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.


This… This has to be some sort of trap… Hasn't it?

Index could only help but think that as he stared at the electronic doorway that was directly in front of him, his discerning eyes glued to the interior of the building just beyond the door.

"… You know… if it wasn't for the air coming out of this place… I would have probably been more scared of the door than anything else."

The air that Index was referring to was full of used mana, which seeped out of the doorway in a constant flow. This much mana was indicative of either a large number of spells being used in a short amount of time, or one major spell being used extremely recently.

And knowing that crazy red haired girl she probably used enough spells to kill everyone in this building with her fire! Really now… Who in the world would let someone like handle something that requires a shred of delicacy?

Index put his head into the palm of his hand, as traumatic memories of the past year began to fill his brain. With a sigh, Index did his best to banish the memories from his mind and face the still imposing doorway that was in front of him.

Well… worrying about that girl can wait until I even get through this door… The question is… How in the world will I go about that? Just walking in doesn't seem like a good idea… but…

As Index's thoughts turned toward how to get into the building without causing any additional problems for everyone involved, the boy priest felt a paw touch him on his cheek, and he turned to look at the unnamed creature that sat, perched on his shoulder. The creature used the paw that they had touched Index with to gesture at the electric door, as if they were asking 'why have we not gone in yet?'

Index gritted his teeth and tried with all his might to placate the creature's annoyed gaze with a shrug.

"Well… There are a number of reasons as to why we cannot go in right now, one of the big ones being… I mean… come on now! Aren't animals supposed to have a good sense of the mana in the air? You should be able to sense that the building is bad news… right?"

The creature rolled its eyes at the boy priest, curling back up onto the boy's shoulder, one of its beady red eyes locking onto the door. Just knowing that the creature was doing it made Index question the creature's ability to sense magic.

Really now… This thing has got to be unable to sense the amount of mana that is coming out of the building… though he was the one that managed to get us here after I got us lost… After I got us lost 3 time in a row…

Index felt the crushing weight of depression as he remembered that he could not even tell the difference between month old mana, day old mana, and recently used mana. After running around for quite a long time, the unnamed creature had jumped off Index's shoulder and ran off in what the boy priest had thought was a random direction.

However, once Index had managed to catch up with the creature, the boy priest found that he was outside of the building that they were currently standing in front of. Index could instantly recognize that this was the place he was searching for just from the amount of used mana flowing out of the building.

Ant that was the reason that, despite the fact that this was the building he was looking for, Index could not enter the building. He desperately tried to build up the courage he needed to enter the building, yet something was causing Index to feel uneasy.

There is definitely something wrong about the air coming out of the building… but I just can't place why I feel so-..?!

Index couldn't even finish thinking, the flow of mana, which the boy priest had been monitoring carefully suddenly erupted into a massive torrent of used mana, pouring out of the building and washing over Index, and banishing any feeling of unease about the air, replacing it with concern for what was going on inside the building.

That is… definitely too much mana for any fire spell that girl could use… What in the world is going on in there, and what is it that idiot and Touka are fighting against?!

With a single thought of Kamijou on his mind, Index swallowed his sense of fear that had been building up, and began to walk forward through the doorway.

Once he was on the other side of the door, however, he stopped dead in his tracks as the electronic door slid shut behind him, effectively sealing the boy priest inside of the building. The moment the outside air finished touching Index's skin, the weight of the air within the building weighed upon the boy priest's shoulders.

The air inside of the building had a cold, slimy feel to it, not unlike the feeling of a fish or squid rubbing up against a person's skin. Index, who could feel the distinct difference between the air outside of the building and the air inside the building, began to feel unsettled again.

This… This is… This is an air that I have felt before… Though I cannot place where exactly it was that I've felt it… What exactly was it…?

Index did his best to swallow his feelings of fear, proceeding further into the building, turning his head to either side of him as if he were searching for the exact source of the feeling in the air. And, slowly, Index was able to pinpoint what it was that made him so unsettled.

This place… This place has known death… Death… and the madness that accompanies it…. Despair… Insanity… guilt and injustice… All of those feelings are in the air here… This place is a place of utter chaos…

Index reached up and held his head with his hands as the words and pages from various grimoires began to flash through his mind.

... The Gospel of the Witches… The Munich Manuel of Demonic Magic… and of course… all of the fake versions of the Necronomicon… This place gives me the exact same feeling as all of those bloody books. The feeling like you are looking at something that should not be looked at… that which is best left alone.

Index instantly began to think about the forms of demons and twisted horrors, and with a shake of his head he cleared the images, sighing in exhaustion.

"You know… Really now… I'm surprised that I've found a place in the middle of this city of science that feels extremely familiar… I mean… All of this used mana in the air… This place feels like somewhere out of the magic side. What do you say… Hmmmm… I should really think of something to call you, shouldn't-…?"

Index turned to look at his shoulder, where he had expected the unnamed creature to be perched, but instead saw that the creature had disappeared.

Index looked around the looking for the creature with a questioning gaze, thinking that it would be in the general vicinity, distracted by something. However once he found that the creature was nowhere in sight, the boy priest's confusion deepened.

Maybe… Maybe they ran off deeper into the building? I don't see how… or when he managed to do that… but I guess that must be what happened.

With that mystery put on hold, Index began to take a step forward, fully ready to proceed deeper into the building, and closer to Kamijou.

However, the second Index placed his foot on the ground; a female voice began to yell out, reverberating through the room and causing the boy priest to freeze and listen to it.

"I… am… so sick… of Fucking Originals… Shitty Alchemists… Crazy Magicians… Obtrusive Students… and finally… and most importantly… that Annoying, Deranged, Weak as Hell excuse of a fake! Really now… What the hell else am I going to have to deal with today?!"

As Index listened to the voice, something deep within him told him to look around the room, at the various pillars and places where he could hide.

I… I don't know whether or not I should stay out here without knowing who this person is… but should I really? Perhaps… Perhaps they are going to be able to help me?

The second Index had finished that thought; the person the boy priest assumed the voice belonged to walked out into the entryway. The second that Index laid eyes on the girl, who the voice belonged to, however, the boy priest could not help but blush at the sight.

The girl who had just entered the room was dressed in little more that bloodied rags. Her shirt had been nearly split from her stomach, all the way up to her chest, giving Index a great view of a lot of skin. The girl's skirt seemed to be mostly undamaged, though there was a large amount of dried blood, staining the outfit nearly all red.

The girl began to scratch the back of her head with one of her blood soaked hands, her long black hair swaying as she did so, an overly annoyed look on her face as she looked around the room.

"Well… I can just leave right now… but… I have absolutely no idea what I'll do once I get out of here… Though I doubt that sticking around here will give me anything…"

The girl with long black hair suddenly noticed the presence of Index, who had been silently, and embarrassingly, been watching the girl as she stood there half naked.

The black haired girl frown at the boy priest in an annoyed way, glaring at Index with a heated expression.

"And who the hell are you, huh?! Are you yet another person come to ruin my day?! Do I have to add priests to the list of people who piss me off?!"

Index held up his hands in a defensive gesture, sweat rapidly forming on the boy's forehead.

Did I… Do something that would have pissed this girl off? All I did was stand here and watch her, and yet she seems like I offended her somehow.

The black haired girl grit her teeth in response to Index's silence, and her glare at the boy priest continued to heat up as she did so.

"Hey… Priest boy… Are you just going to stand there like some sort of idiot?! Usually someone would respond to a question when it is asked!"

Index instantly began to sweat in fear from the black haired girl's glare, doing his best to smile in a way to calm the girl.

"Oh… No, No. I didn't mean any disrespect by not answering you… It's just… I was so taken aback by your appearance that I had a hard time coming up with words to respond with."

The black haired girl tilted her head in confusion, and then cast her gaze down at her outfit. The moment she did, her hand flew to her forehead and she closed her eyes in apparent frustration.

"Of course… I'm such a fucking idiot thinking that I can walk anywhere while looking like I've just come from a slaughter house… What the hell was I thinking?"

Index breathed a slight sigh of relief, his fear for the girl lessening but not disappearing completely. With an opening in the conversation the boy priest decided it would be a good chance to get some information.

"So… If you aren't going to ask me any more questions, I have a few for you… If you care to answer them..."

The black haired girl continued to look over at Index with an annoyed glare. After a few moments of silence, the girl sighed and nodded her head.

"Yeah… I guess… I'm not really doing anything at the moment anyway… so I guess one or two questions aren't too much of a problem right now."

Index nodded in agreement with what the girl was saying, scratching the side of his head as he tried to desperately formulate the question's in his head.

"Well… I am looking for two… no… actually I'm just looking for one person in particular. They are a student named Kamijou Touka… and she has long black hair… and she has a slight bit of a reckless streak if that will help at all…"

The black haired girl's eyes widened a bit and she turned her gaze to the hallway that she had just walked out of. Slowly, what looked to be a sinister smile to Index, began to form on the girl's face as she turned back to look at the boy priest.

"Kamijou… Touka did you say? Hmmm… Can't say that I have met a person who said that was their name… but I might require something to accurately remember whether or not I have met this person."

Index became slightly off put by the phrasing of the girl's request, but he attempted to smile in order to cover his fear.

"Well… It would really depend on what I would have to give you… but I will not say that I am unwilling to give you-…!"

Before Index could finish speaking, he noticed something that set every hair on his body on end.

The distance between Index and the black haired girl was not so vast that it couldn't be covered in a few steps, but it also wasn't so large that one could cover the distance without being noticed.

However, when Index had simply blinked, and by the time he had opened his eyes, the black haired girl covered the distance. The girl simply smiled at Index, who had to physically hold himself from backing off.

"Hmmm… You know… I think I know why I am such a wreck right now… It's such a simple thing for me to go without… yet I am a fool to neglect it…"

Index tilted his head in confusion, his eyes keeping a close tab on the girl's blood stained hands, the fear that he was slowly beginning to be unable to hide.

"What… What in the world are you neglecting? Is it really something that I can-…!"

Index instinctually jumped back from where he was standing, just in time to avoid an attack that instantly fell upon the spot where he had been standing on. The ground where the boy priest had been standing was instantly ripped up by what seemed to be multiple blades, deep gash marks being formed in the ground.

The black haired girl stood over the spot, her hand extended out in a way that indicated that she had something to do with the attack Index narrowly avoided. The girl looked over at Index with a maniac gaze, a smile that was wide and filled Index with fear.

"Really now… Why are you just trying to make it difficult for me…? I just need one tiny little thing from you… and then we both could get on with our day…"

Index felt sweat pour down his face, fully displaying his fear, but he swallowed his fear in order to question the girl.

"But… What in the world would you want from me? I have absolutely nothing that you would want!"

The black haired girl gave Index a smile that caused his blood to freeze in his veins.

"You do have one little thing that I want… Your life…"

The next moment Index dodged based on instinct again, though this time he did not escape unscathed. The boy priest felt his shoulder rip open in a plume of blood and flesh, causing Index to shout out and grab ahold of his shoulder.

Index could hear the black haired girl cackle with joy as he heard the slurping sound of her licking up the boy priest fresh blood from her hands.

"Ah… Fresh life blood… and none of that Innocence tinged stuff either… This must be my reward for putting up with all of the shit I've had to deal with lately…"

Index tightened his grip on his shoulder as he glared over at the black haired girl, an expression on his face that was a mixture of mostly fear and a slight hint of rage.

"…Judging by how you are acting currently… You have to be either a vampire, which I highly doubt, considering a vampire wouldn't have left so much drying blood on them… Or, the other option is that you are an Akuma, considering that you have knowledge of Innocence."

The black haired girl grinned over at Index, her hand still shining red from the boy priest's blood.

"…Does it really matter what I am? Will you knowing anything about me change anything at all about what is going to happen here?"

Index clicked his tongue in annoyance the moment he heard that fact get stated by the girl.

She is right… unfortunately… Even if she was just a normal person, I still wouldn't be able to do anything to keep her from killing me… What in the world am I-…!

Index again dodged just in time to keep his head firmly on his shoulders, though in the process a long cut opened up on his cheek. Again Index gritted his teeth against the pain, but didn't even get another chance to rest as he heard the black haired girl's voice.

"Stop moving around… You oblivious priest!"

Index dodged yet again, but this time paid for it by getting a cut to this side, this one much deeper and much longer than the one he had received on his check. Index took a small, shallow breath in order to regain some of his stamina, but upon hearing the black haired girl's voice once more, realized that it was a mistake to do so.

"Hmph… Seems like you're done running… you little shit!"

Index felt the disturbing feeling of something colliding with his femur, along with the feeling of having a hand pull out of his leg, tearing out a hunk of flesh as it retreated.

It only took a moment for the pain, and the complete lack of feeling in his lower leg to reach Index's brain. It only took another moment before Index replied to these feelings with appropriate responses, which were yelling out at the top of his lungs in pain, and falling to the ground because of not having any strength in his legs.

Index looked up through his pain hazed eyes and saw the black haired girl playing around with the gelatinous piece of flesh that the girl had pulled out of the priest's leg. With a smile, the girl crushed the flesh in her hands and cackled.

"Well now… That was the first bit of fun I'll have tonight… Now… what in the world can I do to you next…?"

Index grit his teeth as the pain brought tears to his eyes, his mind racing for some sort of solution to the situation he was in.

There has to be something… anything… for me to do! If I really don't do anything about this… I'll die!

The black haired girl smiled and readied herself to attack Index for what both of them believed to be the final strike.

"Now… Let's see if you'll die from this, you oblivious priest!"

Index could only close his eyes as death bore down on him, and his mind slowly turned toward the only thing that remained to him.

With a clench of his teeth, Index began to pray.

Please… God… Send someone… anyone… to save me!

"… You are… Completely… and totally… stupid… Aren't you?"

The moment Index heard this new voice sound out in the room, the boy priest could not help but open his eyes timidly as he looked at the source, which was apparently between him and the black haired girl.

When Index opened his eyes, he saw a woman wore a long black trench coat on her shoulders while her arms were free, with hair black hair stretching down to her lower back. Underneath the trench coat the woman was wearing a white dress shirt, with the top few buttons loose to reveal the top of her cleavage. Her black dress pants were barely held up with a large belt, with a slight bit of her underwear showing off to the world.

The woman who looked like she was a mess was currently holding the head of the black haired murderer in her hands, an expression on her face that looked like a smile, but had a serious undertone of rage behind it.

"You… You must be stupid… After all… you are performing the unbelievably idiotic action of trying to take someone else's property…"

The black haired girl was struggling in the woman's grip, using her blood covered arms to try and tear at the woman's arm, and her legs to try and kick the woman and break free.

"Y-Your…! H-Hold on a minute!"

Strangely, none of the girl's struggles seemed to affect the woman, who only seemed to smile as the girl's flailing touched her. The woman visibly increased the strength of her grip on the girl's head, and Index heard a sickening crunch come from somewhere.

"Now… Let me think of an appropriate punishment for trying to take something that belongs to me… Ah… I know…"

The woman gave the girl a grin the Index could only describe as merciless.

"How about I turn your utterly useless form now into something that would provide even a tiny shred of fulfillment to your life? That should be suitable payment for your attempted thievery."

Index, in the moment he heard the woman stop speaking, felt the air change in an all too familiar way. Mana began to gather around the hand the woman was using to hold up the girl's head, and in one quick shift of power, the mana was released once more.

And accompanying the release of mana were the screams of the black haired girl, blood curdling and brief.

Almost instantly the black haired girl's flesh began to melt away, giving Index a view of human muscle structure before that to vanished into thin air. Next came what Index believed to be the nervous and circulatory systems, but they disappeared at the same speed as everything else. With all of the flesh on the girl's body gone, that left only the girls skeleton, which Index instantly recognized as an Akuma skeleton.

The Akuma skeleton was the dark red of blood instead of the white of bone, which was the initial clue that this was not a normal human skeleton. Another clue was the fact that the skeleton lacked the equivalent hand or foot bones, leaving the skeleton with nubs where the appropriate appendage should have been.

Yet another clue that this skeleton was abnormal was the fact that the skeleton was twitching, despite not having any sort of flesh on it at all.

The skeleton gave a single, almost powerless twitch in the grasp of the woman, and then stopped as the sound of metal scraping against metal. With a resounding crunch, the girl's skeleton began to warp into a new form.

Once the sounds associated with metal bending and warping into a new shape stopped, all that was left was the woman, standing triumphantly in the center of Index's vision, a spear in the hand that held the girl's head.

The woman gave a large smile to the world, and began to look over the spear in her hands like an expert craftsman admiring her work with a keen eye.

"Really now… you have got to be my best weapon yet, and I even used your crappy excuse of a body as material. It's still not as good as his weapons… but I know that I am still centuries off of making anything like he did."

The woman gave the spear a few practice swings and thrusts as if she were testing the condition of the weapon, but an air of worry began to cross her face.

"…Hmmm… Perhaps… that wasn't the smartest idea that I've ever had… Wasn't this supposed to be the target of that bastard? I… highly doubt that he will be okay with this…"

The woman turned around to look at a spot behind Index, the worry on her face quickly disappearing and being replaced by a smug expression.

"But… maybe I should ask the man himself? What do you say, Gray Matter… Or should I call you Innocent Heart?"

Index forced his wounded body to turn around and look behind him, at whoever it was the woman was talking about, and immediately noticed two things about the focus of the woman's attention.

The first, and least important to Index at the time, was that the person that was now the center of attention was the white haired exorcist from earlier on in the day, though he seemed to be slightly worse for wear due to some unknown cause. However, Index barely kept his attention on the exorcist, his focus taken up by the unconscious form that was on the exorcist's shoulder.

"T-… Touka!"

Slung over the exorcists shoulder like some sort of sack, was Kamijou's unconscious form, who also looked somewhat haggard from some unknown cause.

The exorcist looked over at Index, recognizing him almost instantly and an annoyed expression began to take over his face.

"You… You are that idiot priest that was with this girl earlier, aren't you? Really now… How many of you idiots am I going to run into? Is that blue haired bitch going to come out of the shadows next?"

Index cringed back in fear from the anger in the exorcist's voice, but the next moment the woman with her spear stood in between the boy priest and the exorcist, her eyes glaring over at the exorcist with a smile.

"Really now… Do you have to be so mean to my property? Are you so adamant about acting like a complete and total sour puss?"

The exorcist sighed at the woman's question and began to gesture with the shoulder that was holding Kamijou.

"So… Do you have anything that you would want me to do with her? I have absolutely no use for her, so if you don't, I was going to just dump her outside."

The woman tilted her head as if she were in deep thought, putting a finger to her lips as she prepared her answer.

"Hmmm… Actually… there are one or two experiments that I could run on her before I have to get out of here… so you could just leave her over there with that idiot."

Index followed the woman's gesture to see the idiot she was talking about, and saw something that made his blood freeze.

Laying against one of the pillars, as if she were haphazardly thrown there, was the form of Styx, also as unconscious as Kamijou.

The exorcist sighed and adjusted his grip on Kamijou's body, his expression becoming one of boredom.

"Fine… Fine. I'm not going to question your fascination with experiments… but I would like to request that-…?"

The exorcist stopped talking as he noticed that Index had timidly raised his hand to get the two people's attention.

"Uh…Uhm… Ac-Actually… D-Do you really need those two for an experiment? I mean… They are friends of mine… and-?!"

Index was suddenly caught off guard as both of his hands were grabbed by the woman, who unceremoniously tossed her newly acquired spear towards the exorcist. The exorcist quickly maneuvered himself around to catch the spear, and then gave the back of the woman's head a ferocious glare.

Index focused his attention to the woman, whose eyes were shining as she looked at Index.

"You have nothing to worry about, my darling. I was simply joking about running experiments on them. I was fully committed to letting them go once we were done here."

Index saw the exorcist roll his eyes in the background, but focused on the woman in front of him as his curiosity was slightly piqued by something.

"Uhmm… I'm sorry to ask this… but have we met before? By the way you are referring to me as darling… I get the idea that we might have known each other before."

Though the woman's face did not change expression in the slightest way, Index could almost feel the intense wave of sadness was over her when he asked that question. The woman waved her hand back and forth to deny the question.

"No, No. Me and you… we have not met at all in your current memory. In fact… If you had said you just had a feeling that we had met before… I would be most surprised."

The woman slowly stood up, and as she did so she took something out of some hidden pocket in her outfit.

It was a pendant of some sort, made out of what looked to be simple string with a crystal like piece of jewelry at the end.

The second Index laid his eyes on this pendant, his head once again felt as if it were splitting open due to some unknown force.

This is… exactly like those problems back at Touka's house! What… What the hell is going on?!

Index fought against his fading consciousness to look up at the woman, who was looking down at him in concern.

"That… Thing… What the hell… Is it?!"

The woman looked over at the pendant and then back at Index, a questioning look on her face as she gestured over at the unconscious forms of Kamijou and Styx.

"This? Oh don't worry. This is just a… security measure that I take to insure that those two won't bother me in the near future."

Index opened his mouth to question more, but for every second he looked upon the pendant, his head felt as if it were closer and closer to breaking. At present the pain was enough to force the boy priest shut his eyes in order to escape from the pain.

Index heard the woman's voice in his ear, whispering to him like some sort of lover.

"Perhaps clinging to consciousness is what is causing you all this pain… Why don't you just sleep?"

The moment the word left the woman's mouth, Index felt himself tumble into unconsciousness.