Kaworu went closer to observe his guest, stepping onto the yakisoba bread intentionally.

The girl's lovely fingertips twitched and her head slowly rose from its hanging position. Her silk-like silver hair smoothly split to either side like a curtain and the girl's face appeared from between the long, long hair. Her white skin and green eyes made her seemed like a doll to Kaworu. Yes, this is indeed the nun, Index.

Index's cute but slightly dried lips slowly moved, "I..."

"I'm hungry."

Kaworu remained slient as he continued to observe her.

"I'm hungry."

"…"

"I'm hungry."

"…"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm hungry?"

The silver-haired girl seemed to get a little irate at how Kaworu stood there like a breathtaking piece of art.

"Hmm." he said as he stared at the girl draped over the balcony railing. "What? Are you trying to say you collapsed from exhaustion or something?"

"You could also say I have collapsed and am about to die."

"…"

"It would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up."

Finally, the yakisoba bread that has been under Kaworu's feet throughout found its true purpose in life other than being stepped on like trash. He took it and stuck it up her mouth, certain that despite the sour whiff that it was giving off, she would eat it anyway.

"Thank you. And it's time to eat."

Her mouth engulfed it along with the wrapping, Kaworu's arm included.

Honestly, I have no idea why this certain Kamijou Touma could be so misfortunate, Kaworu thought.

Nevertheless, he could not slip up now. Everything must fit the model according to the script.

"I suppose I need to start with an introduction."

"Actually, I would rather you started explaining why you were hanging there."

"My name is Index."

"That's clearly a fake name. What do you mean by Index? What are you, a table of contents?"

"As you can see, I am from the church. This is important. Oh, but I'm not from the Vatican. I'm from the Anglican Church."

"I don't know what that means and you're just going to ignore my questions?"

"Hmm, is Index lacking? Well then, my magic name is Dedicatus545."

"Anyways, it would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up." She continued.

Kaworu and her were politely sitting there facing each other from across a glass table like it was a marriage interview.

Though he did not leave soon, he would be late for his supplementary lessons, but he could hardly leave this strange person in his room. Also, Index seemed to have taken a liking to the room to the point that she seemed willing to laze about on the floor.

"Sit there. I'll get you something to eat."

Kaworu headed to the kitchen and realised that all of the food in the fridge were already spolit. Of course, it was all that Level 5's fault that there was a city-wide blackout which resulted in 80% of the electrical appliances in the house being taken out. Not that he actually needed food to survive, thus he had neglected to replace the food in the fridge in advance.

He muttered as he put a frying pan onto the stove, "Now, the fire..."

Taking whatever food that was left from the fridge, he began to cook something that seemed like stir-fry vegetables.

While he put some soy sauce onto the dish, he continued his questions, "So why were you hanging out to dry on my balcony?"

"I wasn't hanging out to dry."

"Then what were you doing? Were you blown over and landed there?"

"...Something like that."

Kaworu stopped moving the frying pan as he turned around to face the girl.

"I fell. I was trying to jump from rooftop to rooftop."

Rooftop?

Kaworu realised that cheap student dorms lined the building level and even more of the same types of eight-story buildings were lined up as he looked up at the celling. One glance out the balcony showed a gap of two meters between buildings. It was true that a running jump could get you from one rooftop to another. However...

"But that's eight stories high? One wrong step and you'd be heading straight to hell."

"Yes, you don't even get a grave if you commit suicide," said Index cryptically. "But I had no choice. I had no other means of escape."

"Escape?"

"Yes," said Index like a child. "I was being chased."

"..."

Kaworu moved his frying pan while he continued to face Index. Multi-tasking isn't that hard, even for an ordinary Lilin.

"I made my jump fine, but I was shot in the back in midair." The girl calling herself Index seemed to smile. "I apologize. It seems I was caught on your balcony as I fell."

She tossed an innocent smile in his direction without even a hint of self-deprecation or sarcasm.

"You were shot...?"

"Yes? Oh, you don't need to worry about a wound. These clothes also function as a defensive barrier."

What did she mean by a defensive barrier? Was it a bulletproof vest? Or an A.T field that would somehow manifest itself? Awesome.

The girl spun around as if to show off new clothes and certainly did not seem injured. Kaworu wondered whether she really had been shot.

Finally, Kaworu was done with cooking and he put the frying pan, still sizzling from the heat onto the dining table with Index already seated. It seemed as though he was cooking a nice meal for his weird cosplaying younger sister who concidentally was a sister, but to be more specific, a nun.

Putting both of her hands together in a prayer, "I gladly receive!", she said as she started digging into the food.

"So why were you being chased?"

It didn't take long for Index to finish the food, in fact, she literally drank the food as if it was a form of liquid. Ignoring the fact that the food was hot and had a bitter sour taste, Kaworu concluded that this Index might just be another life form all together.

"Because of the 103,000 grimoires I possess."

"Are you the secret key to a library storing those grimoires?"

"I am the library itself."

Kaworu cocked his head to one side in disbelief, "Seriously? Are those grimoires things that the Lilins cannot see?"

"Lilins...?"

Right, how could he have forgotten so fast that this was Touma's universe. Is this what the Lilins would call a Freudian slip? Not that it was a major mistake, just a quick explaination presented in the most casual way possible would suffice.

"It's a Japanese slang for people."

"Oh."

"So what are exactly does the grimoires do?"

"Magic."

Kaworu smiled in response to that, "I don't believe in magic."

"Magic exist!"

"Well, in Academy City, psychic powers are pretty common such as pyrokinesis or telepathy. But magic, no, it probably doesn't exist."

Index pouted as she pointed a finger at him, "If you believe in psychic powers, then why would you not believe in magic?"

"Those psychic powers can be explained by science... It's just like..." Kaworu sighed. He should have taken the language lessons more seriously back in SEELE's HQ.

"Hehe. So you believe in magic after all."

"If you say magic exist, then why don't you prove it then."

"... But I have no magic powers."

A triumphant smile formed on Kaworu's face, "So magic doesn't exist after all."

"I don't believe in psychic powers too. Why don't you prove it then." This was her childish comeback from her defeat.

Kaworu's gaze dropped to his right hand.

Imagine Breaker. A mysterious ability that could negate any supernatural power. It could even negate one of God's miracle. Such a strange ability that even Kaworu could not fully comprehend its true power.

"I... have no psychic powers." His voice almost dropped to a whisper, still keeping his gaze on his hand.

Index got off from her chair and did a little victory dance, "So you believe magic does exist after all," she said in a sing-song manner.

Kaworu directed her gaze upon his right hand, "Any form of power, regardless it is psychic or magic, it can be negated. Even God's miracle can be negated by this right hand of mine," he proudly declared, just like how a five year old child would say when he successfully snatched his younger brother's toy.

"Then you'll be able to negate this defensive barrier made of magic, that is if your right hand is really that powerful."

"Where is it?"

"I'm wearing it!"

"You mean this piece of white flimsy cloth is a defensive barrier? Don't be silly."

In response to that, Index hurriedly rush to the kitchen and offered him a knife, "Stab me."

Curious at how it might function as defensive barrier, Kaworu took the knife and lightly jabbed at her abdomen. And then, with one swift strike, he sent the knife right through her 'barrier' only to find the blade shattered into pieces.

Index puffed her chest out with pride, "This is an accurate copy of the Shroud of Turin, the cloth worn by the Saint that was stabbed by the Lance of Longinus, so its strength is Pope-class. I guess you would say it's something like a nuclear shelter. It turns aside or absorbs any attack, be it physical or magical. I told you I got caught on your balcony after getting shot, right? Well, I would have a giant hole in me if it wasn't for the Walking Church."

Kaworu threw the handle onto the floor and took a step back away from her cautiously.

Lance of Longinus...?

She grinned as she observed how scared Kaworu seemed, "Is the revelation of the existence of Magic proving too much for you?"

And then, a faint glow started to radiate from his body. With her knowledge of the 103,000 grimoires, she knew exactly what that glow was.

"Telesma?!"

Instinctively, Kaworu reached out his right hand and lunged forward, pushing Index onto the sofa.

He soon stopped glowing and so she got up and asked, "Who exactly are you?"

"Kamijou Touma."

"That's not your real name."

"Kamijou Touma."

Index sighed and shot an understanding smile towards Kaworu, "I see. I should be going now, lest I disturb your peaceful existence."

However, as she made her way to the door, her Walking Chruch came apart as if it got slashed into 3 pieces without any harm to the wearer. Strangely, she didn't seem to notice that her surroundings just got a lot more cooler. As a moral obligation for this Lilin, Kaworu decided to be nice for once.

"Stop there."

Index turned around and looked at him in a confused manner.

"Look down."

And so, this was what she promptly did.

"HYAAAAA!"

"Oh god. And I thought I was being nice."

Kaworu sat on the floor while Index was wrapped from head to toe with a blanket on the sofa, attempting to fix her broken Walking Chruch with safety pins. Apparently, this nun had the habit of biting people when angered, Kaworu noted as he saw the bite marks on various parts of his body.

"Even if you're not human, it is no good for you to be peeking at my body."

"It wasn't even my fault."

"And to think you don't believe in magic when you yourself possesses mana."

"What is mana?"

"Don't talk to me you idiot. Are you trying to make fun of me?"

If it's true that he possessed 'mana', which is certainly not a natural thing for a Lilin to possess, then Touma's existence that has gotten involved in Index's life had already deviated from the script. Hmm... but wouldn't the Imagine Breaker negate that 'mana'? Hopefully, the model would not collapse simply because he had 'mana'.

Index unwrapped the blanket slowly like a butterfly struggling to get out from its cocoon.

"Complete!"

And from that cocoon appeared a certain Index who was triumphantly blowing air from her nose, wearing the pure white nun's habit that had somehow regained its original form from that hellish do-it-yourself job.

"Time to go now." Index said as she made her way to the door once more.

"Don't you want to stay here instead? It's safer here since you can hide from your enemies."

"If I stay here, the enemy would come anyway."

"But the Walking Church has been destroyed by my hand. They can't track you anymore. Or so that's what I think."

"They'll know its destroyed anyway. Simply put, it's like a fortress. If I were the enemy, I would make an appearance when that fortress was destroyed whatever the reason might be."

"All the more you should stay here."

"..."

Index smiled a heartbreaking smile, "If you really want to abandon your peaceful existence here… Then, will you follow me to the depths of hell?

"It's okay. So long as I can find a church, they'll shelter me from the enemy."

"If you're ever in any trouble, you can stop by here again. Or if you're hungry."

She raised a hand to wave goodbye, "Sure thing. You're a good cook," before she left the apartment.

"Okay, I have a handout for you. Follow along while we go through this supplementary lesson."

The homeroom teacher of Year 1 Class 7, Tsukuyomi Komoe, was a ridiculous teacher who was so short that only her head could be seen when she stood behind her desk.

According to Kaworu's knowledge, that little girl teacher was one of the school's seven mysteries: at 135 cm tall, there was a legend saying she was refused a roller coaster ride due to safety concerns, and looked to the world like a 12 year old who should be carrying a soprano recorder with a yellow hard hat and a red elementary school backpack.

Interacting with people like how Lilins do in school was not his strong point, so he was glad that he had successfully memorized this part perfectly.

"I won't stop you from talking amongst yourselves, but you need to listen to what I say. I put a lot of effort into making a quiz, so if you do poorly on it, you will be punished with the See Through lesson."

"Isn't that where you play poker with a blindfold on!? That's part of the Curriculum for Clairvoyance! I've heard you can't leave until you win 10 times in a row despite not being able to see your cards, so wouldn't we just be stuck here until morning!?" protested Kaworu.

"Oh, but Kamijou-chan, you don't have enough development credits, so you'll be doing the See Through lesson regardless."

Kaworu sighed, since Touma was at a loss of words when faced with the salesman smile of a salary man teacher, so did he. Acting is fun, no wonder the Lilins are always acting to one another as if it was a necessity to survive. So it's just fun for them.

"…Mhh. I see. Komoe-chan finds you so cute she just can't help herself, Kami-yan," said Aogami Pierce who was a blue-haired male with pierced ear although he is the class representative sitting next to Kaworu.

"…Do you sense malice coming from that teacher's back as she enjoyably stretches up to reach the blackboard?"

"What? What's wrong with having such a cute teacher scold you for failing a quiz? Getting physically abused by a little kid like that gets you a ton of experience points, Kami-yan."

"I knew you were a lolicon, but you're a masochist, too!? You really are hopeless!"

"Ah hah! It's not that I like lolis! It's that I also like lolis!"

"You two over there! If you say a single word more, you'll be stuck with Columbus's Egg."

Just as one would expect, Columbus's Egg involved standing a raw egg upside down on a desk without anything supporting it. Those specializing in Psychokinesis could keep the egg from falling when they worked to the point of the blood vessels in their brain almost bursting. (It was actually an extremely difficult challenge because the egg would break if the Psychokinesis was too powerful.) As with the previous example, you would be stuck there until morning if you could not do it.

Aogami Pierce stared at Tsukuyomi Komoe while forgetting to breathe. Kaworu remained calm as always.

"Okay?"

Her smile was quite frightening.

While Komoe loved being called "cute", she became incredibly irate when called "small".

However, she did not seem to mind being looked down on by the students. Part of it was just something inevitable within Academy City. The city was a veritable Neverland where over 80% of the population was students. The opposition to salary man teachers was harsh even compared to a normal school, and more importantly, the "strength" of a student was based on both their academic ability and their power.

The teachers were the ones that developed the students, but the teachers themselves had no powers. Some, like the PE teachers and guidance counselors, seemed like they were from foreign units because they trained Level 3 monsters with their own fists. However, it would be cruel to expect that from a chemistry teacher like Komoe.

"…Hey, Kami-yan."

"What?'

"Would it turn you on to get lectured by Komoe-sensei?"

"I'm not you! Just shut up already, idiot! If we have to play with a raw egg even though we don't have Psychokinesis, we'll be spending our entire summer break here! If you get it, shut that fake Kansai dialect mouth of yours!"

"Fake… D-D-D-D-D-Don't call it fake! I'm really from Osaka!"

"Shut up. I know you're from a rice region. I'm in a bad mood, so don't make me play the straight man right now."

"I-I-I'm not from a rice region! Ah. A-ahhh! I sure do love takoyaki."

"Stop trying to force yourself into the Kansai role! Are you going to bring takoyaki for lunch just to fill this role?"

"What are you talking about? It's not like someone from Osaka eats only takoyaki, right?"

"…"

"Right? I think that's right…no, wait. But… but yeah… but huh? Which is it?"

"You're falling out of character, Mr. Fake Kansai," said Kaworu before sighing and looking out the window.

The Walking Church, the cloth worn by the Saint that was stabbed by the Lance of Longinus. Somehow, from that cloth, he realized that he had another power other than the Imagine Breaker.

Then again, what exactly is mana or Telesma? Is it something not of supernatural origin because if it was, the Imagine Breaker would have negated them away.

"Sensei~ Touma's staring out the window to look at the girl's tennis team's fluttery skirts," said Aogami in his forced Kansai accent, sending Kaowru's focus in an about-face to the classroom.

Komoe fell silent.

She had seemed to go through shock because 'that' Kamijou Touma had not been focused on the lesson. She had the look of a 12 year old who had just found out the truth about Santa Claus.

Just as that thought reached his mind, Kaworu was pierced by the hostile gazes of his classmates who wished to protect the human rights of that "child".

While it was called a supplementary lesson, they had been stuck there until the time when all students were supposed to have left school.

"What a beautiful view." Kaworu commented as he gazed at a wind turbine's three propellers, glittering in the sunset.

Any kind of nightlife was forbidden, so the last bus and train in Academy City were set to leave once the students were out of school.

Kaworu missed the last bus, so he was strolling along through the scorching shopping district that seemed to go on forever. A security robot passed by him as he did. It was also a drum on wheels and it functioned as something like a walking security camera. They were originally improved versions of robotic dogs, but children would gather around them and block their way. For that simple reason, the work robots were converted into drum container shapes.

"Ah, there you are, you bastard! Wait up… wait! You! I'm talking to you! Stop!"

He turned around to figure out what was going on.

She was a middle school-aged girl with shoulder-length brown hair that glowed a flame-red in the sunset but her face was dyed even redder. She wore a gray pleated skirt, a short sleeve blouse, and a summer sweater… At that point, he suddenly realized who she was.

"Oh, it's you again, Biri-Biri."

"Don't call me Biri Biri! I have a name! It's Misaka Mikoto! Why don't you remember it already!? You've been calling me Biri Biri since we first met!"

Since we first met…? Kaworu thought back. Oh, right.

When Touma and her first met, she was surrounded by delinquents just like the other day. As the children approached her, he had thought that they were after her wallet and stepped forward.

However, for some reason, the girl was the one that became irritated, saying, "Shut up! Don't get in the way of other people's fights!" Kamijou had of course blocked her lightning with his right hand and she had responded with, "Huh? Why didn't that work? Then what about this? Huh?" One thing had led to another, and things had ended up in their current relationship.

Misaka Mikoto... Level 5, the 3rd ranked Level 5 to be exact. There are seven Level 5s...?

That's interesting. Nevertheless, I will have to finish reciting those lines in order to drive her away in the fastest time possible. I cannot screw up the timing for that part when the magician first makes his appearance.

"What's with the distant look in your eyes?"

"The girl staring at Kamijou's face with a stunned expression is the Railgun girl from yesterday. She's so frustrated over losing a single fight that she has come back to Kamijou again and again to challenge him to rematches."

"…Who's that explanation for?"

"She's strong-willed and hates to lose, but is actually quite a lonely person and is in charge of taking care of the class pet."

"Don't tack strange things to the setting!"

The girl, Misaka Mikoto, flailed her arms around, drawing all focus on the street to her. It was not all that surprising, the completely normal summer uniform she wore was the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School, one of the 5 most prestigious and elite schools in Academy City.

For some reason, the explosively refined girls from Tokiwadai seemed to stand apart even in a station at rush hour and would strike as a surprise for anyone to see one sitting on the floor of a train messing around with their cell phone like any other person.

"So what do you want, Biri Biri? Actually, why are you wearing your uniform during summer break? Do you have supplementary lessons?"

"Gh… Sh-Shut up."

"Were you worried about the class bunny?"

"I told you to stop with the animal stuff! Also, today I'm going to make you twitch like frog legs with electrodes attached! So, get your will and inheritance in order!"

"I don't think so."

"Why not!?"

"Because, I'm not in charge of my class' pet."

"Why you… Quit making fun of me!"

The middle school girl stomped down on the tiles of the path.

At that exact moment, a tremendous noise came from the cell phones of the people walking along the area. Additionally, the cable broadcast in the shopping district cut out and a horrible noise came from the security robot.

The crackling sound of static electricity came from the middle school girl's hair. That Level 5 girl, who used Railgun with nothing but her own body, smiled such that her canines were bared like a beast's.

"Hmph. How was that? Did that change your cowardly mind? …Mgh!"

At this point of time, Kaworu got bored and decided that he would change the order of some lines from the script.

"Shut up! You're the one that destroyed all of my electronics with that lightning yesterday! What could you possibly want after that!"

"It's your fault for pissing me off!"

"I don't even understand what's got you so mad! I've haven't laid a finger on you!"

"So do I," Misaka smiled, "If that's the case, then let's call it a draw."

"Huh? You can have the victory then, its okay," Kaworu said as he walked away from the girl.

"Gah…! W-Wait a second! Take this seriously!" shouted Mikoto as she flailed her arm.

Kaworu sighed.

"Are you sure you want me to take this seriously?"

"Ah…" Mikoto trailed off.

"Message, message. Error No. 100231-YF. Offensive electromagnetic waves in violation of radio laws detected. System malfunction detected. As this is possible cyber terrorism, avoid using electronics."

Kaworu and Misaka hesitantly turned around.

A drum container was on its side on the footpath spewing smoke as it spoke to itself nonsensically.

In the next instant, the security robot began sounding a high-pitched alarm.

Naturally, the both of them ran away.

After driving off the girl, Kaworu went to a gyuudon restaurant to eat a regular size gyuudon because he had never eaten one before. With only 30 yen remaining (tax included), he approached his dorm building with the sun having already set.

The place seemed deserted.

It was the first day of summer break and so most people were presumably out enjoying themselves.

The building looked like that of stereotypical one-room apartment housing. Pathways along one wall of the rectangular building had doors lined up. It being a male dorm, the metal railing lacked plastic sheets to prevent peering up at girls' skirts.

The front doors, and the balconies on the opposite sides of them, were built on the sides of the building going inwards as seen from the road. In other words, they were in the gaps between buildings.

The entrance to the building was auto-locking, but the distance between buildings was only two meters. One could easily sneak in by jumping from roof to roof as Index had that morning.

Kaworu went through the auto-locking entrance, passed by the storage room known as the dorm manager's room and got on the elevator.

With a microwave oven-like ding, the elevator stopped at the seventh floor.

He pushed aside the door that clanked as it opened and exited into the passageway. He was on the seventh floor, but there was no wind and seemed even hotter and stuffier than before because of the neighboring building being so close. But then again, it didn't really bother him one bit.

"Hmm?"

Down the straight passageway and right in front of his door, three cleaning robots were gathered. From the way they were trembling and moving back and forth, they seemed to be cleaning up quite the horrible mess.

He knew this was Index lying on the ground in a pool of blood after being slashed in the back by that Saint, Kanzaki Kaori.

He knew that she came back for the hood because it still had magical powers, hence she thought the magicians might detect it and headed there to retrieve it.

He knew that the reason for this was because she wanted to protect his existence so that he would be able to continue living here in peace.

But yet Kaworu intentionally left the hood there because he needed the magician to come here. Besides, despite her injuries from the Saint, she would be easily healed with recovery magic so the cost of meeting the magician is almost zero.

Kaworu ran over and grabbed at the cleaning robots gathered around the seriously injured Index. He failed to do so because the robots were made necessarily heavy to prevent theft on top of relatively high horsepower. In the end, he was only a human vessel. Like all humans, he had no super-strength to boast of.

In reality, the cleaning robots were only cleaning the continuously spreading stain on the floor and never actually touched Index's wound. Even so, Kaworu saw them as the nine MP Evas swarming upon a poor Unit-02, but perhaps those MP Evas should go on a diet and stop eating other Evangelions.

He was having difficulty moving aside even one of those heavy and powerful robots, much less three. While his focus was on one of them, the other two would head for the stain.

I really should be waiting for that guy to come instead of chasing the robot away to kill time. Ah, I'll go check if she's alright then.

Index said nothing.

Her pale purple lips were so still he was unsure whether she was breathing.

"Who did this to you?" Kaworu said.

"Hm? That would be us magicians."

Kaworu turned around to see a man standing there. It seemed as though he arrived from the emergency staircase next to the elevator. Yup, it's that magician all right.

His shoulder-length blond hair had been dyed red like the sunset, silver rings glittered on all ten of his fingers like brass knuckle, poisonous earrings hung on his ears, a cell phone strap could be seen sticking out of his pocket, a lit cigarette moved at the edge of his mouth, and, as if for complete, he had a barcode-like tattoo underneath his right eye.

"Hm? Hm… hm… hm. She got her pretty good." The magician looked around and the cigarette in the corner of his mouth waggled as he spoke. "I heard Kanzaki sliced her, but this is… I thought there wasn't anything to worry about because there was no blood trail…"

Kaworu glared at the magician. He wanted to express his thoughts about how indiscriminately slashing little girls is morally wrong no matter how you look at it in the best possible way.

"Hm? Hm… hm… hm? C'mon, I can't have you looking at me like that." The cigarette in the corner of the magician's mouth moved as he spoke. "It wasn't me that sliced her and I doubt Kanzaki meant to turn this into something bloody. The Walking Church is supposed to be an absolute defense, after all. Really, she shouldn't have been injured at all by that. …Honestly, what twist of fate led that to be destroyed? Unless St. George's Dragon has come again, I don't see how a Pope-class barrier could be broken."

That last bit was spoken to his self and his smile disappeared as he said it.

However, this lasted only an instant. The cigarette in the corner of his mouth twitched back up as if he had suddenly remembered to smile.

"Why? You ganged up on this little girl, chased her all over the place, and then injured her this badly. Can you really say that you're right to do so with this reality staring you in the face?"

"Like I said, Kanzaki did this, not me." The magician paused for a second. "And whether she's injured or not, we have to retrieve her."

"Retrieve her?"

The magician exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke, "Yeah, we need to retrieve her. Technically, it isn't her we need to retrieve though; it's the 103,000 grimoires she has."

More and more rhetorical questions and answers that Kaworu already know.

"I see, I see. This country isn't very religious, so I guess you don't understand," said the magician in a bored sounding voice despite the fact that he was smiling.

"The Index Librorum Prohibitorum is a list created by the church of all the evil books that will sully your soul just by reading them. Even if you were to announce that these dangerous books existed, people could still unknowingly acquire one, despite the fact that they don't know its title. Thus, she has become something of a crucible of poisonous books with 103,000 such books. Oh, but be careful. Reading just one of the books she has would make a vegetable out of someone from an irreligious nation like this."

"Enough." Kaworu smiled warmly, "Will you get out of the way or not?"

"I would prefer to call myself as Stiyl Magnus, but I guess I'll have to go with Fortis931."

"..."

"That's my magic name. Not familiar with those? It seems we magicians cannot give our true name when we use magic.

"It's an old tradition, so I don't really understand why myself."

They were 15 meters apart and slowly, Kaworu started walking towards him. It seemed as though he was welcoming an old friend, but if you had enough context, you would know that this was far from it.

"Fortis… I guess in Japanese it would mean 'the strong'. Well, the etymology doesn't really matter. What's important is that I have given that name. For us magicians, it is less a magical name when spell casting and more like…

"…a name of bloodshed, I guess."

Stiyl causally grabbed the cigarette and flicked it over the metal railing.

"A gift of pain for the giant," he chanted and with a gesture from his hand, it burst into a fiery vortex hovering in the air before directing it towards Kaworu.

Kaworu stopped to admire the streams of fire that was directed towards him much to the surprise of Stiyl. Normally, this could only mean two things. One, this guy had already accepted his fate and decided to embrace death graciously. Or two, the fire was a joke for a being like him.

Bursts of flame started scattering in all directions while a screen of smoke and flames prevented Stiyl from knowing whether his target lived to tell the tale.

"Maybe I overdid it."

With a roar, the wall of flames and smoke swirled and was blown away. Stiyl could see a single, shiny gold ethereal wing erupted from that light grey-haired boy, arched over to shield him from the flames. A soft glow radiated from his body and his smile remained warm as the glow.

He took a step back with fear written all over his face for he could not believe what he was seeing.

"Telesma?! Impossible."

Kaworu retracted the wings, "I was supposed to send you flying like a bamboo-copter with my right fist, but if you'd just kindly leave, I'll spare you the embarrassment."

While he still did not understand what Telesma was, but it seems that he could use the power to construct wings and do many other things with it.

For a brief moment when he retracted the wings, Stiyl saw that the wing spanned over a metre and the some of the feathers from the wings started to rain down from over the metal railing before it vanished midair.

Yet, Stiyl would not go down without a fight. Angel or not, he was going to defeat that arrogant boy.

Manifesting a flame sword, he sent that 2 metre long blade towards Kaworu like firing an arrow. But he only waved the blade away like chasing away a fly that had been bothering him for some time.

Kaworu took a step or two forward, "So I guess you've made your choice."

Abruptly, something floated up in the back of Stiyl Magnus's mind.

Index's Walking Church nun's habit was Pope-class and its barrier rivaled a London cathedral in its power. It was absolutely impossible to destroy it unless the legendary dragon of St. George appeared.

But Index's Walking Church had clearly been utterly destroyed since Kanzaki had sliced her.

Who had done it? And how?

It didn't take a genius to realize that it was this ethereal being who destroyed the Walking Church.

He had stopped approaching and continued to rest his gaze upon him. It seemed as though he was waiting for him to attack once more. If that's the case, then he'll give him his final trump card.

A circle of fire surrounded Stiyl as he started chanting, "One of the five great elements from which the world is constructed.

"The great flame of the beginning.

In front of him now was a small, oval-shaped flame, "It is a light of blessing that raises life and a light of judgment that punishes evil.

"It is overflowing with calm blessings and with freezing misfortune that destroys cold darkness.

That flame got bigger and bigger, "It's name is fire and its role is the sword.

"Be manifested and become the power that eats into my body!"

Instantly, a black, gigantic humanoid figure on fire burst into life from that flame.

"It's name is Innocentius, the witch hunting pope...

"Whose meaning meant, I will surely kill you."

Spreading its arm, the figure charged towards Kaworu like a bullet, but he merely waved the figure away just like how he waved that pathetic blade away.

It should have been fear, but Kaworu only saw a smile. Was this a trap?

Soon enough, the wall of flames that was surrounding him conjugated into a single point behind him and quickly expanded into that same black figure on fire again. He only had enough time to turn behind to hold up his right hand to receive the blow from the flaming cross he was holding now.

Stiyl said in a mocking tone when he saw that Kaworu did not extend his wing out, "Ran out of Telesma already?"

The cross and his right hand clashed but this time, it failed to even disappear. Kaworu was no Superman and inches by inches, it began to move even closer to his face.

Unlike Touma, he knew that the reason was the runes. In simple terms, it was like reflection. There is no point in hitting in the reflection if you cannot hit the source of the reflection.

"Ash to ash…"

Kaworu glanced behind him. From behind, a flame sword had appeared in Stiyl's right hand.

"...Dust to dust…"

Another one. A bluish-white burning flame sword extended silently from his left hand.

"…Squeamish Bloody Road!"

Swinging the two flame swords horizontally, it sliced straight through the giant flame god from left and right like a giant pair of scissors.

However, it was at this moment when Kaworu manifested his wing. Just the mere presence of the wing seemed to have erased the blades like it was never there in the first place.

"No way..."

And then, another wing started to erupt from his back, unlike its counterpart, it had a soft, aquatic glow to it. Just the mere presence of this wing also erased the figure like it was never there in the first place.

At this point of time, fear had completely taken over Stiyl's body. He could no longer hide his trembling as he witnessed the glorious presence of this pair of wings.

"The sun and the moon?!"

Meanwhile, he also heard the faint sound of paper being torn into pieces. It can't be... His runes that he had pasted throughout the building were being ripped apart one by one by some unknown force.

Kaworu turned to face the magician who looked almost like an inviting dish of jelly pudding, "Now then... let us end this."

"Ash to ash…"

But no flames appeared from his hand.

The voice got even more shaky, "...Dust to dust…"

Kaworu extended the aquatic wing towards him.

"…Squeamish Bloody Road!"

And the wing promptly smacked him onto the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Kaworu said as he saw Misaka among the crowds that had started to gather around the building, "Ikari Yui. How childish can you get," before carrying Index on her back and left the building in search of his teacher, Komoe.

Author's note: And this marks the first deviation of canon of the To aru universe :D

Sometimes I wonder if my style of putting in two major plots running simultaneously in one story good. Do tell me whether you think its okay, or that I should really be focusing on just one.

Nevertheless, whether its a word of praise or some constructive review. Do drop by and review (or like and/or follow if it floats your boat)!

Lastly, thanks to everyone who reviewed, liked or/and followed the story.