-section in a single movement. Reaching into her robes, Styx found a fresh cigarette with her free hand, putting it into her mouth where she let in hand lazily.

"If you truly want know what the hell you did to make me angry… For starters, you wasted my time with all of your bullshit… making me worry over nothing more than a stupid name. That was the first thing you did."

Styx held up a single finger with her free hand as she lit the cigarette in her mouth using the flames from her burning sword. Taking a single puff from it, she continued with her explanation.

"Secondly… You used a name that you shouldn't have used against me. There was no way you could have known that it would be something that would set me off… but still, it was one of the things that you have done wrong."

The magician reached up with her free hand and plucked the lit cigarette her mouth, slightly crushing the end of it as the magician slowly worked herself into a rage.

"Thirdly… And the most heinous of the crimes you performed… You attempted to use that woman's name, without even putting in the effort to research Trisha enough to know about Index. No matter how long it has been since that day… Trisha… Trisha would never forget who Index is!"

Raising her flaming blade above her head, Styx looked down at the remains of the fake, fully prepared to rid herself of her annoyance once and for all.

However, before Styx could deliver the final blow, she noticed something that stayed her hand.

Looking around herself at the hallway which surrounded her, the magician tilted her head in confusion.

"This is… New… And quite strange as well…"

Looking the nearest whole wall, Styx swung her flaming blade at it, knowing that with the barrier up the flames would have no effect on the wall.

The magician watched with a neutral expression as the blade of flames passed through the wall, cutting its way from the ceiling to the floor in a single motion.

"This is… Very strange indeed…"

With a slight measure of annoyance, the magician allowed the burning blade to dissipate, using her now freed hand to scratch her head as she took another puff of her cigarette.

That barrier… There is no way that it could have disappeared like that unless the spell matrix was destroyed. I haven't really performed an action which I would attribute to destroying the matrix… Unless…

Styx turned to look at the slightly charred remains of the fake, which was now twitching as the nerve endings fired off the muscles of the dead person. The magician looked at the split body and shook her head in disbelief.

There is no way that is possible. The barrier might have disappeared directly after I killed the fake… but there is no way that killing the fake would have destroyed the barrier. The spell is designed to be set up and left alone without any intervention from the magician who placed it…

Again Styx turned her gaze to the remains of the fake, a slight nagging feeling coming over her as she looked over at the remains. With a sigh, Styx walked over to the remains, leaning down to examine the body for any clues which would have connected the body to the barrier disappearing.

It only took the magician a moment to figure out the reason behind why the barrier had disappeared once she had killed the fake.

Beneath the partially burnt off skin of the fake's arm, Styx saw that the woman's forearm bone, instead of being two white thin bones, was a blade like, reddish black metallic bone. Inscribed on the bone was what looked like Germanic runes, arranged in such a way that would allow a barrier to be set up in any building the matrix walked into. The barrier would protect those outside of it from sight, sound, touch, and any other type of interaction from the inside of the barrier.

Styx pulled her face away from the remains of the fake, moving her habit to slightly cover her mouth in an attempt to cover up the smell of the tainted metallic blood which seeped out of the now open body.

So… that bloody fake was actually one of those huh? Well that explains why the barrier disappeared when I killed it, since the matrix for the spell was inscribed into the things body.

Styx produced another fire rune from her habit, and with a single word, sent a flaming ball down on the remains, allowing it to burn away all the evidence that the remains had.

Once most of the body had been reduced to a fine ash, Styx sighed and took yet another puff of her cigarette.

Now that question is answered… for better or worse. Though it still raises a minor question… Who in the world was is that inscribed-…

Before Styx could finish her thought, a voice rung out through the hallway, one that caused the magician's thought process to cease.

"Forgive me for taking such a wild guess here… but could you possibly be thinking about whom it was that inscribed the spell matrix onto that poor thing's body? If you are… Then I would have to ask you why you would think that? I mean come on now Styx. Isn't the fact that I used your own runes a giant give away to who it was?"

Styx's entire body froze in place as the air around her dropped several degrees in temperature as the voice spoke. Permeating the chilled air, seeping into the magicians very bones was an intense feeling of futility, one that made Styx feel like that anything that no matter what she would do whatever was going to happen next was going to end in a predetermined way.

Once Styx felt this feeling come over her where she stood, a slight smile began to cross her face, even though her entire body began to shake in fear.

"… Really now… here I was hoping that this fake was the reason I had been called out here… That it was just some crazy bitch who was using a name for the sole reason of protecting herself… How… lucky of me that you are actually here."

The voice, an undeniably female one, chuckled at Styx's comment, giving the magician the distinct feeling that the person on the other end was smiling.

"Really now Styx, I am also glad to see you as well. However… I'm afraid that with everything that is going on in my life today, I can't afford to spend time with you. So… Why don't you just get out of my hair and just… Sleep."

The next moment, the lit end of Styx's cigarette went out, and the magician felt as if all the air had been drug out of her lungs in an instant. Styx reached up and grabbed ahold of her throat, as if that one gesture would allow her to breathe again.

However, in the midst of all of it, Styx smiled, and with her last breath in her body, asked a question.

"…Just… to make… sure… A question… that only you… would know… What… were… your last words… to… Index…?"

With her final breath spent, Styx collapsed into a heap onto the ground her vision rapidly dimming as her consciousness faded away. The voice, who was mildly chuckling from their effortless victory, chose then to respond to Styx's question.

"Do you really want to know Styx? Odd, considering you were standing right there when I told my love my promise."

Somewhere, outside of Styx's blacked out vision, the true Trisha Elric smiled at the chance to answer the question.

"The promise I shared with my love on that day was this. 'I swear, even if I have to destroy the world to do so, I would come back and rescue you.'"